I have the Radeon 6950 2GB reference card. Eventually I'll overclock it to a 6970 but for now it's the highest it can go in the Windows 7 score thingy.
So I decided to upgrade my hardware too.
My choices:
CPU: i7-2600k
Cooler: Thermaltake SpinQ VT
Mobo: Asus P8P67 Pro
GPU: MSI 570GTX Twin Frozr II
Case: Antec Darkfleet DF-85
PSU: Enermax Infinity 650W (salvaged from old computer, no sense in discarding a perfectly good psu)
What's there to like about the case:
- 4 internal hotswappable 3.5" drive bays, easily accessible from the front
- built in removable dust filters in the front intake fans. Keeps the cat hair out!
- lots of room inside and decent cable management
- quiet
- fits the unorthodox cooler
What's there not to like:
- no locking mechanism on the top 2.5" external hotswap bay and anything you put in there will stick out a fair bit.
- blue power/hdd activity leds. I don't like blue leds. At they don't blind me like so many others do.
Overall I'm rather pleased. It's a significant upgrade from my old computer and salvaging still usable parts cut down on the price of the investment a lot. Originally I wanted to transplant my 470GTX as well but that card crapped out on me a week before I got the rest of the stuff. Luckily it was under warranty and since the 470 is apparently EOL the store gave me the 570 as a replacement. No complaints about free upgrades here.
I had some reservations about the cpu cooler before I tried it out but it's doing a pretty good job keeping my processor at 30°C or less idle and 57°C under full load. Not bad at all really. I guess you could argue it blows hot air all over the case due to its' setup but with 3 intakes and 4 exhaust fans I don't think it's something to worry about. The only bad point it has is that it vibrates some when you set the fan in it to full speed. Then again it does a fine job even at the lowest speed so it's a minor issue really.
So I am considering a new rig as my core 2 duo build from 2008 was mid range back then and showing it's age now. What do people think of the build in the spoiler? I've not got any additional cooling added in but I'm not a heavy overclocker and never felt the need for any before.
I have all kbam and monitors etc so this is just the rig itself. Will set me back around £1100 so any comments/feedback/advice would be appreciated.
EDIT: I'm sure someone told me that the whole dropbox image linking worked but screw working that out, have rehosted on photobucket.
Pretty sure your PNG is broken/not displaying. At the very least the w tag on the end is probably not going to work, but I think it's also something we can't see because it's on your Dropbox and private or something.
Pretty sure your PNG is broken/not displaying. At the very least the w tag on the end is probably not going to work, but I think it's also something we can't see because it's on your Dropbox and private or something.
Unless both your hard drives are OEM you don't really need to buy any SATA cables. I'm 99.9% sure the mobo comes with some.
It does.
Adda and Lostprophet: Both of your builds look fine. You both might be able to save some cash by going with 650W power supplies (which will be enough juice for you to SLI/Crossfire the cards you have if you decide to). Lostprophet, you might save 10-20 dollars going with the ASRock P67 Extreme4 over the ASUS board, but that's up to you.
5. The wishlist doesn't include the copy of Windows 7 that I'd need. Should I go with this one or can I get it cheaper somewhere else/ with a different copy? I am a student so should I go snooping around my school to figure out where they hide the discounts? I don't know the computer people since that's not my major, but I am in an engineering major. Would that qualify me for the MSDN? I know my school is a member I just have no idea who I would talk to about that, and I would feel kinda greedy just asking for a copy of Windows 7.
-snip
Rest was covered it looks like, but you can get the the professional student upgrade edition for 30 bucks easily, but would need something else installed ahead of time which may be a problem if you don't have XP/Vista lying around already.
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
5. The wishlist doesn't include the copy of Windows 7 that I'd need. Should I go with this one or can I get it cheaper somewhere else/ with a different copy? I am a student so should I go snooping around my school to figure out where they hide the discounts? I don't know the computer people since that's not my major, but I am in an engineering major. Would that qualify me for the MSDN? I know my school is a member I just have no idea who I would talk to about that, and I would feel kinda greedy just asking for a copy of Windows 7.
-snip
Rest was covered it looks like, but you can get the the professional student upgrade edition for 30 bucks easily, but would need something else installed ahead of time which may be a problem if you don't have XP/Vista lying around already.
