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[Azure J]

I just came into this thread to say thanks a million K. Jack for that note about the Mobility Radeon 4870. Now I can actually put away some money towards a notebook that has a godly GPU and maybe a cheaper quad core processor in the future (hopefully AMD). HP almost had me with their slick HDX 18t (design is important to me) and Intel QX9300 (2.53GHz) quad core offering, but the 512MB DDR2 nVidia 9600M GT was really somewhat of a deal breaker for me.

Just a quick question though, are there any numbers being thrown around in regards to how much RAM the mobility 4850+ series will use as a standard?

I shall now be lurking around in here more often for updates. This thread is very useful.

 

[iam220]

I need help in making a decision. There's a $60 difference between the e7300 and the e8400, I will over-clock , but with stock cooler. To be paired with a ati 4850. Which should I go for?

 

[DangerStepp]

Is there a consensus on a good LGA1366 cooler?

I don't plan to do much if any overclocking, but people seem to think the stock cooler is pretty much shit given mechanical form.

You should also prepare for panic mode when I attempt my first install. A whole page of it.

I replaced the stock fan for my i7 920 with the Thermaltake V1 on the new rig I built Christmas Eve. It keeps things at a nice 32-38 Cel. (non-OC'ed) and from what I've read, everyone who has overclocked has had no problems with it.

 

[bee]

I need help in making a decision. There's a $60 difference between the e7300 and the e8400, I will over-clock , but with stock cooler. To be paired with a ati 4850. Which should I go for?

e7300, dunno why you'd stick to the stock cooler, freezer 7 pro uses same fastening system and is only $27

 

[iam220]

e7300, dunno why you'd stick to the stock cooler, freezer 7 pro uses same fastening system and is only $27

I might get that in the future, but for now I'm only planning to OC to 3.0-3.3 GHZ, I don't think I will get much benefit going over that. Stock cooler should be able to do that on a e7300 , no?

 

[FromTheFuture]

Is there any good documentation on how to actually assemble the PC? I plan on building my own to save money and for the experience within the next month. This would be my first time. I will most likely have some help, but i also want to do something myself, and not turn them into expensive bricks.

I do have a few rising questions, however, since i don't keep up with the PC at all until now.

My current build (what i plan to order):

• [Case] NZXT. Apollo Mid Tower
• [PSU] Corsair 450W
• [CPU] Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 GHz
• [Mobo] Gigabyte LGA 775 Intel P45
• [GPU] Sapphire Radeon HD 4850
• [RAM] Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB)
• [HDD] Western Digital SATA 3.0 GB/s / 640GB / 32MB Cache

My limit was ~800$, which it is with shipping and tax... NewEgg has tax on New Jersey .

But anyway, some questions:

1. Someone suggested that i overclock my CPU. What would be a good rate to overclock to?
2. They also recommended that i get a new heatsink and not use Intel's. What heatsink should i look into buying?
3. Would now be a good time to purchase a new PC? Or would i be better off waiting a little while?
4. Is upgrading difficult? Is it likely that i will have to upgrade often within the next few years to maintain a good PC?
5. I had another question but i forgot it. I will ask it if i remember it again.

 

[iam220]

Is there any good documentation on how to actually assemble the PC? I plan on building my own to save money and for the experience within the next month. This would be my first time. I will most likely have some help, but i also want to do something myself, and not turn them into expensive bricks.

I do have a few rising questions, however, since i don't keep up with the PC at all until now.

My current build (what i plan to order):

• [Case] NZXT. Apollo Mid Tower
• [PSU] Corsair 450W
• [CPU] Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 GHz
• [Mobo] Gigabyte LGA 775 Intel P45
• [GPU] Sapphire Radeon HD 4850
• [RAM] Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB)
• [HDD] Western Digital SATA 3.0 GB/s / 640GB / 32MB Cache

My limit was ~800$, which it is with shipping and tax... NewEgg has tax on New Jersey .

