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[Oreoleo]

1) Windows 7 boot: I installed Win7 and everything seems ok, but ever since the first restart, I get a message that says "Reboot and select proper boot device" or something to that effect. So I do, make sure in BIOS that the drive Win7 is installed on (a 60GB SSD) is the 1st boot device, but I still get the message. I can run Windows by having the disc in there at that screen and pushing any key. I'm not really sure why this issue is occurring.

Your best bet is to load up Windows 7 DVD and go into the Recovery Environment to try and fix it. ( http://www.planetmy.com/blog/how-to-fixmbr-using-windows-vista-bootable-disk/ ). I would recommend doing the automatic "Startup Repair" and if you still have problems after that go into command prompt to fix your MBR.

Hopefully someone else can help you out with your RAM issues

Edit: just realized that link says Vista but it works the same in 7.

 

[Boonoo]

1) When should I start looking to buy components? From what I can tell, cases can be bought pretty early. I don't really need a monster, so I think a mid-size case should be fine. I plan to probably raid 2-3 drives together.

2) Should I stick with fan cooling, or be brave and get water cooling.

As a quick note, I have many sources to get parts. I have a Fry's and a Microcenter right next me along with tigerdirect and newegg of course.

Water cooling adds at least 200 to your build (assuming you're not doing one of those self contained deals). So if you're looking to cap at 1k I'd go air. It's also a pain to water cool in a mid case.

I have it set up in an antec 900, and it's real tight with three hard drives and a full sized graphics card. A mid works fine without the water cooling components.

As for when to buy things. I bought everything in one fell swoop, but I bought several components based on current sales. I think that if you lay out a build and then start waiting until everything is on sale you'll go crazy.

Two exceptions. Hard drives--the samsung hard drives that everyone loves right now seem to go on sale every other week. The 1tbs down to 75 with free shipping and the 2tbs down to 120. Next time you see those on sale they might be worth a buy. If you already know what case you want to buy you might want to grab that while you're still deciding cpu and whatnot.

2) Memory Issue: My first run of BIOS recognized my 6 GBs of RAM (DDR 3 1600). In windows I check my system specs, and it only says 4. I go back into BIOS and now there is only 4 in there. Next I power down and try taking the 3 cards out and putting them back in. I power up into BIOS, it says 6, I say yay. In Windows it says 4 again...and now BIOS is back to 4. Any ideas?

Any help would be much appreciated, I am itching to join the PC master race!

You've got 64bit right?

 

[Scythesurge]

Your best bet is to load up Windows 7 DVD and go into the Recovery Environment to try and fix it. ( http://www.planetmy.com/blog/how-to-fixmbr-using-windows-vista-bootable-disk/ ). I would recommend doing the automatic "Startup Repair" and if you still have problems after that go into command prompt to fix your MBR.

Hopefully someone else can help you out with your RAM issues

Edit: just realized that link says Vista but it works the same in 7.

You've got 64bit right?

Yep I have 64bit, tomorrow I will try the startup fix and also try to switch the slots of the RAMand see if that changes anything but i have to sleep now, gotta be up in 6 hrs lol.

 

[DogWelder]

2) Memory Issue: My first run of BIOS recognized my 6 GBs of RAM (DDR 3 1600). In windows I check my system specs, and it only says 4. I go back into BIOS and now there is only 4 in there. Next I power down and try taking the 3 cards out and putting them back in. I power up into BIOS, it says 6, I say yay. In Windows it says 4 again...and now BIOS is back to 4. Any ideas?

Download CPUID and see how much memory it reports.

 

[Tiduz]

is it normal if a core i7 930 has some difference in temps per core?

my cores are 35, 33, 36, 32c

stock with a Noctua nhu12p and max temp of 56c

 

[DogWelder]

is it normal if a core i7 930 has some difference in temps per core?

my cores are 35, 33, 36, 32c

stock with a Noctua nhu12p and max temp of 56c

It's normal, and that's nice and cool.

