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[RedSwirl]

Waitaminute. All these parts we buy usually come with data cables right? I bought an HDD once and had to buy a data cable separately, and it was something like $30 on its own.

 

[Ty4on]

So I'm planning on spending $200 to upgrade my PC soon. I saw a Crucial m4 64GB on sale for $66, which seemed like a good deal. I could also go for 128GB for just $89, so whichever is a better deal, I guess. Also picking up a GTX650 for $120 because it seems like a solid mid-tier card and a great upgrade at a fair price. All of these at Microcenter just for the convenience of returning if anything goes wrong.

If you don't mind going AMD GPU the 7770 has much better performance for the price.

Waitaminute. All these parts we buy usually come with data cables right? I bought an HDD once and had to buy a data cable separately, and it was something like $30 on its own.

Motherboards should come with SATA cables.

 

[RedSwirl]

Okay I'm down between these two cards:

Gigabyte GV-R785OC-2GD

HIS H785QN2G2M

I know someone in here suggested I go for Gigabyte but I'm honestly gravitating towards the HIS. My current 6850 is an HIS.

Edit: I guess it's just a $5 difference though. Oh, and I'm going with a "Mid Tower" right now and you guys told me it was fine for a 7850, but what if I tried to switch to a GTX 680 or something like that a year from now?

Edit 2: This has to be bullshit right? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CPGHAA/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Motherboards should come with SATA cables.

I assume enough for all the different parts.

 

[Ty4on]

Edit: I guess it's just a $5 difference though. Oh, and I'm going with a "Mid Tower" right now and you guys told me it was fine for a 7850, but what if I tried to switch to a GTX 680 or something like that a year from now?

You can put a 680 in an FT03 mini and it won't overheat.

From Jtwo's build progress on page 24:

The only reason for a huge ass case is good (water) cooling for multiple GPUs or a ton of HDDs.

I don't know that much about noise, but the HIS has a decent cooler that will also exaust 50% of the air out the case keeping your CPU cool as well.

 

[t-ramp]

I assume enough for all the different parts.

Well, like 3-4, maybe more with top-end boards. You can get extras for a buck or two each if you end up needing more.

Why do you think that mouse link isn't legit?

 

[Epix]

Posted?

MaximumPC Dream Machine 2012

CPU Intel 3.1GHz Xeon E5-2687W www.intel.com $1,885
Motherboard Asus P9X79 WS www.asus.com/ $380
RAM 64GB Corsair Dominator Platinum DRR3/2133 http://www.corsair.com $899
GPUs 2x EVGA Hydro Copper Geforce GTX690 www.evga.com $2,400
SSDs 2x OCZ Vertex 4 512GB www.ocztechnology.com $1,198
HDDs 3x 4TB HGST Ultrastar 7K4000 www.hgst.com $1,587
Case Silverstone TJ11 www.silverstonetek.com $590
Paint Job Smooth Creations www.smoothcreationsonline.com $700
Keyboard Corsair Vengeance K90 http://www.corsair.com $129
Speakers Audioengine 5+ www.audioengineusea.com $399
Mouse Cyborg R.A.T. 7 Albino www.cyborggaming.com $99
PSU Corsair AX1200i http://www.corsair.com $350
Monitor 2x Dell U3011 www.dell.com $2,800
Cooling Various $926
OS Windows 7 Professional www.microsoft.com $140
Total Cost $14,482

 

[MrCunningham]

The A4-3400 has an built in gpu or something right? which one should i use, the cpu one or my normal 6450? Also, if i dont want to use the CPU one do i have to disable it in bios? or does it auto-detect i want to use a standalone gpu?

thanks!

Yes, the A4-3400 is an APU, which means that it has a GPU and dual core CPU housed in one chip. The GPU is a Radeon HD 6410D. But the thing about the AMD APU chips are that they can run in crossfire mode with discrete AMD GPU's. so if you have a 6450, it will auto detect it and run both the 6410D and 6450 GPUs at the same time for a extra boost in performance. Though the performance increase isn't really that big coupled with that GPU. But it is still a performance increase never the less.

