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[Soi-Fong]

Every GPU is a bottleneck with a 2500K at normal resolutions. You'll get max performance out of it, if that's what you're asking.


That Arc is such an amazing case. It really allows you to do anything, even with the mini you can have 2 240x120mm rads. Throwing on sound dampening material seems like a perfect way to make a new Define edition.

This. You have to make sure you get low profile RAM like the Vengeance LP or GSkill sniper. The RAM with the giant heatsinks will give you clearance issues in push-pull.

A pic of my setup will allow you to visualize what I mean. Though this Rad is slightly larger than the H100, with another set of fans on the bottom of it, it will be covering part of the RAM. Tall RAM won't fit under it.

mkenyon is that your main rig?

I'm also thinking then just wait for the new 560 ti's then SLI them. Then, I'll wait till early 2013 for upgrading to new videocards.

 

[Nemo]

Holy shit at that heatsink :lol

Biggest I've seen

 

[vilmer_]

Sexay

 

[grkazan12]

Hey guys I'm using a PC with an Asus P8P67 Pro mobo and everything is running well except for the internal Bluetooth adapter. It seems to light up when searching for devices, but it can't discover anything no matter what.

I heard having motionjoy installed screws up windows Bluetooth stacking, but I have uninstalled and deleted the drivers from motionjoy in device manager and I have uninstalled the program itself. I retrieved the latest drivers from Asus' website and Bluetooth is enabled in services and in the bios.

I ordered a cheap Bluetooth dongle from amazon to see if that could fix it, but it hasn't arrived yet. Desperate for any advice b/c it's pissing me off so much, so annoying.

Anyone? Desperate here.

 

[Herpes Reasons]

Should be easy to get to, just a question of how much voltage you'll end up needing and what you're comfortable with.

What's the core voltage for 4.8?
Ill play it safe first.

 

[JVIDICAN]

2 final questions. (lol. yeah right. )
How are the Samsung DVD/CD drives? Specifically this one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233

and...
Will I be needing to purchase cables if all my parts are new? or are they included?

 

[Wolf Akela]

2 final questions. (lol. yeah right. )
How are the Samsung DVD/CD drives? Specifically this one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233

and...
Will I be needing to purchase cables if all my parts are new? or are they included?

All necessary cables included.

A few videocards don't have DVI adapters though, if your monitor still uses VGA.

I use the exact same DVD drive and had no issues whatsoever.

 

[JVIDICAN]

All necessary cables included.

A few videocards don't have DVI adapters though, if your monitor still uses VGA.

I use the exact same DVD drive and had no issues whatsoever.

Awesome! Thanks!

 

[mkenyon]

Considering selling my GTX 460 to a friend who wants to make the Standard build in Hazaro's wonderful spreadsheet and getting some HD6950 2GB just to play BF in ultra. Should I bother? I'm on a q9550, so I'm definitely bottlenecked here. What say you guys? Which HD6950 is the one to get?

Q9550 is actually quite the beast still. You shouldn't be bottlenecked very much if at all.

finally got the thermalright silver arrow pictured below.
that thing is huge!

how far can i overclock my 2600k?
i heard around 4.8-5.2ghz. is that doable?

Even though you have a beast of an air cooler, the frequency you're able to achieve depends on your load temps at whatever voltage you need to be at. I needed ~1.45 to get 5.0 stable, and was in the mid 60s on H20. I wouldn't wouldn't go furtherr than 1.4, depending on what temps you are at there. Mid 60s is a good load temp to shoot for with a 24/7 OC. The lower the better of course. There's a good guide in the OP that will get you started.

Sexay

Thank you.

mkenyon is that your main rig?

I'm also thinking then just wait for the new 560 ti's then SLI them. Then, I'll wait till early 2013 for upgrading to new videocards.

It's my main gaming rig, though our HTPC sees more use generally. That is, until recently because of Tribes.

Be sure to check out the SLI guide in the OP to make sure it's a good choice for you. If you dont like driver and troubleshooting hassles, it might not be the best fit.

 

[toastyToast]

There's something wrong with my 5850. It's giving me BSODs due to overheating with the fan maxing out at 60%. On auto fan setting it gets up to 80% topping out at 75C and sounds like a damn jet.

Pretty sure it isn't clogged and my case is practically dust free. Is my card on the way out?

 

[Wolf Akela]

Is your card's fan dust-free too?

I got an OC 5850 and it never goes past 60c in a tropical climate.

 

[toastyToast]

There's a bit of dust on the fins, might have to take a look.

