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[Rentahamster]

I'm Going to buy Windows 7, probably 64 bit (or are games better off with 32? I'm clueless on this) and get more ram (4GByes at the moment, and 4 more to buy). I would like to get an SSD HDD simply for the OS, some games and my main applications. Which one should I get? I think 60-80 should be enough but there are quite a few models of each company. I heard the Intel ones are especially good but I've seen they have a ton of models for each size. If I can't get one at the store I can buy it from eBay or someplace else online, but are they reliable? (I'm assuming they are since no moving parts, but I would like to know for sure).

Help me move on from Windows XP

Intel, or OCZ Vertex or Agility series.

I have an OCZ Vertex 120GB in one machine and it rocks. The slowness of a traditional hard drive is one of the last remaining bottlenecks that can really be sped up with SSD tech.

One of the good things about the OCZ drives is the high level of customer support. OCZ even has their own dedicated forums to answering questions.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=186

A 5850 would be a pretty tight squeeze in an Antec Sonata II case (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16811129155), and a 5870 probably wouldn't fit, right?

Anyone got any info on my query?

 

[Minsc]

Anyone got any info on my query?

I looked earlier, just out of curiosity, I'll have no idea, but the link took me to a page of newegg's cases, but nothing was specifically labeled Sonata II, there was a Sonata III...

 

[pestul]

What do you guys think of my new setup?

Samsung 22" LCD (already had)
Core i7 920
Thermalright Ultra 120 Heatpipe
6GB DDR3 1600
ASUS P6T SE
ASUS 5850
WD Black 640GB (waiting for SSD tech to mature/cheapen) + have a couple of bigger drives
Antec 902 Case w/Antec TruePOwer Blue 750W
Windows 7 Professional

I was leaning towards LGA1156, but decided I might want to go with the more future proof pathway. Just waiting for my parts to arrive now. I can't wait to boot this thing up versus the XP2700+ overclock I'm moving up from. It's probably 20x faster. :lol

 

[Rentahamster]

I looked earlier, just out of curiosity, I'll have no idea, but the link took me to a page of newegg's cases, but nothing was specifically labeled Sonata II, there was a Sonata III...

Hm, that's weird. The link from the first hit on google still works for some reason. http://www.google.com/search?q=sona...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Anyway, yeah, this particular case is pretty old already. There have already been quite a few revisions.

 

[MiniBossman]

Ok my new EP45-UD3P just came back from RMA to Gigabyte.

However I am experiencing even more instability. Random lock ups, BSOD, and rebooting immediately after post. Not even getting to windows startup screen most of the time.

My rig is the following

EP45-UD3P Mobo
Q6600 2.4 Ghz - Stock Intel Fan
4 GB Corsair XMS 2 DDR2 800mhz
Tagan 700W power supply
GeForce 7600 GT
ATI TV Wonder 650

Nothing too fancy. Previous mobo blew out and I replaced it with the EP45-UD3P which I had to RMA after a few months due to instability and Hard Drives disappearing (suspected bad SATA controller, Gigabyte sent me a new board).

Thinking its either gotta be CPU or PSU, mem test shows all sticks to be perfectly clean, hard disks check out too.

Any one got an idea on how to test?

 

[brain_stew]

Try running with the bare minimum connected. No system fans (apart from CPU of course), one RAM DIMM, only your OS HDD, no DVD drive, no PCI cards, if you've got integrated graphics don't hook your GPU up either. If you get stability back then you can add parts piece by piece until you lose stability again.

You can use something like OCCT's CPU test as it will spit out graphs that show how the 5V and 12V rails of your PSU fared, if they don't remain relatively stable its probably a PSU problem.

 

[dasupremeone]

So I bought a 4gb corsair TWIN2x 4096 6400C5DHX for my MSI G31M Mobo, should work right? wrong. The funny part is they work in single channel but not dual, but according to corsair, the kit should work with my mobo. I have windows 7 64 bit. I am going to RMA, I am hoping if anyone has some advice.

 

[Hazaro]

So I bought a 4gb corsair TWIN2x 4096 6400C5DHX for my MSI G31M Mobo, should work right? wrong. The funny part is they work in single channel but not dual, but according to corsair, the kit should work with my mobo. I have windows 7 64 bit. I am going to RMA, I am hoping if anyone has some advice.

