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[Mr Nightman]

I'm running a Core 2 duo 6600. 2.4 ghz with a 4870. You think I'm in the same boat?

Really no where near as close man, a pentium 4 is a single core cpu, while yours is a dual core. Dual cores still do fine for gaming, except for cpu dependent games such as battlefield bad co 2. Other than those types you should be fine

 

[TheExodu5]

Not to mention 1.8GHz C2D's were basically twice as fast as 3GHz Pentium D's, even with the same amount of cores. Pentium 4's are really slow.

 

[cackhyena]

Really no where near as close man, a pentium 4 is a single core cpu, while yours is a dual core. Dual cores still do fine for gaming, except for cpu dependent games such as battlefield bad co 2. Other than those types you should be fine

Ah, thanks for the info. I'll still be glad to get that 2500k in the next couple months and feel caught up.

 

[BigAT]

Bah, for the new page:

I was just looking around in BIOS and noticed that my DRAM voltage is automatically being set to 1.65V even though my RAM is rated for 1.5V. Should I leave it how it is at auto 1.65V or manually set it for 1.5V?

 

[mkenyon]

I was just looking around in BIOS and noticed that my DRAM voltage is automatically being set to 1.65V even though my RAM is rated for 1.5V. Should I leave it how it is at auto 1.65V or manually set it for 1.5V?

Manually set it to 1.5.

 

[Futurevoid]

Ok, the mini-saga continues.

- As noted before, the first stick of RAM errored out like crazy. I powered off and tested the other stick of RAM in the same RAM Lane. The test is about to complete its second pass and I've gotten no errors at all. It seems like this stick is passing the testing.

I'm going to let it run for a third pass as was suggested. Then I'm going to pop it out and test it in the second dual channel lane to make sure that passes and that connection on the motherboard is operating as it should. If so, I'm going to run the system in single channel 4GB configuration for the weekend and see if Windows stabilizes. If it does, it looks like one bad stick of RAM was the culprit here. Is that a fair assumption to make with the testing I've done?

One last question. The Asrock mobo automatically detects the RAM fequency at 1333. These DDR3 1600 chips so I manually changed them in the BIOS to that. Is that correct? The memory controller is on the chip now right? I just want to make sure I'm not overclocking the RAM without being aware of it. The reason I ask is in memtest its saying for memory SPD Information:

- Slot 0 : 4096 MB PC3-10600 - G Skill Intl F-12800CL9-4GBSR *XMP*

Shouldn't it say PC3-12800?

 

[mkenyon]

Yeah, you generally have to set the speed of your RAM.

 

[cackhyena]

I never set anything when I installed more a couple years ago. Where would i look to do that? Or should I even bother?

 

[GhostRidah]

This is not new pc territory but was wonder if anyone here knows the current best internal 2tb hd? Something under $100 I dont like externals because from what I see, they tend to fail a lot more. I am just trying to get some space for this steam summer sale.

 

[mkenyon]

I never set anything when I installed more a couple years ago. Where would i look to do that? Or should I even bother?

In BIOS. Your mobo manual will have the exact location if you cant find it in there.

This is not new pc territory but was wonder if anyone here knows the current best internal 2tb hd? Something under $100 I dont like externals because from what I see, they tend to fail a lot more. I am just trying to get some space for this steam summer sale.

Spinpoint F4.

 

[Movement]

Finally got everything working. It is such a relief after spending $1500, having everything working. I guess the mobo was grounding to something to the back of case before.

 

[GhostRidah]

Spinpoint F4.

That was fast, thanks man.

 

[Futurevoid]

..and done. I'm pretty confident this is down to one bad stick of RAM. I removed the good stick that tested out fine and put the bad one back in to test the second dual channel lane. Memtest barely got to the 3rd test before it popped up 5k errors and completely froze up. Moved the good stick into the second lane and it's almost done with its second pass. No errors at all.

Time to run this in single channel mode over the weekend. A little ticked to get a bad stick of RAM but I'll take it over another motherboard problem or something more serious. I'll put an RMA in with newegg.com on Monday if everything checks out.

Again, a big THANK YOU to everyone that helped. You guys have been amazing in helping me out.

 

[black_vegeta]

Finally got everything working. It is such a relief after spending $1500, having everything working. I guess the mobo was grounding to something to the back of case before.

Was the motherboard sitting on the standoffs or the case itself?

 

[Kadey]

What would be more beneficial to watching a stream? More ram or better processor?

