Generally it's a case of picking one within your budget that has the features, aesthetic and warranty you like the most. In all honesty you're just as likely to get a faulty board with one manufacturer as you are with another, and the performance differences between most motherboards are so slight as to be almost inconsequential.
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"I Need a New PC!" 2016 Plus Ultra! HBM2, VR, 144Hz, and 4K for all!
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JonnyDBrit
Member
To provide some criteria:
Do you want absolute cheapest price?
Do you want the cheapest price balanced against a minimum number of potentially useful features?
Do you want a sizable number of features, but not to absolutely break the bank?
Or do you want something out of the high end range, and getting the most bang for your buck while doing so?
It looks like I have 2 usb 2.0 and 2 usb 3.0. my case has 4 front usb 2.0 and 2 front usb 3.0
Headers only support 2 usb. So basically all the 2.0 are used up by the case.
Also, in regards to to cooler. Corsair link 4 shows all real time info and temp, but I can't seem to adjust fan speeds etc? LED color change works though.
Baleoce
Member
Hmm, so I'm kind of faced with a difficult task here. Nephews birthday coming up. He wants a gaming PC. Max budget is around £400 and even then that's the max ceiling (I deliberately asked his dad to quote me a max so I can't get sidetracked by "but if you just go a teeny bit higher.." shenanigans.
I realise it's not really plausible to get everything in and still have all quality components, but I'm looking for something that has a bit of potential for expansion afterwards if needs be. I might be able to sort out a GPU independently even, so that's not a massive concern. If it's got a motherboard with fairly modern features and support for 16gb of ram (although he'll probably start at 8gb) that'll be ok, and supports a half decent cpu. Bonus points for a quality psu and case.
Need to buy from the UK ideally.
I realise it's not really plausible to get everything in and still have all quality components, but I'm looking for something that has a bit of potential for expansion afterwards if needs be. I might be able to sort out a GPU independently even, so that's not a massive concern. If it's got a motherboard with fairly modern features and support for 16gb of ram (although he'll probably start at 8gb) that'll be ok, and supports a half decent cpu. Bonus points for a quality psu and case.
Need to buy from the UK ideally.
If anyone has not seen this yet, best buy has this prebuilt from Asus with a i5 6400 + gtx 1060 at 829.99
and its actually a good deal.
Link To Asus PC
and its actually a good deal.
Link To Asus PC
This would be decent base. There's no dedicated GPU and no Windows (although you can get that cheap enough).
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i3-7100 3.9GHz Dual-Core Processor (£109.14 @ Eclipse Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£69.24 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£52.55 @ BT Shop)
Storage: PNY CS1311 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£39.47 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£34.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX XT 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£47.91 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £396.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-19 13:53 GMT+0000
If it's at all possible, I'd wait two weeks to see what the crack is with AMD's Ryzen processors. They look like you get comparable performance for lower prices, but it might also force Intel to look at lowering their own pricing.
Thrillhouse
Member
So I don't know if anyone remembers my story of the liquid cooler leak and my fried 1070.
I'm at a bit of a loss regarding what to do. I have replaced the broken cooler and everything works just fine, except for the GPU. It is despite my various drying and cleaning efforts completly dead.
I have despite numerous efforts not managed to get a reply from Deepcool. So I've nearly given up hope of them giving me any compensation.
So I wonder if I should just buy a new card. But it feels so shitty to buy the exact same card. Spend a lot of money and still only be back at where I started.
But at the same time a 1080 is so expensive, especially since I've already payed for a 1070! So I'm thinking I might just wait for the new GPU generation and be without a GPU for a while. Which sucks but at least I'll get some upgrade out of this travesty.
But then my CPU, i5 6600k, might be outdated and not able to take advantage of the new cards?
Any thoughts/suggestions?
I'm at a bit of a loss regarding what to do. I have replaced the broken cooler and everything works just fine, except for the GPU. It is despite my various drying and cleaning efforts completly dead.
I have despite numerous efforts not managed to get a reply from Deepcool. So I've nearly given up hope of them giving me any compensation.
So I wonder if I should just buy a new card. But it feels so shitty to buy the exact same card. Spend a lot of money and still only be back at where I started.
