Support NeoGAF

[Shambles]

Anyone see this Slickdeals NewEgg combo deal:

AMD Athlon II X4/ASUS mobo/4GB ram/1TB HD/DVD drive/case+PS for $279 MIR

How does it compare to my current gaming PC (ignoring the GPU):

-AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core black edition Processor
-GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P Motherboard
-CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3
-Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
-LITE-ON 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS122-04
-GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
-Thermaltake W0093RU 500W Power Supply and NZXT Black Computer Case

Seems like you'd be paying for a lot of parts you already have. If it's an upgrade you're looking for you can just throw an AM3 chip into your motherboard and leave everything else.

Edit: Now i'm confused. You already have an AM3 board with DDR3 memory using an Athlon 64?

 

[Krauser Kat]

I haven't put the MB in but it fits in almost any case no?

Yeah it should. it also benches a little on non nvidia optimiazed games than the 570, from a quick look at Tomshardware.
Its also consumes a little less energy, about 40W less on average.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Yeah it should. it also benches a little on non nvidia optimiazed games than the 570, from a quick look at Tomshardware.

Ok thanks!

 

[mrklaw]

I like ati, i would go with it, but its a long ass card.

570 should be a little faster. But expensive. Sweet spot for high-mid range is 6950 or 560. I went with the 6950 for no real reason. The 560 is on par, runs cooler and is shorter. But I like the idea of MLAA on ATI and my motherboard supports crossfire but not SLI (for potential future upgrades)

If you have a standard ATX motherboard and normal case, the length shouldn't be an issue - more of a problem with some smaller cases.

 

[RedSwirl]

You should be fine then. You'll just have to compare PCIE power connections. A 6850 needs 1 6pin power connection, a GTX 460 1GB uses 2. If you're short one 6pin you can use a molex to 6 pin adapter as long as you have 2 free molex connections.

Fine as in 425w is enough?

Also, how many pins does the 8800 (my current card) use?
EDIT: Nevermind. It's a 6pin & 8pin. If my computer can already accommodate that, is it good if I need 2 6pins?

 

[Johnny2Bags]

Hey Guys, I need help!!

I'm New to posting on Gaf but have been following for the better part of five years. I've always really enjoyed building my own PC's and went to school at least initially for Computer Science at Michigan State before I switched to my current major so I have some background with this....

Two things:
1. My problem is I built my girlfriend a computer. MSI G45 motherboard, Phenom II 955 unlocked into a Quad, 5670 to give her decent civ 5 playability... Problem is that the VIDEO on her computer will turn off (monitor will go into sleep mode and case will stay on) when she goes into idle. I.E. internet, desktop, etc. The computer runs great when in Civ 5, Plants and Zombies, basically any game we try she can leave on and the computer will stay on indeffinetly. I'm assuming it's a power issue or something to do with AMD cool and quiet. The thing is it had the same problems when i first built it, so i switched out her video card into my computer and it works fine.. also i used my old xt850 for troubleshooting and that works fine as well in my computer and same issue in hers.. what could it be? The power pins are in the spots they should be, I just think it's downthrottling too much and the video card (doesn't have seperate connectors) isn't getting the juice it needs. I thought it was a MB issue but is there a way I can go into bios and manually give the video card and CPU more juice so that it will not have this issue??

Please if you have any idea help me out as It took alot to post this and I'm utterly stumped? Anyone else had a problem like this?

Also for myself.. I have a 600w ocz modstream psu,
500g hdd
8 gigs ripjaw ram
Phenom quad 950
5850 gpu

I am looking to upgrade to sandy when it comes out (when does it come out?) and ditch the cheap mobo for a new processor and MOBO that will support crossfire. I know some of you don't like to use crossfire but for me the 5850 on max load consumes 166w according to some websites and is on the lower scale. This will keep me somewhat futureproof and if i have to eventually pick up a new PSU so be it.

