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[chaosblade]

Thanks.

Differences between OEM and regular SSDs?

Probably just the packaging. Most SSDs don't include extras like transfer kits, adapters, and cables anyway. Not sure about the warranty though, I'd guess they would be the same just like HDDs.

i have a question about that card, would a 500w corsair psu be ok i cant seem to find were it would say that on newegg, thanks guys

I assume you mean a CX500, I'd imagine that would power it. Not sure how close you'd be pushing it though.

 

[OG_Original Gamer]

Well, achieved a successful O.C of my FX6100 3.3-4.4ghz, now I'm getting 60-70fps 24 player TDM online in BF3 this is all stable. 6950 Flashed with slight O.C, I'm a happy camper.

 

[Blackheim]

Heads up, eVGA's 560 TI 448 Classified is on sale for $289 free shipping.

I've got a 4870 in my PC, going on 3 years old. I was waiting for AMD/ATIs 7000 line of cards, getting harder to do even (want some new shiny things!) though I have no real issues with my current card. I realize there's very little info out about their new stuff. but potentially, how much better could AMD/ATIs new offering be over this 560TI? Oh, please try to avoid brand bias >_> If AMDs new stuff will be considerably better, I'll wait it out. If not, I may as well get something sooner if the overall gain in power/performance is 15% or less...

 

[chaosblade]

I've got a 4870 in my PC, going on 3 years old. I was waiting for AMD/ATIs 7000 line of cards, getting harder to do even (want some new shiny things!) though I have no real issues with my current card. I realize there's very little info out about their new stuff. but potentially, how much better could AMD/ATIs new offering be over this 560TI? Oh, please try to avoid brand bias >_> If AMDs new stuff will be considerably better, I'll wait it out. If not, I may as well get something sooner if the overall gain in power/performance is 15% or less...

It's looking like a pretty nice performance leap as far as I know, but I wouldn't expect prices to be great initially since NVidia won't have anything new for a while.

 

[Kadey]

Thanks to reading the OP, looks like I don't even have to get new SSD. All I did was lower my allocated page file and I got like 17GBs of more free space. -=buys Armani watch instead=-

 

[EphemeralDream]

On the topic of SSDs, has anyone fiddled around with using RAMdisks for browser cache, temp files, etc.? I've seen it recommended but not sure if it's worth the process.

 

[fushi]

Apologies if this has been answered before, but are the new Sandforce SSD's now worth buying? I remember there being a lot of firmware issues early on, are those fixed now?

I'm thinking of getting a Corsair Force 3 120GB to replace my two Force F60's.

 

[Piercedveil]

I'm looking for a pre-built computer for a friend. I know building is best, but he is not the greatest with computers, so that is not really an option. He mainly wants it to play things like Minecraft, Terraria, and Skyrim (so not too demanding.) I think he would like to spend around $400-$500, does not need a monitor. Anyone have anything they could recommend?

 

[Petrie]

like Minecraft, Terraria, and Skyrim

One of these is not like the others!

 

[NorrenRadd]

I want to buy a copy of Home and Business Office 2010.

I haven't bought it apart from a computer in awhile. What is the deal with licenses these days?

In the past, some versions were locked to specific PCs and could not be re-installed on a new PC. Is this still the case or can they be installed multiple times with the same product key (as long as its not being abused)?

 

[JWong]

Heyo, can I install Windows onto my SSD as a system drive before I make it a system drive?

So I still have my HDD as a system drive until my SSD is ready.

 

[jstevenson]

Finally up and running again, flashback if you don't remember.

Got everything set up. Ran Prime95 to test temps... got a hardware error on core 3 and shortly thereafter there was a loud pop and everything shut down.

Motherboard lights still showed power, but nothing would post. Assumed bad chip and now mobo based on that. Exchanged but took a while due to Microcenter being out of stock.