But anyway, some questions:

1. Someone suggested that i overclock my CPU. What would be a good rate to overclock to?
2. They also recommended that i get a new heatsink and not use Intel's. What heatsink should i look into buying?
3. Would now be a good time to purchase a new PC? Or would i be better off waiting a little while?
4. Is upgrading difficult? Is it likely that i will have to upgrade often within the next few years to maintain a good PC?
5. I had another question but i forgot it. I will ask it if i remember it again.

1. You're good at the moment , in most games the GPU will be your bottleneck.
2. Do this if you OC, posts above recommend the freezer pro 7 , but you can always get this later.
3. Probably not the best time with a new gen of cpus that just came out and next gen of gpu's right around the corner, mid 2009 would probably be better ... but that's almost always the case.
4. It's pretty easy for the most part. If you're going to go with that setup, in a couple of years you will need to update your GPU (if you want to continue running things on mostly 'high') and probably get that 3rd party heatsink to OC your CPU. If you do end up upgrading your CPU at some point, chances are you will need to buy a new motherboard since it seems that intel is phasing out s775.

Oh , you might also want to look into getting a more powerful PSU.

 

[ithorien]

Is there any good documentation on how to actually assemble the PC? I plan on building my own to save money and for the experience within the next month. This would be my first time. I will most likely have some help, but i also want to do something myself, and not turn them into expensive bricks.

The first time I built a PC, I just looked at what my old one looked like, and what was connected where/how. Nowadays it's all much easier than it used to be in late 90s early 00s.

Some things I look out for when building a PC-

Make sure to seat the CPU and heatsink properly. The motherboard manual will usually run you through this step very well.

When installing the video card, make sure it's seated tightly, most mobos now have a clip to hold it at the end of the slot. Make sure you're using a lead from the PSU that's dedicated to the video card. Don't share it with any other devices.

On first boot, go into the BIOS, and for you this will be the most challenging part. I recommend coming back to this thread and asking some questions you're not sure about. When I go into the BIOS nowadays I check RAM timings, boot order, make sure onboard devices are set properly (nic/audio), set date/time, check video aperture size, os plug and play. That's most off the top of my head.

Hope that helps, and if anyone has anything to add/correct, please do

 

[jayhawker]

This is slightly off-topic, but I didn't want to clutter the forum with my own thread, and all the PC people are in here anyway.

I have a 7600 GT. Old, yes, but I'm a budget pc gamer. My rig is always horribly outdated, and I buy 10 dollar games that were awesome 5 years ago. Once you learn patience, it's really an awesome way to go.

Anyway, I have a 16/10 1440x900 monitor, but some older 2d games will only run in 4/3. I want to run them at 1024x768 and then scale it to be pillar-boxed fullscreen. IQ people will yell at me for scaling on an lcd, but I don't care. They're ugly games anyway; I just want to see. I have the latest driver, and set the Nvidia scaling option to "Use Nvidia scaling with fixed-aspect ratio". However, instead of adding vertical black bars, this setting adds horizontal bars, meaning the image is stretched even more than if I just scaled it without preserving the aspect ration. It does this for multiple games. What did I do wrong?

 

[ithorien]

This is slightly off-topic, but I didn't want to clutter the forum with my own thread, and all the PC people are in here anyway.

I have a 7600 GT. Old, yes, but I'm a budget pc gamer. My rig is always horribly outdated, and I buy 10 dollar games that were awesome 5 years ago. Once you learn patience, it's really an awesome way to go.

Anyway, I have a 16/10 1440x900 monitor, but some older 2d games will only run in 4/3. I want to run them at 1024x768 and then scale it to be pillar-boxed fullscreen. IQ people will yell at me for scaling on an lcd, but I don't care. They're ugly games anyway; I just want to see. I have the latest driver, and set the Nvidia scaling option to "Use Nvidia scaling with fixed-aspect ratio". However, instead of adding vertical black bars, this setting adds horizontal bars, meaning the image is stretched even more than if I just scaled it without preserving the aspect ration. It does this for multiple games. What did I do wrong?