 

[Boonoo]

is it normal if a core i7 930 has some difference in temps per core?

my cores are 35, 33, 36, 32c

stock with a Noctua nhu12p and max temp of 56c

Yeah, that's not a bad spread at all. I have temp variations of up to 7c between 0,1 and 2,3. They're a real pain that nothing (including lapping the cpu) seems to fix. If 0 and 1 were running as cool as 2 and 3 I'd be a happy camper.

 

[Hazaro]

*Reposting*
1)

Budget: Price Range + Country
Main Use: Gaming, Video editing, or just general usage
Monitor Resolution: What resolution will you be playing your games at? Are you going to upgrade later?
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Self Explanatory

2)
Tech Report Builders Guide!

A very good basic guide that has been updated for Spring (Right now there is some new stuff coming out + new GPU's on the way, so once that gets out of the way hopefully they will update.)
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18747/2

3) 15 minute video how-to
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/video_how_build_pc_ever_step_explained

If someone has a better short video please share.

 

[Archie]

What is a safe temp for my graphics card to be at while running a game? It seems to get around 70C while playing STALKER. (I don't own Crysis yet so I can't use that as my litmus test)

 

[Minsc]

What is a safe temp for my graphics card to be at while running a game? It seems to get around 70C while playing STALKER. (I don't own Crysis yet so I can't use that as my litmus test)

under 100C is usually fine. You'll know it's not if you see artifacts or get crashing.

 

[Felix Lighter]

under 100C is usually fine. You'll know it's not if you see artifacts or get crashing.

Really? 100C? That seems so high. I always thought anything above 80 was pushing it. I freaked out when my laptop GPU hit 90C. Luckily it just needed some compressed air to clean out the dust.

 

[Minsc]

Really? 100C? That seems so high. I always thought anything above 80 was pushing it. I freaked out when my laptop GPU hit 90C. Luckily it just needed some compressed air to clean out the dust.

Well, quite a lot of electronics are actually fine at around 100C. A lot of GPUs might throttle back speed if you get too high, but it is not uncommon to see reviews of GTX 470 or 480 cards running at 98C.

From googling, the traditional operating temperature range of electronics is generally −55°C to +125°C.

 

[Fitz]

Right, so it seems my PC is dying so hopefully someone has a clue why.

Basically I've been running my current 955 at 3.4Ghz (so only 200Hz above stock) at 1.35V for the past three months or so that I've had it with no issue whatsoever, I could happily leave Prime95 running 10 minutes without a crash. The other day I decided to see if it would run stable at 3.6Ghz, so I turned the multiplier up, booted Windows and after about 10 seconds of Prime95, it crashed, so I just put the multiplier back down to 3.4Ghz.
But now it seems I'm getting all the trademarks of an unstable CPU, such as PC restarting, BSOD's, and system locking up, but the problem is I've been using my current settings for months with no issue, I also tried putting putting the CPU multiplier and Voltage onto auto, (which usually puts the voltage around 1.4V) and the system was still as unstable. So far the problems are just happening in CPU intensive applications, such as Prime, BC2 and Emulators.
The only reasons I can see are CPU damage (which I doubt as I've been running at a pretty standard voltage for the 955) or PSU suddenly becoming faulty (< 3r old Corsair 520W), but I'd have thought that would cause other problems too.

 

[diztrukted]

ArctiClean will dissolve thermal compound pretty thoroughly--after that, just use coffee filters to clean up the residue. Just let the cleaner in the first bottle dry before applying the treatment in the second bottle.

thanks DeadTrees! I'm going to do that later on today. Maybe post some benchmarks too!

 

[Septimus]

*Repost from last page*
Can someone help me out with a problem I'm having? So I downloaded Portal for free yesterday (already finished it on PS3 when it came out but yeah) and I immediately noticed it was really slow looking. The graphics were great but it looked so slow. This is a new PC (core i5 750, 5770 gpu, 4gb ddr3 ram) and the only other game I played so far was Bioshock 2 which looked amazing (maxed) and ran fast. And I thought Source games were supposed to run great? So I downloaded fraps and it's giving me 29-30 fps in Portal... I was expecting like 500fps lol. What's the deal? I even used 4x AA and 8x AF instead of maxing and still... same thing.

