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[Stop It]

4.4-4.5, whatever is a safe bet without pushing things. More because there is headroom and I can.

Well then, use the guidelines above and work from there.

Basically, if you set a certain voltage, and can run IBT (5-10 passes using as much memory as possible) and Prime95 Blend for a good while, you're all set (And can even experiment with lowering the Vcore if you desire). If you get the dreaded BSOD code 0x124 you need more Vcore, simples.

So here is my build attempt:

Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus, Black, Mid Tower Case w/o PSU (£40.97)
Asus P8P67 Pro, Intel P67 Express, S 1155, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 2200(OC), SATA 6Gb/s, SATA RAID (£120.67)
Intel Core i7 2600K "Unlocked" 3.4Ghz Quad Core, 8Mb Cache, Hyperthreading (£216.17)
Alpenfohn Matterhorn Performance CPU Cooler (£39.98)
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 DDR3 1600Mhz, CAS 9-9-9-24 (£73.12)
1GB EVGA GTX 560 Ti FPB, 850MHz GPU, 384 Cores, 4104MHz GDDR5 (£171.56)
600W Corsair 3XS Systems PSU (Single Graphics Card) (£45.50)
1TB Western Digital Caviar Black, SATA 6Gb/s, 64MB Cache (£56.29)
64GB Crucial RealSSD C300, 6GB/s, Read 355MB/s, Write 70MB/s (£74.15)
Pioneer DVR-S19LBK DVD Writer (£13.98)

It's a modified Scan 3XS build and comes with an overclock to 4.4ghz. I was considering going 16gb of RAM but have they say this might impact the overlock speed, how so?

Now that's a rig! What are you using it for? Aside from hardcore Video Editing, 3D creation and Photoshop I honestly cannot see any situation where you'll need 16GB to be honest. 8GB is overkill for 90% of applications!

 

[EarsOfASnake]

Are those excluding VAT prices? Otherwise that 560 is a great price.

Interested to hear other comments about the SSD, didn't realise they were that cheap.

Yeah, they are all excluding VAT, the total comes to £1,296 inc VAT.

Now that's a rig! What are you using it for? Aside from hardcore Video Editing, 3D creation and Photoshop I honestly cannot see any situation where you'll need 16GB to be honest. 8GB is overkill for 90% of applications!

3D creation will be the primary use.

 

[Stop It]

3D creation will be the primary use.

Then in that case, if you know that 16GB will be actually used, go for it. The performance penalty (Around .5GB/s on the SB platform) of using all 4 slots of your motherboard will be negated as long as your applications make use of the extra memory.

 

[EarsOfASnake]

Then in that case, if you know that 16GB will be actually used, go for it. The performance penalty (Around .5GB/s on the SB platform) of using all 4 slots of your motherboard will be negated as long as your applications make use of the extra memory.

That's the thing, I am currently running a 5 year old system (2.4 C2D, 3gb RAM, 7950GT) and have become used to working within that. I imagine 8gb will blow me away enough as is but you can never have enough RAM.

 

[Stop It]

That's the thing, I am currently running a 5 year old system (2.4 C2D, 3gb RAM, 7950GT) and have become used to working within that. I imagine 8gb will blow me away enough as is but you can never have enough RAM.

Indeed, as long as an application can use memory, the more the better.

Anyway, such an upgrade will absolutely blow you away, and that's before overclocking! With a cooling system like that, I fully expect 4.6Ghz+ out of it, which will make for an outstanding upgrade.

 

[EarsOfASnake]

Indeed, as long as an application can use memory, the more the better.

Anyway, such an upgrade will absolutely blow you away, and that's before overclocking! With a cooling system like that, I fully expect 4.6Ghz+ out of it, which will make for an outstanding upgrade.

