My Builds underway

Skidmcmarx

Hey guys,

As the title says i've started with my new build. Picked up case n PSU today. Will have RAM, HDD n mobo tomoro and am aware i need a gfx card as the mobo has no onboard but i'll be using my dells 8800gt for the 1st few days( unless ne1 has a spare card lyin around the wanna give me:D) until i sort summit out.
Ok, heres wot i got so far, sum of this is fom adverts(*), rest is from HWV:

CPU: E6300 (* Collecting on fri unless sum1 thinks i shud go wit summit different)
FAN: Arctic freezer 7 pro
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L
RAM: 2048MB DDR2 Corsair TwinX CL 4, PC6400/800
PSU: NEOPower 480watt Modular PSU*
CASE: Antec Sonata I*
HDD:Samsung HD501LJ 500GB 7200,16 MB Cache+ a couple o spare IDEs
DVD-+RW: LG one i've had lyin around.

Does anyone with a bit of experiance think theres nething i shud change.All help/recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Skidz

skuzzb

You should be able to get the e6300 up to 3.2ghz with little effort with that ram and motherboard. Its still a great chip even if its nearly a year and a half old.

Personally I would go for an SLI board (but possibly a smaller overclock), just so ya have the option for two cards. (the gigabyte 650i board is a decent one from what i hear and its only a couple more quid than your DS3-L) http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=18310&agid=659

You'll probably need a few case fans if the antec doesnt have any, otherwise looks like a decent build.

Theres a tonne of gfx card threads at the moment as nobody can figure out what to buy so its mainly about your budget. 9600gt sli and 8800gt sli are the best value at the minute.

Also if ya can push another €35 get the samsung spinpoint f1 750gb drive, its one of the fasted drives out there.

Skidmcmarx

Ya my hope is to overclock the bejebus outta the e6300. Will be lukin to boardsies to help me out here for shur:D

To be honest my gaming wont be too intensive n i cudn really be bothered with the hassle of SLI. However i do get wher ur cumin from that sli wud be better but this rig wont be used for nething kerazy. I've read sum excellent reviews on the P31( n its on its way neway) so i may as well just stick with that. Thanks tho

The antec i've got is 2nd hand from TonyM and he's had 2 12cm case fans installed in it already so i hopin they'll be enuf. What u think??

Ya the gfx card choice is a bit crazy alright. I'm thinkin o jus goin wit a chepo gfx card until i can afford another 8800gt or maybe get summit less powerful to stick in my dell as i wnt be gamin on it much after i finish this build. Ne Ideas on a decent low end card??

I get wher ur comin from about the samsung too but as sad as it is i cudnt actually stretch the extra €35 wen ordering. Still tho i've got 640gigs in my dell and i'll have another 500 in this so i shud b fine for now.

Thanks for ur suggestions

P.S just wonderin if that RAM got posted 2day.
Thanks
Skidz

skuzzb

Ah its really easy to overclock once you get the hang of it, just takes alot of patience and testing but its worth it when ya can nearly double your performance. Id pick up a high end cooling paste like arctic silver, to make sure you get the best contact, or even go as far as lapping the processor if you want to get a monster clock.

The 2 12cm and the one in your PSU will be plenty.

The 9500gt thats coming out soon should be decent enough (bout 70 quid i think) but youd probably get something better on adverts for the same price.

PS check your PM!

Skidmcmarx

F**k, i knew i was 4 gettin summit. Ment to order the arctic silver wit my order from HWV. Ah well, I'm shur i'll be able to pick sum up sumwher.

Havent heard nething bout those 9500gt but i must check em out. As u said urself tho adverts myt have summit floatin around that'll suit me. Not really lukin to go over 50-60e on the card yunno?? Summit that wud play a few hd avi's wud suit me perfectly

Anti

if your looking for a gfx card i have 2 8800GTX's for sale

*shameless plug

Skidmcmarx

Haha, I'm all for shameless plugs

Like i said above tho i'm not lookin to spend a massive amount on a card. How much wud one o these GTX's be goin for??

On another note i know u give alot o advice around here so was wonderin..Skuzzb says above that it shudn be too hard to OC an e6300 to 3.2ghz(nething round 2.8ghz wud do me fine). Wud u agree with this. Is the E6300 as easily overclockable as alot o websites say??
Thanks for ur reply too

Sqaull20

I have that mobo, I can get a E2160 to 3.40ghz without changing voltage, i'd say you should see similar with a e6300

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=330631

Anti

Skidmcmarx wrote: »

Haha, I'm all for shameless plugs

Like i said above tho i'm not lookin to spend a massive amount on a card. How much wud one o these GTX's be goin for??

On another note i know u give alot o advice around here so was wonderin..Skuzzb says above that it shudn be too hard to OC an e6300 to 3.2ghz(nething round 2.8ghz wud do me fine). Wud u agree with this. Is the E6300 as easily overclockable as alot o websites say??
Thanks for ur reply too

Im only looking for 250€ each for them. Which is a damn bargain seeing as they still go for 300€+ and mine have long warrentys on them. But less of my plug here, you can see the adverts in my signature.