You can do a double install (install Pro from the upgrade disc as a clean install, skip activation. Install again as an Upgrade install, activate it) and, as long as you have an XP/Vista license (OEM or Retail) you're technically within the EULA.
5. The wishlist doesn't include the copy of Windows 7 that I'd need. Should I go with this one or can I get it cheaper somewhere else/ with a different copy? I am a student so should I go snooping around my school to figure out where they hide the discounts? I don't know the computer people since that's not my major, but I am in an engineering major. Would that qualify me for the MSDN? I know my school is a member I just have no idea who I would talk to about that, and I would feel kinda greedy just asking for a copy of Windows 7.
-snip
Rest was covered it looks like, but you can get the the professional student upgrade edition for 30 bucks easily, but would need something else installed ahead of time which may be a problem if you don't have XP/Vista lying around already.
You can do a double install (install Pro from the upgrade disc as a clean install, skip activation. Install again as an Upgrade install, activate it) and, as long as you have an XP/Vista license (OEM or Retail) you're technically within the EULA.
I was just coming back to edit that as I recalled that as I closed the MS site, thanks. :P
Ok, I could use a little help. I'm going to upgrade my computer with a new hard drive, video card, and power supply (if necessary). I'm going to keep my old mobo, E6600 core 2 duo, 2GB ram, and Win XP.
1 - I plan to reinstall my current copy of XP on the upgraded machine. It shouldn't count as a "new" computer to Microsoft, so it should install and activate just fine, right?
3 - Hard drive is being upgraded to a 500? GB SATA drive. How much power is my power supply going to need? I'm currently using an Antec 430W quiet supply and it's been rock solid. Current card is a 7900GT. I'm worried that the power requirements for the new card will be too high for this supply, though. It looks like it has two +12v rails, one at 14a and one at 15a (384w total maximum), and one -12v rail at 0.8a. I'm not entirely sure what this means. If I need a new supply, can you recommend a solid quiet one?
4 - This will be my first time using a SATA drive on XP. That means I'm going to need to get the drivers installed during the XP setup process, somehow. I have the drivers on a CD from my mobo's manufacturer. Is the recommended course of action still setting up a slipstreamed XP install with those drivers with nLite beforehand?
Basically I just want to be able to play Starcraft 2, Witcher 2, Deus Ex, and whatever else might come out in the next year or so at 1920x1200 at vsynced 60fps. I don't care much about the actual graphical detail.
Thanks for your help!
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
edited July 2011
1. Yes.
2. Looks good.
3. Your PSU will probably be fine with the 560, but you'll need a cable to convert a couple of your molex peripheral power connectors to a second 6-pin PCI-E power cable. That cable may come with the card. If you'd prefer to buy a new PSU, just to be safe, this is a good, cheap option.
4. I have no idea about the need for SATA drivers in XP.
Thanks for the heads up guys. Also double thanks for alerting my attention to the Corsair cases
Alecthar gifted me Sanctum and I took this as a sign from the gods that I should go ahead and order the system.
Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache
Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Corsair Special Edition White 600T Graphite Series Case 25940
Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM DVD±RW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATAII Optical Drive - Retail Box Black
Hook & Loop Cable Ties 9mm X 152mm Pack of 25 192372
Asus GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini HDM Out PCI-E Graphicas Card 254405
OCZ 120GB Vertex 2E SSD 2.5" SATA-II Read = 285MB/s, Write = 275MB/s 50,000 IOPS
Corsair 650W HX Modular PSU
Asus P8P67 Pro R3 P67 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz CAS8 1.5V Non-ECC Unbuffered
Pics will gladly follow. Of note is that I dropped the Z68 board and went for a more reliable P67 due to a number of problems people are having. If I can lego this sucker and not have to flash my BIOS etc then I will be much more comfortable.
4 - This will be my first time using a SATA drive on XP. That means I'm going to need to get the drivers installed during the XP setup process, somehow. I have the drivers on a CD from my mobo's manufacturer. Is the recommended course of action still setting up a slipstreamed XP install with those drivers with nLite beforehand?
