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[Aselith]

Is XFX a reliable brand? Looking at 6950s and I'm leaning towards MSI's Frozr which is a bit more expensive.

I just got a MSI Nvidia 560 TI Twin Frozr today and I am highly impressed with it. I only have my games set up for 1024 x 768 because I use an older CRT monitor which is that resolution natively but I was able to put every game I tried on the highest possible detail and have it play flawlessly and it runs very, very cool. I normally run about 46 degrees idling and it only got up to 56 degrees under load.

I had one game where it wasn't running at 60 fps but I had this going on and every other benchmark in Just Cause that I tried was getting 60 fps.

I would really pay the extra for the MSI. I don't know if the Radeons are the same but that thing is very cool for such a beefy card.

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Download Steamtool and you can move them back and forth

Thanks so much for this, I had some Steam games I wanted to take off my SSD but didn't want to hassle with setting my own junctions. I'd rep you if I could.

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Is XFX a reliable brand? Looking at 6950s and I'm leaning towards MSI's Frozr which is a bit more expensive.

XFX is extremely reliable, and their double lifetime warranty can't be beat (anyone you sell your videocard to gets the lifetime warranty transferred to them.)

A friend of mine used to work at XFX, they're about 20 mins away from me. Great company that puts out great products. When I build another gaming desktop I'm going to make sure my videocard is from them, especially if I can go to their offices and pick one up for cheap, hah.

 

[tafer]

AGH!!!!

1 week making this PC work. (The default memory configuration wasn't stable under stress)

And now, the longest 30 minutes in a long time, watching a $2600 PC (Final cost with import charges and stuff) refusing to turn-on and all I can get... a little light that according to the internets means: bad CPU/MOBO/PSU/memory/"Short circuited something"/pretty much anything super nasty.

The problem: the UPS was acting funny and it wasn't powering properly the PC.
The solution: turn off the UPS, and then turn it on.

( Electric storm season :/ )

 

[BloodySinner]

I need a new gaming keyboard under $70. I fucked up my Merc Stealth when I decided to open it and clean the keys. Suggestions?

 

[kpx0]

I just got a MSI Nvidia 560 TI Twin Frozr today and I am highly impressed with it. I only have my games set up for 1024 x 768 because I use an older CRT monitor which is that resolution natively but I was able to put every game I tried on the highest possible detail and have it play flawlessly and it runs very, very cool. I normally run about 46 degrees idling and it only got up to 56 degrees under load.

I had one game where it wasn't running at 60 fps but I had this going on and every other benchmark in Just Cause that I tried was getting 60 fps.

I would really pay the extra for the MSI. I don't know if the Radeons are the same but that thing is very cool for such a beefy card.

theres no such thing as a native resolution on a CRT....they have a max resolution at different refresh rates but unless you have some crappy 15" CRT from 1990, it should play up to 1600x1200 just fine

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

I need a new gaming keyboard under $70. I fucked up my Merc Stealth when I decided to open it and clean the keys. Suggestions?

Non-mechanical 'gaming' keyboards are just normal rubber dome keyboards with gimmicky macro keys and lights. Save up a bit of extra money and get a nice mechanical keyboard. This will help you get started with mechanicals. The best mechanicals are FILCO/Leopold/Das as they have super good build quality (I tend to read about BlackWidow problems fairly often, but rarely the others).

 

[Le-mo]

Move your sound card away from your GPU, if possible.

If you don't have a discrete sound card, locate the audio driver on your motherboard and move your GPU into a slot that's further away.

If that doesn't work, make sure all of your drivers are updated.

If that doesn't work, and you don't have a discrete card already, try borrowing a cheap discrete card from a friend and see if that fixes the problem.

If none of that works, you might want to consider a motherboard that's built a little better. Most higher-end motherboards have built-in protection against interference.

The problem was the wire placement. I just had to tuck them away neatly and the problem went away. I am really enjoying the new card. Starcraft 2 looks awesome on it.

 

[Aselith]

theres no such thing as a native resolution on a CRT....they have a max resolution at different refresh rates but unless you have some crappy 15" CRT from 1990, it should play up to 1600x1200 just fine

Well, one of the games I was setting up said "1024 x 768 (Native)" in the menu when I was setting it up that's why I said that. My monitor will only go up to 1280 x 1024 in the desktop set up and games only give me up to that option so clearly that is max res but I always keep my desktop at 1024 so I just set my games up for the same.

My monitor is a 20" flat screen CRT that I bought for around a hundred bucks back in around 2002.

