Export thread

Okay, I love the how to's on this board but one thing I've never seen is water-cooled systems. I've looked online and decided that I'm going to use www.pcpartpicker.com and build my own system. The location of my computer is such that it gets really warm, so I wanted to switch to water-cooled system, but I read online that they are really difficult to put together, especially for those of us who have never put a system together before. I've torn a bunch apart and put them back together - my current Frankencomputer can attest to that - but I've never built one from scratch.

So my question is: Should a novice even attempt a water-cooled system? What are the main benefits besides sound dampening? What are the major drawbacks?

The major benefit is the ability to move larger quantities of heat. That is, water has an extremely high specific heat, which means you can load up a given volume of water with significantly more heat than you could with the same volume of air. You then carry this heated water away from the cramped area around your CPU to someplace else in your case, where you have installed some sort of heat exchanger with vastly more surface area than you could have installed directly atop your CPU. Ideally, this radiator has sufficient surface area that you can cool it with a much larger diameter fan that generates noticeably lower noise than an equivalently-performing air cooling system. It is an efficiency thing.

That said, liquid-cooled systems leak. They all eventually leak. When that happens, your computer will die (if you are using water). You can get around this by using mineral oil (which does not conduct electricity), but since mineral oil's heat capacity is lower, your efficiency will go down as well (though it will still be higher than air).

Dave said:

Should a novice even attempt a water-cooled system?

Click to expand...

If you never attempt it, you will remain a novice forever.

I want to cite more examples and give more advice, but I have to go back to work now. More later.

--Patrick

Went away from water-cooled and have settled on this build: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Edrondol/saved/kfzkcf

Thoughts? What am I missing? I already have displays, keyboard, OS (Windows 7, of course), and I have another 1 TB hard drive that I can add. I went a tad overboard on the power supply, but I did that on purpose because I've had issues in the past. I worry about needing more fans, although I did go with a dual-fan video card (GeForce GTX 780) that circulates each way.

I think I got a pretty decent build for $1400.

Water cooling isn't that difficult. I've helped a friend build a closed water loop for his system. But the time investment and pain isn't really worth the performance. Water cooling is really for the super enthusiast that's trying to get an extra 5% out of their super high end hardware by overclocking to the extreme.

A quality air cooling system and proper heatsinks should be fine, even if the computer is in a warm room.

But all that said, if you want cool glowing tubes and a project to work with, then go for it! If the cool factor (heh...) is enough to persuade you, then do it. Just keep in mind that you'll need to maintain your water loop, giving it a good cleaning and replacing your coolant about every six months. And don't do like a friend of mine did and forget the biocide... you don't want algae growing in your pc.[DOUBLEPOST=1403118177,1403117955][/DOUBLEPOST]

Dave said:

Went away from water-cooled and have settled on this build: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Edrondol/saved/kfzkcf

Thoughts? What am I missing? I already have displays, keyboard, OS (Windows 7, of course), and I have another 1 TB hard drive that I can add. I went a tad overboard on the power supply, but I did that on purpose because I've had issues in the past. I worry about needing more fans, although I did go with a dual-fan video card (GeForce GTX 780) that circulates each way.

I think I got a pretty decent build for $1400.

Click to expand...

Aside from the video card (still using my old gtx570) and the cpu (I went with an i5 over an i7) that's the same pc I just built. And it rocks pretty hard.

You could consider upgrading the 780 to a 780TI for the top of the line in nvidia products (not counting ridiculously expensive dev cards like the titan series)

Yeah, no water for me. Seems like too much work and I couldn't afford to replace in the likely event of a leak. Just not cool enough, I guess.

But man I can't wait to be able to record Twitches and actually run some of the games I own and can't play right now. Like Skyrim, South Park, the Blimp combat game, Borderlands, etc.[DOUBLEPOST=1403118368,1403118238][/DOUBLEPOST]The lowest price TI takes the price up at least $150, which puts me over the $1500 budget I've set for myself. Anything higher and I have to listen to the wife scream bloody murder.[DOUBLEPOST=1403118479][/DOUBLEPOST]

Ravenpoe said:

Aside from the video card (still using my old gtx570) and the cpu (I went with an i5 over an i7) that's the same pc I just built. And it rocks pretty hard.

Click to expand...

Have you benchmarked it?

Dave said:

Yeah, no water for me. Seems like too much work and I couldn't afford to replace in the likely event of a leak. Just not cool enough, I guess.

