EPTComputer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread - Page 184
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When using this resource, please read the opening post. The Tech Support forum regulars have helped create countless of desktop systems without any compensation. The least you can do is provide all of the information required for them to help you properly. | ||
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
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nosliw
United States2716 Posts
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
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nosliw
United States2716 Posts
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Ropid
Germany3557 Posts
On January 12 2014 04:15 nosliw wrote: so if I can connect to mobo, I should do so? If your case has some sort of simple fan control where you can for example switch between 5V, 7V and 12V, you might like it better on the PSU. You will connect the fans to that fan controller thingy and then supply that through the PSU. If you connect all three fans to the PSU at 12V, they might drive you crazy. Your board might have a bunch of fan headers intended for case fans. You'll have to look at the manual how those will be controlled through the board. There's two methods, (1) the 12V pin can be modulated to slow down fans which works for 3-pin and 4-pin fans, (2) there's a fourth pin with a PWM signal that works with 4-pin fans. If the board can control all of the case fans, that is usually the most comfortable. You'll be able to configure some sort of dynamic change in fan speeds in either the BIOS or Windows software. The change will be driven by the reading of a thermal sensor somewhere on the board. That usually works great, quiet fans when you browse the web or something, fast fans when you play games and the graphics card needs fresh air. You could also mix both methods, for example run the rear fan at constant slow speed through a fan controller thingy of the case, run two front fans through the board. | ||
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Thalandros
Netherlands1151 Posts
 I'm currently stuck with a Phenom X6 1055T @2.8 Ghz, which is kind of bottlenecking my graphics card (Radeon HD 6970) by a big stretch. Considering I've recently mainly started playing games that are more CPU demanding (StarCraft II for 2.5 years now), some Planetside II here and there and I notice that overall, obviously, games get more processor-demanding. My GPU has no problems catching up and I imagine it won't for another 1, 1,5 years, but I really want to get my processor upgraded before that time so I can comfortably play Starcraft II at every setting (and also play Planetside with more than 20 FPS, hehe.  ). So I have a couple of questions:Would a i5 4670k be worth it? Now I'm still really bad with computers - hardware wise mostly - and even though I'm trying to learn and observe as much as possible, I still don't install parts into my rig myself - I recently had someone else install a 120GB SSD I bought for me, and even though it didn't look that tricky, I have NO idea of the layout of my PC from the inside. Just a head's up. That said:Is it worth it getting the unlocked (k) version? Or should I stick with the normal version if I'm not very experienced with hardware? Also, if I were to overclock it, how far should I go that would be inside a ''safe area'' of overclocking? And obviously, I'd need to replace my AsRock Extreme3 870 motherboard for something that'll fit the 4670, so.. What motherboard would you suggest? I know I need to look at Z87 boards instead of H87's if I'm picking the unlocked version to overclock the CPU, but what should I look at? my motherboard doesn't need to be so advanced, just needs to do the job (~8 USB ports, 5.1/7.1 audio, etc.) | ||
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felisconcolori
United States6168 Posts
Unlocked (k) or not is probably depends on if you decide to overclock. I haven't, yet, except for my memory's XMP profile, but I think that's really the only consideration. I also like my new motherboard and it seems pretty solid - Gigabyte Z87X-D3H. However, I would also recommend seeing what skyR, Ropid, and Cyros say. | ||
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Mavvie
Canada923 Posts
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Staboteur
Canada1873 Posts
What I want to do: Run medium-end games at a constant 60fps while recording footage at decent (480p or better) quality. I speedrun stuff, and being able to record attempts is pretty important. Right now, I can't do complete runs of Valdis Story : Abyssal City (2d platformer), as I'll drop to 30fps about half an hour into the run for some reason. What I've got currently: PC -> Motherboard : Asus P8 h61-M LX PLUS R2.0 CPU : Intel Core i3 2130 @3.4ghz GPU : ATI Radeon 5750 OS : Windows 7 32 bit RAM : 4 times the amount that Windows 7 32 bit will use (16gb) :D Laptop -> "HP Pavilion 15.6" Laptop (AMD Elite Quad-core A10-5750M / 8GB RAM / Windows 8) What I think I need to replace: CPU, and possibly by association upgrade my mobo (?). Also need to update to 64 bit windows to not be wasting my RAM. I'm willing to put around $400 towards the efforts so I don't have to worry about upgrading for a year or so again. What I want to ask One, is there a way I can outsource the recording duties to my laptop? If I can play on my PC and record using my laptop, that likely circumvents any performance issues for now. Two, What should I be looking at/for? Any upgrade advice is welcome. I'm not tech-savvy, so any general upgrade advice is welcome, I'd love to be able to stream and record at decent qualities in the future. | ||