 

[Le-mo]

Another question gaf, I bought a case fan for my CPU but my PSU doesn't have the required connection. What cable should I buy? The fan http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030DL37I. My PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207007

 

[BloodySinner]

Non-mechanical 'gaming' keyboards are just normal rubber dome keyboards with gimmicky macro keys and lights. Save up a bit of extra money and get a nice mechanical keyboard. This will help you get started with mechanicals. The best mechanicals are FILCO/Leopold/Das as they have super good build quality (I tend to read about BlackWidow problems fairly often, but rarely the others).

What are YOU using then? Going by your suggestion, my two choices are Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Keyboard and SteelSeries 6G Version 2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

I figured a junior would always have shit the more vocal posters don't have

How do you like it?



I know you're exaggerating but I don't notice that many that have them. A lot have sli or xfire tho.

I have SLI 580s. exodus has SLI 570s, I know two more have 560s...

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=26715356&postcount=10527

Basically you have to hope that its working in the first place, which can be a pain. Then, you have to hope that X-fire/SLI drivers are out for whatever game you're playing. In some instances, you actually need to disable it as it can lead to degraded performance. All those horrible thing console gamers like to say about PC is very true when it comes to x-fire and SLI.

yeah, i'd have to disagree on that. I've run three SLI systems now and I've never gotten any of those problems. i'm sure they exist, but it isn't as terrible as you make it out to be.

 

[Fredescu]

yeah, i'd have to disagree on that. I've run three SLI systems now and I've never gotten any of those problems..

You've never bought a new game and had it not support SLI on day 1? Do you play many games?

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Something I've been wondering about; I have a 1gb 460GTX SE which I grabbed as a capable short-term solution, and now I'm ready to upgrade. Would I be better off just getting something like a 570 or adding another 460 and running them in SLI?

 

[leng jai]

Anyone got a Logitech mouse that uses the unifying receiver? I can't for the life of me get my new Windows 7 box to recognize it. Plug it in and it says unknown device and of course the mouse (MX950) isn't working at all. Tried uninstalling the device in windows, unplugging and trying different ports...nothing works.

 

[Hazaro]

Another question gaf, I bought a case fan for my CPU but my PSU doesn't have the required connection. What cable should I buy? The fan http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030DL37I. My PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207007

Plug it on your motherboard.

Something I've been wondering about; I have a 1gb 460GTX SE which I grabbed as a capable short-term solution, and now I'm ready to upgrade. Would I be better off just getting something like a 570 or adding another 460 and running them in SLI?

Well the SE is the slow edition, so I'd jump on a 6950/570.

Anyone got a Logitech mouse that uses the unifying receiver? I can't for the life of me get my new Windows 7 box to recognize it. Plug it in and it says unknown device and of course the mouse (MX950) isn't working at all. Tried uninstalling the device in windows, unplugging and trying different ports...nothing works.

Did you install setpoint?

 

[leng jai]

Yep...when it goes plug in the receiver I do it and nothing happens.

 

[Hazaro]

Yep...when it goes plug in the receiver I do it and nothing happens.

Internet says there are problems with that and 7. There's probably some way to get it working, but I can't easily find it.
I'd get in touch with customer service and see if they know anything about a work around or refund.

You could probably run a VM XP or something...

 

[Wallach]

SSD + Samsung Spinpoint F3s in RAID 0 = the way to go. Games go on RAID array.

I'm considering doing just this. I have 101 Steam games currently installed. On the other hand, I really don't need them all installed like they are on my HDD, as I certainly don't play all of them. I feel like with how I use my gaming rig I could probably just do with something like a 160GB SSD, and just use one of my external HDDs if I really need the extra storage.

 

[Ezahn]

Hi guys,

I'm a total noob who wants to build a new gaming pc, having sold his e8400 / 8800 GT.
Maybe you'll remember this from some older posts! (be patient ^^)

The monitor is the LG W2363D-PF, so 120Hz and 1080p.
My objective is to have a very capable computer right off the bat, and being able to have an upgrade path in the future.
What about this setup? I'm italian, so don't worry about the € prices and strange names ^_^

