Gaming PC

[mikeyg36]

Originally Posted by nikos30

haswell and the titan if you can afford it lmo

The only way I can afford the Titan is if it drops in price by at least $200. Just as a curiosity, why Haswell over an IB Extreme?

[nikos30]

Originally Posted by mikeyg36

The only way I can afford the Titan is if it drops in price by at least $200. Just as a curiosity, why Haswell over an IB Extreme?

will you only be gaming? or will you be using video editing software and stuff like that?

haswell utilizes hyper threading which will only make a difference if you are using the video editing software and other hard stuff that is hard to process. for gaming, there will be almost no difference.

haswell tends to run hotter when overclocking compared to the extremes, and that is why most gamers go with the extremes.


in the end, between the 2, it wont really matter. with intel, I usually like having their latest products because they always improve.

[ChrisBlair]

Jeez, I should have looked here earlier

I've always been a simmer, done a few well regarded things for combat flight sims. I have always just bought a middling-good off the shelf PC and stuffed ram into it, works well for a budget.

But my latest one I bought in 2010. It's OK, but I've learned to loathe the ATI card in it.

I think this weekend I'm going to start asking you guys for some advice on upgrading. My first things I think are a better power supply and a good Nvidia card

[mikeyg36]

Originally Posted by nikos30

will you only be gaming? or will you be using video editing software and stuff like that?

haswell utilizes hyper threading which will only make a difference if you are using the video editing software and other hard stuff that is hard to process. for gaming, there will be almost no difference.

haswell tends to run hotter when overclocking compared to the extremes, and that is why most gamers go with the extremes.


in the end, between the 2, it wont really matter. with intel, I usually like having their latest products because they always improve.

Just gaming basically. All productivity is done on my Mac. I should also mention that most games that I like seem to be supporting the new Mantle API, which is why I am leaning toward the 290x

[nikos30]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

Jeez, I should have looked here earlier

I've always been a simmer, done a few well regarded things for combat flight sims. I have always just bought a middling-good off the shelf PC and stuffed ram into it, works well for a budget.

But my latest one I bought in 2010. It's OK, but I've learned to loathe the ATI card in it.

I think this weekend I'm going to start asking you guys for some advice on upgrading. My first things I think are a better power supply and a good Nvidia card

"better" power supply? what do you mean by that exactly? it just supplies the power and if its enough, it usually doesnt matter what you got.

If your gpu is brand new and you have like...a q6600 processor, itll be a complete waste of your money.

My suggestion for someone who isnt nuts about having the latest stuff and has a semi budget is to get the following:

- 3rd gen i5 -(the extra money for the i7 is not really worth it if you arent - an enthusiast)
- a GTX 670 or a 760 -A great GPU that doesnt have an outrageous price
- 8 GB of DDR3 Ram -Assuming you got a 64 bit OS (which you should always do..)
- A power supply of at least 600
- Motherboards almost due nothing for performance. Just get a decent one (that works) that has good reviews (look on newegg)

Microcenter is a great place for upgrading. Their geeks are awesome. They compete heavily with newegg and will price match almost anywhere. They always have a bundle deal when buying the motherboard(mobo) and CPU when they are purchased together. I think that deal is $50 off, and I have seen the deal consistently for the last 3-4 years.

If you play the newest titles and have 11.1 directx which come one the 700 series of the GTXs, then get windows 8. Windows 8 + directx 11.1 renders game better and can improve FPS with some games.

[nikos30]

Originally Posted by mikeyg36

Just gaming basically. All productivity is done on my Mac. I should also mention that most games that I like seem to be supporting the new Mantle API, which is why I am leaning toward the 290x

you know, im really not to familiar with the mantle API. I know its a low level API and bf4 uses it. I have to say, that beta is simply untouchable when it comes to the physics and how realistic most of it was. That was insane.
However, my 670 doesnt support mantle...

Nobody really knows how mantle will perform yet. I believe itll be sick because its gonna be part of the ONE and ps4 and even used in the frostibite 3 engine. Should be sick.

Im an intel fanboy....so im upset about it lmao

[mikeyg36]

Originally Posted by nikos30

you know, im really not to familiar with the mantle API. I know its a low level API and bf4 uses it. I have to say, that beta is simply untouchable when it comes to the physics and how realistic most of it was. That was insane.
However, my 670 doesnt support mantle...

