[PC] Ask The Experts Thread

[ALPHA17]

How is this for a fairly mid-range, upgradable gaming build.

 

CPU - Intel 3.4 GHz LGA 1155 Core i5 3570K Processor

GPU - MSI NVIDIA N660Ti PE 2GD5/OC 2 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card - Power Edition

RAM - Corsair Vengeance DDR3 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) PC RAM (CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10) or

G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) PC RAM (F3-12800CL10S-8GBXL)

*Mobo - ASRock Z77 Extreme 6 Motherboard

*PSU -

*SSD - OCZ Agility 3 60 GB SSD (AGT3-25SAT3-60G)

 

Feel free recommend better parts in the same range and a decent cheap but reliable PSU. I'm pretty set on the ones without the "*", may or may not end up getting the ssd.

 

Edit 2: I'll be adding a cpu cooler and a better PSU(Corsair HX series maybe?) in future so nothing fancy atm.

 

This is not an upgradable set-up once Haswell outs and I don't see you change this build in under 6 months.

 

The CPU and GPU are both fine, although I suggest that you look at GIGABYTE / ASUS offerings for the GTX660Ti as well.

 

For RAM go for either of these --> http://www.flipkart.com/g-skill-ripjawsx-ddr3-4-gb-1-x-gb-pc-ram-f3-12800cl9s-4gbxl/p/itmd2rys8pgq3keh?pid=RAMD2RYRXBBF4WC8&ref=50dc8623-e559-41d3-85fd-432c44efb621&srno=t_1&otracker=from-search&query=GSkill / http://www.flipkart.com/g-skill-ripjawsx-ddr3-8-gb-2-x-4-gb-pc-ram-f3-17000cl11d-8gbxl/p/itmd2rysxxtuvfhy?pid=RAMD2RYREMKEFFSR&ref=af660f9e-2a46-420f-9642-0b18f15872d3&srno=t_2&otracker=from-search&query=GSkill better than the Corsair Vengeance series for over-clocking set-ups.

 

Also as far as possible try to get multi-channel memory that is supported by your system, e.g., your system will benefit from a dual-channel kit (for bandwidth) thus I am suggesting a 2 x4GB kit rather than a single 8GB RAM module.

 

Instead of that ASRock motherboard, go for these --

• GIGABYTE-Z77X-UD3H ~13000/-
• ASUS P8Z77-V PRO ~16500/-

SMPS, go for any of the following (dependent on price and budget), don't keep switching SMPS very often --

• Corsair TX v2650W
• Seasonic S12 620W
• Seasonic X660W

Same with the SSD, no point buying a small SSD then realizing nothing but the OS will fit in its partition and none of the speed benefits apply to non-cached / non-SSD based applications. Also the older SSD's have a notorious reliability streak, especially the SandForce Controller based SSD's. Look at the following options --

• OCZ Vertex4 128GB
• OCZ Agility4 120GB
• Crucial M4 128GB

You can get the above prices from onlyssd.com.

 

Hope this helps, Cheerio!

[kemosabe]

If you really want to pursue over-clocking (although this might not translate into improved performance per-say) go for the following RIG --

AMD FX-8350 ~12500/-

ASUS M5A97-V ~6500/-

G.Skill RIPJAWS 4GB x2 1600MHz / 2133MHz ~3200/- OR 5000/-

 

If you are fine with stock performance, following is what I shall pitch --

Intel Core i5 3570 ~14000/-

GIGABYTE-B75M-D3H ~4500/-

G.Skill RIPJAWS 4GB x2 1600MHz ~3200/-

 

About using a secondary card as a PHYsX computing system, look at the following reads --

• http://www.devhardware.com/forums/nvidia-video-card-6/how-to-set-second-card-as-physx-247517.html
• http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135891
• http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/287616-33-using-card-physx-worth

Hope this helps and happy gaming, mate. Cheerio!

 

None of the above motherboards support SLi I hope it is not a requisite feature for the PHYsX jugaad you are trying otherwise the price will again shoot up.

 

 

thanks for your prompt input..recently few of youtube reviewer suggesting 8350 OCed at per with i5 k series processor in terms of gaming performance

[ALPHA17]

thanks for your prompt input..recently few of youtube reviewer suggesting 8350 OCed at per with i5 k series processor in terms of gaming performance

 

A bit trite way of putting it but why would you want to spend on hardware, then over-clock it to get requisite performance out of it? Would not the more efficient and just as relevant Intel set-up make more sense in such a situation OR would you absolutely want to over-clock in the near future?