Got the new mobo and i5 in today, same issue. So must've been the power supply (that NewEgg Seasonic x650 gold... ). Ran to best buy and bought a Corsair GS600, plugged that all in and running like a charm.

Going to return the seasonic to newegg, bummer not to be in a modular PSU, but just happy it's all working right now.

oh, and a bolt for the cooler master 212+ was hiding, so we went and bought another one of those, and now I have two fans on it. What a day.

 

[bhlaab]

Looking for some hot opinions on gtx570 vs gtx580 for use with a 1080p monitor. Worth the extra $150?

 

[TheExodu5]

Looking for some hot opinions on gtx570 vs gtx580 for use with a 1080p monitor. Worth the extra $150?

Depends on your standards. Do you feel that an additional 15%-20% performance and a bit more memory is worth the added 50% cost? For my personal use, I do. However I think most people would be better served by going with the GTX 570.

 

[Korey]

Picked up my Core i5 2500K and P8Z68-V LX mobo. They wanted $60 to assemble it so I said never mind.

I'm kind of scared to put the CPU on the mobo myself, as I'm scared that I'll mess up the thermal paste application or bend a pin.

Am I being irrational? Is it actually easy to do? Also is there a guide for my specific cpu?

 

[Celcius]

Picked up my Core i5 2500K and P8Z68-V LX mobo. They wanted $60 to assemble it so I said never mind.

I'm kind of scared to put the CPU on the mobo myself, as I'm scared that I'll mess up the thermal paste application or bend a pin.

Am I being irrational? Is it actually easy to do? Also is there a guide for my specific cpu?

It's easier than you would think and there's a tutorial video in the op that should put your mind at ease.

 

[MC RaZaR]

Picked up my Core i5 2500K and P8Z68-V LX mobo. They wanted $60 to assemble it so I said never mind.

I'm kind of scared to put the CPU on the mobo myself, as I'm scared that I'll mess up the thermal paste application or bend a pin.

Am I being irrational? Is it actually easy to do? Also is there a guide for my specific cpu?

I was scared at first too. But I was really surprise at how easily it fell into place. As for thermal paste application, it shouldn't be a problem if you are using the stock heatsink.

 

[Blackheim]

It's looking like a pretty nice performance leap as far as I know, but I wouldn't expect prices to be great initially since NVidia won't have anything new for a while.

Well, if the $300 AMD 7K series card significantly outperforms the nVidia equivalent (the 560TI above) then it makes sense to wait. If not, then there's no point in waiting. Especially after the disaster called Bulldozer. Blah, I was holding out for that to finally start upgrading/rebuilding my PC too.

I like to stick with AMD since I've never had any issues with them (that includes drivers for the graphics cards) and they tend to be solid as well as cheaper. Bulldozer shot those ideas down and I may just pick up a 2500k & MB to replace my 940 Black Edition Phenom II instead of waiting however long it takes for AMD to get their crap together on the CPU front.

 

[toastyToast]

Just wondering if this makes sense.

I was getting bsods playing skyrim on an otherwise solid overclock using offset (2500K 4.8GHz with 1.32V at load, 15 hours prime stable). I checked everything, RAM, removed overclock on video card, updated bios and I was still getting them. The thing that finally got it to stop was using a manual voltage and dropping down to 4.5 GHz at 1.26V since I don't want to have my idle voltage over 1.3 (manual 4.8 GHz at 1.32V is rock solid btw)

So my question is, is overclocking using a manual voltage more stable than using offset?

 

[Nemo]

Picked up my Core i5 2500K and P8Z68-V LX mobo. They wanted $60 to assemble it so I said never mind.

I'm kind of scared to put the CPU on the mobo myself, as I'm scared that I'll mess up the thermal paste application or bend a pin.

Am I being irrational? Is it actually easy to do? Also is there a guide for my specific cpu?

When securing the CPU where you bring down the lever, don't worry about breaking it, it's supposed to be that tight. I remember delaying this for an hour the first time I build my PC

 

[knitoe]

Just wondering if this makes sense.