But man I can't wait to be able to record Twitches and actually run some of the games I own and can't play right now. Like Skyrim, South Park, the Blimp combat game, Borderlands, etc.[DOUBLEPOST=1403118368,1403118238][/DOUBLEPOST]The lowest price TI takes the price up at least $150, which puts me over the $1500 budget I've set for myself. Anything higher and I have to listen to the wife scream bloody murder.[DOUBLEPOST=1403118479][/DOUBLEPOST]

Have you benchmarked it?

Click to expand...

I haven't, but aside from watch dogs (which runs like ass on any system, it seems) it's been running all of my games flawlessly on ultra.

You could consider dropping the i7 to an i5 to make up the price difference to a TI, but I'll leave it to the experts here to decide if that would be worth it.

I tried looking at an Alienware water-cooled, but the only one under my price range was $1400 and only had a GTX 760 card. To get to a 770 it would be over $2000!

In any event, a 780TI comes in 1st for benchmarking at http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html, but the 780 is third so I'm not against that.

Dave said:

I tried looking at an Alienware water-cooled, but the only one under my price range was $1400 and only had a GTX 760 card. To get to a 770 it would be over $2000!

In any event, a 780TI comes in 1st for benchmarking at http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html, but the 780 is third so I'm not against that.

Click to expand...

Alienware is owned by Dell now, so... you know...[DOUBLEPOST=1403119282,1403119249][/DOUBLEPOST]Have you tried www.ibuypower.com ?

Interesting site, but still more expensive that what I'm doing.

Checking the difference between the i7 & i5 and I found this handy little site: http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?page=0&itemid=1061

I think I will be moving to an i5 and seeing what the price difference gets me.

An i5 generally gets you a smaller on-CPU cache and you lose the Hyperthreading.
You can usually offset the cache by going with a slightly higher clock speed, and Hyperthreading does NOT help games, so this is why I usually recommend the i5 trim over the i7 lineup.

I can't sift through your build until I get home tonight, that's not going to be for another 4hrs at least.

--Patrick

I know you already decided not to do it, but I also want to chime in and say that water cooling really offers no real advantage over air cooling unless you literally are putting your computer in such a tight space that it gets no airflow whatsoever. The air-cooled system I got in december is so quiet I can't even tell by listening if it's on or not, and only on one specific piece of hardware have I ever had problems with overheating - my old GTX8800 that finally gave out after 7 years, which was the impetus for said new system. I had to get bigger fans for it and remove its cowling, or it would overheat to the point it rebooted my system in desperation after ~20 minutes of crysis on ultra.

But really, so much emphasis has shifted lately in PC manufacturing to using less power, that heat is becoming much less of a problem than it was 5 or 10 years go, which means the fans can be quieter too.

GasBandit said:

I know you already decided not to do it, but I also want to chime in and say that water cooling really offers no real advantage over air cooling unless you literally are putting your computer in such a tight space that it gets no airflow whatsoever. The air-cooled system I got in december is so quiet I can't even tell by listening if it's on or not, and only on one specific piece of hardware have I ever had problems with overheating - my old GTX8800 that finally gave out after 7 years, which was the impetus for said new system. I had to get bigger fans for it and remove its cowling, or it would overheat to the point it rebooted my system in desperation after ~20 minutes of crysis on ultra.

But really, so much emphasis has shifted lately in PC manufacturing to using less power, that heat is becoming much less of a problem than it was 5 or 10 years go, which means the fans can be quieter too.

Click to expand...

I will say from experience that mounting the heatsink that @Dave picked out feels like you're going to break something. It's a high tension heatsink, and you've got to press really hard to get those tension screws into place. If you're not familiar with high tension systems, it feels like you're doing something wrong, but you're not.

Ooooh yeah, I hate those suckers.

People in general are too ginger with their computers in my experience. You just have to know what is breakable and what is not. Sometimes you got to rank on those tension screws. My current fan has one and I really did feel like i was going to bust that thing getting it on.

Bowielee said:

People in general are too ginger with their computers in my experience. You just have to know what is breakable and what is not. Sometimes you got to rank on those tension screws. My current fan has one and I really did feel like i was going to bust that thing getting it on.

Click to expand...

I know, rationally, that they aren't that fragile. But when you have an expensive cpu, in an expensive motherboard, it's a little harrowing to crank that thing on.

Yeah, the sight of your entire Mobo buckling under the pressure is kind of scary.