It's been a while since I did any xp installs but if memory serves you should be able to reinstall without any slipstreaming if you have service pack 1 and up on your disc
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HardtargetThere Are Four LightsVancouverRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
more people buying 600Ts is always a good thing
buying a white 600T with a gawdy window makes me though
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HardtargetThere Are Four LightsVancouverRegistered Userregular
4 - This will be my first time using a SATA drive on XP. That means I'm going to need to get the drivers installed during the XP setup process, somehow. I have the drivers on a CD from my mobo's manufacturer. Is the recommended course of action still setting up a slipstreamed XP install with those drivers with nLite beforehand?
oh god don't do this
instead slipstream SP3 into your XP CD, it'll have the SATA drivers you need into and then you won't have to upgrade to SP3 after the fact
(even better idea: use win 7)
edit - if it's been a while since you installed XP it'll most likely activate just fine. if it doesn't just activate by phone, it'll take you 30 seconds and you just punch in some numbers
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
more people buying 600Ts is always a good thing
buying a white 600T with a gawdy window makes me though
The sun rising in the east, 2 + 2 = 4, Hardtarget hating on case windows. It's comforting to remember that, even in this crazy world, some things never change.
4 - This will be my first time using a SATA drive on XP. That means I'm going to need to get the drivers installed during the XP setup process, somehow. I have the drivers on a CD from my mobo's manufacturer. Is the recommended course of action still setting up a slipstreamed XP install with those drivers with nLite beforehand?
oh god don't do this
instead slipstream SP3 into your XP CD, it'll have the SATA drivers you need into and then you won't have to upgrade to SP3 after the fact
(even better idea: use win 7)
edit - if it's been a while since you installed XP it'll most likely activate just fine. if it doesn't just activate by phone, it'll take you 30 seconds and you just punch in some numbers
The XP CDs I have are SP2. Is that good enough? I'd like to avoid slipstreaming completely if at all possible.
edit: and for various reasons I need to stick with XP for now.
4 - This will be my first time using a SATA drive on XP. That means I'm going to need to get the drivers installed during the XP setup process, somehow. I have the drivers on a CD from my mobo's manufacturer. Is the recommended course of action still setting up a slipstreamed XP install with those drivers with nLite beforehand?
oh god don't do this
instead slipstream SP3 into your XP CD, it'll have the SATA drivers you need into and then you won't have to upgrade to SP3 after the fact
(even better idea: use win 7)
edit - if it's been a while since you installed XP it'll most likely activate just fine. if it doesn't just activate by phone, it'll take you 30 seconds and you just punch in some numbers
The XP CDs I have are SP2. Is that good enough? I'd like to avoid slipstreaming completely if at all possible.
edit: and for various reasons I need to stick with XP for now.
Just gave it a try on my testmachine and my old XP SP1 disc. It found the sata drive without problem and was good to install so it should be the same for you.
Long time reader of this thread, first time poster. So, after four years, I think it's finally time to retire the old girl and bring in a new computer. Been looking for a bit, and now I think I've got a general idea as to what I want. Essentially, I need a computer that plays games well and doesn't get -too- hot. I'm thinking the following:
1) Which GPU option is better? Bearing in mind that it'd be a while before I did any upgrades to any of this, will the single 6970 do for most of what's coming out right now (with the idea that I'd be interested in picking up a second one in a couple of years), or would I be better served with the two 6850s?
2) What sort of cooling solutions should I be looking for? I'm hoping for something reasonably quiet, but obviously the most important part is ensuring that my computer doesn't burst into flames on me.
3) Anything else you can suggest, I'm all ears. Haven't built a PC in four years so I'm a little behind the technology.
Hmmm... I just installed 64 bit win 7 on my new computer (up from 32 bit) and when I booted up it said one of my video cards was in a non-16x pcie slot. I got the same message after the initial hardware install, but I can't seem to get the same message to pop up again. Is there nay way to verify what the speeds are on the two PCI-E slots?
I know that my board has two pcie x16 slots, but I remember reading somewhere about mobos downgrading the speed of one slot if you use more than one. I don't see anything like that in the mobo manual.
HardtargetThere Are Four LightsVancouverRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
those are some solid choices vsove because they are similar to the choices I made back in January (although I went i7 and with a 6950 i flashed into a 6970) and we are canadian bros who like dragon age.