Test each stick separately with memtest, then together if you can in each channel.

 

[dasupremeone]

Test each stick separately with memtest, then together if you can in each channel.

I can separately, but not together, I am not able to boot to windows 7 when both sticks are in.

 

[Artchur]

Hey all.. I'm looking to get a laptop for a six month trip I will be taking where I won't have access to my 360 or PC... need something to get a little gaming fix in on.

I was thinking of this..http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10132264&catid=28239


Think that would be fine for older stuff like Civ IV, Some of the older total wars, etc?

I was going to pick up that nice Asus laptop, but I don't have time to pop down to the states and the price in canada is almost 1500 despite our high dollar.. :S

Opinions?

 

[Hazaro]

I can separately, but not together, I am not able to boot to windows 7 when both sticks are in.

Perfect. Burn memtest 86 + to a CD and run that. Should tell you if you have any errors or not.

 

[Vlodril]

Hi, i am not sure if this the thread to post but since i cant find any other relevant thread here goes (if its not tell me and ill edit the post).

So i just got a i5 cpu, an asrock p55 pro motherboard, 6 gigs (3x2 ) kingston ddr3 ram and a 5850(holy cow that card is huge.. it occpupies about three times the space my previous card did :lol ).

My problem is that although windows 7 see the 6 gigs of ram it says only 2 of them are usable. And on the widget it counts only 2. I cant fix this whatever i have tried. I flashed my bios to the latest version since i heard that memory remapping might fix this problem but there isnt such an option on my bios. So any ideas? really took the fun out of building a good rig.

 

[Red]

Hi, i am not sure if this the thread to post but since i cant find any other relevant thread here goes (if its not tell me and ill edit the post).

So i just got a i5 cpu, an asrock p55 pro motherboard, 6 gigs (3x2 ) kingston ddr3 ram and a 5850(holy cow that card is huge.. it occpupies about three times the space my previous card did :lol ).

My problem is that although windows 7 see the 6 gigs of ram it says only 2 of them are usable. And on the widget it counts only 2. I cant fix this whatever i have tried. I flashed my bios to the latest version since i heard that memory remapping might fix this problem but there isnt such an option on my bios. So any ideas? really took the fun out of building a good rig.

Windows 32 bit?

 

[Vlodril]

no 64

 

[Himajin]

6 gigs (3x2 ) kingston ddr3 ram
My problem is that although windows 7 see the 6 gigs of ram it says only 2 of them are usable. And on the widget it counts only 2.

P55 boards only support dual channel ram, so try placing a stick in each of the blue slots and see if you can at least get 4GB working.

 

[Vlodril]

My thinking was that since the bios see's 6 gigs and since windows also see's 6 gigs *although only 2 usable* it must be some software thing and not hardware but i can try it.

 

[equap]

1 x Arctic Silver Ceramique Thermal Compound - OEM
1 x NZXT Beta Series CS-NT-BETA-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
1 x OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
3 x GELID Solutions FN-PX12-15 120mm Case Fan with Intelligent PWM control - Retail... Read More
1 x GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
1 x Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750 - Retail
1 x Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996652 - Retail
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
1 x SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223C - OEM
1 x ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler - Retail

 

[MiniBossman]

Try running with the bare minimum connected. No system fans (apart from CPU of course), one RAM DIMM, only your OS HDD, no DVD drive, no PCI cards, if you've got integrated graphics don't hook your GPU up either. If you get stability back then you can add parts piece by piece until you lose stability again.

You can use something like OCCT's CPU test as it will spit out graphs that show how the 5V and 12V rails of your PSU fared, if they don't remain relatively stable its probably a PSU problem.

Well I tried booting once more, and got it to boot into Windows once, installed OCCT and then it blue screened and has been stuck rebooting at BIOS splash for a while.

Then I went complete barebones, 1 stick ram, cpu,os hd, gpu nothing else and now it booted back to windows. Seems to be stable with extremely limited load. I'm taking that as a sign its probably power related, as it seems that under any load it craters. Gonna try OCCT once i get direct X9 updated.

 

[Vlodril]

Well i tried it and indeed it recognizes now both dims in the blue slots (so up to 4 now yay! ). Goes to show me i shouldnt feel i know enough about pc's ever.