 

If yes, suggest that you invest in a decent CPU cooler as well.

 

Hope this helps, Cheerio!

[HotSonix]

Any one knows how to update gigabyte bios flash??I downloaded the update file from their server but what i am supposed to do??

[HotSonix]

ps also any one knows how to transfer 500 gb of files from one desktop to another,the microsoft method is giving me errors.One runs on win7 ultimate and another on win8 pro

[piper]

I have a 1TB external HDD. Two partitions (both primary).

 

1. 900GB NTFS

2. 30GB FAT32

 

How can I merge these two into a single NTFS partition without losing data (I can afford to delete/format only the 30GB partition).

[piper]

^Managed to do it. Couldn't edit the post above, though.

[ALPHA17]

 

Any one knows how to update gigabyte bios flash??I downloaded the update file from their server but what i am supposed to do??

 

Do you have the GIGABYTE flash drivers?

 

You can put the update on a USB drive (properly formatted beforehand) and boot the system with the USB device at the top of boot-devices priority list.

 

OR you can use this method --> QFLASH by GIGABYTE.

 

ps also any one knows how to transfer 500 gb of files from one desktop to another,the microsoft method is giving me errors.One runs on win7 ultimate and another on win8 pro

 

You can switch of one of the PC's, remove the hard-drive from the system that is dormant and place it in the active system.

 

Reboot system (active) it should pop up a choice of which OS you want to boot into. Choose whichever you want and then when you are inside the OS, copy / cut --> paste should work.

 

Hope this helps, Cheerio!

[El Tigre Chino]

The thing with the ASUS board is that its pushing my budget a fair bit. Why Gigabyte btw(both mobo and gpu)?

 

As for the GPU, the reviews say that the msi card overclocks better than the rest. Will have to look into the ASUS card though.

 

 

This is not an upgradable set-up once Haswell outs and I don't see you change this build in under 6 months.

Haswell?

 

Will go for the Seasonic S12 for PSU. Gonna skip the SSD for now, future upgrade.

[vinayakb]

ps also any one knows how to transfer 500 gb of files from one desktop to another,the microsoft method is giving me errors.One runs on win7 ultimate and another on win8 pro

 

1. I use teracopy coz it copies reliably; can verify checksum after copying; there are other copying softwares too;

copying can be paused/resumed.

 

There are other reliable copying softwares too.

500GB transfer is large and if M$ copy-paste method halts then you never know how much has been completed.

 

2. As "ALPHA17" suggested above, moving the physical disk for copying, is feasible.

 

3. If both the machines can be kept ON at the same time, then connect them using ethernet cable and give them static IP (if you dont have router).

copy by sharing the folder.

[mango_man]

This is not an upgradable set-up once Haswell outs and I don't see you change this build in under 6 months.

 

:samui:

 

So if we buy a cpu now it'll be non-upgradeable & obsolete once Haswell processors come out?

 

[ALPHA17]

The thing with the ASUS board is that its pushing my budget a fair bit. Why Gigabyte btw(both mobo and gpu)?

 

As for the GPU, the reviews say that the msi card overclocks better than the rest. Will have to look into the ASUS card though.

 

 

Haswell?

 

Will go for the Seasonic S12 for PSU. Gonna skip the SSD for now, future upgrade.

 

For starters, they are cheaper and provide similar functionality. That is unless you really need a Wi-Fi dongle slapped with your motherboard 24 x7. Same with the graphic card.

 

All Kepler GPU's from nVidia are rather shaky over-clockers because they have been binned for higher turbo-clocks (the GPU core-clock goes up under heavy workloads). AMD GPU's are better at-least for this generation.

 

This is Haswell --> Intel Haswell micro-architecture @Wikipedia. Basically they are migrating to a newer socket LGA1150 from LGA1155 + newer chipsets (H8* / Z8* from H7* / Z7*) + maybe DDR4 RAM.

 

 

 

So if we buy a cpu now it'll be non-upgradeable & obsolete once Haswell processors come out?

 

Yup, incompatible sockets.