Nobody really knows how mantle will perform yet. I believe itll be sick because its gonna be part of the ONE and ps4 and even used in the frostibite 3 engine. Should be sick.

Im an intel fanboy....so im upset about it lmao

I believe all GCN core Radeons support it, along with Intel processors. The thing with mantle is that the 290x is beating the 780 in early benchmarks along with the Titan in certain cases, and that is without mantle support. It's also supposed to be around $6-700.

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by nikos30

"better" power supply? what do you mean by that exactly? it just supplies the power and if its enough, it usually doesnt matter what you got.

If your gpu is brand new and you have like...a q6600 processor, itll be a complete waste of your money.

My suggestion for someone who isnt nuts about having the latest stuff and has a semi budget is to get the following:

- 3rd gen i5 -(the extra money for the i7 is not really worth it if you arent - an enthusiast)
- a GTX 670 or a 760 -A great GPU that doesnt have an outrageous price
- 8 GB of DDR3 Ram -Assuming you got a 64 bit OS (which you should always do..)
- A power supply of at least 600
- Motherboards almost due nothing for performance. Just get a decent one (that works) that has good reviews (look on newegg)

Microcenter is a great place for upgrading. Their geeks are awesome. They compete heavily with newegg and will price match almost anywhere. They always have a bundle deal when buying the motherboard(mobo) and CPU when they are purchased together. I think that deal is $50 off, and I have seen the deal consistently for the last 3-4 years.

If you play the newest titles and have 11.1 directx which come one the 700 series of the GTXs, then get windows 8. Windows 8 + directx 11.1 renders game better and can improve FPS with some games.

Hi. I don;t have a lot of time today.

My power supply will not support a better vid card than I have right now. They cheaped out on it. It's 350. Yes, I agree, I want at least 600. I'm concerned about finding a power supply that fits my tower, I want to upgrade vs. rebuild

I run WIN7 64 bit w/8 GB DDR, with an i7 870

Like I said I'd like to talk about it sometime this weekend but I'm terribly rushed.

[ChrisBlair]

OK, my PC:

Dell Studio XPS 8100
Win 7 64 bit
8 GB ram
i7, 870@2.93 GHz, 4 core
AMD Radeon HD 5700, 1GB

My primary use for my PCs is simming. Mostly combat flight simulation but also automobile racing. I do not have multiple PCs so I also use it to go online. I use Kaspersky labs Internet Security.

I also play a couple of Steam based games on occasion. I also really liked LA Noire

I would like to run some older titles that I still remember fondly, like Jedi Knight II, Operation Flashpoint, and a few others like Viet Cong. My video card gives some issues with JK II and VC, in particular. I have tried all the fixes and dlls, and they won't work for me.

For Sims I play CLiffs of Dover and Il2:Sturmovik 1946. If you're an IL-2 fan you might recall my offline campaign 'white sun, blue sky'

But I also use Photoshop for making historical aircraft skins

What I really want to do more than anything for this PC is swap out the power supply and get a good nVidia based video card. I've always had good luck with them, good luck with the drivers, and with support if needed. I feel I can easily get some more years out of this PC with the power supply and vid card change

My primary worry is finding a power supply, 550-600, which will fit my Studio XPS 8100 case

I'm also interested in effective non-water cooled cooling options. I can't see going nuts on cooling with this PC as it is now 3 years old so I don;t want to go crazy.

Also wondering about SSD options

[ChrisBlair]

Interesting. My PC shut down by itself three times last night. In other words, as if somebody pulled the plug out of the wall. No restart.

The kernal error was code 41, which is the same as if you just shut down the PC improperly, if I recall so it doesn;t tell me much.

Could be overheating, but case is cool to the touch even around the power supply. My GPU however is seeing 74* C, it is around 45-48* C at idle but lately I have noticed the fan is on high rpm much more than I've been aware of in the past. I took a look online, and that's not world-endingly high for my GPU but still- 165*F? That's hot in my opinion.