Here's a nice video review on the subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW0vjFIOdB8

 

[Ahasverus]

Posted?

MaximumPC Dream Machine 2012

CPU Intel 3.1GHz Xeon E5-2687W www.intel.com $1,885
Motherboard Asus P9X79 WS www.asus.com/ $380
RAM 64GB Corsair Dominator Platinum DRR3/2133 http://www.corsair.com $899
GPUs 2x EVGA Hydro Copper Geforce GTX690 www.evga.com $2,400
SSDs 2x OCZ Vertex 4 512GB www.ocztechnology.com $1,198
HDDs 3x 4TB HGST Ultrastar 7K4000 www.hgst.com $1,587
Case Silverstone TJ11 www.silverstonetek.com $590
Paint Job Smooth Creations www.smoothcreationsonline.com $700
Keyboard Corsair Vengeance K90 http://www.corsair.com $129
Speakers Audioengine 5+ www.audioengineusea.com $399
Mouse Cyborg R.A.T. 7 Albino www.cyborggaming.com $99
PSU Corsair AX1200i http://www.corsair.com $350
Monitor 2x Dell U3011 www.dell.com $2,800
Cooling Various $926
OS Windows 7 Professional www.microsoft.com $140
Total Cost $14,482

My God that baby will last like 2 generations

 

[Decado]

I have onboard sound (realtek). My PC is hooked up to my receiver via optical. Does that mean I cannot play video files (avi, mkv etc.) in surround? I tried a blu-ray and I got surround, but I wonder if I can't get surround from the files because they are compressed.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Okay I'm down between these two cards:

Gigabyte GV-R785OC-2GD

HIS H785QN2G2M

I know someone in here suggested I go for Gigabyte but I'm honestly gravitating towards the HIS. My current 6850 is an HIS.

HIS can suck my dick. My first video card was a X1650XT from HIS. Died about a month after usage. Took over a week to set up the RMA process. Took over a month for it to come back, and then died again 2 months after the warranty expired.

 

[t-ramp]

I have onboard sound (realtek). My PC is hooked up to my receiver via optical. Does that mean I cannot play video files (avi, mkv etc.) in surround? I tried a blu-ray and I got surround, but I wonder if I can't get surround from the files because they are compressed.

.MKV can include pretty much any audio track, I think, so you certainly can get surround from one if the particular file includes it. When I rip DVDs and Blu-rays straight to uncompressed .MKVs it has the DD or DTS audio just like it is on the disc.

I'm not sure about .AVI.

MaxPC's Dream Machine is pretty sweet, although I'd definitely add a bay reservoir and maybe stencil something on the front panel. It looks kind of silly with that huge panel of blue covers.

 

[NervousXtian]

My God that baby will last like 2 generations

For 15 grand it damn well should.

 

[coopolon]

Any recommendations for a good reasonably priced thermal paste? Thinking about reseating my heat sink to try to improve the stability of my overclock.

 

[t-ramp]

Any recommendations for a good reasonably priced thermal paste? Thinking about reseating my heat sink to try to improve the stability of my overclock.

I've gone with Arctic Cooling MX-4 the last few times.

Edit: Good grief...

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-February-2012/1490/5

 

[sca2511]

With the FT03 mini, how large of a CPU fan can you put in it?

 

[Deleted member 22576]

I'm still using the stock fan. The thing is very quiet, I might add.

You can definitely fit some aftermarket coolers in it and I intend to at some point down the line, but you can't fit anything thats overly tall. The short and squat noctuas seem like the best bet. LOVING my build. The miniature size + no compromise internals are really something I never imagined would be possible. Its just so teeny.


Haha, excited to read about the new dream machine. I think it was dream machine 2002 or 2003 that first sparked my fetishism for computers.

 

[sca2511]

I'm still using the stock fan. The thing is very quiet, I might add.

