Questions about PCs/parts - Consulting

[Keith Wallace]

Hah, I installed both of those, gave them a go, and the ASRock one locked up my computer. The CPUID one had some odd readings, stopped noticing my CPU fan altogether after I started the ASRock one, and topped out my CPU fan's speed at 1601 RPM, all while idling on the browser with a few things running in the background. The ASRock one showed something just south of 1600 RPM and a CPU temp in the low-30s Celsius, I think.

 

[QwarkDreams]

Hah, I installed both of those, gave them a go, and the ASRock one locked up my computer. The CPUID one had some odd readings, stopped noticing my CPU fan altogether after I started the ASRock one, and topped out my CPU fan's speed at 1601 RPM, all while idling on the browser with a few things running in the background. The ASRock one showed something just south of 1600 RPM and a CPU temp in the low-30s Celsius, I think.

What do you mean it locked up your PC? Not responding?
This thing is ****ed up! Now it works just fine. Those "now it suddenly works for no apparent reason" is making me losing it! FU ASRock, next time I need a new mobo I'll stick with Asus, MSI and Gigabyte.

Edit:

 

[Keith Wallace]

My computer completely stopped responding to anything, did it a second time upon trying to use the ASRock software as well, so I'm just going to get rid of it. IT didn't crash or anything, it just froze and didn't accept any input. It's nothing I'm bothered by because I don't want or need the software. I'm still fine with the board I chose (minus the part where I broke off a pin from one of my USB 3.0 headers, but I have two, so I'm still OK on that front).

By the way, what is your current setup? I've got a 4670K running in the Power User mode (or whatever the one that is the setting that stops power-saving settings). CPUID is shoing my CPU at 28 Celsius with a fan speed of just under 1,600 RPM.

 

[QwarkDreams]

Do you mean the 3 presets? (Performance, Standard, Power-Saving). Standard. Performance should not work for me because the "Autotuning" button that appears in the bottom right corner is greyed out. Not much of a use anyway, since I have an i3-4130 and H87 mobo.....not OC-friendly.

CPUID shows now 25?C and 900-930RPM on the CPU and fan (but my window is open, so the temps are usually <30?C when idle during that time of the year).

I don't know....the CPU temp was rising slowly but constantly while I was in the UEFI a few min ago.. From 34?C to 41?C in ~2min in 0.5?C steps. No idea why and it would've kept increasing.

Edit: I happen to have the same issue right now, where I don't get any readings on the CPU fan speed (gone in CPUID and 0RPM in A-Tuning).

 

[Keith Wallace]

Mine actually did something different. The CPUID started showing 0 on the CPU fan RPM, then when I restarted the program (after a computer restart because A Tuning locked it up), it stopped showing the CPU fan on the list altogether. My i5 is consistently sitting in the high-20s or the low-30s in temp with a high-1500s-to-low-1600s in fan RPM.

I was talking about the setting in Windows itself, in regards to a power profile. If you go into the Control Panel, I think in Hardware and Sound, there is a setting for it. I had mine on High Performance, and changed it to Balanced. On High Performance, it stops the underclocking of the CPU, and I thought that might be the reason that the fan stayed pushing so hard. I changed it to Balanced, but that didn't change the fan speed. However, what it does is let the CPU vary its clock to consume power (like right now, the Task Manager shows my CPU running at 0.8-1.2 GHz, rather than the constant 3.4-3.8 GHz in High Performance).

 

[QwarkDreams]

Actually that's exactly how mine behaved too but now it just shows up and disappears randomly.
Usually my i3 is somewhere between 30-40?C on idle (depending on how the ambient temperature). During the colder seasons the temps even drop below 30?C when I have the window open. Now it sits at ~30-31?C with the window closed and only Firefox with 6 tabs open.

I have it on "balanced". "high performance" and "energy saving" is even hidden, and the 4th option is "Samsung high performance" (I guess that one is linked to my 840 Evo SSD). I can confirm those 0.8-1.2GHz with my i3.

Could be that some ASRock boards don't have the best fan control to begin with (found quite a few threads with complaints about different issues) and that those two programs (A-Tuning & HWMonitor) are buggy.

 

[Visa Declined]

FU ASRock, next time I need a new mobo I'll stick with Asus, MSI and Gigabyte.

ASRock used to be owned by Asus, but Pegatron owns them now. I've had a few of their mobo's that were pretty good, but now I would avoid buying them.

 

[QwarkDreams]

ASRock used to be owned by Asus, but Pegatron owns them now. I've had a few of their mobo's that were pretty good, but now I would avoid buying them.

Also, some ASRock ATX mobos are smaller. It looks hideous inside the case. Unfortunately, when I bought it, I was under the impression that all ATX mobos are exactly the same size.

