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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  Gaming  |  Topic: The 'Build Me A PC' Thread 0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: The 'Build Me A PC' Thread  (Read 854019 times)
Trippy
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Reply #910 on: October 12, 2011, 06:44:38 PM

Tests showed it's a decent tech, but not all that impressive. Better off getting a decent SSD for OS and a few games.

Another thing I thought of...I suck at PSU calculations :) I overbought /at the time/ but I wasn't considering SLI, I've always done big single cards. So...will this melt down with two GTX 460 1GBs?
460 GTX should draw max around 13A - 14A at +12V and Nvidia recommends at least 24A on +12V for a single card for the full system -- so that would be ~13A - 14A for video card and  ~10A - 11A at +12V for the other system components. For your system let's say you'll need, padding a bit, 14A + 14A + 14A (for rest of system) at +12V = 42A +12V. Your power supply puts out 49A at +12V so you should be fine.
Sky
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Reply #911 on: October 12, 2011, 08:15:50 PM

Thanks, Trippy. You continue to be the man, to rock, to firmly wear the ubergeek crown of f13, etc  Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?

You don't think 7A is cutting it close for 2 HDD, an optical, several USB (xbox controller/3D vision/mouse/wireless keyboard remote), plus the x-fi? ASUS's site says I should look at an 850W supply, but they don't talk amperage. It's always fun to poke at the holey spots in my knowledge and feel dumb after building badass pcs for myself and many others for almost 20 years  Ohhhhh, I see.

I always used to throw money at it and over-engineer everything, but that's not going to work this build. I see a few nice PSUs...but they all have top/bottom fans and the Antec p180 vents out the back. The top/sides/bottom of the psu are covered...Budgets suck.

edit: Now I'm thinking maybe I should think about dropping the X-Fi if the onboard is good enough. I've always been a fan of discrete sound cards, though. But it's probably not going to fit with that MSI card, and definitely not if I mod it with another arctic cooler. I could probably also pull the old XP drive since I haven't booted into it in ages but the current Windows 7 install wants it there.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2011, 08:34:08 PM by Sky »
Trippy
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Reply #912 on: October 12, 2011, 08:42:37 PM

It's not 7A that's left for the rest of your system it's 14A + 7A or 21A at +12V. I.e. your cards will use up around 26A - 28A combined so you'll have 49A - 28A = ~21A left for everything else that needs to use the +12V. NVIDIA does recommend 650W as the minimum for dual 460 GTXs but it really depends on the power supply.

I always used to throw money at it and over-engineer everything, but that's not going to work this build. I see a few nice PSUs...but they all have top/bottom fans and the Antec p180 vents out the back. The top/sides/bottom of the psu are covered...Budgets suck.
Just flip the power supply up-side down.
Sky
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Reply #913 on: October 12, 2011, 09:03:10 PM

Ah, I see where you put 14+14+14, woops. Upside-down could work, there's about an inch clearance where I guess it could pull in air. But I'll have to stick with my current PSU because the bank, it's busted. If I use the MSI gpu and MSI mobo, I could get back $50 in MIR, though. Might actually be room on the MSI mobo to squeeze in the X-Fi if onboard doesn't work for me.

Ok, modified list:

MSI P67A-GD65 $160
Intel Core i5-2500K $220
MSI N460GTX Hawk GeForce GTX 460 1GB $170
G.SKILL 8GB DDR3 1600 $52
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus $26
TP-LINK TL-WN722N USB 2.0 High Gain Wireless Adapter $19
XIGMATEK CCA-EMFCB-U01 $25
Nexus BASIC D12SL-12 120mm Case Fan x 4 $48

$720 with $30 MIR (+ $20 more MIR if I game it).
« Last Edit: October 13, 2011, 08:43:09 AM by Sky »
Sky
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Reply #914 on: October 13, 2011, 01:29:25 PM

Newegg just put something else on a wee sale, $710. And they sent me a code for the 2500K, extra $15 off. So $665 without gaming the system for the extra $20 (only 1 MIR per household for MSI parts).

