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[feelotraveller]

Hate to do this given the last post (I like this forum and don't know where else to put it)... but last night my laptop spat the dummy, pretty sure it's the beginning of the end this time, though its played nice so far today.  Time to get my finger out and build that computer I've been putting off.  Here's where I'm at:

[Edit: Hooray, all parts ordered.]

Prices are in AUD so multiply by 0.7715 for us dollars.  Will be the first computer I build and my first linux (mint?) machine.  Generally I play cpu intensive games but want to be able to dabble in say Fallout 4.  Plus internet, videos, that game I've always planned to make, etc.  Partpicker tells me its all compatible and mostly checked for linux usage.  Tower and mobo are intended to serve for upgrades to ram, graphics and probably added drives and a different cpu further down the track. Will unload my cash after the weekend.

Am I wasting money?  Mismatch of levels?  Could do a lot better if I spent a little more?  Something you know linux has problems with?  Or just generally comments...

[Lord Shonus]

Are you getting the -K or -M model of the i5? The former is designed for overclocking, and costs more. If you're going with the -M, it comes with a cooler, and the stock cooler is, by all accounts, adequate if you're not overclocking it. You likely won't need an aftermarket cooler.

[Thief^]

I'll repeat my earlier advice to wait for the new gpu releases in a couple of months, if you can.

[feelotraveller]

@Lord Shonus.  The -M model.  I've no plans to overclock.  Thank you.

@Thief^.  Yes thanks for the heads up; it's good advice but I'm afraid my laptop won't hold out.  I'll want it for surfing out my new OS.  Also quite likely that the older model graphics cards will go down in price some time after the new release.  To be honest I'm stretching for the 970, earlier on I planned a 750ti then the 960. The 1080 looks like it could be juicy though.

[Shadowlord]

Does that have integrated graphics? You need it if you want to feed your actual gpu to a VM running windows for Windows games.

Plus then you could wait on the new gpus, which should lower the prices on existing ones, yeah?

[Sonlirain]

@Lord Shonus.  The -M model.  I've no plans to overclock.  Thank you.

@Thief^.  Yes thanks for the heads up; it's good advice but I'm afraid my laptop won't hold out.  I'll want it for surfing out my new OS.  Also quite likely that the older model graphics cards will go down in price some time after the new release.  To be honest I'm stretching for the 970, earlier on I planned a 750ti then the 960. The 1080 looks like it could be juicy though.

You could think about an AMD card. The main issue with those is the bigger power draw but last generation it got surprisingly close and midrange AMD cards offer better performance for the price if you don't mind losing advanced phys-x support.

IN OTHER NEWS.


Ok i'm back carrying another weird issue.
My PC randomly shuts down.
And it's not a typical shutdown either. It simply goes dark as if i pulled the plug stays that way for around 5 seconds and turns itself back on again with windows trying to boot in emergency mode..
The circumstances are kinda obscure but generally it happens late night around 4-5 am and i can't tell if it's because it hates late night or the fact it randomly starts overheating after being up for 16 hours... and i'm not playing any games at that hour either so overheating is not really all that likely.

It's not really a big problem so far because... well using the PC 16+ hours non stop is quite a bit of time.
However it might get worse so i'm asking here in advance since i might have to open the case again and it would be good to have as many theories to check as i can get.

[feelotraveller]

Does that have integrated graphics? You need it if you want to feed your actual gpu to a VM running windows for Windows games.

Plus then you could wait on the new gpus, which should lower the prices on existing ones, yeah?

Now there's an idea.  Yes the cpu has integrated graphics and although everyone dumps on it after checking the spec's they are a lot better than what I am currently using (at least on paper).  Especially as after rethinking I ditched the sli motherboard although for a small price difference.  Was prepared to go to a h170 chipset but $4 difference gets a type-C usb port so...

I want to stick with nvidia since many report it playing much better on linux (drivers) otherwise a R9 3x0 would probably have been a good move.

----------

In terms of weird shutdowns that sounds exactly like what I've experienced when my laptop has overheated.  No expert but I'd investigate that.  For me it was because my fan was on the blink - it would work but then randomly stop and if I didn't notice in time black screen power outage then reboot (which would pretty quickly black screen again).  Pretty common for fans to get dodgy I've been told.  Taking everything apart and blowing out most of the dust helped and then I sprayed lubricant all over the fan (sealed laptop unit I never managed to get open) in order to get a bit on the spindle.  Have had to repeat a few times since, it comes and goes, and its generally pretty noisy but its still going years later...

[Sonlirain]

Well it might be the PSU but kinda doubt it. It's an EVGA supernova gold with a 6 year warranty... but i might turn off the eco mode on the fan and see if it helps.

[BigD145]

AMD cards have been causing some bumps in the road of games. They sometimes cause CTD's in Windows released games for the first few weeks. Nvidia tends to be the one to get things right day 1. Not sure how the linux driver scene is.

[feelotraveller]

Thanks for the comments they were all helpful (saved me well over $100, leaving aside the gfx card).  Now to wait for a few days.

@Sonlirain

I wasn't suggesting your psu was responsible.  When a computer gets chronically hot it powers out (possibly a failsafe cpu protection measure?). 

Have you checked your case for dust?  Clean it out anyway - dust never does any good.   

[Sonlirain]

Well i was replacing my PSU and GPU in december nad cleaned out the CPU radiators.
The weird thing is that in my case the PC seems to work fine for hours. I can play a resource intensive game for 4 hours andn othing happens. Then leave it in sleep mode for 2 hours come back to check my mail and poof the thing turns itself off.
And almost like clockwork every 16 hours of being on give or take 1 hour.

[Shadowlord]

Does anything else lose power at the same time?

(of course fuses/circuit breakers don't, afaik, automatically reset themselves, so it's probably not the circuit being overloaded by something coming on at that time)

[Sonlirain]

Nope. I have a night lamp on right next to my monitor and it's fine. Not even a flicker.
However i have a loopy theory that it might have to do with my front USB ports since one of my USB cables i used to recharge my phone got damaged.

So i disconnected everything and waiting. Hopefully it helps because i don't like the idea of having to replace the PSU or motherboard.

EDIT:
It didn't help. I will be running a memory test to see if RAM is involved.
If the ram is clean... then maybe it's the 24 pin that's faulty.

But if that's fine as well... well i'm out of clues then.

[i2amroy]

Did you check to see if it somehow actually picked up a scheduled shutdown (since it's totally possible to configure your computer to shut down at a certain time/etc.)?

[Sonlirain]

Checked it but no shutdowns scheduled.
Also my PC went haywire 2 times today so it's getting worse.

The memory test i ran said there were no problems with the ram.
And faulty ram would be a good explanation for this weird behavior.

If the PSU was really faulty i think the problems should be more... major (like bursting into flame for example).

Maybe the 24 pin on the mobo is failing for some reason because that's literally the only possible culprit i have left.
EDIT: I opened up the case and checked the cable and noticed... how it was barely hanging in there. So i pulled it out checked the port and cable for possible damage. Failed to notice anything and put the cable back in... but overall i'm almost certain my problem was because the cable went loose for whatever reason.

I was too cautious when inserting it, the stiff braided cable could just been slowly pulling it out over time (i was rather creative with routing cables to prevent them from getting in front of fans.)
Or my nephews kicking the case loosened it up.

In any way that should fix it and if not... i will post again