 

[QwarkDreams]

Really, ASRock? Really? I need to set a custom profile for the fans in the UEFI to make them change the speed according to the temperature?
Because setting them to the existing profiles (Silent, Standard, Performance) makes them run at either the lowest (Silent; ~1000rpm) or at ~60% (Standard & Performance; ~1600rpm).
The BIOS version is up to date, same goes for ASRock's A-Tuning software. So I must assume that either their quality control needs to be improved or that they half-*** some of their boards.

 

[budney]

Time to bring this thread back to life!

With my 7 year old Asus desktop slowly dying I am looking at building my next one, it has been about 15 years since the last time I built a PC. I was thinking of getting an Xbox One and a Surface 3 4GB/128GB/LTE or Surface Pro 3/4 when available, but the price is/would be too steep. I have always been a "best bang for the buck" shopper. So with some looking around and with help getting things straight at pcpartpicker.com I have come up with what I think is a solid build. This PC will be used for:

HTPC - streaming music / movies / TV

School / App Dev - I am going for an AA in Computer Networking and possibly a BS in Computer Science, so testing settings and apps within VMs is possible. With the BS so far it has been mostly programing and that would tie into the App Dev stuff too.

Games - I am not a big gamer, but every so often I do play. I mostly like sports games, and I am looking forward to the new Fable coming out. It was the only game I played regularly on the 360 I had. So I want this system to be able to handle these types of games, plus the possibility of playing some of the upcoming bigger Xbox titles for Win10

I would like to keep it under $800, Intel CPUs only (previous builds have been AMD). I am looking for any ideas on how to improve this build, less money, better performance, the "best bang for the buck". An upgrade path would be nice, but not necessary, as I never have have upgraded my builds in the past. Here is what I came up with so far.

PCPartPicker part list: Intel Core i5-4590, EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti, Silverstone PS08B (Black) - System Build - PCPartPicker
Price breakdown by merchant: Intel Core i5-4590, EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti, Silverstone PS08B (Black) - System Build - Price Breakdown By Merchant - PCPartPicker

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($183.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($81.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($43.99 @ NCIX US) x 2
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($90.48 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($122.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Cougar 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($47.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($52.98 @ OutletPC)

Total: $703.38

I am looking forward to any input, Thanks!

 

[Keith Wallace]

Are you near a MicroCenter? I ask because they have great in-store pricing on CPU/motherboard combos. You can snag an i5-4690K and an ASRock board for almost the same price as that microATX/4590 non-K pairing you have there. Of course, the K just means you can overclock it, and I'm not sure that you'd care to with an HTPC (I've got a 4670K myself, never even thought about overclocking for real).

Some other notes I'd make:

RAM: Do you have some brand allegiance to Corsair? I don't see the reason to spend $88 for two individual 8-GB sticks, when you can get something like this, where it's $75 for a pair of 8-GB sticks.

Storage: If you're primarily doing media, is a 240-GB SSD going to be enough on its own, or are you going to use a second drive you already have? There are also quite a few SSDs in the same storage range at lower prices, like the 250-GB Samsung 850 EVO. It's basically the same price, but with many more reviews. There's also this $72 Kingston, which is the same capacity and has solid reviews. I'm not too sure on which iteration of those drives it is, though some of the older ones allegedly had controller issues (granted, I have a Kingston with the supposedly bad controller, but mine's been 100% fine).

GPU: The video card's mostly going to be brand and vendor preference (I've got a friend who's big on the EVGA Nvidia cards). Still, something folks have often said, and just as a warning, never get something because of a rebate. Many mail-in rebates are slow to arrive, if they even bother showing up. Granted, all of the comparable cards to the one you chose are about the same price and carry similar rebates, so that's not going to be much of a factor.

Case: I get you are planning on an HTPC, but not sure on how the video card you picked fits into a microATX case. I don't expect it'd be a problem, but something you'll want to make 100% sure of before ordering. I'm not a microATX/ITX person myself, I just feel better having a mid-tower ATX case's airflow. If you were to consider the MicroCenter offer I mentioned, you WOULD have to step up to the mid-tower level.

Power Supply: If that $100 you have left isn't being thrown to an OS license or peripherals (didn't see them mentioned has part of the $800 budget), I'd spend the bit more for a higher-end PSU. Something 80+ GOLD is what I'd aim for, preferably by one of the top brands, like Corsair or SeaSonic (and they supply the parts for some other PSU manufacturers, but I don't follow them well enough to comment on which).

Optical Drive: Pick one, shouldn't matter. I don't do Blu-Ray, so I got a cheap LG DVD-R drive, but for an HTPC, I'm guessing you'll want such a thing.