What should I use to get rid of it though? A brush of some sort?

 

[MC RaZaR]

There's a bit of dust on the fins, might have to take a look.

What should I use to get rid of it though? A brush of some sort?

Yeah. A soft tip brush of some sort or maybe a canister of compressed air.

 

[Wolf Akela]

Compressed air, preferably. You might damage the fans with a brush if you exert too much pressure.

 

[Darkatomz]

Quick question, although I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing here.

So my Intel 320 160gb SSD should be here in two days. Aside from using the Intel SSD Toolbox, ACHI, updating fw before installing the OS, and some other stuff (including the link to the guide below), is there anything I need to do or know?

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...3-*-Windows-7-Ultimate-Tweaks-amp-Utilities-*

 

[Wolf Akela]

Just do it in this order:
Update FW -> enable AHCI in BIOS -> Install OS -> Disable write cache/hibernation

The toolbox from Intel has some sort of optimizer you can run from time to time, like once a week if you feel like it.

 

[wowzors]

Anyone have any good SSD guides? I want to install my new Kingston HyperX and keep my old hdd in there. I basically want to install the SSD, install windows onto the SSD, then format the HDD and use the SSD for OS/most used apps and the HDD for everything else.

 

[Piercedveil]

Not completely PC related, but can anyone recommend a good chair to use for my desktop? I'd probably be looking to spend around $100 or less, if possible. I want to be pretty comfortable if I need to sit at the desk for hours on end.

 

[Takuan]

Q9550 is actually quite the beast still. You shouldn't be bottlenecked very much if at all.

Thanks for the reply. I bought the q9550 with a great heatsink/fan (at the time) with the goal of overclocking it, but I just couldn't get it running stable, not even on a modest OC@3.2GHz. I think it's RAM/mobo/PSU incompatibilities, but I can't be bothered to get new DDR2 just to try it out since it's just not as cheap as DDR3. Maybe I'll keep an eye out for DDR2 blowout sales over the holidays. 8GB would be nice.

Well, I guess I just spent an hour looking into Canadian prices for Hazaro's Standard (for the friend) and Enhanced (for myself) builds for nothing. :lolgif

Edit: I remember reading back when I first bought the q9550 that my PSU (a Silverstone 500W continuous power supply) was pretty good, so I'm doubting it's that. If I was to get new RAM, the HD6950 2GB, and OC the new GPU & current CPU, I'd probably need more juice.

Hmm, 4GB Corsair XMS2 for $40... >

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Reposted

How is this board?

MSI P67A-G45 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

 

[Hylian7]

I built a new computer a week ago that has a Core i5 2500k in it. Checking the temps on it, it seems to idle in the high 30's for some reason. Running Prime95, it only climbs up to about 70, sometimes 75.

Those idle temps seem a little high. Is the stock heatsink really that much of a piece of shit? T his leaves me literally no room for overclocking with it, and with my old PC I could easily overclock (Core 2 Duo E7400) on the stock heatsink, by quite a lot actually!

 

[WORLDWIDEWII]

got this case from a friend, and i am going to build a pc soon.
i havent done this before but i have been reading this thread.

will probably go with the "excellent" selection, should i be worry about the size/height/fitness of some of the parts for this case? will there be a sizing problem?

also i want a "quiet" build, what parts should i get?
thanks!

 

[Hylian7]

got this case from a friend, and i am going to build a pc soon.
i havent done this before but i have been reading this thread.

will probably go with the "excellent" selection, should i be worry about the size/height/fitness of some of the parts for this case? will there be a sizing problem?

also i want a "quiet" build, what parts should i get?
thanks!

Assuming that case is the size I think it is, you should have PLENTY of room in there. I did my first build in a case smaller than that. My current build is in a case that (if I'm imagining the size of that one correctly) is smaller than that case. Get a full ATX motherboard, you have no limit on the size of your video card(s). Maybe even throw in water cooling if you have the cash for it.

 

[a176]

got this case from a friend, and i am going to build a pc soon.
i havent done this before but i have been reading this thread.

will probably go with the "excellent" selection, should i be worry about the size/height/fitness of some of the parts for this case? will there be a sizing problem?

also i want a "quiet" build, what parts should i get?
thanks!

what in the fuck is that

 

[JVIDICAN]

1 more last question! :O
Radeon HD 6870 1GB v.s. 2GB.
How much am I missing out on going with the cheaper 1GB?

 

[scogoth]

1 more last question! :O
Radeon HD 6870 1GB v.s. 2GB.
How much am I missing out on going with the cheaper 1GB?