 

[Minsc]

*Repost from last page*
Can someone help me out with a problem I'm having? So I downloaded Portal for free yesterday (already finished it on PS3 when it came out but yeah) and I immediately noticed it was really slow looking. The graphics were great but it looked so slow. This is a new PC (core i5 750, 5770 gpu, 4gb ddr3 ram) and the only other game I played so far was Bioshock 2 which looked amazing (maxed) and ran fast. And I thought Source games were supposed to run great? So I downloaded fraps and it's giving me 29-30 fps in Portal... I was expecting like 500fps lol. What's the deal? I even used 4x AA and 8x AF instead of maxing and still... same thing.

L4D2 only gets around 70-80 fps on a 5870 maxed according to a bench I saw the other day, so not all source games run at like 500 fps. It was like 45 fps w/ a 5770, and 63 w/ no AA on the 5770. It's impossible to find portal benches, hopefully someone else with a 5770 can download the free game and chime in to help you out though!

Edit: Also make sure you didn't max your portal rendering depth to 7 or 8 portals, that'll probably destroy your framerates as well, I think it defaults to 2 or 3? I'd leave it around that.

 

[The_Inquisitor]

Water cooling adds at least 200 to your build (assuming you're not doing one of those self contained deals). So if you're looking to cap at 1k I'd go air. It's also a pain to water cool in a mid case.

I have it set up in an antec 900, and it's real tight with three hard drives and a full sized graphics card. A mid works fine without the water cooling components.

As for when to buy things. I bought everything in one fell swoop, but I bought several components based on current sales. I think that if you lay out a build and then start waiting until everything is on sale you'll go crazy.

Two exceptions. Hard drives--the samsung hard drives that everyone loves right now seem to go on sale every other week. The 1tbs down to 75 with free shipping and the 2tbs down to 120. Next time you see those on sale they might be worth a buy. If you already know what case you want to buy you might want to grab that while you're still deciding cpu and whatnot.




You've got 64bit right?

Alright air cooling it is. I am hoping hard for some Christmas sales basically. Thanks!

 

[Riptwo]

2) Memory Issue: My first run of BIOS recognized my 6 GBs of RAM (DDR 3 1600). In windows I check my system specs, and it only says 4. I go back into BIOS and now there is only 4 in there. Next I power down and try taking the 3 cards out and putting them back in. I power up into BIOS, it says 6, I say yay. In Windows it says 4 again...and now BIOS is back to 4. Any ideas?

I recently had this problem with a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R. Turns out that it was an issue with my motherboard, and I had it swapped out. Does windows say that you have 6GB (4 usable) or something to that effect, or does it just not show up at all?

 

[Anton Sugar]

Okay guys, need help: my little brother needs a PC. Normally I would just build it for him, but I am across the country, so I'd rather save him the hassle and go with prebuilt. He's mostly gonna use it for music and games--mostly games.

Budget is $500-700. I gave him my old card (a 4850) that he'll probably want to replace soon, but for now it's fine. Since I can't build it for him, I'm looking at prebuilt. I'm checking the sites recommended in the OP, but does anyone have any personal suggestions? As much as I'd like to build it for him, it just doesn't seem like an option.

 

[MoFuzz]

Okay guys, need help: my little brother needs a PC. Normally I would just build it for him, but I am across the country, so I'd rather save him the hassle and go with prebuilt. He's mostly gonna use it for music and games--mostly games.

Budget is $500-700. I gave him my old card (a 4850) that he'll probably want to replace soon, but for now it's fine. Since I can't build it for him, I'm looking at prebuilt. I'm checking the sites recommended in the OP, but does anyone have any personal suggestions? As much as I'd like to build it for him, it just doesn't seem like an option.

NCIX will supply parts and do assembly for an extra fee (around $40 to $50 IIRC).

You'll get far better quality parts over the ones you see in pre-built towers. A Core i5 750 rig is definitely do-able within that budget since he's got a GPU in place already. Did you need a list of parts or were you just looking for store recommendations?

