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I'm in the process of parting out a replacement system and I have two general questions: 1) Are H97 boards (and non-K CPUs) completely incapable of overclocking, or are they simply not (over)designed for it the way Z97 boards are? Basically I'm looking a few years down the line to when I might want to OC a little bit to squeeze more life out of components before replacing them. I don't do much overclocking in general, but if I can get an extra 5+% or whatever out of an H board then I don't feel like I need to spend the extra bit of cash to pre-load my system's capabilities. Basically, are those board/chips required to even think of it or are they just the safer/more convenient option? 2) What kind of performance increases would I be likely to see if I went with 1866 RAM instead of 1600? I noticed that the ASRock H97M Pro4 only takes speeds up to 1600. This kind of ties into my first question as well; is giving myself the headroom for higher RAM speeds as well as potential OC worth the price difference? I realize "worth it" is subjective but when I'm looking at over $1000 already, less than 100 bucks starts to look like wiggle room.
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Oct 14, 2014 19:19
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If you use a 290x, wouldn't you still need a decent amount of wattage? If I remember some statistics of the cards, those things are starving for power under heavy load. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ID=3938566&SID= This popped up, and it seems like a good deal but might not be!
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Oct 14, 2014 19:29
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The Lord Bude posted:Here you go. Take it down about $200 if you can, please. You are a huge help.
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Oct 14, 2014 19:44
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Chard posted:I'm in the process of parting out a replacement system and I have two general questions: 1) As Intel intends it, H97 is completely unable to overclock. That said, many board manufacturers have hacked in some basic overclocking features. How much control you have varies wildly between different boards. Some will just let you manually change RAM speeds and timings, some will go as far as multiplier and voltage control (though not as fine-grained or detailed as Z97). Check the manual of the board you get to see exactly what it exposes. There are two reasons I don't recommend using these boards basically ever. First, the hacked-in overclocking support sucks. Even the best implementations have no fine control and poor results. Second, overclocking support can disappear without warning in a BIOS update. -K chips or a G3258 are an absolute requirement, though. There's no work-around or limited overclocking for non-unlocked CPUs (except for the integrated graphics, which you can overclock freely. If you're bored, I guess. 2) Long answer: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell Short answer: Single-digit percent performance increases in working with archives (zips, rars, etc.) and video encoding, and game framerate differences of less than 1 FPS average, potentially but rarely a handful of FPS minimum.
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Oct 14, 2014 20:00
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What's the likelihood of being able to use the Windows 7 Pro key/license from my current computer, which I will be retiring, on a new computer that I'm building?
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Oct 14, 2014 20:16
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Will it work? Practically 100%. Can you get away with it without triggering anti-piracy measures or otherwise arousing Microsoft's ire? Also practically 100%. But is it cool within the EULA? Unless it's a retail boxed copy or an upgrade to a retail boxed copy (not an OEM license), then no, technically that's against the EULA.
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Oct 14, 2014 20:21
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Xachariah posted:Yeah, it's more terrifying in a primal way than difficult. In practice it's no worse than slotting Lego pieces together and really if you bought everything recently from a reputable place it's probably all under warranty and you can RMA components that don't work. That was me putting in the evo 212 on my soon to be replaced desktop, never having installed an aftermarket CPU cooler before. That sense of "I'm so close to breaking a ton of crap" was something else.
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Oct 14, 2014 20:31
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the evo 212 sucks to install there, i said it
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Oct 14, 2014 20:34
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WhiskeyJuvenile posted:the evo 212 sucks to install how bad does it suck and why? I'm not willing to bother installing it if the process of doing so will make me pray for death.
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Oct 14, 2014 20:38
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It requires three hands to avoid awkwardness, and the instructions are horrible so you can easily be lost if you don't watch a video. Once you do see a video it's a lot clearer, though. Then you just have to get past the awkwardness.
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Oct 14, 2014 20:43
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Factory Factory posted:It requires three hands to avoid awkwardness, and the instructions are horrible so you can easily be lost if you don't watch a video. Once you do see a video it's a lot clearer, though. Then you just have to get past the awkwardness. So if I have a roommate I can badger in to serving as hand number 3, I needn't panic?
