Gaming PC Setup: Various Questions

[scrancher]

Hi everyone!

After a long time of research, asking, calling, writing and chatting with a lot of people (Aeacus being a HUGE help!), I have finally purchased my first ever gaming pc and setup.
I am a bit of a perfectionist, and have some sort of OCD tendencies with hardware (as well as bad luck with hardware). My PC retailer, and indeed the other OEM retailers etc., haven't been much help at all, so I turn to you, the experts, to ask help with a lot of varied questions!

I appreciate all the help you guys can dish out. Thanks in advance! 🙂

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PC, Hardware and Periphiral Questions:
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Full specs:
GPU: Asus Rog Strix GTX 1080 Ti 11GB.
CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K.
Mobo: Asus Z370 Prime-P.
RAM: G. Skill Ripjaws DDR4 3000Mhz 15CL 16GB (2x8).
PSU: Corsair TX650W Gold.
SSD: Samsung 960 PCIe NVMe 250GB.
HDD: Toshiba P1000 7200RPM 1TB.
Case: Fractal Design Define S /Window.
AIO CPU Cooler: Asetek LPX 591.
OS: Windows 10 Home 64bit.
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Monitor: Asus Rog Swift PG279Q 27'' LED IPS @165Hz.
Keyboard: Corsair K95 RGB Platinum Speed.
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder Elite (1600Dpi).
Mouse Mat: Razer Vespula Version 1.
Headset: Steelseries (old model).
Surround Sound: Old Creative 5.1 surround sound system.
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Setup: The AIO intake is mounted in the front. 1 x Fractal Fan (included with the case) at the top back for exhaust.
Keyboard is plugged into 2 x SS USB ports on the rear side. Mouse is plugged into the keyboards 1 x 2.0 USB port.
Monitor is plugged into the display port. Headset is plugged into the backside jack port.
Room temperature is around 23 degrees celcius.
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General:
1. Is there any difference between USB SS ports (blue colored) and USB 3.0 ports (black colored), or are they indeed the same?
2. Does it make any difference whatsoever of which USB port/s I use to plug in my Razer mouse, Corsair keyboard or my Steelseries headset on my Fractal case?
E.g. Keyboard plugged into 2 x SS USB ports at the backside of my case; or my mouse into the keyboards integrated 1 x USB (2.0) port, or mix match the combo of any of the many USB ports I have?

Monitor:
1. My screen flickers a good 5-6 times at every pc bootup (G-sync related?), but as I have returned the monitor for a new one (which does the exact same) I wonder if there is settings or something to fix this?
2. In same line as above, the screen also flickers during games at different times. Also when browsing and changing tabs. Does it when minimizing to the windows desktop and basically everytime it has to load a new ''screen''.
3. I know that dead or bright pixels as well as IPS glow and backlight bleed are kinda standard and common for this monitor, but is there anything that can be done to fix that?
4. Is there any way to have G-sync enabled, but change the panel foot's light to any other color?
5. Is it normal that on white background, the screen (at close inspection) kinda looks smeared, as if water has been attempted dried and washed away with a dry piece of LED cloth?

Settings:
1. With those specs etc., what would the ideal all-around settings be in the UEFI BIOS? Both fan curves and general settings.
2. Again, with those specs etc. what would the ideal and best settings be in the NVIDIA GeForce control panel?

Temperatures:
1. Only using Speccy and the built-in Task Manager -> Performance checker, is it normal (and perhaps even low and good) that my GPU reaches around 70 degrees celsius while gaming at highest settings possible on the 165Hz monitor?
2. Using Speccy, and taking Playerunknown's Battlegrounds at highest settings as the example, my CPU's temperature (degrees celsius) will reach the low 40's, GPU 69-70, Mobo around 35, and SSD around 33. Is this normal and good?
3. I only have PUBG and World of Warcraft: Legion currently installed. Wow has around the same temperatures as above, although a little lower overall.
4. The highest temperatures I have seen, are: CPU 45 degrees, GPU 70, Mobo 40, SSD 38. Are those in the good range?
5. Is it normal, that my temps while idle are around: CPU 30, GPU 50, Mobo 30, SSD 30?

Keyboard:
1. Some of my keyboard keys (especially the A key) flickers ocassionally. I have tried both CUE 1 and 2, reset it all, updated it and the drivers. I only use the Rainbow (going rightward ->) at slowest pace possible.

Mouse:
1. Is it me being picky, or is there any changes of how the mouse cable lies? Currently, (plugged to an SS USB port at the case rear) the cable kinda archs like a C, and I feel higher force required to move it to the right.
It seemed about the same, when I had the cable spiraling around the monitor base, and plugged into the keyboard (arching like a reversed C). Does cable placement matter at all?

Audio:
1. Is there a way to have the monitors built-in speakers available, while also having my headset as an option, and my surround sound as the third pickable option?


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P.s. I have most likely forgotten some questions, spec details etc. Feel free to ask for more info, pictures or short videos!

 

[scrancher]

Hi K1114.
I must admit, I am not sure what you meant about 'except quality'? I know it's probably easy to understand, but this whole nvidia control panel settings thing got me all confused. I don't know what to do with it. Default it, set some settings or? Also, if I default reset, I still have to change stuff like the monitor refresh rate, resolution and such.

