PrivateSamso

Hello everyone, hope you're all having a fantastic morning/day/night.
 
Following last years positive response to my Christmas giveaway of games, I decided to throw something even bigger this year – Over $700 worth of games will find owners over the coming 10 days; Sounds like fun right?
 
It's incredibly simple to join, and the drawings for games are limited to you lovely LTT members.
 
Join the draw for new games every day at: http://gamingmas.linusforsell.com/
 
The only data required to enter is your forum username. Yup, that's it.
 
Good luck everyone, and now's the time to get festive!
 
Cheers,
Linus

I don't mean to make you sound like an idiot, but are you using a 4k monitor?

I don't mean to make you sound like an idiot, but are you using a 4k monitor?

I've been using my Surface RT for about a year now, a little longer, mostly at highschool (my teachers didn't care)
It is a nice little machine, battery life is about 8-10 hours for me.
The keyboard is a really really big benefit, it is so handy to be able to fold it away when you just want to use it as a tablet.
it is bad for gaming, there are quite a bit of games on the Store but I am not a fan of gaming on the tablet, the Tegra 3 is quite capable but it isn't a very good experience.
You get Powerpoint, Word, Outlook, Excel and Onenote for free.
Onenote is an excelent note taking program (far far better then Evernote and its peers imo)
YOu have to keep in mind though it is not x86, so you can't install any .exe stuff on it (no Steam games at all)
For carrying around it is infinitly better than a laptop though, because of it's cover.
 
Decide for yourself, get the Surface RT 2 though, much better Tegra 4

Asus Pro Art: http://www.amazon.com/PA248Q-24-Inch-LED-Lit-Professional-Graphics/dp/B008DWH00K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405799857&sr=8-1&keywords=pro+art+asus

Found some sub-300 dollar monitors here: http://reviews.mysteryblock.com/best-gaming-monitors-of-2014-so-far/
 
If anything, I'd also go over to Amazon and do quick searches on BenQ. They have best midrange monitors imo.

QNIX EVO II (single input) as it is one of the best out of box color calibration for you're price range.
 
It is a 27" 1440" PLS panel which is as good as an S-IPS panel.
 
http://wecravegamestoo.com/forums/monitor-reviews-discussion/13500-qnix-qx2710-review-2560x1440-matte-overclock-able-pls.html

Your budget is unspecified. But I highly recommend Das Keyboard. Key faces are for n00bs.

I was going to do it on Comic Sans just to annoy you all, but I decided not to.
 
Purpose of the build: Be a somewhat portable but otherwise pretty solid ITX gaming rig. A lot of the games I play are either GPU bound or only make use of 2 cores (looking at you Total War).
 
Specs:
- CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 i5 4690K.
- GPU: MSI 7950 Twin Frozr 3
- RAM: 8GB G.Skill ARES 1866
- BOARD: ASUS Z97I-Plus
- CASE: Fractal Design Node 304 - White
- COOLER: Hyper 412S
- PSU: Corsair CX600M
- STORAGE: 64GB Crucial M4 & 2TB Seagate External
 
Rationale:
- CPU: So the Pentium is cheap, ticks my boxes and won't kick out a tonne of heat into a small case. Offers the performance I need at a price I liked. Rock on Intel for introducing a cheap overclockable processor that takes us back to the Conroe days.
 
- GPU: I have a 7950 (bios flashed to a 280 because can) and I like it. It offers the performance I need at a price I liked (and still do, at £180 new it was a bargain). I am considering painting the shroud white and leaving the black accent on as that'd look pretty awesome.

And how I'd like it to look painted:

 
That's about as good as my photoshop skills I get I'm afraid, but it's reasonably OK minus some visual anomalies. Seems like the painting would be popular with the comments so I'll probably do it
 
RAM: It's cheap, low profile and I already have it. Don't really know what to write on this.
 
Board: So I quite liked this board, a fan of the colour (not too keen on all the red/black going around lately) and I am familiar with ASUS products so I knew what to expect. I also got it for £66 which is around 45% off (ish).

Block of cheese for scale.
 
Case: I like the look of the node, and it was also the ITX case that required me to throw out the least amount of hardware, runners up were the EVGA Hadron and the Elite 130 but for both I'd need a new PSU and/or Cooler, and for the Hadron a graphics card swap also. I opted for the white mainly because I've never had a white case before, but also because it was £12 cheaper and shipped sooner.
 
Cooler: I got the Hyper 412S to replace my 120mm AIO water cooler as I was less than impressed (and a college friend offered me £60 for it (I got for £70 originally). It's a few £ more than a 212 EVO and slightly bigger with more spaced out fins, cooling is similar (within 1-2c) but with spaced out fins the air flow through the cooler is better for weaker fans or at lower RPMs.
 