BUT
you probably don't wanna go with a P67 mobo now that the Z68 ones are out. I believe the Asus board that uses Z68 but is based on the highly awesome P8P67 is the P8Z68 (Alecthar can confirm)
couple other things - I notice you have a IDE optical drive, don't get this for the love of god heh. Make sur eyou get a SATA drive instead. oh jeeze i just clicked on your links, memory express? you are canadian, don't spend 28 dollars on a IDE drive when you get spend 19 dollars on a better SATA drive from NCIX. Let me rebuild your order:
edit - made them into links as well
edit 2 - also to your other points the OEM cooler on intel stuff is rather good these days, with the good cooling of the 600t unless you plan to overclock you are just fine with what comes with the processor. As for the vid card choice it sorta depends if you want to deal with crossfire or not. 1 6970 is pretty much able to play anything at 1920x1080, i would probably just buy one of those and then in a year if stuff starts coming that it can't handle out it'll be cheaper to buy a second one instead of a whole new vid card. Depends on your budget though as well.
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
edited July 2011
ghost_master2000: The Sandy Bridge processors only support 16 PCI-E lanes. Your board has 2 x16 PCI slots that run at x8/x8 when both slots are populated. If this is what you're seeing, don't worry about it, everything is working as intended and you won't see any reduced performance.
vsove: If it's unlikely that you'll be upgrading for a long time (a year or more) then Crossfired 6850s will be superior to a single 6970. If you're willing/able to purchase a second 6970 sooner rather than later, it will be a more powerful setup (for obvious reasons). Basically you want to purchase a 2nd 6970 after they price drop a bit, but before limited supply causes the price to rise again, and before they're so obsolete that it's better to just replace the first one with another card rather than pair it up with a second.
Hardtarget: Yeah, the P8Z68 boards are pretty good. If he's going to go with a 6970 with the intention of getting a second, I would go with a solid 750W PSU. The TX750 V2 is a good bet for non-modular.
HardtargetThere Are Four LightsVancouverRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
just gutted my old Core 2 system and packed everything up nicely to bring to my mom's house on the plane wednesday. I was thinking about maybe using thise case for her when I arrive in toronto, any thoughts?: http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=54275&vpn=PS04B&manufacture=Silverstone%20Technology&promoid=1331
(It's a Silverstone PS04B)
There might be way better choices under 50 bucks, I've had a hard time trying to find a good one. I'm bringing over my old Corsair HX520 so I only need the Case.
Also sadly the OEM cooler on my old E8400 was insanely gross so I threw it out just now. What's a good cheap coller for a Core 2? It dosen't need to be fancy at all, again it's just for my mom.
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HardtargetThere Are Four LightsVancouverRegistered Userregular
those are some solid choices vsove because they are similar to the choices I made back in January (although I went i7 and with a 6950 i flashed into a 6970) and we are canadian bros who like dragon age.
BUT
you probably don't wanna go with a P67 mobo now that the Z68 ones are out. I believe the Asus board that uses Z68 but is based on the highly awesome P8P67 is the P8Z68 (Alecthar can confirm)
couple other things - I notice you have a IDE optical drive, don't get this for the love of god heh. Make sur eyou get a SATA drive instead. oh jeeze i just clicked on your links, memory express? you are canadian, don't spend 28 dollars on a IDE drive when you get spend 19 dollars on a better SATA drive from NCIX. Let me rebuild your order:
edit - made them into links as well
edit 2 - also to your other points the OEM cooler on intel stuff is rather good these days, with the good cooling of the 600t unless you plan to overclock you are just fine with what comes with the processor. As for the vid card choice it sorta depends if you want to deal with crossfire or not. 1 6970 is pretty much able to play anything at 1920x1080, i would probably just buy one of those and then in a year if stuff starts coming that it can't handle out it'll be cheaper to buy a second one instead of a whole new vid card. Depends on your budget though as well.
I'm actually going with Memory Express because they give us BioWare folk a discount (well, on occasion) and from what I can gather, it'll be cheaper overall for me to go with them. Plus, I can make a rash decision at lunchtime and have the fruits of my labour in front of me by the time I go home in the evening :P
Yeah, I didn't even look at the optical drive beyond the basic 'okay, this is a cheap one' but you're right, I'd much rather have a SATA drive than an IDE one. I'm thinking of going with a different case instead:
I've been told it's a little better, cooling-wise, and that the cable management is fantastic. Other suggestion I had was to go with a 750W PSU to make the system a little more future-proof, so I'm thinking this one here:
Other than that, the general consensus seemed to be that the 6970 was the way to go. And yeah, I switched to the Z68 board, simply because people told me it was more future proof. So I'm thinking I'll be buying all this tomorrow - I'm pumped, I haven't bought a new PC since just after I started here in '07. Looking forward to being able to play all my games (particularly STALKER - CoP Complete) with everything cranked up.
