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[Deleted member 17706]

So I just went down to Fry's and picked up a Sandy Bridge i5 2500k build, and I'm about to put it together, but since Fry's only had an opened i5 2500k chip, I can't use the stock thermal paste. I have Arctic Silver 5, but is there any special method for applying the paste when it comes to the new Sandy Bridge chips? Is a pea-sized bead dead in the center of the processor okay?

 

[cartman414]

For now, evolutions in controllers/speed is stopping them from dropping in price, yeah. We're nearly maxing the Sata III interface now, so I think we'll see price drops next gen.

That's good.

Though I'm sure that'll be followed up by PCIe or that one new interface OCZ has cooking.

Don't see it happening anytime soon. New SSDs will just take the price point of old version even though they are supposely cheaper to manufacture, ie going from 34nm to 25nm chips.

As TheExodu5 responded above, improvements in I/O controllers, and associated R&D for that matter I suppose, need to be taken into consideration. But with SATAIII getting maxed out, that will become inconsequential for standard SSDs.

 

[Quicksilver4648]

So a few hours ago I finished ordering all of pieces to my upcoming first build, many were decided with input from users this site. However, I have two questions.

1) Thermal paste: Since I am using an after market CPU cooler (CM V6 GT) I had to get my own thermal paste (Arctic MX-4). The Intel cooler already had paste applied so the process is very simple. But, I am still not 100% sure on how to apply my own paste. After watching a number of YouTube videos this is what I got:

• Extract a very small amount, size of a dried rice grain, on the top center of the CPU.

• Using a credit card evenly distribute the paste.

• Place CPU cooler directly on top of CPU.

Here is what I don't get.

1. Should the entire CPU be covered in thermal paste? How thick should the layer be?
2. What if I put too little? I assume I just add a little bit more and hope to not overdo it.
3. What if I put too much and it slightly goes over the side? Do I need to get rubbing alcohol and wipe it all off?

2) PSU: My case (CM 690 II Advance) has mesh air vents on the bottom and I have seen a number of videos saying the PSU can go in upside down. This way it wont suck in warm air from inside the case, but cool air from the outside. However, since my PC will be sitting on carpet is this a bad idea? I don't want lint/dust being put into my case.

 

[Hawk269]

Someone, please answer in as much detail regarding the above post...as I am going to be doing the same thing soon and don't know the answer to the same questions...thanks!

 

[Wag]

edit:
Looks like I quoted you, after you edited out your original 5970x2, and don't recall seeing the potential option for a 3rd GPU.

In that case, this is $30 less, is one of the best on the market, and has a longer warranty than the Antec (though 1200w is still overkill for your potential needs).

Corsair AX1200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139014&Tpk=ax1200

The Antec is considered to be the best 1200w PS on the market right now, just a bit better than the Corsair. Besides, SuperBiiz was selling the HCP-1200 for $270 shipped on eBay, $10 less than anyone else was selling the AX1200.

That said, I have a fully loaded setup- like 8 drives, so if I intend on overclocking and running 3 GPUs it probably couldn't hurt. At least I know I won't need a new PS for a long time.

 

[TheExodu5]

So a few hours ago I finished ordering all of pieces to my upcoming first build, many were decided with input from users this site. However, I have two questions.

1) Thermal paste: Since I am using an after market CPU cooler (CM V6 GT) I had to get my own thermal paste (Arctic MX-4). The Intel cooler already had paste applied so the process is very simple. But, I am still not 100% sure on how to apply my own paste. After watching a number of YouTube videos this is what I got:

• Extract a very small amount, size of a dried rice grain, on the top center of the CPU.

• Using a credit card evenly distribute the paste.

• Place CPU cooler directly on top of CPU.

Here is what I don't get.

1. Should the entire CPU be covered in thermal paste? How thick should the layer be?
2. What if I put too little? I assume I just add a little bit more and hope to not overdo it.
3. What if I put too much and it slightly goes over the side? Do I need to get rubbing alcohol and wipe it all off?

2) PSU: My case (CM 690 II Advance) has mesh air vents on the bottom and I have seen a number of videos saying the PSU can go in upside down. This way it wont suck in warm air from inside the case, but cool air from the outside. However, since my PC will be sitting on carpet is this a bad idea? I don't want lint/dust being put into my case.

1) Put a rice grain of paste. You don't even need to spread it, to be honest. Just push the heatsink onto it and wiggle it back and forth a little bit. Since the die is only a small portion in the middle of the CPU, only the center needs to be covered. Spreading is only necessary on a GPU, where the die takes up the whole chip.