 

[Anton Sugar]

NCIX will supply parts and do assembly for an extra fee (around $40 to $50 IIRC).

You'll get far better quality parts over the ones you see in pre-built towers. A Core i5 750 rig is definitely do-able within that budget since he's got a GPU in place already. Did you need a list of parts or were you just looking for store recommendations?

Thanks, I'll check out the site.

I mean, list of parts would be nice, but I can look around. I was mainly looking for store recommendations as I've never done a prebuilt before.

EDIT: NCIX seems Canada based...is shipping to the US extra?

 

[Oreoleo]

EDIT: NCIX seems Canada based...is shipping to the US extra?

http://www.ncixus.com/

 

[MoFuzz]

Thanks, I'll check out the site.

I mean, list of parts would be nice, but I can look around. I was mainly looking for store recommendations as I've never done a prebuilt before.

EDIT: NCIX seems Canada based...is shipping to the US extra?

Heh, should have clarified that, thx Orellio.

Maybe try something like this:

CPU + Motherboard
RAM
HDD
PSU
Case

Add a $30 optical drive if need be, and you're good to go.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

Right, so it seems my PC is dying so hopefully someone has a clue why.

Basically I've been running my current 955 at 3.4Ghz (so only 200Hz above stock) at 1.35V for the past three months or so that I've had it with no issue whatsoever, I could happily leave Prime95 running 10 minutes without a crash. The other day I decided to see if it would run stable at 3.6Ghz, so I turned the multiplier up, booted Windows and after about 10 seconds of Prime95, it crashed, so I just put the multiplier back down to 3.4Ghz.
But now it seems I'm getting all the trademarks of an unstable CPU, such as PC restarting, BSOD's, and system locking up, but the problem is I've been using my current settings for months with no issue, I also tried putting putting the CPU multiplier and Voltage onto auto, (which usually puts the voltage around 1.4V) and the system was still as unstable. So far the problems are just happening in CPU intensive applications, such as Prime, BC2 and Emulators.
The only reasons I can see are CPU damage (which I doubt as I've been running at a pretty standard voltage for the 955) or PSU suddenly becoming faulty (< 3r old Corsair 520W), but I'd have thought that would cause other problems too.

Not all 955s can run 3.6ghz at stock voltage. The stock voltage is 1.35v not 1.40v

I suggest manually applying voltage over 3.5Ghz.

3.6ghz = 1.38v - 1.40v

3.7ghz = 1.40v - 1.42v

3.8ghz = 1.45v

This is what I use on my AMD 955.

When overclocking never use "Auto" voltage.

 

[teh_J0kerer]

Hey guys,

I need a new computer, mostly because my current one doesn't do a very good job with starcraft 2 .

So.. what would you guys recommend for a new computer which could play sc2 on topish settings, and perhaps still be able to do that to Diablo 3 when it eventually comes out?

What about a laptop? Or should I be sticking to desktops for gaming?

 

[Hazaro]

Hey guys,

I need a new computer, mostly because my current one doesn't do a very good job with starcraft 2 .

So.. what would you guys recommend for a new computer which could play sc2 on topish settings, and perhaps still be able to do that to Diablo 3 when it eventually comes out?

What about a laptop? Or should I be sticking to desktops for gaming?

See

*Reposting*
1)

Budget: Price Range + Country
Main Use: Gaming, Video editing, or just general usage
Monitor Resolution: What resolution will you be playing your games at? Are you going to upgrade later?
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Self Explanatory

2)
Tech Report Builders Guide!

A very good basic guide that has been updated for Spring (Right now there is some new stuff coming out + new GPU's on the way, so once that gets out of the way hopefully they will update.)
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18747/2

 

[spazzfish]

Right, so it seems my PC is dying so hopefully someone has a clue why.