 

[R2D4]

What would be more beneficial to watching a stream? More ram or better processor?

Better internet.

 

[AwesomeSauce]

What would be more beneficial to watching a stream? More ram or better processor?

Better Internet and processor.

 

[hypernima]

In that build I posted would it just be worth it to i5 and tweak that instead?

 

[dgenx]

So i decided to upgrade my rig to :

- i7 @3,4 2600
- 8 gigs ram ( corsair with heatsink)
- gigabyte mobo ( p67)
- gtx 460
- psu 550

Thoughts?

 

[vilmer_]

So i decided to upgrade my rig to :

- i7 @3,4 2600
- 8 gigs ram ( corsair with heatsink)
- gigabyte mobo ( p67)
- gtx 460
- psu 550

Thoughts?

I would save the extra money on the cpu and get a 2500k. Put the extra cash towards a gtx 560ti or 570

 

[Movement]

Was the motherboard sitting on the standoffs or the case itself?

Oh no, it was on the standoffs, just one of the standoffs came up a little and wasn't all the way down. That's all I can guess was the problem. Then the problem with the VGA LED was that I forgot to plug the PCI_E plugs in...stupid lol. And then one of the RAM sticks they sent me doesn't work so I'm RMA'ing those and getting some new ones from Best Buy or something.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

you have the OS right?

Yep. windows7.

 

[Movement]

I would save the extra money on the cpu and get a 2500k. Put the extra cash towards a gtx 560ti or 570

Definitely agree. You can overclock the 2500k to well over 4ghz and the 570 is a beast. Maybe even do dual 570's

 

[ColonialRaptor]

I'm about to flash my two 6950's to 6970's and unlock the shaders and upgrade the power in them...

Anyone else around here done this? How hard is it? I'm reading the TechPowerUp article at the moment... any tips?

 

[Horsemama1956]

Your 6950s have the dual bios switch, right?

 

[momolicious]

quick question! The HD audio cable from the case doesnt plug all the way into my asrock motherboard, is that normally supposed to go about halfway in? its kind of flimsy. Even the USB case cables to the USB slot doesnt stick in place, its flimsy... this is from CM 690 case to asrock board.

 

[ColonialRaptor]

Your 6950s have the dual bios switch, right?

Yeah

 

[Saren is Bad]

Got my 580 SLI. Fuckers are hot as hell, 90 C at load.

Don't know how to feel about that. Granted I'm in a room right now with 4 other computers and a lot higher ambient temp than normal.

What's a normal temp for this setup?

 

[RumblingRosco]

No, but why would you want to? It's better to use offset and decrease voltages while not under load.

Sorry for the slow reply. It seems the Asrock P67 Pro3 board does not allow you to set an offset voltage without leaving the "fixed" voltage on auto, meaning that my voltage will spike as high as 1.420 under Prime95 even at 4.2 Ghz, where as I can set a fixed voltage in the mid-to-upper 1.2xx's and be stable at that even under 100% load. I tried running various +/- offsets to try and keep that spiking down, but it continues to get excessively high under load.

 

[Smokey]

Got my 580 SLI. Fuckers are hot as hell, 90 C at load.

Don't know how to feel about that. Granted I'm in a room right now with 4 other computers and a lot higher ambient temp than normal.

What's a normal temp for this setup?

Which 580s?

 

[Saren is Bad]

Which 580s?

EVGA SC's

Edit: but damnit Witcher 2 at 60 fps locked on Ultra, no uber is wetness

 

[knitoe]

Sorry for the slow reply. It seems the Asrock P67 Pro3 board does not allow you to set an offset voltage without leaving the "fixed" voltage on auto, meaning that my voltage will spike as high as 1.420 under Prime95 even at 4.2 Ghz, where as I can set a fixed voltage in the mid-to-upper 1.2xx's and be stable at that even under 100% load. I tried running various +/- offsets to try and keep that spiking down, but it continues to get excessively high under load.

I am not familiar with the Asrock MBs. Maybe, there are other settings that add voltages when the CPU is under load. On my Asus boards, they are Line Calibrations, Internal CPU PLL and etc. If you have something similar, try disabling them or run them at lowest/default settings. Then, use offset.

 

[knitoe]

I'm about to flash my two 6950's to 6970's and unlock the shaders and upgrade the power in them...

Anyone else around here done this? How hard is it? I'm reading the TechPowerUp article at the moment... any tips?