High AA levels and/or high resolutions (>1080p)

 

[Herpes Reasons]

here's my cpu-z stat after installing the silver arrow.4.8ghz
did a prime95 for about 20mins. temps did not go above 70c.
what do you guys think? push it harder past 5.0ghz?

 

[JVIDICAN]

High AA levels and/or high resolutions (>1080p)

In your opinion do you think the higher price would be worth it?
I'm debating between buying
http://us.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=57118&promoid=1055
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...mc=OTC-Froogle-_-Video+Cards-_-XFX-_-14150563

 

[RS4-]

here's my cpu-z stat after installing the silver arrow.4.8ghz
did a prime95 for about 20mins. temps did not go above 70c.
what do you guys think? push it harder past 5.0ghz?

Do you need the extra cycles and feel comfortable with running it at that voltage 24/7?

I'm not sure what people recommend these days, whether its Prime or IntelBurnTest. I think I remember reading about IBT can cause some damage if you run it for a long time.

 

[Herpes Reasons]

Do you need the extra cycles and feel comfortable with running it at that voltage 24/7?

I'm not sure what people recommend these days, whether its Prime or IntelBurnTest. I think I remember reading about IBT can cause some damage if you run it for a long time.

cycle? i dont understand.
how about speedstep?
i only really need it overclocked when im doing 3d and video rendering.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I wouldn't feel very comfortable running that as a 24/7 but speedstep will handle the down clocking for you so it's stable after a maximum run in Intel Burntest and doing a prime95 stress test, keep it if it passes.

 

[Wolf Akela]

http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/cases/Tt_Mozart_Tx/pics/1005.jpg[IMG]

got this case from a friend, and i am going to build a pc soon.
i havent done this before but i have been reading this thread. [/QUOTE]

Only problem you'll have is if the SATA cables are long enough to reach those drive bays at the top.

The eff is up with that layout though. I'm thinking that it's a storage server because of the completely separate drive bay section but it'd still be very unorthodox for one.

 

[Herpes Reasons]

I wouldn't feel very comfortable running that as a 24/7 but speedstep will handle the down clocking for you so it's stable after a maximum run in Intel Burntest and doing a prime95 stress test, keep it if it passes.

cool. thank you.

 

[scogoth]

In your opinion do you think the higher price would be worth it?
I'm debating between buying
http://us.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=57118&promoid=1055
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...mc=OTC-Froogle-_-Video+Cards-_-XFX-_-14150563

For $40 less I'd say 1GB.

 

[wowzors]

I have a Gigabyte Z68 xp-ud3, is there anyway to tell what SATA Intel RST driver I have? I dont even know what chipset my motherboard is (series 6?). Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[·feist·]

Hey guys I'm using a PC with an Asus P8P67 Pro mobo and everything is running well except for the internal Bluetooth adapter. It seems to light up when searching for devices, but it can't discover anything no matter what.

I heard having motionjoy installed screws up windows Bluetooth stacking, but I have uninstalled and deleted the drivers from motionjoy in device manager and I have uninstalled the program itself. I retrieved the latest drivers from Asus' website and Bluetooth is enabled in services and in the bios.

I ordered a cheap Bluetooth dongle from amazon to see if that could fix it, but it hasn't arrived yet. Desperate for any advice b/c it's pissing me off so much, so annoying.

Anyone? Desperate here.

Try running Driver Sweeper, and possibly PC Decrapifier to clear any remaining, potentially conflicting elements. Should be straight, from there.

Anyone have any good SSD guides? I want to install my new Kingston HyperX and keep my old hdd in there. I basically want to install the SSD, install windows onto the SSD, then format the HDD and use the SSD for OS/most used apps and the HDD for everything else.

http://www.computing.net/howtos/show/solid-state-drive-ssd-tweaks-for-windows-7/552.html
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/windows-7-and-ssds-cutting-your-system-drive-down-to-size/2941
http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/windows-7-and-ssds-just-how-fast-are-they/2902
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...ormal-use-most-of-these-tweaks-are-NOT-needed
http://www.computing.net/howtos/show/solid-state-drive-ssd-tweaks-for-windows-7/552.html
http://lifehacker.com/5837543/how-to-migrate-to-a-solid+state-drive-without-reinstalling-windows

Others.

Thanks for the reply. I bought the q9550 with a great heatsink/fan (at the time) with the goal of overclocking it, but I just couldn't get it running stable, not even on a modest OC@3.2GHz. I think it's RAM/mobo/PSU incompatibilities, but I can't be bothered to get new DDR2 just to try it out since it's just not as cheap as DDR3. Maybe I'll keep an eye out for DDR2 blowout sales over the holidays. 8GB would be nice.