2) If you're concerned about sucking in too much dust from the carpet, there should be no issues putting it upside down in the case and just have it suck in air from the case.

 

[Xyphie]

So a few hours ago I finished ordering all of pieces to my upcoming first build, many were decided with input from users this site. However, I have two questions.

1) Thermal paste: Since I am using an after market CPU cooler (CM V6 GT) I had to get my own thermal paste (Arctic MX-4). The Intel cooler already had paste applied so the process is very simple. But, I am still not 100% sure on how to apply my own paste. After watching a number of YouTube videos this is what I got:

• Extract a very small amount, size of a dried rice grain, on the top center of the CPU.

• Using a credit card evenly distribute the paste.

• Place CPU cooler directly on top of CPU.

Here is what I don't get.

1. Should the entire CPU be covered in thermal paste? How thick should the layer be?
2. What if I put too little? I assume I just add a little bit more and hope to not overdo it.
3. What if I put too much and it slightly goes over the side? Do I need to get rubbing alcohol and wipe it all off?

2) PSU: My case (CM 690 II Advance) has mesh air vents on the bottom and I have seen a number of videos saying the PSU can go in upside down. This way it wont suck in warm air from inside the case, but cool air from the outside. However, since my PC will be sitting on carpet is this a bad idea? I don't want lint/dust being put into my case.

I find spreading the paste manually worse than just putting a small blob in the middle of the CPU and pushing the cooler down on it, the pressure and weight will even the paste over the heat spreader.

 

[blanky]

1) Put a rice grain of paste. You don't even need to spread it, to be honest. Just push the heatsink onto it and wiggle it back and forth a little bit. Since the die is only a small portion in the middle of the CPU, only the center needs to be covered. Spreading is only necessary on a GPU, where the die takes up the whole chip.

Just to clarify then, only the middle of the cpu needs the thermal paste. The whole CPU does not need to be covered by thermal paste?

 

[Vyer]

No, you don't need to coat the thing; a bit in the center will distribute it anyhow one you place the cooler.


Just to ask again to anyone with the asus p67 boards: are any of the utilities on the disc worth installing? I think they call the whole suite 'ai tools'.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

For multi-core CPUs, it's wrong to put just one drop of paste in the center of the heatspreader. You should follow the guides that Arctic Silver provides:

http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html

 

[LegoDad]

Just to clarify then, only the middle of the cpu needs the thermal paste. The whole CPU does not need to be covered by thermal paste?

yes, Go here. http://www.arcticsilver.com/methods.html

For most they say a line (as some say dried rice size).

Since laptops have GPU's inside the CPU chip usually that's why you will see the spread technique used on those.

Edit: beaten.

 

[Quicksilver4648]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. This really helped. it looks like I will just be putting a small bit of paste in the center and then placing the heat sink on. Also, that Arctic Silver site really helped.

As for the PSU, I see the general consensus is to have it suck air from inside the case if I am that worried about dust. Hopefully I will be able to build next Friday and I will post some pictures.

Edit: From the Arctic Silver site:
"A modern high performance CPU can be permanently damaged in less than 10 seconds without proper cooling."
I hope you guys are right with your suggestions

 

[blanky]

Thanks, that helps a lot.

Also about SSD's, does anyone have a word about reliability of the new generation? I don't know which to pick, Vertex 3, Intel 510 or C400. According to anandtech Intel was considerably more reliable, but maybe the new drives have surpassed this.

 

[LegoDad]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. This really helped. it looks like I will just be putting a small bit of paste in the center and then placing the heat sink on. Also, that Arctic Silver site really helped.

As for the PSU, I see the general consensus is to have it suck air from inside the case if I am that worried about dust. Hopefully I will be able to build next Friday and I will post some pictures.

Edit: From the Arctic Silver site:
"A modern high performance CPU can be permanently damaged in less than 10 seconds without proper cooling."
I hope you guys are right with your suggestions

No problem, as long as your aren't overclocking right off the bat you won't damage your CPU.

Now I just have to decide between MX-2, MX-4 and Ceramique. I want a non-conductive material for when my new cooler comes in, that way I can't mess it up. lol

 

[TheExodu5]

For multi-core CPUs, it's wrong to put just one drop of paste in the center of the heatspreader. You should follow the guides that Arctic Silver provides:

http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html

That's awesome. I need to save that link.