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Oct 14, 2014 20:46
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Factory Factory posted:It requires three hands to avoid awkwardness, and the instructions are horrible so you can easily be lost if you don't watch a video. Once you do see a video it's a lot clearer, though. Then you just have to get past the awkwardness. I just this minute finished installing the evo 212 on a new board and can confirm the veracity of this statement. The instructions are terrible. Don't be stubborn like me; check the video.
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Oct 14, 2014 20:47
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Factory Factory posted:good words Thanks Factory, that was super helpful. I think I'll probably opt for saving on my initial purpose and just write off any overclocking, since I'm honestly pretty nervous about the concept anyway and was just exploring options. Likewise for the RAM, that doesn't seem like the level of improvement that would make it worth it for me.
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Oct 14, 2014 20:48
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RiotGearEpsilon posted:So if I have a roommate I can badger in to serving as hand number 3, I needn't panic? I want to say yes but all I remember about the process is "shitshitshitshit oh cool it's done" and having a beer with my buddy who held the thing still.
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Oct 14, 2014 20:49
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Honestly I had a waaaaay harder time installing the motherboard and RAM, of all things, than the evo 212. Not knowing that standoffs exist didn't help. But I know now! And will never forget.
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Oct 14, 2014 20:52
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Cat Army 
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The Iron Rose posted:Honestly I had a waaaaay harder time installing the motherboard and RAM, of all things, than the evo 212. "What the hell are these?" LATER: "OH GOD THAT'S WHAT THOSE WERE"
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Oct 14, 2014 20:53
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Alright, I think I'm ready. I'm carrying over a Win 8.1 license, video card, and capture card to this HTPC build. PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.99 @ Amazon) Motherboard: ASRock Z97M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg) Memory: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($43.24 @ Amazon) Storage: Intel 530 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($128.99 @ Best Buy) Case: Antec Minuet350 MicroATX Slim Case w/350W Power Supply ($97.98 @ Newegg) Total: $430.19 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-14 15:42 EDT-0400 Only thing I'm not as sure about is the case. It does have an 80+ PSU that'll be more than sufficient for this build. And everything I have should fit since my add-on cards are low profile. Just not sure how good the cooling will be, or need to be, since it's going to be in a TV cabinet. It has an open back and is in the corner, so it has plenty of air flow that way at least. I was thinking with a Pentium G3258 and my existing Radeon 6550 I wouldn't be producing a whole lot of heat in the first place so I can probably get away with it, but some advice on that front would be appreciated, as well as any other potential problems anyone sees. Could be talked into an 840 EVO once the fixed firmware is out, just depends on the day-to-day price. I had added the Intel SSD when it was a little cheaper than this; just noticed it had gone up a bit. Winifred Madgers fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Oct 14, 2014 |
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Oct 14, 2014 20:55
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I am posting to see if I am missing anything for the computer that I am planning on building and looking for any suggestions on the parts specifically the heatsink. Usage goals: Triple A gaming to the likes of The Witcher 3, Batman whatever, and so forth. Not much planned in terms of online FPS’s at the moment. Mathamatica and/or Mathcad. General media like music and video. Mostly the media is going to be local. Budget: I am projecting $1200-1300. And am aiming for a June/July 2015 buy. Parts that are going to be repurposed from my current system: 700 watt, 90+gold, cool max power supply that is currently ~2 months old Gaming mouse and Keyboard A 5.1 3-minijack connection speaker system and separate headphones 2 1080p 23-24inch monitors A 1 TB hdd for a media drive And a GTX 280 Parts I plan to buy with reasoning: part picker link http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vZsv23 A i7 4770k. I know it is overkill for gaming but I am hoping to keep the math compute times down. An aftermarket air cooler so that I have more thermal head room for boost clocks and light over-clocking. A motherboard that supports SLI, has 4 slots for ddr3 ram, allows for overclocking and has a gigabit lan port. The ram would be a 2 stick kit of 1600MHz 16MB(2x8MB) ddr3 that didn’t interfere with the heatsink. Getting 2 sticks instead of 4 so that if I need the extra ram for my math computations I can upgrade without tossing away any of the existing ram. I am not really caring about the speed of the ram because the higher latency of faster ram tends to even out the performance. I am looking at an Intel 730 Series SSDSC2BP480G4R5 480GB SATA drive as my main boot drive. Going with a 480GB because I want enough room for windows and whatever games/programs I decide and I don’t want to have to think about it for a while. I don’t want multiple ssds because I am tired of messing around with is there enough space on this drive for this program. I will also be getting a BD drive because I still need a DVD drive for work and the BD drive only costs $10 more. Other thoughts: I intend to build the system around the time Win10 comes out and just skip 7 and 8.1. I will start out using the GTX 280 until I can save enough to get a 980 and then save again for a second 980 to put in SLI.
