THE COMPUTER THREAD

[RVR II]

That's a pretty impressive setup
My main computer is also showing its age and having strange quirks from time to time but am holding off till I can get my finances back in order since the loss of my wife 7 months ago.. I may use your list as a reference when I'm ready to upgrade.
Let us know how it does when you get it together

[MartyS (Gromit)]

There's my list.  Let me your your thoughts.  I'm excited about that H.2 SSD.  And I hear good things about that 6 core CPU.  I'll have to keep my last gen GPU for now, but it still holds up alright.  Save that for another update. 

Debating whether I should order on Amazon or Newegg.  I like Newegg's return policies and support, but it'd be nice to get the stuff really quick with amazon prime... hmm.  I'll think on it.

Not sure I'd notice the increase in speed from a PCIe SSD over my SATA SSD, but I guess for the 512MB version it's only about $50 more than SATA, it's like $150 more than the 1TB 850 pro I have now.

Are you reusing your current cooling?  My liquid cooling is 2.5 years old now, I wonder if any of it has evaporated?  I run the Core Temp monitor program so I guess if I start seeing my temperatures go up I'll know.  Also I guess I'd start hearing the fan run at full speed if the fluid wasn't circulating well enough.

I never tried the Antec sliver thermal paste, but during my last build I tried a few different pastes and then just went with the Antec diamond powder stuff (formula 7), that got me the lowest CPU temps.  I now take apart stuff I know has pads installed on the heat sinks and use that paste...

[Variety of Cells]

There's my list.  Let me your your thoughts.  I'm excited about that H.2 SSD.  And I hear good things about that 6 core CPU.  I'll have to keep my last gen GPU for now, but it still holds up alright.  Save that for another update. 

Debating whether I should order on Amazon or Newegg.  I like Newegg's return policies and support, but it'd be nice to get the stuff really quick with amazon prime... hmm.  I'll think on it.

Not sure I'd notice the increase in speed from a PCIe SSD over my SATA SSD, but I guess for the 512MB version it's only about $50 more than SATA, it's like $150 more than the 1TB 850 pro I have now.

Are you reusing your current cooling?  My liquid cooling is 2.5 years old now, I wonder if any of it has evaporated?  I run the Core Temp monitor program so I guess if I start seeing my temperatures go up I'll know.  Also I guess I'd start hearing the fan run at full speed if the fluid wasn't circulating well enough.

I never tried the Antec sliver thermal paste, but during my last build I tried a few different pastes and then just went with the Antec diamond powder stuff (formula 7), that got me the lowest CPU temps.  I now take apart stuff I know has pads installed on the heat sinks and use that paste...

Oooo.  Thanks for the heads up about the paste.  I just went with what newegg recommended me.  And I never thought about the possibility of fluid evaporation.  I also have a water cooler, a corsair H60, that I had planned on reusing to save a few bucks.  It still keeps my CPU pretty cool and it's about 4 years old.  Around 65C while gaming, and that's with a heavy overclock.  I have my i7-2600k up to 4.4 GHz.  I did a little research and the fact that the H60 is a closed loop is supposed to prevent almost all evaporation.  Haven't heard of anyone saying it has failed due to a leak or lack of liquid.  But I'll see how much another one would cost.  Since I'm getting most everything else new it might be worth it for piece of mind. 

As for the SSD, if this is you:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA12K4XM9253&cm_re=1TB_850_pro-_-9SIA12K4XM9253-_-Product

there actually might be a noticeable difference.  On the amazon list I had the 960 EVO PRO listed, but I'll probably get the regular 960 EVO for $234 from newegg.  Even so, here are the potential differences:

Max Sequential Read:  850 PRO - 550 MBps / 960 EVO - 3200 MBps
Max Sequential Write:  850 PRO - 520 MBps /  960 EVO - 1800 MBps
4KB Random Read: 850 PRO - up to 100,000 IOPS / 960 EVO - up to 330,000 IOPS

So, it promises to be quite fast if you have the correct motherboard to support it.  And it's an even bigger step up from my current boot SSD. 

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I also have the H60 cooler.  I only thought about the liquid level since they say it has "minimal coolant evaporation", so that means there is some....  If yours has lasted 4 years then I've got a few years left before thinking about replacing it.   Searching around I see some people saying they have had theirs running for 5 or 6 years.

Just reading about real world speed differences for those drives vs. SATA III, seems they excel at random access, so you see the biggest improvement when accessing huge directories or need to read/write multiple files simultaneously.   Single file load times like there are during gaming are faster but not as noticeable.

My 1TB SSD is only a year old, so not considering replacing it. 

