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[Midas]

Yesterday. I did that test you can find within Win 7, where you test your hardware and get points and I noticed one "weird" thing. My main hard drive, with the Win 7 installation is a SSD disk, buy still that was the part of the test with the lowest grade - isn't that weird?

Is there something I should change in Win 7 or in my bios if the hard drive is SSD?

 

[Rufus]

First, those scores are kinda shit, secondly, post a screencap of your results so we can actually see how big the difference is. If it's 5.9 for your SSD then there might be a problem, because that's how fast most regular HDDs are.

 

[HooCares]

MoFuzz & Brain_Stew

Big thanks!

Will follow your advice.

 

[Midas]

First, those scores are kinda shit, secondly, post a screencap of your results so we can actually see how big the difference is. If it's 5.9 for your SSD then there might be a problem, because that's how fast most regular HDDs are.

Yeah, it was something like that. I'll post a screencap when I get home!

 

[Parl]

Building budget PC for a friend. Doesn't need to be high-end, so the low budget shouldn't cause any problems. It'll be used for Photoshop CS5 and a bit of light gaming. The specs I've tentatively put together are...

CPU: Core 2 Duo E5400 2.7 GHz
RAM: Crucial 2GB DDR2 800MHz CL6
GFX: Sapphire HD 4650 512MB DDR2
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L iG31 Socket 775
HDD: Seagate ST3500418AS 500GB
DVD: Samsung SH-S223 22x DVD±RW
Case: Casecom Shiny Piano Black Mid Tower Case with Blue LED 120mm Front Fan
PSU: CIT 400W Dual 12V Rail PSU V2.2- 12cm Fan - 20+4pin 3x SATA 1x PCI-E

Monitor: BenQ G2220HD 22" TFT Monitor 1920x1080 (I've seen the 24" version of that monitor, and it's certainly good enough).


Anything I should swap? The budget absolutely cannot go above what it currently is, except by about £3

 

[Hazaro]

AMD x4 635 + a cheapo 770 board

Should try to squeeze in 4GB and a better PSU...
Kinda important.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

Yesterday. I did that test you can find within Win 7, where you test your hardware and get points and I noticed one "weird" thing. My main hard drive, with the Win 7 installation is a SSD disk, buy still that was the part of the test with the lowest grade - isn't that weird?

Is there something I should change in Win 7 or in my bios if the hard drive is SSD?

You maybe on IDE..

In your bios there will be two options to either setup your drives in an IDE or ACHI you have to choose ACHI, IDE is the default.

You would need to reinstall windows in ACHI mode if you didn't.

This program will tell you if you did;

http://www.alex-is.de/PHP/fusion/downloads.php?cat_id=4

Here's mine, you see where it says msachi? That's MS default Achi drivers. TRIM support will not be enable in any other mode.

Here's another nice app that will tell you the health of your SSD;

http://www.ssd-life.com/SSDlife.exe

Here's my results,

 

[Askia47]

Is it normal for a AMD 945 X4 to have a 3.6 windows rating? Seems like something is wrong.

 

[anonymousAversa]

http://i54.tinypic.com/10crgon.jpg


Plus the case, a Cooler Master Haf X.

Gonna be my first build, I'm 90% excited 10% nervous, wish me luck.

Are you using the second gpu for physics? I would definitely think about putting a dedicated physics card in my new PC, but is it worth it? Do a good majority of games take advantage of a dedicated physics card?

Does anyone know if Crysis will support a secondary gpu as a physics device?

 

[Midas]

You maybe on IDE..

In your bios there will be two options to either setup your drives in an IDE or ACHI you have to choose ACHI, IDE is the default.

You would need to reinstall windows in ACHI mode if you didn't.

This program will tell you if you did;

http://www.alex-is.de/PHP/fusion/downloads.php?cat_id=4

Here's mine, you see where it says msachi? That's MS default Achi drivers. TRIM support will not be enable in any other mode.

Here's another nice app that will tell you the health of your SSD;

http://www.ssd-life.com/SSDlife.exe

Here's my results,

Oh fuuuuuuuuuuu. On the bright side, I only installed yesterday so I haven't had the time to do that many changes yet.

 

[drhankmccoyphd]

Are you using the second gpu for physics? I would definitely think about putting a dedicated physics card in my new PC, but is it worth it? Do a good majority of games take advantage of a dedicated physics card?

