PC Build Thread

[WingsofWar]

82mm_4g63 is really pushing my interests in that i5 build for $600.

I think im going to bump up my budget to $600-$700 after reading this thread. I feel like my original budget wasnt going to give me the processing power i need for my applications.

Right now, It takes me 4 days to render a 30k poly object, to even add lighting and texture to that would take weeks. On a PC i used at school several years ago (probably coreduo) for learning some techniques I could render in 2 hours.

With the PC i could acquire now, id like my PC to render in real time.

So iv got my heart set on a;
2nd gen Intel i5
16gbddr3

I don't know yet about the HHD, GPU, or MOBO

[serialk11r]

bI think 16gb might be a bit much, I'm not familiar with what you do but I have a hard time believing you need more than 8.

The thing with motherboards is basically more expensive motherboards have more power converter "stages", some overclocking aids, heatsinked power converter components, and more PCI-e slots. The thing is the vast majority of motherboards get away with much much less, and can still overclock just fine. If you're on stock air cooling you won't be pushing many boards to their limit (unless it's a very small board such as the DFI mini ITX S1156 board that is clearly meant for <90W processors).

For example:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157241
That motherboard is a bit lacking in features, but it has a PCI-e slot, it's got 5 phase power which...works...and it is cheap.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128473
This board is 6 phase, has 2 x16 slots, and looks pretty good. I've never been let down by Gigabyte personally.

Again with the GPU, GTX460 is currently the nVidia chip with by far the best performance/price ratio. It is less than a 550Ti or 560Ti while providing most of the performance (not that big of an architecture change, think of the 5xx series more as what the 4xx was supposed to be, except they kinda messed up), and can be found for <120 dollars for the 1GB version. You'd be hard pressed to find a better deal than that, and it is a rather powerful card.

I think most HDD these days are relatively fast, but I heard very good things about the Samsung Spinpoint F4(?) drives. I have a WD 500GB Blue drive that is not even considered fast, but I find it plenty quick. If you can spare a little cash, get a small SSD (like 40-60GB) to put applications on, and that will speed up your overall computer usage experience. I wouldn't say it's necessary though. Recertified drives are incredibly cheap, like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136742 (black is the highest performance line besides velociraptor).

If it were me getting a new PSU, I'd get something better than a Corsair CX, because I'm a bit skeptical about those budget PSUs having heard a lot of bad stories. I realize they are quality PSUs, but they have rather low efficiency by today's standards and the cheap price puts me off a bit. If you read PSU reviews like on johnnyguru, the trend seems to be more efficient => better quality and power characteristics overall. You're also paying your own electrical bill, and with a quad core + modern GPU that thing could be sucking a considerable amount of power. Getting say an 80+ silver rated PSU could actually make a difference. Going from 80% average to say 87% is >1/3 reduction in wasted energy, but going from 87 to 90 will cost a lot more and make a smaller difference. As for capacity, I wouldn't go over 600W, excess capacity is just extra money to the manufacturer's pockets and poorer operating efficiency for you. Midrange video cards use 150-200W, that CPU uses at most 150W when heavily overclocked, and everything else barely draws current. With a 500W PSU, your computer at full load falls right into the sweet spot for power consumption at about 300W, 60% capacity is when power supplies tend to work the best. But if you want to reuse your old one, that's good too, saving some cash.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703026 <-- that for example, is a pretty good deal. 70 bucks for a 650W high quality PSU is pretty nice. I think you can get it for 60.99 since there's that 10% promo or whatever. If I were building a new PC I'd jump for it.

So like, 60+220+90+60+120+70? is 620, not too bad. I think you can do without the SSD for now.

[n2oinferno]

I wouldn't suggest either of those boards because of the fact they are H series, meaning you can't overclock. Thus, your 2500k is now worthless for the price you paid over the base 2500. I'm not familiar with P61 overclocking (if they support it or not), I'd probably run a P67 (P8P67 is what I own), and Z68 is overkill if you're running discrete graphics.