What about the 560Ti? I will be using 2 1680x1050 monitors and was thinking about just going with the 460 as it seems to be a more than capable card. I don't see myself going 1080p until one of these monitors break and who knows how long that will be. One other thing, case choice, I want this rig to be as quiet as possible, are there any specific recommendations on that front? Thanks for the help btw

 

[Stop It]

What about the 560Ti? I will be using 2 1680x1050 monitors and was thinking about just going with the 460 as it seems to be a more than capable card. I don't see myself going 1080p until one of these monitors break and who knows how long that will be. One other thing, case choice, I want this rig to be as quiet as possible, are there any specific recommendations on that front? Thanks for the help btw

Firsty, if you're going to be spending that much money on your rig, you may as well get the 560Ti, if only because you'll cover yourself for longer than a 460, and if you ever feel like upgrading your monitors, you'll be all set.

Also, that case is a gamers case, so while it wont be massively loud, it wont be designed for quietness either. If you want silence, get a Antec Sonata Elite or similar.

 

[Hazaro]

Drop in some <1200RPM Scythe fans if you are worried about noise.
I nabbed some Kama's and they are amazing.

 

[Naked Snake]

Is there a place I can order a custom build PC online and have it ship fully assembled without costing an arm and a leg over the price of individual components themselves (i.e. not Dell, HP, etc.)?

 

[mrklaw]

I have 6 noctua fans in my silverstone LC17, and all I can hear is the GPU card, and then only faintly. good airflow and low RPM fans and you can have power with quietness.

 

[EarsOfASnake]

Firsty, if you're going to be spending that much money on your rig, you may as well get the 560Ti, if only because you'll cover yourself for longer than a 460, and if you ever feel like upgrading your monitors, you'll be all set.
Also, that case is a gamers case, so while it wont be massively loud, it wont be designed for quietness either. If you want silence, get a Antec Sonata Elite or similar.

Yeah, the price difference isn't that much anyway, I was just wondering if there were any corners I could cut. That case doesn't appear to be one of the options for the build, how about this one

Drop in some <1200RPM Scythe fans if you are worried about noise.
I nabbed some Kama's and they are amazing.

Again, doesn't appear to be an option I can tweak. I know I could build it myself and I have built others but I really can't be bothered with it this time round.

Is there any difference between the gpu's that are specifically designed for 3D work, video editing etc? Surely a powerful graphics card is a powerful card regardless of it's application?

 

[Calm Killer]

"I am looking into getting a video capture card. Any suggestions?"


SD or HD? Desktop or laptop? Do you use HDMI, VGA, or Component?

I have two purposes for it at this point. I want SD so i can convert old VHS home movies to DVD. And I want HD for my 360. I use HDMI on my 360 and DVI on my PC. But I would need component for the VCRVHS tapes. I would also like to have the HD for a future DVR/Directv feed. I have a 6 month old desktop. I would prefer an internal card.

 

[mrklaw]

I have just read the manual for the Asus P8P67 Mobtherboard, yikes that UEFI has a lot in it, and most of it is for extreme overclockers. Stick to the Vcore settings/LLC for now, get into Windows and load up CPU-Z and Intel Burn Test. The loading Vcore here is the key, so aim for as low as you can whiel keeping stability.

In my case, 4.4Ghz requires 1.3v, 4.5Ghz requires around 1.32v and 4.6Ghz requires 1.34v loading Vcore to be stable. As you can see it pretty much scales up the higher I go, and I don't want to go above 1.35v so I wont go any further. Again though, every CPU is different and every one will require different voltages to be stable, so it is a case of trial and error.

whats the LLC? I went in and popped the multiplier to 45 (did my ram to 1600 while I was there). Didn't change anything else.

CPU-Z was reporting 1600MHz at idle which is good. running prime95 it increased to 4500 and around 1.304v (occasionally drops to 1.288 and raises to 1.312). is that ok or should I adjust the LLC thing? only just started running prime95 so I don't know what the temps will settle at, but they're around 76 at the moment (running quiet fans at fixed RPM)

edit: after an hour the max temps were 79/80c. should I lower the overclock a little or is that temperature acceptable? Bearing in mind thats running a stress test.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Read This Guru3d thread Ref shader unlocking on the 6950.

Also, get MSI Afterburner For overclocking, voltage control (possibly) and fan control to help with your temps if you want to keep them down a bit.

How exactly am I unlocking shaders without flashing the bios? I am installing MSI afterburner right now too.