But at the same time a 1080 is so expensive, especially since I've already payed for a 1070! So I'm thinking I might just wait for the new GPU generation and be without a GPU for a while. Which sucks but at least I'll get some upgrade out of this travesty.
But then my CPU, i5 6600k, might be outdated and not able to take advantage of the new cards?
Any thoughts/suggestions?
Your the man ! Thanks. I'll take the 4 dollar option.
Holy shit. How common are leaks? I have a 115i
JonnyDBrit
Member
If needing to provide some wriggle room on GPU pricing, you can potentially swap out the CPU for a G4560, which is currently a damned good decent budget CPU which isn't likely to be too affected by Ryzen. That's about a £50 drop from the i3, while not being too far behind it performance wise. As they use the same socket type too, there's plenty of room for increasing performance over time.
lostsupper
Banned
i wouldn't mind some suggestions because i can't find anything at ~£30 that is significantly better. the noctua ones (d14-15) are about ~£70 and don't seem to worth the extra money. at that price i might aswell look into an AIO which are ~£100 for the popular corsair models.
my 212X is just fine with my overclocked 6700K (1.34V which is quite high) which is averaging about 20c browsing the internet/streaming music. during games at 1440p 60fps with only a few settings lowered in most games (gta v, the division, watch dogs 2, es, doom) it's usually anywhere between 50-65C but can sometimes spike to 70 here and there. during video editing the highest i've seen it was 73C. under heavy stress tests like prime95/ibt after about an hour it does 75-80c. of course it's not as good as liquid cooling but not bad for £25.
see above for my experience with the 212. there isn't much a difference between the 212/212X. it's just a slight update. the 212 is still a great choice for the price. if you really want to heavily overclock then i'd say the money is best spent on an AIO.
Cryorig and bequiet! both make a cooler at that price point with quieter fans and a better mounting system. Temperatures will be a few degrees cooler.
"It's fine" is not enough to recommend deprecated hardware when better options are available.
Thrillhouse
Member
Don't know, I think I'm extremly unlucky. I also keeps my GPU running while it was wet for a while. Since I didn't realise what had happened and just tried to get if to work again.
But still, I wouldn't recommend anyone to get a cheap liquid cooler! I got myself a pure rock air cooler now instead. My CPU runs like 15 degrees cooler, it makes less noise and it was cheaper!
What's considered a cheap cooler?
I purchased a PC with a Corsair h115i, how reliable is it or should I swap it?
How did you know it was wet? Are there sensors one can buy ?
kraspkibble
Permabanned.
Quieter fan/better mounting a "few" degrees cooler. Is that it? Most important is the temps so it's not really worth it for a few degrees. Also the 212x fan isn't loud. It's pretty much silent. Only under stress tests can you really hear it and it's not distracting at all. I doubt it can get much quieter really.
212 is still a good choice. Not sure why so many people hate it.
I remember this!
And damn for them not answering... This should be made somehow visible somewhere like Twitter or whatever so they have to answer but im not expert at that.
Still interest to see if they answer sometime and hope they will fix it somehow by giving new gfx card or something.
TC McQueen
Member
The mounting system is terrible. Also, it's popular and widespread, so you automatically get people who hate it for that reason.
This is very bad, complain on their Facebook and twitter and their own forums if they have them.
LegionAgent
Member
Thanks for the input. I was lucky to find the NZXT S340 (black and red) in stock, which is a lot to say since you don't tend to find much variety here in Chile. It's a little more expensive (around 20$) but I'm sure it will be worth it. Where do you recommend fitting the Seidon 120V in? The top part in the back?
I was in the same boat. I ended up with an ASUS IX Hero. I think for me it was more brand trust. I had a gigabyte board before and it was junk so its always turned me off from them. The MSI's were cheaper but then i was reading about the M.2 cover causing heat issues (take it off i guess) but that kinda turned me off from them as well. Luckily I have a Microcenter close to me and they had the hero for $199.
Infinite Justice
Member
That mounting system isn't great but otherwise it was usually a good cooler for the price.
