If I get my next computer soon I may sell my 16GB of Mushkin redline sticks if you want. On stock volts they can hit 2200MHz I am probably going to get new RAM as I "need" 8GB sticks on the new comp if I want to get 96GB total. Might just go with 48GB and get an additional 32GB of Mushkin redlines though and run them 48GB @ 2133MHz rather than 96GB @ 1600MHz. The SR-X has 12 RAM slots but back on track...
Gonna go with the EVGA GeForce GTX 560 2GB, thanks again enigma! You said Corsair RAM was junk, what about Power Supplies? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139025 I was looking at that one or an Apeivia model that's on sale at a huge discount with a promotion. Of course that could be a good or bad thing :/ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148022
Gaming series Corsair is similar to the CX line, but with LED "bling", fixed cables, and cheaper capacitors than the top end models. It has less voltage regulation than their other lines. Ripple is also just average on the 12v rail, so better than minimum bot not up at the good range. Ripple is one of the thing that limits overclocking. This is a great choice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182073 It has some better ratings and is also a gold rated efficiency. It is a SuperFlower brand model re-branded as Rosewill. SuperFlower isnt in the states but makes some of the best PSUs on the market right now. Id go with this one, but thats cause I often look into getting motherboard that have dual EPS12V connectors now days lol. You wont be in that boat with this computer: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256059 It doesnt have quite as good efficiency numbers as the Rosewill and it isnt quite as strong in the voltage department, but it does have better ripple and transient response. The voltage thing can be overcome by compensating with a bit more voltage in your overclock which would give a true voltage of the same as other supplies, it just is set as a higher number in the bios. It is also modular which could be handy.
Awesome Enigma, thanks again! One more question: Motherboards Looking at the three listed in the link and for something around that price range.
The GA-990FXA-UD3 is the best of those 3 in features and OCability. Gigabyte is doing better on bios updates than Asus right now, and it has the best chipset. Plus the UD3, UD5, and UD7 are always good boards. Of course, the 970A model is also a UD3 and it looks to be pretty much the same except for color scheme and chipset. The higher end chipset can run higher HTT speed at stock and has more PCI-E lanes which is good for multiple graphics. Id you dont run or plan to run SLI/XFire then the 970 chipset is probably a better choice. Power regulation wise the two Gigabyte boards look very similar, and the CPU power part looks the same. They both use an 8+2 phase VRM design and are both laid out identical in that area. 8+2 means 8 phases go to the CPU, 1 goes to HTT, and 1 goes to RAM. Of course it depends greatly on the design of the power delivery system but generally you see more phases = higher power headroom, lower temperature, and higher stability. ASUS has moved to digital VRM that works very well and I like them a lot. Gigabyte is still using analog VRM and just adds on extra phases. 8+2 is generally the highest you see on AMD systems. Intel on the other hand gets huge VRM systems, some of them having as many as 24+4 phase designs. Digital VRM in the UEFI bios on the ASUS boards are lots of fun and can help overclocking because you can modify the VRM design yourself. You can turn on/off whatever number of phases, limit or increase the current amount they let through, and overclock the switching speed of the VRM design to improve transient response at the cost of more heat and higher power draw. Usually when pushing a CPU upwards of 4.5GHz I overclock the VRM by 25% or so and increase the amount of current it will push through. Just make sure you have proper cooling on the VRMs or they will become unstable at high temperatures and kill your MB and CPU.
Well, my rig is set to go! Going to wait a week or two to see if i can get a Phenom II x6 1090T on newegg for a good price and then I'll start a build! I'll post back here with the finished product Thanks so much Enigma!
Can't really link it, but johnnyguru has some great PSU reviews. There's a lot more than just power to consider. Never skimp on a PSU. I've used 2 Corsairs units (current HX850) and been very happy, but then I did some research. Its still a great unit, but Silverstone makes some excellent PSUs as well, Strider series to name 1.
The HX line from Corsair is good stuff I dont know if they still are, but the HX series used to be rebranded SeaSonic PSUs, which are very good usually. http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/psu_manufacturers Reth, if you get some power protection for your PC (and dont want to go with a full active UPS system that regulates the line voltage) I recommend the TrippLite ISOBAR6ULTRA (or 8). It protects very well compared to just about any surge protector on the market, somewhat smooths the line voltage in a passive way, has very good EMI/RFI rejection from even other things plugged in to the power strip to give more stable power to your PC, and has a clamping voltage that is actually useful to save things like your PC instead of protecting you just from a direct lightning bolt. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812120524 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812120523
Corsair also has really good customer service and warranty if that is of any value to you. I bought an AX850 for my rig. Love it, so quiet - fan doesn't even have to spin up to keep it cool unless my gpu is rockin hard and my cpu is oc'd. +1000000 for getting a UPS - mine kicks on regularly to keep voltage regulated, like when my head pump turns on and the power fluctuates in the house.
Oh snap, I just thought of something. Something so important I don't know how I didn't ask about this to begin with. What brand/type of monitor should I purchase? I've been using a laptop for 5 years so I don't have one. My GPU max resolution is 2560 x 1600. It's been a while since I've purchased a monitor so im not quite sure what to get. Trying to spend about $200-$300 or cheaper. Looking at this ASUS right now: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049
That would be a fine monitor, but I like these better on the cheap end of things: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236121 That is a good monitor that will work for everything but FPS gaming. Well, it still will work for FPS stuff but it wouldnt be the best and definitely not for competitive FPS gaming. MMOs, RTS, and adventure games work best with it because it has a bit higher response time than many monitors. The black levels and image depth are very very good though. If you have an AMD graphics card, possibly Nvidia as well but Im not 100% sure, you can go into the control panel for your card and use LCD overdrive to increase the response time by a few ms. Id go with this if you want a larger screen: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236091 Its just your bit above average 27" monitor for a good price. Not amazing but not bad in any way.
Reth, just FYI, That ASUS monitor you mentioned I bought a week or so ago when it was on sale. Fucking amazing monitor. I love it to death. I plan on getting another.
Very nice. Shove the cables in the HDD enclosure as long as they don't contact electronics and you're in super organized mode.
Congrats! Its always a rewarding process to create a computer from a box of parts. Any particular experiences/lessons/roadblocks learned from and overcome during the build that may be worthwhile discussing here?
I was having some problems with my first boot. I spent about 3 total hours to get everything installed and plugged in and when I tried to start it up, the PS wouldn't even come on. I thought I bought a DOA power supply but it turned out I had plugged my power supply into my CHA_FAN2, shorting it out. Luckily, nothing crazy happened and no damage was done but I was still unsure of what was causing the problem. I basically just unplugged everything except the PS, CPU and RAM just to see if it would turn on. It did and after that I just incrementally plugged all my components in one-by-one, powering it up after every connection until my full system was up. That's how I found out it was the CHA_FAN. I did the best I could to get the wires out of the way, but there wasn't a lot of slack in the cords after everything was hooked up. So I basically just zip-tied everything and pushed it to the side. Good experience overall.
Modern motherboard, evidently, have more grounding and other features that are supposed to help with these kinds of mistakes. I can remember a time when just touching a motherboard wrong would kill it. So, I cringed when I read this!! I still wear an earthing band when working on my computers, Im so nervous about static electricity. Sticking a hot powerplug into the wrong spot on a motherboard is not my idea of a good time! Lessons learned though, right? By the way, way to go on the troubleshoot. You did it exactly correct. Also, the art of hiding wires is one that comes with practice. You'll get there! Again, great system and good job taking your time and not just slapping some shit together. Your main rig should always be well thought out and planned. Hope it gives a few good years of use!