Dunno why you're getting the Z77/3770 combo when the Z87/4770 combo can be had for essentially the same price (based on current Z87 Extreme4 and 4770k prices). The i5-4670k's can be had for $80 or so less.
It's only about a 10% boost in processor speed (over the 3770k), but the step up in forward compatibility and SATA speeds (and transcode speed with QuickSync) is well worth the (literally) $10 or so extra that it might cost.

However, stepping up from a 780 to a 780Ti will get you an increase of 8-12% graphics performance…for a 40% increase in price.

I gotta say I'm more a fan of the Zalman-style ("flower") heatsinks than the skyscraper type, but the main thing is to get something that's still light enough that you don't break your processor socket from whiplash when you move your case out from under the table for its periodic dusting.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

Dunno why you're getting the Z77/3770 combo when the Z87/4770 combo can be had for essentially the same price (based on current Z87 Extreme4 and 4770k prices). The i5-4670k's can be had for $80 or so less.
It's only about a 10% boost in processor speed (over the 3770k), but the step up in forward compatibility and SATA speeds (and transcode speed with QuickSync) is well worth the (literally) $10 or so extra that it might cost.

However, stepping up from a 780 to a 780Ti will get you an increase of 8-12% graphics performance…for a 40% increase in price.

I gotta say I'm more a fan of the Zalman-style ("flower") heatsinks than the skyscraper type, but the main thing is to get something that's still light enough that you don't break your processor socket from whiplash when you move your case out from under the table for its periodic dusting.

--Patrick

Click to expand...

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Edrondol/saved/kfzkcf

I changed out the Z77/3770 for the Z78/4770 and you're right as it cost essentially the same. As to the 780 & 780 TI, the benchmarking and performance reports I saw had the bump from 4-10%, which is nothing at that level. 110 fps v 114 in one of the benchmarked games? Big deal.

So if that was your only bitches...I think we're good. Now all I have to do is get enough in my profit sharing and be able to pay for it!

The only other thing I wanted to take a look at was the PSU, but I know I won't be able to really dig in to compare your selected model until Sat evening at the earliest. However, I don't think you HAVE to wait if you don't want to.

--Patrick

I'll just say - always compare tyo what http://www.logicalincrements.com/ says you should be able to get. It seems you're at least in the right ballpark, so anything else is nitpicking

Bubble181 said:

I'll just say - always compare tyo what http://www.logicalincrements.com/ says you should be able to get. It seems you're at least in the right ballpark, so anything else is nitpicking

Click to expand...

Man, I'm right there with the Exceptional build, aren't I? I mean, like almost exactly the same.

And I just found out my profit sharing take home should be anywhere from $2819 - 4229.

Dave said:

And I just found out my profit sharing take home should be anywhere from $2819 - 4229.

Click to expand...

This is when you use this picture:

Why? I don't eat sand.

Dave said:

You kids and your wacky memes....

Click to expand...

ftfy

Hey, I not only knew the meme, but I knew the real story behind it. I'm hip and cool, yo!



Now get off my lawn.

Dave said:

And I just found out my profit sharing take home should be anywhere from $2819 - 4229.

Click to expand...

--Patrick

Strangely enough a new car is something that I (*knock on wood*) don't need right now.

Dave said:

Strangely enough a new car is something that I (*knock on wood*) don't need right now.

Click to expand...

You fool! Don't you know what you've done?!

Dave said:

Strangely enough a new car is something that I (*knock on wood*) don't need right now.

Click to expand...

Who are you, and what did you do with our Dave?!

--Patrick

So question. Do you think I need that case fan? Or should I get another? I'm both excited and nervous to do this myself. Will I need thermal paste or will it come with the hardware? Also, the case fan I'm ordering is the 140mm variety. I know pcpartpicker has a compatibility filter, but I worry.

Granted, this is one of the few times I'll be able to buy additional parts if I need to, but I'd rather do it right the first time.

Dave said:

So question. Do you think I need that case fan?

Click to expand...

Get the case fan. Case fans don't need thermal paste, they exist only to move air into/out of the case. The advantage of larger case fans is comparable air movement for lower noise. The biggest question is going to be whether you want it to push or pull, and that is going to depend on how everything else is arranged inside the case.