I think mrklaw is the one who mentioned it too. A little insight for me please

 

[mrklaw]

How exactly am I unlocking shaders without flashing the bios? I am installing MSI afterburner right now too.

I think mrklaw is the one who mentioned it too. A little insight for me please

you do need to flash the bios, but you flash it only to unlock the extra shaders. You can also flash the bios to turn your 6950 into a 6970, which can be risky and brick your card. So check what you're downloading as there are tons of threads etc on flashing to a 6970.

I might wait a little while, it all seems a little premature. might just overclock with afterburner for now

 

[Stop It]

How exactly am I unlocking shaders without flashing the bios? I am installing MSI afterburner right now too.

I think mrklaw is the one who mentioned it too. A little insight for me please

I have to admit, I'm not sure how it would work outside of manual bios editing (or using a 6970 BIOS) I'm afraid. I'll have to leave this one to someone who has actually done said mod.

whats the LLC? I went in and popped the multiplier to 45 (did my ram to 1600 while I was there). Didn't change anything else.

CPU-Z was reporting 1600MHz at idle which is good. running prime95 it increased to 4500 and around 1.304v (occasionally drops to 1.288 and raises to 1.312). is that ok or should I adjust the LLC thing? only just started running prime95 so I don't know what the temps will settle at, but they're around 76 at the moment (running quiet fans at fixed RPM)

edit: after an hour the max temps were 79/80c. should I lower the overclock a little or is that temperature acceptable? Bearing in mind thats running a stress test.

Voltages look good, so I wouldn't play with the LLC, so long as the thing is stable. If it isn't stable, raise the voltage offset, rather than the LLC by .05v steps until you are stable.

As for the temperatures? Well officially they are safe (As you wont get anywhere near those temps during normal use) but personally, I try to avoid anything above 70degrees, even under full sustained load. What cooler/case setup are you using? There may be a way to reduce temps by looking at your airflow.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

you do need to flash the bios, but you flash it only to unlock the extra shaders. You can also flash the bios to turn your 6950 into a 6970, which can be risky and brick your card. So check what you're downloading as there are tons of threads etc on flashing to a 6970.

I might wait a little while, it all seems a little premature. might just overclock with afterburner for now

For my card (GIGABYTE 2GB 6950), what specific bios should I use? I actually don't mind using MSI for modest OC'ing but the shaders are what I want to get going without having to use the 6970 bios flash.

 

[D4Danger]

I think my motherboard is dead

I normally use the sleep feature in Windows so didn't make the connection sooner but when my computer completely powers down it sometimes takes a few presses of the power button before it starts.

Well, today, it does nothing. I've taken it apart (down to the motherboard, PSU, CPU and 1 stick of memory) and taken it outta the case and it just refuses to do anything. My motherboard (evga 680i) has an onboard power button and when I hold it down the onboard LED flashes, an orange light appears then it resets. Sometimes it goes to boot but just resets.

I don't want to replace everything so right now I have an E6600 so I'm looking for a LGA775 I guess. Kinda old school but I don't know who else to ask and you all seem knowledgeable. Other parts - GTX260, 3 hdds, dvd, 4 1GB DDR2800 memory.

TL;DR - motherboard dead. What's the best LGA775 motherboard I can buy to replace it.

Just in case, have you tried another PSU?

I honesly didn't think it was the PSU because I was still getting some activity but you were right. I borrowed a PSU from a friend and it booted just fine. Connected my old PSU and I just get blinking lights.

so now I'm going to get a new PSU instead which is much cheaper and easier to fix.

question: what brands are considered good in the PSU market nowadays?

 

[mrklaw]

Voltages look good, so I wouldn't play with the LLC, so long as the thing is stable. If it isn't stable, raise the voltage offset, rather than the LLC by .05v steps until you are stable.

As for the temperatures? Well officially they are safe (As you wont get anywhere near those temps during normal use) but personally, I try to avoid anything above 70degrees, even under full sustained load. What cooler/case setup are you using? There may be a way to reduce temps by looking at your airflow.

its a silverstone LC17. I have a noctua 9B SE2 CPU cooler, which has two 92mm fans mounted on it push/pull, blowing directly toward two 80mm exit fans. I also have two 92mm fans at the front to bring air in. the PSU draws air in directly from outside and exhausts it, so it doesn't add/remove anything from the setup.

