Computer Build Resource Thread - Page 1121

On June 01 2012 01:39 poundcakes wrote:
Now I actually have a question, is there any way to test if my RAM is faulty if MemOK!'s DRAM LED is glowing and doesn't find any viable settings after pressing it? On the first POST I got a single short beep which is good I would think. From looking around inside it doesn't look like there's a CMOS jumper there nor can I swap in my current RAM since it's DDR2.

Should I try removing the motherboard battery for a while or try booting with just one of the sticks in? (installing a noctua nh-d14 is a pain the dick by the way, that thing is gargantuan) If nothing else works I guess I'll just have RMA it. I've done all the basic testing if RAM is in the proper slots and if power cables are properly connected. My motherboard is an ASUS P8Z77-V, PSU is an XFX xxx edition 750w and the ram is 16gb Corsair XMS3 1333mhz (2x8gb).

On June 02 2012 03:02 Xeqt wrote:
What is your budget?
Prefer <1000

What is your resolution?
1920*1080

What are you using it for?
SC2, Diablo 3, HoN, LoL, DotA 2, FPS and RPG, possible streaming, video edit and youtube stuff

What is your upgrade cycle?
2-4 years

When do you plan on building it?
ASAP

Do you plan on overclocking?
If needed for the build

Do you need an Operating System?
No

This is what I have so far:
i5-3570k
Sabertooth mobo that needs replacing
The mobo is too expensive I know, I need to find a cheaper one. (Needs to have expansion slot for xbox capture card)
Coolermaster 932 - can be changed
500gb 7200 rpmGSkll 2x4bg - can be changed
Note: I want to have optical audio, willing to buy sound card if that + mobo is a better combo and cheaper/worth the price


I also need to find some nice monitors, thinking 2x25" asus (NOT INCLUDED IN BUiLD PRICE)
I have mouse, keyboard, and headset

On June 02 2012 08:16 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:
Planning on building a computer, very standard vanilla uses in mind. Gaming (DotA2, D3 level graphics, on high to max settings), potentially streaming on lower settings. Basically nothing more demanding than that. Upgrade cycle up to 4 years, might replace parts as needed but that will be very infrequent, so basically looking for one that will last me a good few years. For comparison, I've been using a laptop with not exactly high-end specs for 5 years and managed to persevere, so I'm not exactly looking for state of the art parts replacements every year or anything like that.

Budget at ~$1000, always looking for savings where available. Have a MicroCenter that I can make a trek to if compelling savings are present.

Here's what I've come up with so far:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9fXr

A few questions:

1. I'm probably not going to do any overclocking and really have no use for any extraneous motherboard features. Is the selected motherboard overkill? Just right?

2. I've yet to see a clear distinction between 3570k and 2500k setups. Would a 2500k/mobo setup give me any decent savings? Are they about the same? IB vs SB WHAT DO? Performance/value wise, what is preferred? Recommendation? Vague questions I know but just looking for some general opinions on 3570k vs 2500k right now. Keep in mind this is basically taking OC capabilities out of consideration unless someone can give me some compelling reasons to do so.

3. Related, if no OC is being considered, is a CPU cooler still necessary or can I skip that? I don't foresee any strenuous use of the CPU for any extended period (unless light streaming is super demanding on the CPU?)

3. Looking to grab a Xonar DG sound card. Have a pair of ATH-A700s, if I get more headphones in the future it won't be anything too far above the ATH-A700s in terms of quality/price. Good fit? Unnecessary? Mainly want a cheap, standard amp which is why the Xonar DG caught my eye.

4. Case/Power supply: I've never been super clear on the distinctions between the myriads of cases and PS's available, beyond the standard advice of bottom-mounted PSUs and the importance of a quality PSU. I just grabbed tehse two suggestions off the logical increments chart that floats around. Solid choices?

Cheers.

On June 02 2012 11:10 Womwomwom wrote:
PCIe 3.0 is useless for the foreseeable future so who cares about that. Anyway, I'm not sure why you bought that processor but since you already have it I guess that board is fine. The only reason to buy that processor is if you can fill out every single PCIe 16x slot with a GPU and fill all 8x memory slots with memory sticks...neither which you aren't going to do.

Should have asked them to just give you an Ivy Bridge i7 processor because its going to be cheaper, easier to deal with due to much lower power requirements, and has native USB 3.0. Future proof is such a dumb thing, especially in this case because the Ivy Bridge i7 processor probably outperforms it in gaming. In a way, its already obsolete because of Ivy Bridge, and its going to be very obsolete when Haswell comes out some time next year or something.

But yes, for what you want to do any motherboard is fine because it can be easily done, and probably better, with LGA1155 and not LGA2011. Due to the higher power requirements of LGA2011 processors, they're all decked out with more than adequate hardware.

On June 02 2012 11:01 RebirthOfLeGenD wrote:
Hey, I picked up an i7-3930k chip for really cheap with the Intel retail edge program and was wondering what board you guys would recommend?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157282

I was looking at this board. It seemed fine, it had a bunch of SATA ports and supported PCIe 3.0. It also had decent rating. is there anything else I should be looking for in a board? I don't mind paying more if there is an actual good reason to go with a different board.

At the end of the day this platform would only cost me about 100-150 more than using an i5 so I figured why not spoil myself and it should be more future proof than an i5-2500k would be. I'm going to use it for gaming and streaming, not much else. I won't be using a crossfire set up.

On June 02 2012 11:24 iKill[ShocK] wrote:


warranty, how reputable is the company, does it fit what I need (CPU socket, 4/8 ram slots, USB 3, pci-e lanes, sata ports, etc) overclockability, pricing, quality of board components are the things I would look for in a motherboard. With that being said the asrock one you mentioned is a good board if you're willing to spend the money for it, since most 2011 boards are quite expensive. Fillin out the OP and saying that you have a 3930 already would help.

On June 02 2012 11:30 Womwomwom wrote:


Ivy Bridge performs better than Sandy Bridge because of better IPC. Small set of benchmarks here. Photoshop is always a fun one because the processor with the best single threaded performance ALWAYS wins. Ivy Bridge will lose if LGA2011 processors can use every single core simultaneously but this is extremely rare and only found in professional software. Ivy Bridge also has native USB3.0 which is very good since you don't have to deal with shitty drivers anymore.

Its important to understand the context things are said and used in. When people said it had no worthwhile performance increase over Sandy Bridge, they did not mean there wasn't a real performance difference. They meant that if you have Sandy Bridge or waiting for something better than Sandy Bridge, there is no point upgrading to Ivy Bridge.

To reiterate, the only reason for buying hardcore systems like LGA1366 and LGA2011 is if:
- You are going to make use of the billion PCIe 16x slots. This means three to four graphics cards in your system
- You need something like 64GB of RAM. Not many people need these, obviously.

NB: Tom's Hardware is a v. bad website though that isn't saying much. Really most tech websites - content and comments - are beyond bad because technology enthusiasts always seem to have so much trouble understanding context. If they were better, they'd probably have less terrible opinions or understand the technology they use better.

On June 02 2012 12:03 Womwomwom wrote:
A good Z77 motherboard costs around $100-120 so you'll be saving a lot of cash if you can manage to sell that thing for $400+. You might even get a profit if you have access to a local Microcenter, who tend to sell Intel processors for really cheap.