fadedorca66 said:Sometimes you just have to manually tweak the frequencies, especially when you're mixing two different types of RAM. If everything runs fine at 1866, just leave it be; if things start getting unstable, dial it back down to 1600MHz. You won't even notice the performance difference anyway.
Well, I've been running it for a few hours now and everything seems perfectly normal. No issues at all—gaming is smooth without any blue screens or other random nonsense. Also, Task Manager shows 1867 MHz instead of 1866... that's just some weird little bug, right?
So, here’s the deal: I just installed some new RAM. Man, what a headache—I had to pull out both the graphics card and the CPU cooler just to reach the second DIMM slot. Total nightmare, but I finally got them in and they're running. View on imgur The system recognizes all 24 GB of RAM, and so far, everything seems stable. No crashes, no sudden shutdowns, no Blue Screens of Death. I even ran the Windows memory diagnostic tool and it passed without any issues. I’m not quite sure what else I should do to be 100% certain everything is fine, BUT there is a catch. If you look at the image on the right, you can see the speed is sitting at 1600 MHz. Why on earth did it drop from 1866 down to 1600? Both the old sticks and the new ones are rated for 1866 MHz, right?
Now, I’ll say this—and please don't laugh at me, because I was telling my brother earlier—how is anyone actually supposed to know the exact specs of a RAM stick just by looking at it? Sure, the box or a picture might say one thing, but that doesn't mean the hardware is actually hitting those speeds; you only really know once the motherboard reads the module. So why did it default to 1600 MHz? I went into the BIOS and manually bumped it back up to 1866, but it feels wrong. It’s supposed to happen automatically, isn't it?
In the BIOS, under the "AUTO" setting, it says the motherboard will automatically set the frequency based on the RAM's capabilities. So why did it settle on 1600 instead of 1866 when set to AUTO? That's legitimately worrying to me xd
And now, feeling like a total idiot, I have to ask: why does it show 1867 MHz now that I've manually set it to 1866? xd haha View on imgur
granitecrane2 said:It’s unpredictable. Sometimes it’ll work, sometimes it won't. But since you mentioned you're planning on upgrading your RAM anyway, my suggestion is to just grab a 2x8GB kit for 16GB total; that should be plenty for what you need, and honestly, having very little RAM these days is just asking for trouble. If you can get it to play nice with the existing 8GB, great—if not, oh well. Just swap out that old stick. Personally, though, I’d say go straight for a 2x16GB kit and just move on from that old 8GB module forever. Assuming your motherboard supports it, of course (I haven't looked up the specs for that specific board). Regardless of what the board can handle, just buy enough RAM to make it worth your while, then sell or toss the old stuff.
The RAM should be arriving via delivery in an hour or two, so I'll just wait and see how it goes. Buying 32GB of RAM for this old machine feels like throwing money down the drain xd. Even though it's still a pretty decent rig with the GTX 970 and the i5 4590, there isn't a single game out right now that actually demands more than 16GB of RAM, so I really don't want to waste cash on 32GB for this setup.
fadedorca66 said:Exactly. You’ll either end up with no video signal at all, or you'll be staring down the barrel of a Blue Screen of Death and other similar headaches. Don't forget to reset your BIOS to factory defaults before you try to seat those new sticks of RAM.
Aha, alright then. I have one last question: what exactly do you mean when you say I should reset the BIOS to factory settings? Since the day I bought this computer, I haven't touched the BIOS settings even once. Does that mean I don't need to touch anything, or is there still something I ought to do before I go ahead and swap in these new sticks of RAM?
fadedorca66 said:It’ll likely work just fine. There’s a slim chance they won't play nice with your old RAM, but if that happens, you can always just sell the old sticks and upgrade straight to 16GB. Problem solved...