If you can stand the loss of modular cables, the Seasonic S12G-750 power supply is a gold-rated power supply (more efficient, runs cooler) for about $20 more, or you could get an XFX 750 which is essentially a Seasonic wearing XFX clothing. Yes, I'm still partial to Seasonic. The Corsair you have chosen is actually made by CWT (the same people who make Coolermaster's PSUs). FWIW, you could probably get by just fine with a 650W PSU (in case you find a sweet deal on a really good 650), but this is assuming you are not going to add a second 780 in the future. I (generously) estimate your system load would be about 450-500W total, so 650-750W is probably about the sweet spot to shop to avoid the inefficiencies you run into when running your PSU too high (or too low!), but adding a second 780 later would mean having to leave room for another 250W in the budget (which would mean going >800 now). If you're not going to SLI 780's, then never mind.

--Patrick

I actually know the fans don't need the thermal paste. I was wondering if the CPU comes with some or if I have to buy it separately.

But thanks for the other info!

Dave said:

I actually know the fans don't need the thermal paste. I was wondering if the CPU comes with some or if I have to buy it separately.

But thanks for the other info!

Click to expand...

CoolerMaster brand coolers come with their own thermal compound. You're always welcome to use your own, though unless you're going to be overclocking it probably isn't an issue.

Dave said:

I actually know the fans don't need the thermal paste. I was wondering if the CPU comes with some or if I have to buy it separately.

But thanks for the other info!

Click to expand...

Buy it separately. You can get a better quality paste if you do.

Most aftermarket coolers come with either a small tube of "special" paste or they tend to have paste pre-applied to the base. You can get premium pastes (textbook example is "arctic silver" brand) separately, and they do work better, but this is because they usually contain granulated/powdered metal in order to further lower their thermal resistance. If you use one, MAKE SURE you do not accidentally put any of this sort of paste where it doesn't belong, as the metal content can short other components. Misplaced thermal paste can be cleaned up pretty easily with isopropyl alcohol, but if it gets on your clothes you will pretty much just have to get used to the stain.

--Patrick

Okay, so my son is in South Korea and his HDTV is just sitting in his room...and I need a new monitor. Do you think it would be overkill to have a 46 inch HDTV as my main monitor?

Nope, especially if it has the connections. Be warned that you might have issues adjusting screen size.

You know, I tried hooking up a 38 inch TV as my monitor a few years ago, and found I just couldn't deal with it. In order to use it effectively, I had to place it so far across the room that it really didn't take up any more of my field of view than a 22" monitor, but I had to focus further away than I'm used to. Honestly I'm still kind of adjusting to the 27 inch monitor I got in feb when my 22" started dying. I don't think I ever will want a monitor larger than this. I already have to lean back sometimes when I game.

I mean, you can do it and get by if your current monitor dies, but hooking up a huge TV as a primary gaming monitor ended up being disappointing for me.

Holy shit.

Just hooked it up to try it out. I have no words.[DOUBLEPOST=1403535739,1403535492][/DOUBLEPOST]It's bigger than my desk!

I find my 32" tv to be just about perfect for a monitor.

I suppose it also depends on what games you play. I can see street fighter type games going well on it, especially if you have a controller and can sit back from it a ways.. but it did me no favors in League of Legends or MMOs.

I switched back. It was just too much. Like watching a movie from the front row.

I've used a 46" TV before, as I wanted to watch Netflix on it and it didn't have anything hooked up to it. I had a folding table set up with my keyboard and mouse and it was pretty awesome for playing the right kinds of games.

Dave said:

I switched back. It was just too much. Like watching a movie from the front row.

Click to expand...

That. That's exactly what it was like.

Dave said:

Okay, so my son is in South Korea and his HDTV is just sitting in his room...and I need a new monitor. Do you think it would be overkill to have a 46 inch HDTV as my main monitor?

Click to expand...

When I was in Virginia alone for 6 months, while my family was still in Texas, I did exactly this. I mostly used it to play Eve and it was glorious.

Tinwhistler said:

When I was in Virginia alone for 6 months, while my family was still in Texas, I did exactly this. It was glorious.

Click to expand...

I think it was awesome for some things and just neck-wrenching for others. What I plan on doing, then, is getting a wall mount and moving my desk back.

Dave said:

I switched back. It was just too much. Like watching a movie from the front row.

Click to expand...

Gotta be careful with computer input to giant TVs, too. Computer screens usually have some sort of static content (menu bar, HUD, whatever) and it's really easy to ruin a TV by burning some kinda shape into the screen.

--Patrick

1 week before I can order the parts. I CAN'T WAIT ONE WEEK! I can hardly play any games right now because my system shuts down. Oddly, the only game that stays running is D3.

