The PC Thread - Tips, Benchmarks, Specs, Laptops, Custom Desktops, Pre-Builds and more.

[Killigraphy]

When is the right time to change a PC, had mine since 2012still works pretty fine and i only use it for the innanet and thats very rare these days as im on my phone.

If its only the internet you use it for, then you don't need much of an upgrade. If you're looking to game even a little....we can get into that, but if its basically a "word processing" PC-insofar that the most you do is search the web. No upgrade is needed.

 

[Killigraphy]

Can anyone provide some pointers for this issue my friend is facing. He built a new system a few weeks ago(Ryzen 5 2700X, GTX 2080 Ti, Asus Rog Crosshair Hero VII, 16GB DDR4 RAM). Lately his system will shut down randomly and at first I said it's gotta be something overheating. The Power supply is an 800w Plus Gold I believe. His CPU was overclocked at first but I set it to default clock speed, and monitored the temps in game and after about a few COD matches while the game was finishing and showing the scores the system shut down. The GPU temp was around 71~74c and CPU lower. He has adequate cooling(4 front case fans pulling in air, top case mounted fan blowing air out as well as rear exhaust fan. He had one mounted directly underneath the GPU on the bottom of the case blowing in air so at first I told him try removing it because I wasn't sure if the GPU wasn't blowing out air but it seems like it's pulling in air so removing that bottom fan didn't make a difference really.

What could be the issue? I couldn't stay much longer to check it out but it couldn't have been the temps since I saw the temp right before it shut down and it wasn't near the rated temps(89c for the GPU I believe.)

My similar issue(s) was a bad AIO, that was slowly dying. This would cause the system to shut off due to the CPU overheating. Besides that, the only time I would have power off/on issues was a faulty component. Your friend is gonna have to remove all parts and add them in/run the pc - at a time. This is usually a hardware issue, check temps, though you mentioned he's getting good airflow...then the PSU could be the culprit, while those hardly ever die quickly, its something that could be the problem, though the PC isn't power cycling right? In that case its one of the components inside. I seldom see CPU's being the issue, check the RAM (one stick at a time), if no problems arise it very well could be the AIO/fan cooler.

 

[Fatboi1]

My similar issue(s) was a bad AIO, that was slowly dying. This would cause the system to shut off due to the CPU overheating. Besides that, the only time I would have power off/on issues was a faulty component. Your friend is gonna have to remove all parts and add them in/run the pc - at a time. This is usually a hardware issue, check temps, though you mentioned he's getting good airflow...then the PSU could be the culprit, while those hardly ever die quickly, its something that could be the problem, though the PC isn't power cycling right? In that case its one of the components inside. I seldom see CPU's being the issue, check the RAM (one stick at a time), if no problems arise it very well could be the AIO/fan cooler.

He actually told me he "fixed it" but I would have to double check with him. He said he took off the back case(?) and now it hasn't turned off on him even while gaming under heavy load.

 

[Killigraphy]

He actually told me he "fixed it" but I would have to double check with him. He said he took off the back case(?) and now it hasn't turned off on him even while gaming under heavy load.

Interesting, mind telling me what exactly caused the problem? I need to keep aware of that kind of issue for future builds.

 

[Tallac]

Thinking about copping a new Alienware m15 with GTX 1070 max, 16 GB, i7-8750H, 500 GB m.2, and a 90 Wh battery. I can get it for $1800 I might throw a 1 TB 70 Evo.
The reason why I have not copped it, is because there are very few reviews and they were engineered samples. I have until next week to buy it and use my 15% coupon.

Wanted to go with MSI GS65 first, but that flipped motherboard was a big turnoff. Aero 15X still has some issues to fix. Razor Blade looks good, but they get super hot. Asus and Acer have some stuff with Zephyrus, but battery is trash. And all those PCs are almost the same price as the m15.

 

[Killigraphy]

Thinking about copping a new Alienware m15 with GTX 1070 max, 16 GB, i7-8750H, 500 GB m.2, and a 90 Wh battery. I can get it for $1800 I might throw a 1 TB 70 Evo.
The reason why I have not copped it, is because there are very few reviews and they were engineered samples. I have until next week to buy it and use my 15% coupon.

Wanted to go with MSI GS65 first, but that flipped motherboard was a big turnoff. Aero 15X still has some issues to fix. Razor Blade looks good, but they get super hot. Asus and Acer have some stuff with Zephyrus, but battery is trash. And all those PCs are almost the same price as the m15.

Greatly priced, but the laptop design is one that will forever be cursed with overheating. I remember one of the most famous tactics on Tom'sHarware was to use ice packs under them. Battery life follows....I simply can't ever co-sign any laptop. I love the design for many, but the flaws are too huge and consistent for me to ever take any Laptop seriously.

 

[FruitOfTheVale]

Greatly priced, but the laptop design is one that will forever be cursed with overheating. I remember one of the most famous tactics on Tom'sHarware was to use ice packs under them. Battery life follows....I simply can't ever co-sign any laptop. I love the design for many, but the flaws are too huge and consistent for me to ever take any Laptop seriously.