But how am I supposed to know if they won't be compatible with what's already in my rig? Like, will the computer just refuse to even boot up or what? xD
Quick question for you guys. My rig is getting up there in age—I'm running an ASUS Z97 Pro4 motherboard paired with a 2x4GB kit of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR3 1866. So, I'm sitting at 8 gigs total right now. A buddy and I recently started playing C++ again, and the game itself, along with the servers, really demands at least 10 gigs of RAM. Anything less than that causes these massive FPS drops because the maps are just too huge. I decided it was time to upgrade, and I found this 16GB DDR3 1866MHz (2x8GB) Patriot Black Mamba kit, part number PV316G186C0K . So, here’s my dilemma: can I just casually pop these sticks in alongside my existing 8 gigs to hit a total of 24 gigs? Or is that a recipe for disaster? It feels a bit weird because I never see anyone talking about having 24 gigs of RAM; it’s always 8, 16, or 32. Nobody seems to run 24 gigs, haha.
Good grief, did you see that last post? Now he’s claiming it can go up to $7,000, and apparently, it’s only because he didn't realize the interest rates would bump up the total if we opted for financing. Honestly, $0.33 isn't any better either. Could someone please just hammer out the final numbers at $7,000? My blood pressure is through the roof already! xD
What exactly is a TN panel? unknown. Also, I’d love for someone to give me a full breakdown of $2200 everything that comes with the ASUS VG248QE Ultimate monitor—basically, is it actually worth the money? I just want to make sure I'm getting the absolute best value for my buck right now. This guy isn't interested in waiting around; he wants to pull the trigger and order immediately LOL. He's building his PC today, and who knows when he'll ever get around to doing this again—maybe in 30 years! hehe
edit, ON INSTALLMENTS!!! I see that swiftfalcon89 is paying for everything upfront, how classy lol
I saw that one too, though honestly, I’d much prefer to just grab everything from a single retailer xD. You know, just place one order and have the whole setup—PC and monitor—arrive together in one go. So, for $2200, are you saying there's no way to score anything better than a GTX 1050 Ti paired with that ?
Hey guys, a colleague mentioned that we could potentially go up to $200 instead. If we increase the budget to $200, would that actually allow us to snag a better processor or a better graphics card, or does it pretty much stay the same regardless of the extra cash?
Is it possible to get a GTX 1060? I've been hearing from some buddies that it's a fantastic card—is the GTX 1060 actually an upgrade over the ones you guys have listed here?
And honestly, can we aim for something even better than a GTX 1060?
What would a build look like if we bumped it up to $2200? He’s looking at paying in installments, so he was told that $200 wouldn't really change the value proposition much.
Edit: Could someone please let me know which shop you used to put this together? ownswiftfalcon89 didn't specify the location.
Greetings! As the title suggests, a colleague of mine is looking to pick up a PC setup for $2000 that includes a monitor dedicated strictly to gaming. He’s based out in Naperville, and while he mentioned wanting to buy from Micro Center, he honestly doesn't care which retailer he uses—if there's somewhere else where he can get better value for his money, that would be ideal. From what I understand, most major retailers offer assembly and delivery services, right?
Now, for my specific question regarding his needs: is it actually possible to find a 144 Hz monitor within this budget without having to compromise on the power of the graphics card or the processor? Back in the day, before his old rig finally gave up the ghost, he used to play Counter-Strike, so he'll likely be jumping back into CS again. Once you experience the difference between 144 Hz and 60 Hz in a game like CS, there really is no going back. 🙂
Thanks in advance!
Edit: Just a heads-up, he'll be buying on an installment plan if that makes a difference!
A friend of mine is looking to pick up a used graphics card for about $500, but he’s currently browsing through some prehistoric relics that are easily ten years old. Honestly, what would be considered a genuine best buy for a pre-owned GPU at the $500 price point? I’d really appreciate some guidance here.
Man, seriously? LOL. I mean, don't get me wrong, a clean install of Windows isn't exactly a death sentence, but it would be devastating considering everything I have stored on this machine. And that other suggestion? That’s anything but simple, haha. How am I even supposed to test a different power supply? I’d have to go out, buy a whole new PSU, then deal with the nightmare of unplugging all 950 wires and tearing the entire PC apart just to try it. Like, how is that even feasible? xDDD Plus, that’s going to run me at least $500-$200, right? So it’s definitely not $6.75. It's not like I can just buy parts and hope for nothing. Even if I actually went through the trouble of reinstalling Windows AND swapping the power supply like you suggested, what then? Am I supposed to just sit there and wait a month or so to see if the game freezes for 10 seconds again? Because that's how much time passes between these glitches. The first time was September 28th, then November 13th, and the most recent one was November 16th. It’s not like this happens every single day... it's only happened three times in two months.