You can definitely fit some aftermarket coolers in it and I intend to at some point down the line, but you can't fit anything thats overly tall. The short and squat noctuas seem like the best bet. LOVING my build. The miniature size + no compromise internals are really something I never imagined would be possible. Its just so teeny.

It's an awesome looking build and size. Definitely planning to make my next build similar to this.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

I REAAAALY want to make a ram disk.

 

[Ty4on]

With the FT03 mini, how large of a CPU fan can you put in it?

If you want good CPU cooling the best choice is an all in one liquid cooler. There are even 120mm fan mounts on top of the 160mm fan and the manual recommends it.

So noise is good Jtwo? Want to build one my self when I get the money and I am used to laptops so I can live with a little noise

 

[mkenyon]

Posted?

MaximumPC Dream Machine 2012

Yet a 2500K at 4.5Ghz would get better frames in the games where processor counts. Tis a shame about 2011 Xeon.

Any recommendations for a good reasonably priced thermal paste? Thinking about reseating my heat sink to try to improve the stability of my overclock.

Phobya HeGrease and Prolimatech PK-1/2/3 are proven to be the best. They're both about the same price as everything else, so why not?

With the FT03 mini, how large of a CPU fan can you put in it?

Was designed with the 120mm closed loop coolers like the H60 in mind. Best to use one of those.

 

[RumblingRosco]

http://promotions.newegg.com/Crucial/12-4579/index.html

That stuff might be a competitor against the Samsung DDR3, especially if the price comes down.

A question about Newegg; if a promo code says "$10 off w/ promo code EMCJJJG27, ends 11/19" does the deal still work on the 19th, or do I need to use it today or it'll be gone tomorrow (the 19th)? Some good news for me, Tigerdirect.com will have the i3-3220 on sale for $99 on Black Friday. I kept debating between that and the i3-3220t and i3-3225, but at that price, there's really no need to compare anymore. That, and the 3220t is probably not worth it anyway.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

Noise is perfect by my standards. I never turn the thing off. But it is not imperceptively silent, so if your standards are higher than mine you might be disappointed. In all honesty I have a hard time believing ANYONE would say my computer is anything other than quiet. Unless you're like some crazy mofo with only solid state cooling or something. It also doesn't get louder unde rstress. my computer rules, all others drool.

 

[mkenyon]

http://promotions.newegg.com/Crucial/12-4579/index.html

That stuff might be a competitor against the Samsung DDR3, especially if the price comes down.

Are people OC'ing this well? That's what the standout part of the Samsung memory is.

 

[nataku]

The fan on my MSI GTX 460 Hawk is dying out, only a year after I bought the card to replace another GTX 460 that died on me. I kind of wish I had upgraded to a newer card instead of getting another 460, but I didn't really have the cash and nothing really seemed worth it. I usually go for the cards that offer great performance for their price, like the GTX 460 did.

The fan is almost constantly rattling now. Randomly it will quiet down a little, but for the most part it's a very noticeable rattle. I've check multiple times and there's nothing hitting the fan at all.

What are my options for fan replacements for a card this old? I've never looked into aftermarket coolers for GPUs before. Or, is there a card worth upgrading to right now that offers a nice performance boost?

From what I've read there should be new cards from nvidia some time in March or so, right? I'd hate to upgrade so close, but at the same time this rattle and the performance I get with the 460 isn't where I want it for some games, like GW2.

I have a i5 2500k and a Corsair HX650 PSU if that helps with suggestions.

 

[Mangotron]

Couple of questions:

1. Is there a significant difference in temps between the H60, H80 and H100? I've heard that the H60 and H80 at least are mostly the same performance wise.

2. Does anyone have direct experience (or reputable opinions of) the 27" Korean monitors? I was specifically looking at the Shimian QH270 Lite from one of the higher-rated sellers on eBay. I've heard a lot of good things about them, but the Overclock.net thread seems to be full of horror stories and complaints, and I would think those people would be more able to fix minor problems with the monitors.

If those aren't a good buy, are there any favorites in the monitor department?