Undervolting the CPU supposedly fixes a lot of heating issues on these kind of laptops.

I myself just ordered an MSI GP63 428 with nearly identical specs to what @Tallac is looking at so I'll find out in a couple days how the heating situation works out. Btw I got it for $1589 after tax with expedited shipping so you might wanna look into that @Tallac

MSI GP Series GP63 Leopard-428 15.6" 120 Hz FHD GTX 1070 8 GB VRAM i7-8750H 16 GB Memory 128 GB SSD 1TB HDD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit Gaming Laptop -- ONLY @ NEWEGG - Newegg.com

 

[Tallac]

@FruitOfTheVale, that GP63 looks really nice. I am watching some Youtube reviews now and looking for more details. Some reviews are saying it is light and quiet, and the cooling is very good. 120 Hz is not bad at all.
It is also the full GTX 1070. Breh, you are making me reconsider my choice. The price difference is close to $400, but it is due to a better screen, bigger drive and bigger battery. The m15 has a port for eGPU.
If they can find a GP63 at BestBuy or a local store, I will take a closer look. Thanks for that PC, it is a really nice PC.

@Killigraphy. I am not a heavy gamer like that. I just need a decent battery to hold me down during flights.

 

[GreatestLaker]

When I turn on my laptop the keyboard lights up, screen stays blank, battery indicator blinks white then yellow then shuts off after a minute. Laptop is not even a year old yet.

 

[FruitOfTheVale]

When I turn on my laptop the keyboard lights up, screen stays blank, battery indicator blinks white then yellow then shuts off after a minute. Laptop is not even a year old yet.

most warranty policies extend at least a year, send it back asap

 

[Fatboi1]

Interesting, mind telling me what exactly caused the problem? I need to keep aware of that kind of issue for future builds.

So I went over today to see what exactly what he was talking about. When he said he took the "back panel" off the case and the problem went away, I immediately knew what was wrong:

He has tis Anidees crystal cube case:

This is the other side where most of the wires and PSU sits:

So the problem was his PSU fan was facing the glass that covers the this side which obviously meant it was getting little to no airflow.

The weird thing is I've seen a few video reviews online with the PSU facing the glass and this wasn't mentioned.

This is how he had it since he fixed it with the glass off:


He'll just have to flip it with the fan facing the hole (which would facing the bottom of the mobo.) and he should be good.

Edit:
See this reviewer during his build he put the PSU in with the fan facing outwards at 2:09


and then a few minutes in the PSU is shown facing the other way.

 

[GreatestLaker]

When I turn on my laptop the keyboard lights up, screen stays blank, battery indicator blinks white then yellow then shuts off after a minute. Laptop is not even a year old yet.

Fixed it by resetting the memory.

 

[AB Ziggy]

MY Samsung Chromebook Pro for some reason can't turn on anymore. I press and hold the power button and nothing comes up.

 

[Phillyrider807]

Ok brehs. I think it's about that time. Im planning on going hard with the content creation next year so its time for a upgrade to my rig. As of now only thing i ever upgraded since i had this(since 2012) was the video card (And only cause i did a warranty replacement and they no longer made my original model. So they upgraded my 970 to a 1060.)

These are my specs now.

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50GHz

Video Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

RAM 16 GB

Now again the main purpose for this upgrade is content creation. Not necessarily getting the best graphics possible. I still have a 1080 p monitor and 1080p gaming is still fine for me. So i highly doubt i need a upgrade to my video card. I do however want to stream and it not effect the performance of my game.


So should i go with a ryzen 2600? Or a i7-8770k? Also what's the best motherboard i should get? I have at minimum 5 sata cables i need connected (4 internal HDDS and my dvd drive, Yes i still use my dvd drive to burn windows disk from time to time lol)

Im also looking for a new case but thats the last thing to worry about it. What u got for me coli brehs??

 

[Liquid]

Ok brehs. I think it's about that time. Im planning on going hard with the content creation next year so its time for a upgrade to my rig. As of now only thing i ever upgraded since i had this(since 2012) was the video card (And only cause i did a warranty replacement and they no longer made my original model. So they upgraded my 970 to a 1060.)

These are my specs now.

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50GHz

Video Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

RAM 16 GB

Now again the main purpose for this upgrade is content creation. Not necessarily getting the best graphics possible. I still have a 1080 p monitor and 1080p gaming is still fine for me. So i highly doubt i need a upgrade to my video card. I do however want to stream and it not effect the performance of my game.


So should i go with a ryzen 2600? Or a i7-8770k? Also what's the best motherboard i should get? I have at minimum 5 sata cables i need connected (4 internal HDDS and my dvd drive, Yes i still use my dvd drive to burn windows disk from time to time lol)

Im also looking for a new case but thats the last thing to worry about it. What u got for me coli brehs??

What is taxing a 4770K?