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[ParityBit]

Anyone? I've been reading and it seems that the Intel 520 and Samsung SSD830 might be amongst the best. Not sure if any others should be considered instead?

I just picked up the Samsung 830 for my new build. I am still waiting for it to be delivered with the rest of my parts, but it was recommended by a lot of people.

 

[cilonen]

I suppose Bus Interface should be x16 @ x16?

Have you shifted the card down to a lower (further away from the processor socket) PCI-E slot? IIRC on my P8Z68-V Gen3 Pro only the top slot is at 16x, the next long PCI-E where you'd fit an SLI or crossfired card is 8x I think, and the third one is something like 4x.

 

[cilonen]

Anyone? I've been reading and it seems that the Intel 520 and Samsung SSD830 might be amongst the best. Not sure if any others should be considered instead?

Crucial M4's are good. Not sure if they've been superceded in the last couple of months but I'm really happy with mine.

 

[t-ramp]

I suppose Bus Interface should be x16 @ x16?

I would think it should be PCI-e x16 2.0 @ x16 or something like that...

Crucial M4's are good. Not sure if they've been superceded in the last couple of months but I'm really happy with mine.

Several months ago it definitely was one of the most recommended from what I saw. I had a 128GB for a while and it was excellent.

 

[Sarcasm]

So I pretty much sold my soul on getting a PC. Wife handles all the money in return she will get me parts asap.

Guess I will go really over kill than. i7 and stuff.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

So I pretty much sold my soul on getting a PC. Wife handles all the money in return she will get me parts asap.

Guess I will go really over kill than. i7 and stuff.

oh man

 

[Sarcasm]

oh man

I know. But I get to get a TV with it too! Get a comfy bed experience going on.

 

[blackprophesy]

I suppose Bus Interface should be x16 @ x16?

Mine changes on the fly depending on demand. I can sit there and watch it change from 2.0x16 to 1.1x16 and back. Try running a game in windowed mode and see if it changes.

 

[EphemeralDream]

Unfortunately, I do not. Just looking for the cheapest and quickest way to get W7.

You could also download the Windows8 consumer preview for free although I'm not sure if users are having stability issues with it or not.

 

[Psychotext]

Thanks for the SSD suggestions. Will bite the bullet soon!

 

[Desaan]

Thanks for the SSD suggestions. Will bite the bullet soon!

Will be the best upgrade you could ever imagine.

Edit: 128GB is more than enough for a SSD. Put OS on it and a few choice games, move games off when done.

 

[sk3tch]

Will be the best upgrade you could ever imagine.

Edit: 128GB is more than enough for a SSD. Put OS on it and a few choice games, move games off when done.

One thing to consider is the performance difference. 240GB+ (well 180GB+ in the Intel 520's case) performs better than the smaller sizes.

 

[Psychotext]

Will be the best upgrade you could ever imagine.

Edit: 128GB is more than enough for a SSD. Put OS on it and a few choice games, move games off when done.

I already have one on my main machine (160gb), and it's barely enough there even with a server storing files and a secondary (non SSD) hard drive in the machine.

I have a shitload of development related stuff installed which will easily fill up 80gb before I even start on anything game / media related. Obviously not such a problem on a PC as I can have as many drives as I like. Bigger issue on a laptop.

 

[Gritesh]

Well like I said earlier I bought a 7870 last night but this morning I was checking my local store and they put a 7950 on sale for 30 dollars more then the 7870 so it looks like after work today I will be dropping in to return my 7870 and get the 7950 instead

 

[Desaan]

One thing to consider is the performance difference. 240GB+ (well 180GB+ in the Intel 520's case) performs better than the smaller sizes.

Yeah there is that, but I guess that depends on how much you're willing to spend and to be honest unless your benchmarking the crap out of the SSD those differences aren't going to be noticeable in every day usage.

The sheer peak performance, and then the sustained performance throughout of the SSD is ridiculously fast. If you put a drive like this into your SATA 3 compatible laptop or SATA 3 compatible PC, you'll have no idea what is about to hit you.