 

[SolarPowered]

Do I have to be overly concerned about the memory compatibility? Someone recommended that 30nm Samsung RAM for overclocking, but I don't see it listed on the AsRock Z77's compatibility chart.

 

[kennah]

Not really. As long as things are standard speeds and voltages you're fine. The compatibility chart is only things they got around to actually testing.

 

[kharma45]

Went and put some money in the bank for my build's Hard Drive and Power supply. I may buy the RAM immediately tonight too. My ideal gaming PC has been a long time coming and I can't wait to boot it up.

The price difference between the 660ti and 670GTX is making me twitch uncontrollably. I already took people's advice about the 2500k and I'm just seeing where the deals take me on the CPU and Case. Also, has RAM become nearly universal in compatibility with motherboards now? It seemed like you always had to go through the hassle of looking for compatibility before. That Samsung RAM will work regardless of checking?

I don't overclock because this will be my very first build. I don't want to worry too much. Someone's previous post about emulation has put me in a bind though. It surprises me that Dolphin emulation is that hardcore.

Yeah the Samsung RAM will slot in no problem, RAM is RAM at the end of the day.

As for the 660Ti vs the 670, the 660Ti could become problematic later on with that limited memory bus that Nvidia gave it, it's only 1.6GB VRAM effective iirc from what mkenyon posted. I couldn't really recommend the 660Ti now, it's either the 670 or go AMD in my view. Not that the 660Ti is a bad card by any stretch, it's just not the best buy in the price bracket.

And overclocking will really, really benefit as has been mentioned, plus it's extremely easy to do now.

The fan on my MSI GTX 460 Hawk is dying out, only a year after I bought the card to replace another GTX 460 that died on me. I kind of wish I had upgraded to a newer card instead of getting another 460, but I didn't really have the cash and nothing really seemed worth it. I usually go for the cards that offer great performance for their price, like the GTX 460 did.

The fan is almost constantly rattling now. Randomly it will quiet down a little, but for the most part it's a very noticeable rattle. I've check multiple times and there's nothing hitting the fan at all.

What are my options for fan replacements for a card this old? I've never looked into aftermarket coolers for GPUs before. Or, is there a card worth upgrading to right now that offers a nice performance boost?

From what I've read there should be new cards from nvidia some time in March or so, right? I'd hate to upgrade so close, but at the same time this rattle and the performance I get with the 460 isn't where I want it for some games, like GW2.

I have a i5 2500k and a Corsair HX650 PSU if that helps with suggestions.

Depends on what you have to spend right now, there are a lot of nice upgrades from a 460 for not too much cash, the 7850 for example (this is pre-12.11 drivers and any overclocking)

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=542

All depends on how much you want to spend.

So I'm planning on spending $200 to upgrade my PC soon. I saw a Crucial m4 64GB on sale for $66, which seemed like a good deal. I could also go for 128GB for just $89, so whichever is a better deal, I guess. Also picking up a GTX650 for $120 because it seems like a solid mid-tier card and a great upgrade at a fair price. All of these at Microcenter just for the convenience of returning if anything goes wrong.

As has been said, avoid the 650, bit of a dud card really.

 

[Hazaro]

Any recommendations for a good reasonably priced thermal paste? Thinking about reseating my heat sink to try to improve the stability of my overclock.

Ceramique 2 for ease of use and co...nd sticks usually work near 100% of the time.

 

[SolarPowered]

Already purchased the Samsung RAM a couple of hours ago and I event bought the Z77 thanks to a thirty dollar price drop on newegg. The case and hard drive are the only things left before I get to the big boys(CPU and GPU).

Is there any particular reason why I should pick the COOLER MASTER HAF 912 over the Rosewill CHALLENGER-U3? The Rosewill gives me front USB 3.0, a slightly smaller case, screwless mounting for some stuff and it is twenty bucks cheaper thanks to a code. I need every dollar I can get if I'm going to buy that windforce so I don't see any major reason to go with the HAF.

Thanks for the all the help so far. Everything is coming together quite nicely.

Yeah the Samsung RAM will slot in no problem, RAM is RAM at the end of the day.