What Motherboard is best for the new sandy chips? i'm looking for one that will give me x16 crossfire if possible and am willing to spend whatever it takes (within reason LOL). and What CPU would be a suitable upgrade over a phenom quad? i7? Please help...
Also just on the subject of crossfire i'm told 5850 doesn't have much power draw and I'd rather have a 700w psu, but anything I don't have to upgrade or pass on would save me money, as the website says 600w is recommended for crossfire.

Thanks!! sorry for the long ass post peeps

 

[WyndhamPrice]

There should be connections from the power supply to these two locations:

Are you sure about the square one? I don't think I had a connector from the power supply that could fit that, I'd check right now but I'm not at home. I definitely had the 24 pin one plugged in. If that's been the issue the whole time then I've been a complete idiot and wasted a lot of my time on this : /

 

[Krauser Kat]

570 should be a little faster. But expensive. Sweet spot for high-mid range is 6950 or 560. I went with the 6950 for no real reason. The 560 is on par, runs cooler and is shorter. But I like the idea of MLAA on ATI and my motherboard supports crossfire but not SLI (for potential future upgrades)

If you have a standard ATX motherboard and normal case, the length shouldn't be an issue - more of a problem with some smaller cases.

after looking at more benchies the the 570 does tap out a small lead. but either are should be more than enough meat to take on most of the recent games.

 

[Snuggles]

Just placed my order on NewEgg. Parts should arrive by Wednesday (goddamn weekend) and it's pretty exciting stuff. I'll have everything I need to do this whole PC gaming thing.

Thanks for all the help, GAF.

 

[n0n44m]

Are you sure about the square one? I don't think I had a connector from the power supply that could fit that, I'd check right now but I'm not at home. I definitely had the 24 pin one plugged in. If that's been the issue the whole time then I've been a complete idiot and wasted a lot of my time on this : /

It's very important as that is were the CPU gets most of its 12V power from

It can either have 4 or 8 pins plug (newer high end motherboards use 8 pins but will also boot with 4) , so if your PSU has an 8 pin plug only plug in half of it (usually it is a breakaway connector)

it shouldn't be hard to identify which plug it is on the power supply, as the cable strand is a separate one which features only this 4 or 8 pin plug (just like the ATX 24pin cable strand, usually they're next to eachother). Wires are yellow (+12) and black (ground) if you have colored wires

ow and "Or perhaps you mean the square power connection above that one? I think that's just an ATX thing." How do you mean *just* an ATX thing ?

 

[bee]

these gtx 560's are fucking impressive for a mainstream card, after a lot of thinking about those OCUK 470/480 deals i decided to stick with my original gtx 560 2GB sli plan, but i just got one for now as i wanted to check the performance was acceptable for games that dont work well in sli or whatever first

idles at 32c and load in crysis was 61c with no adjustments, the opening scene in crysis looking out across the harbour was running at 58fps (4xaa, 1080p, custom cfg) on my old overclocked gtx 480@800/4100 on this new card at stock it was 46fps, consider me impressed. it is of course much quieter also although that never bothered me with the old card, gonna order the second one next week

 

[mclaren777]

Isn't the square one for the CPU fan?

Edit: I'm dumb

 

[Felix Lighter]

Just placed my order on NewEgg. Parts should arrive by Wednesday (goddamn weekend) and it's pretty exciting stuff. I'll have everything I need to do this whole PC gaming thing.

Thanks for all the help, GAF.

Good luck. Post pics.

 

[Red]

Isn't the square one for the CPU fan?

Some CPU fan you must have.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"Isn't the square one for the CPU fan?"

12v power for the motherboard. Can be 4 or 8-pin.

 

[The Gaming Gamer]

Anyone see this Slickdeals NewEgg combo deal:

AMD Athlon II X4/ASUS mobo/4GB ram/1TB HD/DVD drive/case+PS for $279 MIR

How does it compare to my current gaming PC (ignoring the GPU):

-AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core black edition Processor
-GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P Motherboard
-CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3
-Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
-LITE-ON 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS122-04
-GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
-Thermaltake W0093RU 500W Power Supply and NZXT Black Computer Case

Seems like you'd be paying for a lot of parts you already have. If it's an upgrade you're looking for you can just throw an AM3 chip into your motherboard and leave everything else.