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Ropid
Germany3557 Posts
You should wait for someone that played around with it to answer (wait for Cyro). Regarding your laptop idea, there are capture cards and nowadays everything that can be an expansion card is also sold as an external part because laptops got so popular. That's what you could also look into. This is an example, look at the USB device: http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/intensity | ||
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Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
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Ropid
Germany3557 Posts
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wptlzkwjd
Canada1240 Posts
On January 12 2014 08:22 Thalandros wrote: Alright, I already made a thread about this on accident so I'm gonna start posting more in here from now on! I have two questions, and for both, opinions and suggestions are always welcome. I'm currently stuck with a Phenom X6 1055T @2.8 Ghz, which is kind of bottlenecking my graphics card (Radeon HD 6970) by a big stretch. Considering I've recently mainly started playing games that are more CPU demanding (StarCraft II for 2.5 years now), some Planetside II here and there and I notice that overall, obviously, games get more processor-demanding. My GPU has no problems catching up and I imagine it won't for another 1, 1,5 years, but I really want to get my processor upgraded before that time so I can comfortably play Starcraft II at every setting (and also play Planetside with more than 20 FPS, hehe. ). So I have a couple of questions:Would a i5 4670k be worth it? Now I'm still really bad with computers - hardware wise mostly - and even though I'm trying to learn and observe as much as possible, I still don't install parts into my rig myself - I recently had someone else install a 120GB SSD I bought for me, and even though it didn't look that tricky, I have NO idea of the layout of my PC from the inside. Just a head's up. That said:Is it worth it getting the unlocked (k) version? Or should I stick with the normal version if I'm not very experienced with hardware? Also, if I were to overclock it, how far should I go that would be inside a ''safe area'' of overclocking? And obviously, I'd need to replace my AsRock Extreme3 870 motherboard for something that'll fit the 4670, so.. What motherboard would you suggest? I know I need to look at Z87 boards instead of H87's if I'm picking the unlocked version to overclock the CPU, but what should I look at? my motherboard doesn't need to be so advanced, just needs to do the job (~8 USB ports, 5.1/7.1 audio, etc.) Check out this video for simple overclocking instructions: Basically if you think you can handle that, then go ahead. Is it worth getting the unlocked version? Yes ONLY if you are ABSOLUTELY COMMITTED to overclocking it. Otherwise you are blowing an extra $50 for the unlocked version + z87 motherboard premium and ANOTHER $50 for an aftermarket cooler. I cannot stress this enough. Get the unlocked version ONLY if you want to overclock and invest in an aftermarket cooler. Anything less is just a waste of money. By the way, make sure you have DDR3 RAM to install. If not, you will also need to acquire that as well if you're looking to upgrade to a new motherboard + CPU. | ||
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Thalandros
Netherlands1151 Posts
On January 12 2014 11:34 wptlzkwjd wrote: Check out this video for simple overclocking instructions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7zPu9255ZI Basically if you think you can handle that, then go ahead. Is it worth getting the unlocked version? Yes ONLY if you are ABSOLUTELY COMMITTED to overclocking it. Otherwise you are blowing an extra $50 for the unlocked version + z87 motherboard premium and ANOTHER $50 for an aftermarket cooler. I cannot stress this enough. Get the unlocked version ONLY if you want to overclock and invest in an aftermarket cooler. Anything less is just a waste of money. By the way, make sure you have DDR3 RAM to install. If not, you will also need to acquire that as well if you're looking to upgrade to a new motherboard + CPU. Thanks for the help. I have 4x2GB of DDR3 RAM sitting in my PC at this moment. That's all good, right? | ||
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wptlzkwjd
Canada1240 Posts
On January 12 2014 11:48 Thalandros wrote: Thanks for the help. I have 4x2GB of DDR3 RAM sitting in my PC at this moment. That's all good, right? Yup that's fine then. | ||
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Thalandros
Netherlands1151 Posts
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wptlzkwjd
Canada1240 Posts
On January 12 2014 14:12 Thalandros wrote: Thanks. Do you personally think it's worth overclocking for the things I'll be using my CPU for? Is that extra 1Ghz a deciding factor? Because looking at it I'd save a lot of money not overclocking, but if I'll get the best speeds (that I actually really benefit from) and it'll last for a good while, obviously worth it? Uh...you probably won't be overclocking it by a whole GHz...most likely 400-600MHz. I dunno, it depends what you want to run and how well you want to run it. I do it because it adds about 5-10FPS in 4v4 battles. | ||