I'm not going to pretend to know what the solution is, but perhaps it's maybe the monitor itself?

 

[rabhw]

This is slightly off-topic, but I didn't want to clutter the forum with my own thread, and all the PC people are in here anyway.

I have a 7600 GT. Old, yes, but I'm a budget pc gamer. My rig is always horribly outdated, and I buy 10 dollar games that were awesome 5 years ago. Once you learn patience, it's really an awesome way to go.

Anyway, I have a 16/10 1440x900 monitor, but some older 2d games will only run in 4/3. I want to run them at 1024x768 and then scale it to be pillar-boxed fullscreen. IQ people will yell at me for scaling on an lcd, but I don't care. They're ugly games anyway; I just want to see. I have the latest driver, and set the Nvidia scaling option to "Use Nvidia scaling with fixed-aspect ratio". However, instead of adding vertical black bars, this setting adds horizontal bars, meaning the image is stretched even more than if I just scaled it without preserving the aspect ration. It does this for multiple games. What did I do wrong?

Your setting should be correct. The only thing I can think of might be that since they are older 2D games they might be the type that changes your desktop resolution before going fullscreen (many older games did this) and that it's somehow confusing the nvidia scaler. Although I have a similar situation and Diablo 2 doesn't do that for me, but it's one of those games that changes your desktop resolution. In conclusion, I don't know

 

[Angry Grimace]

Getting hyped up.

My CM690 is here, and the i7 920 rig will be assembled this weekend

As for coolers, I was thinking about going with a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme 1366 RT. Did the 775 version fit in a CM690 case? Some of these coolers look HUGE.

 

[ithorien]

Getting hyped up.

My CM690 is here, and the i7 920 rig will be assembled this weekend

As for coolers, I was thinking about going with a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme 1366 RT. Did the 775 version fit in a CM690 case? Some of these coolers look HUGE.

I was getting hyped up for my wife's PC. Then "awesome" UPS went ahead and delayed two packages into next week, making my 3 day service a 9 day. Yay.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

Getting hyped up.

My CM690 is here, and the i7 920 rig will be assembled this weekend

As for coolers, I was thinking about going with a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme 1366 RT. Did the 775 version fit in a CM690 case? Some of these coolers look HUGE.

I believe those fit in the CM690 without any issues, I would check out the [H] forums and do a quick search on the CM690 + Ultra-120 to make sure though.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I was getting hyped up for my wife's PC. Then "awesome" UPS went ahead and delayed two packages into next week, making my 3 day service a 9 day. Yay.

The case took less than one day to arrive, but the rest of the parts came from New Jersey.

The setup is as follows:


Coolermaster CM690 Case
Intel Corei7 920
ASUS P6T Deluxe
6 GB G.Skill DDR3 1333
Western Digital SATA 3.0 GB/s / 640GB / 32MB Cache
LG SATA CD/DVD Drive
EVGA GTX 260 216 SC, 55nm

I'm getting the GPU as an "engagement present" and my birthday's coming early for the monitor. I assume the 55nm is the superior choice for a 20 buck increase in price.

I don't have the PSU yet. I was gonna just go with the yearend sale at Fry's where they have the Antec EarthWatts 650 on sale this weekend. I assume I won't be missing any connections there, correct?

 

[ithorien]

The case took less than one day to arrive, but the rest of the parts came from New Jersey.

The setup is as follows:


Coolermaster CM690 Case
Intel Corei7 920
ASUS P6T Deluxe
6 GB G.Skill DDR3 1333
Western Digital SATA 3.0 GB/s / 640GB / 32MB Cache
LG SATA CD/DVD Drive
EVGA GTX 260 216 SC, 55nm

I'm getting the GPU as an "engagement present" and my birthday's coming early for the monitor. I assume the 55nm is the superior choice for a 20 buck increase in price.

