PC Tech/Gaming Info Thread

[GRIM]

I had a thermaltake tough power 750w for about a year and it just died on me.
end up buying a evga supernova 750w b2 2 weeks ago to replace it. don't think I buying a thermaltake psu ever again.

[HCCA]

I had a thermaltake tough power 750w for about a year and it just died on me.
end up buying a evga supernova 750w b2 2 weeks ago to replace it. don't think I buying a thermaltake psu ever again.

I have 2 corsair tx 750w power supplies: one is abt 3 yrs old (bought used), the other is around 5 yrs old (bought new).

Tried to kill the older one (by overloading it wayyy past its rated wattage output) but it still pushing power like new.

Had a TT toughpower 750w before. Only issue i had was that it was pushing out a lil too much heat from the exhaust area, probably was less efficient or something.

Wanna go modular or semi modular but those two corsairs have to die first.

[iM@st@1]

Guise, are Sentey power supplies any good, seeing some good prices on amazon, but mixed reviews.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html

list is a little old but still an excellent guide.
keep in mind you get what you pay for

Good listing, currently have a thermaltake purepower 600w, not sure if its on its way out since its kinda old

Are you experiencing any problems? How old it is? Have a HX 850w going strong since Jan 2012, I'd recommend you look to invest in a quality unit that will give ya a couple years usage coupled with a good warranty. The psu is the heart of ya system so don't go cheap, my 2c.

More up to date guide PSUs

[hustla_ambition101]

Pc randomly restarting especially when i gaming....its about 5 or 6 years old could be more

[NR8]

hustla_ambition101, I was recently checking out the Sentey units on Amazon as well because of the prices, but got discouraged after reading the reviews. If you're on a budget check out the EVGA and Antec units. EVGA is the best selling PSU on Amazon. It sold out when I was ready to order so I got an Energy Star certified Antec 450w for about $34usd on Newegg.

[hustla_ambition101]

Yup....will most likely go for an evga unit....

[skylinechild]

hustla_ambition101, I was recently checking out the Sentey units on Amazon as well because of the prices, but got discouraged after reading the reviews. If you're on a budget check out the EVGA and Antec units. EVGA is the best selling PSU on Amazon. It sold out when I was ready to order so I got an Energy Star certified Antec 450w for about $34usd on Newegg.

Antec is a good brand solid quality don't know if that changed over the years now.

other brands to consider is cooler master and corsair. thermaltake was good back in the day - dunno if its still like that.

something to be warned about. - active PFC - power factor correction.

info on power factor correction - >> http://cooltechpc.com/articles/power-fa ... ection-pfc

Active PFC

The preferable type of PFC is Active Power Factor Correction (Active PFC) since it provides more efficient power frequency. Because Active PFC uses a circuit to correct power factor, Active PFC is able to generate a theoretical power factor of over 95%. Active Power Factor Correction also markedly diminishes total harmonics, automatically corrects for AC input voltage, and is capable of a full range of input voltage. Since Active PFC is the more complex method of Power Factor Correction, it is more expensive to produce an Active PFC power supply

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newer big brand name power supplies ARE supposed to have this - but don't.
the cooler master 500W PSU commonly found is the wiz and super tech DONT have it - yet they charge a lot for it cause its brand name - a certified bronze plus PSU unit is over $900 in local stores - total rip off.

If youre shopping for a psu make sure the unit you intend on buying has active power factor correction - stay clear of those cheaper units that advertise "big wattage" for small money- remember you get what u pay for.

and if all else fails...amazon for your new psu

[hustla_ambition101]

Amazon I going for sure, not wasting time on local dealers with their ripoff prices

[HCCA]

Had one of these back in my benchmarking days:

http://www.amazon.com/Antec-BP550Plus-A ... tec+bp+550

Semi modular, puts out more than advertised wattage. Good stuff.

Had one of these as well but didn't use it much:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817371009

This brand pretty long lasting as well:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... No=3276567

Know a guy who has one like this still (prob over 5 years by now):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817703009

Had the red one to it but sold it after a mth.

Owned many more brands/wattages power supplies but those are the units i put thru the most stress and they laughed at it.

Current highest rated psu i own now is this:

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Sil ... B003O8J12I

Unfortunately i don't use it since i don't have any setups requiring over 500w max again. It's semi modular and gold rated so that's 2 good enough reasons to keep it.

Have a lot of good review sites for power supplies to do some research before you buy.

[Arcmanov]

http://www.trinituner.com/v3/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=612808

hmmm...$38k

*stifles laughter*

20K outta da price is for the e-penis enlargement therapy.




SM-N910H | Dr Ketan's ROM(N910C) v1.0 | SwiftKey | Tapatalk v4.10.1

[kamakazi]

Active pfc in power supplies isn't necessary but it's nice to have. also active pfc is a requirement of 80 plus but that doesn't mean that power supplies without it aren't capable of of being efficient.