Edit: Now i'm confused. You already have an AM3 board with DDR3 memory using an Athlon 64?

I'm not replacing everything, that would be pointless. This would be a whole new PC, basically a replacement for my laptop. I just want to know how it compares to my current gaming PC to understand how it would perform. I could also swap graphic cards and use the new PC for gaming. How much better would this system be?

 

[WyndhamPrice]

It's very important as that is were the CPU gets most of its 12V power from

It can either have 4 or 8 pins plug (newer high end motherboards use 8 pins but will also boot with 4) , so if your PSU has an 8 pin plug only plug in half of it (usually it is a breakaway connector)

it shouldn't be hard to identify which plug it is on the power supply, as the cable strand is a separate one which features only this 4 or 8 pin plug (just like the ATX 24pin cable strand, usually they're next to eachother). Wires are yellow (+12) and black (ground) if you have colored wires

ow and "Or perhaps you mean the square power connection above that one? I think that's just an ATX thing." How do you mean *just* an ATX thing ?

I have never built a PC before in my life, I've mucked about on the inside and replaced parts, but never built one from scratch. I'm kind of a dumbass at this right now and am very surprised I managed to put it all together without shorting something out before turning it on.

So yeah, I had no idea what ATX meant. I'm going to see if I can find some RAM (as I stupidly RMA'd my sticks yesterday) tonight and see what I can do : /

 

[Red]

I have never built a PC before in my life, I've mucked about on the inside and replaced parts, but never built one from scratch. I'm kind of a dumbass at this right now and am very surprised I managed to put it all together without shorting something out before turning it on.

So yeah, I had no idea what ATX meant. I'm going to see if I can find some RAM (as I stupidly RMA'd my sticks yesterday) tonight and see what I can do : /

It's a learning process, don't feel down on yourself.

 

[WyndhamPrice]

It's a learning process, don't feel down on yourself.

I try not to, just seems like every time I do something with technology (as savvy as I generally am) I miss something small and it fucks it all up. But now I will never ever forget any of this.

 

[Drkirby]

Anyone see this Slickdeals NewEgg combo deal:

AMD Athlon II X4/ASUS mobo/4GB ram/1TB HD/DVD drive/case+PS for $279 MIR

How does it compare to my current gaming PC (ignoring the GPU):

-AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core black edition Processor
-GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P Motherboard
-CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3
-Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
-LITE-ON 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS122-04
-GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
-Thermaltake W0093RU 500W Power Supply and NZXT Black Computer Case

I would say its a bit better. I would not get it as an upgrade though, only if you are in need of a second computer for some reason.

IMO it is a great computer for the price though. Stick a GPU in it and you have a solid mid-range gaming rig computer.

 

[mclaren777]

Some CPU fan you must have.

Yeah, what was I thinking? :\

 

[n0n44m]

I try not to, just seems like every time I do something with technology (as savvy as I generally am) I miss something small and it fucks it all up. But now I will never ever forget any of this.

Just make sure you check the motherboard's manual next time you see a plug you don't recognize

 

[whatsinaname]

But now I will never ever forget any of this.

You will. I've built many systems, and there are times I've forgotten to plug that 4 pin connector in and wasted time trying to troubleshoot the build.

 

[Snuggles]

stupid question: which PC part has the ethernet port?

...Just want to be sure I didn't need a specific part from it, since I run wired internet. I need it to install my 40 Steam games.

 

[n0n44m]

stupid question: which PC part has the ethernet port?

...Just want to be sure I didn't need a specific part from it, since I run wired internet. I need it to install my 40 Steam games.

any modern motherboard

or a seperate network card (NIC)

 

[mrklaw]

You will. I've built many systems, and there are times I've forgotten to plug that 4 pin connector in and wasted time trying to troubleshoot the build.

Why does the motherboard even have two power connectors? Just some stupid hangover from the olden days?