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Oct 14, 2014 21:21
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Major_JF posted:Budget: I am projecting $1200-1300. And am aiming for a June/July 2015 buy. Put everything out of mind and come back in June. E: Also, Coolmax doesn't sell a 900W 80+ Gold power supply... Factory Factory fucked around with this message at 21:34 on Oct 14, 2014 |
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Oct 14, 2014 21:24
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Carrying over your ancient GPU to a $1200 build sounds like a pretty good idea.
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Oct 14, 2014 21:29
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Getting my MSI 970 into the PCI-E slot was a terrifying experience. For such expensive parts of equipment, the amount of force needed to get some of them in place is ridiculous.
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Oct 14, 2014 21:30
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I forgot a question earlier: I use Logitech G930 headphones most of the time on my current laptop. Would there be any need for a sound card/accessory along with these on a new build? Their website lists the impedance at 32 Ohms but that means nothing to me other than what I read in the OP.
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Oct 14, 2014 21:30
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Chard posted:I forgot a question earlier: I use Logitech G930 headphones most of the time on my current laptop. Would there be any need for a sound card/accessory along with these? Their website lists the impedance at 32 Ohms but that means nothing to me other than what I read in the OP. No because they don't plugin like a normal set of headphones. You just need the USB dongle that transmits to the headphones
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Oct 14, 2014 21:32
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Major_JF posted:I will start out using the GTX 280 until I can save enough to get a 980 and then save again for a second 980 to put in SLI. This is very, very silly. We can't predict what the GPU market will look like in 8 months, but it's very likely that you'd be better off with SLI GTX 970 (or their replacement) over 980s, unless you like burning money. Really though, don't think about buying or buy anything for a PC build until you're ready to build it. You'll be like this guy on reddit who posted his ridiculous $3k computer that had SLI 780 Tis 2 weeks after the Maxwell parts launched.
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Oct 14, 2014 21:33
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gariig posted:No because they don't plugin like a normal set of headphones. You just need the USB dongle that transmits to the headphones OK great, thanks. I wasn't quite clear on that from the OP, I guess that only refers to headphones that still use the 3.5mm jacks. e: better to ask a dumb question than to make a dumb purchase i always say 
Chard fucked around with this message at 21:37 on Oct 14, 2014 |
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Oct 14, 2014 21:35
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Ok, fair enough with regards to the gpus. I would think that air coolers won't change much in the next year. Would be so kind as to point out 2 or 3 options in the <$150 range so I can work them into my budget and whatever case I pick?
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Oct 14, 2014 21:41
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Seriously, your parts list will be outdated in June. We'll at least have more video cards and different prices for them (possibly an AMD response to the GeForce 900 series), and we'll probably have Intel Broadwell. Plus Windows 10 is slated to come out about the same time as Intel Skylake - 2H2015. We'll also have a different selection of SSDs, including a Samsung 850 EVO and a new slate of PCIe SSDs that may be significantly better choices than the Intel 730. poo poo will be different. If coolers don't change, then here's your short list: Phanteks TC-14PE (165mm tall), Noctua NH-D15 (160mm), Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (158mm, lower-end price/performance for mild overclocking or silence focus). Good luck finding an air cooler more expensive than the NH-D15. Factory Factory fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Oct 14, 2014 |
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Oct 14, 2014 21:52
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Thank you for your time.
