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question
Only one case fan plugs into the mobo. Is it worth getting that adapter I heard about that lets me plug the second case fan into the power supply?
Also, the mobo came with a ton of utilities. Do I want to be using any of them? They include ai suite 3, ez update, rapid storage technology. Some others.
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As I recall, plugging into the mobo enables the system to dynamically control fan speed, while directly into the PSU is going to always run at full speed (unless you're using a resistor to limit it). Alternatively you can get a fan controller (the kind that goes in a 5.25" / 3.5" slot with knobs/sliders to control the speeds).
If you get fans that are quiet at full speed then it's not really an issue. For my money, it's mostly a matter of how much you want / need to control the noise level of the fans.
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On March 15 2015 07:40 Craton wrote: As I recall, plugging into the mobo enables the system to dynamically control fan speed, while directly into the PSU is going to always run at full speed (unless you're using a resistor to limit it). Alternatively you can get a fan controller (the kind that goes in a 5.25" / 3.5" slot with knobs/sliders to control the speeds).
If you get fans that are quiet at full speed then it's not really an issue. For my money, it's mostly a matter of how much you want / need to control the noise level of the fans. The motherboard needs to support fan speed control on the header. It is generally not well documented which headers are capable of PWM control, which are capable of voltage control, which can do both, and which can do neither. Also if fan speed control is provided, what determines the speed that is set and how the parameters can be altered. For example, extra fan headers on some motherboards may tie fan speed regulation to CPU temperature, while on other boards there might be an option to use other temperature sensors such as for the chipset. And different fan speed curves.
Really, all this is usually terribly documented, and the feature sets available on some boards will not be available on others from the same series from the same manufacturer.
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Can anyone help me out with what I had mentioned?
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Hello guys, a few years ago you helped me to build a pretty sweet gaming pc, but now I need your help again, this time for my friend! I would help him but I'm still a dummy when it comes to this stuff.
Anyway, he's looking to make something for around 500-600, wants to be able to do gaming with at least high settings and be able to stream. He has a tower and a monitor already, but no OS or anything else.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229496 He was looking at this but before he bought it I told him to let me ask you guys, since it's likely that he could get something comparable or better from you guys.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!
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On March 15 2015 23:35 Johnnycashew wrote:Hello guys, a few years ago you helped me to build a pretty sweet gaming pc, but now I need your help again, this time for my friend! I would help him but I'm still a dummy when it comes to this stuff. Anyway, he's looking to make something for around 500-600, wants to be able to do gaming with at least high settings and be able to stream. He has a tower and a monitor already, but no OS or anything else. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229496He was looking at this but before he bought it I told him to let me ask you guys, since it's likely that he could get something comparable or better from you guys. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me! 
hey man
that prebuilt is kind of terrible in terms of GPU power
you can build something much better along these lines:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/NKmXpg
$615 for an R9 280 and i5 4670 (not haswell refresh to get a cheaper motherboard)
you could swap out some parts here and there, not saying the rig is perfect,but globally the system i linked you is much better in terms of price / performance
this should allow you to stream 1080p30 or 720p60 without too much of performance hit, arguably even 1080p60
overclocking an i5 at that price point is kind of difficult, you'd have to make major concessions on GPU power to say the least
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I have a slightly technical question
This was my build
On March 14 2015 01:39 usedtocare wrote: i5 4690k MSI Z97-Gaming 5 FSP Group Raider S 550 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Corsair Carbide Series 200R
Now I will be looking to add a GPU obviously, and I am leaning towards r9 290 for a few reasons, However, will my PSU be enough to handle it at these specs given a reasonable OC on the cpu and possibly r9 itself?
Second question is - what do I need in terms of cooling? You can see the case that's being shipped to me and I have no idea as far as how much cooling it provides naturally. It seems to be a respectable product so I'd expect some out of it. Do I only need to add one good fan to calm the internals down?
Third question is - what's your recommendation for an r9 290? Which brand produces less heat/noise? Should I wait until next release for the prices to dip? Should I buy used?