I don't have the PSU yet. I was gonna just go with the yearend sale at Fry's where they have the Antec EarthWatts 650 on sale this weekend. I assume I won't be missing any connections there, correct?

I had 4 things shipped, the stuff from Tennessee was 'normal', 3 days, but the Jersey stuff got delayed and the Cali stuff got massively delayed. I'm in Illinois.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I'm just wondering about the necessity of the cooler. I'm not planning to O/C much beyond 3.0 GHz to be honest, and nothing to start.

 

[FromTheFuture]

1. You're good at the moment , in most games the GPU will be your bottleneck.
2. Do this if you OC, posts above recommend the freezer pro 7 , but you can always get this later.
3. Probably not the best time with a new gen of cpus that just came out and next gen of gpu's right around the corner, mid 2009 would probably be better ... but that's almost always the case.
4. It's pretty easy for the most part. If you're going to go with that setup, in a couple of years you will need to update your GPU (if you want to continue running things on mostly 'high') and probably get that 3rd party heatsink to OC your CPU. If you do end up upgrading your CPU at some point, chances are you will need to buy a new motherboard since it seems that intel is phasing out s775.

Oh , you might also want to look into getting a more powerful PSU.

Well the problem is, I'm not looking to spend a lot of money. I have a set budget of about ~800$, so wouldn't upgrading to the latest-and-greatest jack that price too high? Also, about the PSU, i created a thread earlier and they suggested a very good 450w would do the trick fine.

The first time I built a PC, I just looked at what my old one looked like, and what was connected where/how. Nowadays it's all much easier than it used to be in late 90s early 00s.

Some things I look out for when building a PC-

Make sure to seat the CPU and heatsink properly. The motherboard manual will usually run you through this step very well.

When installing the video card, make sure it's seated tightly, most mobos now have a clip to hold it at the end of the slot. Make sure you're using a lead from the PSU that's dedicated to the video card. Don't share it with any other devices.

On first boot, go into the BIOS, and for you this will be the most challenging part. I recommend coming back to this thread and asking some questions you're not sure about. When I go into the BIOS nowadays I check RAM timings, boot order, make sure onboard devices are set properly (nic/audio), set date/time, check video aperture size, os plug and play. That's most off the top of my head.

Hope that helps, and if anyone has anything to add/correct, please do

Thanks for the tips. I'm just trying to make sure i dont screw anything up at all. This is like my only chance, i have to do it right!

 

[dasupremeone]

awesome thread!

Any mice recommendations?

 

[rabhw]

Getting hyped up.

My CM690 is here, and the i7 920 rig will be assembled this weekend

As for coolers, I was thinking about going with a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme 1366 RT. Did the 775 version fit in a CM690 case? Some of these coolers look HUGE.

I've fit both a Tuniq Tower 120 and an OCZ Vendetta 2 (both huge coolers) in my CM690. The only catch is you can only use 1 of the 2 120mm side fan bays because of how tall the heatsinks are.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Went with the 120. I searched [H] and didn't see anyone complain about the 775 fitting on the TRUE, so should be fine, especially given at least 3 or 4 people were running the same set up (same Mobo too).

I'm sure you guys will need to tell me why it won't POST though :lol

 

[zoku88]

awesome thread!

Any mice recommendations?

Im fond of the MX Revolution.

Although, the charger thing kinda sucks after a year of use >.>

 

[Angry Grimace]

I've fit both a Tuniq Tower 120 and an OCZ Vendetta 2 (both huge coolers) in my CM690. The only catch is you can only use 1 of the 2 120mm side fan bays because of how tall the heatsinks are.

Not a problem, really. I think some of the airflow requirements are a bit exaggerated for those of us that do mild overclocks and aren't tri-SLI'ing.

And before anyone asks, I've already got a waiting copy of Vista64. :lol

Christmas has been good to the Grimace.