John Palmer4 said:How did you arrive at that conclusion, and can you back it up with some solid facts?
Man, come on, lol. This is actually the third PC I've owned in my life, and honestly, with both of my previous builds, I dealt with the exact same thing where the GPU just gave up on me, so I know what a total failure looks like. Right now, I'm running an ASUS GeForce GTX 970 Strix, which is a top-tier card. Because of its cooling design, the fans kick in once the card hits 67 degrees and it refuses to let the temp climb past 67 or 68, even if I'm grinding Battlefield 5 for 24 hours straight. I really don't see why the card would be dying; if it were, the symptoms would be way different than what I'm seeing. What's happening is that CS:GO will just freeze for about 10 seconds, kick me straight to the desktop, and then after 10 seconds, I can jump right back into the game. When I check the problem history in the Control Panel, it explicitly lists a "video hardware error." The most recent one was November 16th, before that it was November 13th, and before that, it happened twice on September 28th. So, it's only occurred four times total. I even installed fresh drivers for the card, but the issue happened again on the same day I made this post. I honestly have no idea what the deal is—it’s bizarre. It seems like the driver just crashes and resets itself automatically. I'm stumped on what else it could be, because if the card were actually fried, there's no way I'd be able to pull 14-hour gaming sessions like I am now without any other issues...
Haha, I’m not even overclocking here. My temps are looking great, and I’m running the latest drivers for my GPU—plus, I had this exact same issue happen a few times on the previous driver version too. Honestly, I don't have a spare graphics card lying around to swap in just to test a game, only to sit there for a week waiting to see if the game crashes ten seconds after launch. The GPU itself is fine; I don't see how the power supply could possibly be related to this.
Here are my specs and components:
CPU - Intel Core i5-4590 @ 3.70GHz GPU - ASUS GeForce GTX 970 Strix MEMORY - Kingston HyperX Fury Black DDR3 1866MHz, kit 2x4GB MOTHERBOARD - ASROCK Z97 Pro4 COOLER - SCYTHE Katana 3 SCKTN-3000I POWER SUPPLY - Antec VPF550 550W '80 Plus Bronze' SOUND CARD - Asus Xonar DS 7.1 PCI gaming sound card hard DISC 1 HARD DISC 1 - Seagate ST1000DM003 1000.0 GB HARD DISC 2 - WDC WD1003FZEX 1000.0 GB SSD 1 - KINGSTON HyperX Fury 120.0 GB SSD 2 - Samsung 860 EVO 250.0 GB CASE - CHIEFTEC Dragon II DX-02B-OP
So, over the last couple of weeks, this weird thing has happened to me about three or four times now. Right in the middle of a session, my screen just freezes up, the game collapses back to the desktop, and then after maybe ten seconds or so, I can jump right back into the game and everything seems totally fine.
Here are some screenshots showing exactly what’s going on.
The way I see it, it looks like my graphics driver is crashing and then successfully recovering itself, and that's basically it. So, what could be causing this?
What a ridiculous workaround, LOL. I can't believe anyone would even think of that.
EDIT - Actually, never mind. Now I’ve got a whole different issue because of that fix, xDD. It’s like, whenever I try to move my cursor from one screen to the other, it won't transition at the same level like it should. Instead, when I slide over to the second monitor, it jumps about an inch higher than where I left it. LOL xD I’m basically going to end up shooting myself in the foot here.
Resizing didn't do a single thing to help. I even tried that trick from the link where you drop the resolution and then crank it back up to see if it fixes itself, but it seems like some weird glitch inherent to Windows 7
Honestly, at this rate, I might just jump off a building xD
I moved my icons up by one row so they’re actually visible, but now there's all this massive empty space at the bottom of the screen. It's driving me absolutely insane because I'm so used to everything being flush against the edge
And for some reason, the system won't let me keep the Recycle Bin tucked away in the bottom right corner, haha 😢 😢 😢
Isn't there a sane way to fix this? I am literally missing just one single line of code, when I shift everything up by one line, there is this massive, gaping void at the bottom. It is driving me absolutely insane because I’ve become one of those people who needs everything perfectly aligned and pixel-perfect to my liking. LOL