I was getting bsods playing skyrim on an otherwise solid overclock using offset (2500K 4.8GHz with 1.32V at load, 15 hours prime stable). I checked everything, RAM, removed overclock on video card, updated bios and I was still getting them. The thing that finally got it to stop was using a manual voltage and dropping down to 4.5 GHz at 1.26V since I don't want to have my idle voltage over 1.3 (manual 4.8 GHz at 1.32V is rock solid btw)

So my question is, is overclocking using a manual voltage more stable than using offset?

Could be you still need more voltage @4.8GHz even though it passed 15 hours of prime95. Did you try higher? Also, did you try 4.5GHz@1.26V offset?

Manual or offset should be the same under load. With offset, you get power saving. Only issue is if you use other settings that makes idle voltage lower than what's needed which will cause BSOD.

 

[Korey]

I was scared at first too. But I was really surprise at how easily it fell into place. As for thermal paste application, it shouldn't be a problem if you are using the stock heatsink.

I'm reading that the heatsink that comes with the i5 2500K has thermal paste pre-applied, is this true? That'd be a big help.

 

[knitoe]

I'm reading that the heatsink that comes with the i5 2500K has thermal paste pre-applied, is this true? That'd be a big help.

Yes, but I would go with non stock. With something like the cooler master 212+, you could easily overclock to 4.2-4.5GHz which would be a huge boost over the stock speed. With the stock cooler, it would be hard to go anywhere above 4.0GHz.

 

[Hazaro]

The 560ti at stock is 20% faster than a 6870? Are there more recent benchmarks showing that? Most of what I saw, particularly at 1650 resolution, showed a difference of a few fps at most.

The warranty is 2 year but Windows is Home Premium. After tax it's about $930.

For comparison, without a decent mid-tower case a 2500k/560ti off Amazon (and only Amazon with Prime, Newegg hits me with sales tax and some shipping), hyper 212, Asus p8p67, etc is $965. Some parts will have longer warranties than the Dell but the assembly time savings (not counting the inevitable bloatware-cleaning) are real.

My mistake. It looks like I was comparing 900MHz 6870 and 900MHz 560Ti instead of 560Ti at stock. I'm sure you will enjoy either way.

I bought my brother a GTX 560 Ti for Christmas, but on the eVGA site they said it requires a minimum of a 500W PSU. He has a Corsair 450W PSU. Am I going to run into any problems?

It should run on that PSU. Don't go throwing FURMark on it though.

i have a question about that card, would a 500w corsair psu be ok i cant seem to find were it would say that on newegg, thanks guys

Yes, especially if it is a 520 or 550w, no worries.

Thanks to reading the OP, looks like I don't even have to get new SSD. All I did was lower my allocated page file and I got like 17GBs of more free space. -=buys Armani watch instead=-

Ah that's right, lots of RAM. There are a few articles on the net that type about using RAM vs page file.

Just wondering if this makes sense.

I was getting bsods playing skyrim on an otherwise solid overclock using offset (2500K 4.8GHz with 1.32V at load, 15 hours prime stable). I checked everything, RAM, removed overclock on video card, updated bios and I was still getting them. The thing that finally got it to stop was using a manual voltage and dropping down to 4.5 GHz at 1.26V since I don't want to have my idle voltage over 1.3 (manual 4.8 GHz at 1.32V is rock solid btw)

So my question is, is overclocking using a manual voltage more stable than using offset?

4.8Ghz at 1.32V load is a nice overclock. Enough to make me suspect it wasn't completely stable. Prime is not the end all stress tester. More GPU load might mean less power regulation to the CPU for example, and Skyrim BSODs.

To answer your question, yes, manual should be slightly more stable than offset.
imo offset is the way to go because the savings using it are too good and it only really affects overclocks above about 4.6Ghz (When you want to start looking at PLL overvoltage and stuff too).