Thank you.
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So you want to take a case with poor cooling and add a GPU to it that is known to have terrible cooling? And then because your forced to have an open-air cooler on the GPU you'll be pumping 300watts right into your CPU cooler. So you'll need a massive cooler to get any good OC on the CPU; however the case you chose can't fit coolers large enough for the job so you will be forced to only ~4.2-4.3GHz with temps in the mid to high 80s. Yeah this is one recipe for disaster. Also with r9 290 OC + 4690k OC you'll be pulling 400w+ while gaming so your PSU fan will be roaring.
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On March 16 2015 03:40 iTzSnypah wrote: So you want to take a case with poor cooling and add a GPU to it that is known to have terrible cooling? And then because your forced to have an open-air cooler on the GPU you'll be pumping 300watts right into your CPU cooler. So you'll need a massive cooler to get any good OC on the CPU; however the case you chose can't fit coolers large enough for the job so you will be forced to only ~4.2-4.3GHz with temps in the mid to high 80s. Yeah this is one recipe for disaster. Also with r9 290 OC + 4690k OC you'll be pulling 400w+ while gaming so your PSU fan will be roaring.
This sounds very dramatic I read that some of the better non-reference 290s shouldn't be too terrible. And this PSU has a fairly quiet fan (personal experience). I hope I can still pull it off! However, didn't know that this was a bad airflow case. What's a good airflow case in this price spectrum?
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United Kingdom20300 Posts
With only two fans at 800rpm, my GPU doesn't affect cpu temps more than 5c or so, is just that the GPU is creating a big pocket of hot air in the bottom half of the case that's as much as 10c or even more over room temperature. It's quite dramatic being able to take the case side off and stick your hand in, ~17c room, ~20-22c in front of cpu cooler, close to 30c under the GPU i'd guess.
IDK about good airflow cases for cheaply running ~400w systems, i've overpaid like crazy because it's kinda fun, asthetic reasons and i like overkill. Still, by the end of this i will have spent >£150 on case and case fans >_____>
my advice is to just not to have too few or too weak fans, if you're trying to keep noise down then it seems intuitive to run few or to run quiet fans but it can actually be counterproductive. I turned down one of my fans yesterday and unplugged another one, and my noise levels actually rose significantly as the GPU fans had to spin up from ~2100 to ~3250rpm. I'm running a 980 at about 250w at load, while a 290 would be able to hit about 300-375w at a decent OC, i'm not sure exactly.
The tri-x and vapor-x 290's are quite good.
It's not really that it's a particularly bad airflow case, but most PC cases are not particularly suited for high power builds. 300w gpu's are not very mainstream
+ Show Spoiler +I really like this case though ![[image loading]](http://oi62.tinypic.com/ifoggm.jpg)
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thanks Cyro, and that's a sexy-looking case
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hmm cyro did you get a clc cooler?
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United Kingdom20300 Posts
not my system, just same case
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yeah thought so
gigabyte card threw me off for a second :p
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Anyone care to give some suggestions to a newb? My parents need a new computer and it will mainly be used for office programs, e-mail, internet (YouTube, news, etc.)
I was going to build it myself for practice and to (hopefully) get parts with the best bang for the buck.
Currently they have:
CPU - Pentium 4: 2.4Ghz MoBo - SiS 648 FX RAM - 1 GB GPU - GeForce FX5700LE - 128 OS - Win XP HD - 80 GB Maxtor
They mainly want something "fast." That is, something that doesn't take forever to load a program or web page. As you can see from the specs above, "fast" is relative - they're working with an antiquated system. I figure a small SSD would go a long way but I'm not sure. Also, they were recently given a tablet so something that will help with WiFi would be beneficial.
Their budget is $400-$500 with Canadian pricing.
