Official Building/Upgrading thread

[twitchyzero]

Originally Posted by StylinRed

i watch 3d blus from my htpc

im using a radeon 6950 though

was wanting to replace it with one of those low profile/itx gpus since the 6950 takes up all the space in my tight htpc case

do you use a BD drive or just play BR rips off a hard drive? the 6950 must get hot and noisy in a slimmer case. I'm not planning on rendering intensive games on it so I don't need a high-end card.

[StylinRed]

i've got a laptop bd drive in my case but only used it to rip my blu-rays into .iso's and watch the 3d .iso's with total media theatre/power dvd

the cooling for the case sucks :/ and that's with me replacing the 3 fans with high cfm ones
pretty much the reason why i wanted to replace the gpu with a smaller form factor one

[jing]

/sadface

27" 1080p LG IPS monitor will be returned as I'm getting a little dizzy playing BF4 cus of my desk design. Monitor is placed on an elevated portion around 6" taller than the rest of the desk so I'm having to look up at an angle creating too much visual strain. Still a nice upgrade from my old 22" screen though!

[Razor Ramon HG]

Originally Posted by Psykopathik

Thanks razor. Wanna spend under $300 for now. How about the fx8370? I realized my board won't put out more than 14th so the FX 9590 is out of the picture

Same concept applies. Just find a 8320/8350 and OC it.

[TOS'd]

Any suggestions for a casual laptop?

13-15.6" Screen Size
<5 lbs
Touchscreen - Optional

Laptop will be used for Web browsing, Netflix, Emails, etc.

[Razor Ramon HG]

I use the ASUS X205 as a casual laptop.

Buy ASUS X205TA-UH01-BK Signature Edition Laptop - Microsoft Store Online

$250 tax in with student discount.

Thin and light with good build quality. Fast and speedy running full Windows 8.1. Only con is that you'll probably want a 32GB microSD for extra storage.

This Acer Aspire E15 is a great deal if they ever restock it though - Buy Acer Aspire E15 E5-571P-59QA Signature Edition Laptop - Microsoft Store Online

[StylinRed]

so i had bought that pentium anniversary ed cpu + anniversary motherboard and have the chip running at 4.2ghz

did a fresh windows install but windows lags like every 30 seconds or so whatever it's doing it lags for a few seconds and goes back to normal

when im looking at the task manager the cpu is @ 100% for random processes: chrome*, task manager, system interrupts, windows defender, etc

*

Spoiler!

i understand chrome can be intense at times but the computer lags even if chrome is on a blank tab

my k400 wireless kb is affected by this too even when im sitting right in front of the computer with it, the kb will lag for several seconds at the worst times

the kb works perfectly fine when i have it hooked to my laptop even from across the room :/





edit messed with the bios, installed some drivers...things seem to be a bit better, specially with the wireless kb

[Razor Ramon HG]

Is it fine on stock clocks?

I wouldn't trust using the automatic OC function if that's what you're doing.

[TOS'd]

Originally Posted by Razor Ramon HG

I use the ASUS X205 as a casual laptop.

Buy ASUS X205TA-UH01-BK Signature Edition Laptop - Microsoft Store Online

$250 tax in with student discount.

Thin and light with good build quality. Fast and speedy running full Windows 8.1. Only con is that you'll probably want a 32GB microSD for extra storage.

This Acer Aspire E15 is a great deal if they ever restock it though - Buy Acer Aspire E15 E5-571P-59QA Signature Edition Laptop - Microsoft Store Online

First one looks great, but probably looking for something with more storage. How powerful is the cpu on that?

Second is a great deal too if it was restocked.


Acer Aspire S7 would be perfect if it wasnt so expensive. But I guess all ultrabooks are going to be $1000+

[Razor Ramon HG]

Yeah, what I did was buy a 64GB microSD for like $30 and it solved my storage woes.

It's fast enough for a casual laptop IMO. 1080p YouTube videos run on it smoothly and pages load quick. I play Hearthstone on it and it runs great as well.

[Phozy]

Spent a little over $1000 on an Asus zenbook.

Honestly, can't tell if the ultrabook premium is worth the coin

Or I'm just not using it to its potential

[Razor Ramon HG]

There's really no reason to cough up all that dough to get ultrabooks anymore unless it's going to be your main computer.

All the $250-300 laptops at the Microsoft Store all run Windows 8.1 perfectly fine and are a thousand times better than the netbooks from like five years ago.