 

[Big Chungus]

My cousin is asking me to build him a PC with a budget of $2000...

This is what I came up with:

Intel Core i7 2600K Quad Core Unlocked Hyperthreading Processor LGA1155 3.4GHZ Sandy Bridge 8MB
ASUS P8Z68 DELUXE/GEN3 Z68 LGA1155 ATX 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI SLI CrossFireX USB3.0 SATA3 Motherboard
Corsair CML8GX3M2A1600C9B Vengeance Bl Lowprofile 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Memory Kit
Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448Cores Limited Edition 1280MB DDR5 2DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card
Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850 CMPSU-850AX 850W ATX Fully Modular 80PLUS Gold Power Supply
OCZ Vertex 3 120GB 2.5IN SATA3 6Gbps Sandforce SF-2281 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD
Samsung SH-S243D/BEBE 24X Black DVD Writer SATA OEM
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 7200.12 1TB SATA 32MB Cache 3.5IN Internal Hard Drive OEM
Corsair Cooling Air Series A70 HIGH-PERFORMANCE DUAL-FAN CPU Cooler LGA1155 LGA1156 LGA1366 AM2 AM3
ASUS Xonar Essence STX PCI-E1 SPDIF Sound Card 124DB SNR W/ Headphone AMP

How does this look?

 

[Hazaro]

Overkill in certain areas I don't think it needs to be.
I'd go with the Enthusiast build, maybe get the PRO board if you REALLY need it.

M4 over Vertex 100%.
16GB of RAM not 8. Low profile 1.5V is good.
Samsung F4 over the Seagate
Better heatsink than an A70
Xonar DG and ST/STX are not too different imo. If your cousin has $200 headphones and amps for other equipment fine, but it's not worth it to the average person by far.
You can keep the AX850/X850 for SLi 580's down the line.

 

[Hylian7]

I currently have an HD5850 that seems to serve me well, but it is kind of unnerving that it's now considered "budget" in the OP (assuming the 6850 is very similar to it). Should I be looking to upgrade soon or not?

If I shouldn't be upgrading, then reccomend me an extremely cheap video card that can do some games decently with the following hardware.

Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 (Overclocked to 3.33GHz)
585W PSU
6GB RAM

This is the remains of my old PC that's going to have a few functions once I get stuff to actually get it working (an PSU for it, etc.). It can be a second PC if anyone were to want to play something with me (TF2, Minecraft, something like that, not anything with crazy system requirements mostly). It will also have a Linux distro installed in a partition of the HDD to function as a Minecraft server (command line only) for me and a few friends that play on it. I may also use it as a TF2 server at LAN parties.

 

[Smokey]

My cousin is asking me to build him a PC with a budget of $2000...

This is what I came up with:

Intel Core i7 2600K Quad Core Unlocked Hyperthreading Processor LGA1155 3.4GHZ Sandy Bridge 8MB
ASUS P8Z68 DELUXE/GEN3 Z68 LGA1155 ATX 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI SLI CrossFireX USB3.0 SATA3 Motherboard
Corsair CML8GX3M2A1600C9B Vengeance Bl Lowprofile 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Memory Kit
Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448Cores Limited Edition 1280MB DDR5 2DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card
Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850 CMPSU-850AX 850W ATX Fully Modular 80PLUS Gold Power Supply
OCZ Vertex 3 120GB 2.5IN SATA3 6Gbps Sandforce SF-2281 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD
Samsung SH-S243D/BEBE 24X Black DVD Writer SATA OEM
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 7200.12 1TB SATA 32MB Cache 3.5IN Internal Hard Drive OEM
Corsair Cooling Air Series A70 HIGH-PERFORMANCE DUAL-FAN CPU Cooler LGA1155 LGA1156 LGA1366 AM2 AM3
ASUS Xonar Essence STX PCI-E1 SPDIF Sound Card 124DB SNR W/ Headphone AMP

How does this look?