I'd love to have a bigger SSD drive as well, I only use a 120gb one myself with 2 500gb raid 0's in reserve and a 1TB storage drive but the price structure of SSD's has barely changed enough to warrant dropping more cash into a larger drive. Not so much a problem on a desktop but it can get pricey when upgrading a laptop because then you'll probably want the most bang for your buck and you're never sure when to bite

 

[Sendou]

Mine changes on the fly depending on demand. I can sit there and watch it change from 2.0x16 to 1.1x16 and back. Try running a game in windowed mode and see if it changes.

Well I tried and it didn't change. So did I somehow manage to put the GPU to wrong slot? I have no other PCI-e devices. Also I did some monitoring with Evga PrecisionX and GPU clock is stable and right. Memory clock is also stable but it's only half of that what the GTX 680 is capable (3000MHz vs. reported 6000MHz). What's up with that? Temps were around 60c @ 30% fan speed.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure I used PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode) slot insted of PCIe 2.0 x16. Going to change that and see what happens. (Hopefully something good...)

EDIT2: Changed the slot and that did it! Thanks for help everybody!

 

[I H8 Memes]

Memory is double data rate. It will always show half.

 

[sk3]

Do any of you use encryption on your SSD drives? Ever since my house was broken into I'm super paranoid and want to run full disk encryption on any OS drive I have. But SSDs don't play nice with FDE and the only drives that use hardware encryption (Intel, Samsung OEM) are shaky at best.

Has anyone solved this issue? Or does no one use encryption on SSDs? It seems like we are going backwards technology-wise on that issue when we need it now more than ever.

 

[Lion Heart]

Tax return....geeeettt.

I'm thinking of buying a GPU and monitor. Not sure yet but I'm casually checking out daily deals. Is a 6870 a piece of shit now?

For Dual channel RAM, does the slot order matter? I have 2 sticks on RAM- open- RAM- open- right now.

 

[Jomjom]

Just ordered a OCZ Agility 3 60gb SSD from Newegg. I'm going to be adding this to my laptop. Unfortunately, this will be my first experience with an SSD and I have no idea where to begin.

I currently have a 500gb HDD with both Steam and non-Steam games. The Steam games are easy as I can just redownload them, but many of my non-Steam games are old and had to be patched/modded extensively (System Shock, Freespace, etc.). I don't really want to spend an entire weekend figuring out how to mod/patch these again. I'm only looking to move over my Windows 7, MS Office, and Adobe Acrobat over to the new SSD, while keeping everything else on this SATA drive.

What's my best option guys?

 

[th3dude]

Just ordered a OCZ Agility 3 60gb SSD from Newegg. I'm going to be adding this to my laptop. Unfortunately, this will be my first experience with an SSD and I have no idea where to begin.

I currently have a 500gb HDD with both Steam and non-Steam games. I'm only looking to move over my Windows 7, MS Office, and Adobe Acrobat over to the new SSD, while keeping everything else on this SATA drive.

Many of my games have been modded because they are pretty old (Freespace, Max Payne, etc. etc. in order to play on Windows 7). I don't really want to go through researching how to patch/mod them again.

What's my best option guys?

By 'adding it to your laptop' do you mean that you'll have both the HDD and the SDD in there?

 

[Jomjom]

By 'adding it to your laptop' do you mean that you'll have both the HDD and the SDD in there?

Yes I have the XPS 17 from Dell which has 2 HD bays. It's really just a desktop with limited portability when I need it, so i don't mind the extra weight.

So I'm planning on running W7, MS Office, Adobe Acrobat, and maybe 1 game like Swtor on the SSD, while everything else is going to remain on the 500gb SATA HDD.

 

[Edvardelis]

For Dual channel RAM, does the slot order matter? I have 2 sticks on RAM- open- RAM- open- right now.

The manual for the motherboard will tell you.

You'd think, for example, for ASUS motherboards that slot A1 and B1 (black) are supposed to be filled first since that's how they are labeled but the manual says to fill A2 and B2 (blue) first.