Assemblaggio e Test PC € 35,00
Hard Disk Interno Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200rpm 32MB SATA2 HD103SJ € 43,70
Case Midi Cooler Master 690 II LITE ATX Pure Black € 77,00
Masterizzatore Interno Sony AD-5260S 24x DVD/CD SATA Bulk Nero € 17,70
Alimentatore PC Corsair Gaming Series GS800 800W 80plus € 81,20
CPU Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz Socket 1155 95W con GPU Sandy Bridge Boxed BX80623I52500K € 178,00
RAM DDR3 G.Skill Ripjaws-X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL 1600MHz 8GB (2x4GB) CL9 1.5v € 77,00
SSD Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB 2.5" Lettura 355MB/s Scrittura 140MB/s Sata3 CTFDDAA128MAG-1G1 € 169,90
VGA Gainward GeForce GTX 570 GS-GLH Core 800MHz Memory GDDR5 4000MHz 1280MB 2xDVI HDMI DisplayPort € 283,10
Scheda Madre Gigabyte Z68X-UD3-B3 Socket 1155 Intel Z68 DDR3 SATA3 USB3 ATX € 130,60

TOTALE: 1.093,20 €

Thanks for your valued help!

Sorry to bother reposting, but... nobody?

Better to stick with a single 580, smaller PSU and no-SLI mobo? I'm not a big fan of potential problems coming with double GPU setups...

Tnx all!

 

[Corky]

On the subject of SLI issues, I've never had issues that weren't software issues that got fixed with patches. I've never had microstuttering or anything else of that nature.

 

[Le-mo]

Plug it on your motherboard.

There is no available slot. I bought the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler, RR-B10-212P-G1 which has the option to install a second fan which is what I am trying to do.

 

[Madrical]

Hi guys,

I have a Asus Crosshair IV Formula Mobo, which is pretty damn nifty, however because of the SATA slots that are on the right side of the board, there is only one slot I can put my GPU (5870) into. The slot is the very bottom one, and it basically blocks all access to other components of the mobo, such as plugs for front USB support etc. Not only that, but the GPU is right above my PSU, and I just don't like that. Anyone else have this problem? I can't think of an easy way around it. It's not a huge issue and my PC is obviously running fine with it, I just wish there was an alternative.

TL;DR: SATA inputs blocking GPU from all slots but one. What do?

Also, cable management. How does it work!? So many setups in the NeoGAF setup thread look great, nice and tidy. Mine is a mess. The back of my case hardly closes because there's so many cables at the back. It's just chaos, can't be good airflow in there. I have a Coolermaster.. something something. CM 690 II I think.

 

[Hazaro]

Sorry to bother reposting, but... nobody?

Better to stick with a single 580, smaller PSU and no-SLI mobo? I'm not a big fan of potential problems coming with double GPU setups...

Tnx all!

I'd personally go for a 570 and upgrade later this year to a 6xx or 7xxx card.
IF you need that extra power from a 580 you can go ahead and get that if you like.

I'm on board for one GPU solutions.

Also Intel 320 over C300 if you want less possible trouble. You can fix registry or whatever the fix is for the C300 if you want though.

firm believer in SSD > HDD now, so as long as you have a good one it is fine

There is no available slot. I bought the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler, RR-B10-212P-G1 which has the option to install a second fan which is what I am trying to do.

If you are replacing a fan there is no room?
There should be 3 or 4 connectors for the mobo unless I'm misunderstanding your question.
You can buy a 4 pin (molex) to fan splitter cheap if you really don't have an open 3 pin on your mobo (look next to RAM and bottom right).

Hi guys,

I have a Asus Crosshair IV Formula Mobo, which is pretty damn nifty, however because of the SATA slots that are on the right side of the board, there is only one slot I can put my GPU (5870) into. The slot is the very bottom one, and it basically blocks all access to other components of the mobo, such as plugs for front USB support etc. Not only that, but the GPU is right above my PSU, and I just don't like that. Anyone else have this problem? I can't think of an easy way around it. It's not a huge issue and my PC is obviously running fine with it, I just wish there was an alternative.

TL;DR: SATA inputs blocking GPU from all slots but one. What do?

Also, cable management. How does it work!? So many setups in the NeoGAF setup thread look great, nice and tidy. Mine is a mess. The back of my case hardly closes because there's so many cables at the back. It's just chaos, can't be good airflow in there. I have a Coolermaster.. something something. CM 690 II I think.

What is wrong with the card covering SATA slots? Just put in the card after you hook up your drives. How often are you moving them around?
I'd put it in the top 2 slots for x16 bandwidth (not that it matters much at all).

 

[jarosh]

That Asus M Pro has better cooling and a higher feature set than the standard M. I'd say the price difference is worth it.