 

[bee]

Went with the 120. I searched [H] and didn't see anyone complain about the 775 fitting on the TRUE, so should be fine, especially given at least 3 or 4 people were running the same set up (same Mobo too).

I'm sure you guys will need to tell me why it won't POST though :lol

the true is the best cooler imo, fiited a true black on mine before xmas. really easy to fit aswell

keeps it nice and cool with a tiny overclock

 

[Angry Grimace]

the true is the best cooler imo, fiited a true black on mine before xmas. really easy to fit aswell

They aren't cheap though.

 

[bee]

They aren't cheap though.

yep the 1366 version certainly isn't cheap, but like a lot of things with pc's you get what you pay for and core i7 does by all accounts run VERY hot

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

is DDR3 cheap enough now that i can start thinking about building a rig with it? what about latency issues and such and whatnot?

 

[zoku88]

is DDR3 cheap enough now that i can start thinking about building a rig with it? what about latency issues and such and whatnot?

That's kind of vague. You'd be better off looking for yourself, as far as prices go.

The cheapest a 4GB kit runs is like $80

 

[JimmyV]

Okay so I'm planing on building a new computer in a bit. While I am waiting to see the next gen. of GPU's, I'm just wondering what the consensus is here on GAF, nVidia 280 or Radeon 4870? I will most likely have two or three cards(depending on my tax return). But if I were to buy now, what would you guys recommend?

 

[ithorien]

A side note, and maybe a recommendation even-

My wife's monitor just came in today, the Asus 24" VW246H - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

Aside from one dead pixel, holy crap. This thing looks better than my TV, would recommend it to anyone. 2ms response time, 20k to 1 contrast ratio, it's amazing. My wife won't even notice the one pixel (her laptop screen has a scratch in it she doesn't seem to mind) and it's gonna blow her mind away.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

A side note, and maybe a recommendation even-

My wife's monitor just came in today, the Asus 24" VW246H - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

Aside from one dead pixel, holy crap. This thing looks better than my TV, would recommend it to anyone. 2ms response time, 20k to 1 contrast ratio, it's amazing. My wife won't even notice the one pixel (her laptop screen has a scratch in it she doesn't seem to mind) and it's gonna blow her mind away.

Good to know. After doing a lot of research on monitors, I think that's the one I'm going to be getting here in the next few months.

 

[ithorien]

Good to know. After doing a lot of research on monitors, I think that's the one I'm going to be getting here in the next few months.

I would have never got one if it wasn't for Hazaro, so thanks to you sir. And yea, we just watched Dark Knight on it, wow.

Back on subject though; one question to the community at large- in the Cool Master case screw bag, there is a metal ring included. It looks like a large, metal cheerios.

I know I've seen it somewhere, I think on the power/reset/led cables, but I'm not 100% sure. Anyone gimme a heads up what I'm supposed to do with it?

 

[blitz64]

Does windows XP handle 4gb ram ok, no crashes?

I read somewhere that Windows XP 32bit will crash with more than 2gb. I'm planning to get 4gb and I only have legit copies of XP. I don't plan on upgrading to Vista anytime.

 

[rohlfinator]

Does windows XP handle 4gb ram ok, no crashes?

I read somewhere that Windows XP 32bit will crash with more than 2gb. I'm planning to get 4gb and I only have legit copies of XP. I don't plan on upgrading to Vista anytime.

I don't think it will crash, but a 32-bit OS won't be able to take full advantage of 4GB of memory. Windows will only recognize about 3-3.5GB of your memory (depending on your specific hardware).

You can still use your 4GB sticks, but since your computer won't use all of it, you might want to save a few bucks and just buy 3GB.

 

[Minsc]

So what am I missing that these benches for a Core 2 Quad vs a Core i7 end up mostly a wash? They're even using SLI'd graphics cards.

Okay so I'm planing on building a new computer in a bit. While I am waiting to see the next gen. of GPU's, I'm just wondering what the consensus is here on GAF, nVidia 280 or Radeon 4870? I will most likely have two or three cards(depending on my tax return). But if I were to buy now, what would you guys recommend?