I just unlock the shaders and overclock. Prefer not to up the voltages.

If you want to do that, save your current bios with atiflash, run a batch file to mod your bios, and then, reflash your card with the mod bios with atiflash.

Batch file: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=40916&d=1299190853

 

[RumblingRosco]

I am not familiar with the Asrock MBs. Maybe, there are other settings that add voltages when the CPU is under load. On my Asus boards, they are Line Calibrations, Internal CPU PLL and etc. If you have something similar, try disabling them or run them at lowest/default settings. Then, use offset.

Line Calibrations are disabled if I switch voltage to either fixed or offset; I can only adjust the line calibrations when I set voltage to Automatic. There is PLL Overvoltage which I can Disable or set to Auto. Really, I actually think the Pro3 board is just highly limited for overclocking.

 

[Hawk269]

Got my 580 SLI. Fuckers are hot as hell, 90 C at load.

Don't know how to feel about that. Granted I'm in a room right now with 4 other computers and a lot higher ambient temp than normal.

What's a normal temp for this setup?

That is a little high. My highest temp ever was about 82c and that was after about 8 runs of Uniengine which was maxing them close to 97% load on average. Most games dont cause the GPU's to be taxed that high, some do though...but for gaming, the highest temp I have had on my 580's is about 78c.

Do you have a custom fan profile setup yet?

 

[ColonialRaptor]

So I flashed my 6950's to 6970s and ran a 3D Mark 11 benchmark test and I actually achieved a LOWER score... lol!!

What that? I don't know what's up with that, but I'm going to try and work it out, something must be up... maybe I need to reboot or something because it's the first time I booted since I installed both cards since flashing them and things, but I'm overclocking them at the moment... will see how it all goes. They seem to be coping fairly well though - I'm just hoping that there actually is some sort of performance increase from all this mucking about haha!

 

[n0n44m]

For 580 SLI on air it's all about airflow in your case. The EVGA SC's have the reference cooler which outputs most air out of the back, so it's not getting enough fresh air somehow?

if one of them is significantly hotter than the other then it's usually the top card getting blocked by the bottom card and not having enough space to breath

if both of them are hot, you'll need more fresh air into the GPU area of your case

you'll want to add either/both a fan at the sidepanel and one at the bottom front (on the HDD rack for instance) to give them some cool air. Best is probably if you can tie-wrap some 120mm fan to blow straight between both cards, giving airflow on both sides of each card

to test this assumption just run a benchmark to get them hot, meanwhile open the side panel and aim a large table fan at low setting at the side of your pc

edit: ofcourse if your ambient temps are 30c your cards will be 10c hotter than someone with the same setup and 20c ambient ... and boy does a 580 SLI heat up your room

 

[Kole_Koiott]

Could someone take a look at this configuration -


Cooler master 690 II Advanced Midi Tower Full AL chassis.

MSI P67A-GD65 B3 P67 S1155 ATX.

INTEL CORE I5 2500K 3.3GHz 6M S1155 BX80623I52500K SR008 BOX.

Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 Heatpipe Cooler 120mm.

Crucial RealSSD 64GB m4 2.5" with data transfer kit.

SAMSUNG F3 1TB 3.5" SATA2 7200RPM 32MB HD103SJ.

MSI HD6970 2GB GDDR5 PCIE16 256B R6970-2PM2D2GD5.

SAMSUNG SH-222AB/BEBE DVD-RW/ 22x DVD+R/ SATA.

CORSAIR DDR3-1600 2*4G CL9 KIT XMS3+CHS CMX8GX3M2A1600C9.

CORSAIR PSU 750W 14CM ATX12V2.3 CMPSU-750HXEU.


Is this system well balanced? I'm not so sure about the graphics card, or would the 6950 2GB suffice? I'm playing on 1920x1200 resolution.

 

[Kyaw]

Any particular reason why you are going for the Xigmatek Gaia?

A Coolermaster Hyper 212+ would be a better choice.

 

[Kole_Koiott]

Unfortunately that coolermaster is not available at my store, is the Xigmatek Gaia such a bad choice?

 

[froliq]

Could someone take a look at this configuration -


Cooler master 690 II Advanced Midi Tower Full AL chassis.

MSI P67A-GD65 B3 P67 S1155 ATX.

INTEL CORE I5 2500K 3.3GHz 6M S1155 BX80623I52500K SR008 BOX.

Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 Heatpipe Cooler 120mm.

Crucial RealSSD 64GB m4 2.5" with data transfer kit.

SAMSUNG F3 1TB 3.5" SATA2 7200RPM 32MB HD103SJ.

MSI HD6970 2GB GDDR5 PCIE16 256B R6970-2PM2D2GD5.

SAMSUNG SH-222AB/BEBE DVD-RW/ 22x DVD+R/ SATA.

CORSAIR DDR3-1600 2*4G CL9 KIT XMS3+CHS CMX8GX3M2A1600C9.

CORSAIR PSU 750W 14CM ATX12V2.3 CMPSU-750HXEU.


Is this system well balanced? I'm not so sure about the graphics card, or would the 6950 2GB suffice? I'm playing on 1920x1200 resolution.

All looks good to me.

Though many people here seem to like the 6950 2GB since they can flash it to a 6970. Saving some money on that. I have no idea how that works or if it works for all cards, but if you decide to go that route then you could use that saved money to a bigger SSD.

 

[RS4-]

So I flashed my 6950's to 6970s and ran a 3D Mark 11 benchmark test and I actually achieved a LOWER score... lol!!

What that? I don't know what's up with that, but I'm going to try and work it out, something must be up... maybe I need to reboot or something because it's the first time I booted since I installed both cards since flashing them and things, but I'm overclocking them at the moment... will see how it all goes. They seem to be coping fairly well though - I'm just hoping that there actually is some sort of performance increase from all this mucking about haha!

what brand are they? I'm still trying to figure out why I can't do the shaders on mine as flashing still only gave me new clock speeds lol.

 

[Hazaro]

Big install / pic post sometime later. Someone should tell me if these AX6950 can even unlock (They aren't the PCS ++ version). They have the dual BIOS switch at least!
Time to crash and sleep. Also I am very proud of my colored fan picture.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Nice Hazaro! You have too much money to spend on your PC and I hate you for it.

 

[Hazaro]

Nice Hazaro! You have too much money to spend on your PC and I hate you for it.

I'm pretty sparse with my upgrades.
Today was a big day.

 

[Celcius]

I regretted selling my 700D last year and I never really liked the looks of my Raven 2 case, so yesterday I finally picked up an 800D. Here's what the rig looks like at the moment:

specs:
Core i7 930 @ 4Ghz (20x200, 1.3v)
Noctua NH-D14
Asus Rampage 3 Extreme
6GB Corsair Dominator
EVGA GTX 580 w/ Backplate & High-Flow Bracket
Corsair HX 850w
Intel 320 Series 120GB SSD
250GB Seagate Barracuda
X-Fi Titanium HD

Today I'll order fans and a black x360 controller, then next weekend I'll buy another hdd to backup my data and I'll be set.

 

[Wallach]

Looks gorgeous, celcius.

 

[vexvegaz]

cel, that case is begging for water cooling

 

[MisterNoisy]

Unfortunately that coolermaster is not available at my store, is the Xigmatek Gaia such a bad choice?

Absolutely not. The two are very comparable, and in my opinion, the Gaia is easier to install. The only thing really holding the Gaia back relative to the Hyper 212 is the fan - Xigmatek ships a 1500 RPM fan with the Gaia, whereas CM ships a 2000 RPM unit with the Hyper 212, and fans are easy to replace if you find that you need more oomph down the road.

I regretted selling my 700D last year and I never really liked the looks of my Raven 2 case, so yesterday I finally picked up an 800D. Here's what the rig looks like at the moment:

http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt277/vocelcius/insidetemp.jpg

specs:
Core i7 930 @ 4Ghz (20x200, 1.3v)
Noctua NH-D14
Asus Rampage 3 Extreme
6GB Corsair Dominator
EVGA GTX 580 w/ Backplate & High-Flow Bracket
Corsair HX 850w
Intel 320 Series 120GB SSD
250GB Seagate Barracuda
X-Fi Titanium HD

Today I'll order fans and a black x360 controller, then next weekend I'll buy another hdd to backup my data and I'll be set.

Nice case!

 

[milkham]

hello pc gaf, i was wondering if you guys could give me some buying advice.
I'm currently running a core 2 duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz, GeForce 8800GT 512MB and 6 gigs of ram. I've been wanting to upgrade my video card especially now that I'm running a 1920x1200 monitor but I'm not sure what to get. I don't want to waste money getting a card that will end up being cpu limited. What should I get?