Does anyone know if Crysis will support a secondary gpu as a physics device?

Not really worth it imo. The only games I can name off the top of my head are Mafia II and Mirror's Edge. Even then the effects weren't all that spectacular. As far as I know Crysis 2 uses the CPU for physics but I could be wrong.

 

[Salaadin]

Oh fuuuuuuuuuuu. On the bright side, I only installed yesterday so I haven't had the time to do that many changes yet.

Check your mobo manual too. They should have some AHCI drivers on the disc or something that youll need to install BEFORE the windows install if the Windows 7 install doesnt detect your SSD right away.

Theres also some issue deal with AHCI drivers and TRIM support. Apparently the ones that I installed didnt support TRIM so I had to go to Intels website and track down updated drivers from March 2010 and use those instead. The default Windows 7 AHCI drivers are supposed to use TRIM though so if Windows installs its own, you should be good.

 

[Milpool]

Oh fuuuuuuuuuuu.

I'm pretty sure you just need to change a reg value, but you have to do it before rebooting and then changing the setting in the BIOS. Otherwise it would probably result in a blue screen.

Edit - change the value of these to zero before enabling AHCI in the bios, should work.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV

 

[BruceChalupa]

Thanks for the replies from earlier. I've got one other noob-ish question: what's the diff between the i5/i7 versus the Core 2 and Quad Core CPUs in terms of performance? In what instances should I opt for a 64-bit OS? Thanks again GAF.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

I'm pretty sure you just need to change a reg value, but you have to do it before rebooting and then changing the setting in the BIOS. Otherwise it would probably result in a blue screen.

Nope, Win7 will need to be reinstall with AHCI enable in the bios.

 

[Hazaro]

Thanks for the replies from earlier. I've got one other noob-ish question: what's the diff between the i5/i7 versus the Core 2 and Quad Core CPUs in terms of performance? In what instances should I opt for a 64-bit OS? Thanks again GAF.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/2
Knock yourself out.

Always.

 

[Corky]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/2
Knock yourself out.

Always.

wow I must say I'm rather surprised, the difference in gameperformance in most games between my x3 and an i7 920 is single digit frames.

I guess this means 2 things ;

1. ) Games today are heavily heavily gpu-dependant
2. ) I wont be needing to upgrade my cpu ANY time soon.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

I'm pretty sure you just need to change a reg value, but you have to do it before rebooting and then changing the setting in the BIOS. Otherwise it would probably result in a blue screen.

Edit - change the value of these to zero before enabling AHCI in the bios, should work.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV

NO, NO NO NO!!

If you install in one mode (IDE / AHCI) then switch to another, when Windows boots it'll freak out and you'll get a bluescreen.

 

[Milpool]

NO, no no no!!

If you install in one mode (IDE / AHCI) then switch to another, when Windows boots it'll freak out and you'll get a bluescreen.

That's what I said a few posts ago, the regedit prevents that. Alternatively you can let microsoft fix it.

 

[BruceChalupa]

Bookmarked! Great site.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

That's what I said a few posts ago, the regedit prevents that. Alternatively you can let microsoft fix it.

The registry should be left alone. But its your door stop not mine.

 

[Askia47]

Is it normal for a AMD 945 X4 to have a 3.6 windows rating? Seems like something is wrong.

Asking again for any input, this build is over a year old , and seems to run fine most of the time, but idk if the computer is only seeing all of the cores.

 

[K.Jack]

In what instances should I opt for a 64-bit OS? T

In the instance that you have any sense, go with the 64-bit OS.

Otherwise, go with the 64-bit OS.

Asking again for any input, this build is over a year old , and seems to run fine most of the time, but idk if the computer is only seeing all of the cores.

WEI is utterly worthless. Ignore it.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

In what instances should I opt for a 64-bit OS?

If you want to use more than 4 gigs of ram.

 

[brain_stew]

If you want to use more than ~3 gigs of ram and don't want to be a luddite that's holding the PC platform back.

Fixed.

 

[MDSLKTR]

GAF, I was planning on buying a new tv today and there's some specials where they throw some home surround system with some tv's.
I have ordered the MSI GTX 460 in my build. After reading the previous page, I understand that I can use the HDMI output on the GPU and plug it to the HDMI of the sound receiver. Is it plug and play or do I have to configure some stuff on the computer?