PSU: I already owned one, good wattage & quality and it fits the case. Considering a short cable set if it's a bit messy inside the case when I get the build together. However I only need 1 SATA and the PCIe power cables so it won't be too bad.
 
Storage: I own both and I've had the M4 for quite a long time now. (Back when 64GB SSDs would run you £80). Nothing really to said other than no mechanical drive will be inside the case; thank god.
 
And that's it for now until the case arrives tomorrow *crosses fingers* or next week...

i've got my new pentium and a new board.
 
Test Bench Specs:
The bench itself is the box.
CPU: Pentium G3258 unlocked 
RAM: Avexir Mpower series 2400mhz cl10
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z97X SOC Force
PSU: Cooler Master 500W low end thing with a dual 20A 12V rail with a max output of 360w on the 12v rail
Cooler: Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme
 
sexy pics of the unboxing and accessories. 
 
Voltage scaling and testing doc here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z_svEsMZesaDSTL8LMopLMayjpRny8pDwtx-uojuAIw/edit#gid=0
 
some benches. beat slick
 
New benches with moar speed and even some over 5ghz
 
 
the motherboard:
Good:
the orangeness, because that adds an extra 50mhz to your oc
the dimm slots being soldered to the surface of the board makes it very interesting
massive gap between the pci x16 and x8 slot so when you do 2 way sli/cf your cards can breathe easily. they go 16x, 4x, 8x, 4x
the onboard buttons are a great idea, but i don't actually use them
the bracket for expansion cards is great for people like me who run pc's on top of the box for months before i can find a case for them
the rear i/o is great with a ps2 port for a proper keyboard.
the right angle sata ports will make it much better for cable management when i do put it in a case.
the voltage checkpoints are really useful if cpuz is lying, i haven't used them yet, but i intend to use them tomorrow.
the options in the bios are great, you can set all the things and turn lots of things off that i don't care about like temperature protection a pwm cpu fan control
the overall layout of the bios is pretty good and you can do a fixed voltage or an offset voltage!
the pic of the board on the box frozen is epic
the box is high quality and has a good texture. 
 
Bad:
the top pcie slot it at the very top which means i cant use it with my heatsink
getting into the useful bit of the bios is too hard, i have to press f2 twice after entering the bios to get it into the advanced mode.
there is a small section of the board wasted on the bottom left for a separate bit of pcb for the audio. it would rather the board be £5 cheaper.
it only has 8 power phases so the vrm heatsink isn't L shaped and massive like the z77 up7 was. this reduces the e peen factor
 
The pentium G3258
(note: this is my opinion on my particular chip and i know some will be better and some will be worse.)
 
 
Best:
 
 
Good:
£50 for an intel cpu that can oc properly. epic price
its a pentium
when overclocked it can match all i3's at stock even at a 4.6-4.7ghz 24/7 oc
it doesn't run very hot so you can run it on a cheap cooler
mine does 4.6ghz with xmp ram (2400mhz cl10) on 1.2v which is great
at low-mid oc's it uses a tiny amount of voltage
it will hold 2400mhz ram
its faster than most dual core amd chips, on a single core.
 
 
 
Bad
there is a serious lack of 5ghz benchmarking at a reasonable voltage.
the worst scaling after 4.7ghz ever.
complete lack of bclk overclocking.
its worse than ivy after 4.6ghz
i'm not impressed with the single thread performance. just the fact that i can only get 2cb more than my i5 is poor.
 
 
Next i plan to do a few test with a gpu's and also i will do some more cpu benchmarks. i still need to see how far i can push it on 1 core and also see if i can make my ram any faster.

So, im fairly new to this forum, However i like to make an entrance.
This in WIP But here it is so far:
 