If you've got $2,000 to spend and aren't getting a top of the line graphics card you're doing it wrong. Put a GTX 580 in there for him.

 

[Ningo]

bah, accidentally installed my brother's copy of windows 7 prof on my new ssd instead of my copy of home premium and I think the home premium installer is corrupt as it fails after 20%.

Downloading a new installer now to run from a usb, hopefully works.

Seem to vaguely recall going through this charade when I first put this comp together two years ago.

Heres hoping I didn't screw the ssd in this mess.

 

[Tallshortman]

Well, if the $300 AMD 7K series card significantly outperforms the nVidia equivalent (the 560TI above) then it makes sense to wait. If not, then there's no point in waiting. Especially after the disaster called Bulldozer. Blah, I was holding out for that to finally start upgrading/rebuilding my PC too.

I like to stick with AMD since I've never had any issues with them (that includes drivers for the graphics cards) and they tend to be solid as well as cheaper. Bulldozer shot those ideas down and I may just pick up a 2500k & MB to replace my 940 Black Edition Phenom II instead of waiting however long it takes for AMD to get their crap together on the CPU front.

BD has nothing to do with the GPU division. The ATI division has worked as a unit since the acquisition and has been the opposite of the CPU division, actually gaining market share.

 

[mkenyon]

My cousin is asking me to build him a PC with a budget of $2000...

This is what I came up with:

Intel Core i7 2600K Quad Core Unlocked Hyperthreading Processor LGA1155 3.4GHZ Sandy Bridge 8MB
ASUS P8Z68 DELUXE/GEN3 Z68 LGA1155 ATX 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI SLI CrossFireX USB3.0 SATA3 Motherboard
Corsair CML8GX3M2A1600C9B Vengeance Bl Lowprofile 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Memory Kit
Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448Cores Limited Edition 1280MB DDR5 2DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card
Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850 CMPSU-850AX 850W ATX Fully Modular 80PLUS Gold Power Supply
OCZ Vertex 3 120GB 2.5IN SATA3 6Gbps Sandforce SF-2281 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD
Samsung SH-S243D/BEBE 24X Black DVD Writer SATA OEM
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 7200.12 1TB SATA 32MB Cache 3.5IN Internal Hard Drive OEM
Corsair Cooling Air Series A70 HIGH-PERFORMANCE DUAL-FAN CPU Cooler LGA1155 LGA1156 LGA1366 AM2 AM3
ASUS Xonar Essence STX PCI-E1 SPDIF Sound Card 124DB SNR W/ Headphone AMP

How does this look?

If you are planning on a soundcard, don't bother with the Z68 deluxe, go with the V.

Soundcard as Haz pointed out could be downgraded.

Not sure on prices, but with a single card solution on a rig that probably won't be tinkered with, you could do with a X750 or X660 PSU.

Drop the 2600K to 2500K

With money saved, buy a 3GB 580 and a better heatsink.

 

[MedIC86]

Don't worry too much about the block ... difference between the best and "worst" blocks out there is less than 1.5c probably (unless you buy some really vintage stuff ) ... although that Raystorm is good looking of course

I'd like you to back up that statement with a few benchmarks.
I recently replaced my cpu block (the on that came with the XSPC rasa set) for an XSPC raystorm and my temps went from 30 to 22 idle...

 

[Ningo]

So i've got my ssd installed with windows 7 home premium and followed all the tips in op etc.

Just one issue now, I guess I'll have to contact MS CS because when I try to activate my windows 7 key it tells me that the key is only valid for an upgrade install and not a clean install.

I know that is BS as I purchased a full copy and have previously done a clean install, which is on my old hdd which i've used since windows 7 launched.

After all updates and just windows installed I have 100gb free of the 111gb available from my corsair force gt 120gb. That sound about par for the course?

 

[chaosblade]

Well, if the $300 AMD 7K series card significantly outperforms the nVidia equivalent (the 560TI above) then it makes sense to wait. If not, then there's no point in waiting. Especially after the disaster called Bulldozer. Blah, I was holding out for that to finally start upgrading/rebuilding my PC too.