Now it doesnt recognize the only dim i have in a white slot. If i buy another one and have 2 in the white slots as well you think its going to recognize them?

Edited to add that now in the system page says 4 gigs. Like it cant even see the third dimm. Before it was 6 gigs (2 usable).

 

[Helmholtz]

1 x Arctic Silver Ceramique Thermal Compound - OEM
1 x NZXT Beta Series CS-NT-BETA-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
1 x OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
3 x GELID Solutions FN-PX12-15 120mm Case Fan with Intelligent PWM control - Retail... Read More
1 x GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
1 x Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750 - Retail
1 x Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996652 - Retail
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
1 x SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223C - OEM
1 x ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler - Retail

Bought the same motherboard/processor/hard drive a few weeks ago. Really good stuff, enjoy

 

[Binabik15]

My room is freezing right now, the hot water tank of the heater cracked and leaked and the replacement probably arrives Wednesday. My brother´s room however is much more tolareble, because of his pc heating it up. So even though I´m scared that the cpu might burn through the mobo one day, I decided to just buy one. Plus, my dad probably thinks that I will go over to his house every now and then and show him sweet, sweet graphics, he´s really pushing me to get one :lol

But I still can´t order because parts are unavailable and I´m still torn about a few things

-mobo: MSI P55-CD53, Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3, ASUS P7P55D LE or Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2.

They all have around the same score on newegg and cost almost the same except for the 20 euro cheaper UD2. Several people on German boards said that they could OC their i5s on the UD2 (and stock cooling) and I don´t plan on doing SLI or crossfire so "loosing" one slot because of the small size doesn´t sem so bad and it´s cheaper than the rest. But once summer hits next year my room won´t be arctic anymore and I might get a better CPU cooler, might there be space problems?

Any thoughts?

-gpu: I want a 5850, but they´re still unavailable. I want to play on my 42" Sharp tv, because I have not pc monitor. My tv´s native res is 1080p and all benches I saw showed that Crysis is not playable above 1050p with everything on very high (shaders) and I´d feel a bit bummed about not being able to play at very high in my native res with the new pc. The cheapest (also unavailable) 5870 is listed at "only" 90 euro more than the cheapest 5850 and not knowing how the 58xx will perform on the upcoming (dx11) titles, the bigger one feels more future proof. But money is money, upscaled console ports will run fine even on the 5850 for along time and the 5870 will be outclassed real soon, anyways.

-RAM: Oh boy, I know nothing about you. DDR 3 1333 RAM would be 80 euro for 4gb from GEIl (is listed on the gigabyte site as working) and ~90 for 4gb Corsair, OCZ (Fatality or Platinum, any diffs?). DDR 3 1600 4gb would cost 83 for Kingstone and 86 for Corsair.

As I said, I know nothing about what would be needed (except that i5-750 only supports dual channel, that much I know).

RAM cooler needed?

With the UD2 and the 5850 the pc would cost me ~660-670 euro (depending on the RAM) without Windows 7. With my 19% off rebate that would be around 560 euro. Unles those fuckers raise the price on the 5850s again D:

With one of the ATX mobos and the 5870 it´d be up to 780 euro which would cost me 650 euro. Add in a Noctua case cooler and I get it to be 666 euro :lol But I´m cheap and without good reasons I´ll get the cheaper one, this started out as a 500 euro rig :lol

My dad so far "only" bought Uncharted as a present for me and with his pushing I have the feeling that I might get some part or another for free. Or maybe that´s just wishful thinking on my part.

With the ambient temperature of my room additional case fans and CPU cooling probably can wait until next year. I don´t know if a laughing or smiling smiley is more appropriate.

 

[Niks]

Any recommended brands for RAM??

I already ordered Crucial 4GB, but Im seeing reports it doesn't play nice with the GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P mobo.. or P55 chipsets for that matter...
Any suggestions?

Edit:

On further research, well it seems the Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT25664BA1339 indeed is presenting problems with P55 configs...
Getting refunds from newegg is pretty straightforward?

 

[Uncompromisable]

Hey guys, I need a serious productivity system (read: something very fast but not for videogames) but this is the first time I build a PC and I dont know what kind of mother board or case to get.