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y0su
Finland7871 Posts
On January 12 2014 09:23 Staboteur wrote: Hiho! I'd love some help problem solving. What I want to do: Run medium-end games at a constant 60fps while recording footage at decent (480p or better) quality. I speedrun stuff, and being able to record attempts is pretty important. Right now, I can't do complete runs of Valdis Story : Abyssal City (2d platformer), as I'll drop to 30fps about half an hour into the run for some reason. What I've got currently: PC -> Motherboard : Asus P8 h61-M LX PLUS R2.0 CPU : Intel Core i3 2130 @3.4ghz GPU : ATI Radeon 5750 OS : Windows 7 32 bit RAM : 4 times the amount that Windows 7 32 bit will use (16gb) :D Laptop -> "HP Pavilion 15.6" Laptop (AMD Elite Quad-core A10-5750M / 8GB RAM / Windows 8) What I think I need to replace: CPU, and possibly by association upgrade my mobo (?). Also need to update to 64 bit windows to not be wasting my RAM. I'm willing to put around $400 towards the efforts so I don't have to worry about upgrading for a year or so again. What I want to ask One, is there a way I can outsource the recording duties to my laptop? If I can play on my PC and record using my laptop, that likely circumvents any performance issues for now. Two, What should I be looking at/for? Any upgrade advice is welcome. I'm not tech-savvy, so any general upgrade advice is welcome, I'd love to be able to stream and record at decent qualities in the future. Getting a 64 bit OS is a top priority. After that, you probably want a new GPU. I really can't do much with recommendations there because you can significantly upgrade with anything from under $100 up to your whole budget... Since you have a socket 1155 motherboard you can upgrade with an 3xxx series i5 without needing any other hardware. I can't say how much going to quad core would help so this probably depends on how much of your budget you want to spend on the GPU. I don't know about video capture devices that would allow you to capture/stream on your laptop, but you can do the opposite easily (and cheaply) with a capture card (example). On January 12 2014 14:34 wptlzkwjd wrote: Uh...you probably won't be overclocking it by a whole GHz...most likely 400-600MHz. I dunno, it depends what you want to run and how well you want to run it. I do it because it adds about 5-10FPS in 4v4 battles. Since it's subjective so I'll add why I didn't get an unlocked CPU. I think the unit itself isn't a significant investment, however add in going from a cheap motherboard to a Z87 AND getting a quality cooler can be a significant budget increase. *note: I'm very frugal/cheap* | ||
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wptlzkwjd
Canada1240 Posts
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Cyro
United Kingdom20341 Posts
On January 12 2014 08:22 Thalandros wrote: Alright, I already made a thread about this on accident so I'm gonna start posting more in here from now on! I have two questions, and for both, opinions and suggestions are always welcome. I'm currently stuck with a Phenom X6 1055T @2.8 Ghz, which is kind of bottlenecking my graphics card (Radeon HD 6970) by a big stretch. Considering I've recently mainly started playing games that are more CPU demanding (StarCraft II for 2.5 years now), some Planetside II here and there and I notice that overall, obviously, games get more processor-demanding. My GPU has no problems catching up and I imagine it won't for another 1, 1,5 years, but I really want to get my processor upgraded before that time so I can comfortably play Starcraft II at every setting (and also play Planetside with more than 20 FPS, hehe. ). So I have a couple of questions:Would a i5 4670k be worth it? Now I'm still really bad with computers - hardware wise mostly - and even though I'm trying to learn and observe as much as possible, I still don't install parts into my rig myself - I recently had someone else install a 120GB SSD I bought for me, and even though it didn't look that tricky, I have NO idea of the layout of my PC from the inside. Just a head's up. That said:Is it worth it getting the unlocked (k) version? Or should I stick with the normal version if I'm not very experienced with hardware? Also, if I were to overclock it, how far should I go that would be inside a ''safe area'' of overclocking? And obviously, I'd need to replace my AsRock Extreme3 870 motherboard for something that'll fit the 4670, so.. What motherboard would you suggest? I know I need to look at Z87 boards instead of H87's if I'm picking the unlocked version to overclock the CPU, but what should I look at? my motherboard doesn't need to be so advanced, just needs to do the job (~8 USB ports, 5.1/7.1 audio, etc.) I think it's absolutely worth it, to get a 4670k, a decent cooler and to target whatever you can get with ~1.3vcore or a bit over (probably ~4.5, 4.6) but cost for cost - probably not. Sc2 and KSP don't scale well past 2 cores (well, from what i hear now of KSP) and Planetside, while it scales better now, i don't think it would benefit a ton from a third core. An i3 4140? (3.4ghz model) or 4340 could kick some ass there if you don't want to go all the way to i5 or i5 + OC (for expensive but better performance in singlethreaded stuff and way better in multithreaded) You can go like h81+i3 for cheap, maybe i5 there - or ~z87+4670k Oh and also, please don't follow some random asus vid (i'll maybe look at it later) | ||
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