 

[Salaadin]

Quick question: A friend of mine just bought a new mobo, gpu, psu, and cpu. When he installs all of this, will a Windows 7 reinstall be necessary? I did a quick google search for him yesterday and saw that its best to a fresh install to avoid errors. However, I took a closer look today and am seeing a lot of people saying that its not necessary and to just to a repair install instead.

Thoughts?

 

[Clevinger]

So, is this PSU (750W) either overkill or underkill for me? I'm going to get a Core i7 and probably the next high end single AMD video card.

thanks

 

[brain_stew]

GAF, I was planning on buying a new tv today and there's some specials where they throw some home surround system with some tv's.
I have ordered the MSI GTX 460 in my build. After reading the previous page, I understand that I can use the HDMI output on the GPU and plug it to the HDMI of the sound receiver. Is it plug and play or do I have to configure some stuff on the computer?

Well you'll have to configure Windows "sound" utility to make sure it uses the HDMI audio but its pretty straightforward.

 

[Hazaro]

So, is this PSU (750W) either overkill or underkill for me? I'm going to get a Core i7 and probably the next high end single AMD video card.

thanks

Save $30 and get the 650w instead
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

Quick question: A friend of mine just bought a new mobo, gpu, psu, and cpu. When he installs all of this, will a Windows 7 reinstall be necessary? I did a quick google search for him yesterday and saw that its best to a fresh install to avoid errors. However, I took a closer look today and am seeing a lot of people saying that its not necessary and to just to a repair install instead.

Thoughts?

Can't speak on win 7 specifically but when you swap mobos you usually want a clean install.
Win 7 might deal with changes better, I don't know.

 

[MDSLKTR]

Well you'll have to configure Windows "sound" utility to make sure it uses the HDMI audio but its pretty straightforward.

Good to know, thanks.

 

[·feist·]

I'm looking for some laptop advice, if anyone can help.

I've been too busy to look into specs, prices and retailers, and laptop knowledge is not a strong point for me. Someone I know is looking to buy a laptop for a 13-year-old girl that's about to begin high school. They'd like to around the $350 range, but I may be able to convince them to go closer to $400.

The laptop will be used mainly for surfing, school work, movies and music. Decent hardware acceleration would be good (I'd imagine even lower-end options should be able to decode 720p and FLVs w/o too much strain), but in the CPU/GPU trade-off of cheaper systems, I think she'd be better off with a faster CPU. Also, I know their budget is pretty low, but I'm trying to have them avoid going with a netbook unless there are some compelling options.

The buyer mentioned these two to me:

Toshiba C655-55049 $350
Compaq CQ62-228dX $330

Again, I've been so busy I haven't even been able to really look into either (or any other sub $5-600 laptops), so any assistance is appreciated.

Any laptop advice?

 

[Hazaro]

Any laptop advice?

4) Prospective laptop buyers please fill this out and ask their forum as well.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/wha...ould-i-buy-form-must-read-before-posting.html

But no. Please wait patiently while one of our laptop gurus happens to happen upon this thread.
Or ask in the laptop thread.

 

[Clevinger]

Save $30 and get the 650w instead
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

That'd still be OK if I overclocked the processor?

 

[Hazaro]

That'd still be OK if I overclocked the processor?

yeap

 

[brain_stew]

Any laptop advice?

Try and get someonething with a real CPU. A single core Intel Atom will frustrate even the most basic of users especially with its God awful GPU meaning even fullscreen 480p Youtube can often be a crapshoot.

Shame Ontario isn't here yet as that'd be the perfect platform for a machine like this but alas you'll have to suffice with something else, just make sure it not using an Atom and you should be OK.

 

[brain_stew]

That'd still be OK if I overclocked the processor?

It'd sill be OK if you bought a second GPU.

 

[Midas]

Hehe. I tried that Microsoft fix. We'll see if it works soon enough. A complete new install is as I said not really that much of a hassle since I installed everything yesterday - but it would be nice if this is enough.

 

[Milpool]

Hehe. I tried that Microsoft fix. We'll see if it works soon enough. A complete new install is as I said not really that much of a hassle since I installed everything yesterday - but it would be nice if this is enough.

