PC Building Guide and Discussion #11 (everything is expensive...)

[Kestrel]

Trying to troubleshoot my server not powering up... anyone know what the root cause is when the psu passes the jumper test? I jumped a couple pins to the motherboard which turned on the fan, but it still doesn't boot up and I don't have anything to test the components against after donating all my old parts.

Will the power button turn on the fan? The fact that it's not turning on the system makes me think there's something else wrong, but on top of that, you could have a dead cable to the power button if you have to jumper the motherboard pins to even get the fan going.

What do you have running on the PSU (ie, what video card), and what is the PSU rated at?

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

Power button does nothing. All I have are a couple hard drives and the mobo, onboard graphics. Platinum psu from seasonic, they want me to test it with another computer and I was hoping I could skip that if there's another explanation. Pain to get it out and then go out and borrow a computer to test it.

 

[Kestrel]

Well, it still sounds like the lesser of your problems to me - but if the button does nothing, but touching the jumper pins on the motherboard gets something, if not a proper boot, it sounds like a dead power button/cable.

I'm leaning toward the rest of your problem being a motherboard problem, but I can't think of a way to verify that for you without actually testing either the computer with a known-to-be-good PSU, or testing your current PSU on a known-to-be-good computer.

 

[Commander Clueless]

You see my dilemma. I don't have a 4k monitor. But a 144hz monitor of some variety is in the plans at some point in the next month or so.

The thing is I'm trying to build it somewhat future resistant, as in it stays useful for gaming for 3-5 years, that's why I'm leaning toward 1080 ti since its going to cost only a few bucks more than 1080's currently cost when it's released.

Although the temptation to just get discounted 1080 cards and pocket the rest for a monitor or other upgrade is tempting as well.

I've tried going "future resistant" with a GPU. It's hard, since the tech progresses pretty quickly.

Personally, I'd favour the cheaper GPU and putting the extra into a G-Sync enabled monitor. G-Sync adds a premium but I find it really smooths the experience out making it less noticeable when your frames start inching lower. In addition to a better experience without tearing, it can theoretically make an older card stay viable longer thanks to the smoothing out of framerate drops.

If you play the twitchiest of AAA shooters, want the absolute highest frames per second possible for competitive edge and don't want to upgrade for a long time, then a 1080 Ti probably makes sense.

High refresh rate monitors are addicting at the desktop, though. I use a 100Hz monitor and even going back to 60 when browsing or working is jarring.



With the new NVIDIA structure, I'm almost thinking that going for the "70" range card and upgrading more frequently is the ideal setup...assuming you have an avenue for reselling (i.e. living in a place with a lot of people who look at classified ads ).

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Not building talk...but just got my new Lanovo T460 book. LOVE IT.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Anyone have an idea when we'll get more information on Ryzen cpu's? I know the first batch is out now but from what I've seen so far, Intel's i5 7600K appears to be better and cheaper as far as gaming and day-to-day work (office applications and web surfing.)

I was disappointed by the first reviews I saw that said Ryzen 7 series was great for video editing but not so great for gaming. Any ideas on whether the Ryzen 5 series might prove to be better for gaming or if I should expect the same results?

 

[Commander Clueless]

The Ryzen 7 range was designed to compete with Intel's extreme platform, which is also targeted at content creators, streamers, and the like.

Just like Intel, these high core count processors are targeted at heavy multitasking and processing power over faster performance for day-to-day and gaming.

From what I understand, Ryzen 5 is meant to compete for the affordable gaming chip space. Stay tuned for that.


If you get impatient, go for the i5-7600K.

 

[Kestrel]

The Ryzen 7 range was designed to compete with Intel's extreme platform, which is also targeted at content creators, streamers, and the like.

Just like Intel, these high core count processors are targeted at heavy multitasking and processing power over faster performance for day-to-day and gaming.

From what I understand, Ryzen 5 is meant to compete for the affordable gaming chip space. Stay tuned for that.


If you get impatient, go for the i5-7600K.

Not a whole lot to add to this - but it has also been suggested that the games to date have been optimized for Intel's architecture (which makes sense because Ryzen didn't exist) - but that a lot more games going forward will also be optimized for Ryzen - and at least a publisher or two has indicated that with optimization, Ryzen performs great.

As the good Commander said, stay tuned for the R5 line - it's supposed to be out in Q2, and should be very well priced compared to what Intel currently has out.

 

[SniperHF]

Nothing would stop me from buying the Intel right now if I was in the market. If Ryzen 5 is more cost effective it won't be by much.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Thanks for the feed back y'all! I'm definitely not in a rush to get this new build going so I'll probably just hold off until I read the reviews on Ryzen 5 series.

My main concern is that the games my wife and play rely heavily on a single core at least that's what I believe most MMORPGs do. Even with my i7 4790K the CPU is the bottle neck in GW2...of course, I don't think anyone will ever make a CPU that will allow for high FPS in WvW...

 

[Kestrel]

Nothing would stop me from buying the Intel right now if I was in the market. If Ryzen 5 is more cost effective it won't be by much.

Don't forget that R5 is hyperthreaded, and i5 is not. Hyperthreading isn't the be all and end all, but there's also R3 that gets you a quad core processor very on the cheap.

I would agree that if someone is eager to have a rig fairly quick, they might as well grab an i5, but an R5 definitely has the potential to outdo the i5, and the R3 has the potential to be a great budget gamer.

Anyone on a tight budget who is happy to wait, I'd suggest waiting. R3 and R5 may fall flat on their respective faces, but if they don't, and if AMD isn't blowing smoke when they say that lots of gaming studios are working with them, with some great early results, what seems like small savings on the CPU could be the difference in going up a tier or two in a video card, or in upping the quality of some other components.