 

[Shambles]

Are you sure about the square one? I don't think I had a connector from the power supply that could fit that, I'd check right now but I'm not at home. I definitely had the 24 pin one plugged in. If that's been the issue the whole time then I've been a complete idiot and wasted a lot of my time on this : /

Welcome to PCs. The more you learn the dumber you feel. Glad it seems to be sorted out though. Hopefully you can get your hands on some RAM to test it out. I've done the same thing before too and wasted a lot of time trying to trouble shoot it. However after this you'll never forget this again.

I'm not replacing everything, that would be pointless. This would be a whole new PC, basically a replacement for my laptop. I just want to know how it compares to my current gaming PC to understand how it would perform. I could also swap graphic cards and use the new PC for gaming. How much better would this system be?

Ah I see. It would be significantly faster for both the extra cores and the better core design. It will also have more overclocking potential. Especially if you overclock it the CPU will be able to adaquetly feed even higher end GPUs at little performance loss.

 

[scorcho]

Why does the motherboard even have two power connectors? Just some stupid hangover from the olden days?

believe the second was added to supply additional power to modern CPUs that gulp more juice at full load.

 

[DrBaalzamon]

Regarding fans: I got my 212+ installed. Runs like a damn dream. Ridiculously cool temps. The one question I have. Do folks just run their CPU cooler fans max all the time or use something like speed fan to throttle it back for casual usage and then turn it back up when they're going to game etc? The sound doesnt bother me at all but it is much quieter at 50% ( obviously ).

I can try to adjust it in the bios but I didnt see that option. Have an msi 785gm-p45 board with an Phenom x2 560 unlocked to 4 cores and OC'd to 3.6.

One other question. This runs stable and has for a little while without increasing voltage manually. Is that alright or should I be raising the voltage to 1.4v anyway ? CPU-Z shows it hovers at 1.328v on its own. Thanks!

 

[itxaka]

Anyone knows how good is this page http://www.geforce.com/#/Optimize/OPS for optimizing settings?

I want to be able to run everything at a locked 60fps but I'm kind of lost. Some games run incredibly good with everything on max while others dip a lot (Gothic 4 normal-high settings makes me run on 27-29 fps wtf!)

So is there anything like that but for 60fps instead?


Other question. what happens when you have d3doverrider and change the vsync in-game? Or the triple buffering? Does it override d3dov.. settings? Or is d3dov... above the ingame settings?

Thanks!

 

[keeblerdrow]

Even with delays due to weather, I got all of my parts from Newegg within 2 days of ordering them. I've gotten all of my parts from them. Why can't I build my computer this weekend? Because I ordered my heatsink for my CPU from Amazon. A week ago. And it shipped finally this morning. I have to ask myself, why is Amazon so slow with this part when everything else I've ever ordered from them has been here before I'd given a thought to "shouldn't I have that already?"

Final system:

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3
Processor: Intel i5 2500K
Heatsink Fan: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
RAM: G.Skill RipJaw 4GB (2x2)
Power Supply: Antec TP-550(W) Hybrid Modular
Hard Drive: Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB capacity 7200rpm
Optical Drive: Sony DVD Burner
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 5870

Total Cost to me after shipping: $807
Bonuses: Free copy of Civilization V, $25 Mail in Rebate, $10 Mail in Rebate, $20 Mail in Rebate

A fantastically fast machine for a budget that anyone can afford, if they're serious about building a rig. I'll take some pictures once I have everything together. They won't be pretty, because my case isn't pretty, but it'll be my baby for the next 5 years.

What I'm retiring to my HDTV as a media player:
Core2Duo 6420 @ 2.13GHz
4GB DDR2 RAM
500GB Hard Drive 5400rpm
ATI Radeon 4650
450W PSU

What I had to replace over the last 5 years due to failure:
GeForce 8800GT (768MB version)
550W Antec Power supply (It didn't fail, but the fan emitted a high pitch squeal)

I'm also retiring an Antec Full Tower case I bought 7 years ago. The thing is a beast and I've loved it, but it's time for the new hotness. And by new hotness, I mean the summer teeth butterface HAF 912 that's gonna be obscured when company comes over so no one has to vurp into their napkins at the sight of it.