Well, I guess I just spent an hour looking into Canadian prices for Hazaro's Standard (for the friend) and Enhanced (for myself) builds for nothing. :lolgif

Edit: I remember reading back when I first bought the q9550 that my PSU (a Silverstone 500W continuous power supply) was pretty good, so I'm doubting it's that. If I was to get new RAM, the HD6950 2GB, and OC the new GPU & current CPU, I'd probably need more juice.

Hmm, 4GB Corsair XMS2 for $40... >

Even cheap DDR2 667 would get you somewhere. Likely a P35, low end P45, or OC limited s-775 mATX motherboard. Most Q9550s will do a minimum 3.6-3.8GHz.

I built a new computer a week ago that has a Core i5 2500k in it. Checking the temps on it, it seems to idle in the high 30's for some reason. Running Prime95, it only climbs up to about 70, sometimes 75.

Those idle temps seem a little high. Is the stock heatsink really that much of a piece of shit? T his leaves me literally no room for overclocking with it, and with my old PC I could easily overclock (Core 2 Duo E7400) on the stock heatsink, by quite a lot actually!

Overclocking on low end stock coolers is almost never advisable. Temps don't seem that out of the ordinary, considering Intel reduced the size of their HSFs with Sandy Bridge. $25-40 gets you vastly better temps, and noise levels.

got this case from a friend, and i am going to build a pc soon.
i havent done this before but i have been reading this thread.

will probably go with the "excellent" selection, should i be worry about the size/height/fitness of some of the parts for this case? will there be a sizing problem?

also i want a "quiet" build, what parts should i get?
thanks!

Should fit ~160mm tall air cooler, and GPU length will be limiting. Not sure beyond that. The majority of people here won't be familiar with that case. To be fully certain, you'll need to do some measurements of your own. Fan wise, if you intend to air cool, consider running it as 3-5 low-mid speed intakes, with 1-2 mid-high speed exhausts. Let me know if you need fan recommendations.

 

[Takuan]

.

Even cheap DDR2 667 would get you somewhere. Likely a P35, low end P45, or OC limited s-775 mATX motherboard. Most Q9550s will do a minimum 3.6-3.8GHz.

gigabyte p35. Exact model escapes me, but it was supposed to be a pretty good board for overclocking. Well, damn it. I suppose there's always the chance I got a bum CPU, as well.

 

[cartman414]

Intel has been very quiet about native desktop support for Light Peak/Thunderbolt, but they've been actively pushing it for their mobile platforms for months (especially Ultra Books). Old slides had it slated for Haswell desktops, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it on a version 2.0 of X79 at some point, similar to v2.0 of X58.

I believe those are listings for Intel's own mobos, not their general platform specs. The Ivy Bridge line, for instance, is the first to get USB 3.0 out of the box.

 

[·feist·]

gigabyte p35. Exact model escapes me, but it was supposed to be a pretty good board for overclocking. Well, damn it. I suppose there's always the chance I got a bum CPU, as well.

Almost certainly your board. That's why I mentioned those three problem types above. A lot of P35s have issues with quads. Even some which were great dual-core clockers. You could possibly try this, as long as you don't spend too much. Some s-775 DDR3 boards were bad, others were solid. If you went that way, you can get more, higher speed ram, for less.

Otherwise, hold steady, and grab a new CPU + board combo, along with some DDR3 when you're ready. Simply swap in those three for an upgrade.

I believe those are listings for Intel's own mobos, not their general platform specs. The Ivy Bridge line, for instance, is the first to get USB 3.0 out of the box.

I'm not sure which part you're referring to, specifically.

 

[cartman414]

Almost certainly your board. That's why I mentioned those three problem types above. A lot of P35s have issues with quads. Even some which were great dual-core clockers. You could possibly try this, as long as you don't spend too much. Some s-775 DDR3 boards were bad, others were solid. If you went that way, you can get more, higher speed ram, for less.

Otherwise, hold steady, and grab a new CPU + board combo, along with some DDR3 when you're ready. Simply swap in those three for an upgrade.


I'm not sure which part you're referring to, specifically.

Their product roadmap.

By the way, what would you recommend for an office computer, if I have the option of choosing parts? I know I shouldn't even need to ask.

 

[mkenyon]

i3 and Z68 integrated graphics, or even a E-350/450 if you dont need too much out of them. Just recently upgraded all of the workstations at my business to SSDs, was a very nice boost, well worth the cost if you store most everything on a server.