Any help is appreciated, thanks 
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On March 17 2015 00:51 Pewpz wrote:Anyone care to give some suggestions to a newb? My parents need a new computer and it will mainly be used for office programs, e-mail, internet (YouTube, news, etc.) I was going to build it myself for practice and to (hopefully) get parts with the best bang for the buck. Currently they have: CPU - Pentium 4: 2.4Ghz MoBo - SiS 648 FX RAM - 1 GB GPU - GeForce FX5700LE - 128 OS - Win XP HD - 80 GB Maxtor They mainly want something "fast." That is, something that doesn't take forever to load a program or web page. As you can see from the specs above, "fast" is relative - they're working with an antiquated system. I figure a small SSD would go a long way but I'm not sure. Also, they were recently given a tablet so something that will help with WiFi would be beneficial. Their budget is $400-$500 with Canadian pricing. Any help is appreciated, thanks  assuming they need an OS I think the consensus is often to go with a prebuilt/referb for 3-400
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What is your budget? $600~$800
What is your monitor's native resolution? 1920x1080 and 1440 x 900
What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings? MKX on high settings. (I play others like USF4, and Diablo 3 but they aren't as demanding so if I can meet MKX's standards the rest should follow suit)
What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming? I plan to use this computer for high-quality streaming as well as making videos.
Do you intend to overclock? Yes
Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire? I haven't and I don't plan to buy more than one video card, but I'm not sure if it would be necessary for what I'm currently doing.
Do you need an operating system? Yes Win7 64bit is what I plan to get.
Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget? Possibly a decent microphone and/or webcam for streaming, it depends on how much is left over.
If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify. i5 for processor, and even than I'm not well informed on what I would be giving up or gaining by picking other brands.
What country will you be buying your parts in? USA
If you have any retailer preferences, please specify. newegg.com.
Here's the setup I'm looking at right now but I'm not sure if it's overkill or not + Show Spoiler [Parts List] +
I'm not quite sure on how powerful I'll need of a system to be able to stream MKX in high quality, I plan to get an i5 but if I can get away with an i3 for now and upgrade later that would be good too.
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United Kingdom20300 Posts
I don't really know any of the MKX performance information, how hard it is on CPU or GPU etc and it's not released for another month so that info is probably not the easiest to get a lot of ATM. It's unreal engine 3 though.
CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor \ CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler \ Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard \ Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory\ Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive \ Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive \ Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card \
z87 mobo and CPU cooler is for overclocking setup, the 4440 can't overclock. If you're going to do CPU OC, you should have a 4690k and a z97 board (refresh of 4670k/z87 that's a little better and more recent). If not then you don't need the CPU cooler (there's a stock cooler in the CPU box) and you can get a cheaper motherboard, h97 will run everything, but you can use h81 or b85 with a Haswell CPU from before they released the refreshed ones, and they're basically exactly the same thing - the 4690k and 4790k are the only changed parts, vs the 4670k and 4770k. Those h81 and b85 boards can have a newer bios to run the refresh CPU's as well - but they're usually not guaranteed to, and if you don't have a newer CPU then you can't easily update them yourself.
If you're getting OC setup and z97, then you can often get ~2133c9 - 2400c10 etc memory for barely any price increase. It helps for some tasks and even some games (sc2 + heroes of the storm engine is one of them), usually a small performance improvement like ~3-5%, but it can be literally the same price or barely marked up over 1600c9 RAM.
660 is out of date GPU, that price is alright but you should probably get a 750ti instead if that's the tier of GPU that you want from Nvidia.
For the build overall, i don't know if it's best. I'm thinking that you'd probably want a locked i5 (4570-4690) and a stronger GPU. High end GPU's are already 3-5x faster than the 660 and 750ti.
Getting an i3 now would likely be a bad idea. Intel doesn't drop their prices, yet their CPU's lose value over time. If you bought an i3, you'd likely have to resell it at a significant loss, in order to then pay full price on an i5 that's already available today. Intel's next gen, releasing in around 5 months, will not use the same motherboards or CPU socket so you can't upgrade to them.