CPU idles around 28c



I'm confused by the GPU overclocking. tried afterburner, but if I change anything, it immediately increases the clock speed to that rate. Doesn't seem to downclock like the standard ATI driver does (normally about 250 core/150 memory. So it was getting hot just sitting in windows doing nothing. I've reset it for now.

 

[Stop It]

its a silverstone LC17. I have a noctua 9B SE2 CPU cooler, which has two 92mm fans mounted on it push/pull, blowing directly toward two 80mm exit fans. I also have two 92mm fans at the front to bring air in. the PSU draws air in directly from outside and exhausts it, so it doesn't add/remove anything from the setup.

CPU idles around 28c

Well, your setup looks good, the cooler is a decent one, yet my aged CNPS9500 seems to be cooler? Something isn't right here. As long as its stable, I wouldn't worry a huge amount, but if temps become a worry, I would try reseating the Noctua HSF, just to make sure the TIM hasn't accidentally mis-spread or similar.

 

[ZZMitch]

Is there a place I can order a custom build PC online and have it ship fully assembled without costing an arm and a leg over the price of individual components themselves (i.e. not Dell, HP, etc.)?

NCIX does something similar to that for around 50 bucks (just put all the components you want in the checkout and add in the pre-built thing.

 

[Sanjay]

Budget £300 for a Notebook/Laptop that can play 1080p video. Would like some help, what is out there currently?

 

[Snuggles]

NCIX does something similar to that for around 50 bucks (just put all the components you want in the checkout and add in the pre-built thing.

IBuyPower.com seems somewhat reasonable considering the ease of ordering and the fact that it'll ship fully assembled, but I went the other way since the mark-up + high shipping costs put it about $100 over my non-assembled NewEgg parts list.

Since I'm too much of a bitch to do it myself, I just had a local business do it for me. If you need someone to assemble it for you, that's probably your best bet. The dude is charging me $70 but if I had shopped around, I could have probably found someone who'd match the NCIX fee. By having a local business do it for you, you can avoid markup and for the tremendously impatient people like me, it means you'll have your PC assembled and ready to go like 1-2 weeks sooner.

On a personal note, after numerous delays my PC will FINALLY be ready tomorrow. It's a sure thing. I'm beyond excited.

 

[Mr_Brit]

Budget £300 for a Notebook/Laptop that can play 1080p video. Would like some help, what is out there currently?

Pretty much any computer can play 1080p video now as long as you use the graphics card to decode it and AFAIK there isn't a GPU sold that can't decode 1080p, even Intel integrated can do it(not sure about Intel integrated on netbooks but the laptop versions definitely can).

 

[ashbash159]

I have a feeling this new video driver (AMD) is making videos I watch load slower.

What I mean is, for example if watching a YouTube or GiantBomb (progressive streaming in HD) if I do not play the video the loading bar goes alright, but if I play it whilst it is still loading, the loading bar goes extra slowly.

Could this be because of my video driver or is there something else that could be the problem?

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[Grimm Fandango]

nvm

 

[LiquidMetal14]

AH HA! I succesfully unlocked just the shaders in my RADEON 6950 2GB. Now showing 6970 level shaders. I will do a simple modest OC and call it good.

I have a GIGABYTE brand but if you're interested I used the settings here in this simple post

Or maybe that flashed me to 6970 levels of OC and Shaders. Running some tests now.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Ran 3d Mark 2011, highest reading I got was 64C. I wish I could remember my score but it went up about 400 points.

It's P4884. I haven't really tweaked or messed around much but I am gonna run fraps on the Crysis demo for kicks.

 

[Stop It]

AH HA! I succesfully unlocked just the shaders in my RADEON 6950 2GB. Now showing 6970 level shaders. I will do a simple modest OC and call it good.

I have a GIGABYTE brand but if you're interested I used the settings here in this simple post

Or maybe that flashed me to 6970 levels of OC and Shaders. Running some tests now.