As for the 660Ti vs the 670, the 660Ti could become problematic later on with that limited memory bus that Nvidia gave it, it's only 1.6GB VRAM effective iirc from what mkenyon posted. I couldn't really recommend the 660Ti now, it's either the 670 or go AMD in my view. Not that the 660Ti is a bad card by any stretch, it's just not the best buy in the price bracket.

And overclocking will really, really benefit as has been mentioned, plus it's extremely easy to do now.

I've considered AMD, but I've used them on my laptops and the experience wasn't so hot. I'd rather go with Nvidia on my desktops even if I have to pay a bit more.

 

[Wiz]

Hey guys, quick question.

I want to upgrade my laptop from an HDD to an SSD. I've been planning on buying either the Samsung 830 or the Crucial M4, as I've heard these two are the most reliable. Since I only have room for one drive on my laptop, I will have to get the 256 GB version. With black friday coming up, I think this week will be the best time to buy.

My question is, what's the lowest you think a 256 GB SSD of either brand would go for? There are deals on both Amazon (~$179.99) and Newegg (~$219.99) right now. Do you expect any of these prices to get lower and should I wait for any flash/suprise deals? Or do these prices seem good enough to buy it now? (I kinda need it now tbh)

 

[Celegus]

Woo, I finally got the go-ahead from the wife to upgrade our PCs! I built them back in April 2007, so it's pretty long overdue for as much as we use them. I'm hoping Newegg has some pretty decent deals on Black Friday / Cyber Monday so I can get started picking stuff out. I'm probably looking to replace everything but the cases, with a focus on budget/value, not top-of-the-line awesome.

 

[coopolon]

Microcenter has 3570k for $170. In store only. Trying to decide if the half hour trip there and half hour trip back is worth the $40 I'd save buying it from Amazon (sales tax bumps it up to $180.)

 

[ithorien]

Posted?

MaximumPC Dream Machine 2012

Yet a 2500K at 4.5Ghz would get better frames in the games where processor counts. Tis a shame about 2011 Xeon.

Looking at those specs it seems like all they cared about was the price tag. They also spend this money on great speakers, but no audio card to be found (presumably because of the CPU/mobo setup). Then there's the OCZ drives.

I'm not sure if I'd be calling that my dream machine.

 

[MedIC86]

If i want to use the soundcard my gpu provides is it better to deactivate the motherboard soundcard in the bios? or should i just leave it?

 

[FinKL]

Woo, I finally got the go-ahead from the wife to upgrade our PCs! I built them back in April 2007, so it's pretty long overdue for as much as we use them. I'm hoping Newegg has some pretty decent deals on Black Friday / Cyber Monday so I can get started picking stuff out. I'm probably looking to replace everything but the cases, with a focus on budget/value, not top-of-the-line awesome.

Black Friday Cyber Monday Best Time to buy parts by PCpartpicker.. There are grey bars on that graph that show spikes in low/high prices, but I can't see it using this old 17" LCD Viewsonic =/ Saw it on my phone when I first saw the article. Naturally, seems like the longer you wait the cheaper the prices get, but depends on the component

 

[mkenyon]

The fan on my MSI GTX 460 Hawk is dying out, only a year after I bought the card to replace another GTX 460 that died on me. I kind of wish I had upgraded to a newer card instead of getting another 460, but I didn't really have the cash and nothing really seemed worth it. I usually go for the cards that offer great performance for their price, like the GTX 460 did.

The fan is almost constantly rattling now. Randomly it will quiet down a little, but for the most part it's a very noticeable rattle. I've check multiple times and there's nothing hitting the fan at all.

What are my options for fan replacements for a card this old? I've never looked into aftermarket coolers for GPUs before. Or, is there a card worth upgrading to right now that offers a nice performance boost?

From what I've read there should be new cards from nvidia some time in March or so, right? I'd hate to upgrade so close, but at the same time this rattle and the performance I get with the 460 isn't where I want it for some games, like GW2.