[Psykopathik]

Originally Posted by Razor Ramon HG

Same concept applies. Just find a 8320/8350 and OC it.

went for the FX 8370 as i wanted fast speeds without having to OC. its nice tho, my CS:GO kills have pretty much doubled since upgrading. seems weird but normally get 5 kills or so/15 rounds. Now killing up 10-12. I mean i didn't suddenly get better over 2 days id think.

my fps is up to over 200 fps from about 120.

life is good again.

gonna try some cpu OCing after i get some faster fans for the water cooler.

set it for 4.1Ghz for now.

Anyone wanna buy a AM3+ FX 4100? Asking $75 OBO

[Razor Ramon HG]

You probably could've just bought the cheaper option and ran it at 8370 clocks perfectly fine

[TOS'd]

Budget build PC for casual gaming?

Already have an SSD/HDD, 430W PSU, 560Ti GFX card, perpetuals, monitor.
Looking for Mobo, RAM, CPU.

In addition, looking for a new GFX card for my main computer since I'm upgrading my 560Ti. Something that will last me and play current games at 60fps or close. tia

[Razor Ramon HG]

Depends how budget you mean.

Low-end budget, probably a G3258 with a B85M motherboard and 8GB of RAM will cost you $250 after taxes and give you great performance per dollar in 95% of gaming situations.

If you want to stretch your budget to a bit over 300, then an i3-4150 is a great alternative.

If you want to upgrade your video card, I'd recommend a R9 280X/290, although you'll have to get a new PSU to accommodate the power upgrade.

[TOS'd]

two computers.

main computer i want to upgrade the gfx card, currently a 560 Ti. is the price difference between a 290x and a 280x worth it?

new computer, just needs a mobo/cpu/ram, going to use the 560 Ti on this one.

[heisenberg]

hi so, im in a little knot. i just got my cpu today and hooked everything up. running an i7 4790k, with a asus hero maximus vii. 850 watt ps, geforce gtx 760 8 gb of ddr3 corsair vengeance.

right now im trying to boot up with a usb, but whenever i restart it or put the usb in the first boot order i just go back to bios, any one have this problem before? i tried googling it but i found pretty much nothing.

[Razor Ramon HG]

Originally Posted by TOS'd

two computers.

main computer i want to upgrade the gfx card, currently a 560 Ti. is the price difference between a 290x and a 280x worth it?

new computer, just needs a mobo/cpu/ram, going to use the 560 Ti on this one.

Here's a comparison between a 280X and a 290X - AnandTech | Bench - GPU14

If you have a 1080p monitor, a used 280X for $150 is great value. It'll play practically everything on high/max.

The 290X is a bit more future proof, and if you can find one around $200-250 is a great deal too. It's comparable to a GTX 970, just more power hungry and louder.

Originally Posted by heisenberg

hi so, im in a little knot. i just got my cpu today and hooked everything up. running an i7 4790k, with a asus hero maximus vii. 850 watt ps, geforce gtx 760 8 gb of ddr3 corsair vengeance.

right now im trying to boot up with a usb, but whenever i restart it or put the usb in the first boot order i just go back to bios, any one have this problem before? i tried googling it but i found pretty much nothing.

Make sure it's set to legacy boot.

Also put your USB drive in a 2.0 port. You might run into troubles having it in a 3.0 port.

[heisenberg]

still no luck, i just get a flashing white dash if i wait a bit. im going to try and give asus a call....

[FerrariEnzo]

Originally Posted by Razor Ramon HG

All the $250-300 laptops at the Microsoft Store all run Windows 8.1 perfectly fine and are a thousand times better than the netbooks from like five years ago.

yea tell me about it.. I bought those netbooks and it couldnt even play facebook games.. always lagging

[TOS'd]

Any good i5 packages out there? NCIX and ME both have bundles for $400-$500. Differences being the mobo.

[heisenberg]

I redid the USB and made sure it was ufei or whatever and it worked

[Ulic Qel-Droma]

any predictions on when cheap hdmi 2.0 video cards are coming out (for 4k 60hz purposes)

or when display port to HDMI 2.0 adaptors are coming out (ones that actually convert to 4k 60hz)

[twitchyzero]

GTX 960 is rumoured to come out any day now in the 200-250$ range
i can't decide if i wanna wait for hdmi 2.0 in entry-level cards for HTPC (I'm guessing summer at the earliest...probably year end or early next year)...although the videos that i watch are 99% 24fps so I dont know if it's worth the wait just for the living room...and I have no plans to buy a 4K set in the foreseeable future.