Dave said:

Oddly, the only game that stays running is D3.

Click to expand...

You can heap a lot of crap on Blizzard, but all of their games I've ever tried have been incredibly well-optimized. Bugs, yes, a lot, but low system requirements and they'll actually run on their listed minimums.

TOMORROW TOMORROW TOMORROW!!!

I order the parts. And some of the parts have gone OFF sale, so I did a little tinkering and it's now under $1400! Moved from the i7-4770k to the -4770, which is a 12% uptick in price/performance (saved $50) and changed from the DDR3-1866 Corsair Vengeance Pro to the DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance ($15 saved).

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Edrondol/saved/kfzkcf

I'm happy and excited!

Losing the -K just means it doesn't have an unlocked multiplier (much less overclock-friendly) and it's 100MHz (3%) slower at base speed . Otherwise, the 4770 and 4770k are pretty much identical*.
Also, you should not be able to notice any difference from the slight loss in DDR3 speed. I like that you're going with 16GB...less worry about running out later.
Just make sure you have all the piddly stuff...SATA cables, etc. Would be a shame if you built the whole thing and then couldn't hook up your HDD or something. Also, I assume you have a copy of Windows you'll be installing on this, since I don't see it in your list of parts (unless you're gonna go Mint or something).

--Patrick
*There are some differences, but they are probably in things you don't care about. Trusted Platform support, built-in vPro Out Of Band management capability, etc.

stienman said:

Most motherboards come with two or more sata HD cables, so he shouldn't have to worry about buying some.

Click to expand...

Yup..i have half-dozen spares for this very reason.

I have a copy of Windows 7 that I'll be putting on since I'll be saying goodbye to this computer anyway.

I'm almost giddy with anticipation and I won't get the parts for days!

Get your driver stuff downloaded and ready to install ahead of time, then. Can't hurt.

--Patrick

drifter said:

https://ninite.com/

Click to expand...

Handy for not installing a dozen copies of McAffee and Google Toolbar, too.

--Patrick

drifter said:

https://ninite.com/

Click to expand...

You, sir, have read my mind already.[DOUBLEPOST=1404186295,1404186205][/DOUBLEPOST]

PatrThom said:

Get your driver stuff downloaded and ready to install ahead of time, then. Can't hurt.

--Patrick

Click to expand...

Question. Wouldn't most of this be PnP?

Dave said:

Question. Wouldn't most of this be PnP?

Click to expand...

When the board is newer than the OS, it's good to plan ahead.
It doesn't do much good to have a brand-spanking new computer ready to go...and then discover that your Ethernet isn't working because you don't have the drivers loaded. And then you can't download them...because your Ethernet isn't working.
Or to need your RAID drivers installed prior to your OS install...except you forgot to get them until after you installed your OS.

Just plan out your process and go through it a couple times before you start putting anything together or taking anything else apart. I wanna hear about how awesome the new system is, not how much of a pain it was to put together.

--Patrick

Okay so serious question. How do you load the drivers? If the OS is not installed, how would you load the drivers? Is this something I've never tinkered with in the BIOS?

Dave said:

Okay so serious question. How do you load the drivers? If the OS is not installed, how would you load the drivers? Is this something I've never tinkered with in the BIOS?

Click to expand...

You wouldn't actually load them, you'd just have them handy so you won't have to go hunting for them one by one later.

Always have the NIC driver on hand when you start. Then you can download the rest if you need.

Dave said:

Okay so serious question. How do you load the drivers? If the OS is not installed, how would you load the drivers? Is this something I've never tinkered with in the BIOS?

Click to expand...

There are some drivers (like RAID) that need to be available (on a floppy/USB stick) during the installation process, because otherwise the OS install won't be able to "see" that hardware thingie (whatever it is) during installation. Having the NIC driver or chipset drivers handy avoids the situation where portions/features of the motherboard hardware are "missed" during the rest of your installs, leading to things like not being able to use the Ethernet port, or not properly enabling the CPU power saving/turbo features. Most of these sorts of things are fixable, but they can get annoying quickly, especially since the fix for some of them is, "Now you need to start over from scratch."

--Patrick

See, these are the kinds of things I wouldn't have thought of. Thanks, guys!

All parts bought and paid for. Now I play the waiting game. Probably not be able to work on it until next week, which SUCKS!

Total cost with shipping: $1377.74.