Nicely done, you have just unlocked $100!

Ran 3d Mark 2011, highest reading I got was 64C. I wish I could remember my score but it went up about 400 points.

I imagine that you should handily beat my best 3DMark 11 score, which is 5425

Anyway, I think it's about time you got down to some gaming at some point, and I'm sure that you shiuld at least have a Steam account by now, so add me.

On that note, if anyone does ever need any PC help, feel free to bug me on Steam as I am online pretty much all the time when my PC is on.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Adding you now Stop It. My score doesn't seem to be as high as yours. Not sure if it's mere settings I need to tweak but I noticed a slight FPS boost in Crysis.

Temps did go up to 79C while running it. Still seems like a modest temp.

 

[whatsinaname]

AH HA! I succesfully unlocked just the shaders in my RADEON 6950 2GB. Now showing 6970 level shaders. I will do a simple modest OC and call it good.

I have a GIGABYTE brand but if you're interested I used the settings here in this simple post

Or maybe that flashed me to 6970 levels of OC and Shaders. Running some tests now.

Be careful and check that out. The 6950 RAM is not rated to run at 6970 RAM voltages.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Be careful and check that out. The 6950 RAM is not rated to run at 6970 RAM voltages.

Running some stress test and things are pretty stable. Highest temp I reached was 79C. Idle at 50C.

 

[confused]

Logitech G13 gameboard :

Anybody try this ? Is it any good ? Worth shilling out 70 euros on ?

 

[ashbash159]

I think I've worked out the reason why videos don't load properly.

When I full screen any internet video or I play a game in full screen the internet gets disabled.

I remember back in June last year I had this problem. It was an issue with the settings in the Catalyst Control Center.

Since there is now CCC2 with the 11.1 driver I think it has reset the CCC settings back to factory default, therefore creating the problem I had way back in June.

The problem is I can't remember or figure out what I changed back then, plus the UI for CCC2 is different.

If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ExMachina]

question: what brands are considered good in the PSU market nowadays?

Corsair AX/HX/TX, Seasonic, and any Seasonic-manufactured models for other brands.

 

[Stabby McSter]

I think my RAM crapped out on me. I've changed the settings a whole bunch of times and I ran it through Memtest86, and I get a ton of errors.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

I'm having trouble with a computer I'm building. It turns itself off and reboots when I do the windows experience test where it starts taxing the CPU and dies less than a minute after the idle part of OCCT. Everything is stock and all that. Is there any sort of test to check if it is a bad CPU or a bad motherboard? Don't really want to rebuy both and hope I guess right so I can return it without losing money. :/ Temps are fine to with it maxing out at like 42C under 100% load OCCT.

 

[Kalnos]

I have two purposes for it at this point. I want SD so i can convert old VHS home movies to DVD. And I want HD for my 360. I use HDMI on my 360 and DVI on my PC. But I would need component for the VCRVHS tapes. I would also like to have the HD for a future DVR/Directv feed. I have a 6 month old desktop. I would prefer an internal card.

Keep in mind, HD capture is reliant on HDD space, so you'll need a bunch of it.

With that said, if you're looking for an internal card, I would either get the card linked to you earlier (AverTV), or a Blackmagic Intensity Pro. They both have an HDMI input and breakout cables that allows for component/composite/etc, so you would be good there.

Although you didn't say, keep in mind if you want to capture HDMI on a PS3, that you would need something to strip HDCP (I.E. HDFury). I don't think it would be a problem with a 360 though.

 

[keeblerdrow]

Logitech G13 gameboard :

Anybody try this ? Is it any good ? Worth shilling out 70 euros on ?

These are infinitely better, in my experience. I think Razer bought out Belkin and makes them now, though. They cost 70USD.

 

[knitoe]

I'm having trouble with a computer I'm building. It turns itself off and reboots when I do the windows experience test where it starts taxing the CPU and dies less than a minute after the idle part of OCCT. Everything is stock and all that. Is there any sort of test to check if it is a bad CPU or a bad motherboard? Don't really want to rebuy both and hope I guess right so I can return it without losing money. :/ Temps are fine to with it maxing out at like 42C under 100% load OCCT.