First off, here's what I'm planning on getting with it:

AMD Phenom II X4 3.0 Ghz Quad-Core 945
8 GB of DDR3 1333Mhz
128 GB SSD
Windows 7 64bit


Now which Mobo should I with sufficient slots for more stuff, including embedded video card with the capacity to attach 2 screens, the eventual external videocard, as well as USB ports, pci slots for eventual more SSD, etc.

 

[MiniBossman]

Well, not trying to jinx myself, but I might have figured it out via Brainstew's OCCT suggestion. Nothing wrong with CPU or PSU. So I loaded it one item at a time as suggested, except for RAM.

Finally I started adding RAM back in. Once I got to 4th DIMM things went kaput. Looks like it was being under voltaged for 4 sticks. Bumped up my voltage from 1.8 to 2.1 and things are looking good so far.

Running some OCCT stress tests now.

 

[Hazaro]

rambling

What? :lol

Get the UD3 for just a bit more, try to find a 5850..., GEIL RAM is fine.

What are you worried about temps for? You said you are freezing? Your PC is not going to melt anything.

Any recommended brands for RAM??

I already ordered Crucial 4GB, but Im seeing reports it doesn't play nice with the GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P mobo.. or P55 chipsets for that matter...
Any suggestions?

Getting refunds from newegg is pretty straightforward?

Very. The main reason I shop there is the customer service.
Just call them and tell them what's up.

As for brands: Corsair and G.Skill are what I favor because of warranties. Most of it is the same, there are some rare compatibility issues for everything on certain boards.

 

[Culex]

Anyone have any luck fitting any of the new ATI 58XX cards in a Shuttle P2 case?

 

[Romance Pie]

Any recommended brands for RAM??

I already ordered Crucial 4GB, but Im seeing reports it doesn't play nice with the GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P mobo.. or P55 chipsets for that matter...
Any suggestions?

Here is the list from gigabyte of supported memory of that board http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/MemorySupport/mb_memory_ga-p55-ud4.pdf

I just recently did a build with the mobo using G.Skill F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM, 2x2GB, DDR3-1333, DIMM and it is running fine. You should be able to do a swap or something if you explain the incompatibility.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

My room is freezing right now, the hot water tank of the heater cracked and leaked and the replacement probably arrives Wednesday. My brother´s room however is much more tolareble, because of his pc heating it up. So even though I´m scared that the cpu might burn through the mobo one day, I decided to just buy one. Plus, my dad probably thinks that I will go over to his house every now and then and show him sweet, sweet graphics, he´s really pushing me to get one :lol

But I still can´t order because parts are unavailable and I´m still torn about a few things

-mobo: MSI P55-CD53, Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3, ASUS P7P55D LE or Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2.

They all have around the same score on newegg and cost almost the same except for the 20 euro cheaper UD2. Several people on German boards said that they could OC their i5s on the UD2 (and stock cooling) and I don´t plan on doing SLI or crossfire so "loosing" one slot because of the small size doesn´t sem so bad and it´s cheaper than the rest. But once summer hits next year my room won´t be arctic anymore and I might get a better CPU cooler, might there be space problems?

Any thoughts?

-gpu: I want a 5850, but they´re still unavailable. I want to play on my 42" Sharp tv, because I have not pc monitor. My tv´s native res is 1080p and all benches I saw showed that Crysis is not playable above 1050p with everything on very high (shaders) and I´d feel a bit bummed about not being able to play at very high in my native res with the new pc. The cheapest (also unavailable) 5870 is listed at "only" 90 euro more than the cheapest 5850 and not knowing how the 58xx will perform on the upcoming (dx11) titles, the bigger one feels more future proof. But money is money, upscaled console ports will run fine even on the 5850 for along time and the 5870 will be outclassed real soon, anyways.

-RAM: Oh boy, I know nothing about you. DDR 3 1333 RAM would be 80 euro for 4gb from GEIl (is listed on the gigabyte site as working) and ~90 for 4gb Corsair, OCZ (Fatality or Platinum, any diffs?). DDR 3 1600 4gb would cost 83 for Kingstone and 86 for Corsair.

As I said, I know nothing about what would be needed (except that i5-750 only supports dual channel, that much I know).

RAM cooler needed?