Given its about 5 years now since i have used one (and they were the most recommended Air cooler then) i would like to think that something else would beat the thing in its own price bracket (price and reliability, functionality, etc) .
sleepnaught
Member
Mine use to do that, I wanna say it was due to a loose memory stick.
My one MSI motherboard use to do that, It was a Bios issue. I would update the Bios first and use the default settings(Before tweaking anything).
See if that helps.
Thanks guys, it's a gigabyte z170x GT MOBO. How difficult is it to flash/update the MOBO? Risky? Just like updating a driver ?
** Saw this on their site.
Warning:
Because BIOS flashing is potentially risky, if you do not encounter problems using the current version of BIOS, it is recommended that you not flash the BIOS. To flash the BIOS, do it with caution. Inadequate BIOS flashing may result in system malfunction.
JonnyDBrit
Member
For updating the BIOS, since it's gigabyte, you can get the @BIOS tool here (it's under utilities), and then either manually download a BIOS file from the same page, or try to use it to auto update.
Baleoce
Member
Many thanks for the responses. This gives me a good starting point. Cheers
Thrillhouse
Member
I tried it already. They just keep repeating 'our customer service will reply to you very soon'. And then they don't.
Don't ever buy anything from Deepcool.
It's a much, much better case. You forgo being able to fit an internal optical drive but your average user doesn't use them.
You can fit that cooler anywhere, although as it's a 120mm one I'd personally fit the radiator to the back with the fan blowing air through it and out the rear of the case. Works well and will look neater than the top/front too.
kraspkibble
Permabanned.
Really? I didn't have a problem putting it in and that's my first time installing an aftermarket cooler. Only used stock intel fans before. It did keep sliding about when I started tightening the screw because of the thermal paste but not a huge deal. Honestly the size of fans like the Noctua D14/15's look like they'd be really awkward to work with.
opticalmace
Member
To be honest, I'd rather work with/around a D15 than a 212 every day of the week.
kraspkibble
Permabanned.
What's the difference? What makes installing a D15 easier? With the 212 i just screwed on the backplate to the motherboard, put paste on, seated the cooler and aligned the screws then screwed them in. It can't be any easier than that surely.
opticalmace
Member
You basically don't need to align anything with the D15, the way you thread it through the motherboard means there's only one way to attach it IIRC. Feels like a more premium product too. I just find it nicer to work with, not that there's anything wrong with the 212.
Nyteshade517
Member
between the two (212 and D15)...D15 is the easier cooler to install even with it being larger
lostsupper
Banned
And here we arrive at the root of the problem. People don't hate the 212 because it's popular; people hate that it continues to be recommended by people who don't know any better.
The 212 is adequate. That is the long and short of what can be said about it. It is bested in every category at its price point. Even if the temperature difference with a better cooler is small, it's still a difference. If you think the jank fan on the 212 is quiet, you really should investigate its competitors. If you think installing the 212 is easy, you really should investigate its competitors. If you think the 212 is aesthetically pleasing, you are objectively wrong.
moerser
Member
i know i am in the wrong thread, but maybe someone could help me, or point me to the right thread, if there is any.
since the latest bios update on my asus maximus viii hero, my keyboard (poker 3) and mouse (zowie ec2a) are getting usb powered, and therefore the leds are on, even when the pc is shut down completely. yes, i was in the bios, erp (s5) disabled, fast boot option disabled. i cant find anything on how to not get the usb ports powered.
hope someon knows a workaround or fix. (please dont tell me i should just flip the switch on the psu, this is not really an option)
since the latest bios update on my asus maximus viii hero, my keyboard (poker 3) and mouse (zowie ec2a) are getting usb powered, and therefore the leds are on, even when the pc is shut down completely. yes, i was in the bios, erp (s5) disabled, fast boot option disabled. i cant find anything on how to not get the usb ports powered.
hope someon knows a workaround or fix. (please dont tell me i should just flip the switch on the psu, this is not really an option)
kraspkibble
Permabanned.
Nothing comes close to it in price though. I see lots of people recommending D14/15's which cost £65-75. A 212 is £25.