 

[Hylian7]

Overclocking on low end stock coolers is almost never advisable. Temps don't seem that out of the ordinary, considering Intel reduced the size of their HSFs with Sandy Bridge. $25-40 gets you vastly better temps, and noise levels.

Explains a lot then! That would be why I was able to overclock when I had a Core 2 Duo just fine on stock HSF. Sounds like I'll be getting a new HSF for Christmas then.

 

[·feist·]

Could also be a seating issue, since the pins may not be fully fastened, and they easily get displaced. One of a list of reasons why I haven't used stock in years.

Their product roadmap.

By the way, what would you recommend for an office computer, if I have the option of choosing parts? I know I shouldn't even need to ask.

As much as I dislike recommending the i3 21xx chips, Haz's budget and standard options would work. Drop the gaming GPU for iGPU use, or pick up a ~$50 card if you have apps that benefit from CUDA/Stream. Use the rest to buy a ~64-80GB SSD (near must for office use). MicroATX board for certain, but which one, and what other tweaks to the build depend on your budget, noise preferences, and desire for "maintenance-free" operation. Like mkenyon said, you could even go with a an AMD E-, or A-series Fusion build, depending on how much CPU power you need.

With the Intel road map, though, remember it's the baseline for all licensed boards, with partners only making limited adjustments. Intel's engineering, and test boards are about the only that can, at times, really differ from that. On the non-native support end, I wouldn't expect to see too many partners trying out Light Peak solutions, unless it's done like those sound, and networking cards, or Sony's proprietary implementation.

 

[Hylian7]

Could also be a seating issue, since the pins may not be fully fastened, and they easily get displaced. One of a list of reasons why I haven't used stock in years.

I've tried reseating the thing a billion times. It seems no matter what I do at least one of the pins won't go securely in, just in. It will work for now though. I'll just get a better HSF for Christmas.

 

[demigod]

I started using Shoprunner, but between my business and my personal ordering, I definitely pay more than $79 in shipping in 3 months let alone a year.

One of the bogus things about it is that although it states 2-day shipping, I've had numerous packages take 3-4 business days. In addition, you don't get Saturday UPS delivery with it.

All my shopprunner deliveries have been 2 days. It's newegg that's slow as shit on the processing unless you pay for rush order. Don't cancel your shoprunner trial until you actually stop using it or before the trial ends because once you cancel it, you don't get the remaining days out of the 30. Oh btw, I got a free 1 year for coming back with them even though I canceled my trial before the 30days.

 

[Hazaro]

1 more last question! :O
Radeon HD 6870 1GB v.s. 2GB.
How much am I missing out on going with the cheaper 1GB?

1GB for 6870.

here's my cpu-z stat after installing the silver arrow.4.8ghz
did a prime95 for about 20mins. temps did not go above 70c.
what do you guys think? push it harder past 5.0ghz?

Too high volts imo. This is with speedstep enabled + voltage lowering while idle right?
Cycles = clocks = speed.
I bet you can get 4.7 out of 1.388V or similar.

As much as I dislike recommending the i3 21xx chips, Haz's budget and standard options would work. Drop the gaming GPU for iGPU use, or pick up a ~$50 card if you have apps that benefit from CUDA/Stream. Use the rest to buy a ~64-80GB SSD (near must for office use). MicroATX board for certain, but which one, and what other tweaks to the build depend on your budget, noise preferences, and desire for "maintenance-free" operation. Like mkenyon said, you could even go with a an AMD E-, or A-series Fusion build, depending on how much CPU power you need.

2100 + onboard video (H61/H67 board) + 40-80GB SSD (Intel/M4). Blazing fast for office. A G850 would do just fine too. Seriously wicked fast and low cost.

Explains a lot then! That would be why I was able to overclock when I had a Core 2 Duo just fine on stock HSF. Sounds like I'll be getting a new HSF for Christmas then.

Already tiny 45nm to 32nm.

 

[cartman414]

Thanks. Should I not pay any attention to m4 scoring significantly less on various benchmarks than, say, OCZ?

 

[JJBro One]

is this a good deal on a blu ray player/blu ray burner? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ckTab=true&Keywords=(keywords)#scrollFullInfo

 

[Hazaro]

Thanks. Should I not pay any attention to m4 scoring significantly less on various benchmarks than, say, OCZ?

SSD > not SSD. Reliability is key.

 

[cartman414]

That's true. I'll pick out some parts and post a link for some feedback.