That PCP&C PSU is good. This is what I would get, since I already have one and am biased. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139020

edit: I wouldn't go with a P61 either. From my quick Google research, it's just an H61 with disabled onboard graphics. Thus, you won't be able to overclock on that either. If you really want to save some money then by all means, go with a lower end motherboard. However, I think 50 bucks is worth an extra 1ghz in CPU speed by leaps and bounds.

[serialk11r]

@n2oinferno
Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't know that detail. Back then you could overclock anything...now even the motherboards are locked? T_T Greedy bastards. Also seems like Newegg has a lot of 10% off PSU deals going on, might be a good time to jump in before it's over 61 dollars take home price after rebate for a good quality ~600W PSU is ridiculously good.

Yea in that case going with a better board might be worth it. Only problem is Intel is switching sockets on us like crazy, and that nicer board could become useless in a short amount of time, which would suck.

[Want.FR-S]

Just another bit, for the mobo Gigabyte P61 s1155 the maximum clock freq for memory is 1033. However, I believe WoW wants the DDR3 1600. So that is not a good fit. Even though your memory chip is fast, your mobo does not support it (overclock it or not).

Probably need to move up the mobo now.

BTW, does any one know that these devices are Linux compliant?

[serialk11r]

Is that true? Sandybridge features integrated memory controllers, the motherboard shouldn't have anything to do with it...the memory is tied to the CPU's uh...hyperwhatever something speed.

And yea I am pretty sure you can run Linux on Sandybridge systems. Drivers for video cards though, I dunno...I've attempted to use Ubuntu and I had no idea how to get compliant drivers for some devices.

[Want.FR-S]

Originally Posted by Want.FR-S

Just another bit, for the mobo Gigabyte P61 s1155 the maximum clock freq for memory is 1333. However, I believe WoW wants the DDR3 1600. So that is not a good fit. Even though your memory chip is fast, your mobo does not support it (overclock it or not).

Probably need to move up the mobo now.

BTW, does any one know that these devices are Linux compliant?

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Is that true? Sandybridge features integrated memory controllers, the motherboard shouldn't have anything to do with it...the memory is tied to the CPU's uh...hyperwhatever something speed.

And yea I am pretty sure you can run Linux on Sandybridge systems. Drivers for video cards though, I dunno...I've attempted to use Ubuntu and I had no idea how to get compliant drivers for some devices.

Info from newegg:



(8)
A discrete VGA card is required for graphics output GIGABYTE GA-P61-USB3-B3 LGA 1155 Intel H61 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

• Number of Memory Slots: 2×240pin
• Memory Standard: DDR3 1333/1066/800
• PCI Express 2.0 x16: 1
• Onboard Video Chipset: None
• Model #: GA-P61-USB3-B3
• Item #: N82E16813128483
• Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

• Was: $89.99
• Now: $69.99

Correct me if I am wrong, the chip set (sandybridge or whatever) should not be a problem for a Linux build. The drivers for the Video and other accessories are somewhat tricky to find. Some of the older stuff like sound card or whatnot may be included in the OS image, but definitely not the video card driver and probably wireless network card.

[serialk11r]

I'm not entirely sure how it works, because as I said, the motherboard simply wires the memory straight up to the CPU (and provides power). The only way it'd not be able to support faster speeds is if it has an inferior electrical connection, which doesn't make much sense.

If my memory serves me well, the way the newer processors (intel) overclock is through the multiplier only. The Core i7-2600K for example says it only supports DDR3 1066/1333...But that doesn't really make sense either, so I dunno. With DDR3 1600 though, something he can do is reduce the latency if he's running lower clocks.

[Want.FR-S]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

I'm not entirely sure how it works, because as I said, the motherboard simply wires the memory straight up to the CPU (and provides power). The only way it'd not be able to support faster speeds is if it has an inferior electrical connection, which doesn't make much sense.

If my memory serves me well, the way the newer processors (intel) overclock is through the multiplier only. The Core i7-2600K for example says it only supports DDR3 1066/1333...But that doesn't really make sense either, so I dunno. With DDR3 1600 though, something he can do is reduce the latency if he's running lower clocks.