I get what you are saying though. I'm sure I would see a difference if I bought a D15 for example but it's not worth the additional £50 to me. I think Noctua's look ugly and that the 212 is quiet under full load and easy to install. So no I'm not wrong.
I'm still waiting for someone to suggest me a cpu cooler that is considerably better at the same price point as a 212 and not one at £40+
Personally I don't think this will be the case. With the last two generations of go to i5s the GPU is almost always going to be the bottleneck, and Kaby Lake is not a world different from Skylake from what I understand, and in gaming it doesn't really benchmark much differently.
It looks like people can generally get up to 4.8 GHz on your card whereas you have plenty of people getting to 5.0 GHz on the i5-7600K (I have mine rock solid at 4.9 GHz on 1.35v and am fine with that). With Kaby Lake being the newest gen, I don't see how Skylake would be a bottleneck anytime soon, unless both end up becoming a bottleneck for the next line of absolute top end GPUs.
Eurogamer ran benchmarks test for the i5-7600K vs the 6600K using a Titan X and results weren't that different.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-intel-core-i5-7600k-review
So bottom line is I don't think your i5-6600K is going to be outdated anytime soon. Somebody feel free to correct me/add to this though.
Average framerate benchmarks are
largely
I guess it wasnt confirmed anywhere yet if 1080ti will be shown end of this month?
Well its confirmed!
Its finnish site but they say they got confirmation it will be shown at 28.2. in that event.
Well its confirmed!
Its finnish site but they say they got confirmation it will be shown at 28.2. in that event.
Hey guys, my cable extensions arrived and I could finish my build. The nano s is a really nice looking case
Whats the best way to check if I get the expected performance out of my system ? (i5 4460, msi RX 480 gaming, 16gb Ram)
I love the Nano S! Of all the systems I've built, this is by far my favorite case to work with.
TC McQueen
Member
Cryorig H7 is $35 (the same price as the 212 Evo when not on sale), has an easier mounting system to use, better RAM compatibility (no blocking slots), and cools 5% better. For new builds/people willing to spend cash for marginal upgrades, the H7 beats the 212 Evo.
For people like me, who've had the 212 Evo for years and might've replaced the stock fan, things are a lot harder, because on one hand, there are better coolers out there, but are the improvements worth buying a new cooler instead of reusing it on an upgraded machine? It depends on who you ask and what your budget can support. I'm currently in this position myself, since I'm planning to upgrade to Ryzen and get a CPU with XFR, which would benefit from better cooling, but I already have a 212 Evo and could get the AM4 bracket cheaply.
Gotcha. Did a quick bit of reading and I see what you mean for the most part, though I'll have to look a bit more into it. I understand seeing frame time spikes when measuring in FRAPS or Afterburner but am not sure how I'd apply this to getting an overall measurement of performance in a benchmark.
lostsupper
Banned
Somehow this is still going over your head. Look at Cryorig and bequiet!'s product lineup. Both companies have coolers at the same price as the 212.
Nyteshade517
Member
probably a dumb question...
Does running fans on a Y-Splitter instead of having them on their own individual fan header cause any issues? Since you'd have one fan header running 2 fans.
Does running fans on a Y-Splitter instead of having them on their own individual fan header cause any issues? Since you'd have one fan header running 2 fans.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Only that you can't individually control them. For instance, the two fans in the top of my case share system fan 2, the two in front share system fan 1. I don't have anything fancy in between so I can only make all on top go at the same speed, say 50%, instead of telling one to do so, etc.
The only thing to watch out is maximum current draw on the 4 pin mobo header. They are usually rated 1A - it normally states in the manual. The fans have an amp rating on their sticker usually, add them for total draw.
Nyteshade517
Member
the motherboard would be the MSI Z270 SLI Plus
the fans would be the ones with the NH-D15 (2 x NF-A15) and 2 x NF-A14 PWM
I guess they are .1 something of an amp...I tried looking in the manual online and I didn't see where it said specifically what each fan header could hold (or if it's there I missed it)
Sword Of Doom
Member
Each fan has a rating on the back
Of the motor. Fan headers are usually rated for 1amp. A y-splitter for most consumer case/radiator fans should be ok. Most power draw would probably occur during startup
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