Dave said:

See, these are the kinds of things I wouldn't have thought of. Thanks, guys!

Click to expand...

Yes. Learn from our mistakes. Our pain and suffering leads to a better tomorrow (for you).

--Patrick

Figures. I went back into PC Part Picker to make sure I had the right hardware for the downloading of the drivers, when I noticed that the motherboard was reduced from $158.98 to $144 and would use a company that had better shipping. In fact, the new company has already shipped the other two parts I ordered from them. Damned shame that, but what can you do?

Anyway, here's the completed list with prices, which include all shipping and applicable taxes.

I also JUST REALIZED that my OS is 32 bit and everything I ordered was 64 bit. Thankfully I'm reading that the OEM key will work with the 64 bit iso that I just downloaded.

And I apologize if I'm boring you guys with all of this. I'm just over the top excited. This is my first "real" gaming computer. I've always had old or cobbled together rigs that were a step behind current tech.

Dave said:

I also JUST REALIZED that my OS is 32 bit and everything I ordered was 64 bit.

Click to expand...

I honestly believed you had already gotten the 64bit.
Now make sure to use your old computer to burn the iso (or write it to a flash stick) before you start harvesting its organs.

You're not boring us. It took my dad until he was in his 50's to buy his first "new" car (in 1996).
So he bought a Chevy Caprice with an LT1 motor and the heavy towing suspension...
...and lemme tellya, he overclocked the Hell outta that car. I've never seen him giddier than his first few months driving that thing.

--Patrick

I should have paid a little extra - about $50 - to get all my stuff through NewEgg. Their site says everything I ordered through them will be here today. Everyone else says the 8th - 15th and the parts I ordered through NCIX shows they've been processed for a couple days now but haven't shipped. So I looked them up and they take their sweet time sending anything. Fuck. Yeah, I got a good deal on the stuff I got through them, but what good does it do me if they don't ship it?

The slogan don't lie. Once you know, you Newegg. ®

I'm reading horror story after horror story about NCIX. I mean, Amazon is taking their sweet-ass time, but NewEgg, OutletPC, & SuperBiz have already shipped. So Amazon and NCIX still haven't bothered. But at least I can say that I haven't ordered much from them. Just the CPU, CPU Cooler, HD, Video Card, and Power Supply.

FUCK!

NCIX probably has to wait for it to arrive from Newegg before they can ship it to you.

--Patrick

Just got my NewEgg and OutletPC items. So memory, case, and optical drive.

My wife's birthday's coming up next month, and I was going to surprise her with a new system. She's got a laptop that's like 4 or 5 years old, and can barely play Facebook games, much less the stuff on steam that I got her during the summer sale.

At least it was going to be a surprise...until she walked in on me unexpectedly and caught me working on the parts spreadsheet. I hate it when she spoils her birthday presents like that..heh

This is what I ended up getting her:


Parts are all from newegg, except the cpu, motherboard, and dvd burner (Which I got from amazon prime at exactly $1.50 less than newegg's price).

None of it's top of the line, but it should serve her just fine for the next 2-3 years..and it came in under $450, which makes my pocketbook happy.

Edit: Whoops..error in my sum formula, and left off the DVD Burner. $451 total.

Edit: Weird unrelated question...

X <----- why does the forum sometimes put THAT at the bottom of my posts. Sometimes it does it, sometimes it doesn't.

Tinwhistler said:

Edit: Weird unrelated question...
X <----- why does the forum sometimes put THAT at the bottom of my posts. Sometimes it does it, sometimes it doesn't.

Click to expand...

It does it for me sometimes, too. Haven't isolated it yet.

I'm only at the planning stage for replacing Kati's computer (due to lack of funds, obviously), but so far I've chosen:
225.00 - CPU Core i5-4690S
125.00 - MLB ASUS Q87M-E/CSM
70.00 - RAM 8GB (2x4GB) Some Decent Brand DDR3-1333
140.00 - Win8
------
490.00 - Total so far

Obviously the above are moving targets if newer/better stuff comes out in the meanwhile. The remaining components can be harvested from her current system, but the above gives her plenty of room to grow, significantly greater than average reliability, and enough forward expandability that this system should still be relevant for 4-7 years (or more…the current system has lasted her almost a decade, after all).

--Patrick

Well, I'm back from vacation! And what was waiting for me?!? Nothing. In fact, I didn't even get my memory because NewEgg shipped both items separately. And when my daughter told me they had come I was SO excited!