You could always go for a 295 if you want the high-high end single card. There's previews and a timeline all over the front page here.

 

[K.Jack]

If you have to choose between a 2.26Ghz Quad and a 2.93Ghz Dual, neither of which will be overclockable, is the Core 2 Duo a no-brainer 100% of the time?

 

[Akia]

So let's talk power supplies.

500W --> 1000W

How big do I need to go?

 

[Minsc]

So let's talk power supplies.

500W --> 1000W

How big do I need to go?

Larger #s really are for 2 and 3 cards. I think 650 is generally considered more than enough for a single graphics card.

 

[Angry Grimace]

yep the 1366 version certainly isn't cheap, but like a lot of things with pc's you get what you pay for and core i7 does by all accounts run VERY hot

Hence why I hop aboard a train called the American Express

 

[Akia]

Larger #s really are for 2 and 3 cards. I think 650 is generally considered more than enough for a single graphics card.

I want to future proof myself. I want to start with an i7 + single nvidia gpu machine but I want to have the flexibility of being able to add a second card down the line. Without having to replace my power supply.

 

[bee]

I want to future proof myself. I want to start with an i7 + single nvidia gpu machine but I want to have the flexibility of being able to add a second card down the line. Without having to replace my power supply.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011

so good i've got one 60amps on 12v rail

 

[JimmyV]

I want to future proof myself. I want to start with an i7 + single nvidia gpu machine but I want to have the flexibility of being able to add a second card down the line. Without having to replace my power supply.

Just go ahead and get the 1000 Watt. It will do no harm to your system, and you will be future proof for quite a while.

 

[ithorien]

Anyone any ideas on that metal donut thing I posted up there?

I kinda figured it's an ESD thing, but not sure where to install it exactly :/

 

[Akia]

Just go ahead and get the 1000 Watt. It will do no harm to your system, and you will be future proof for quite a while.

Are 1000w's louder than 750w? Is the general rule that you pay more for a quieter power supply?

 

[ghst]

Just go ahead and get the 1000 Watt. It will do no harm to your system, and you will be future proof for quite a while.

you realize that power efficiency is becoming an increasingly big deal in modern setups. 550-600 watts is about the high end for any single card rig these days, and the next iteration on todays big gpu's is looking to shrink the chips and reduce the power draws.

 

[JimmyV]

you realize that power efficiency is becoming an increasingly big deal in modern setups. 550-600 watts is about the high end for any single card rig these days, and the next iteration on todays big gpu's is looking to shrink the chips and reduce the power draws.

Yes. And I fail to see how this will have a negative effect on a large PSU. Its not like their that expensive anyway. I guess its just me being more safe than sorry.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Yes. And I fail to see how this will have a negative effect on a large PSU. Its not like their that expensive anyway. I guess its just me being more safe than sorry.

Because 1000w PSU's are expensive, regardless of what you might say, unless you wanna buy the cheapest one you can find that has 4 digits.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

Link here

 

[Hazaro]

Im fond of the MX Revolution.

Although, the charger thing kinda sucks after a year of use >.>

I am going to send in mine soon.
I called them and they said I had a 5yr warranty, just send them the mouse and charger and they'll send me a new one :lol

I asked if I could just have a charger from them, but they told me they replace everything.
My pads are getting a bit worn anyway
(Turn around is about a week though)

As for the PSU question we have a whole part in the first post. Seriously.

Also no 1000w unless you are running quad + dual GPU's. You can always upgrade your PSU, but wattage draw doesn't go up by much each year.

Oh and maybe make a note that ChiefValue is an alternative ordering site for newegg.

 

[Baloonatic]

So I've started having a few problems getting my PC to boot. It gets past the POST and Windows loading screen, but then I just get a black screen. On my old HDD I don't even get as far as that.

Took me about 15 minutes to get it to start up by just turning it on and off. Any ideas?