DirkVoodoo

Not doing anything crazy? 8800GT should be more than adequate.

Skidmcmarx

Ya, Thinkin i myt go with the 8800gt. The one i have in my dell at the min hasnt givin me a seconds trouble and its pretty quite too. Just gotta find the money now

@ Sqaull20: My parts havent arrived today like i thought My bro didn actually do the bank transfer till monday so i'm hopin they'll be here by wed. Neyway my point is, If u've managed to do a decent job overclocking on this board, as soon as mine arrives with my e6300, is ther ne chance u cud help me out with a bit of overclocking. It'll be my 1st time OCing a system.

Thanks.

Sqaull20

Skidmcmarx wrote: »

@ Sqaull20: My parts havent arrived today like i thought My bro didn actually do the bank transfer till monday so i'm hopin they'll be here by wed. Neyway my point is, If u've managed to do a decent job overclocking on this board, as soon as mine arrives with my e6300, is ther ne chance u cud help me out with a bit of overclocking. It'll be my 1st time OCing a system.

Thanks.

No problem..

I will upload a few pics of the bios tomorrow, to give you an idea of what kinda features she has

Sqaull20

I have seen 9600gt's on ebay for €122 delivered, cant beat that for value...

http://cgi.ebay.ie/nVidia-GeForce-9600GT-512MB-DDR3-PCI-Express-2-HDCP_W0QQitemZ300217213410QQihZ020QQcategoryZ3762QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Skidmcmarx

Nice 1 Sqaull, that'd be great.

I've recently got sum more RAM too.
Its 2x1GB crucial ballistix pC6400. So i've now got 4gigs RAM. I'm assumin this ram will be completely compatible with wot i've got so far, ya??

I'm likein the look o those 9600gt's too Sqaull. Thanks alot. I gonna have to check them out.

My parts were shipped today so i'm hoping to have em by early nxt wk.

Since this is a budget PC n i'm tryin to save all the money i can, my parents have offered to pay for a new monitor. I've been crazy to get myself a Samsung 226bw for awhile now but never had the funds. Wud this still be a gud option?? i know it has its panel problems but there are alot of sites now with the ideal calibration settings and tips for adjusting it to get the same settings as the 226cw. There not willing 2 go over 280ish(believe me i've tried to get em to go higher). If not this, wot other options are ther. I'll be doing an unmerciful amount of DVD/avi watching and a fair amount of gaming(using my Dells 8800gt).

Thanks for al the replies so far,

skuzzb

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Acer_AL2416WB_ET.F16WE.B02/version.asp

24" Acer. Specs aint amazing but its a 24"!

Skidmcmarx

Hey all,

I gots another question. The case i bought is fairly filthy. Its in perfect condition but i guessin it wasnt used in awhile n the inside is covered in dust n the odd bit o grimeyness. This doesnt really bother me at the min tho since my parts arent here to put into it. I've gotten rid of mosta the dust usin compressed air can, hoover n a bit o sweepin(nuthin in it so no need to worry about static). Wot i'm wonderin is... if i remove the front panel can i use a power hose(on light enuf power) to clean out the last bits of dirt/grime inside. I dont really c why not but i just thought i'd ask neway.

Thanks

nibble

Skidmcmarx wrote: »

Hey all,

I gots another question. The case i bought is fairly filthy. Its in perfect condition but i guessin it wasnt used in awhile n the inside is covered in dust n the odd bit o grimeyness. This doesnt really bother me at the min tho since my parts arent here to put into it. I've gotten rid of mosta the dust usin compressed air can, hoover n a bit o sweepin(nuthin in it so no need to worry about static). Wot i'm wonderin is... if i remove the front panel can i use a power hose(on light enuf power) to clean out the last bits of dirt/grime inside. I dont really c why not but i just thought i'd ask neway.

Thanks

Yeah sure, I always wash my cases with water and soap after a bit of dirty modding

Skidmcmarx

Hey all,

Just thought i'd give an update. I have all my parts for my new build now(well kinda. Am pickin up my E6300 tomoro nyt). Ordered the mobo, HDD n 2GB ram from hardwareversand.

Just a quick side note, Hardwareversand's service was EXCELLENT. Had absolutley no problems. Ordered my parts on the monday mornin n did the transfer in my branch b4 1pm. Got their email on Thurs saying the items had been shipped n was told by DHL they'd arrive on Wed. Got a phone call tues mornin from DHL askin wud i be available to recieve delivey on tues and the items were deliverd in perfect condition 2pm Tues. Wud definitly recommend them.

Neway back to my build. This is what i've ended up with and am quite happy.