And most importantly, I told the fiance my plan and she's on board :P
750W is quite overkill, but you're welcome to spend your money there if you'd like. I am powering an i5-760, 2 HDDs, 1 SSD, 2 GTX 460s, and countless USB devices off of a well engineered 650W power supply. I have no concerns whatsoever that it would ever not be enough power for what I am doing.
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
edited July 2011
If he does end up running dual 6970's, 750W will be what he needs.
As for the case, the HAF 922 is nice, and is a great air cooling case. The cable management is adequate, and pretty flexible. I prefer cutouts to the implementation in the HAF 922, but your mileage may vary. I do wish they made a version with a black interior, though.
HardtargetThere Are Four LightsVancouverRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
vsove, get a 600t instead of a haf 922
just... just trust me. as somebody who bought the exiled prince because of your recommendation buy the 600t because of mine! bros! remember!?
vsove, get a 600t instead of a haf 922
just... just trust me. as somebody who bought the exiled prince because of your recommendation buy the 600t because of mine! bros! remember!?
Hardtarget, I trust you. And honestly I like the look of the 600t better, it is a pretty case. Pretty.
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HardtargetThere Are Four LightsVancouverRegistered Userregular
vsove, get a 600t instead of a haf 922
just... just trust me. as somebody who bought the exiled prince because of your recommendation buy the 600t because of mine! bros! remember!?
Hardtarget, I trust you. And honestly I like the look of the 600t better, it is a pretty case. Pretty.
ha! didn't realize you were still online. If you want some good reason to get eh 600t actaully check out some of the pictures in the first 3 posts in this thread. A few of us have them and we posted our pictures and how the cable management works etc, I have a front and back picture in particular you might find interesting.
Watched it and I'm sold. It really is an amazing-looking case. I might have to take the drawer out of my desk for the time being to properly fit it, but I'm looking at a new desk anyways and this provides some impetus on that front.
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HardtargetThere Are Four LightsVancouverRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
hi5! I've heard memoryexpress are pretty ok to deal with, their prices just always seem high and I live in Vancouver where NCIX is based so I can just walk into one of their showrooms and pick up the stuff I want so Ive never felt the need to use anybody else. I hope all the purchasing stuff works out ok!
(also can i work at bioware? i can just get you coffee and stuff. i'm sick of working at a university)
hi5! I've heard memoryexpress are pretty ok to deal with, their prices just always seem high and I live in Vancouver where NCIX is based so I can just walk into one of their showrooms and pick up the stuff I want so Ive never felt the need to use anybody else. I hope all the purchasing stuff works out ok!
(also can i work at bioware? i can just get you coffee and stuff. i'm sick of working at a university)
If at any point a job opens up that you think you'd be suitable for, sure! Though I can only help so much.
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HardtargetThere Are Four LightsVancouverRegistered Userregular
I have a RAM problem. I was upgrading to 8 gigs of ram and decided the safest bet would be to order 4 more gigs of what was already in there. I went back to my original newegg order and clicked the RAM link and got this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276
However the RAM is not working. I've tried it with my old RAM, and alone. Both sticks don't work, so I don't think it's just bad RAM.
Posts
I have the Radeon 6950 2GB reference card. Eventually I'll overclock it to a 6970 but for now it's the highest it can go in the Windows 7 score thingy.
Check out the Penny Arcade World of Tanks thread to join us in some fun times.
My choices:
CPU: i7-2600k
Cooler: Thermaltake SpinQ VT
Mobo: Asus P8P67 Pro
GPU: MSI 570GTX Twin Frozr II
Case: Antec Darkfleet DF-85
PSU: Enermax Infinity 650W (salvaged from old computer, no sense in discarding a perfectly good psu)
What's there to like about the case:
- 4 internal hotswappable 3.5" drive bays, easily accessible from the front
- built in removable dust filters in the front intake fans. Keeps the cat hair out!