Basically I've been running my current 955 at 3.4Ghz (so only 200Hz above stock) at 1.35V for the past three months or so that I've had it with no issue whatsoever, I could happily leave Prime95 running 10 minutes without a crash. The other day I decided to see if it would run stable at 3.6Ghz, so I turned the multiplier up, booted Windows and after about 10 seconds of Prime95, it crashed, so I just put the multiplier back down to 3.4Ghz.
But now it seems I'm getting all the trademarks of an unstable CPU, such as PC restarting, BSOD's, and system locking up, but the problem is I've been using my current settings for months with no issue, I also tried putting putting the CPU multiplier and Voltage onto auto, (which usually puts the voltage around 1.4V) and the system was still as unstable. So far the problems are just happening in CPU intensive applications, such as Prime, BC2 and Emulators.
The only reasons I can see are CPU damage (which I doubt as I've been running at a pretty standard voltage for the 955) or PSU suddenly becoming faulty (< 3r old Corsair 520W), but I'd have thought that would cause other problems too.

10 mins of prime will not give you an accurate idea if you over clock is stable. Try leaving it running over night.
What are your temps like?
Have you run memtest to check your ram?
Corsair PSU's are good, just out of curiosity what gpu are you running in your rig?

 

[speculawyer]

Fuck it. I'm just gonna go to Fry's and buy a cheap PC and add a 5770. I'm too lazy.

 

[Shai-Tan]

I'm ordering a PC for my brother in Florida who is coming back from Iraq. He told me he wants to have an 80gb SSD for his boot drive but I'm clueless looking at newegg figuring out which brand/model to choose. Price range between $200-300. Thanks guys.

EDIT: I'm ordering it from newegg for him

EDIT: it doesn't actually need to be 80gb, I notice models larger or smaller in the price range

 

[Minsc]

I'm ordering a PC for my brother in Florida who is coming back from Iraq. He told me he wants to have an 80gb SSD for his boot drive but I'm clueless looking at newegg figuring out which brand/model to choose. Price range between $200-300. Thanks guys.

EDIT: I'm ordering it from newegg for him

This one. Don't miss the $10 off promo code (ends today).

 

[Shai-Tan]

^- thanks

 

[Anton Sugar]

Heh, should have clarified that, thx Orellio.

Maybe try something like this:

CPU + Motherboard
RAM
HDD
PSU
Case

Add a $30 optical drive if need be, and you're good to go.

Thanks...still a bit too expensive (he just told me he'd rather not spend over $600...), but I like that they're willing to assemble it. I'll play around.

I'm also thinking of just saying "fuck it" and building it, and then somehow shipping it to him. Does this sound like a disaster waiting to happen?

If not, here's the deal:

Budget: $500-600 USD. I'd like to get him a mobo capable of Crossfire, as I gave him my 4850, and it would be nice to Crossfire it once he has a little more dough. I'm also planning on getting him a Windows 7 install key from ebay for $25, so no worries of the OS
Main Use: Gaming/music/general usage
Monitor Resolution: He's 16 and honestly not very picky. 1080p not required. Probably be fine with 1440x900.
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Modern Warfare, Bad Company 2, Source games, Alien v Predator. Nothing too strenuous, but would like these to be smooth while looking better than console counterparts

 

[professor_t]

The Tech Report suggestion for a utility player does not include a separate power supply. If I'm upgrading their utility build with a Radeon 5850, and I'm considering other potential upgrades down the road (I have no idea what, to be honest), should I include one, even if I use their suggested enclosure with the 500W PSU?

One other question: if I just bought and installed Win7 on a laptop, will I be able to install the same software -- and use the same key -- on the PC I build, or will I need to buy the software again?

Yeah, I'm clueless when it comes to this stuff.

 

[thoughts]

1) Windows 7 boot: I installed Win7 and everything seems ok, but ever since the first restart, I get a message that says "Reboot and select proper boot device" or something to that effect. So I do, make sure in BIOS that the drive Win7 is installed on (a 60GB SSD) is the 1st boot device, but I still get the message. I can run Windows by having the disc in there at that screen and pushing any key. I'm not really sure why this issue is occurring.