I like to stick with AMD since I've never had any issues with them (that includes drivers for the graphics cards) and they tend to be solid as well as cheaper. Bulldozer shot those ideas down and I may just pick up a 2500k & MB to replace my 940 Black Edition Phenom II instead of waiting however long it takes for AMD to get their crap together on the CPU front.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they launch a 7870 that performs similarly to the 6970/570 in the $250-$300 range. For reference, that would be the successor to a card that's currently about $100 cheaper than my estimation (6870).

 

[Korey]

Man, SSD realllly doesn't seem remotely worth it right now. I checked to see if I could get a really cheap and small one for SSD caching, and the cheapest one is like $60 for 30gb.

 

[chaosblade]

Man, SSD realllly doesn't seem remotely worth it right now. I checked to see if I could get a really cheap and small one for SSD caching, and the cheapest one is like $60 for 30gb.

Nah, if anything SSDs are more worth it than ever due to HDD prices being sky high. You can buy a good 64GB drive like an M4 ($110 from Newegg) for less than the price of a good HDD.

 

[-PXG-]

My cousin is asking me to build him a PC with a budget of $2000...

This is what I came up with:

Intel Core i7 2600K Quad Core Unlocked Hyperthreading Processor LGA1155 3.4GHZ Sandy Bridge 8MB
ASUS P8Z68 DELUXE/GEN3 Z68 LGA1155 ATX 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI SLI CrossFireX USB3.0 SATA3 Motherboard
Corsair CML8GX3M2A1600C9B Vengeance Bl Lowprofile 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Memory Kit
Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448Cores Limited Edition 1280MB DDR5 2DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card
Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850 CMPSU-850AX 850W ATX Fully Modular 80PLUS Gold Power Supply
OCZ Vertex 3 120GB 2.5IN SATA3 6Gbps Sandforce SF-2281 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD
Samsung SH-S243D/BEBE 24X Black DVD Writer SATA OEM
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 7200.12 1TB SATA 32MB Cache 3.5IN Internal Hard Drive OEM
Corsair Cooling Air Series A70 HIGH-PERFORMANCE DUAL-FAN CPU Cooler LGA1155 LGA1156 LGA1366 AM2 AM3
ASUS Xonar Essence STX PCI-E1 SPDIF Sound Card 124DB SNR W/ Headphone AMP

How does this look?

The money you're wasting on the 2600k and the SSD, you could, instead, get better graphics. Go with a smaller SDD, or ditch it altogether. Bump that 560 ti to a 580. Unless he already has a good pair of headphones or a decent sound system, the sound card isn't necessary either.

 

[noire]

Figured out my CPU fan error issue. The low profile cooler uses a larger, lower RPM fan that was spinning under 600 RPM and triggering the mobo alert. Switched the low end alert down to 500 RPM, now everything is running smoothly.

 

[Loxley]

Hey guys, having a problem with my laptop that I was hoping someone may be able to shed some light on. Out of nowhere yesterday, it crashes (first time it's done so since I bought it barely a month ago). So I start it back up and, at first, get this odd error that says "NTLDR is missing".

So I look it up and learned that sometimes that error can appear when a computer is trying to boot off a different HDD than normal, like an external one. So I un-plug my external hard drive and that actually seemed to fix it. It finally booted up and for about ten minutes worked absolutely fine.

Then it crashed again, with no external hard drives connected (in fact, nothing was connected to it except the power cable). This time when it boots up I get a much more blatant error "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key". No matter how many times I bother to restrat it, this error always comes up, and the only possible hard drive it could be reading from is the one inside the laptop itself.

Is my hard drive toast? Or is there any potential way I might be able to tell my computer to boot off the proper drive (I can;t get passed this error screen at all).