- lots of room inside and decent cable management
- quiet
- fits the unorthodox cooler
What's there not to like:
- no locking mechanism on the top 2.5" external hotswap bay and anything you put in there will stick out a fair bit.
- blue power/hdd activity leds. I don't like blue leds. At they don't blind me like so many others do.
Overall I'm rather pleased. It's a significant upgrade from my old computer and salvaging still usable parts cut down on the price of the investment a lot. Originally I wanted to transplant my 470GTX as well but that card crapped out on me a week before I got the rest of the stuff. Luckily it was under warranty and since the 470 is apparently EOL the store gave me the 570 as a replacement. No complaints about free upgrades here.
I had some reservations about the cpu cooler before I tried it out but it's doing a pretty good job keeping my processor at 30°C or less idle and 57°C under full load. Not bad at all really. I guess you could argue it blows hot air all over the case due to its' setup but with 3 intakes and 4 exhaust fans I don't think it's something to worry about. The only bad point it has is that it vibrates some when you set the fan in it to full speed. Then again it does a fine job even at the lowest speed so it's a minor issue really.
edit: fixed photos
I have all kbam and monitors etc so this is just the rig itself. Will set me back around £1100 so any comments/feedback/advice would be appreciated.
EDIT: I'm sure someone told me that the whole dropbox image linking worked but screw working that out, have rehosted on photobucket.
I want to know more PA people on Twitter.
TY, replaced the image from my dropbox failure
I want to know more PA people on Twitter.
It does.
Adda and Lostprophet: Both of your builds look fine. You both might be able to save some cash by going with 650W power supplies (which will be enough juice for you to SLI/Crossfire the cards you have if you decide to). Lostprophet, you might save 10-20 dollars going with the ASRock P67 Extreme4 over the ASUS board, but that's up to you.
Battle.net
Rest was covered it looks like, but you can get the the professional student upgrade edition for 30 bucks easily, but would need something else installed ahead of time which may be a problem if you don't have XP/Vista lying around already.
You can do a double install (install Pro from the upgrade disc as a clean install, skip activation. Install again as an Upgrade install, activate it) and, as long as you have an XP/Vista license (OEM or Retail) you're technically within the EULA.
Battle.net
I was just coming back to edit that as I recalled that as I closed the MS site, thanks. :P
1 - I plan to reinstall my current copy of XP on the upgraded machine. It shouldn't count as a "new" computer to Microsoft, so it should install and activate just fine, right?
2 - Here's the video card I have in mind: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125383&cm_re=gigabyte_gtx-_-14-125-383-_-Product (it's a GTX 560 and it's supposed to be super-quiet, which rocks!)
3 - Hard drive is being upgraded to a 500? GB SATA drive. How much power is my power supply going to need? I'm currently using an Antec 430W quiet supply and it's been rock solid. Current card is a 7900GT. I'm worried that the power requirements for the new card will be too high for this supply, though. It looks like it has two +12v rails, one at 14a and one at 15a (384w total maximum), and one -12v rail at 0.8a. I'm not entirely sure what this means. If I need a new supply, can you recommend a solid quiet one?
4 - This will be my first time using a SATA drive on XP. That means I'm going to need to get the drivers installed during the XP setup process, somehow. I have the drivers on a CD from my mobo's manufacturer. Is the recommended course of action still setting up a slipstreamed XP install with those drivers with nLite beforehand?
Basically I just want to be able to play Starcraft 2, Witcher 2, Deus Ex, and whatever else might come out in the next year or so at 1920x1200 at vsynced 60fps. I don't care much about the actual graphical detail.
Thanks for your help!
2. Looks good.
3. Your PSU will probably be fine with the 560, but you'll need a cable to convert a couple of your molex peripheral power connectors to a second 6-pin PCI-E power cable. That cable may come with the card. If you'd prefer to buy a new PSU, just to be safe, this is a good, cheap option.
4. I have no idea about the need for SATA drivers in XP.
Battle.net
Personally, because of the various organizations I'm part of and of my major, I pretty much have everything that is from Microsoft for free.
Alecthar gifted me Sanctum and I took this as a sign from the gods that I should go ahead and order the system.
Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Corsair Special Edition White 600T Graphite Series Case 25940
Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM DVD±RW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATAII Optical Drive - Retail Box Black
Hook & Loop Cable Ties 9mm X 152mm Pack of 25 192372
Asus GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini HDM Out PCI-E Graphicas Card 254405
OCZ 120GB Vertex 2E SSD 2.5" SATA-II Read = 285MB/s, Write = 275MB/s 50,000 IOPS
Corsair 650W HX Modular PSU
Asus P8P67 Pro R3 P67 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz CAS8 1.5V Non-ECC Unbuffered
Pics will gladly follow. Of note is that I dropped the Z68 board and went for a more reliable P67 due to a number of problems people are having. If I can lego this sucker and not have to flash my BIOS etc then I will be much more comfortable.
I want to know more PA people on Twitter.
It's been a while since I did any xp installs but if memory serves you should be able to reinstall without any slipstreaming if you have service pack 1 and up on your disc
buying a white 600T with a gawdy window makes me
oh god don't do this
instead slipstream SP3 into your XP CD, it'll have the SATA drivers you need into and then you won't have to upgrade to SP3 after the fact
(even better idea: use win 7)
edit - if it's been a while since you installed XP it'll most likely activate just fine. if it doesn't just activate by phone, it'll take you 30 seconds and you just punch in some numbers
The sun rising in the east, 2 + 2 = 4, Hardtarget hating on case windows. It's comforting to remember that, even in this crazy world, some things never change.
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The XP CDs I have are SP2. Is that good enough? I'd like to avoid slipstreaming completely if at all possible.
edit: and for various reasons I need to stick with XP for now.
Just gave it a try on my testmachine and my old XP SP1 disc. It found the sata drive without problem and was good to install so it should be the same for you.
Long time reader of this thread, first time poster. So, after four years, I think it's finally time to retire the old girl and bring in a new computer. Been looking for a bit, and now I think I've got a general idea as to what I want. Essentially, I need a computer that plays games well and doesn't get -too- hot. I'm thinking the following:
CASE: Corsair Graphite Series 600T Mid Tower (white)
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0
CPU: Intel i5-2500k Processor
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit (2 x 4GB)
GPU: 2 x Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort
or
1 x Sapphire Radeon HD 6970 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDMI, Dual DisplayPort
HDD: Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black 7200rpm SATA III w/ 64MB Cache
Optical: Samsung SH-S222A/BEBS 22x SpeedPlus™ DVD-Writer, IDE, Black, OEM
PSU: Corsair HX 650W Modular Power Supply
So I guess my questions are the following.
1) Which GPU option is better? Bearing in mind that it'd be a while before I did any upgrades to any of this, will the single 6970 do for most of what's coming out right now (with the idea that I'd be interested in picking up a second one in a couple of years), or would I be better served with the two 6850s?
2) What sort of cooling solutions should I be looking for? I'm hoping for something reasonably quiet, but obviously the most important part is ensuring that my computer doesn't burst into flames on me.
3) Anything else you can suggest, I'm all ears. Haven't built a PC in four years so I'm a little behind the technology.
Thanks!
I know that my board has two pcie x16 slots, but I remember reading somewhere about mobos downgrading the speed of one slot if you use more than one. I don't see anything like that in the mobo manual.
This is the mobo i have.
BUT
you probably don't wanna go with a P67 mobo now that the Z68 ones are out. I believe the Asus board that uses Z68 but is based on the highly awesome P8P67 is the P8Z68 (Alecthar can confirm)
couple other things - I notice you have a IDE optical drive, don't get this for the love of god heh. Make sur eyou get a SATA drive instead. oh jeeze i just clicked on your links, memory express? you are canadian, don't spend 28 dollars on a IDE drive when you get spend 19 dollars on a better SATA drive from NCIX. Let me rebuild your order:
Corsair Graphite Series 600T - $119.99
Intel Core i5 2500K - $214.99
Samsung DVDRW 22X SATA Black OEM - $16.99
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline Frostbyte PC3-12800 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24 - $70.91
Corsair TX650 V2 650W Power Supply - $84.99
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Hard Drive OEM - $79.99
ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Z68 LGA1155 Motherboard - $199.99
Diamond Radeon HD 6970 880MHZ 2GB Video Card - $309.99
YOUR TOTAL $1,097.84
bingo bango
edit - made them into links as well
edit 2 - also to your other points the OEM cooler on intel stuff is rather good these days, with the good cooling of the 600t unless you plan to overclock you are just fine with what comes with the processor. As for the vid card choice it sorta depends if you want to deal with crossfire or not. 1 6970 is pretty much able to play anything at 1920x1080, i would probably just buy one of those and then in a year if stuff starts coming that it can't handle out it'll be cheaper to buy a second one instead of a whole new vid card. Depends on your budget though as well.