With the UD2 and the 5850 the pc would cost me ~660-670 euro (depending on the RAM) without Windows 7. With my 19% off rebate that would be around 560 euro. Unles those fuckers raise the price on the 5850s again D:

With one of the ATX mobos and the 5870 it´d be up to 780 euro which would cost me 650 euro. Add in a Noctua case cooler and I get it to be 666 euro :lol But I´m cheap and without good reasons I´ll get the cheaper one, this started out as a 500 euro rig :lol

My dad so far "only" bought Uncharted as a present for me and with his pushing I have the feeling that I might get some part or another for free. Or maybe that´s just wishful thinking on my part.

With the ambient temperature of my room additional case fans and CPU cooling probably can wait until next year. I don´t know if a laughing or smiling smiley is more appropriate.

your room is cold? great! free cooling for the PC.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

I am going to be buying a new computer within the next two months and this thread is helpful but I still have a few questions.

I am not sure whether I should buy from a place like Dell, or if going to a site like cyberpowerpc would be better. I have bought from Dell in the past, so I know that they have decent customer service and that they are in general, good sellers (They have shipped me a new laptop when my other one broke down, sent me a windows install disk, etc). At the same time, there is a computer at cyberpower that has similar specs for a cheaper price. Has anyone bought from cybebrpower before? They seem to be a pretty legitimate seller but as you may have guessed I'm not a computer wiz and I don't want to be left in the dark if I need serious customer support or a return on a faulty product or anything like that.

I am looking at this computer from Dell, and this computer from cyberpower. I will need to make some changes to both of them, but for the most part, they seem to be very similar (And would be moreso after I've customized the specs a bit).

Is it worth spending the extra money for the same amount of ram, at a faster MHz?

Do see-through towers effect heating or anything like that? I don't really care what the tower looks like, I just want it to be efficient.

I've bought from them. the build quality and such is very good. the customer service is good but S L O W...... can't beat their prices though.... lots of options to put a system togheter too.

 

[Kosma]

Does anyone have any experience yet with playing games from a Solid State Drive?

I'm really looking forward to putting one in my next PC. Shit is expensive now, but I imagine somewhere next year I'll be able to buy a decent sized one just for the OS and gaming.

 

[Hawkian]

I've bought from them. the build quality and such is very good. the customer service is good but S L O W...... can't beat their prices though.... lots of options to put a system togheter too.

To anyone buying from cyberpower, don't get anything with watercooling. They cut corners with their units and they will die a horrible, slow death.

My PC shipped with no sound, and the customer service left a lot to be desired in my opinion.The build quality otherwise is good and prices were excellent. You sort of get what you pay for I guess.

 

[SapientWolf]

Does anyone have any experience yet with playing games from a Solid State Drive?

I'm really looking forward to putting one in my next PC. Shit is expensive now, but I imagine somewhere next year I'll be able to buy a decent sized one just for the OS and gaming.

Expect faster loading but don't expect better framerates.

 

[Red]

Does anyone have any experience yet with playing games from a Solid State Drive?

I'm really looking forward to putting one in my next PC. Shit is expensive now, but I imagine somewhere next year I'll be able to buy a decent sized one just for the OS and gaming.

I can't wait for this. I'm getting an 80GB one very soon, but I won't be able to fit much on there after an OS. I'm hoping for sub-$300 160GB SSDs by the end of next year, then I'll be able to do some serious damage. Especially coming off a 5400 RPM drive, I expect load times to be a thing of the past.

 

[Himajin]

Now it doesnt recognize the only dim i have in a white slot. If i buy another one and have 2 in the white slots as well you think its going to recognize them?
Edited to add that now in the system page says 4 gigs. Like it cant even see the third dimm. Before it was 6 gigs (2 usable).

I'm no expert myself, but as far as I know for P55 boards you want to be adding RAM in pairs, as it uses dual channel memory rather than triple channel like the X58 boards. That means the optimal configurations will be 4GB (two slots filled) or 8GB (4 slots filled) in most cases. I'm not even sure if it can run with a single slot filled from one of the blue or white pairs, which would explain your problems getting this recognized.

 

[equap]

is PowerColor a good brand for videocard???

 

[Hawkian]

is PowerColor a good brand for videocard???

...no. Never heard of them.

EDIT: I checked around, and their ATI cards have decent reviews for a budget solution. If you have the cash, I'd go for a more well-known brand like Sapphire.

 

[equap]

...no. Never heard of them.