I have a i5 2500k and a Corsair HX650 PSU if that helps with suggestions.

RMA it. Or do as Haz says.

Couple of questions:

1. Is there a significant difference in temps between the H60, H80 and H100? I've heard that the H60 and H80 at least are mostly the same performance wise.

2. Does anyone have direct experience (or reputable opinions of) the 27" Korean monitors? I was specifically looking at the Shimian QH270 Lite from one of the higher-rated sellers on eBay. I've heard a lot of good things about them, but the Overclock.net thread seems to be full of horror stories and complaints, and I would think those people would be more able to fix minor problems with the monitors.

If those aren't a good buy, are there any favorites in the monitor department?

1. Only if you aren't on Ivy. IVB is limited by the processor itself, and the extra overhead provided by better coolers won't even be used. Looking at the different radiators, you're basically considering FPI (fins per inch) and total cooling surface. The H60 and H100 are fairly high FPI, so they need faster fans to achieve good temps. The H80 has less cooling surface area than the H100 though, so dissipates less watts of heat overall.

2. Yes, they are good. I like the Crossover 27Q from AccessoriesWhole because of their customer service.

My favorite in the monitor department is the Samsung S23A700/750/950D. Near IPS colors and 120hz.

If i want to use the soundcard my gpu provides is it better to deactivate the motherboard soundcard in the bios? or should i just leave it?

Only if you have issues getting sound out via video card. Otherwise, all you are talking about is whether or not you want the onboard sound to show up in Windows sound devices.

 

[YianGaruga]

Just installed my new Gigabyte GTX 670. This is one sexy piece of technology.
Faster, quiter and runs cooler than my MSI 560 Ti.
Science can't explain this shit.

 

[mkenyon]

Just installed my new Gigabyte GTX 670. This is one sexy piece of technology.
Faster, quiter and runs cooler than my MSI 560 Ti.
Science can't explain this shit.

Well, it consumes ~50 fewer watts, which is about 25% less power. Less power = less heat.

That Gigabyte cooler takes it and runs with it though. Bigger diameter fans, and more of them means they get to spin slower than the Twin Frozr style cooler.

We could just say it's magic though, which I think we all know is how computers really work.

 

[YianGaruga]

Well, it consumes ~50 fewer watts, which is about 25% less power. Less power = less heat.

That Gigabyte cooler takes it and runs with it though. Bigger diameter fans, and more of them means they get to spin slower than the Twin Frozr style cooler.

We could just say it's magic though, which I think we all know is how computers really work.

This is what I was talking about. I have a bachelors in physics, and I am still convinced that magic is involved somewhere.

 

[kennah]

Microcenter has 3570k for $170. In store only. Trying to decide if the half hour trip there and half hour trip back is worth the $40 I'd save buying it from Amazon (sales tax bumps it up to $180.)

It was $110 two days ago

 

[SolarPowered]

Microcenter has 3570k for $170. In store only. Trying to decide if the half hour trip there and half hour trip back is worth the $40 I'd save buying it from Amazon (sales tax bumps it up to $180.)

Wouldn't it be better to wait it out until we get closer to the weekend? Black Friday/Cyber Monday are coming up and some more deals are bound to appear.

It was $110 two days ago

The 3750k or the 2500k?

 

[PedroPanache]

Which motherboard should I go with? I'm looking at the ASRock Z77 Pro3 or the ASRock Z77 Pro4-M. The difference is a couple of pound, so price isn't a factor. I'll be using an i5 3570k with a view to overclocking it.

 

[coopolon]

It was $110 two days ago

I assume you are talking about the 2500k which was $100. And that sold out in every store around here within hours. I think they were trying to clear out their stock.

I'm talking myself down from upgrading though. I fixed my SATA problem so I no longer need to upgrade right now, and I'm thinking my old trusty e8400 probably has another year in it. I can count on one hand the games I want to play that I need a quad core for.

 

[beje]

Which motherboard should I go with? I'm looking at the ASRock Z77 Pro3 or the ASRock Z77 Pro4-M. The difference is a couple of pound, so price isn't a factor. I'll be using an i5 3570k with a view to overclocking it.