vsove: If it's unlikely that you'll be upgrading for a long time (a year or more) then Crossfired 6850s will be superior to a single 6970. If you're willing/able to purchase a second 6970 sooner rather than later, it will be a more powerful setup (for obvious reasons). Basically you want to purchase a 2nd 6970 after they price drop a bit, but before limited supply causes the price to rise again, and before they're so obsolete that it's better to just replace the first one with another card rather than pair it up with a second.
Hardtarget: Yeah, the P8Z68 boards are pretty good. If he's going to go with a 6970 with the intention of getting a second, I would go with a solid 750W PSU. The TX750 V2 is a good bet for non-modular.
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http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=54275&vpn=PS04B&manufacture=Silverstone%20Technology&promoid=1331
(It's a Silverstone PS04B)
There might be way better choices under 50 bucks, I've had a hard time trying to find a good one. I'm bringing over my old Corsair HX520 so I only need the Case.
Also sadly the OEM cooler on my old E8400 was insanely gross so I threw it out just now. What's a good cheap coller for a Core 2? It dosen't need to be fancy at all, again it's just for my mom.
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=41337&vpn=RR-B10-212P-G1&manufacture=COOLERMASTER
Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus
good reviews and seems pretty solid for the price. Hell it's probably overkill
I'm actually going with Memory Express because they give us BioWare folk a discount (well, on occasion) and from what I can gather, it'll be cheaper overall for me to go with them. Plus, I can make a rash decision at lunchtime and have the fruits of my labour in front of me by the time I go home in the evening :P
Yeah, I didn't even look at the optical drive beyond the basic 'okay, this is a cheap one' but you're right, I'd much rather have a SATA drive than an IDE one. I'm thinking of going with a different case instead:
Cooler Master HAF 922
I've been told it's a little better, cooling-wise, and that the cable management is fantastic. Other suggestion I had was to go with a 750W PSU to make the system a little more future-proof, so I'm thinking this one here:
Corsair HX750W Power Supply
Other than that, the general consensus seemed to be that the 6970 was the way to go. And yeah, I switched to the Z68 board, simply because people told me it was more future proof. So I'm thinking I'll be buying all this tomorrow - I'm pumped, I haven't bought a new PC since just after I started here in '07. Looking forward to being able to play all my games (particularly STALKER - CoP Complete) with everything cranked up.
And most importantly, I told the fiance my plan and she's on board :P
As for the case, the HAF 922 is nice, and is a great air cooling case. The cable management is adequate, and pretty flexible. I prefer cutouts to the implementation in the HAF 922, but your mileage may vary. I do wish they made a version with a black interior, though.
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just... just trust me. as somebody who bought the exiled prince because of your recommendation buy the 600t because of mine! bros! remember!?
Hardtarget, I trust you. And honestly I like the look of the 600t better, it is a pretty case. Pretty.
Also forgot to mention but that HX750 is a good PSU choice as well
fake edit - actually wait let me link you this
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/reviews/computer_cases/corsair-graphite-600t-mid-tower-case-review/
hardware canucks did a 6 minute long video on the 600T and it's actually what convinced me to get one, it's well worth watching.
(also can i work at bioware? i can just get you coffee and stuff. i'm sick of working at a university)
Im leaning towards totally not worth it since most things dont even support PhysX, but I figured Id ask since I saw it and it intrigued me.
If at any point a job opens up that you think you'd be suitable for, sure! Though I can only help so much.
ya there's really not reason to get a dedicated physx card at this point
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276
However the RAM is not working. I've tried it with my old RAM, and alone. Both sticks don't work, so I don't think it's just bad RAM.
The RAM is not 100% identical to my originals.
the sticker on them reads:
The new RAM is identical except that instead of SPD it reads XMP. Also the PCB is black instead of green.
My mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131603
my processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649
Please advise.