 

[Hawk269]

Click the start menu, then right-click "Computer" and choose "Manage". On the screen that comes up, in the left column click on "Disk Management" (it's under the "Storage" menu). It should come up with a screen that looks similar to this (click & hold to embiggen):

Can you post a screen of yours? It sounds like it can't see a partition of the disk, and this will show your partitions. If it is that we can advise you on how to fix it

Thanks for that. I was able to fix the issue. Thread delivers..once again!!!

 

[Hazaro]

Tax return....geeeettt.

I'm thinking of buying a GPU and monitor. Not sure yet but I'm casually checking out daily deals. Is a 6870 a piece of shit now?

6870 is still a great card.

If you are looking for upgrades wait till end of month when 670/670Ti should be out and AMD lowers their prices. Hopefully.

 

[Hawk269]

I have some disturbingly low fps with my new rig.

Specs are:
EVGA GTX 680 2GB (with 301.10 drivers)
Intel Core i5 2500k 3.3GHZ
Asus P8Z68-V LX Motherboard
Corsair 2x4gb DDR3 1333MHz
Super Flower Golden Green Modular 600W

I did some testing and with Just Cause 2 everything maxed out but AA=8x and AF=16x I got an average of 27.2 fps with built-in benchmark.

Heaven 3.0:

I played the opening sequence on Skyrim with everything maxed out and I don't think I never exceeded 40 fps mark.

So is there anything I could try? These numbers cannot be normal, right?

They are not normal. Something is wrong. My non-overclocked single 680 pulls around a 48fps in unigine 3.0 and that is at 1080p and tessalation at extreme. You have yours at normal albeit at 1920x1200 which is slightly higher than 1929x1080, but your score should be alot higher. I also ran the cpu task manager while running and Unigine hardly uses the CPU at all, it is much more GPU dependent.

A few things....use precision x from evga and set it up to show the gpu power, usage, mhz and heat an re-run the test's. It sounds like your card is not kicking into high gear and is running at low clock speed based on your score.

 

[mkenyon]

Check if speedstepping is enabled too, or just have CPU-Z running while doing the bench. Your CPU might be underclocking itself.

 

[Haint]

The standard price for Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit is 99.99 at Newegg (free shipping). It's been cheaper before, but that's pretty much the ceiling for what he needs to pay.

That's the OEM version, but if he ever needs to reset the license for a new build, it's really easy to do with the automated system.

I was under the impression OEM copies of Windows weren't really resettable--that they were tied to the mobo.

 

[t-ramp]

They are not normal. Something is wrong. My non-overclocked single 680 pulls around a 48fps in unigine 3.0 and that is at 1080p and tessalation at extreme. You have yours at normal albeit at 1920x1200 which is slightly higher than 1929x1080, but your score should be alot higher. I also ran the cpu task manager while running and Unigine hardly uses the CPU at all, it is much more GPU dependent.

A few things....use precision x from evga and set it up to show the gpu power, usage, mhz and heat an re-run the test's. It sounds like your card is not kicking into high gear and is running at low clock speed based on your score.

Check if speedstepping is enabled too, or just have CPU-Z running while doing the bench. Your CPU might be underclocking itself.

I think he just had his card in a x4 PCI-e x16 slot, which has been remedied.

I was under the impression OEM copies of Windows weren't really resettable--that they were tied to the mobo.

From what I hear Microsoft is pretty cool about this sort of thing.

 

[Hawk269]

I was under the impression OEM copies of Windows weren't really resettable--that they were tied to the mobo.

You will be fine. I have re-installed my same copy of Windows on 4 different Mobo's now. Today, I did get a "failed to authenticate", but I just called the number and they set me up and all it good now. No need to worry about it. If you have an issue, there are step by step instructions within windows on what to do.

The only issue they will have is if the same copy of windows is on multiple computers that are logging into the net as it will check for that. If you are building, then rebuilding etc. like many of us have done, you will be fine with your OEM version.