If it matters, here's what I'm running on:

Windows 7 (64 bit)
640GB HD
12GB DDR3 1333hz RAM
GeForce GTX 560m
Core i7-2630QM 2.8 GHz

 

[-PXG-]

I never posted my system specs after I built it:

Silverstone Fortress FT03 (black)
ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z
Intel i5 2500k Sandy Bridge
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
2 x EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Superclocked
16 GB RAM (G.SKILL Ripjaws (4 x 4GB))
Samsung Spinpoint 1 TB HDD
Lite-On CD/DVD burner (slot load)
Corsair CMPSU-750TX
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

 

[mkenyon]

I'd like you to back up that statement with a few benchmarks.
I recently replaced my cpu block (the on that came with the XSPC rasa set) for an XSPC raystorm and my temps went from 30 to 22 idle...

May have installed it wrong or had wildly different ambient temps. Additionally, idle temps aren't a very consistent metric.

Here's some charts on the different blocks using the same loops. Certainly not 2 degrees difference between the worst and best, but nothing as extreme as your anecdotal experience. Here's some benches that compare the Rasa and Raystorm directly. With newer designs, the temp differences are more around 2-3 degrees.

Man, SSD realllly doesn't seem remotely worth it right now. I checked to see if I could get a really cheap and small one for SSD caching, and the cheapest one is like $60 for 30gb.

This is what everyone says before they buy one. Once you buy one, it seriously changes you. IMO, its the equivalent in user experience from dial up to early broadband.

 

[Big Chungus]

The money you're wasting on the 2600k and the SSD, you could, instead, get better graphics. Go with a smaller SDD, or ditch it altogether. Bump that 560 ti to a 580. Unless he already has a good pair of headphones or a decent sound system, the sound card isn't necessary either.

The 2500k isnt available from the place i'm buying from (ncix.ca).

This is what's available: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?minorcatid=106

Edit: Wait, the 2500k is i5?

Wouldn't that be slower than an i7?

 

[mkenyon]

The 2500k isnt available from the place i'm buying from (ncix.ca).

This is what's available: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?minorcatid=106

Hunh? I clicked on the 2500K and it doesnt say out of stock. Am I not seeing something?

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=57962&vpn=BX80623I52500K&manufacture=Intel

*edit*
Nope. Only difference is hyperthreading, meaning it takes the 4 cores and splits them into 2 threads each. You'd see benefits in rendering, encoding, and multimedia jazz like that, but that's about it.

 

[Celcius]

I never posted my system specs after I built it:
Silverstone Fortress FT03 (black)
ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z
Intel i5 2500k Sandy Bridge
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
2 x EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Superclocked
16 GB RAM (G.SKILL Ripjaws (4 x 4GB))
Samsung Spinpoint 1 TB HDD
Lite-On CD/DVD burner (slot load)
Corsair CMPSU-750TX
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Did you take any pictures? Congrats

 

[Kiyamon]

• Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $115 (Thinking of dropping the SSD and waiting for a larger dirve to be more affordable)
• Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K - $215
• GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $130
• EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - $250
• Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan $50 (Bought for $42 w/coupon)
• Seagate Barracuda 1 TB 7200 RPM 3.5" Hard Drive - $55 (now $150) (Decided to turn external 1TB into internal)
• CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply - $90 (Bought $70AR)
• G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL - $45 (Bought $30)
• Asus 24x DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD+/-R Burner - $20 (Bought $18)
• Windows 7 Pro - $130 (Bought $120)

Ok, some questions that I have been unable to get answered via the tech forums and internet:

How easy is it to convert an external drive into an internal? The drive is 1TB 7200RPM, I bought about 2 years ago and I am aware that opening the case voids the warranty. I got a great deal at Staples on a portable 1TB drive for $50, so I now have a replacement. So is it worth it? I wanted to get an SSD but I am thinking I can always get one in the next few months and do a then do a transfer. I want to wait until I can get a Crucial 128GB SSD for around $150.

