Help me buy a computer

[uvmboi13]

Get a Mac or else you won't get laid.

 

[whiteslashasian]

Damn son, building the machine is my favorite part.

It sounds like you ended up with a pretty decent machine. Let me point out though, if you plan on playing the next Half Life, you will definitely need a discrete graphics card. That can wait for the time being though.

 

[unjung]

So here's how this went down: went to the store, they price matched all the other internet sites I found, they suggested not buying the CPU or case fans for now, they did suggest buying a graphics card so I got a Radeon 5750 (I think) for about $150, they mounted the CPU on the mobo and I assembled the rest of the system.

Total cost was around $800. $650 including tax until the graphics card came along.

Thing is damn fast. Of course I am well past the point where now it's the hard drive that makes things slow... I'm beginning to feel like I should have bought a faster HD.

 

[javyn]

Unless you get a SSD or Sata III HD, I don't think you'll see a noticeable difference in HDDs.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

Originally Posted by unjung

they did suggest buying a graphics card so I got a Radeon 5750 (I think) for about $150

Radeon 5750 or 5770? If the latter, you got a good deal as most 5770s go for $170 or so. Even if it was a 5750 it's still not a bad deal. I think you will like having the video card (either one) because you're at the sweet spot in price/performance.

 

[whiteslashasian]

Originally Posted by Ace Rimmer

Radeon 5750 or 5770? If the latter, you got a good deal as most 5770s go for $170 or so. Even if it was a 5750 it's still not a bad deal. I think you will like having the video card (either one) because you're at the sweet spot in price/performance.

I believe he's also using CAD prices....so that's not too bad for a 5750.

I agree that either is a fantastic value for money option though.

Originally Posted by javyn

Unless you get a SSD or Sata III HD, I don't think you'll see a noticeable difference in HDDs.

Or RAID 0 array. 60-64gb SSD's are down to $100-120 after rebates. Good enough for OS and most applications.

Glad you enjoy your new rig. Remember to clean out the dust regularly and try not to accumulate too much crap on that 1tb....a clean system is a fast system.

 

[unjung]

Froze up while unzipping a .7z file just now.

All prices CAD.

 

[whiteslashasian]

Originally Posted by unjung

Froze up while unzipping a .7z file just now.

All prices CAD.

memtest?

You may need to go into the BIOS and manually set the speed, timings, and voltage to the manufacturer's specs.

I also suggest running Prime95 for at least a couple hours to make sure nothing fails. Check your temps while doing this as it will stress all 4 cores of your CPU to 100% and let you know if you risk overheating (I assume you're using stock cooling).

 

[javyn]

Originally Posted by whiteslashasian

memtest?

You may need to go into the BIOS and manually set the speed, timings, and voltage to the manufacturer's specs.

I also suggest running Prime95 for at least a couple hours to make sure nothing fails. Check your temps while doing this as it will stress all 4 cores of your CPU to 100% and let you know if you risk overheating (I assume you're using stock cooling).

Good advice, and be sure to find the Prime95 that supports multi-core and 64 bit if your OS is 64.

 

[unjung]

System froze within a few seconds after starting the test. Is the RAM bad or do I just need to configure the BIOS as you suggested?

 

[javyn]

My guess is it's bad RAM, but it's just a guess.

 

[whiteslashasian]

From the Memory Express website for your Mushkin XP3-10666 Blackline

Memory Type \tPC3-10666 DDR3 SDRAM
Speed\t1333 MHz
Timings\t7-7-7-20
Voltage\t1.7-1.8V

Using the image above as a reference point, set your Memclock Value to 1333mhz, DRAM timing to Auto for now (if you still have trouble go into manual mode and set them to 7-7-7-20 as they should follow in that order), and the Memory Overvoltage to 1.7v to start. Try running Memtest after that.

Chances are, your memory voltage at stock is too low for the Mushkin you put in there (I believe DDR3 defaults around 1.5v) which would definitely cause memory errors and crashes. If you still get errors, take it back to memoryexpress and let them know, they should give you a replacement set of ram no problems.

 

[oman]

now say i were buying a regular pc and not building my own or whatever, would i need to go through all of this crap

because uhh, well, i don't know any of it

 

[unjung]

Originally Posted by whiteslashasian

From the Memory Express website for your Mushkin XP3-10666 Blackline

Using the image above as a reference point, set your Memclock Value to 1333mhz, DRAM timing to Auto for now (if you still have trouble go into manual mode and set them to 7-7-7-20 as they should follow in that order), and the Memory Overvoltage to 1.7v to start. Try running Memtest after that.

Chances are, your memory voltage at stock is too low for the Mushkin you put in there (I believe DDR3 defaults around 1.5v) which would definitely cause memory errors and crashes. If you still get errors, take it back to memoryexpress and let them know, they should give you a replacement set of ram no problems.

The image you have there is for a slightly different model of mobo. Mine doesn't have the same screens. It has similar information, stuff like:
CPU offset voltage
CPU/NB offset voltage
DRAM voltage
HT voltage
NB voltage

Originally Posted by oman

now say i were buying a regular pc and not building my own or whatever, would i need to go through all of this crap

because uhh, well, i don't know any of it

No.

 

[whiteslashasian]

Originally Posted by unjung

The image you have there is for a slightly different model of mobo. Mine doesn't have the same screens. It has similar information, stuff like:
CPU offset voltage
CPU/NB offset voltage
DRAM voltage
HT voltage
NB voltage

You must have a different BIOS version then, because that's a screenshot from the mobo you linked earlier (Asus M4A785TD-V EVO).

DRAM voltage is what you need to get to around 1.7-1.8v. There should be an option to set memory values manually; you're looking to set the frequency to 1333mhz.

Let us know how it goes.