I had this happen to me when I was doing a fresh install of win7 on my SSD, and the installer decided to create the System Partition, which win7 needs in order to boot, on my external HDD that I had connected to my system at the time. The external showed up as disk 0, oddly enough. Needless to say, the computer failed to boot from the SSD once I removed the esata connection. Fixed it by reinstalling win7 with only my SSD connected.

 

[Scythesurge]

I recently had this problem with a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R. Turns out that it was an issue with my motherboard, and I had it swapped out. Does windows say that you have 6GB (4 usable) or something to that effect, or does it just not show up at all?

Just doesn't show up at all. I'm thinking of moving the cards to the other 3 slots (from the 3 white ones to the three blue ones, I have an ASRock mobo) and seeing what happens.

 

[teh_J0kerer]

Well, I'm not exactly sure what my budget is.. basically I'd like to spend as little as possible given my needs. I'll set an upper limit of about $1500, but I'd be much happier spending $700..

I haven't really thought about what resolution I'll be gaming at. Let's say 1920x1080 for the hell of it?

The only PC game I really care about right now is SC2, and Diablo 3 later. I'm curious about playing Crysis on high settings just for the experience if my PC could do it, but this isnt super important. Some amount of future proofing would be nice as always.

I'd prefer a laptop, but a desktop would be acceptable if the value is a lot better for the performance.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Fitz]

10 mins of prime will not give you an accurate idea if you over clock is stable. Try leaving it running over night.
What are your temps like?
Have you run memtest to check your ram?
Corsair PSU's are good, just out of curiosity what gpu are you running in your rig?

Well, that's the thing, it used to be able to run Prime for whatever length of time with no issue, it now reliably crashes after under 10 seconds, also I should point out it seems to have gotten worse, as in just loading an emulator for a minute locked the system up, as in the screen got jumbled. (I'm getting all types of crashes though, BSODs, straight restarts etc)
Usually running around the low/mid 50s under load (load being something like BC2), running prime and the temp usually stabilizes about 60. (Not that it can get to that point anymore.) I haven't run memtest recently though, will do tommorow, and I'm running a 5770, that's also fairly new, mabey 3 months.
I'm leaning towards thinking that there is a hardware fault due to the increasing frequency of the crashes. That and the fact that the CPU has been stable at 1.35v at 3.4Ghz for a few months now with out a single issue.

 

[kinggroin]

Finished my build:

Phenom II x4 965 BE @ 4Ghz
Radeon 5970 @ 925/1200
4GB DDR2 @ 1066

yay!

 

[spazzfish]

Finished my build:

Phenom II x4 965 BE @ 4Ghz
Radeon 5970 @ 925/1200
4GB DDR2 @ 1066

yay!

That's a nice system. Have you considered using eyefinity and playing on three screens?
I did and now would never go back.
Either way enjoy your new kit

 

[K.Jack]

I'd prefer a laptop

Best Options:

15"

Sub-$1k = Acer Aspire. Respectable, but not maxing SC2.

W860CU. Best, period.

MSI GX640. Budget price, budget build quality.

17"

Asus G73, Best Buy version.

G73, premium Newegg version.

Clevo W870CU.

 

[Frostburn]

For anyone looking to play StarCraft II or Diablo 3, CPU clock speed is very important. The fastest processor you can buy and/or OC easy is the way to go.

 

[Fitz]

Well, that's the thing, it used to be able to run Prime for whatever length of time with no issue, it now reliably crashes after under 10 seconds, also I should point out it seems to have gotten worse, as in just loading an emulator for a minute locked the system up, as in the screen got jumbled. (I'm getting all types of crashes though, BSODs, straight restarts etc)
Usually running around the low/mid 50s under load (load being something like BC2), running prime and the temp usually stabilizes about 60. (Not that it can get to that point anymore.) I haven't run memtest recently though, will do tommorow, and I'm running a 5770, that's also fairly new, mabey 3 months.
I'm leaning towards thinking that there is a hardware fault due to the increasing frequency of the crashes. That and the fact that the CPU has been stable at 1.35v at 3.4Ghz for a few months now with out a single issue.