Oh my friend, it is not that simple. The memory bank is no where directly tied to the cpu. It needs to go through the north bridge (chip set, P61/H61 in this case), and all the signals must be governed by one clock, originated from a crystal with certain multiplier. So if you change the multiplier through BIOS (when manufacturer allows you to do..) or actually change some pin connectors, you can increase the frequency and thus overclock.

So if the mobo simply does not support higher frequency, the memory module simply runs based on slower frequency automatically with no problem.

Speaking of electrical connection, does anyone understand the whole issue about signal integrity. I wonder if you overclock the system, the jitter, eye diagram and noise budget will simply go through the roof.. but what do I know...

[82mm 4g63]

WoW, do you plan on overclocking and plan on buying a GPU? I assume the answer to both will be yes, considering how easy it is to OC and how much performance you gain.

Continuing on that assumption, you want either a P67 or Z68 northbridge. You don't NEED a Z chipset, you could manage just fine with a P, but the price difference isn't really that significant maybe $15 on mid ranged boards.

(H, P, Z; what's the difference? H=Onboard graphics are enabled, while overclocking is disabled; P=You need a graphics card for this chipset, onboard graphics is disabled, however overclocking is enabled here; Z=You guessed it…best of both worlds. Onboard graphics are enabled, as is overclocking)

I would recommend this motherboard.

Biostar TZ68A+ for $100. CrossFireX/SLI support, Sata3 and Sata6, DDR3 speeds upto 2200mhz, 16GB, USB3.0, SSD caching, T-Overclocker tool, AND my favorite BioRemote2 lets you control your PC via your Android phone or iPhone.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138319

Power Supplies...Corsair makes the best PSU's at every price point. This system would function properly with even a 430w PSU, but I want you to have some expandability incase you really crank up the voltage and/or go CFX/SLI in the future.

I highly recommend the Corsair Builder Series CX500 or CX600. The 500W and 600W after the mail in rebate and promo code (ends on 9/15) are $35 and $53 respectively. The Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 is $62 right now. All three are ultra reliable, more than sufficient power output.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139027
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139028
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139020

As far as system memory, when it comes to rendering the rule of thumb is 2GB per processing core so 8GB is the recommended amount. Newegg sells quad channel kits, but that's more of a marketting gimick from the manufacturers than it is a worth while feature. Your PC will run just as fine with two 8GB dual channel kits (totalling 16GB) as it would with one 16GB quad channel kit. The reason I say that is... I would recommend getting an 8GB kit and if you notice any bottlenecking as a result of lacking memory then just buy an identical 8GB dual channel kit. 8GB kit = $55, 16GB kit = $110 so it's not like the larger bundle = larger savings.

GSkill Ripjaws DDR3-1600 $55.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231314

Also, he will be able to run Linux on any one of these new systems, the system hardware requirements for Linux are even lower than that of Windows 7.

[lindajamison76]

Well, great work! You have helped me to improve my knowledge about this field. Thank you so much for sharing.

[4agze]

Anyone can help me get my pics, video and docs on my non working laptop?

[82mm 4g63]

Originally Posted by 4agze

Anyone can help me get my pics, video and docs on my non working laptop?

If the laptop is thrashed beyond repair but the HDD in it is still functional, you could remove the HDD and buy a laptop HDD adapter. It would let you hook up the laptop HDD to your desktop PC so you could transfer the files from the laptop HDD to your desktop's. You can usually get one for like $10 bucks on newegg. Depends entirely on what type of HDD is in your laptop and what type of connections you have on your desktop motherboard.

[4agze]

Originally Posted by 82mm 4g63

If the laptop is thrashed beyond repair but the HDD in it is still functional, you could remove the HDD and buy a laptop HDD adapter. It would let you hook up the laptop HDD to your desktop PC so you could transfer the files from the laptop HDD to your desktop's. You can usually get one for like $10 bucks on newegg. Depends entirely on what type of HDD is in your laptop and what type of connections you have on your desktop motherboard.

I dont have any desktop or pc any more I have a mac pro wife has mac air now will it work?