The Power PC Thread [f*ck off consoles]

[Silent_Scone]

You on about the EK version and not the hybrid I take it? I've been eyeing up the hybrid as I don't want to put in an entire loop just for the card, and want to get heat out of the case with limited clearance at the front of the card.

Yeah, the MSI card with the short block. Looks like they shafted EVGA to supply MSI. I heard they had a falling out.

 

[Wilkeh]

Get it picked up! Are you on your way now??

Sorted haha

I've got a week off as well now for my birthday. I've purposely not played Witcher 3 until it came. 1440p on max settings should look awesome

 

[Darren S]

Sorted haha :smiley:

I've got a week off as well now for my birthday. I've purposely not played Witcher 3 until it came. 1440p on max settings should look awesome :smiley:

Hahaha! You're a clone of me! Literally tried about 5 minutes of Witcher 3 - and held off when I knew I'd be upgrading. Looking forward to it

 

[Jason_E]

So my "Budget Build" will hopefully be complete tonight. I wanted to make something using components in my old PC where I could and ultimately spending under £400. Not too bothered about playing most games max res, just wanted to play rFactor 2 and a few others like it. Maybe GTA V.

Anyway:

Asus P8P67 M'board and Intel i5 2500k for £105 from ebay.
EVGA Geforce GTX 960 2GB Superclocked for £100 on ebay.
Big order from ebuyer total: £160
(16gb Ram, 120gb SSD, Case, CPU Cooling fan, Wifi adapter)

£360 in total for an entirely usable set up. If I get more into this PC gaming thing I'll splash out, but for now this should see me through a year or two.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Jesus, that won't play s**t.


(Just messing)

 

[Jason_E]

Haha I found the old order for the last thing I built from nothing, that'll be reet for now yeah? :wink:

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

I'd have been tempted to up the GPU budget by £50 or so and get a used 970. For low resolutions (1080p and under ) it will be ok. Nothing spectacular but then our definitions of ok might be different. Remember this is the Power PC (f**k off consoles) thread.

 

[BoatNonce]

I'd have been tempted to up the GPU budget by £50 or so and get a used 970. For low resolutions (1080p and under :wink: ) it will be ok. Nothing spectacular but then our definitions of ok might be different. Remember this is the Power PC (f**k off consoles) thread.

Or the 780 I had offered....

 

[welshname]

Anyone seen the info floating round that a lot of the 4GB cards of the RX480 are actually 8GB cards with a BIOS that disables 4GB? Even to the point of the 4GB stickers just covering the 8GB print on the box!

A BIOS flash to 8GB bios enables it!

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[Camble]

Hi guys,
I'm wanting to build a good PC for work (digital designer) and to potentially play games on. I don't play games on but want to take it up haha.

I've specced up the following... Any comments from anyone who knows more than me (which is not much haha)...

I7-6700k processor
PowerColor Radeon RX 480 8GB GDDR5 HDMI 3x DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics card
Asus Z170-P D3 Socket 1151 DVI HDMI 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
HyperX 16GB (2x8GB) 2666MHz DDR4 Non-ECC CL15 1.2V Memory
Samsung SM951 128GB M.2 PCIe SSD
WD Black 1TB 3.5" SATA Desktop Hard Drive
Corsair VS Series 450 Watt Power Supply
Cables Direct UK Kettle Lead - UK Plug - IEC Socket 1.8m
Windows 10 Home 64-bit OEM
Cooler Master HTK-002-U1 HTK Performance Thermal paste
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 4 Heatpipes/1x120mm Fan CPU Air Cooler
Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-03 Red LED Mid-Tower Gaming Case
LiteOn iHAS124 24X Internal DVD Writer with SATA - OEM

Total: £1100

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

@Camble

I would ditch the HDD for a normal 1TB SSD (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00P738MUU/?tag=cliospnet01-21) unless cost is the reason you've gone for a HDD. With a HDD being the only moving part in that PC besides the fans you'll hear such a difference by opting for all solid state storage.

