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"I need a New PC!" 2011 Edition of SSD's for everyone! |OT|

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IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
·feist· said:
You have power save features enabled, your CPU is being under-clocked and under-volted, and that cooling solution is still struggling mightily. It could be excused if you had a high ambient, though I doubt that's the case.

Using that Noctua means doing without your AP181 which is one of the biggest selling points of the SG07. Your motherboard has exposed heat generating components (on both sides) that could do with the AP181's airflow blowing over them since they don't have heatsinks. I'm sure you'd like to overclock while maintaining decent internal temps. That Noctua would help, but it has it's own limitations. Only one fan can be installed if you have a GPU plugged in, and you will have to set the fan in the (less effective) pull position, drawing air out of the opposite opening in your case. If left in push, your CPU will just be dumping heat over the GPU and other internals. I still think you should look into down-firing HSFs and ready-made watercoolers like the Corsair Hydro series or CoolIt System's A.L.C. units. The benefit being that either of those cooling types can be used in conjunction with your AP181, cooling the CPU and blowing air over the motherboard, or by themselves (in various fan configurations), if you choose.

For air, you have options like: Scythe Shuriken, Scythe Big Shuriken, Cooler Master GeminII S and Prolimatech Samuel 17, with Thermalright AXP-140 and Noctua NH-C14 on the high end. Before you spend anymore money, take time to search for user reviews and look through as many owner clubs and threads as you can find to help you decide on the best option to go with.
Click to expand...

alright, feist: ive taken your words to heart, especially since the problem has only worsened (system can now shutoff after only like a half hour of playing something light, like planescape). friend came back around & we opened the case to get a better look at what might be the problem:

dqkgvt.jpg


problem should be kinda obvious, i guess - the custom water cooler has its radiator right above everything, and taking out the AP181 fan and using the piss-poor one it offers clearly is making a pressure cooker of my poor SFF case. and no, for whatever reason, tragically cyberpower did not send me the stock cooler.

after a bit of reading, ive decided to go with an air option and - as you said - try to utilize one that allows the use of this well-rated 180mm fan. i'm between the shuriken and the geminII S, leaning towards the latter due to it (possibly) being carried by a local store, gonna find out later today. both get mentioned in recent reviews for my case on newegg:

The top fan does a great job keeping things cool. There was plenty of room for a Cooler Master GeminII S cpu cooler. I have been building mini-Itx systems for a few years and this is the best case I have used.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: My setup
Zotac 9300 itx motherboard
e8400 @ 3.5ghz with Cooler Master GeminII S
4gb g.skill ram
spinpoint f3 1tb Hdd
Msi Hawk GTX460
Click to expand...

Other Thoughts: My Layout:
Gigabyte H55N USB3 itx mobo
Core i7 870 Quad OC to 3.6ghz
- With Scythe Shuriken 100mm cooler
Asus Top GTX460 DDR5 1gb Clock @775mhz
G. Skill Eco DDR3: 4gb Ram Cas:7 OC to 1500mhz
G. Skill Pheonix Pro Solid State drive 120gb
Silverstone SG07

Running temp with over clocks mid 40's to 50c, max load 65c with fan on high. Overall a very good case if you have the money for it. PSU is more then enough to handle the newest GPUs not to mention enough room to accommodate the longest of them. Also it is the smallest gaming itx case I have seen everything fits in less then 1 cubic foot.
Click to expand...

the first one is pretty close to my build (i5-760, but with ATI 6870, etc), the latter has my exact mobo, and OCd the crap out of everything so it's pretty telling, too, given his temps..fuck, i thought this case was awful for cooling based just on my setup, but everyone else is clearly getting far better #'s. :lol

so yeah, unless you or anyone else have ideas/suggestions, im looking to hit a local store for the geminII s + some thermal paste i have and fit the AP181 fan back in, consider selling the liquid cooling kit later on on ebay & call it a day. for now, we've got temps a bit better by leaving the case open & hanging the exhaust out the side, but i still got a shutdown today....i looked up why i was getting "CMOS checksum error defaults loaded" after a shutodwn that wont let me startup for a few minutes, and yeah, it looks heat-related from here, hoping this fixes everything. anyway, thanks again for your suggestions, might've saved me some $/trouble with the other cooler.