EDIT: I checked around, and their ATI cards have decent reviews for a budget solution. If you have the cash, I'd go for a more well-known brand like Sapphire.

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=PC-5850

 

[SapientWolf]

is PowerColor a good brand for videocard???

I don't know much about them, but my PowerColor 3850 overclocked like a demon.

 

[Darkflight]

I'm pretty sure I'm decided on this now, just want to check theres no compat issue jumping out at people: then the fun task tomorrow of making sure I have enough cables and it all fits in my case.

Though I'm thinking I may be wasting money on the Motherboard now (friend recommended it as the Tom's Hardware review board), all I want to OC is the CPU to the spec of the next i7 up, googling to find the differences between it and the P6TD Deluxe just made me more confused.

Build 3:

Swapped the SSD for an Intel after reading the entertaining Anandtech article
Swapped the CPU cooler after a few reccomendations I saw for the Noctua
Swapped the PSU for a Modular, taking GAF's (and a PSU calculator's) word for a 650w being enough for all of this - approx. 470 on the calculator with the 920 clocked to 3333MHZ and 30% capacitor aging
Only 1x1tb drive now rather than 2

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Socket 1366 D0 stepping 8MB Cache OEM Processor - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161171...oduct_overview - £207.68inc vat

Sapphire Technology ATI Radeon 5870 HD 1GB DDR5 PCI-Express DVI (Includes Colin McRae: Dirt 2 Voucher) - http://www.dabs.com/products/sapphir...efs=4294950394 - £299.00 inc vat

Noctua NH-U12P Special Edition Socket 1366 Dual Fan Heat Pipe CPU Cooler - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/165572/show_product_reviews - £57.48inc vat

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804 - Now £56.96 inc vat

ASUS Rampage II Extreme iX58 Socket 1366 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160932 - £257.09inc vat

Corsair 650W HX Modular PSU - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173104 - £97.54inc vat

Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory CL9(9-9-9-24) for i7 motherboards - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152640 - £114.99inc vat

160GB Intel X25-M Mainstream 2.5" SSD - SSDSA2MH160G2C1 - http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?...amp;tid=frooct# - £377.52 inc VAT

£1468.26 - not including delivery and not price-matched with other sites (will probably do this tomorrow right before I purchase so I ensure they have stock (I'm looking at you SSD)

This is gonna be a W7 x64 system btw, got my copy the other day.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Does anyone have any experience yet with playing games from a Solid State Drive?

I'm really looking forward to putting one in my next PC. Shit is expensive now, but I imagine somewhere next year I'll be able to buy a decent sized one just for the OS and gaming.

I've been using a OCZ Vertex at home since Windows 7 Beta, and an OCZ Vertex on my laptop since Windows 7 RC. They are both blazing fast, and easily comparable to the Intel X25 line from an everyday use perspective. Ping permitting, you'll be the first guy on your friends list to load up L4D and then the first guy into a server, but the basic experience is that loads are faster, installs are somewhat faster (depending if you're going from disc or whatnot) and general responsiveness across your system will be way up. When the windows main screen hits, you can load apps right away; there's no wait on AV, firewalls, startup programs or whatever.

I seriously recommend getting an SSD with just enough size for your OS and apps, and then a much bigger regular Hard Drive for all of your media needs (eg: WD Green series). Looking at my system right now, I'm using about half of the 120GB for Windows 7 + apps + Steam, so 60 is manageable, 80 is a bit more mangeable, and 120 is the sweet spot.

 

[Red]

Ugh - just experienced my first windows 7 BSOD.

Can't wait to build my new PC. L4D just crashed my notebook by getting CPU temps to over 80C and my HDD to nearly 65C, and that's with the underside plates removed and a Zalman-2000 on full blast :lol

Have a feeling this little guy won't be around for much longer.

 

[Vlodril]

I'm no expert myself, but as far as I know for P55 boards you want to be adding RAM in pairs, as it uses dual channel memory rather than triple channel like the X58 boards. That means the optimal configurations will be 4GB (two slots filled) or 8GB (4 slots filled) in most cases. I'm not even sure if it can run with a single slot filled from one of the blue or white pairs, which would explain your problems getting this recognized.

Thanks for all your help man. It could be that it only works in pair i just find it weird that it doesnt even see it now. I got a triple kit but didnt bother to check the motherboard :lol

Ill get a single 2 gig and put that on too and see how things go.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Man, the more I look at the 5850 benchmarks, the more I want to sell my 2 8800GTs to buy one.