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On March 17 2015 04:27 y0su wrote:Show nested quote +On March 17 2015 00:51 Pewpz wrote:Anyone care to give some suggestions to a newb? My parents need a new computer and it will mainly be used for office programs, e-mail, internet (YouTube, news, etc.) I was going to build it myself for practice and to (hopefully) get parts with the best bang for the buck. Currently they have: CPU - Pentium 4: 2.4Ghz MoBo - SiS 648 FX RAM - 1 GB GPU - GeForce FX5700LE - 128 OS - Win XP HD - 80 GB Maxtor They mainly want something "fast." That is, something that doesn't take forever to load a program or web page. As you can see from the specs above, "fast" is relative - they're working with an antiquated system. I figure a small SSD would go a long way but I'm not sure. Also, they were recently given a tablet so something that will help with WiFi would be beneficial. Their budget is $400-$500 with Canadian pricing. Any help is appreciated, thanks  assuming they need an OS I think the consensus is often to go with a prebuilt/referb for 3-400
Any brands that are especially reliable? I'm kinda surprised, I thought it was always better to build your own. If an OS isn't an issue, what would people suggest then? I'm pretty sure I can give them my old Win 7 if I had to.
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United Kingdom20300 Posts
It's just sometimes good for very cheap stuff because paying $100 for an OS on top of $250-350 of parts can be a lot. If you get the OS in other ways, it's fine to build if you want to do it. The OEM prebuilts usually have bottom tier psu's, cases and motherboards, though with some other parts, an i3 4340 is an i3 4340 no matter what system it's in. The companies like Dell and HP just get mass windows licenses at a small fraction of the price that we would pay IIRC. I don't recommend paying full price on OS on any build that's either low budget or otherwise starved for cash, but there are other ways to obtain OS even if you can't use your old win7 license (pretty sure you can)
For your build, you should be fine with a ~pentium g3220 (the "pentium" name is the same, but modern pentium's are Haswell and basically just an i3 with a few things disabled, they're dual cores and very fast, capable of competing with older quad cores for example.. they come in very cheap too, they are intel's cheapest parts to buy new) OR one of the AMD APU's - i'm not sure which models are the most cost efficient there.
Like you said, most important part is having a good SSD, and a modern chipset and sata controller to connect it to (even cheap motherboards should have that) so that it runs properly. Enough RAM (though 4GB is plenty for most casual non-gaming uses it might not be enough always, it's not a huge amount in 2015) and there's not much else to it, aside from having an alright case, a quiet fan or two and a PSU that's not a fire hazard :D
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01:26PM EDT - Pascal offers 2x the perf per watt of Maxwell
Damn, nvidia is REALLY not letting up. HBM and doubled efficiency. They advertised doubled efficiency on Maxwell when it was really more like a 1.6x gain apples to apples vs kepler, but if they're advertising 2x performance/watt then they must be making serious advances. I guess they're finally getting a die shrink with Pascal.
GM200 Titan X confirmed 1.5x 980 specs, 12GB VRAM, $999. I'm probably just gonna get a Pascal GPU, but damn that thing is a monster. ~1.8x a 290x in performance.. but higher power consumption 
980 reports ~230-250w most of the time*, but hitting 270w in the very power intensive games/tasks (WoW tends to do this for some reason) at ~1.2v. 1.5x greater would mean ~350w with spikes above that at 1.2v, which is a totally safe 24/7 voltage for this architecture and process (960's, 970's, 980's with factory OC often ship out at 1.225v).
Because those numbers are just way too high, i don't think it will be easy if at all doable to match clocks with a 980 on air. The ~220-250w stock power will be awesome, but come at a much lower voltage still in the golden zone for efficiency (around 1200mhz @1v), but if you stay around ~250-300w then your performance gains over 980 would probably be ~1.3 - 1.4x, and not 1.5x. If they allow people to use up to ~1.2v or even further, i fully expect the 1.5x 980 performance with better cooling though :D
*sensor in software probably not particularly reliable, but Nvidia uses it for all of their power management on the card and it seems to be a very strong indication of power usage at least
From anand before they took down their review - http://cdn.overclock.net/5/54/548ab657_titanx.jpeg
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