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P31-D3SL
CPU: C2D E6300( lookin to overclock to bout 2.6/2.8Ghz)
Cooler: Arctic Freezer 7 Pro
RAM: 2048MB DDR2 Corsair TwinX CL 4, PC6400/800
2x1GB Crucial Ballistix pC6400
HDD: Samsung HD501LJ 500GB 7200,16 MB Cache+ a couple o spare IDEs
Case: Antec Sonata I (Beautifully clean now, no more grime n dust)
PSU: NEOPower 480watt Modular PSU
DVD-+RW: LG one i've had lyin around.
GFX: X1900XTX/8800GT(Swapping between regularly unless the 1900XTX can handle Full HD)

Ok, so there it is, my very first build. I'll be turnin it on for the 1st time tomoro nyt and this maybe a stupid question, but when i first switch on, have i gotta change nething in the bios or can i just go strait ahead and install the OS. This thought actually slipped my mind til now :rolleyes:

Oh n i'll also be picking up a VW222U tomoro that i got at a decent price. I've read sum good reviews but wud like if sum one here had a first hand opinion on it.

Thanks
Skidz

Skidmcmarx

Hey guys,

Well my new build is setup n running perfectly. Gettin CPU temps of 28ish. All ram is recognised prefectly n no problems so far. Now how in the name o jebus to i begin to overclock. I'm a COMPLETE noob wen it comes to this so feel free to dumb everything down. Wot i want to do is run stable at 2.6ghz which i know this proccessor definitly can. I was thinkin of doing a bit o tweaking 1st using easytune 5 pro, then once i have settings i know can work i'll change the settings properly in the bios.

Ne1 with a bit o help for me??

Thanks

Sqaull20

Easytune isnt that great, much better results can be had by overclocking via the bios ( delete at startup )...

If you have a digital camera can you take a few pics of the bios screens?

Skidmcmarx

Will do. Which screens do u want pics of??

Sqaull20

Advanced Bios + M I T

In the advanced bios you will have to disable a few monitoring things and intelspeed step to get an overclock, that will remain constant on cpu z..

In M I T you have to set ram speed, fsb and voltages, nothing much too it really...

Skidmcmarx

Kool. Back in a few.

Skidmcmarx

P4270044.JPG

P4270046.JPG

P4270047.JPG

Think these r the 1s.

Sqaull20

To get a quick overclock disable a few "safety" features

Advanced Bios

Disable

1: Cpu Enhanced Alt
2:Cpu Thermal Monitor
3:Cpu Eist Function

Then

M I T

Enable Cpu host clock, set system memoy to 2.00, set fsb to 380, set pci express to 100 and optimize voltages...

System should reboot and clocks should 2660mhz at startup, you can adjust go higher, lower, mess with ram speeds, voltages and so on after that...

Skidmcmarx

U Legend. Will do that in a sec so. Just 1 Question, Wen u say optimize voltages, do u mean do it manually, or is it an option thats done automatically??

Sqaull20

Auto should be fine for voltages, you can set them manually when you are more used to it...

Sqaull20

You may want to set that " performance enhance " to standard too...

Voltages are fine at Auto as well...

Post a pick of your overclock with cpu z

Skidmcmarx

Hey Man,

Right, i did all that and the values changed n everything looked fine but everytime i boot back into windows CPU-Z says the CPU is only running at stock. Then wen i go back into the bios the MIT settings are back to their original values. I have saved the settings before exiting everytime but they still reset themselves. The changes made in the advanced bios stay changed too.

Sqaull20

It must be some of the "safety" features rolling it back to stock freq.

Advanced Bios

Disable

1: Cpu Enhanced Alt
2:Cpu Thermal Monitor
3:Cpu Eist Function

Then

M I T

1:Enable Cpu host clock,
2: set system memory to 2.00,
3:set fsb to 350,
4:set pci express to 100
5:" performance enhance " to standard
6: set voltages to auto...

When the pc reboots go back into the bios to see if clocks are reset...

Skidmcmarx

No joy man.
Did exactly wot u have said above but the new settings just wont save. Ne ideas??

Sqaull20

Can you post pics of what you have done...

Try changing the frequencies, fsb to 320, memory freq to 2.50, set pci frequency to Auto and so on, their is nothing wrong just something we are overlooking...

Try cpu smart fan off ( in pc health )

TonyM.

you have to save the settings when you leave the BIOS PRESS F10

Skidmcmarx

Woohoo. I changed the pci freq to auto 1st as it seemed the simplest thing to change 1st n low n behold it worked Thanks so much for ur help Sqaull. Are there ne tests i should run to to make shur everything is stable?? Oh n the CPU temp at the min is around 48degrees. That about too high yes?? I am only using the standard arctic coolers themal paste at the min n i know that affects it....

Sqaull20

Most people use prime95

http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=103

Im lazy so I just run a 3d mark test and if it completes that its fine

Temps @ idle should be below 40c for both cores...

Speedfan is pretty accuarate for temps

Skidmcmarx

@ TonyM. I did that on all my attempts but it stil never changed. For sum reason it was the 100pci-e value that was messin it up . All fixed now tho....

Sqaull20

How high can you get?

TerrorFirmer

That's strange - it's not ideal to leave pci-e frequency at auto, as it'll raise with the overclock so the bigger the overclock, the more potentially unstable your card will become...and increasing the frequency doesn't offer any performance whatsoever...