It worked for me, ssd score went from 6.0 to 7.7. I was forced to use IDE for my windows 7 install due to a problem with the sata rom on my gigabyte board, which thankfully was fixed in a beta BIOS.

 

[Midas]

It worked for me, ssd score went from 6.0 to 7.7. I was forced to use IDE for my windows 7 install due to a problem with the sata rom on my gigabyte board, which thankfully was fixed in a beta BIOS.

Well, when I did the test I got the following. Maybe I should do a clean install?

 

[·feist·]

Try and get someonething with a real CPU. A single core Intel Atom will frustrate even the most basic of users especially with its God awful GPU meaning even fullscreen 480p Youtube can often be a crapshoot.

Thanks.
I've tried to steer them away from lower end netbook-type power levels, but for a non-enthusiast/techie with a very small budget they've been focused more on the price than the drawbacks. You almost have to hope for the sporadic sales where a better system falls into the $400 range.

Shame Ontario isn't here yet as that'd be the perfect platform for a machine like this but alas you'll have to suffice with something else, just make sure it not using an Atom and you should be OK.

That's EXACTLY what I've been thinking. Either that or a scaled-down version of Intel's next gen mobility solutions. It really is startling just how far both of their low-mid tier tech will advance in the coming months.

4) Prospective laptop buyers please fill this out and ask their forum as well.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/wha...ould-i-buy-form-must-read-before-posting.html

Thanks.
As many times as I've quoted the long-form of that post of yours (with the desktop use Q&A, and build vid) for new users that have entered this thread, it actually slipped my mind that you also had that particular link in there as well. Although, admittedly...

Please wait patiently while one of our laptop gurus happens to happen upon this thread.

...I was largely hoping for that.

 

[Milpool]

Well, when I did the test I got the following. Maybe I should do a clean install?

Woah I had that too, I think it went away after I installed intels rapid storage drivers. Though it has a delayed start by default so you could just try running the windows assessment in a few minutes.

 

[Midas]

Woah I had that too, I think it went away after I installed intels rapid storage drivers. Though it has a delayed start by default so you could just try running the windows assessment in a few minutes.

It worked when I tried now, but I only got 5.9

Edit: And this doesn't look good at all:

 

[Milpool]

It worked when I tried now, but I only got 5.9

Edit: And this doesn't look good at all:

What SSD, mobo are you using? Sorry if you've already mentioned in the last few pages.

 

[Midas]

I'm using an Asus P7P55D-E Premium and CSSD-F80GBP2-BRKT from the Corsair Force series.

 

[Cyport]

I'm moving out and I won't have a TV and my monitor doesn't have an HDMI.

What do you recommend for a monitor that can connect PS3 through HDMI around 24 inches, I have a Samsung SyncMaster 245Bplus so I would like something that is similar to this, I have looked at using an HDMI to DVI connection but my monitor doesn't support HDCP so it won't be a true 1:1 picture.

I don't really want a TV to use as a monitor.

My price region is around £200 ($300)

 

[Milpool]

I'm using an Asus P7P55D-E Premium and CSSD-F80GBP2-BRKT from the Corsair Force series.

I'd check the official corsair forums for any guides or people with similar issues, while as ssd isn't the best benchmark to showcase sandforce it doesn't seem right. I had crap speeds until I changed from msahci to iaStor so make sure you have the latest chipset drivers.

 

[Midas]

I'd check the official corsair forums for any guides or people with similar issues, while as ssd isn't the best benchmark to showcase sandforce it doesn't seem right. I had crap speeds until I changed from msahci to iaStor so make sure you have the latest chipset drivers.

What should I look for? Sandforce drivers or? Or Intel? I'm kinda confused here.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=2101&DwnldID=18859&lang=eng

Something like this?

 

[Haint]

Any laptop advice?

Best value is going to be the Intel T4500 CPU at this price, unless someone happens to run a $399 sell on a Core i3 system.

 

[Milpool]

What should I look for? Sandforce drivers or? Or Intel? I'm kinda confused here.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=2101&DwnldID=18859&lang=eng

Something like this?

That's what I used and my speed shot up, I noticed the most recent ones on the ASUS site are from 2009. Once you install it there should be an icon in the sys tray, make sure it has a green tick.

I'm using the H55 chipset but that intel page seems to support lots.