Quick checked: It appears my heatsink won't arrive until the 9th. 10 days after ordering it. I'd recommend against ordering this item off Amazon to all parties. The extra $7 you'll save isn't worth the waiting, I think. I could order one from Newegg right now and I'm sure it would arrive before the Amazon would.

 

[Shambles]

Even with delays due to weather, I got all of my parts from Newegg within 2 days of ordering them. I've gotten all of my parts from them. Why can't I build my computer this weekend? Because I ordered my heatsink for my CPU from Amazon. A week ago. And it shipped finally this morning. I have to ask myself, why is Amazon so slow with this part when everything else I've ever ordered from them has been here before I'd given a thought to "shouldn't I have that already?"

A PSU I ordered from Amazon on Dec. 27 has had it's shipping date pushed back to March for me. They can be pretty damn shit sometimes.

 

[beje]

I'm planning on adding a SSD drive to my rig keeping my current hard drive as secondary and I want to know if this would work:

- Put SSD as secondary
- Use an utility to get an image of my windows partition and put it on the SSD drive
- Configure SSD as primary

Halp? I really don't want to reinstall everything from scratch...

 

[thomaser]

Looking for a new stationary pc, and hope you can give some recommendations. I'm totally blank, so bear with me.

What I have, according to Speccy:
- MS Windows XP Home 32-bit
- CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.06GHz
- RAM: 1.5 GB Single-Channel DDR 166MHz
- Motherboard: ASUSTeK P4SD-LA
- Graphics: Radeon X1650 165MB
- Harddrive: Samsung HD753LJ SATA 733GB
- Screens: 2 BenQ G2420HD 1920x1080@60Hz screens

What I use it for:
- Teh Internets (Opera, usually with many tabs open. Also IE to work on my online store - the backsystem doesn't support Opera fully.)
- Photoshop, Illustrator, and sometimes InDesign
- Itunes (use it for cataloguing my music collection, which is at around 4300 cds and takes up most of the harddrive. I buy new cds all the time, so Itunes is often open, making the system crawl)
- Word for writing, Openoffice for spreadsheets and such
- No gaming at all
- Sometimes other programs like Google Earth, various Canon camera utilities, Nokia OVI Suite, Skype, and so on.
- Norton Internet Security is always on in the background. I know it's resource-hungry, but I get it for free with my service provider, and it has helped me when Malwarebytes and so on have not.

What I want:
Well, the problem is that it has become very hard for my pc to have several of these programs open at the same time. I need to be able to use f.ex. Photoshop, Illustrator, Opera and IE together, sometimes also together with a spreadsheet, over both screens. With Itunes open as well, importing a new cd.

I also want to get these things if I buy a new pc:
- Windows 7 64-bit (Home or Pro?)
- Adobe CS 5 Design Premium (perhaps Production to start dabbling with sound and video. I can get this fairly cheap since I'm a student)
- Microsoft Office - Openoffice isn't good enough yet
- Mathematica 8. Don't need it, but really want it just to fuck around in it.
- A small Wacom tablet and stylus
- Some kind of nice support for two screens. I mean, it functions well enough now, but I have to move around and position everything manually, which is cumbersome when I use many programs at once. Would support for doing these things come with the graphics card or the operating system?
- I'd like to have more than one harddisk - one for the music collection, and one for other things. What about SSDs? Could I f.ex. use one of those for the Adobe programs and all the graphics files, or perhaps for the operating system? I really have no idea.

Now, I don't live in the USA, so Newegg and such is out of the question. So is building my own pc, since I really wouldn't know what to do. A local shop has this pc for what seems to be a good price. Would it be good enough for the things I've mentioned and last me a while, also if I want to play around with video editing and music later? Anything I should think about?

Packard Bell Ixtreme i6639 NC
- Intel Core i3 540
- 6GB RAM
- 1TB harddisk
- Geforce GT330 2GB
- Windows 7 HP 64-bits
- DVD/CD-burner, media reader and all of those things.

Thanks!

 

[TheExodu5]

That's a dual-core build...I wouldn't. I mean, it's still a huge upgrade from your Pentium 4, but there's no real reason to not go quad-core today.