 

[budney]

Are you near a MicroCenter? I ask because they have great in-store pricing on CPU/motherboard combos. You can snag an i5-4690K and an ASRock board for almost the same price as that microATX/4590 non-K pairing you have there. Of course, the K just means you can overclock it, and I'm not sure that you'd care to with an HTPC (I've got a 4670K myself, never even thought about overclocking for real).

I wish there was a MicroCenter here! I will look at the ASRock board, it's just that I have had good luck with MSI and Gigabyte boards in the past.

Some other notes I'd make:

RAM: Do you have some brand allegiance to Corsair? I don't see the reason to spend $88 for two individual 8-GB sticks, when you can get something like this, where it's $75 for a pair of 8-GB sticks.

I have no brand loyalty with RAM. So if there is better RAM for less money, great! I do prefer to get sticks individually, as I have had to postpone builds because one of the sticks was bad and had to send both sticks back.

Storage: If you're primarily doing media, is a 240-GB SSD going to be enough on its own, or are you going to use a second drive you already have? There are also quite a few SSDs in the same storage range at lower prices, like the 250-GB Samsung 850 EVO. It's basically the same price, but with many more reviews. There's also this $72 Kingston, which is the same capacity and has solid reviews. I'm not too sure on which iteration of those drives it is, though some of the older ones allegedly had controller issues (granted, I have a Kingston with the supposedly bad controller, but mine's been 100% fine).

I should have mention I have a 1TB drive that I can use, along with a 4TB My Book to store anything I need. Thanks for the links to the other SSDs, and for letting me know of the controller issue. Hopefully SSD prices will keep falling over the next month when I can pull the trigger on this build.

GPU: The video card's mostly going to be brand and vendor preference (I've got a friend who's big on the EVGA Nvidia cards). Still, something folks have often said, and just as a warning, never get something because of a rebate. Many mail-in rebates are slow to arrive, if they even bother showing up. Granted, all of the comparable cards to the one you chose are about the same price and carry similar rebates, so that's not going to be much of a factor.

I picked that card for the reviews, not because of the rebate. Also Tom's Hardware mentioned the 750Ti was a good performer for the money. I am all for spending as little as I can on the video card. I really don't care as long as it works! Lol

Case: I get you are planning on an HTPC, but not sure on how the video card you picked fits into a microATX case. I don't expect it'd be a problem, but something you'll want to make 100% sure of before ordering. I'm not a microATX/ITX person myself, I just feel better having a mid-tower ATX case's airflow. If you were to consider the MicroCenter offer I mentioned, you WOULD have to step up to the mid-tower level.

I am completely open to suggestions on the case and Mobo size. I would like to go the HTPC route, as I have lots of room on the shelf under my TV stand which is open and off the floor. I am torn between air flow and wanting to keep all the cat hair out of my new PC. Cleaning out my Asus now is a PITA as often as I have to do it. I don't overcook my PCs and it never gets to warm in my apartment. On hot days I have an A/C unit. So I am all ears on a good solution with the case.

Power Supply: If that $100 you have left isn't being thrown to an OS license or peripherals (didn't see them mentioned has part of the $800 budget), I'd spend the bit more for a higher-end PSU. Something 80+ GOLD is what I'd aim for, preferably by one of the top brands, like Corsair or SeaSonic (and they supply the parts for some other PSU manufacturers, but I don't follow them well enough to comment on which).

That PSU was mostly a place holder for now. I hope I can upgrade it a bit as a good PSU is important.

Optical Drive: Pick one, shouldn't matter. I don't do Blu-Ray, so I got a cheap LG DVD-R drive, but for an HTPC, I'm guessing you'll want such a thing.

I want to hook my stand alone Blue-Ray player to my TV in my bedroom, so a Blue-Ray player in this build is a must. I am fine with anything other than LG (long story).

 

[Keith Wallace]

I haven't developed any brand loyalties on much yet. My dad's god a few though, like he mentioned how MSI (just because you mentioned them) screwed a bunch of folks over with a bad batch of boards, like, 15 years ago, so he still won't buy their stuff.

The RAM sticks thing, I'm not sure how I'd feel on that. The dual-channel kits have supposedly been tested as a pair, and that'd just kind of make me feel better about issues, and buying them together probably lowers the price a smidge. You might also see if going with a 4x4 setup, rather than 2x8, makes it any cheaper. I'm guessing you have no plans to go to 32 GB someday, as it is serious overkill.

If you're aiming for an HTPC and don't care about gaming hard on the thing, you might honestly look at an AMD APU over an Intel CPU and a separate video card. It's not like running a media file strains any CPU, but if the gaming you're considering is pretty light, those APUs have respectable-enough GPUs built in that they can play some games decently well. I'd just say look up reviews/benchmarks on them, and consider how the tested games might compare to what you'd potentially play.