 

[Haint]

From what I hear Microsoft is pretty cool about this sort of thing.

Personally, I don't think this is a dice I would roll if I knew I was going to be upgrade a mobo under the same OS. Legally and officially, MS is very much against resetting OEM copies AFAIK. They're probably "good" about releasing the license within the first few days or months (i.e. giving the benefit of the doubt to faulty components), but I'd be very surprised if they do this 6 months or a year+ down the road for a completely different socket.

 

[Hawk269]

They are not normal. Something is wrong. My non-overclocked single 680 pulls around a 48fps in unigine 3.0 and that is at 1080p and tessalation at extreme. You have yours at normal albeit at 1920x1200 which is slightly higher than 1929x1080, but your score should be alot higher. I also ran the cpu task manager while running and Unigine hardly uses the CPU at all, it is much more GPU dependent.

A few things....use precision x from evga and set it up to show the gpu power, usage, mhz and heat an re-run the test's. It sounds like your card is not kicking into high gear and is running at low clock speed based on your score.

Also, run your Unigine tests are full max settings, 8xaa, max tessalation etc. Almost everyone runs it at max, then this way you can see if your numbers are off.

 

[Hawk269]

Personally, I don't think this is a dice I would roll if I knew I was going to be upgrade a mobo under the same OS. Legally and officially, MS is very much against resetting OEM copies AFAIK. They're probably "good" about releasing the license within the first few days or months (i.e. giving the benefit of the doubt to faulty components), but I'd be very surprised if they do this 6 months or a year+ down the road for a completely different socket.

I have had my copy of Win7 OEM for about 1 1/2 years and in that time frame I have put it onto 4 different mobo's. Started with a AMD build, then went Intel, then upgraded the intel mobo and now a x79 build and no issues with MS and Windows.

 

[Haint]

I have had my copy of Win7 OEM for about 1 1/2 years and in that time frame I have put it onto 4 different mobo's. Started with a AMD build, then went Intel, then upgraded the intel mobo and now a x79 build and no issues with MS and Windows.

That's good to know, hopefully others have the same luck. If they're that lax about it I would prefer they update the license agreement with a single builder clause or something that officially spelled it out.

 

[fallagin]

For some reason the front usb 3.0 ports on my new computer aren't working. The ones on the back work fine and the usb 2.0 ports on the front work as well. I have the usb 3.0 drivers installed from the motherboard driver disk.

The motherboard is an ASUS P8Z68-V LX -- Lucid Virtu Technology. I read somewhere that the intel z68 sometimes disables 3.0 ports on some PCIE slots? If anyone could help me figure out how to fix this(or if I even should fix it) that would be a huge help! Thank you!

 

[mkenyon]

Did you plug them in to the USB 3.0 header on your motherboard?

*edit*

Its the circled one.

 

[t-ramp]

Personally, I don't think this is a dice I would roll if I knew I was going to be upgrade a mobo under the same OS. Legally and officially, MS is very much against resetting OEM copies AFAIK. They're probably "good" about releasing the license within the first few days or months (i.e. giving the benefit of the doubt to faulty components), but I'd be very surprised if they do this 6 months or a year+ down the road for a completely different socket.

That's good to know, hopefully others have the same luck. If they're that lax about it I would prefer they update the license agreement with a single builder clause or something that officially spelled it out.

Yeah, I agree. One of my two Windows 7 keys seems to have stopped working, so I'll probably be giving Microsoft a call in the near future to see if I can fix that. But I know I've used that same key when installing on a few versions of my desktop PC, so there does seem to be some vagueness regarding the usage of keys.

 

[1-D_FTW]

I was under the impression OEM copies of Windows weren't really resettable--that they were tied to the mobo.

It's already been answered, but when I recycled my OEM key last month, I had to call MS automatated 1-800 number. All I had to do was enter the 54 digit code they put on my screen and then type in the new 54 digits it read off to me. So worst case scenario (it doesn't auto-regenerate), it's still pretty painless to do.

EDIT: My license was over a year old and a completely new socket.