That's adding a whole 'nother gpu compared to my original spec, only $8 more.  Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?
« Last Edit: October 13, 2011, 01:31:20 PM by Sky »
fuser
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Reply #915 on: October 13, 2011, 09:59:49 PM

That's for a full system. It still seems off, though. The max power usage is spec'd at 125 W so it's unclear why the Bulldozer system is drawing so much more power compared to the Intel systems.

HardOCP has some more numbers at stock clocks were still talking 75-100w more power consumption under full load.
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Reply #916 on: October 14, 2011, 05:33:44 AM

Newegg just put something else on a wee sale, $710. And they sent me a code for the 2500K, extra $15 off. So $665 without gaming the system for the extra $20 (only 1 MIR per household for MSI parts).

That's adding a whole 'nother gpu compared to my original spec, only $8 more.  Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?

If you have a Microcenter near you they have the 2500K on sale for $179.99.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589&bc=

"You have all recieved youre last warning. I am in the process of currently tracking all of youre ips and pinging your home adressess. you should not have commencemed a war with me" - Aaron Rayburn
Sky
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Reply #917 on: October 14, 2011, 06:44:28 AM

Thanks for the heads-up. However, any 'if you have X near you' is bound to fail. I truly live in a ghetto. Think of the middle of NY like the middle of Mississippi. Because that's what it is, without the funny accents.

I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger, so if anyone sees any red flags, lemme know.
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Reply #918 on: October 14, 2011, 08:01:56 AM

Thanks for the heads-up. However, any 'if you have X near you' is bound to fail. I truly live in a ghetto. Think of the middle of NY like the middle of Mississippi. Because that's what it is, without the funny accents.

Sounds like funny accents to me.  why so serious?

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Reply #919 on: October 14, 2011, 11:47:21 AM

Does he talk through his nose and say "warsh" instead of wash?
Sky
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Reply #920 on: October 14, 2011, 11:54:19 AM

And mayshur instead of measure, git you some. Mom's side of the family is from MS and ME, somehow I avoided most of both accents, though I do use wicked a lot.
Sky
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Reply #921 on: October 14, 2011, 08:36:56 PM

I know there's always new tech around the corner and it's best to buy what's price/performance now...but LGA 2011 looks real interesting...


Man, talk about being able to jettison the PCI X-Fi!
« Last Edit: October 14, 2011, 08:41:27 PM by Sky »
Sheepherder
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Reply #922 on: October 14, 2011, 08:45:56 PM

That's just Gigabyte.  They make nice shit.
Sky
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Reply #923 on: October 14, 2011, 10:18:46 PM

I was talking more about the platform, but incorporating the X-Fi tech is a pretty nice bonus on that one board. There are also a couple nice MSI boards in that photo spread.

Wonder when it's going to hit, and how steep the pricing will be.

Google research dep't says November 11 (good!) but you won't be touching a hexacore, unlocked version for under $500 (BAD). Even the quad core is almost $300. I'm still tempted to wait, if only it wouldn't bust the budget. Looks like a nice tech (the memory bandwidth, no space wasted on the on-die gpu, etc). Ah well, hopefully the next pc will allow for a better budget (FJ will be paid off by then). Quite a power draw on the cpu, too....looks like for now I'm better off waiting for that tech to mature a bit imo (or at least until I can swing a psu as well!)

 Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly? edit: trigger pulled! Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?
« Last Edit: October 15, 2011, 11:28:19 AM by Sky »
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Reply #924 on: October 18, 2011, 12:00:06 PM

If you have a Microcenter near you they have the 2500K on sale for $179.99.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589&bc=

Still on sale now and I just grabbed one, although it's a longish drive. Thanks!
I heard that while the flooding in Thailand had the biggest impact on Western Digital and therefore hard drives in general, it may affect Intel Sandy Bridge in the next six weeks as well.
Sky
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Reply #925 on: October 20, 2011, 11:05:01 AM

Got everything up and running, it's a bit hotter than the old single-card gtx 460 machine I had been running, but that had the monster Accelero cooler and sat alone in the middle of the case. Also don't have all the cooling in place yet, but I think I'm going to need to dremel the side panel and add an intake fan blowing over the expansion card region. It's packed tight as sardines in there, main gpu is a three-spacer; secondary gpu is a dual-spacer; also squoze in the X-Fi to get the extra 8% (or whatever) out of the cpu.

After fumbling with activation and updates (Note to self: install the high-gain usb wireless FIRST, my downloads increased an order of magnitude), it was kinda late to be running through the OC/test/tweak cycles. So I powered down and hit the "OC Genie" button on the MSI mobo just for grins. Put on a 4.2GHz OC to the cpu, heat went from 40C idle to 46C idle, so I'll take that. No need to push it to the 4.7 or so I should be able to get pretty easily.

GPU temp with the single card used to idle around 35C and nothing could push it past 75C (except fucking Rift, which would hit low 80s...that game has issues). Now the dual cards are idling around 49C and hitting mid-70s pretty regularly, I imagine low 80s will be normal once everything is closed up. Tempted to put Rift on the machine just to see how it handles that mess....but I think I'll pass on that idea. The Twin Frozr card is running fans around 50%-70%, but the Accelero-cooled card is running fans 20% slower at all times (even scaling with the Frozr).

3dMark 11 at a hair under 7000.
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Reply #926 on: October 20, 2011, 12:25:14 PM

If you just kind of read Sky's post in a stream of consciousness sort of way it sounds kind of like he's an old-school test pilot reading off the gages of his instruments to flight control.

Sierra-Kilo-Yankee Niner you are cleared to launch on runway 13.

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Sky
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Reply #927 on: October 20, 2011, 12:41:11 PM

If you just kind of read Sky's post in a stream of consciousness sort of way
This is indeed the correct way to read my posts!
MisterNoisy
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Reply #928 on: October 20, 2011, 12:41:22 PM

Got everything up and running, it's a bit hotter than the old single-card gtx 460 machine I had been running, but that had the monster Accelero cooler and sat alone in the middle of the case. Also don't have all the cooling in place yet, but I think I'm going to need to dremel the side panel and add an intake fan blowing over the expansion card region. It's packed tight as sardines in there, main gpu is a three-spacer; secondary gpu is a dual-spacer; also squoze in the X-Fi to get the extra 8% (or whatever) out of the cpu.

After fumbling with activation and updates (Note to self: install the high-gain usb wireless FIRST, my downloads increased an order of magnitude), it was kinda late to be running through the OC/test/tweak cycles. So I powered down and hit the "OC Genie" button on the MSI mobo just for grins. Put on a 4.2GHz OC to the cpu, heat went from 40C idle to 46C idle, so I'll take that. No need to push it to the 4.7 or so I should be able to get pretty easily.

GPU temp with the single card used to idle around 35C and nothing could push it past 75C (except fucking Rift, which would hit low 80s...that game has issues). Now the dual cards are idling around 49C and hitting mid-70s pretty regularly, I imagine low 80s will be normal once everything is closed up. Tempted to put Rift on the machine just to see how it handles that mess....but I think I'll pass on that idea. The Twin Frozr card is running fans around 50%-70%, but the Accelero-cooled card is running fans 20% slower at all times (even scaling with the Frozr).

3dMark 11 at a hair under 7000.

Nice.  Are you running a single fan on the Hyper 212?  A PWM y-cable and second fan would help keep the CPU temps down when OCing - my 2500K runs at practically the same temps at 4.4GHz as it does at stock clocks with the second fan on there.