I have the Gigabyte MB on my list. One of the things I want my PC to be is upgradable. So I am planning in a few years to go SLI (again buy another 560Ti when at $150). The other option I would like is upgrading the processor in a year to year and a half, as I know the Ivy Bridge are coming in Spring. So will the Ivy Bridge processors work on any 1155 motherboard or would an motherboard like an ASRock Gen3 motherboard be a better option?

Thanks.

 

[Hazaro]

Ok, some questions that I have been unable to get answered via the tech forums and internet:

How easy is it to convert an external drive into an internal? The drive is 1TB 7200RPM, I bought about 2 years ago and I am aware that opening the case voids the warranty. I got a great deal at Staples on a portable 1TB drive for $50, so I now have a replacement. So is it worth it? I wanted to get an SSD but I am thinking I can always get one in the next few months and do a then do a transfer. I want to wait until I can get a Crucial 128GB SSD for around $150.

I have the Gigabyte MB on my list. One of the things I want my PC to be is upgradable. So I am planning in a few years to go SLI (again buy another 560Ti when at $150). The other option I would like is upgrading the processor in a year to year and a half, as I know the Ivy Bridge are coming in Spring. So will the Ivy Bridge processors work on any 1155 motherboard or would an motherboard like an ASRock Gen3 motherboard be a better option?

Thanks.

Most exterals are an internal drive with an adapter (SATA to USB). There are rare cases with ones that are soldered on and don't come off, but most just slip on and off. Most designs have you break the case to get the drive out though since it is super cheap crappy plastic.

Don't even plan on SLi in a few years. A single card for $200 will have twice the performance and half the power draw of two cards. Dual cards is for when you are spending $500+ now.

Any 1155 should work with Ivy Bridge.

 

[-PXG-]

Did you take any pictures? Congrats

I have pics of it while it was being built, but none of the complete product. Plus, I don't have a SD card slot , so I wouldn't be able to upload my pics anyway.

 

[snoopen]

bah, accidentally installed my brother's copy of windows 7 prof on my new ssd instead of my copy of home premium and I think the home premium installer is corrupt as it fails after 20%.

Downloading a new installer now to run from a usb, hopefully works.

Seem to vaguely recall going through this charade when I first put this comp together two years ago.

Heres hoping I didn't screw the ssd in this mess.

Could be this -

http://forum.acronis.com/forum/3697

My new SSD required me to run these commands before installing w7 properly (not failing).

 

[Blackheim]

BD has nothing to do with the GPU division. The ATI division has worked as a unit since the acquisition and has been the opposite of the CPU division, actually gaining market share.

I'm aware I was at work trying to squeeze a post in between a bunch of other crap and couldn't afford to the time to make the delineation between the two branches. Regardless, the whole Bulldozer thing has left a pretty sour taste and I hope the GPU division can keep up the strides they have been making, especially since they are trying to bring out 28nm chips.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they launch a 7870 that performs similarly to the 6970/570 in the $250-$300 range. For reference, that would be the successor to a card that's currently about $100 cheaper than my estimation (6870).

I guess I'll just hold off and see how things come together, though I'll probably grab a 2500K relatively soon instead of waiting for AMD this go 'round.

 

[n0n44m]

I'd like you to back up that statement with a few benchmarks.
I recently replaced my cpu block (the on that came with the XSPC rasa set) for an XSPC raystorm and my temps went from 30 to 22 idle...

never go by idle, and without knowing your watertemp and flowrate comparisons are vague at best anyway

but take a look here at the last two graphs ; it doesn't contain all contemporary blocks but (aside from the "vintage" EK Supreme V1) all blocks perform within 2c of each other ... so even if the Rasa is the worst of the modern blocks, it'll allow you to overclock just as well on pretty much any cpu out there as a Raystorm would

just choose your block based on price, restriction, ease of installation, compatibility and looks ... any modern block should perform well enough get more radiator(s) if you want significantly better temps