NCIX has shipped with a projected date of the 9th.

NewEgg shipped the memory with the expected date of the 8th.

SuperBiz shipped the motherboard and the expected date is the 8th.

Amazon shipped the CPU and power supply and the expected date is the 9th.

So it looks like the build will start Wednesday night!

I'll be out of town 7/8-7/9, but if you really think you'll need a hand during the build, I can set something up (Skype or what have you) to be available if you have any panic-stricken moments but don't have enough computer left over to get to us here on the boards.

--Patrick

I'm hoping I'll be okay. But thanks!

I'm going to love this, I think. Oh, and my case...FUCKING HUUUUGE!

Dave said:

I'm hoping I'll be okay. But thanks!

Click to expand...

The offer stands if you change your mind.

--Patrick

Okay. Right now I'm tired and going to eat and go to bed. I'll be on tomorrow bright and shiny!

I right now have everything except the CPU cooler, vid card, and hard drive. They come tomorrow. GRAAH! I am freaking out!

I recognized the scene! Not a bad movie if you let your brain go free and don't question things like: If a dude was that bad of a person, why put him underground with Godlike powers and immortality instead of just killing him in terrible ways?

Just upgraded my internet to match my wonderful new PC.

Jesus Tittyfucking Christ. You got a spare room to rent?

Strangely, we do have a spare room. [DOUBLEPOST=1404853006,1404852797][/DOUBLEPOST]And my wireless is 2 channel so I can set an open channel at 20 Mb/s for guests (and neighbors) who need no login.

IT...

HAS...

BEGUN!!!!

Hey that's a Fractal 3 case isn't it? Or whatever the model is. I have one of those. Amazing case. Very quite. Very nice. Much easier to work on that my Lian Li even though there is no removeable motherboard tray. Only weird thing about it is the front fan assembly can feel a little wonky when you put it in. Make sure it snaps tightly, sometimes it will seem like it's in but it's just hanging there. I still don't understand how it works.

Ed: That download speed 0.o

So many wires and I have no idea where they go! AUGH!

Dave said:

So many wires and I have no idea where they go! AUGH!

Click to expand...

The case wires are the ones that are the least intuitive, but look in your motherboard manual, it should show exactly where they go. There's a bunch of pins on the bottom right of the board, and the manual has a picture of what wires connect to which pins. The case wires themselves should also be labeled for power, reset, etc.

You'd think that, wouldn't you? But no. There's some that I can't locate.

Dave said:

You'd think that, wouldn't you? But no. There's some that I can't locate.

Click to expand...

Which ones?

Gaah! Anyone feel like Skyping? I don't know if I'm doing this right. I have everything in, but I'm just not sure.

Dave said:

Gaah! Anyone feel like Skyping? I don't know if I'm doing this right. I have everything in, but I'm just not sure.

Click to expand...

Let's all hop in vent to reassure the @Dave

I don't have vent down here.[DOUBLEPOST=1404949210,1404948958][/DOUBLEPOST]My biggest issue is that I don't have a cable that goes from the power supply to the vid card. I think. The PCI power slot on the power supply is 8 pin while there is an 8 & 6 pin on the card. I have a PCI cable, but it only has 6 pins + 2 on another joiner. Will this be enough? Will it hurt the hardware? I don't know and I can't find anything online.

@Ravenpoe talked me down. I'm loading windows right now!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Dave said:

@Ravenpoe talked me down.

Click to expand...

I've been there.

Right now I'm having a deuce of a time getting it to recognize my second monitor as well as my internet. Still going, though!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Oh lookat dis! I'm on with my new super quiet computer! Now all I have to do is load a shitload of updates and get my programs back to where they need to be. Then I'll probably play lots of games and even record them!

Dave said:

You'd think that, wouldn't you? But no. There's some that I can't locate.

Click to expand...

Ravenpoe said:

The case wires are the ones that are the least intuitive, but look in your motherboard manual, it should show exactly where they go. There's a bunch of pins on the bottom right of the board, and the manual has a picture of what wires connect to which pins. The case wires themselves should also be labeled for power, reset, etc.

Click to expand...

That's always the most PITA part of building a machine for me too. Doesn't help that I'm getting older and it's hard for me to see the little writing on the mb as well as I used to.

Yanno, I do have an older 1024x768 LCD monitor floating around if you need it (and can find your way up to NCWI to get it).

jwhouk said:

Yanno, I do have an older 1024x768 LCD monitor floating around if you need it (and can find your way up to NCWI to get it).