The Intel model has really poor power design, which effects things like stability and long term component health/lifespan. There are also components that are exposed that shouldn't be. For the same price of that Intel (assuming VAT and local rates are similar) you can get something like the ASRock Z68 in that link I posted.

thanks. i looked at that link again, and the ONLY z68 one i can get here for a reasonable price is the gigabyte one. this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128495. but it costs pretty much the same as the asus m pro, so i don't know if that's worth it. besides, i don't know, is gigabyte a brand to trust?

one thing i've read about the Asus P8P67-M PRO is that it has trouble booting from ssds. that'd be a deal breaker. you ever hear anything about that? does anyone here have this board who can say something about it?

 

[n0n44m]

Hi guys,

I have a Asus Crosshair IV Formula Mobo, which is pretty damn nifty, however because of the SATA slots that are on the right side of the board, there is only one slot I can put my GPU (5870) into. The slot is the very bottom one, and it basically blocks all access to other components of the mobo, such as plugs for front USB support etc. Not only that, but the GPU is right above my PSU, and I just don't like that. Anyone else have this problem? I can't think of an easy way around it. It's not a huge issue and my PC is obviously running fine with it, I just wish there was an alternative.

TL;DR: SATA inputs blocking GPU from all slots but one. What do?

Also, cable management. How does it work!? So many setups in the NeoGAF setup thread look great, nice and tidy. Mine is a mess. The back of my case hardly closes because there's so many cables at the back. It's just chaos, can't be good airflow in there. I have a Coolermaster.. something something. CM 690 II I think.

there are 90 degree SATA connector cables which you should use to put the GPU in the top PCI-e slot

as for the cable management, use tie-wraps a lot ... tie up cables you don't need on the back of the 5.25" bays, reduce the length of other cables by bunching them up and tie-wrapping them and so on

 

[jarosh]

what ram do i get, pc-gaf? i've pretty much settled on 8 gigs. i guess anything less makes little sense at this point.

for +/-$10 in the same price range i could get:

Kingston ValueRAM, 2x4GB Kit, DDR3-1333, CL9@1.5V
Corsair Vengeance, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.5V
Kingston Hyper Blu, 2x4GB, DDR3-1333, CL9-9-9-27@1.5V
Kingston HyperX, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9-9-9-27@1.65V
Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1600C9, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.65V
Corsair Vengeance, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL8@1.5V
Corsair Vengeance Blue, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.5V

besides the speed and voltage/timing difference i can honestly not tell what the difference between some of them are and what brand i should go with. i suppose i should get the faster ones either way...?

 

[knitoe]

what ram do i get, pc-gaf? i've pretty much settled on 8 gigs. i guess anything less makes little sense at this point.

for +/-$10 in the same price range i could get:

Kingston ValueRAM, 2x4GB Kit, DDR3-1333, CL9@1.5V
Corsair Vengeance, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.5V
Kingston Hyper Blu, 2x4GB, DDR3-1333, CL9-9-9-27@1.5V
Kingston HyperX, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9-9-9-27@1.65V
Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1600C9, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.65V
Corsair Vengeance, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL8@1.5V
Corsair Vengeance Blue, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.5V

besides the speed and voltage/timing difference i can honestly not tell what the difference between some of them are and what brand i should go with. i suppose i should get the faster ones either way...?

Since difference is only $10, I would get those.

 

[Domstercool]

I figured a junior would always have shit the more vocal posters don't have

How do you like it?



I know you're exaggerating but I don't notice that many that have them. A lot have sli or xfire tho.

It's beasting on stuff, it really is. I only got my new PC a week ago. Before I had a Q9550 @ 3.4ghz, 4GB DDR3, 4870x2. Now I have a I7 2600k @ 4.2GHZ 6990, 8GB DDR3.

I tested the noise by putting the fan at 100% and my god it sounds crazy, but while playing Crysis 2, Homefront, Brink and Dragon Age 2, it never hits 100%, it still goes a little loud, but not too loud. Performance is just crazy though!!

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

What are YOU using then? Going by your suggestion, my two choices are Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Keyboard and SteelSeries 6G Version 2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard.

I'm using a FILCO Tenkeyless with brown switches, which I love. BlackWidow is good if you want blue switches, but I haven't had a good experience with Razer products (2 broken DeathAdders) and I read about BW issues much much more than I read about FILCO/Das/Leopold problems. 6G V2 is also good, but I prefer blue/brown switches to black.

 

[ZZMitch]

Is XFX a reliable brand? Looking at 6950s and I'm leaning towards MSI's Frozr which is a bit more expensive.