*edit - quick comparison - temps with case closed
temps with case open, radiator outside, and playing crysis (taken the next day in a slightly cooler environment, granted)
 
F

Feorax

Member
Ok Gaf, looking to get a bit of advice from some more experienced than I. this is my current rig;

AMD Phenom x4 955 @ 3.2ghz (Stock)
X Power 700w PSU
Gigabyte GA-M720-US3 NFORCE 720D (AM2 +)
4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 ram @ 800mhz (board only supports DDR2)
Hitachi 320GB HDD 5400rpm (Boot drive)
Western Digital 1TB HDD 5400rpm
iOmega 500GB external HDD
Xpertvision Geforce 9600GT 512mb.

I can imagine that my graphics card and my lack of an SSD boot drive are going to be what's bottlenecking my system. The rig handles itself pretty well, but i know that some of the components I have in there have a great deal of untapped potential.

I'm also a little concerned as to whether the motherboard i have only supporting DDR2 ram is going to be an issue in the coming year.

So, questions;

1. What going to be the best SSD for the money? I've been browsing and whilst i think 30-60GB should suffice purely for boot purposes, the price fluctuation even on those is massive (30GB drives between £60 and £300). What sort of read and transfer speeds should i be looking out for to know I'm getting something worth the money?

2. My 9600GT has been a trooper, had it about 2 and a half years now, but i think its time to upgrade. I game at 1920x 1080 most of the time, and i quite like the idea of trying out one of the new AMD cards. My mobo doesn't support crossfire/SLI, and I cant really afford 2 cards, so it's going to be a one card solution. I'm leaning towards the 6870 or the 6950, but I don't know which one would be best suited to my needs. I mostly play FPS/action games. Which if these would be best? Or are there any other suggestions people have?

3. Is being stuck with DDR2 ram going to become a problem soon? I know I have a bit of room to upgrade in speed still, but I have a bad feeling going forward.

4. I'm looking to upgrade a bit every 1 or 2 months. Any suggestions where to start?
 
S

sam27368

Banned
So you pay an extra £40 for Saturday delivery, and only 4 out of 5 packages get delivered. They then say they're unsure if they can deliver Monday and you can't get refunded the extra for Saturday delivery because it was "out of their hands". How is forgetting to pick up a package on the truck and leaving it at your central hub out of your hands?!
 
iNvid02

iNvid02

Member
sam27368 said:
So you pay an extra £40 for Saturday delivery, and only 4 out of 5 packages get delivered. They then say they're unsure if they can deliver Monday and you can't get refunded the extra for Saturday delivery because it was "out of their hands". How is forgetting to pick up a package on the truck and leaving it at your central hub out of your hands?!
Click to expand...

wow that must have been life or death urgent
 
S

Sir Garbageman

Member
Sir Garbageman said:
Reposting this from the OC thread. Thanks.

Should I bother overclocking anything in my PC? I'm not much of a graphics whore and I'm happy with things on med - high settings. For reference the next few games I plan on buying on PC that will push my system will probably be Dragon Age 2, The Witcher 2 and Mass Effect 3. In a year or two I figured I'd buy / build a whole new PC so I wouldn't mind pushing it a little bit. Not the most tech savvy so any insight would be appreciated.

My specs:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100283VXL Radeon HD 5770 1GB

I play on a 21 inch monitor.
Click to expand...

Anyone?
 
M

matmanx1

Member
Sir Garbageman said:
Anyone?
Click to expand...

Someone with more OC'ing experience would have to chime in but those Core2Quad's are supposed to be fairly OC'able. What motherboard is all of that residing on and what kind of CPU cooler are you using? Those 2 factors will be big in determining what kind of stable OC you will get.
 
F

FoxSpirit

Junior Member
Wow, my 6850 hijinx continue. Maybe I should RMA and see if the next one behaves like that one.
Not booting after reset? Cut power from system, detach graphics power for 15 seconds, replug, repower, boot. Works. Repeat the next day. I heard the issue if something like overagressive PowerPlay messing up the boot??
 
M

matmanx1

Member
Feorax said:
Ok Gaf, looking to get a bit of advice from some more experienced than I. this is my current rig;

AMD Phenom x4 955 @ 3.2ghz (Stock)
X Power 700w PSU
Gigabyte GA-M720-US3 NFORCE 720D (AM2 +)
4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 ram @ 800mhz (board only supports DDR2)
Hitachi 320GB HDD 5400rpm (Boot drive)
Western Digital 1TB HDD 5400rpm
iOmega 500GB external HDD
Xpertvision Geforce 9600GT 512mb.

I can imagine that my graphics card and my lack of an SSD boot drive are going to be what's bottlenecking my system. The rig handles itself pretty well, but i know that some of the components I have in there have a great deal of untapped potential.