 

[scogoth]

For multi-core CPUs, it's wrong to put just one drop of paste in the center of the heatspreader. You should follow the guides that Arctic Silver provides:

http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html

Tried both ways, pea and line, on an i7-930 with no difference in temps. I found the line was harder to apply the right amount and thermal compound would spread off the cap. Just remember to apply a very thin line if using the line method.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

The more time that passes by, the more I love owning a SSD. This thing is so zippy.

Loading games are almost cartridge-like fast and opening up Pdf's with X-Change is literally instantaneous.

 

[ElyrionX]

So I just went down to Fry's and picked up a Sandy Bridge i5 2500k build, and I'm about to put it together, but since Fry's only had an opened i5 2500k chip, I can't use the stock thermal paste. I have Arctic Silver 5, but is there any special method for applying the paste when it comes to the new Sandy Bridge chips? Is a pea-sized bead dead in the center of the processor okay?

Wait. The stock i5 comes with thermal paste? I don't remember seeing it when a friend put together a PC recently. What if it wasn't applied?

 

[mojiimbo]

Wait. The stock i5 comes with thermal paste? I don't remember seeing it when a friend put together a PC recently. What if it wasn't applied?

There's three strips of paste pre-applied to the bottom of the stock cooler.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Holy shit. Holy. Shit.

This Sandy Bridge i5 2500k is fast as hell. I was using a Core 2 Quad 6600 @ 3.4ghz, and the i5 2500k @ stock 3.3ghz just blows it away. It's in a totally different league.

Everything is just so much faster and more responsive. The only game I've tried was Rift, but with the same settings as before, I'm getting 60 - 70fps in areas where I used to get 20 - 30fps. My video card is the same (Radeon HD 6870 1GB), so my frame rate boost is entirely due to my processor.

Amazing! I'm glad I decided to put this rig together today.

 

[ElyrionX]

Does a CM Hyper 212 Plus come with its own thermal paste or do I need to buy one separately?

 

[careful]

Finally pulled the trigger on an upgrade. I felt it was the right time in the cycle again for bang-for-your-buck price/performance components.

ASUS P8P67
Sandy Bridge 2500K
Corsair Cooling Air Series A70
Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24
PNY GeForce GTX 560 Ti

Came out to around $700 CAD.

Old parts I'll be giving to my dad:
Gigabyte EP45-DS3R
E8400
AC Freezer 7 Pro
OCZ 4GB DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-15
EVGA GTX 260

Should be a nice upgrade for him too, coming from an 3800x2 / 9800GT. All he plays is Company of Heroes though. lol

Next step is shopping for a ~60GB SSD.

 

[ExMachina]

Does a CM Hyper 212 Plus come with its own thermal paste or do I need to buy one separately?

Comes with its own tube of thermal compound, so you're good.

I'm using the 212+ with the stock stuff and hit 4.5GHz fine on my 2500k.

 

[Wallach]

Does a CM Hyper 212 Plus come with its own thermal paste or do I need to buy one separately?

It comes with very good thermal paste. Don't worry about buying any.

 

[LegoDad]

It comes with very good thermal paste. Don't worry about buying any.

What's considered very good? lol

 

[Ravidrath]

Amazon has preorders for OCZ Vertex 3s up, but is listing them as shipping in "1-2 months."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QJM1HG/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Placed my order, but will be checking NewEgg and other sites in hopes of getting one sooner.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

What's considered very good? lol

The difference between good thermal paste and the best thermal paste is like 3C. I would just give it a miss.

Where are the OCZ Vertex 3s?? My body is ready!

 

[G-Pink]

Amazon has preorders for OCZ Vertex 3s up, but is listing them as shipping in "1-2 months."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QJM1HG/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Placed my order, but will be checking NewEgg and other sites in hopes of getting one sooner.

NCIX has 'em with an estimated arrival date of March 30th.

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=59354&vpn=VTX3-25SAT3-120G&manufacture=OCZ Technology
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=59355&vpn=VTX3-25SAT3-240G&manufacture=OCZ Technology

 

[LegoDad]

The difference between good thermal paste and the best thermal paste is like 3C. I would just give it a miss.

Where are the OCZ Vertex 3s?? My body is ready!

i want a non conductive paste, better all around for your computer.

 

[Kyaw]

I have a Phenom II X4 940 @ 3.6ghz with a push only TRUE cooler.

Will i get a noticeable performance boost with i5 2500k on games like Shogun 2, Crysis 2, BC2 etc? Or should i wait and see what AMD Bulldozer offers?

