Recent content by stokes1790

Newegg usually has a pretty decent new builders guide, goes through the needed parts and then the execution of a build or two. They update it periodically with a newer version. Should be easy to find. As for speakers, if your monitor doesn't come with internal speakers (they will be bad...

Have you tried removing the caps?

well you can use an aftermarket heatsink for you cpu (cooler master evo 212 is respected and on the cheaper side). The 290s hopefully you got cards with good cooler designs. I suppose you probably can find just the aftermarket coolers for the cards if you looked, you'd have to swap out the...

You need a card to last you a year or two until you will have the chance to upgrade? Either card should serve you well for 2 years. The 780 will give you more performance than the 770, but games should be playable on the 770 for some time. Its kind of up to you, in a year or two the 2gb...

Well 82C isn't a particularly high temp. Your GPU power usage looks awful spiky though (which is typical in AMD cards but less so in nvidia) especially that huge drop in the 1st screen shot. I would guess a PSU issue, but I'm not terribly confident in that.

Am I blind, or do those screen shots not show temperature? That would be my 1st guess. Followed by inconsistent power delivery (that's a CX model line PSU isn't it? you just said Corsair but I believe only the CX comes in 600w) which is possible on that PSU. 3rd guess would be driver issue...

Yea, like I literally just said. I'm aware you are having issues with your card. Your results are atypical. So spouting them as fact is misinformation.

Unfortunately for you, at that price point AMD really is best at the moment. The 270x is currently the best $200 card and the 260x/265 are the best around the $150 point. On the nvidia side you are looking at the 750ti/760. The 760 goes for around $250 unless its gotten a recent price cut...

You will need to provide much more information to get any help. Full list of specs would be a good starting point.

Unless you are taking advantage of nvidia specific features, I would say the 290x is the best $500 card at the moment.