 

[Jomjom]

Just ordered a OCZ Agility 3 60gb SSD from Newegg. I'm going to be adding this to my laptop. Unfortunately, this will be my first experience with an SSD and I have no idea where to begin.

I currently have a 500gb HDD with both Steam and non-Steam games. The Steam games are easy as I can just redownload them, but many of my non-Steam games are old and had to be patched/modded extensively (System Shock, Freespace, etc.). I don't really want to spend an entire weekend figuring out how to mod/patch these again. I'm only looking to move over my Windows 7, MS Office, and Adobe Acrobat over to the new SSD, while keeping everything else on this SATA drive.

What's my best option guys?

Bumping because I just got my SSD. Best way to retain all my games music and movies?

 

[alternade]

I would like to build my own pc. I have a laptop right now and the only way i can play starcraft 2 is with everything set to low. Id be willing to spend $600-700 for parts and such. I dont do too much pc gaming but watch alot of hd video and my friends are trying to get me into diablo 3 when it comes out. Any suggestion for combos?

 

[kennah]

Great place to start is the OP. You can read about current good builds there then come back into the thread with more specific questions.

 

[abasm]

Bumping because I just got my SSD. Best way to retain all my games music and movies?

It's my first time with an SSD, too. I'm worried about even having room for games after Adobe CS5 and Maya 2012. (Which are DEFINITELY going on the SSD.)

 

[MrBig]

It's my first time with an SSD, too. I'm worried about even having room for games after Adobe CS5 and Maya 2012. (Which are DEFINITELY going on the SSD.)

Windows 7 + CS5 MC + Maya puts you at around 25-30gb filled. Plan accordingly. I would put primary programs like Firefox, Zune, and other media programs on the SSD and leave it at that, putting movies, music, and other data on the hdd, if you're getting a 60gb ssd. And then I'd install 1 or 2 major games that would benefit from an SSD or you are going to be playing all the time. 128gb+ ssds give you a lot more to play with for installing games. Still wouldn't put things like movies or music on an ssd though, as the differences are marginal.

 

[abasm]

Windows 7 + CS5 MC + Maya puts you at around 25-30gb filled. Plan accordingly. I would put primary programs like Firefox, Zune, and other media programs on the SSD and leave it at that, putting movies, music, and other data on the hdd, if you're getting a 60gb ssd. And then I'd install 1 or 2 major games that would benefit from an SSD or you are going to be playing all the time. 128gb+ ssds give you a lot more to play with for installing games. Still wouldn't put things like movies or music on an ssd though, as the differences are marginal.

Yeah, I rarely play more than one PC game at a time. so that works fine for me. I just want to make sure I have enough space for the critical stuff.

 

[ToyMachine228]

That's the OEM version, but if he ever needs to reset the license for a new build, it's really easy to do with the automated system.

What does OEM mean? I'm pretty ignorant of this stuff. I have XP on this system now. I want to get 7 as soon as possible (meaning I'd like to just go somewhere and buy it tomorrow if I could) but I definitely don't want to pay $199.

 

[Jomjom]

Windows 7 + CS5 MC + Maya puts you at around 25-30gb filled. Plan accordingly. I would put primary programs like Firefox, Zune, and other media programs on the SSD and leave it at that, putting movies, music, and other data on the hdd, if you're getting a 60gb ssd. And then I'd install 1 or 2 major games that would benefit from an SSD or you are going to be playing all the time. 128gb+ ssds give you a lot more to play with for installing games. Still wouldn't put things like movies or music on an ssd though, as the differences are marginal.

My bad I worded that poorly. I'm basically looking for the best way to make my current drive into my secondary drive without having to do a clean install. The new SSD will only have windows, office, acrobat, and maybe swtor.

Whoops thought the response was to me. But yeah any tips? I cant just uninstall windows can I?

 

[Lion Heart]

6870 is still a great card.

If you are looking for upgrades wait till end of month when 670/670Ti should be out and AMD lowers their prices. Hopefully.

Okay that works, I don't mind waiting.