 

[Fixed2BeBroken]

by the way, what's the difference between windows 7 64bit and windows 7 32 bit?

and do they have any effect on compatibility with different programs?

meaning, I got this old version of pro tools....will it work the same on the 64 bit as it would on the 32?

yea, retarded question...i know. but still need answer


ALSO...I decided to get a SSD drive for my OS by reading the thread....

the question is do I get the Crucial C300 for 230 from amazon...or pre order the Vertex 3 for 300.....

suggestions?

 

[SUPARSTARX]

Man, my computer is bottlenecking somewhere.

There's no way I cannot run Rift smoothly on the highest possible settings... right? I'm getting 15-20fps out in the open on every single max settings.

AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8GB G.Skill DDR3 1333mhz Ram, MSI 870-G45 AM3 motherboard, Gigabyte GTX 460, and some crappy drives! Maybe it's time to get an SSD and SLI this rig

 

[Hazaro]

by the way, what's the difference between windows 7 64bit and windows 7 32 bit?

and do they have any effect on compatibility with different programs?

meaning, I got this old version of pro tools....will it work the same on the 64 bit as it would on the 32?

yea, retarded question...i know. but still need answer


ALSO...I decided to get a SSD drive for my OS by reading the thread....

the question is do I get the Crucial C300 for 230 from amazon...or pre order the Vertex 3 for 300.....

suggestions?

Get 64. 64 also lets you run 32 bit and use more than 4GB of RAM.
SSD I don't know. I'm waiting on more info and prices and availability and benchmarks.

Man, my computer is bottlenecking somewhere.

There's no way I cannot run Rift smoothly on the highest possible settings... right? I'm getting 15-20fps out in the open on every single max settings.

AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8GB G.Skill DDR3 1333mhz Ram, MSI 870-G45 AM3 motherboard, Gigabyte GTX 460, and some crappy drives! Maybe it's time to get an SSD and SLI this rig

One of the settings is probably screwing with something or your draw distance is stupid high.

 

[Corky]

Man, my computer is bottlenecking somewhere.

There's no way I cannot run Rift smoothly on the highest possible settings... right? I'm getting 15-20fps out in the open on every single max settings.

AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8GB G.Skill DDR3 1333mhz Ram, MSI 870-G45 AM3 motherboard, Gigabyte GTX 460, and some crappy drives! Maybe it's time to get an SSD and SLI this rig

Actually MMOs are a different story when it comes to optimization/performance, and I would dare to say that running a new modern mmo with everything on max and high (?) res would make a gtx 460 sweat. Is it the 768mb or 1gb?

 

[SUPARSTARX]

It's 1GB

I have everything on the furthest notch just to see how it would perform, heh...

 

[Kenka]

It's 1GB

I have everything on the furthest notch just to see how it would perform, heh...

Then drawing distance maybe as Hazaro said. I don't know the game but maybe it has grass physics options, which would make things worse.

 

[Corky]

It's 1GB

I have everything on the furthest notch just to see how it would perform, heh...

Yeah I'd dare say that a single 460 simply isn't up to snuff for those kind of settings in an mmo. Just speculating of course.

fake edit :

http://www.dpigaming.com/rift-benchmark-custom-quality/

In the above benchmark you'll see that @ 1080p and everything on max you'll land on 16fps with a 460, so your 15-20fps is just about where you should be with those settings

 

[Hazaro]

Sounds about right.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Actually MMOs are a different story when it comes to optimization/performance, and I would dare to say that running a new modern mmo with everything on max and high (?) res would make a gtx 460 sweat. Is it the 768mb or 1gb?

When I was playing the Rift beta it would crush my OCed single GTX 470 to 20 fps if I tried to use any AA. It's just a terrible game engine, especially considering what it's rendering, which shouldn't surprise anybody who's played any other games which use Gamebryo. The reality is that Gamebryo should have been drug out into the street and shot long ago, not used for a new MMOG.

If you are willing to burn your guest pass you can give me the key and I'll install Rift and try playing it now that I have 2x GTX 470 SLI and post screenshots with FRAPS. Just realize that my chances of actually playing the game past the free 30 days is absolutely zero.

 

[Hazaro]

When I was playing the Rift beta it would crush my OCed single GTX 470 to 20 fps if I tried to use any AA. It's just a terrible game engine, especially considering what it's rendering, which shouldn't surprise anybody who's played any other games which use Gamebryo. The reality is that Gamebryo should have been drug out into the street and shot long ago, not used for a new MMOG.

If you are willing to burn your guest pass you can give me the key and I'll install Rift and try playing it now that I have 2x GTX 470 SLI and post screenshots with FRAPS. Just realize that my chances of actually playing the game past the free 30 days is absolutely zero.