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Oct 14, 2014 21:58
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So I just noticed that 280 being at $156 ends tonight, I mean realistically i can purchase https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Photex/saved/NLrp99 tonight, how does black friday and cyber monday regularly fair, i haven't ever really kept up on the hype is it worth waiting for the holidays or is there going to be some artificial inflation happening soon?
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Oct 14, 2014 22:48
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Black Friday and Cyber Monday rarely discount anything worth buying, because that stuff sells anyway. You'll get a lot of sales on B-grade hardware and older gear that needs to be cleared out. Maybe you'll find a doorbuster somewhere, but the odds are against it.
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Oct 14, 2014 22:55
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Factory Factory posted:Black Friday and Cyber Monday rarely discount anything worth buying, because that stuff sells anyway. You'll get a lot of sales on B-grade hardware and older gear that needs to be cleared out. Maybe you'll find a doorbuster somewhere, but the odds are against it. Yeah last year I think I got most of my deals from either Visa Checkout / Masterpass bribery promotions, or from Microcenter's loss leaders like the $200 4770k. Just keep your eye on Slickdeals.net because any of those deals can happen year-round, it's not worth holding out and often deals will be well in advance of the holidays or immediately after. Edit: Speaking of Slickdeals:  660w Platinum Fully Modular Seasonic for $70 after promo code and rebate on Newegg, buy that poo poo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...17151121&cm_sp=
Zero VGS fucked around with this message at 23:06 on Oct 14, 2014 |
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Oct 14, 2014 23:02
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Factory Factory posted:Black Friday and Cyber Monday rarely discount anything worth buying, because that stuff sells anyway. You'll get a lot of sales on B-grade hardware and older gear that needs to be cleared out. Maybe you'll find a doorbuster somewhere, but the odds are against it. Aww. My hopes of big savings are withering. So there's no point in waiting for Big Sales on my purchases?
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Oct 14, 2014 23:12
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RiotGearEpsilon posted:Aww. My hopes of big savings are withering. So there's no point in waiting for Big Sales on my purchases? Nope. But I'd jump the gently caress on that $70 SeaSonic SS-660XP2.
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Oct 14, 2014 23:14
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Factory Factory posted:Black Friday and Cyber Monday rarely discount anything worth buying, because that stuff sells anyway. You'll get a lot of sales on B-grade hardware and older gear that needs to be cleared out. Maybe you'll find a doorbuster somewhere, but the odds are against it. Au contraire, last year I got the 1TB Samsung 840EVO from Amazon through Cyber Monday. In fact, I think it was all models of the 840EVO that were on sale. edit: Will that Seasonic PSU have enough headroom to power my i7-4790K + GTX980 + SSD should I decide to add enough 980 in the future? My gut says yes. Anti-Hero fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Oct 14, 2014 |
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Oct 14, 2014 23:14
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Zero VGS posted:
I got that power supply when it was on sale with the same deal in July. I just got the rebate check last week.
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Oct 14, 2014 23:17
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r0ck0 posted:I got that power supply when it was on sale with the same deal in July. I just got the rebate check last week. Yeah well you got it right? You're supposed to just forget about rebate checks and be pleasantly surprised later. It's like eBaying poo poo from China.
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Oct 14, 2014 23:21
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Factory Factory posted:Nope. But I'd jump the gently caress on that $70 SeaSonic SS-660XP2. I presume that Platinum efficiency and 200w of headroom is worth the extra tenbucks, even if I'm not going to use those 200w on this build?
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Oct 14, 2014 23:24
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RiotGearEpsilon posted:I presume that Platinum efficiency and 200w of headroom is worth the extra tenbucks, even if I'm not going to use those 200w on this build? The extra headroom means the drat thing will last you a decade, plus it's practically the best PSU made.
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Oct 14, 2014 23:27
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That and it's one of the most reliable PSUs ever made, with a seven year warranty: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=326 Note the only points docked was for it retailing at $149.99
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Oct 14, 2014 23:27
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Factory Factory posted:The extra headroom means the drat thing will last you a decade, plus it's practically the best PSU made. Decade sounds good. *buy*
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Oct 14, 2014 23:30
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