Right, so I've been running memtest for a little while now and it's finished 3 passes with no errors, so it's pretty safe to say memory isn't an issue. I'm going to borrow a pretty new Corsair 650W PSU from a friend tommorow and hook that up.

EDIT: Heh, just had the computer on, noticed the CPU temp was idling higher than usual (it was 39/40c usually idles in the low 30s) so I decided to try changing the speed of my CPU fan (A Xilence 120mm on a Baram heatsink) and after enabling Q-Control and turning the voltage up by the minimum increment of .5v, system just locked up.

 

[teh_J0kerer]

I just took a look at the ASUS G73 at Best Buy. That thing weighs a ton! Might as well get a desktop imo. On the other hand, I don't care how big the screen is because for gaming I'm just going to hook it up to a separate monitor/ keyboard/mouse. The 15" options look good though especially the W860CU. How much cheaper would it typically be to get this same level of power from a desktop?
edit: wait.. the W860CU weighs the same as the ASUS G73? doh..

Best Options:

15"

Sub-$1k = Acer Aspire. Respectable, but not maxing SC2.

W860CU. Best, period.

MSI GX640. Budget price, budget build quality.

17"

Asus G73, Best Buy version.

G73, premium Newegg version.

Clevo W870CU.

 

[Shai-Tan]

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=9369889

Is there anything wrong with the system I made there? The monitor and case are only there as a placeholder for the price but it would be good to get suggestions for those parts as well.

EDIT:

-changed the motherboard to an ASUS P7P55D-E Pro for the new SATA and USB 3.0
-changed the CPU from an i7 860 to an i5 750
-changed the case to a Cooler Master CM 690 II, also looking at a more expensive Antec P183
-don't know about the monitor. I got a lot of ewws elsewhere about the placeholder monitor but I don't know if it's the S-IPS crowd hating on TN panels or it's just bad

 

[Jabronie]

I'm also planning on getting him a Windows 7 install key from ebay for $25, so no worries of the OS

I'm interested, could you elaborate on this? I've been looking for Windows 7 software cheaper than $100. Does buying an install key imply that you already have the windows 7 software but it asks for, and expects a different key?

 

[Hazaro]

The Tech Report suggestion for a utility player does not include a separate power supply. If I'm upgrading their utility build with a Radeon 5850, and I'm considering other potential upgrades down the road (I have no idea what, to be honest), should I include one, even if I use their suggested enclosure with the 500W PSU?

PSU should be an Antec EarthWatts 500w should it should run a 5850.

For anyone looking to play StarCraft II or Diablo 3, CPU clock speed is very important. The fastest processor you can buy and/or OC easy is the way to go.

It really is. I'm not sure how current laptop CPU offerings compare but as of now CPU clock speed is very important for SC 2.

Well, I'm not exactly sure what my budget is.. basically I'd like to spend as little as possible given my needs. I'll set an upper limit of about $1500, but I'd be much happier spending $700..

I haven't really thought about what resolution I'll be gaming at. Let's say 1920x1080 for the hell of it?

The only PC game I really care about right now is SC2, and Diablo 3 later. I'm curious about playing Crysis on high settings just for the experience if my PC could do it, but this isnt super important. Some amount of future proofing would be nice as always.

As for resolution do you have a 1920x1080 monitor or no?
Also imo on a budget it is hard to argue with TN panels today. For the IPS crowd it's a gigantic world of magical colors (they do look nice), but TN is good for me!

http://techreport.com/articles.x/18747/4
You might want to pick up an aftermarket cooler for additional overclocking but that is what you are looking at. You might also want to wait until info on the GTX 465 hits, or if you are interested in better performance now getting a 5850. Hopefully the GTX 465 introduces some competition around the $300 price point.
Add this RAM instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=9369889

Is there anything wrong with the system I made there? The monitor and case are only there as a placeholder for the price but it would be good to get suggestions for those parts as well.

Looks good.

 

[Lasthope106]

I'm putting together a list of parts for a friend. The budget is $900 and so far I got components that include the following:

Intel i5-750
ATI 5770
4GB DD3 RAM
500W PS
1 TB HD
24X DVD
Antec Nine Hundred

Cost so far is $889 + SH.