 

[Minsc]

Man, the more I look at the 5850 benchmarks, the more I want to sell my 2 8800GTs to buy one.

Do it! And pick up Risen to boot. Enjoy 60+ fps maxed out, that's my plan!

 

[nubbe]

is PowerColor a good brand for videocard???

Powercolor have been around and made ATI cards for many, many years.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Do it! And pick up Risen to boot. Enjoy 60+ fps maxed out, that's my plan!

Don't give me ideas!

Spoiler

 

[Niks]

Here is the list from gigabyte of supported memory of that board http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/MemorySupport/mb_memory_ga-p55-ud4.pdf

I just recently did a build with the mobo using G.Skill F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM, 2x2GB, DDR3-1333, DIMM and it is running fine. You should be able to do a swap or something if you explain the incompatibility.

Thanks for the advice.
Ordered the G.Skill you suggested.

 

[Frankfurter]

I'm pretty sure I'm decided on this now, just want to check theres no compat issue jumping out at people: then the fun task tomorrow of making sure I have enough cables and it all fits in my case.

Though I'm thinking I may be wasting money on the Motherboard now (friend recommended it as the Tom's Hardware review board), all I want to OC is the CPU to the spec of the next i7 up, googling to find the differences between it and the P6TD Deluxe just made me more confused.

Build 3:

Swapped the SSD for an Intel after reading the entertaining Anandtech article
Swapped the CPU cooler after a few reccomendations I saw for the Noctua
Swapped the PSU for a Modular, taking GAF's (and a PSU calculator's) word for a 650w being enough for all of this - approx. 470 on the calculator with the 920 clocked to 3333MHZ and 30% capacitor aging
Only 1x1tb drive now rather than 2


This is gonna be a W7 x64 system btw, got my copy the other day.

I haven't read your other posts to be honest, but are you sure that you wanna go for the Core i7 920 on socket 1366? Afaik the Core i5-750 on socket 1156 basically has the same power, is probably like ~50 pounds cheaper + the mainboards on socket 1156 are much, much cheaper (you can get really good 1156 ones in the price range where the "low end" 1366 mainboards start).
The SSD seems to be overpriced a bit imo. It's like ~370€ shipped here in Germany, so should be more like 340-350 pounds shipped.

 

[1138]

I'm thinking about buying a new pc soon, so i wondered if this setup looks ok. Keep in mind that im a casual pc gamer, and i doubt i will ever overclock the system:

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two
PSU: Chieftec Super Series PSU 650W
CPU: Intel Core™ i5
Motherboard:MSI P55-CD53, P55, Socket-1156, DDR3 DDRIII, ATX, 1xPCI-Ex(2.0)x16, GbLan(Winki), OC Genie, DrMOS
GPU: XFX 5850
Memory: Kingston DDR3 HyperX 1333MHz 4GB Kit w/2X HyperX 2GB DDR3, CL7-7-7-20, 240pin
Hard drive:WD Caviar® Black 750GB, 3,5", SATA 32MB Cache, Dual Processor, 7200RPM

Should i invest in a better motherboard and PSU to allow crossfire in the future, or is it better to switch out the GPU as time passes?

 

[sestrugen]

I'm thinking about buying a new pc soon, so i wondered if this setup looks ok. Keep in mind that im a casual pc gamer, and i doubt i will ever overclock the system:

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two
PSU: Chieftec Super Series PSU 650W
CPU: Intel Core™ i5
Motherboard:MSI P55-CD53, P55, Socket-1156, DDR3 DDRIII, ATX, 1xPCI-Ex(2.0)x16, GbLan(Winki), OC Genie, DrMOS
GPU: XFX 5850
Memory: Kingston DDR3 HyperX 1333MHz 4GB Kit w/2X HyperX 2GB DDR3, CL7-7-7-20, 240pin
Hard drive:WD Caviar® Black 750GB, 3,5", SATA 32MB Cache, Dual Processor, 7200RPM

Should i invest in a better motherboard and PSU to allow crossfire in the future, or is it better to switch out the GPU as time passes?

everything seems ok except the PSU, havent heard anything about that PSU, you cant go wrong with Corsair