The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

@ddp and sam
M/B definitely supports it...I think it is a bios issue...
I have not updated the bios...it is old...
Did not look at O/C'ing...but a very good idea to see if it was recognizing the feature at least...

Thanks...

 

On my i5 I don't see the K in the System UI however if I goto the BIOS it shows me that I can unlock the processor, this varies from motherboard to motherboard an how or if you can utilize a K processor. CPUZ or possibly other utility should also show you what CPU you have but the BIOS/MB is what's going to provide that information so it is mainboard dependent.

Hope that helps

 

4690K and mfg refurbished Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H ordered from Ebay. $345 s+h included. Wish me luck, haha.

 

Only 4 cores, at half the watts, and smokes 1090t in x264 both passes? I find that rather hard to believe. But maybe I'm not seeing the whole picture here :S
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/146?vs=1261

 

Lol Any fairly recent Intel build stomps all over AMD's best. My 1100T is a beast but it's OLD and needs retiring. The 4690K should be an amazingly large upgrade. Not to mention it should cut the power bill a little. Right now the 1100T eats nearly 200W on its own.

 

I was tempted to upgrade, with Intel in mind. But even ~$350 is a bit steep at the moment Perhaps next tax season, unless I can devise a rapid money making scheme.

 

@Mr Movies ddp and Sam

"On my i5 I don't see the K in the System UI however if I goto the BIOS it shows me that I can unlock the processor, this varies from motherboard to motherboard an how or if you can utilize a K processor. CPUZ or possibly other utility should also show you what CPU you have but the BIOS/MB is what's going to provide that information so it is mainboard dependent."

Thanks for the info...
Thats what I was wondering about...I know cpuz should show it...however...It was a customers business box so I really did not want to install...cpuz...
Unlock feature showed on old bios...will update and see if Systems UI sees the K...or not...will post results...

Thanks..
Mr Movies...Nice to meet you...

Hi Sam and ddp...
Glad your both still around...and as helpful as ever...

 

I really want a 6Tb drive. But I'd prefer they dropped below $200, and have at LEAST a 3yr warranty. Anybody foresee when that's gonna happen? Or perhaps I should hold out for a 8 - 12Gb drive? Or is this technology gonna be stagnant for a while?

Found this an interesting tidbit
http://www.numbersleuth.org/trends/...ation-storage-how-small-has-become-beautiful/

 

Your best option for a solid 6TB disk will be a WD60EFRX which are $280 at the moment. If you really need the space in a single disk, go for it - otherwise go for two 3TB disks for $240. The longer time goes on, the more mechanical storage technology will stagnate. For the sake of 40 dollars, if you need the storage, buy it. If not, don't - simple as that!

 

Kind of limited on physical space. And I already have a 4TB via external dock. I backup my 3D BD images there. I can hold out a little longer I guess. Gonna do some compressing over the next week, and see how much I can free up.
Amazing how 13TB can be darn near full :S

 

Sounds like you need a NAS

 

One of their qualified drives, yes! They get a 5 year warranty! Frankly, I don't like the design of a lot of Nas enclosures. But, it has been a while since I looked. More than anything, it's heat I worry about I suppose if it's a 5200rpm drive, there's little to worry about. But NAS drives typically go into an idle too. Which causes a little lag at startup, and with certain processes. But again, it has been a while since I played with one :S

 

With 5400rpm drives, NAS devices don't get hot - any proper ones include a fan which is more than sufficient to dissipate the minimal heat output.
We use things like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108183

 

It's up and running. Though second-hand, both the board and CPU are totally new unused items. It's fast at stock speed. I mean FAST. Because my cooling is pretty much as good as you get before a true custom liquid loop, I doubt I'll bother to de-lid it. They are a chip that benefits from it though...

I have a truly excellent hardcore gaming PC again. Video card, CPU, and Motherboard all brand new sealed for less than $500. Put that together on Newegg and tell me how much it is right now. Betcha it won't be close

EDIT: OC results so far put me at 4.6GHz with 1.275v. Not a bad result. 1.3v seems to be the general max for most. It hovers in the high 60s and tickles the lower 70s on all cores in Prime 95 which from forums and reviews seems to be about where I want to be when stressing(my temps are excellent in comparison to many other unmodded CPUs). Many have their chips stressing in the 80s. These chips run hot and can handle the heat but I think this is where I am comfortable. A nice OC in my book. I think 1.3v would put me in the mid to high 70s which might just be doable. Mind you NOTHING ever pushes a CPU as hot as stressing in a gaming PC.