Is there a PC shop you could at least bring your specs to and have them build it?

 

[MidgarBlowedUp]

Regarding fans: I got my 212+ installed. Runs like a damn dream. Ridiculously cool temps. The one question I have. Do folks just run their CPU cooler fans max all the time or use something like speed fan to throttle it back for casual usage and then turn it back up when they're going to game etc? The sound doesnt bother me at all but it is much quieter at 50% ( obviously ).

I can try to adjust it in the bios but I didnt see that option. Have an msi 785gm-p45 board with an Phenom x2 560 unlocked to 4 cores and OC'd to 3.6.

One other question. This runs stable and has for a little while without increasing voltage manually. Is that alright or should I be raising the voltage to 1.4v anyway ? CPU-Z shows it hovers at 1.328v on its own. Thanks!

I'd run Prime95 or something for a while and see if you get errors. My Phenom II can hit 3.8Ghz @ 1.55v from 3.2Ghz but, once I run Prime95 for 15 minutes or so I get errors and need to up the voltage but, I can't cause it would be frying the processor. My solution was to drop the volts to nice comfy 1.50 and settle at 3.5Ghz in the end. I can do 3.6Ghz at a slightly higher voltage too but my tower is inside a desk that restricts some airflow to the front of the case so for peace of mind on a summers day I keep her at 1.5V.

I'm thinking your chip should do 1.55volts as well although, I don't recommend it, so go for the golden 4.0Ghz.

 

[WyndhamPrice]

Question: I have some RAM I can test this motherboard with, but it's DDR2. Is this a problem? This mobo is newer and is probably meant for DDR3. If I'm just trying to get things up and running will this be an issue?

 

[thomaser]

That's a dual-core build...I wouldn't. I mean, it's still a huge upgrade from your Pentium 4, but there's no real reason to not go quad-core today.

Is there a PC shop you could at least bring your specs to and have them build it?

Thanks! The shop selling this pc has several pc technicians, so they should be able to do whatever I want. I'll ask them if I can buy that pc but with a better processor, or if they can build me something like it.

 

[Deadstar]

Hey guys, I'm thinking of sandy bridging it once the board problem is fixed but in the meantime I was thinking of picking up a new video card. I have my sights set on the GTX 570. Seems to be a fairly good card, I have a Radeon 5700 right now and it's just not cutting it. I need to measure to see how much space I have in my case but if it fits, would you recommend it?

Also, I'm going to stick with NVidia and EVGA. Never had any problems with those cards but something is going on with this Radeon.

 

[TheExodu5]

GTX 570 is a fine card, though it does take a decent amount of power, and generates a bit of fan noise under load. It should be a pretty massive upgrade over a 5770.

 

[Shambles]

Question: I have some RAM I can test this motherboard with, but it's DDR2. Is this a problem? This mobo is newer and is probably meant for DDR3. If I'm just trying to get things up and running will this be an issue?

They have different form factors and won't fit into each others slots. You will need to match memory to the motherboard.

 

[Deadstar]

I wonder if the fan noise would be annoying or too loud? I'm not used to beastly video cards. I have a 650 watt power supply. I haven't yet looked into the tech specs yet, hopefully that power supply works. Right now I'm running a dual core from 2007 and 4 gigs of DDR2 ram.

 

[DrBaalzamon]

I'd run Prime95 or something for a while and see if you get errors. My Phenom II can hit 3.8Ghz @ 1.55v from 3.2Ghz but, once I run Prime95 for 15 minutes or so I get errors and need to up the voltage but, I can't cause it would be frying the processor. My solution was to drop the volts to nice comfy 1.50 and settle at 3.5Ghz in the end. I can do 3.6Ghz at a slightly higher voltage too but my tower is inside a desk that restricts some airflow to the front of the case so for peace of mind on a summers day I keep her at 1.5V.

I'm thinking your chip should do 1.55volts as well although, I don't recommend it, so go for the golden 4.0Ghz.