I'm not too sure about the 5770 though. All benchmarks I've seen state that the ATI 4890 and the Nvidia 260 are better cards.

To me the above setup looks like a beast, since my own pc only has an 8800GT and a Dual Core. What do you guys think? Any suggestions or better parts that you know?

 

[Fitz]

Right, so I've been running memtest for a little while now and it's finished 3 passes with no errors, so it's pretty safe to say memory isn't an issue. I'm going to borrow a pretty new Corsair 650W PSU from a friend tommorow and hook that up.

EDIT: Heh, just had the computer on, noticed the CPU temp was idling higher than usual (it was 39/40c usually idles in the low 30s) so I decided to try changing the speed of my CPU fan (A Xilence 120mm on a Baram heatsink) and after enabling Q-Control and turning the voltage up by the minimum increment of .5v, system just locked up.

Well, just installed another PSU and my system is still crashing, so the PSU isn't at fault. Which is a real pain because I was sure that was the issue. Which means it could be the CPU, which is the most likely I guess as the crashes happen when the CPU is under load, or the motherboard I guess.

 

[spazzfish]

Well, just installed another PSU and my system is still crashing, so the PSU isn't at fault. Which is a real pain because I was sure that was the issue. Which means it could be the CPU, which is the most likely I guess as the crashes happen when the CPU is under load, or the motherboard I guess.

Seems a bit unlucky for your cpu to go, as it sounds that you haven't done anything too drastic with it.
Did you do anything else to your system since it was stable besides trying to up your overclock like adding a new graphics card?
If memtest has come back fine and your happy with those results and changing the psu hasn't helped then it looks deffo like your Motherboard or CPU. You say you got a crash when adjusting voltage in the bios is that correct?
Have you had any failing to post errors (beeps)?
The problem then is now to be careful. If your motherboard has gone then you don't really want to be turning your PC on any more because this can lead to other components getting damaged.
Have you got a friend who has an amd system where you can try your cpu in his machine?
Also can you tell me the make model of your motherboard please.

edit:
After a bit more pondering it is also possible that it could be the psu that was the problem in this scenario: The extra increase in volts/power draw might have been enough to cause your psu to cause one of your components like the motherboard or cpu to fail( if the psu has become faulty). Thus being the reason why a new PSU didn't fix your problem.
Now i'm not an electrician and don't know how to test to a PSU, so it might be worth going to someone who knows how test it to look at it for you (not by putting it into a friends machine).

edit:
Just to make sure you do have both power cables running into your motherboard don't you? The 24 pin one and the 12v 4 pin one normally found near the cpu.

 

[Minsc]

I'm putting together a list of parts for a friend. The budget is $900 and so far I got components that include the following:

Intel i5-750
ATI 5770
4GB DD3 RAM
500W PS
1 TB HD
24X DVD
Antec Nine Hundred

Cost so far is $889 + SH.

I'm not too sure about the 5770 though. All benchmarks I've seen state that the ATI 4890 and the Nvidia 260 are better cards.

To me the above setup looks like a beast, since my own pc only has an 8800GT and a Dual Core. What do you guys think? Any suggestions or better parts that you know?

The 5770 will be a bottleneck, but the GTX260 /4890 aren't really better cards. At least, I wouldn't call a card that delivers on average a 10% increase (I've even seen a few benches where the 5770 performs faster than the 4890 and GTX 260), for a 30% increase in price, and lets not kid ourselves, they'll still be bottlenecks as well, by a large margin.

I guess your price range is ~$200? That's just an awkward price range right now. A couple more weeks the GTX 465 will release, for $250, which hopefully will fill the under $250 price bubble, by beating the 5770/260/275/5830 cards by a fair amount.

If you're really lucky you can find a 5850 on sale or with a free game for a bit under $300, sometimes closer to $250. The GTX 470 is around $350, but you can see, it's rather easy to keep going all the way up to the $500 GTX 480. The 5850 and 470 are really the cards where you really see a huge jump in performance, and much better match the CPU in terms of power.