 

So the new CPU is hilariously fast. Like lightning fast. As my G.Skill case decal says "Go Beyond Limit" lol.

In any game I have thrown at it, it's hilariously overpowered. Far Cry 3 and 4? Nothing. Crysis 1, 2 , and 3? Nothing. The only challenging things are emulation and RTS games now haha. I can still make it chug with Sins of a Solar Empire, Total War, Supreme Commander Forged Alliance, etc. It also makes previously broken games like Oblivion, Stalker, and a few others truly smooth.

Another great example is Crysis. On my 1100T it was running a hilarious 60-70FPS with the GTX970 installed. I thought it was great. With the Intel it's now well over 100FPS!!!!!! WHAAAAAATTTT????!!!! CRYSIS MERE CHILDS PLAY????? It blew my mind.

The 1100T at 4GHz barely held its own with the GTX760. With the vast power of the GTX970 and the CPU degrading and no longer able to hold that knife edge overclock, it's an obvious bottleneck. Thuban was an amazingly long-lived CPU and I loved the 1100T and 1090T despite their advanced age when I upgraded to them. Truly solid CPUs with little to complain about. On another note though, I think a decently overclocked Vishera in the 4.4-4.8GHz range would have also been an upgrade. It takes getting a Thuban over 4GHz to truly outclass an OC'd Vishera, and most Thubans are more like both of mine were. 4GHz was a bit of a struggle for them, let alone over. A brand-new 4.6GHz Vishera would certainly have been faster in all situations than my 3.8GHz degrading 1100T.

One benchmark where I know the Vishera pales in comparison to my Devil's Canyon though, is PS2 emulation. Many PS2 games NEED an overclocked Intel Core i5/i7. Being a particularly decent i5, mine is doing the job beautifully. There are indicators that a Vishera chip may have met limits where the Intel simply smashes through with brute power.

The sheer power in my PC is mind blowing. Despite it's excellent service, I had no clue how badly the AMD processor was holding me back. Also, I can now run my memory at its rated 2400MHz. Very nice indeed. All brand new parts now from the ground up sans case and blistering fast, top-notch parts at that too!

My next consideration is replacing this TV entirely with something else. I need Component at the very least, so I'm kinda limited to HDTVs. A similar sized panel in LED that's lighter, thinner, has better color and lighting, and possibly 120Hz would do the trick. This TV is okay but compared to new LED models it really sucks. Also having replacement parts in it so not having a working remote makes me want to dump it soon. I can sacrifice VGA for a better monitor, but I need to keep component.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-UN32H...27315223&sr=1-1&keywords=32"+HDTV+1080p+120Hz
Something along these lines would make for a very nice PC monitor. The only reason I really need to keep component is that my receiver doesn't seem to want to convert my N64's S-Video to HDMI, though it already does this for the Dreamcast quite well.

 

Welcome to the dark side - can't say I didn't warn you

Have you considered using a receiver to take component input and output as HDMI? That offers you plenty of monitor options.

On the display front, got one of these on pre-order, will see how it turns out!
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/philips_bdm4065uc.htm

 

My receiver will output component and S-Video through HDMI already. The big issue is that the N64's S-Video will NOT output through HDMI due to the 240p internal resolution of the N64. It only outputs about 25% of its games through HDMI. Basically all the 480i titles. The Dreamcast however will output S-Video through HDMI as it has an internal resolution of 480i on ALL titles.

Either I need a more capable receiver, or I need to get a modded N64 with RGB output.

 

How odd - one wonders if there's anything you can put in the middle to handle the upscaling...

 

Yeah I could use an S-Video to HDMI adapter, but those are cheap and flimsy and die quite often. They also need an external power source. If I wanted to spend the big bucks a FrameMeister would be reliable... Ideally I want to reduce the amount of hardware and cabling I have while still being able to use all of my consoles.

 

A fair idea, but limiting a potential display choice based on the N64 does seem a little nuts. Point taken about longevity vs. cost but if you mount it to the back of the receiver or console and tie the cables up it should still be fairly tidy...