I have long suspected the power strip I use to be an issue. A few times after disconnecting this PC and taking the cover off to blow out dust, the PC would not start up when it's plugged back in. Re-plugging in the power cord to the strip has fixed it.

I've tossed that power strip and am using another, but I have a sinking feeling that the PC is overheating.

A new power supply might fix that. So 90 bucks...new GPU...250. I'll still have the old case, which I'm told is an oddball case...still have my platter disk drive instead of SSD. My CPU and RAM is pretty good.

I'm wondering if I should screw it and buy a new PC

[mikeyg36]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

Interesting. My PC shut down by itself three times last night. In other words, as if somebody pulled the plug out of the wall. No restart.

The kernal error was code 41, which is the same as if you just shut down the PC improperly, if I recall so it doesn;t tell me much.

Could be overheating, but case is cool to the touch even around the power supply. My GPU however is seeing 74* C, it is around 45-48* C at idle but lately I have noticed the fan is on high rpm much more than I've been aware of in the past. I took a look online, and that's not world-endingly high for my GPU but still- 165*F? That's hot in my opinion.

I have long suspected the power strip I use to be an issue. A few times after disconnecting this PC and taking the cover off to blow out dust, the PC would not start up when it's plugged back in. Re-plugging in the power cord to the strip has fixed it.

I've tossed that power strip and am using another, but I have a sinking feeling that the PC is overheating.

A new power supply might fix that. So 90 bucks...new GPU...250. I'll still have the old case, which I'm told is an oddball case...still have my platter disk drive instead of SSD. My CPU and RAM is pretty good.

I'm wondering if I should screw it and buy a new PC

Just build one yourself and save money

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by mikeyg36

Just build one yourself and save money

lol, well that's the answer for everything, isn't it? Unfortunately this type of advice is too little and too much.

Too little because it assumes I have all the knowledge already to order everything and go. Too much because it suggests there's nothing to it, but having done my homework on this same thing about 7 years ago, I know there's a lot more too it than picking one from column A and column B. It's possible to blow money on mistakes doing this.

Since seven years ago, I have not kept up on all the latest things in the PC world. I'm conversant in many things having to do with PCs, but that's different from being able to leap into building one again. I'm wise enough to know my limitations here.

When you guys talk about unlocked and locked, mantle, etc, I'm lost now. It's a language you need to keep yourself around, and I haven't done that at all.

If there were recipes for building them, then that's a different story. But sitting down and doing all the background work, joining forums again, talking to people for a month about it, making sure I get the right parts in the right case with the right drivers with the right clock speeds with the right...everything...isn't as easy as snapping my fingers.

I'd like some advice above and beyond the fallback "build one". Frankly that type of advice is dismissive when "build one" is the entire extent of the advise.

[ChrisBlair]

...and it crapped out again while I was surfing the web. I'm using a different power strip now. GPU was about 50*C. PC case was cool. Not digging this.

Tried LA Noire about an hour ago. It used to run slick as snot on this machine. Now it is a slideshow, freezes, and hangs. Oh good.

[mikeyg36]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

lol, well that's the answer for everything, isn't it? Unfortunately this type of advice is too little and too much.

Too little because it assumes I have all the knowledge already to order everything and go. Too much because it suggests there's nothing to it, but having done my homework on this same thing about 7 years ago, I know there's a lot more too it than picking one from column A and column B. It's possible to blow money on mistakes doing this.

Since seven years ago, I have not kept up on all the latest things in the PC world. I'm conversant in many things having to do with PCs, but that's different from being able to leap into building one again. I'm wise enough to know my limitations here.

When you guys talk about unlocked and locked, mantle, etc, I'm lost now. It's a language you need to keep yourself around, and I haven't done that at all.

If there were recipes for building them, then that's a different story. But sitting down and doing all the background work, joining forums again, talking to people for a month about it, making sure I get the right parts in the right case with the right drivers with the right clock speeds with the right...everything...isn't as easy as snapping my fingers.

I'd like some advice above and beyond the fallback "build one". Frankly that type of advice is dismissive when "build one" is the entire extent of the advise.

Newegg has some build your own kits where they pick the parts and you just assemble it, if that's more your speed. They also have step by step videos on how to build it. http://www.newegg.com/DIY-PC-SuperCo...ionStore/ID-33