Unless you need to plug legacy PCI devices that you absolutely cannot replace with PCI-Express versions on the cheap, don't make the same mistake that I did and get a Pro4-M. It's Micro-ATX so you would be able to install it into a small form factor case if you ever wanted to. Otherwise they're pretty much exactly the same except for less backplate connections and a couple less SATA3 ports in the Pro3.

 

[mkenyon]

I'm talking myself down from upgrading though. I fixed my SATA problem so I no longer need to upgrade right now, and I'm thinking my old trusty e8400 probably has another year in it. I can count on one hand the games I want to play that I need a quad core for.

Not even really the quad core, it's frequency that is the bottleneck in games where it matters. Just get that sucker clocked as high as possible, and you should be fine until Haswell if it isn't bothering you now.

 

[kennah]

Just got the 3570k for 110 at microcenter. Supposed to be a one day sale.

I assume you are talking about the 2500k which was $100. And that sold out in every store around here within hours. I think they were trying to clear out their stock.

The 3750k or the 2500k?

3570k. But yeah the 2500k for 100 was a great deal too.

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

My specs are:

ASrock Z77 Extreme4
Intel i5 2500k
G.Skill Ripsaw X 8 GB DDR 3 1600
Seasonic 620W
XFX Radeon HD 6850 1GB
M4 64GB + 2 HD

Well, I built the above computer a few months ago and in the first week, it blue screened once when I was installing video card drivers. Then it was fine for a few months until one night, the PC was restarted by Windows Update and it hung before the post. The problem would occur a few more times when I restarted the PC. This continued until a power outage occurred and seemingly fried both the PSU and motherboard. I RMA'ed the PSU and bought another Extreme4 while I RMA'ed the motherboard. I rebuilt the PC a few days ago and everything was fine at first then it started to hang when I restarted the PC and it stopped recognizing one stick of memory.

Is it possible that the RAM stick was faulty and it just died completely? Should I just switch the sticks positions to check if it's the ram or the ram slot?

Run memtest and check the RAM.

I haven't ran memtest yet, but I did switch the sticks. I moved the non-working stick from slot 2 to slot 4 and the working stick from slot 4 to slot 2. Then I cleared the CMOS. And now it's recognized. The strange thing is I was pretty sure that I seated it correctly at first (I did it outside of the case). I'm still going to run memtest. How long should I run it for 2 sticks? 12 hours?

 

[Hazaro]

Hey guys, quick question.

I want to upgrade my laptop from an HDD to an SSD. I've been planning on buying either the Samsung 830 or the Crucial M4, as I've heard these two are the most reliable. Since I only have room for one drive on my laptop, I will have to get the 256 GB version. With black friday coming up, I think this week will be the best time to buy.

My question is, what's the lowest you think a 256 GB SSD of either brand would go for? There are deals on both Amazon (~$179.99) and Newegg (~$219.99) right now. Do you expect any of these prices to get lower and should I wait for any flash/suprise deals? Or do these prices seem good enough to buy it now? (I kinda need it now tbh)

I can't see it going much lower than $180 TBH. Some retailer might run it slightly lower to clear that stock out, but it's so low already.

If i want to use the soundcard my gpu provides is it better to deactivate the motherboard soundcard in the bios? or should i just leave it?

Only if you have issues. Just select your output in Windows / the Program.

I haven't ran memtest yet, but I did switch the sticks. I moved the non-working stick from slot 2 to slot 4 and the working stick from slot 4 to slot 2. Then I cleared the CMOS. And now it's recognized. The strange thing is I was pretty sure that I seated it correctly at first (I did it outside of the case). I'm still going to run memtest. How long should I run it for 2 sticks? 12 hours?

Most errors usually pop up in 15 minutes, however it's common to leave it running overnight.

 

[coopolon]

3570k. But yeah the 2500k for 100 was a great deal too.

Hmm, did not see that advertised anywhere, not even on the website. That is a good deal.