  Ordered directly from the Manfacturer met the Builders at their factory in UK (where i'm from) it was specially made for myself extras I added on like: extra room inside  double glazing  different windows than standard extra window in the extra room Tall Construction (2 beams higher than standard) Bigger josts 3x4 not 2x4   Extra room will be toilet facilities & little storage         Air con 5KW Office unit to sit outside does Hot & Cold & time sensor    
Colour Change:   Triple Sockets   Whats in the ceiling & floor? 70mm thick Insulation:   How it done?   Painted inside with same as outside Medium Oak Barn Paint 60 quid per 5 litres     10mm thick armoured cable, in theory 92amps of power     2nd Bathroom so far (one in cabin too)
I've also ripped out a bathroom in my garage (close to the man cave) to put a new suite in So I can have my own toilet facilities in the Man-cave & full bathroom in the house
    Stuff:
These are currently in the spare room ready to move in the cabin     Every Flavour of coke (including raspberry i believe)   Ethernet cable Pipe MDPE (underground pipe solution)    
the new Ceiling   New floor   MDPE possibly for Ethernet run   Bathroom now   Paint now its dry   wiring   Outside switch too!   inside dimmer #1 of 2   Batton for Ceiling connected to  
ttering to a waterbut   Bit blury But you get the idea(ceiling didnt come out howi hoped) might redo it with ton & grooving at a later date. Floor see the joins perfection   Tree is so close branches almost touch could bird watch  
Virgin: 125mb (upgraded to 153mb soon) Sky: 16mb, (only get around 8mb)      
Air con mounted   Made my own beading & painted it with the wall colour                 current things to do: Add 8 Triple Sockets (Power) Complete by Electrician Add 2 Double Sockets (Power) Complete by Electrician 70mm Celotex Insulation in Roof & Floor - Complete 10mm Armoured cable Fitted - Complete by Electrician Spotlights placed & fitted (inside & out) - near complete Floor - To be Bought & fitted - complete Satellite cable to run - to be done 2x Cat 6 to be run to the Man-Cave - need to be done fill in hole for power cable - complete now metre deep       Few things i'm setting up in their 50m of Cat6 for Broadband connection 2x 8 port switches 1x 24 port switch Sky TV Home Cinmea Computers spare bed for guests & if i'm to lazy

I don't understand why people keep suggesting the 750K... The 760K is quite a bit newer, has some architectural advancements over the 750K and is clocked quite a bit higher out of the box - for only literally a few dollars more. Put a decent cooler on it and overclock it to the moon. Should give you a decent performance boost - especially in the more CPU-heavy games.
 
@Waffel Get the 760K instead. It's a better processor for pretty much the same cost. Besides that, your build looks pretty good to me. 
 
Also, for a build like this, any 80+ bronze or better PSU in the 450-500w range will be more than enough.

Haha, its been 30 seconds and the Zotac website still hasn't loaded

I implore you to build a PC. I just came from a gaming laptop to a desktop and the difference is phenomenal, you won't get heat problems and performance is much better.

Razer Blade 14 (2014 Edition) Unboxing and Review
Overview and Perspective:
I am not one to regularly post reviews on products, but with the vast demand and interest in this product (as well as my fortunate story of how I got my hands on one) I thought it obligatory to write up a review for everyone. This review will be on my opinion of the Razer Blade 14, 2014 edition(referred to as the RB), as well as my customer experience with Razer and the Microsoft Store.
 
The Background Story:
I am leaving for an internship on Wall Street this summer, then off to college in the Fall to Georgetown University, and needed to get myself a portable, powerful, and entertaining system to use for the next four years. I debated between the MSI GS60 Ghost Pro and the Razer Blade 14 (2014 edition) for a while before I ultimately settled upon the Razer Blade because of its uni-body design, build quality, touchscreen, and size (14 inch vs 15.6 inch).
 
I placed an order several weeks ago on Razerzone.com and joined the viciously long line of customers waiting for Razer to ship them their system. I was foolish enough to go directly to the manufacturer (Razer) with my order the first time. Their pre-order fulfillment has been an absolute nightmare for the customers and the Razer Customer Service, with pre-orders from months ago remaining unfulfilled while random customers that ordered recently receiving their units within a few days. It was very hit-or-miss, with only a tiny fraction of the orders receiving their units (and not even the earliest pre-orders either!). Razer gave very little or no information to me or the other customers throughout this process. My order was pushed back to a "late-June" shipping date, which was going to be a nightmare for this summer. You can read the nightmare that has been/currently is going on with the Razer Blade shipping/fulfillment/preorders over on Notebookreview.com here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/razer/749913-2014-razer-blade-14-ship-date-thread.html
 
Eventually, I received word on notebookreview.com from a fellow forum member that the Microsoft Store had published their RB 2014 order page. You could not access this page without knowing the direct link to it, and I am still amazed that I found it (from another user's post). I called up Razer and Microsoft and confirmed their availability of the product. Microsoft said they could ship it out in 2 days (compared to the two months+ that Razer stated), so I quickly cancelled my order from Razer and placed one through Microsoft. I used my new .edu email from Georgetown and was able to also get 10% off the Razer Blade 14 (2014 edition) saving me roughly $240!!! Within 24 hours the Microsoft Store had sold through all of its Razer Blade's and had taken down their product page. I received an order confirmation within 8 hours of my order, and the product shipped with 2 days of my order. My experience with the Microsoft Store, at that point, had been an absolute please.
 
Currently, I am trying to add Microsoft Complete ($200) to my RB in order to protect it from me breaking it (especially the screen). During this process, however, the MS Support has been a pain in the ass and has read off a script the whole time, not understanding what I am trying to do. I'm sure I will figure it out, but for now, I am still on hold as I type this. EDIT: I just finished talking to CS and I was able to use my educational discount and get a 3-year extended warranty for 180$.
 