I'm also a little concerned as to whether the motherboard i have only supporting DDR2 ram is going to be an issue in the coming year.

So, questions;

1. What going to be the best SSD for the money? I've been browsing and whilst i think 30-60GB should suffice purely for boot purposes, the price fluctuation even on those is massive (30GB drives between £60 and £300). What sort of read and transfer speeds should i be looking out for to know I'm getting something worth the money?

2. My 9600GT has been a trooper, had it about 2 and a half years now, but i think its time to upgrade. I game at 1920x 1080 most of the time, and i quite like the idea of trying out one of the new AMD cards. My mobo doesn't support crossfire/SLI, and I cant really afford 2 cards, so it's going to be a one card solution. I'm leaning towards the 6870 or the 6950, but I don't know which one would be best suited to my needs. I mostly play FPS/action games. Which if these would be best? Or are there any other suggestions people have?

3. Is being stuck with DDR2 ram going to become a problem soon? I know I have a bit of room to upgrade in speed still, but I have a bad feeling going forward.

4. I'm looking to upgrade a bit every 1 or 2 months. Any suggestions where to start?
Click to expand...

I think I'd start with the video card as a 9600 to 6950 would be a very large upgrade or if you didn't want to spend as much a 9600 to 460gtx would still be a big upgrade for a lot less money. Supposedly a 560gtx is dropping soon though and will probably outperform the 460 for similar money so you may want to wait and see on that unless you are set on the Radeon.

Later on you could upgrade the mobo/cpu/ram in which case you'd want to do a clean format and reinstall of windows which would make it a perfect time for a new ssd boot drive. Anything with a Sandforce or Intel controller is going to be very fast, even in this second generation of parts. Third gen ssd's should be hitting starting in the next month or so and will only get faster and cheaper for the same size.
 
S

sam27368

Banned
iNvidious01 said:
wow that must have been life or death urgent
Click to expand...
I work a shift pattern and so it was either pay the extra £40 and receive it today or have it sit in the delivery depot for 2 weeks
 
V

-viper-

Banned
TheExodu5 said:
600W should be enough to Crossfire/SLI lower end cards, like GTX 460 or 6850. I wouldn't do 570 or 6970 on there, though.
Click to expand...
Two 6850s are more powerful than one 570 or 6970 or 5970 based on reviews. Max power draw from the two cards is 400W (including other components).

Only problem is that I like the covered backing of the 6950/6970 (which is way easier to clean - just a simple wipe with a cloth). D:
 
iNvid02

iNvid02

Member
sam27368 said:
I work a shift pattern and so it was either pay the extra £40 and receive it today or have it sit in the delivery depot for 2 weeks
Click to expand...

our neighbours are good like that, they'll sign for pretty much everything. so love thy neighbour
 
S

Sir Garbageman

Member
matmanx1 said:
Someone with more OC'ing experience would have to chime in but those Core2Quad's are supposed to be fairly OC'able. What motherboard is all of that residing on and what kind of CPU cooler are you using? Those 2 factors will be big in determining what kind of stable OC you will get.
Click to expand...

MoBo - Gigabyte P35 - DS3R
Cooling - ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink
 
C

coopolon

Member
So right now I'm rocking an e8400/4850 512 mb. I've decided to go ahead and a buy a new gpu now because I really want to be able to have two monitors on my desk and also be connected to my HDTV without having to swap the HDMI cables. The added performance will be welcome of course, and I also will appreciate the ability to bitstream the HD audio codecs.

I know my cpu could seriously use an upgrade, but really right now I'm upgrading more for convenience than need for added performance because for most games the e8400/4850 is fine. So my plan is to get a new gpu now that will hopefully last me at least two years, maybe closer to 3 at 1080p 30fps, and when the time is right build a whole new quad core rig to which I will migrate over my new gpu.

So currently I have
Antec NeoPower 650 Blue 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply
MSI P45 Platinum LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor BX80570E8400
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK

I can't decide whether I should go 6850/460 1gb or 6870. I'm currently thinking 6870 though for $240.

Any advice? Anything I am overlooking that makes this plan silly?

Again, goals are 2xDVI and 1xHDMI port, bitstreaming HD audio codecs, and 2-3 year 1080p 30fps high (probably not maxed) settings.