The manual for the motherboard will tell you.

You'd think, for example, for ASUS motherboards that slot A1 and B1 (black) are supposed to be filled first since that's how they are labeled but the manual says to fill A2 and B2 (blue) first.

Good idea. Thanks bros.

 

[Hazaro]

I'll be doing a big update when 670 stuff, Ivy, and and 7xxx price drops happen. Keep posting in the thread until then.

What does OEM mean? I'm pretty ignorant of this stuff. I have XP on this system now. I want to get 7 as soon as possible (meaning I'd like to just go somewhere and buy it tomorrow if I could) but I definitely don't want to pay $199.

In laymens terms it means you get the bare item with no or little warranty or support.

For Windows it's basically 1 copy 1 set of hardware, everyone buys OEM or gets $30 student edition.
Stuff like OEM HDDs and OEM DVD drives just means you get the drive in a bag. No branded marketing box, no cables, no printouts, etc.

 

[Whooter]

What does OEM mean? I'm pretty ignorant of this stuff. I have XP on this system now. I want to get 7 as soon as possible (meaning I'd like to just go somewhere and buy it tomorrow if I could) but I definitely don't want to pay $199.

OEM = Other Equipment Manufacturer

Generally it means that the item is not packaged for retail sale, but is intended to be used by a system builder. It's about the same as what you'd buy in a store, but without the shiny packaging.

Edit: beaten!

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

This is an expensive hobby, especially if you don't do some research first.

As im putting together my x79 build I have been running into alot of issues, some of which I think could have easily been avoided, others just some bad advice and finally, doing even more research into what I needed. It started out with re-using my SSD and since the system would not let me format it because I had Windows on it, I was advised that when I go to install Windows when the new rig is ready to have Windows reformat the SSD and be good to go...well that did not turn out to be accurate and/or it did not work because i was plagued with issues with windows.

Long story short...plugged in older, formatted hdd, installed windows, installed Samsung SSD software, reformatted SSD using SSD software, removed old HDD with windows, plugged in SSD into PC, reinstalled windows and now everything is fine..or I thought...

I have 2 1 TB HDD's, one of which has Windows on it as stated for reasons above..the other is completely clean and working fine in the new rig. However, the one that has Windows on it, Windows see's the HDD, but shows it only has 100mb of storage when it is a 1 TB drive. Formatting it under Windows does nothing. Reseated the cables and same result, C drive is the SSD, D Drive is the Optical Disk, E drive is the weird HDD that shows only 100mb available and F Drive is the other HDD showing the full 990 or so Gigs free. Not sure what is causing that...tried the different sata ports and no matter what it still reports the samething.

Then onto fan's and fan controllers. First mistake was not researching the channel wattage for the fan controller. Got a nice fan controller, but it only does 20w per channel and even though my fans are rated up to 2000rpm (Noiseblockers), they only go up to 1800 or so, mainly in the 1750 range. So, I get a better one that does 30w per channel and boom, I am getting the full spead of the fans.

For fans and the Corsair H100, again a little more research on my part would of been good. WHile the device is great, the fan noise at high speed is extremly loud...of course "after" I get the H100 I look into it and one the most common things is to replace the stock fans with better, quieter and at times faster fans.

So..my x79 project has been taking alot longer than planned. While the rig is up and running, it is not finished as I am awaiting a few more fans. Orginally I bought 3 noiseblockers for 2 intake and 1 internal to pull air onto the GPU's...but then moved 2 of the noiseblockers onto the H100...so now I ordered 2 more noiseblockers. It was also suggested to have better/more control over the fans on the H100 was to put them on the fan controller as well, so I ordered a Y Adapter so 2 fans will plug into one port which will work since I have had it confirmed by 2 folks on another forum.

Morale of the story is...do alot of research...While this is my second complete build for my own use, it is alot more customized than my previous one where stock fans did not get replaced. Learned alot in the process though and still think building yourself is the best way to go.

but, as long as none of the hardware is broken or such, it's all good. and your next build will go even smoother.