I personally have a thing for not using Corsair anymore, I highly recommend BeQuiet for PSUs, even their cheap ones are nigh on silent. Built a PC for my Dad last year using their ~400W PSU (about £50 IIRC) and it's still silent.

Lastly the CPU cooler, I used to have a 212 EVO and know they're popular, but I would recommend Noctua for air coolers. They are the best, and again nearly silent. I have a DH-15. It's much better at cooling than my old Corsair H100i and it's quieter too.

 

[Camble]

@Camble

I would ditch the HDD for a normal 1TB SSD (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00P738MUU/?tag=cliospnet01-21) unless cost is the reason you've gone for a HDD. With a HDD being the only moving part in that PC besides the fans you'll hear such a difference by opting for all solid state storage.

I personally have a thing for not using Corsair anymore, I highly recommend BeQuiet for PSUs, even their cheap ones are nigh on silent. Built a PC for my Dad last year using their ~400W PSU (about £50 IIRC) and it's still silent.

Lastly the CPU cooler, I used to have a 212 EVO and know they're popular, but I would recommend Noctua for air coolers. They are the best, and again nearly silent. I have a DH-15. It's much better at cooling than my old Corsair H100i and it's quieter too.

Cheers for the reply buddy. I was looking at the 128Gb M.2 SSD for the OS, Creative Suite etc and possibly any potential games. Then the 1TB standard HDD to house files etc. The noise isn't a factor as I'm always listening to music when on it so that doesn't bother me haha. In terms of noise is that the only difference really from my list?

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

Cheers for the reply buddy. I was looking at the 128Gb M.2 SSD for the OS, Creative Suite etc and possibly any potential games. Then the 1TB standard HDD to house files etc. The noise isn't a factor as I'm always listening to music when on it so that doesn't bother me haha. In terms of noise is that the only difference really from my list?

128GB really doesn't go very far these days. Games are frequently 25GB+ (GTA5 is over 80). With 128 you'll only get about 105-110 usable and the OS will take 20 of that. You will have space for a couple of apps and some files before you start having issues.

That's why I recommend just going all SSD. It's not expensive to do anymore and you benefit from the instant response which is nice. The noise is a plus point for sure, but not the only benefit.

It's your PC of course, but you did ask.

 

[Gareth]

@Camble, not sure why you are speccing a seperate power lead as it will come with any PSU you buy.

 

[Camble]

128GB really doesn't go very far these days. Games are frequently 25GB+ (GTA5 is over 80). With 128 you'll only get about 105-110 usable and the OS will take 20 of that. You will have space for a couple of apps and some files before you start having issues.

That's why I recommend just going all SSD. It's not expensive to do anymore and you benefit from the instant response which is nice. The noise is a plus point for sure, but not the only benefit.

It's your PC of course, but you did ask.

I'm taking your advice and meeting you half way haha! I'm going for the 500Gb SSD (Samsung) with no other HDD, if I get to a point where I need more I can buy another

@Camble, not sure why you are speccing a seperate power lead as it will come with any PSU you buy.

Ahhh didn't realise cheers!

 

[Gareth]

No worries, I know they are only a few quid but its not needed.

Going all SSD is good advice if you can, it does make a difference, unfortunately because of my Steam games I need a 2TB drive but all other drives in mine are SSDs and I usually install the top games I'm playing to them.

 

[Darren S]

Haha I found the old order for the last thing I built from nothing, that'll be reet for now yeah? :wink:

4K spec, right there!

 

[Silent_Scone]

Anyone seen the info floating round that a lot of the 4GB cards of the RX480 are actually 8GB cards with a BIOS that disables 4GB? Even to the point of the 4GB stickers just covering the 8GB print on the box!

A BIOS flash to 8GB bios enables it!

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Will take more than a bigger frame buffer to save that piece of s**t.

 

[welshname]

Will take more than a bigger frame buffer to save that piece of s**t.

It's a great little card tbh. It does what it says on the tin. Budget VR card, decent frame rates, better at asynchronous compute tasks than the rivals at that price point.

 

[Silent_Scone]

It's a great little card tbh. It does what it says on the tin. Budget VR card, decent frame rates, better at asynchronous compute tasks than the rivals at that price point.