 

I don't think your machine is obsolete, I have a 3 year old AMD RIG doing fine. It just depends how much is enough for you. Because I cannot keep upgrading my RIG every 12 months and I doubt even you can keep that tempo.

Edited February 2, 2013 by ALPHA17

[kemosabe]

A bit trite way of putting it but why would you want to spend on hardware, then over-clock it to get requisite performance out of it? Would not the more efficient and just as relevant Intel set-up make more sense in such a situation OR would you absolutely want to over-clock in the near future?

 

If yes, suggest that you invest in a decent CPU cooler as well.

 

Hope this helps, Cheerio!

 

I asked the same question to myself and confused many times as those reviewers saying that the 8350 OCed will perform at per with i5xxxxk series processor and cost less as of total. I have a cooler master hyper evo 212.

 

Thanks for the physx thingy, I like those effects in Batman A/AC.

[ALPHA17]

I asked the same question to myself and confused many times as those reviewers saying that the 8350 OCed will perform at per with i5xxxxk series processor and cost less as of total. I have a cooler master hyper evo 212.

 

Thanks for the physx thingy, I like those effects in Batman A/AC.

 

Seriously it performs as good as a Core i3 on stock (for gaming) but takes up ~two times the power. Now you over-clock it to start cranking out more performance + more power consumption = long term running costs are higher.

[kemosabe]

I asked the same question to myself and confused many times as those reviewers saying that the 8350 OCed will perform at per with i5xxxxk series processor and cost less as of total. I have a cooler master hyper evo 212.

 

Thanks for the physx thingy, I like those effects in Batman A/AC.

 

Seriously it performs as good as a Core i3 on stock (for gaming) but takes up ~two times the power. Now you over-clock it to start cranking out more performance + more power consumption = long term running costs are higher.

I5 3550 it is for me..what do you think about waiting for couple of months to haswell get released as it will be entirely new die and socket I am expecting 10 to 15% increase in the performance

 

Sent from Motorola Defy using Tapatalk 2

[ALPHA17]

what do you think about waiting for couple of months to haswell get released as it will be entirely new die and socket I am expecting 10 to 15% increase in the performance

 

Pricing and availability but I do agree that performance will go up whilst power consumption will come down, also the iGP is supposedly capable of taking on AMD's Trinity offerings.

 

Your call, Sire. If you can afford to sit it out and save up to get the latest and greatest then, nothing like it. Although the Hyper 212 EVO might not be compatible.

[Bird Bird Bird]

I5 3550 it is for me..what do you think about waiting for couple of months to haswell get released as it will be entirely new die and socket I am expecting 10 to 15% increase in the performance

 

Sent from Motorola Defy using Tapatalk 2

Wait for Haswell. I'm doing the same. New socket means all compatible accessories will be useless. 2 things can come out:

1) Get the newer chipset + socket.

2) Reduced pricing of the existing stuff.

 

It's a win win both ways.

[kemosabe]

Wait for Haswell. I'm doing the same. New socket means all compatible accessories will be useless. 2 things can come out:

1) Get the newer chipset + socket.

2) Reduced pricing of the existing stuff.

 

It's a win win both ways.

 

I was waiting for haswell for last year due to the second reason,,but once Intel delayed the launch to May-June I thought why to wait further why not now.I heard that Haswell may launch with DDR 4 memory

[sathyabhat]

1. I use teracopy coz it copies reliably; can verify checksum after copying; there are other copying softwares too;

copying can be paused/resumed.

 

There are other reliable copying softwares too.

500GB transfer is large and if M$ copy-paste method halts then you never know how much has been completed.

 

2. As "ALPHA17" suggested above, moving the physical disk for copying, is feasible.

 

3. If both the machines can be kept ON at the same time, then connect them using ethernet cable and give them static IP (if you dont have router).

copy by sharing the folder.

There's also robocopy, which skips the overhead of calculating/showing size & transfer details which tends to slow down transfer.

 

Can be resumed as well. Built-in with Vista & above. http://ss64.com/nt/robocopy.html

[ALPHA17]

I was waiting for haswell for last year due to the second reason,,but once Intel delayed the launch to May-June I thought why to wait further why not now.I heard that Haswell may launch with DDR 4 memory

 

You heard right, the Haswell chipset may very well carry a DDR4 based controller although nothing is 100% concrete.