[jm3]

Yay a pair of toxic r9 290's on the way got em at a really good price. [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

[skylinechild]

Active pfc in power supplies isn't necessary but it's nice to have. also active pfc is a requirement of 80 plus but that doesn't mean that power supplies without it aren't capable of of being efficient.

i'll agree with you but somewhat the active PFC also greatly reduces harmonic distortion- which in turn puts less stress and wear and tear on your components...

relatively speaking active PFC is preferable to passive PFC and passive PFC is better than NO PFC at all

trust me I see some ppl buying power supplies all 600W and thing and it very light - not even passive PFC- like is just a transformer a rectifier circuit and some capacitors in there- and they sell that for $200..and men bragging how dey get a "bess" deal

[anthonyanthony]

New to this thread..
On the topic of PC all of my desktop systems I built myself with parts from ECC ( when they were around ) and supertech.
I am planning to build 2 systems , the first system will be a back up server using freenas and the next will be my desktop system.
I see on you tube some people are not using cases but assembling the parts on a board and mounting them on a wall ie wallmounted PC which I think looks good. Will be attempting this

[skylinechild]

New to this thread..
On the topic of PC all of my desktop systems I built myself with parts from ECC ( when they were around ) and supertech.
I am planning to build 2 systems , the first system will be a back up server using freenas and the next will be my desktop system.
I see on you tube some people are not using cases but assembling the parts on a board and mounting them on a wall ie wallmounted PC which I think looks good. Will be attempting this

you can also try a oil immersed build...saw one on youtube the guy had everything immersed in a vat of oil- it was working - and he was also frying chips in the oil...

[anthonyanthony]

the oil thing is too extreme and messy for me , will do the wall mounted

[HCCA]

the oil thing is too extreme and messy for me , will do the wall mounted

Yeah the wall mounted is a decent project.

I might rebuild another pc-in-a-desk but i wanna learn some new techniques before i attempt that one.

[jm3]

http://www.trinituner.com/v3/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=612808

hmmm...$38k

*stifles laughter*

20K outta da price is for the e-penis enlargement therapy.




SM-N910H | Dr Ketan's ROM(N910C) v1.0 | SwiftKey | Tapatalk v4.10.1

if he gets 38k for that i am going to order on amazon and sell one for the same lol.

[desert punk]

What you all think about GTX 970 3.5GB Vram Issue,it been posted on may sites an alot of people are experiencing problems while accessing the last 500mb for their higher resolution an gaming setups

I never had any problem with my card seeing I still running 1080p

[Arcmanov]

Well my 2 970s running at 1440p, and they running just as good today, as they were the day I read about that issue.

Doesn't make the 970 any less of a powerful piece of tech for the money.

I'd still recommend the 970 over any other GPU at that 300 - 350 US-dollar price bracket any day.





SM-N910H | Dr Ketan's ROM(N910C) v1.0 | SwiftKey | Tapatalk v4.10.1

[novastar1]

I wouldn't have even known that there was a 970 issue if it wasn't for the web articles.
Mine runs everything i throw at it...and i run at 2560x1080 usually.


Arcmanov...have you run into any sli issues? I've been thinking of going that route myself

[iM@st@1]

Acer predator XR341CK Hoping to upgrade to this and rock some Elite Dangerous on it.

[Spitfir3]

anybody running dying light?? its pretty demanding

[stev]

hey guys,

I've been out of the PC game for some time and im budgeting for a new monster PC.

PC will be used for the following:

-Always on
-Heavy video processing
-A lot of photo editing
-Emulation - android and apple virtual devices
-occasional gaming (max graphics depending on game)
-not much storage required (I have a NAS) was thinking a single SSD (all data will be on NAS)
-at least 1 x 1Gb NIC (need two ports but one can be a normal fast ethernet)
-able to do all of the above with an Ubuntu virtual machine running in the background.

does it make sense to go with a Dual CPU motherboard? or will a single current gen CPU handle all of this?

....and the age old question: AMD or Intel?

been doing a lot of reading online and i'm liking the Intel i7 4790k...but i'm not sure as yet.


also, does it makes sense to go with liquid cooling or will sufficient air flow be enough? not really looking to go as far as liquid cooling :/


the PC does not have to be fancy looking....just once it gets the job done.


edit: not sure about video cards as well...i need at least 2 independent HDMI out (2 X 21" monitors)....dont really need anything fancy for sound.


what do u guys recommend?

...again, I dont need the newest and greatest components out there....just enough to get the stuff I need done (mentioned above).

excluding the monitors....my starting budget is ~$8,000TT. Is that ok in this day and age?

[HCCA]

hey guys,

I've been out of the PC game for some time and im budgeting for a new monster PC.