Click to expand...

What size is it?

You would ask... hold on.

It's a 15" monitor. Gateway FPD1530, silver.

15"? No thanks. That's pretty tiny. I mean, that thing must have monitor envy.

Well, there is a reason why I replaced it. (It's called "a new computer", but still.)

Man, redownloading all these games is a pain in the ass. Worth it, but a pain in the ass.

Skyrim on Ultimate? Holy shit. And my benchmarks are actually above "high end computers" and is better than 92% of tested rigs. Not bad for $1377!

Dave said:

Skyrim on Ultimate? Holy shit. And my benchmarks are actually above "high end computers" and is better than 92% of tested rigs. Not bad for $1377!

Click to expand...

Just wait until you start modding in the higher resolution texture packs and higher poly model packs.

Give some examples and I'm there!

Dave said:

Give some examples and I'm there!

Click to expand...

First, you need to get the Nexus Mod Manager, which...

You know what, I think I told all this to Fade once already.. hang on...


yep.

https://www.halforums.com/threads/what-are-you-playing.16748/page-196#post-1138497

Start with SkyUI, the Static Mesh Improvement Mod, and the 2k textures mod. After that, just go down the list of top mods on the nexus adding what you think would be interesting. You'll also need to get BOSS to manage the order in which the mods are loaded, to help alleviate crashes and mods conflicting with each other. Just run BOSS again every time you make a change to which mods you're loading, before you start skyrim (but not individually for each mod, you can add 17 mods then run boss once then start skyrim).

Be forewarned that, unless you specifically override it in the install options, just about every body mesh mod will lead to complete nudity. Not just for yourself, but every bandit you loot, etc. Oh that's a nice suit of armor let me just take that off BOOM IT'S A WHAMADOODLE

I have most of these, although no naked for me. That's just odd.

Dave said:

I have most of these, although no naked for me. That's just odd.

Click to expand...

You can still install the body mods, just make sure during the installation process you select the "nevernude" option so they have the tan canvas skivvies that seem so popular in the cold, cold north.

So...Remember my wonderful upgrade in bandwidth? Found out today that they hadn't done it yet. The spike I got was because Cox is upgrading their services and I got an unusually large bump. I'm sitting at a steady 118/19 Mbps right now and the upgrade comes on Saturday. I'm wondering if I even NEED the upgrade now.

Dave said:

So...Remember my wonderful upgrade in bandwidth? Found out today that they hadn't done it yet. The spike I got was because Cox is upgrading their services and I got an unusually large bump. I'm sitting at a steady 118/19 Mbps right now and the upgrade comes on Saturday. I'm wondering if I even NEED the upgrade now.

Click to expand...

You can never have too much bandwidth.

True, but I find myself throttled by the places I most d/l from, like Steam or something like that. Of course, it's going to rock when I download things like movies or TV shows, but I'm not there yet.

Dave said:

True, but I find myself throttled by the places I most d/l from, like Steam or something like that. Of course, it's going to rock when I download things like movies or TV shows, but I'm not there yet.

Click to expand...

Yeah. "I think I'll torrent this. Oh look, it's done."

I've been sitting at 100/10 for a while, completely worth every penny since western Canada isn't as God awful about bandwidth caps as eastern.

Also, my Skyrim is as full of naked people as possible, because that's awesome.

I draw the line at those creepy disgusting torture castles that seem to be really popular. I don't want to meet the people that download those.

And I did tonight the thing that happens to every modder. I installed something that buggered everything. No matter what I try, my Skyrim crashes at opening. Time to start fresh!

So, I uninstalled it and deleted my Skyrim folder. It has 27 gigs left after uninstallation. I had added 27 gigs of mods.

That's...a lot.

The game install is only supposed to be 6GB by itself.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

The game install is only supposed to be 6GB by itself.

--Patrick

Click to expand...

With all DLC and high res texture packs it clocks in at 12 gigs. I had added 27 extra gigs of crud.

Hey @Dave I wonder if this might be of any use to you, given your recent experiences?

http://raptr.com/download

--Patrick

The recent issues I had were specifically between the Minecraft streaming service - which is embedded in the game - and Twitch, which sometimes messes stuff up.

But I'll look into it. I mean, if I can stream a larger amount of games to Steam I'd be happy. Right now I have Shadowplay, which supports a bunch of games, but is slow to add new games to the list.

I'll look at this later today.