Edit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150507&cm_re=6870-_-14-150-507-_-Product

So that is what I'm looking at right now, $230 after rebate.
 
iNvid02

iNvid02

Member
i dont know how their higher end cards are, but my advice is to avoid nvidia's low end shit like the gt220. its in my dell and its the biggest piece of shit ever. constant driver problems, freezes and crashes. i spent some time and eventually isolated the problem to this piece of shit. hopefully ati are better
 
A

Aesthet1c

Member
So I'm going to be getting myself a new Sandy Bridge 2600K, and I want to pair it with a nice GPU. I've kind of got my eye on a GT570, but does anyone know when nvidia plans to release their next series of cards? I'm okay waiting a few months if that's the case. If not, is 570 the way to go? Or is there something better? I'm on a budget of around 300-350 for a GPU.
 
S

sam27368

Banned
iNvidious01 said:
our neighbours are good like that, they'll sign for pretty much everything. so love thy neighbour
Click to expand...

Did you see that Simpsons episode where Bart phones Australia and the kid cycles to his next door neighbour? Yeh that's pretty much where I live (aside from the Australia part).

Had to take Monday off so I can wait for it to arrive (it had better!)
 
S

sam27368

Banned
Aesthet1c said:
So I'm going to be getting myself a new Sandy Bridge 2600K, and I want to pair it with a nice GPU. I've kind of got my eye on a GT570, but does anyone know when nvidia plans to release their next series of cards? I'm okay waiting a few months if that's the case. If not, is 570 the way to go? Or is there something better? I'm on a budget of around 300-350 for a GPU.
Click to expand...

I just got two of them for SLi, although after seeing how just one runs I don't know why I bothered getting two. Very powerful and will play anything you chuck at it at high specs/high res with 40-60fps
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
Aesthet1c said:
So I'm going to be getting myself a new Sandy Bridge 2600K, and I want to pair it with a nice GPU. I've kind of got my eye on a GT570, but does anyone know when nvidia plans to release their next series of cards? I'm okay waiting a few months if that's the case. If not, is 570 the way to go? Or is there something better? I'm on a budget of around 300-350 for a GPU.
Click to expand...

They just came out a month ago. Perfect time to buy.

And yeah, the GTX 570 is a beast.
 
G

grkazan12

Member
So when is SB supposed to on stores like Newegg and Amazon??. I read around and saw that it is January 9th. Sorry, it's just that I have moneys in the bank account and I'm pretty much ready to go.
 
T

Teknopathetic

Member
"So when is SB supposed to on stores like Newegg and Amazon??. I read around and saw that it is January 9th. Sorry, it's just that I have moneys in the bank account and I'm pretty much ready to go."


The 9th is correct. Though, I wonder if anyone (including newegg) will throw them up at midnight.
 
M

matmanx1

Member
I'm hoping very promptly on the 9th, like in the AM hours. 12:01 would be fantastic. :D

I think I've decided against driving to MicroCenter as it's an hour drive and would be a major inconvenience with my work schedule tomorrow. I think Amazon (since I have Prime) will be getting my money for the SB CPU. Let's just hope the price gouging isn't too severe.
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
If they're posted in Canada, I think I might jump on it asap with rush shipping instead of hoping for Canada Computers to get it.

Need to get the PC built before next weekend (having a LAN).
 
S

sam27368

Banned
sam27368 said:
So you pay an extra £40 for Saturday delivery, and only 4 out of 5 packages get delivered. They then say they're unsure if they can deliver Monday and you can't get refunded the extra for Saturday delivery because it was "out of their hands". How is forgetting to pick up a package on the truck and leaving it at your central hub out of your hands?!
Click to expand...

This is what I have so far, the last package contains the mobo, ram, processor and HDDs so I'm pretty screwed without it.

The case is a beast
hEHRm.jpg

MU03q.jpg


This is the set up so far..

LaddO.jpg
 
S

Shambles

Member
TheExodu5 said:
They just came out a month ago. Perfect time to buy.

And yeah, the GTX 570 is a beast.
Click to expand...

I'm still in the 6950 unlocked to a 6970 over a GTX 570 camp, unless you want nVidia's 3D or folding at home.
 
O

Outdoor Miner

Member
sam27368 said:
This is what I have so far, the last package contains the mobo, ram, processor and HDDs so I'm pretty screwed without it.

The case is a beast
hEHRm.jpg

MU03q.jpg


This is the set up so far..

LaddO.jpg
Click to expand...
Which HAF case is that? Looks great.
 