VR on a budget? Spending 700 pounds on early adoption only to pair it with a video card that barely meets requirement is questionable. Hell, I own a 1080GTX and I can't justify it currently. Async compute, well. That will never arrive. Cantankerous to implement, gains are negligible. People need to stop basing their purchasing decisions on marketing spew.

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

Quite.

There is nothing budget about VR.

 

[Cookie]

I'll wait for v2 or v3 of the current VR implementations and see where it goes

 

[welshname]

VR on a budget? Spending 700 pounds on early adoption only to pair it with a video card that barely meets requirement is questionable. Hell, I own a 1080GTX and I can't justify it currently. Async compute, well. That will never arrive. Cantankerous to implement, gains are negligible. People need to stop basing their purchasing decisions on marketing spew.

If you hadn't spent your money on an expensive card and other varying PC components wouldn't that free up the £700 for a VR headset?

If someone has £1200 to spend on a full PC and VR gear they can't achieve that with a 1080. With an RX480 they could.


Those figures are probably well off but the cost to get into VR is significantly less when you use a budget card which is plenty capable.

 

[Silent_Scone]

mmm, yours and and my definition of plenty capable may vary!

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

Agreed, I'm lead to believe that my 980Ti would be a compromise in some aspects for VR, so I really don't see something that's on par with a 970 being able to come up with the good stuff. That said I've been wrong before.

Although I will say there is a difference between being content with playing fast paced games at 60Hz, and then giving yourself a headache from playing VR at 60Hz. I think you have to render a bit more than 1080p (it's 1920x1200 in today's headsets if I'm not mistaken), but the crucial bit is not having the GPU dip below 90 FPS at all. That's the tricky part. I can average high FPS all day long with a 980Ti at 1440p. But I'd be lying if I said it stays above 100Hz all the time. Yes dropping nearly half the pixels would help, but I still don't think it would be perfect.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Anyone interested in a 6 900k? Will do 4.4 at 1.3v which is a cracking chip.

 

[SharkyUK]

Would love it mate but can't justify the cost whilst I'm between jobs!

 

[Jason_E]

Was trying out a full release version of the Oculus VR the other day, paired with a 1070.

Headset kept crashing/turning off.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Would love it mate but can't justify the cost whilst I'm between jobs!

Try me bud...you might be surprised!

 

[BoatNonce]

Waking up a HDMI TV on computer start... Anyone?

 

[Andy.]

Does your TV have HDMI-CEC? If so, does your video card support HDMI-CEC?

If not you'll be looking at some sort of USB IR blaster and a script to send a command to the TV.

 

[BoatNonce]

The TV supports CEC, do any cards support it these days?

 

[Pistachio]

Is the TVs ever used when the pc is off? If not you could get a power saver extension lead. It will power up any devices when the master device (pc) is turned on.

I use one to bring my speakers and monitors on with my tower

 

[SharkyUK]

The TV supports CEC, do any cards support it these days?

Very few mate. I can't think of any off the top of my head. CEC is more prevalent in consumer electronics than the PC market unfortunately.

Maybe something like this would fit the bill?
https://www.pulse-eight.com/p/104/usb-hdmi-cec-adapter

 

[BoatNonce]

I've seen that, but it looks like it only turns the TV on when you fire up XBMC which won't be much use.

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

Waking up a HDMI TV on computer start... Anyone?

Arduino if you're up for a project (something like that is very simple though).

 

[Darren S]

Kickstarter for DAS Keyboard 5Q....... I'm strangely intrigued/tempted to back it....

 

[Silent_Scone]

He recently built his pc with the help of Reddit and Facebook lol.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Lol, Pascal TITAN X announced - availability in August.

Last chance before i list this 6900k. I'm willing to let it go at a bargain price!

 

[Cookie]

Lol, Pascal TITAN X announced - availability in August.

Last chance before i list this 6900k. I'm willing to let it go at a bargain price!

$1200 is f**king bonkers

Glad I bought my 1070 when I did, after the pound tanked the prices went up 40 quid