I'll Run prime95 when i get home. What I was wondering more is if I needed to up the voltage at all if it seems to be running fine without it. No lockups or whatnot at whatever the auto/stock voltage is. I can change it higher but would rather not mess with it if its fine without it.

 

[RocketDarkness]

I wonder if the fan noise would be annoying or too loud? I'm not used to beastly video cards. I have a 650 watt power supply. I haven't yet looked into the tech specs yet, hopefully that power supply works. Right now I'm running a dual core from 2007 and 4 gigs of DDR2 ram.

A good 650W should handle any non-SLI'd card, I would think.

 

[mrklaw]

Regarding fans: I got my 212+ installed. Runs like a damn dream. Ridiculously cool temps. The one question I have. Do folks just run their CPU cooler fans max all the time or use something like speed fan to throttle it back for casual usage and then turn it back up when they're going to game etc? The sound doesnt bother me at all but it is much quieter at 50% ( obviously ).

I can try to adjust it in the bios but I didnt see that option. Have an msi 785gm-p45 board with an Phenom x2 560 unlocked to 4 cores and OC'd to 3.6.

One other question. This runs stable and has for a little while without increasing voltage manually. Is that alright or should I be raising the voltage to 1.4v anyway ? CPU-Z shows it hovers at 1.328v on its own. Thanks!

Don't get me started on fans. So confusing. My motherboard has one connector for CPU fan, with four pins (one to control the fan speed). But my cooler has two fans, each with three ions - no PWM pin. Same with the replacement quiet chassis fans I bought. Then some motherboards can control fan speeds with voltage (3 pin) as well as PWM (4 pin). Don't think mine can (ASUS P8P67)

I think if they are quiet fans, then you can just run them off the PSU and don't bother with speed controls. I'll run mine with a 7v adapter to slow them down a little (and therefore quieter). If my temps get a little hot, I'll speed them up.

I've had people tell me I shouldn't run both fans from one connector, yet noctua ship their cooler with a splitter specifically for that. Working out what to do is difficult when you get conflicting messages from more experienced builders

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Gentlemen, I FINALLY ordered my parts after weeks of talking and asking some questions.

Please oblige me and tell me I did some good.....

GSKILL 8GB DDR3 1333 Newegg threw in a 2GB thumdrive with this so that was a nice bonus.

Samsung Spingpoint F3

LITE ON 24X DVD 48X CD WRITER

GIGABYTE Radeon HD 6950 2GB

Sandy Bridge 2500k

ASUS LGA 1155 - P67

All this was about 890 with 3 day shipping. If they end up shipping me the ASUS board, I will take the chances even if 3 of the ports die. I am probably gonna use the 6GB SATA ports anyways. I just hope I have no issues and everything posts correctly.

 

[Cday]

Upgraded from a 4850



Aw Yeah

Quick question. I upgraded to some faster ram would it be fine to put the old ram in the other slots? The old ram is GSkill, different cas latency, different bandwidth, different size. I've read here and there that this will bottleneck the faster ram but wasn't sure if this applies to all ram or just one channel. The mobo is an ASUS P5Q3.

Seems like a bad idea, just thought I'd ask for the heck of it.

 

[RedSwirl]

If I post a pic of my PSU would it be advisable to black out bar codes and serial numbers and such?

 

[minx]

Ok so something went wrong with my 8800GTX. My computer would turn on and then the display would be full of swiggly red lines all over the screen. I tried taking it out anne putting it back in the pci slot but the same thing occurred. I went to Best Buy to buy a cheap video card to see if it was the video cards fault. I bought a Radeon 4550 1GB for $60. I was surprised at how small it was compared to the 8800GTX. Everything works fine now.

1st question. What went wrong with my 8800? It is done for? It is still worth anything if I sell it somewhere?

2nd question. I know my 8800 was the best of the best back in 2007 when I bought it. But how does the Radeon 4500 compare 3 years later? I'm not into PC gaming anymore but I have no clue how the two compare.

 

[Big Baybee]

Can someone recommend a computer desk? I must be looking in all the wrong places because everything I've seen is either ugly or a flimsy piece of shit.