Official Building/Upgrading thread
 

Though it might be a good idea to make a thread dedicated to all te building/upgrading questions, I was recently banned for a week so i couldn't ask some of the questions I wanted in terms of where NCIX price matches etc, but I think I got the lowest price I could from NCIX at least, here's the build I put together:


Intel i7 2600k
Asus P8Z68 Pro Z68
Mushkin Enhanced Frostbyte DDR3-1600 2X4GB
Sapphire Radeon HD 6950
Crucial M4 128GB SSD
WD Caviar Black 1TB
Corsair Pro HX650W
Fractal Design Define R3 ATX mid tower

over my lifetime/families, we've probably had between 14 and 16 computers starting way back with old atari machines etc. then computers like 386 etc.

this is probably the highest end/most current build i've ever had

EDIT* BTW, basically got the lowest price possible on every component at NCIX that they would allowably price match, taxes in the final was $1,520

Anyone have any advice/software to recommend regarding SSD's etc?
Posted via RS Mobile

Stay away from the SF-2281 units right now... some issues are cropping up.

Intel 320/510-series units and the Crucial m4 units are terrific and rock solid. Intel's toolbox for SSD's is great but it only works for Intel units. I currently run the 320-series 120GB unit.

I was going to go with the 80gb 320 series but for the price/bang for the buck I went with the M4
Posted via RS Mobile

anyone recomend any good/quiet 120mm fans from NCIX?

NCIX.com - Buy Fans & Cooling In Canada.

they all have basically 4.5/5 reviews, but i dont know what the noise difference will be between a 3000 RPM fan and a 1000

The Gelid Wing series are very quiet, long lasting, and look terrific. I have the UV Green Wing, and my case is nearly silent. Noise difference will be quite noticeable between 3000RPM and 1000. You want to pick the best balance between airflow, noise and cost.

A bit expensive though... I got mine on sale when they were $7 each or something - VERY worth it.

I use noctua case fans on my pc. They work great and are speed adjustable with included resistors. I have no windows on my case so looks aren't important. 4 installed on my case.

Intel 320 is a horrible idea. Overpriced and slow.

If you don't want to get Sandforce, then Crucial M4 is the way to go. Otherwise, Intel 510, but that is even more expensive.

Anyone recommend any stress tests/bench mark programs to test my rig out?
Posted via RS Mobile

Popular ones are Prime95 or you can also try IntelBurn Test.
I've switched to IntelBurn Test since that doesn't take forever to finish.
Also, run cpu-z and some temperature monitoring program like realtemp etc. when you are benching.

Semi-noob question here:

How do you tell if memory and your motherboard are compatible? My mobo (ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3) is a year old and the QVL has not been updated since May 2010, according to the ASUS website. Since RAM prices are so low, I figure I may as well buy now.

RAM in question is this: Vengeance, mobo as listed above.

Just ran into a headache with the new rig here, I bought a windows 7 pro student upgrade thing, I bought these before and was able to do clean installs because I had XP on the computer I was upgrading

So now when I tried to install this new 7 on my new rig, it said the key is only valid for an upgrade and cannot be activated with a clean install..

Will it work if i format and throw on XP? Or should I download a copy of vista put that on then upgrade?
Posted via RS Mobile

You can install Windows 7 upgrade as a full version by installing it twice :)

Either that, or there are some registry tricks you can do. Just google it.

Cool thanks, yea all i found were registry hacks gonna do that now
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Can you guys tell me what you think about this setup ?

just a basic computer.

Inputs please and thanks

Attachment 8271

^ probly faster than my triple core 2.10 ghz ?

New build for my friend and I

$2379 CPU: Intel Core i7 2600k
$3330 MB: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z
$800 Ram: 4GBx4
$4000 GPU: 560GTX x2
$1390 PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 800W
$569x2 HDD: Western Digital WD20EARSx2
$3200 SSD: Crucial m4 128GB CT128M4SSD2 x2
$150 DVD: DVD Writer
$1180 CAse: Corsair 600T
$695 KB: Logitech G510
$600 MOU: Logitech G9
$800 HSF: Corsair Hydro Series H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
$1560 LCD: Dell U2311H

$21222 HKD

^ what's the reasoning in going with the 2 M4's? Running in raid?
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you can barely install games on a 128GB, getting 2 is cheaper than buying a 256, plus I can run it in RAID0.

hopefully this would run BF3 at 1080P no problem LOL

RAID means no TRIM

You're better off getting a single 580 rather than two 560Ti's.

I'm running BF3 at 1080p no frame rate drops at all, metro 2033 I get a few frame rate drops in
Hectic situations though

Currently running a prime95 test, what would be optimal temps at 50% and 100% load?
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What settings though... that's the important part.

Metro 2033 is deadly on GPU's... especially with tesselation turned on.

Another one I like to test with is Unigine Heaven benchmark.

Run intelburntest instead.

Watch how fast your cpu would shoot up in temp compared to prime95.

Max res, highest display settings, 16X antiallising, etc, as far as I could go vasically
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looking to build a new rig for BF3.

Can any one recommend me a good mother board for an intel i5 2500k? Planning to SLI with two GTX 570s. Good if the motherboard has enough space for two graphics card for air and decently priced.

TIA