I have a twin frozr 6950 and I love it. It is cool, quiet and fast. Also much more stable then my 460 was. I would highly reccommend it to anyone. Just know that you cant unlock the shaders to 6970, but I knew that going in.

 

[Van Owen]

I have a twin frozr 6950 and I love it. It is cool, quiet and fast. Also much more stable then my 460 was. I would highly reccommend it to anyone. Just know that you cant unlock the shaders to 6970, but I knew that going in.

Yeah, I saw they "fixed" that. Oh well, it will still overclock nicely.

Newegg has a memorial day sale going on now for anyone interested.

 

[ZZMitch]

I see a lot of cheap 8gb of ram in that sale... I have 4gb, do you think it would be worth an upgrade? Or is it still not worth it for games at the moment...

I also have to get an SSD one of these days, maybe over the summer. But I don't want to got though the hassle of having two drives and changing everything over etc. I guess since my computer is working fine now I don't really have the motivation to do anything to it!

 

[PolishQ]

This OCZ Vertex 2 SSD is on sale:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2411-_-EMC-052411-Index-_-SSD-_-20227590-L02A

What's the difference between this and an Intel 320 series (other than price)?

 

[ZombieFred]

For those with SSD drives, what's the experiance been like to just have the OS installed on an SSD, with a 72kRPM HDD having all games stored on another raid?

 

[JaseC]

For those with SSD drives, what's the experiance been like to just have the OS installed on an SSD, with a 72kRPM HDD having all games stored on another raid?

Bliss. The fact everything within Windows finishes far, far quicker is great. Having an SSD for just OS + general programs may not seem like a big upgrade, but it does make a world of difference.

 

[Madrical]

What is wrong with the card covering SATA slots? Just put in the card after you hook up your drives. How often are you moving them around?
I'd put it in the top 2 slots for x16 bandwidth (not that it matters much at all).

I'll have a look again soon, but I'm pretty sure it won't click into place, the card is just too bulky and it hits the top of the SATA slots.

 

[ZombieFred]

Bliss. The fact everything within Windows finishes far, far quicker is great. Having an SSD for just OS + general programs may not seem like a big upgrade, but it does make a world of difference.

Excellent. Thanks man. I'll be looking forward to making that a certain to get a good SDD drive at the end of the year, among with my cross fire GPU, and I'll be laughing for a long time

 

[astroturfing]

hey i was wondering, as someone who has just got back into PC gaming, what are some of the best non-Steam places to buy digital copies of games?

i'm mainly thinking The Witcher 2, Crysis, Bad Company 2... where should i buy these from? (i'm in Europe if that matters)

Direct2Drive? GOG?

 

[Izayoi]

This OCZ Vertex 2 SSD is on sale:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2411-_-EMC-052411-Index-_-SSD-_-20227590-L02A

What's the difference between this and an Intel 320 series (other than price)?

The Vertex 2 is a little faster, IIRC.

hey i was wondering, as someone who has just got back into PC gaming, what are some of the best non-Steam places to buy digital copies of games?

i'm mainly thinking The Witcher 2, Crysis, Bad Company 2... where should i buy these from? (i'm in Europe if that matters)

Direct2Drive? GOG?

GOG, if they have it.

 

[astroturfing]

GOG, if they have it.

why them? i honestly know nothing about them, so i don't know if i should trust them with my CC info etc. (PSN/Sony has made me paranoid :E)

 

[TheExodu5]

The Vertex 2 is a little faster, IIRC.

Not really. Aside from high queue depth writes, they're pretty much the same. In real world usage, they'll be indistinguishable. If you have the misfortune of getting a non-Intel memory OCZ drive, (especially the 32nm Hynix), you could have really poor performance compared to even the Intel drive.

I suggest not going for the Vertex 2 at this point. The Intel 320 is an evolution of the proven Intel X25-M, and has good real world performance to boot. It's cheap, and reliable, so I'd recommend it over any other drive at this point. The only alternative I would consider is a 240GB Vertex 3, but only if you're going high end, want the fastest SSD around, and are willing to deal with possible issues that may pop up.

 

[Darkatomz]

Not really. Aside from high queue depth writes, they're pretty much the same. In real world usage, they'll be indistinguishable. If you have the misfortune of getting a non-Intel memory OCZ drive, (especially the 32nm Hynix), you could have really poor performance compared to even the Intel drive.