Do the usual stuff, set ram manually at correct specs and run memtest, reinstall MB and video card drivers, update MB bios, and maybe try another PSU in case it's failing to provide enough power under load.

 

[mrklaw]

Be careful and check that out. The 6950 RAM is not rated to run at 6970 RAM voltages.

Should be ok, he specifically stated unlocking just the shaders, which means memory will still be standard 6950 rates. Then over clock on top.

One thing I think i've noticed, if you over clock above the ATI CCC overdrive max (840/1275), it doesn't automatically down clock, so it'll sit at 880/900/whatever even while sitting in windows. I think you might need to address that in the bios somehow, or manually select different profiles in something like afterburner.

For now i'm just doing the basic CCC overclock. Will check out that shader unlock though LiquidMetal14.

 

[teh_pwn]

Do these 2 GB GPUs even use the extra RAM? Are textures higher quality? Does it allow higher resolutions?

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Do the usual stuff, set ram manually at correct specs and run memtest, reinstall MB and video card drivers, update MB bios, and maybe try another PSU in case it's failing to provide enough power under load.

Definitely not PSU, I'll try memtest and video drivers. I just didn't yet since it died during the CPU part of windows experience and OCCT which doesn't tax the video card.

 

[Calm Killer]

Keep in mind, HD capture is reliant on HDD space, so you'll need a bunch of it.

With that said, if you're looking for an internal card, I would either get the card linked to you earlier (AverTV), or a Blackmagic Intensity Pro. They both have an HDMI input and breakout cables that allows for component/composite/etc, so you would be good there.

Although you didn't say, keep in mind if you want to capture HDMI on a PS3, that you would need something to strip HDCP (I.E. HDFury). I don't think it would be a problem with a 360 though.

Those were the two I was looking at. I have 4 HDD in my PC at 400 gigs or bigger so I should be good space wise. PS3 isn't an issue for me as I don't own one, thanks for the heads up though. I just wanted to do research before I buy. I always educate myself with the best new items in this thread. Appreciate the help.

 

[TheExodu5]

These are infinitely better, in my experience. I think Razer bought out Belkin and makes them now, though. They cost 70USD.

I can't fathom why anyone would want to use such an abomination.

I have one and I really like it. The software is easy to use and it lets me sit back in my chair when I game.

Hmmm...I suppose it would fit on an arm rest. That gives it some merit.

 

[Veal]

Logitech G13 gameboard :

Anybody try this ? Is it any good ? Worth shilling out 70 euros on ?

I have one and I really like it. The software is easy to use and it lets me sit back in my chair when I game.

 

[antonz]

Question regarding the 560 Ti. Im using a 32" 1080P LCD for my monitor. I see there are 1GB and 2 GB variety. Any benefits to using a 2GB model?

 

[Teknopathetic]

"I have two purposes for it at this point. I want SD so i can convert old VHS home movies to DVD. And I want HD for my 360. I use HDMI on my 360 and DVI on my PC. But I would need component for the VCRVHS tapes. I would also like to have the HD for a future DVR/Directv feed. I have a 6 month old desktop. I would prefer an internal card."


I have the card Mclaren77 linked and it covers all of those bases (and happens to be half the price of the next capable card).

 

[keeblerdrow]

I can't fathom why anyone would want to use such an abomination.

When playing an MMO, where you need fingertip access to a ton of abilities, this thing takes the function of moving and transports it to the thumb, so you can open up your four fingers to a potential of 14 surrounding keys. Put an Alt key on one of your mouse buttons and you then have instant access to 28 keys.

I don't use it for any other genre. It pretty much sucks for anything else.

 

[NarcissisticJay]

Having this issue with Windows Update..

Everytime it tries to install the update.. upon restart the computer runs a check disc then loads into windows acts like it is going to apply the updates, they fail and then it reverts. As soon as I get into windows it tells me that I need to install the same updates and Im now in a loop where I cant get the updates installed or load into windows without it wanting to do a check disc and not accepting the updates.

Win7 btw, any ideas?