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Sky
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Reply #929 on: October 20, 2011, 01:15:10 PM

I do have a second fan for the hyper 212. Right now I've just got the stock push fan on it. The splitter is a good idea, hadn't thought of that for the PWM control; I was just going to slap it into a case fan outlet.
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Reply #930 on: October 23, 2011, 04:57:32 PM

Generally I buy overkill power supply with detachable lines then move it from machine to machine. My current power supply is 800W, I purchased it about 4 years and 2 builds ago.

Plus, PSU issues are hardest to diagnose, so you _really_ want to make sure you are more than fine.

Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end.
Sky
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Reply #931 on: October 23, 2011, 10:36:14 PM

Seems to be kicking ass. It was an overkill psu 5 years ago, it's adequate now. If I start getting buggy behaviour, it's the first thing I'll suspect.

So far really happy with the build, though the only things I've thrown at it have been 3dmark and metro 2033. Makes it tempting to get Skyrim, since NDA isn't much of a stress-test.
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Reply #932 on: October 25, 2011, 05:01:58 PM

I dunno if anyone is looking to build a new box or upgrade soon, but Newegg has a Zotac GTX570 for $300.  Given that 570s generally go for $330-350, it's a pretty good deal.

Just bought one as part of my brother's Christmas present - he's never built a PC before, so I'm buying the parts and we'll put it together over the holiday.  Should be good times.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2011, 05:03:38 PM by MisterNoisy »

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Reply #933 on: November 01, 2011, 01:38:35 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129185

What is the deal with this being so cheap? I am looking to upgrade just my vid card since the old 8800gt is on its way out the door in a ripping and tearing hurry. I haven't been in the arena since well over a year or two ago and need something to marry with a e8400 CPU/4g of RAM/WIN7 64b system till tax day when I can start building a new system. $80 seems like there should be a huge red flag with it.

Other than that... I was leaning toward a 460GTX since I have been a nVidia person as of late... my last radeon was a 9500 I think.

...but really, I have no preference other that drivers that fucking work.

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Reply #934 on: November 01, 2011, 02:14:23 PM

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2917

That's why its so cheap. Don't get me wrong, probably still an upgrade, but only just barely. Look at the Far Cry 2 benchmark, this card is just a bit above the 8800 GT.

I should get back to nature, too.  You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer.  Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached.  Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe

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Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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Reply #935 on: November 01, 2011, 07:02:11 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129185

What is the deal with this being so cheap? I am looking to upgrade just my vid card since the old 8800gt is on its way out the door in a ripping and tearing hurry. I haven't been in the arena since well over a year or two ago and need something to marry with a e8400 CPU/4g of RAM/WIN7 64b system till tax day when I can start building a new system. $80 seems like there should be a huge red flag with it.

Other than that... I was leaning toward a 460GTX since I have been a nVidia person as of late... my last radeon was a 9500 I think.

...but really, I have no preference other that drivers that fucking work.

Engels is spot on -- go with the GTX460.  Avoid the SE models (cut down pretty heavily).

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Reply #936 on: November 02, 2011, 12:23:34 AM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129185

What is the deal with this being so cheap? I am looking to upgrade just my vid card since the old 8800gt is on its way out the door in a ripping and tearing hurry. I haven't been in the arena since well over a year or two ago and need something to marry with a e8400 CPU/4g of RAM/WIN7 64b system till tax day when I can start building a new system. $80 seems like there should be a huge red flag with it.

Other than that... I was leaning toward a 460GTX since I have been a nVidia person as of late... my last radeon was a 9500 I think.

...but really, I have no preference other that drivers that fucking work.

Noted. Thanks... I generally do a lot of cross comparison when I start building a system, but for now I want to squeeze the life outta my hardware but the vid card is a definite need at this point.
Engels is spot on -- go with the GTX460.  Avoid the SE models (cut down pretty heavily).

Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
Sky
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Reply #937 on: November 02, 2011, 06:59:33 AM

I'm normally not an SLI guy, but I really like my current setup with dual gtx 460s. And I came about it in a similar way to where you are, had to upgrade my gpu (rift killed my 8800gtx) and went with the 460. Later you can SLI it and get performance that's nothing to sneeze at, competitive with top-end single card setups.

Although I do heartily recommend slapping an Accelero on it if you can swing it. My solo 460+cooler performed amazing and never broke a sweat.
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Reply #938 on: November 02, 2011, 08:29:03 AM

I'm normally not an SLI guy, but I really like my current setup with dual gtx 460s. And I came about it in a similar way to where you are, had to upgrade my gpu (rift killed my 8800gtx) and went with the 460. Later you can SLI it and get performance that's nothing to sneeze at, competitive with top-end single card setups.

Although I do heartily recommend slapping an Accelero on it if you can swing it. My solo 460+cooler performed amazing and never broke a sweat.

I dunno - as long as you get a card with a decent cooler installed from the factory and have a case with fair to middling airflow or better, you'll generally be fine without aftermarket cooling.

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Sky
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Reply #939 on: November 02, 2011, 09:10:43 AM

YEEEEPPP! Dammit, now I have Dave Hester in my brain for the day. Thanks, tv forum (ok, my own fault).

Anyway, the card I bought for the second in SLI is the MSI card. It does run hotter than the Accelero (I talked about that upthread) and has to push the fans harder, but it's still a great stock cooler.

Avoid EVGA stock cooling. They're awesome if you plan to add your own cooling, because as long as you can return it to stock for RMA, they'll honor their lifetime warranty. But their stock cooling is trash.

So I second the MSI recommendation, I guess :)
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Reply #940 on: November 07, 2011, 11:19:29 PM

I'm trying to talk my gf out of wasting her money on a MacBook. Can anyone recommend a decent quality laptop as an alternative? Has to be aesthetically pleasing.
Sky
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Reply #941 on: November 08, 2011, 07:56:50 AM

A Macbook is not a waste of money, they are awesome laptops. Always at the tops of consumer reports. If you have the money, it's usually the right choice.

We've been happy with our $700 i5 Dell Studio refurb, since we don't have Apple money.
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Reply #942 on: November 08, 2011, 08:27:00 AM

There's nothing wrong with the laptop, its just the OS that's the problem. I've often considered taking a Mac Book Pro and splashing it with Windows 7, and then I remember the danged mouse pad.

Dell's are good. Take a peek at the new XPS 15z, the new sleek one.

I should get back to nature, too.  You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer.  Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached.  Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe

I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa

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Reply #943 on: November 08, 2011, 10:01:50 AM

There's nothing wrong with the laptop, its just the OS that's the problem.

From what point of view?  From an OS point of view OSX is a much better OS than Windows 7 in almost every measurable way.  If what you want to do is play games, then yeah, not so good.

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Reply #944 on: November 08, 2011, 10:38:22 AM

There's nothing wrong with the laptop, its just the OS that's the problem.

From what point of view?  From an OS point of view OSX is a much better OS than Windows 7 in almost every measurable way.  If what you want to do is play games, then yeah, not so good.

It was a snarky anti-Apple comment meant to troll Sky (and you apparently  awesome, for real) Not meant for deep analysis.

You really can't compare the OSes since their whole philosophy of design and target audience is different. Can you really separate Windows 7 from their Office suite products, for example? OSX has nothing to even compare it to. And if you take out the Office suite apps, then you're left with a gaming platform that out performs OSX to the point that the comparison is meaningless.

OSX is relegated to photoshop, music, other arts and some fairly esoteric scientific tools that have correlates in the *nix verse, so that's not really saying much.

But I'm happy to learn.
« Last Edit: November 08, 2011, 10:51:11 AM by Engels »

I should get back to nature, too.  You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer.  Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached.  Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe

I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa

Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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