If you're not willing to wait on ifs, grab an Intel now.

Edit: Hyperthread, not multithread - that's what I get for being up past my bedtime!

 

[John Price]

Okay this is really annoying now with the damn monitor and the resolution issue. The game is set to 59 mhz and the desktop is set to 59 mhz yet when I alt tab I CONTINUE to get issues with the damn monitor dimming out. I know that alt tabbing is most likely responsible or trying to run an old game that you need to tweak the resolutions for (for instance I tried to run Sim City 4 and the monitor dimmed again because of refresh rate issues, even though it's an ancient game and I actually need to go into settings to try to change video)

I have an RX 480. I would love for there to be an option for it to just say "Here, just set everything you see to 59 mhz, override it all, so there are ZERO application issues." Because I'm tired of getting dim monitors and having to drag my monitor out and unplug the DVI cable and replug it in multiple times just to get the monitor un-dimmed again.

 

[Sined]

When are the AiB partners going to have pre-orders available on retail site like Newegg and NCIX? I'm leaning towards getting an EVGA GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid.

 

[Commander Clueless]

When are the AiB partners going to have pre-orders available on retail site like Newegg and NCIX? I'm leaning towards getting an EVGA GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid.

Not going to do the Founder's Edition now, and hybrid kit later like last time?

 

[Sined]

Not going to do the Founder's Edition now, and hybrid kit later like last time?

If EVGA guarantees that their hybrid kit will be for the founders edition of maybe! It was a fun little project!

That being said, the launch gap in time between the reference 980 and the hybrid made it that I could do that. Whereas I'm assuming AiB variations should be available at the same time as Founders since MSRP of the Founders now coincides with the base AiB MSRP

 

[Commander Clueless]

If EVGA guarantees that their hybrid kit will be for the founders edition of maybe! It was a fun little project!

That being said, the launch gap in time between the reference 980 and the hybrid made it that I could do that. Whereas I'm assuming AiB variations should be available at the same time as Founders since MSRP of the Founders now coincides with the base AiB MSRP

Personally, I'm really interested in getting my hands on one of those fancy Calyos fanless kits...assuming they are ever available and won't bankrupt a small nation.


KitGuru did a preview on them:

http://www.kitguru.net/components/c...u-looks-at-the-calyos-nsg-s0-fanless-chassis/

 

[Firestorm]

Yes.

If it's an Intel heatsink it might be worthwhile to play around with the little pegs first till you can make sure it's getting secured completely. If they are put in wrong those things have a tendency to pop out.



Most likely yes. It will fit for sure. Outstanding issue is the power supply. Since it goes up to a max of a GTX 960 in the specs there's a good chance it will work straight off.

But to be sure you should open up the case and find the PSU label and post a picture of it here.

How do I do that?

From what I can find, the power supply is 460w.

Would it be good enough for a 1060 or even 1070?

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product...gddr5-video-card-zt-p10610a-10l/10487322.aspx

 

[SniperHF]

How do I do that?

From what I can find, the power supply is 460w.

Would it be good enough for a 1060 or even 1070?

Unfortunately the answer is maybe
Really need to see the PSU sticker, looks kinda like this:

The specs on that sticker will tell the tale, 460W is not enough info.

 

[Mrb1p]

If my laptop bios tell me " hard drive failure imminent" and doesnt boot anymore, is it possible that the harddrive is NOT the problem? Just asking because i want to know what to do with my dead laptop.

Also, would it be possible to take an old laptop harddrive that is still working and replace it with the faulty one?

 

[SniperHF]

If my laptop bios tell me " hard drive failure imminent" and doesnt boot anymore, is it possible that the harddrive is NOT the problem? Just asking because i want to know what to do with my dead laptop.

Yes. But it's probably the drive.

What do you mean by doesn't boot anymore though? Does it try to load windows and crash? Does it never get past the hard drive warning? Something else?

Also, would it be possible to take an old laptop harddrive that is still working and replace it with the faulty one?

Probably.

 

[Mrb1p]

Yes. But it's probably the drive.

What do you mean by doesn't boot anymore though? Does it try to load windows and crash? Does it never get past the hard drive warning? Something else?



Probably.

It doesnt go past the HP logo and the black screen.

 

[SniperHF]

It doesnt go past the HP logo and the black screen.

Hmm. When it says the failure is imminent, does it give you the option of hitting continue to try and boot anyway?


Either way trying the old drive sounds like a good idea. Usually swapping drives on a laptop is just a trap door with 4 screws + a little cage with 4 screws. Though some newer super thin laptops are a little more complicated. So it might be worth looking up a YT video of how to remove the drive.

 

[Mrb1p]

Hmm. When it says the failure is imminent, does it give you the option of hitting continue to try and boot anyway?


Either way trying the old drive sounds like a good idea. Usually swapping drives on a laptop is just a trap door with 4 screws + a little cage with 4 screws. Though some newer super thin laptops are a little more complicated. So it might be worth looking up a YT video of how to remove the drive.

Yes it does, but the laptop just stays there until it dies.

 

[Sined]

So the 1080 Ti reviews are out. Holy cow.
It really is 35% faster than the 1080 (albeit OC needed)

 

[Kestrel]

Ryzen R5 vs Kaby Lake

This really isn't an ideal comparison, but given that we're still waiting on R5, it's all that's really available - so, simply for interest's sake:

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-4-core-benchmarks-intel-core-i7-7700k/