PC will be used for the following:

-Always on
-Heavy video processing
-A lot of photo editing
-Emulation - android and apple virtual devices
-occasional gaming (max graphics depending on game)
-not much storage required (I have a NAS) was thinking a single SSD (all data will be on NAS)
-at least 1 x 1Gb NIC (need two ports but one can be a normal fast ethernet)
-able to do all of the above with an Ubuntu virtual machine running in the background.

does it make sense to go with a Dual CPU motherboard? or will a single current gen CPU handle all of this?

Single cpu can handle all of those requirements easily.You can go with server grade components like hard drives and hard drive controllers

....and the age old question: AMD or Intel?

Intel. AMD has it's uses but wouldn't be well suited for your purposes

been doing a lot of reading online and i'm liking the Intel i7 4790k...but i'm not sure as yet.

4 core/8 threads - good enuff since video editing requires a lot of cpu power. If you can fit in a hex core then that would be the best


also, does it makes sense to go with liquid cooling or will sufficient air flow be enough? not really looking to go as far as liquid cooling :/

Airflow via case fans would be enuff for most users. Liquid cooling like the corsair all in one units can be considered if the pc would be in a warm environment or if the case is smaller than the average mid atx form factor. Also if you stress the cpu a lot (converting video, virtual machines etc then something like an h80i corsair should do. Or a tower style air cooler like the Coolermaster cm 212 hyper


the PC does not have to be fancy looking....just once it gets the job done.

Have some decent thermaltake mid atx cases locally, should do you fine at reasonable prices. You can even go with a micro atx case to save some space.

edit: not sure about video cards as well...i need at least 2 independent HDMI out (2 X 21" monitors)....dont really need anything fancy for sound.

I believe the nvidia gtx 6xx series upwards can support that function. The 6xx had the capability to run 3 displays in surround mode and a 4th monitor independently. Or if you mean just two hdmi ports then you can have a card with one HDMI and use a dvi to hdmi converter (or a displayport to hdmi converter depending on card) to get the 2nd output. Not sure about AMD's Radeon graphics cards capability though, someone else can expand on that.

what do u guys recommend?

...again, I dont need the newest and greatest components out there....just enough to get the stuff I need done (mentioned above).

An intel haswell setup should do the trick then since you mention a 4th generation i7 cpu, if you don't game much you can use the graphics unit on the cpu, they're surprisingly powerful for games.

A board can be had for between $55-$150US. A 240gb ssd should be enough if most storage is on a NAS. Some boards come with dual networking ports and even special chipsets for better networking performance.

16 gb DDR3 memory seems sufficient for a lot of tasks, 8gb should be a minimum.

I recommend a 750 watts power supply as well, very good brands can be had for between $50-$100us.

excluding the monitors....my starting budget is ~$8,000TT. Is that ok in this day and age?

Should be enough or more than enough depending on what parts you decide to go with.

This is my recommendation based on the supplied requirements based on past and current experiences.

[jm3]

anybody running dying light?? its pretty demanding

Yeh it worked smooth day 1 when I bought it then they patched it and it ran slow with a memory leak, they patched it again and it seemed to work better but it crashes randomly still. It's heavy on the cpu for some reason

[stev]

HCCA, thank a lot man. some really good advice there.

considering the Corsair all in one unit now as the machine will not be in AC all the time. i'm seeing XSPC has some great components for liquid cooling.....u guys have any experience with XSPC components?

i'm sure i'll have more questions soon. lol

[DTAC]

Stev, I'd suggest a workstation level motherboard if your machine will be running 24/7. Liquid cooling is a must especially if your machine will be running under load outside of air-conditioning.

The Intel 6 core/12 thread processors are great power for the money and make emulating anything breeze.

I love the Thermaltake Level 10 case because it can hold a ton of stuff and still has huge airflow so it can still run cool in warm environments.

16GBs is the absolute minimum.

[stev]

I'm getting the Intel i7 5930k brand new for $520USD, is that ok?

i'm seeing its a 6 core, 12 thread like the one DTAC mentioned.

also, is the EVGA GeForce GTX 970 for $315USD a good deal?


dam...im feeling old been so long since I was in the PC building world.

[iM@st@1]

That's a good price on the 5930K, especially if it brand new. The x99 mobos are more expensive tho so keep that in mind.

Just to add to HCCA post, I advise getting even more ram if doing heavy video editing, 32gb, but if your budget allows of course. If you decide on the 16gb just get the highest speed like 1866-2133.

If you plan to watercool the 970 then the EVGA is fine, but if you gonna keep it on air I'd suggest looking at the msi / gigabyte g1 gaming options. Those 970's are clocked better than the evga offerings and also have better coolers but of course they're a little more expensive. Not saying the evga is bad compared to them in terms of gpu performance cause they all perform similarly.

XSPC makes great budget watercooling gear, & I also would advise it if you plan to have that machine on 24/7. If you need suggestions for the different parts let me know. The AIO units will work as well but I'm not sure I would trust them for a 24/7 operation, but that's just me. You have to work within your budget so if you could afford a watercooling loop then go for it.