Well that's no good.
Should pass the account to someone who would play.

 

[hylje]

Holy shit. Holy. Shit.

This Sandy Bridge i5 2500k is fast as hell. I was using a Core 2 Quad 6600 @ 3.4ghz, and the i5 2500k @ stock 3.3ghz just blows it away. It's in a totally different league.

Everything is just so much faster and more responsive. The only game I've tried was Rift, but with the same settings as before, I'm getting 60 - 70fps in areas where I used to get 20 - 30fps. My video card is the same (Radeon HD 6870 1GB), so my frame rate boost is entirely due to my processor.

Amazing! I'm glad I decided to put this rig together today.

I went from E6750 to 2500K this week, I knew I had dualcore bottlenecking my whole system but the difference is just stupendous. I'm using Radeon 5770 which I knew wasn't performing as it's best with dualcore. And for that reason I decided to not yet upgrade GPU and good thing I didn't. I had BC2 going from medium settings 20-35fps to maxed settings 50-60 (max)fps.

Best well spent money I have done in years. Now I'm looking into getting better monitor and finally that SSD.

 

[IonicSnake]

I'm on a tight budget and is wondering which one of these motherboards I should get.

ASUS P8P67 or Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3?

 

[MikeE21286]

Holy shit. Holy. Shit.

This Sandy Bridge i5 2500k is fast as hell. I was using a Core 2 Quad 6600 @ 3.4ghz, and the i5 2500k @ stock 3.3ghz just blows it away. It's in a totally different league.

Everything is just so much faster and more responsive. The only game I've tried was Rift, but with the same settings as before, I'm getting 60 - 70fps in areas where I used to get 20 - 30fps. My video card is the same (Radeon HD 6870 1GB), so my frame rate boost is entirely due to my processor.

Amazing! I'm glad I decided to put this rig together today.

I experienced the exact same thing (upgraded my CPU, kept my GPU the same) and my increase, due entirely to my i5 2500k was amazing

 

[sk3tch]

For anyone using an MSI motherboard (mine is a P67A-GD53, full specs here) - be careful with the automatic overclocking. I figured I would do it on a lark (I am not an expert OC'er, but I've been doing this since the Celeron 300A days so I kinda know what's up) - I kept having pretty high CPU temps (~40C idle, up to 90C Prime95) - culprit was the automatic OC on the mobo set the CPU voltage to 1.3450v! A bit of overkill, IMO, for an OC from 3.3 GHz to 4.2 GHz. I set it back down to 1.3300v and I am going to stress it a bit and see if I can keep going down. So far so good and temps stay under 85C in Prime95 use.

EDIT: also just noticed that it had my DRAM voltage at 1.6533v! I've set that back down to 1.5000v (stock voltage, as it's just running at it's rated 1600 speed).

As far as CPU voltage goes, I'm down to 1.2900v and dropping. Testing via IntelBurnTest as I go.

 

[Wag]

What's considered very good? lol

The paste that comes with the Hyper 212 + is considered as good or better than the Arctic Silver 5. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'm also getting a Hyper 212+ and have no problems using the provided paste on my 2600k.

 

[Salaadin]

Anyone know why dxdiag is only reporting my VRAM at 752MB? I have an ATI HD5850 1GB. CPU Z and GPU Z detect it fine.

I noticed it when running some game tests in "Can you run it". That was also only showing 752MB which prompted me to check dxdiag.

 

[BigBadShamoo]

EDIT:

Laptop Related. Wrong thread Oopz :3

 

[May16]

Hi PC GAF.
I need a new PC and I MUST be able to play The Motherfucking Witcher and in May, The Motherfucking Witcher 2: Assassins of Motherfucking Kings.

I found this while messing around on Amazon with specs and stuff:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004I5BWFK/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Definitely regrettable appearance but...is that thing gonna be able to hold up?

System requirements

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or similar AMD
Memory: 1 GB for Win XP / 2 GB for Win Vista
Graphics: Nvidia GF 8800 512 VR or similar ATI
Hard Drive: 8GB for game and 8GB bonus content

I am a total first timer at this and apologize in advance for being such a horrible noob.

 

[slidewinder]

No. That thing doesn't even have a discrete graphics card. Best is to build your own as detailed in the OP. It's not that hard and you can get plenty of help here if you need it.

 

[TheExodu5]

And remember, if you don't know how to build a PC, or have no interest in doing so, many stores will put one together for you. NCIXUS will, for one.