Q

Quake1028

Member
My brother needs a new tower. Already has a monitor, etc. The catch is, he has to buy at Best Buy (no interest credit there). He basically only does the basics, no heavy gaming. What would be the best idea for him for around $650 or less?
 
S

Shambles

Member
Gloomfire said:
My brother needs a new tower. Already has a monitor, etc. The catch is, he has to buy at Best Buy (no interest credit there). He basically only does the basics, no heavy gaming. What would be the best idea for him for around $650 or less?
Click to expand...

This isn't going to be helpful but I'd suggest borrowing money from the meanest loan shark and getting computers or parts from anywhere but Best Buy before shopping for computers or parts at Best Buy.
 
W

Wazzim

Banned
For dutch buyers: The 2500K has dropped under the 200euros to 198,90 on Azerty.
Let's hope other sites start price matching it.
 
E

ExMachina

Unconfirmed Member
Heya PC Gaf - with Microcenter's insane prices for Sandy Bridge CPUs, I think it's finally time for me to move on from my Q6600/9800GT/4gb DDR2. I'll be getting parts from Microcenter and Newegg.

CPU: i5 2500k
Mobo: Asus P8P67 PRO
GPU: MSI N460GTX Cyclone GTX 460 1024MB
RAM: Corsair XMS 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
Case: Xigmatek Asgard II Mid-tower
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650W
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB

About ~$970 with tax and shipping.

I do a lot of image editing and am interested in doing some light video editing/encoding, but obviously the main reason I want to upgrade it is gaming. :D In particular, I'm looking to play Just Cause 2 and Metro 2033 with better performance (not necessarily all high settings, so long as it's a significant improvement over my 9800 GT I'll be content) and maybe try some Dolphin/PCSX2 emulation.

My resolution is only 1280x1024 right now, though I'm interested in getting a 1080p monitor in the near future. Will the 650TX be enough to SLI another GTX 460 if I decide to go down that route later on?
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
IrishNinja said:
(big ol post about heat problems in SG07

dqkgvt.jpg


*edit - quick comparison - temps with case closed
temps with case open, radiator outside, and playing crysis (taken the next day in a slightly cooler environment, granted)
Click to expand...

ok, so no one local stocks heatsinks, apparently. i need to put in an order tonight with newegg to get this resolved soon, not sure which to go with for best performance & still allow use of the AP181 fan it came with:

1) Scythe Shuriken 100mm, one review of my case on newegg had a guy who OCd his i7, RAM & GPU and still never got over 65 degrees on load (with fan on high)

2) Cooler Master GeminII S - again, newegg review of case had this used, i want to say ive seen other forum users with the same setup recommended.

-feist- said either should work, they're both about $40, just wondering if anyone could recommend one over the other? gotta pull the trigger by tonight, please help!
 
J

JoeBoy101

Member
ExMachina said:
Heya PC Gaf - with Microcenter's insane prices for Sandy Bridge CPUs, I think it's finally time for me to move on from my Q6600/9800GT/4gb DDR2. I'll be getting parts from Microcenter and Newegg.

CPU: i5 2500k
Mobo: Asus P8P67 PRO
GPU: MSI N460GTX Cyclone GTX 460 1024MB
RAM: Corsair XMS 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
Case: Xigmatek Asgard II Mid-tower
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650W
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB

About ~$970 with tax and shipping.

I do a lot of image editing and am interested in doing some light video editing/encoding, but obviously the main reason I want to upgrade it is gaming. :D In particular, I'm looking to play Just Cause 2 and Metro 2033 with better performance (not necessarily all high settings, so long as it's a significant improvement over my 9800 GT I'll be content) and maybe try some Dolphin/PCSX2 emulation.

My resolution is only 1280x1024 right now, though I'm interested in getting a 1080p monitor in the near future. Will the 650TX be enough to SLI another GTX 460 if I decide to go down that route later on?
Click to expand...

8 gigs of mem is overdoing it. Otherwise, looks pretty good.
 
R

rohlfinator

Member
Teknopathetic said:
"8 gigs of mem is overdoing it. Otherwise, looks pretty good."


Not if there's interest in video and image editing.
Click to expand...
Plus DDR3 is hitting some really low prices right now. I'm almost tempted to grab another 4GB myself since I can get two more sticks of my RAM for around $50.
 
S

SuperÑ

OptionN, ShiftN
undu said:
Same prices at pccomponentes, where I got the 2500k on friday, I expected higher prices.

Haven't found the p8p67-m Pro in any spanish shop, though.
Click to expand...

How much did you spend on your new rig?
 
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