[Variety of Cells]

That's a pretty impressive setup
My main computer is also showing its age and having strange quirks from time to time but am holding off till I can get my finances back in order since the loss of my wife 7 months ago.. I may use your list as a reference when I'm ready to upgrade.
Let us know how it does when you get it together

I really hope things stabilize for you. I'm feeling pretty good about my list and I'll be purchasing maybe even tonight. Hopefully build this weekend if the parts come in. I'll definitely report back with how it goes.

[RVR II]

That's a pretty impressive setup
My main computer is also showing its age and having strange quirks from time to time but am holding off till I can get my finances back in order since the loss of my wife 7 months ago.. I may use your list as a reference when I'm ready to upgrade.
Let us know how it does when you get it together

I really hope things stabilize for you. I'm feeling pretty good about my list and I'll be purchasing maybe even tonight. Hopefully build this weekend if the parts come in. I'll definitely report back with how it goes.

Thanks. I'm getting better very slowly but once I'm back on my feet I'll be doing a similar upgrade; case and all

[Variety of Cells]

This is the final transmission of the Variety of Cells Antec desktop.  You had a good run.  A little crashy at times, but considering how hard I pushed you, you held up quite well.  Now it is time for you to rest my sweet.  You will be missed not only by me, but also by my cat who loved to sit on your top fan to gently warm her butt.  Still, do not be sad my dear.  From the ashes of your case and motherboard a new PC will rise. And in your HDDs, SSDs, and your prohibitively-expensive-yet-somehow already-obsolete GPU will live the memory of what once was.  And that memory will live with me too.  Goodbye my friend.

Started writing that as a joke but by the end actually started to get a little sentimental... to the point where I feel a little bad for what I'm about to do to this computer's insides... I'm sure I'll be over that once I pull out the shiny new case.

[Darth Geek]

This is the final transmission of the Variety of Cells Antec desktop.  You had a good run.  A little crashy at times, but considering how hard I pushed you, you held up quite well.  Now it is time for you to rest my sweet.  You will be missed not only by me, but also by my cat who loved to sit on your top fan to gently warm her butt.  Still, do not be sad my dear.  From the ashes of your case and motherboard a new PC will rise. And in your HDDs, SSDs, and your prohibitively-expensive-yet-somehow already-obsolete GPU will live the memory of what once was.  And that memory will live with me too.  Goodbye my friend.

Started writing that as a joke but by the end actually started to get a little sentimental... to the point where I feel a little bad for what I'm about to do to this computer's insides... I'm sure I'll be over that once I pull out the shiny new case.

A visual representation of what is about to happen:

[Variety of Cells]

This is the final transmission of the Variety of Cells Antec desktop.  You had a good run.  A little crashy at times, but considering how hard I pushed you, you held up quite well.  Now it is time for you to rest my sweet.  You will be missed not only by me, but also by my cat who loved to sit on your top fan to gently warm her butt.  Still, do not be sad my dear.  From the ashes of your case and motherboard a new PC will rise. And in your HDDs, SSDs, and your prohibitively-expensive-yet-somehow already-obsolete GPU will live the memory of what once was.  And that memory will live with me too.  Goodbye my friend.

Started writing that as a joke but by the end actually started to get a little sentimental... to the point where I feel a little bad for what I'm about to do to this computer's insides... I'm sure I'll be over that once I pull out the shiny new case.

A visual representation of what is about to happen:

Like

[Variety of Cells]

Thought I'd do a quick check in until I have time to do a bigger write up on my experiences, plus pictures of course. The new rig is up and running nicely. Everything went smooth during the build, other than finding out my cooler doesn't fit my CPU. Technically it does, but I would need four double threaded posts that are only included with the new version of my cooler, which I didn't realize when I looked up what sockets an H60 would fit.

Luckily I live in NYC with access to a Microcenter. I had never been there before, but it was a wonderful experience. The guy who helped me knew a lot about building PCs, was able to recommend a self contained liquid cooler that was cheaper and better at cooling than what I was going to get. And he also showed me a better place to put the radiator. I hate shopping in stores and do most of my shopping online.  I don't expect employees to know anything, or to lie through there teeth to get you to buy something. I forgot that sometimes talking to a real person can be nice and helpful, instead of searching through reviews online.

Currently stress testing my overclock. Looks like I might have a stable 4.4GHz OC. We'll see. Like I said, I'll post more a little later.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Luckily I live in NYC with access to a Microcenter. I had never been there before, but it was a wonderful experience.

I've been going to the one near me in PA since it opened about 20+ years ago, their online ordering and pickup in 20 minutes works, their people do usually know a lot about computers (they actually fix stuff on site rather than send it out so they do need to have people that know stuff in the store).  And their prices are usually about the same as Amazon, a little higher than places like newegg.