I'm a bit afraid to manually set anything in bios, due to the affect it can have, if you mess anything up. To my knowledge, I didn't change anything in Bios. At least not intentionally, and I did default reset it, and manually ticked the pre-set XMP profile back on.

Okay, fair point. I guess I'm just a person that doesn't like have stuff turned on 24/7, or leave it somehow powered on, if I am away for a while, not at home or when sleeping.

I suppose I wouldn't be in doubt, if it was in fact a metallic scraping sound? Again, it's hard to explain, but it sounds like constant bursts of loud fan exhausting. I am not sure, but could it be the three fans on my GPU, as they start and stop again, due to a certain temperature rise and fall?

That's great to know!

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Hi Aeacus.
I am not sure, but I am most confident that the wiring and the wall socket switch wasn't changed. I believe they are as old as the apartment itself, which is pretty old. I base that on the same thing you said (difficulty and costs). Also, the actual wall socket doesn't look new at all, and around my apartment, some of the switches are kind of worn, and hard to press (on and off).

A fan bearing on what component? Yeah, I will do as k1114 suggested, as soon as I come home from the Easter holiday.

Okay, nice. Yes, I only do it when everything is powered off and unplugged!
That sounds like a great way to fully clean it, but I must ask, isn't that really time consuming to do?

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As always, my darned questions..:
1. The mouse mat I have [Razer Vespula - double-sided plastic one] has made some deep scratches on the underside of my new Razer DeathAdder mouse. Have you guys heard about this before? With that said, would you guys think that it would be something I could RMA? I got pics of the mouse before using the mouse mat, as well as sometime after.
Sometimes, I can hear an unhealthy scraping while gliding over the mat, and sometimes it will even kinda ''hook'' itself to the mouse, which I doubt is by any means normal!

2. Kind of random question, but I just noticed, that as I initially booted up my pc for the first time, the administrator was set to the company, from which I bought the game. Kind of naive or paranoid question, but does that mean anything? Like, can they monitor my activities, or? I can't figure out why they would set the full administration rights to a user of their company name, which I did not ask for, nor knew at first.

3. Back on the monitor dilemma. I currently have the third (Asus Rog Swift PG279Q) monitor home. It still flickers 5-6 times everytime I boot up my pc, and shows the message: No Display Port Detected. First of all, do you guys know of an expert on this particular monitor, or just on IPS pc monitors in general?
I read somewhere, that a guy with similar problems to my own, was due to the DP cable not reaching all the way into the GPU's DP port. Could that be a possibility? To be honest, the DP cable does make a satisfying click on the GPU, and I can see both DP ports ''sticking out'' of the backside of my case.

 

[Aeacus]

If the noise does come from fan bearing then it can be any fan in your system which includes: case fans, CPU cooler fan(s), GPU fans and PSU fan. To know which one it really is, you need to put your ear to it and listen where it comes from.

Pulling the keycaps to clean the KB doesn't take much time, especially if you have keycap puller. I got one with my Strafe RGB KB which looks like so:

Though, the hard part is putting all the keycaps back correctly. It's easy to mess it up and e.g switch "K" and "J" keycaps without first realizing. Also, i don't pull the bigger keycaps out (enter, backspace, shift, space bar etc) since there can be big issues getting them back on due to the different design used to secure them.

Q1:
I've also heard scraping sounds when i move my Sabre RGB on my MM800 Polaris. Reason for that is due to the small particles that are caught between the mouse and mousepad. Once i hear it, i clean the underside of my mouse and also the surface of my mousepad and i'm good to go.
As far as RMAing your mouse due to the surface scratches, i don't know. It might not fall under warranty since it's normal wear and tear.

 

[scrancher]

Would the fan bearing sound be extremely noticeable, and strike one as an outstandingly unhealthy noise?
What I am hearing, sounds more like one of the fans increasing its RPM and then lowers it quickly after, in small intervals. It's only noticeable while gaming, and not so much while idle. My suspicion tells me it is the AIO pump, as I am pretty sure it's during a game I play, which are much CPU-heavy.

Okay, that is good to hear. Still seems like it would take some time though

But your mouse mat is of fabric, and not some kind of plastic, right? I would assume it would be bread crumbs (if you eat at your setup), or some other kind of dust or dirt?
On my Razer vespula mat, a cleaning (brush vacuum head) of the mat and the mouse, or cleaning the mat itself with a cloth and such, doesn't make it less scratching on my mouse. It still kind of hooks itself to the mouse, which is also not normal.
The mouse, I have got a free replacement, but it was for the actual mouse mat I meant, and to RMA that? As I can't visibly see any defects on the mat (but know that it does scratch my mouse somewhat deep), I guess it would be hard to RMA the mouse mat?

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Can you recommend a good fabric mouse mat, primarily of the control type? I play mostly single-player games or MMORPG's. Right now, and until the 4th of April, there is an easter sale going on, where I can pick up a Razer Goliathus (Control) mat for next to nothing. That's a pretty good one, right?

Also. I have returned the Corsair K95 keyboard, and got the full price refunded. I recall you and k1114 told me, that this exact line of keyboards had defects with the 16mil colors.
Can you recommend a great mechanical keyboard, which preferably can the same as the K95, but just doesn't have the flickering / static key lights issue? I would like to be overall smaller (especially wide-wise), but still have the hand-rest, and a few designated macro keys.
Was it the Corsair K95 Strafe that was the updated (and corrected) successor version of the K95 RGB Platinum?