I suggest not going for the Vertex 2 at this point. The Intel 320 is an evolution of the proven Intel X25-M, and has good real world performance to boot. It's cheap, and reliable, so I'd recommend it over any other drive at this point. The only alternative I would consider is a 240GB Vertex 3, but only if you're going high end, want the fastest SSD around, and are willing to deal with possible issues that may pop up.

What if you're unwilling to deal with the potential issues and hassle of the OCZ drives, yet you want to take advantage of SATA6? Would you go for the Intel 510, suck it up with the 320, or hold out for next gen?

 

[RumblingRosco]

Case: Thermaltake V9 BlacX Edition with Docking Station (NewEgg Exclusive) SECC / Mesh ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($50)
CPU: i5 2500k ($220)
MB: ASRock P67 PRO3 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard ($130)
RAM: G.SKILL Sniper Low Voltage (1.25V) Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 ($75)
GPU: MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) ($220)
HD: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive ($50)
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX40G 2.5" 40GB SATA II MLC ($75)
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular 80+ Certified ($45)
Sound Card: ASUS XONAR_DG 5.1 ($25)
Optical Drive: Lite-On CD/DVD-RW ($25)
Fan: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus ($35)
Monitor: ASUS VE247H Black 23.6" 2ms Full HD HDMI LED BackLight LCD Monitor w/Speakers ($160)

Ended up with free shipping on everything and utilized some Amazon gift certificates for a few things. Bought cable ties for $3.00 also.

I'll pick up Windows 7 and Microsoft Office for $10 each from my university.

Final cost is just under $1100. Was originally aiming for $800, but then realized I hadn't included a monitor, OS, or Office. Then, decided I wanted a SSD. Long story short, I ended up closer to $1100 than $800, most of that being the monitor and SSD. Now, I get to wait for the parts to arrive. I'm hoping to keep the case, PSU, HD, SSD, optical drive, fan, and sound card for future builds, so this is a bit of a long-term investment. I'm a bit worried the PSU may die early, but we'll see. Looking forward to see what overclocking I can pull on the i5... it should be a strong enough CPU to keep me going for quite a while, and in a few years I'll look into upgrading my GPU.

EDIT: This is my first time building a rig too, so I'm extra excited. I bought a pre-built with a GeForce 6600 back in 2005, a "gaming laptop" in 2007 with an 8600M GT which I supplemented with an Asus 1215N last fall (which has a measly Ion2)... so, this is going to be a big boost from what I've had in the past/ my current 8600M / Ion 2 laptops.

 

[TheExodu5]

What if you're unwilling to deal with the potential issues and hassle of the OCZ drives, yet you want to take advantage of SATA6? Would you go for the Intel 510, suck it up with the 320, or hold out for next gen?

I would personally just suck it up and use the 320. I can't say the move from an X25-M to a 240GB Vertex 3 has made a very noticeable difference in loading times. I haven't had any issues with my Vertex 3, though one GAFer reported his going to sleep and freezing his PC every little while.

Given that the 320 is significantly cheaper than the 510 and Vertex 3, and not terribly different in terms of real world usage, I think it's a very attractive product.

 

[jarosh]

Since difference is only $10, I would get those.

any reason why?


anyone else have any input on this:

what ram do i get, pc-gaf? i've pretty much settled on 8 gigs. i guess anything less makes little sense at this point.

for +/-$10 in the same price range i could get:

Kingston ValueRAM, 2x4GB Kit, DDR3-1333, CL9@1.5V
Corsair Vengeance, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.5V
Kingston Hyper Blu, 2x4GB, DDR3-1333, CL9-9-9-27@1.5V
Kingston HyperX, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9-9-9-27@1.65V
Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1600C9, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.65V
Corsair Vengeance, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL8@1.5V
Corsair Vengeance Blue, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600, CL9@1.5V

besides the speed and voltage/timing difference i can honestly not tell what the difference between some of them are and what brand i should go with. i suppose i should get the faster ones either way...?

 

[RumblingRosco]

any reason why?


anyone else have any input on this:

I suggest this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...C-052411-Index-_-DesktopMemory-_-20145345-L0B using the promo code: EMCKEHF23 for $75... part of the Newegg Memorial Day sale.

 

[TheExodu5]

The fastest ones there would be the Corsair Vengeance (CL8). The one thing to consider though, is the RAM heatsink height. Make sure it doesn't conflict with your aftermarket CPU cooler.

 

[RS4-]

Considering the voltage limit for the p67/z68 boards I don't think heatsinks are that big of a deal; the limit is still < 1.65 right?