Unboxing:
The RB came in a box in a box in a box (boxception). Ths shipping box was discretely labeled. The next box was the "Made by gamers for gamers" brown box with black Razer logos across the top and sides. Within that box, surrounded by foam, was the legit black/green Razer box. This box contained the power-brick, laptop, and paperwork. Here are the photos that I took immediately after opening the unit:
 

















 







 
Please excuse these photos. I didn't realize how bad my HTC One M8s camera was.... :'( Just got it...
 
As you can see in the last photo, the screen is reflecting an image of the unit it is replacing (my desktop)!
 
Review of Laptop:
Build Quality:
(9.99/10) This laptop is easily the best built piece of technology I have used to date, including MBPs and self-built desktops. The unit is heavier than a MBP but promotes a sense of quality/thickness rather than the frailty of a laptop like the MBP. The uni-body design is cool to the touch but has absolutely no flex on the keyboard/screen, which is a huge gripe of mine with many laptops. Overall, the build quality is top notch. The downsides: the buttons are indeed rather audible/clicky, and the black steel design attracts finger prints very quickly (although they include a cloth, so that remedies it a bit). However, I only deducted 0.01 points for these two things, so obviously I dont mind them much! The logo on the rear of the screen doesnt bother me at all (it has been a complaint over on notebookreview.com) and I will have no qualms whipping this out on a Wall Street board room (which should tell you about the subdued/minimalistic design). That is something that is important to me since I wouldn't want to walk in with some light-show like the GS60 or Alienwares. Not really the type of computer to show off to an important client.
 
Screen:
(8/10) While I don't have experience with the 900p mess of the 2013 edition, the screen on the 2014 does not disappoint at all. I prefer the glossy screen to the matte scree, the all-glass bezel looks sharp, and the pixelage of 3k vs 900p is overall a great attribute(more on that later). The touchscreen feature promotes messy fingerprints and I really don't use it that much, probably just an added unnecessary cost. Th quality of the panel/image is incredible, but not too terribly different from a MBP. The resolution of the screen is rather interesting. It provides extremely sharp images when the program is properly set up the utilize 3k, and then provides messy/blurriness when it is not. I had to switch from Winamp to Spotify to manage my music library since Winamp does not scale to 3k at all. I also had to switch from Chrome to IE since Chrome/Firefox were not working great. So, the 3k screen is a love/hate relationship. I would definitely prefer to have it than not, but its definitely not a perfect solution (yet). With improved scaling, it will be perfect.
 
Keyboard:
(9/10) The keyboard feels absolutely amazing, very responsive, perfect keystroke-length, and back lighting is neat. This is the best laptop keyboard I have used to date and I definitely enjoy it over the SteelSeries keyboards on units like the MSI GS60. The keyboard loses 1 point only due to the combination of the up/down
 
Performance:
(9/10) This can be divided into two different categories: gaming and productivity. As far as productivity goes, this laptop's processor blows all of my applications out of the water. This allows the laptop to sip power and return acceptable results. As far as gaming goes, I have very limited experience. I downloaded The Elder Scrolls Online and ran it at 1800p on high with acceptable frame rates. I will be running it at 1080p on high to conserve battery/performance. The machine got excessively hot after only 10 minutes or so on 1800p and I no longer could game with the unit on my lap. I will report back with more gaming performance later on. I will breakdown my review statistics on the many facets of "performance" below:
Battery: (8/10) Has performed above my expectations for productivity purposes. It doesn't last very long on battery, but I expected that and really dont care. I hope I am not gaming in public very often anyways lol Cooling: (5/10) The laptop doesnt get hot when using productivity/daily life apps (Windwos Office, Netflix, browsing, etc) but excessively hot when gaming on demanding settings. I would not be comfortable with the heat stress on the laptop while gaming on 1800p unless I dumbed down the graphics a lot to reduce stress/heat. Graphics: (9/10) The performance is surprising well and not too much different from my GTX 670 WF3 in my desktop at 1080p. CPU: (10/10) Best of the best. Really you have no other options.  
 
Summary
Overall, I love the Razer Blade 14 (2014 edition) and highly recommend it to anyone seeking an ultra-portable, sleek, and powerful rig that will blaze through your daily tasks and still provide an appropriate/usable high-end gaming environment. I wont touch on the price of the unit versus its performance simply because it doesn't compare very well to desktops and I dont have experience with its cheaper competitors (Ghost Pro/Lenovo y50). I can guarantee you, however, that if you can swing the price tag, you will not be disappointed.
 
 
I am looking forward to your questions and will update this thread as I use the RB more.
Ericde95