Since radio shack went under they expanded their selection general electronics stuff quite a bit, so you can get some hobby electronics and tools there.

[Variety of Cells]

Maybe you guys can help with a little overclocking issue.

As recommended I've disabled all C states, turbo boost, and intel speedstep in the bios, with the goal of giving me a constant clock speed and volatage so I can find the optimum balance for my PC. I've achieved that goal when idling. But when put under heavy load during stress testing the ratio backs off from 44 to 43 to 42 every now and then.

According to Intel's extreme tuning program the CPU is not thermal throttling. But if that's not what is going on, then what could it be? 

And a second question. Do you guys have any opinions about turning c states and speedstep back on after overclocking?  I've seen some reports that they do have a slight negative impact on gaming, but the power and voltage saving benefits are worth it for some.

[Variety of Cells]

Maybe you guys can help with a little overclocking issue.

As recommended I've disabled all C states, turbo boost, and intel speedstep in the bios, with the goal of giving me a constant clock speed and volatage so I can find the optimum balance for my PC. I've achieved that goal when idling. But when put under heavy load during stress testing the ratio backs off from 44 to 43 to 42 every now and then.

According to Intel's extreme tuning program the CPU is not thermal throttling. But if that's not what is going on, then what could it be? 

And a second question. Do you guys have any opinions about turning c states and speedstep back on after overclocking?  I've seen some reports that they do have a slight negative impact on gaming, but the power and voltage saving benefits are worth it for some.

After doing some more research it sounds like this might be the work of the AVX offset. The AVX offset lowers the multiplier when AVX instructions are detected, because I guess they create instability at high overclocks. But to find out for sure I need to do more testing. Preferably some real testing instead of the hour and a half I gave it yesterday after work where I couldn't keep my eyes open as my CPU crunched a bunch of numbers.

[Variety of Cells]

Finally have time to do a write up on my new build!

TLDR:  I love my new Corsair 760T case.  Managed to get a solid 4.4 GHz OC on the processor.  Water cooler I got works really well.

Let's start off with some pictures.  It's crazy how small SSDs are now.  This thing is wicked fast, with a decent capacity (500GB) and it's smaller than my pointer finger.  Points to whoever can find it hiding in my case.

*going to spoiler all the pictures to keep the size of the post down*

Spoiler

Speaking of my case, it's what I love the most about the new build.  Everything is so much easier than my 8 year old antec case, and it's also sleek and sexy.  Both panels are hinged, it's easy to customize, the brackets for the HDDs and SSDs require 0 screws and their connections face the back panel which keeps the front uncluttered and increases airflow.  Oh, and it matches my cat.

Spoiler

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had to get a different water cooler for my CPU because my old one was missing pieces to mount to my socket.  Ended up with a CoolerMaster 240.  Works exceedingly well.  With my overclock of 4.4 GHz at 1.26v and speed step turned on, I idle at 41 C, and don't get much above 50 C while gaming.  Even during stress testing I was only in the 60s.  The guy who helped me pick out the cooler at the store recommended I mount the radiator to the front of the case, something I wouldn't have thought to do on my own.  It was simple to do with my new case, as the HDD cages can easily be removed to make room.  I was concerned that the hoses wouldn't be able to reach the CPU from that position, but thankfully they just barely did, without too much tension.

Spoiler

So spacious.  I love it.  Cable management was really easy.  The only place I got boned was with the front panel control cable.  It was a a little short so I couldn't go around the back, had to go through the middle of the case.  But my computer is much more stable now.  Haven't had any crashes, and only had to reset the CMOS once while overclocking.  The built in overclock settings on my motherboard (MSI x99a pro gaming carbon) were pretty shit, so I had to do it manually, but that's fine.

Only two more steps to complete this rig.  First, I have to get one more 140mm case fan because the instructions lied to me and the case can in fact fit three 140mm fans on the top of the case to vent upward (into my cat's belly most of the time).  And two, I'm getting an aftermarket air cooler for my GPU.  The stock cooler on my GPU sounds like a jet engine, and there's no way I can afford a new GPU at the moment.  So I found the ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme IV for $65 that has pretty good reviews.  I have to admit that I'm a little worried about frying my GPU because apparently the instructions that come with it are a little lacking, but I think it's worth the risk.  My GPU gets so damn hot and so damn noisy.  Here's hoping my next post isn't me crying. 

[RVR II]

Wow! That looks awesome!!

It's crazy how small SSDs are now.  This thing is wicked fast, with a decent capacity (500GB) and it's smaller than my pointer finger.  Points to whoever can find it hiding in my case.

Spoiler

That's the SSD
It looks more like a stick of RAM instead of the conventional SSDs I have in my system..