Personal computing discussed

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DPete27
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Re: $800 Mid-Level Gaming Build

Sat Dec 01, 2012 4:54 pm

Rebbig wrote:
I wanted to know if there are any recommendations regarding temperature monitoring programs (which components should I be particularly concerned about? CPU? GPU?)?

I like HW Monitor. I monitors temps of your CPU core, GPU, mobo temps, voltages, fan speeds etc all in one window.

Rebbig wrote:
Also, do you have any recommendations/tips on how to prolong SSD life and how to optimize the SSD?

Make sure AHCI is enabled in the mobo bios first, then install W7 on the SSD, after installation, right-click My Computer => Properties => Windows Experience Index, and run it. That will allow Windows to detect the SSD which will turn on TRIM, turn off defrag, and some other fun stuff. Some other little tweaks can be found here. Of those, the only one I bother with is disabling hibernation. SSDs cold boot so fast that hibernation is really not worth it anyway, especially for a desktop. Just let your computer sleep or turn it off.
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
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Rebbig
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Re: $800 Mid-Level Gaming Build

Mon Dec 03, 2012 10:17 pm

Hello,
Thanks everyone, I ordered everything I need except the video card (still haven't decided) and put the computer together. It seems to be working! Thanks for all of your help. I still had some more questions. So I lied about the case, I decided to buy the Corsair 200R: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... air%20200r. I have gotten very nice tips regarding cooling, but I wanted to know if it's recommended to cover up the top two air vents on this case (since I don't plan on installing fans in that location).
I also had questions on OCing and stress testing. I went with an i5 3570K and a Hyper 212 Plus air cooler. Moreover, I decided to go with the MSI z77a-G45 motherboard. For stress testing, what programs are good to run? Which tests should I run within these programs? How long should I run these tests?
For overclocking, I don't really know what I'm doing. As a general comment, I'm not looking for extremely fast speeds and would like to start off slow, say 4.0 GHz. So far, I've been reading a lot of articles and I'm slightly confused. What I've gathered is that typically there are two main things I should be concerned with, the VCC (VCore) and the CPU multiplier (I think my motherboard calls this the "CPU ratio"). Is this correct? Do I need to turn off the Turbo Boost feature on the CPU? What else do I need to do? To be honest, I'm not sure how to do this in the BIOS with my motherboard, but I'll try to figure it out.
I see people saying to try dropping the voltage (VCC I assume) until "it doesn't work." What does this mean? If it doesn't work, haven't you caused damage to your system? What kind of temperatures should I be expecting while doing these stress tests? Thank you again, and sorry for all of the questions.
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: $800 Mid-Level Gaming Build

Mon Dec 03, 2012 10:35 pm

Rebbig wrote:
Thanks everyone, I ordered everything I need except the video card (still haven't decided) and put the computer together...
For stress testing, what programs are good to run? Which tests should I run within these programs? How long should I run these tests?
Memtest86 is a good choice.

Why are you overclocking?

You definitely need a graphics card to play games. I still recommend Radeon HD7850 2GB as the best bang for the buck. One of the factory hot-clocked versions (950 to 1000 MHz vs. the 860 MHz reference) could be a good value. GeForce GTX660, Radeon HD7870, GeForce GTX660Ti or Radeon HD7950 would also provide excellent gaming performance but at a higher cost than Radeon HD7850 2GB.

Once you have a graphics card installed, you can "stress test" your PC by playing your favorite games for two or three hours at a time. 8)
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Rebbig
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Re: $800 Mid-Level Gaming Build

Mon Dec 03, 2012 11:32 pm

Hello,
Thanks for your response!

JustAnEngineer wrote:
You definitely need a graphics card to play games. I still recommend Radeon HD7850 2GB as the best bang for the buck. One of the factory hot-clocked versions (950 to 1000 MHz vs. the 860 MHz reference) could be a good value. GeForce GTX660, Radeon HD7870, GeForce GTX660Ti or Radeon HD7950 would also provide excellent gaming performance but at a higher cost than Radeon HD7850 2GB.


Yea, I know I need a card... stupid indecisiveness.

JustAnEngineer wrote:
Why are you overclocking?


For several reasons, although if you strongly advise against it I guess I wouldn't. Didn't you and others recommend a CPU like the core i5 3570K for the purpose of OCing (otherwise, shouldn't I have gotten a locked version)? I think some people also recommended an aftermarket cooler, which I guess also gave me the impression that they were suggesting OCing :). I guess another (more selfish) reason is that one of the main reasons I decided to build a computer was to learn about the whole process and for fun (I might have saved some money over buying prebuilt, but not a lot). I consider OCing to be a part of this learning process, so I'm trying to test the waters on these things. That being said, I realize that I'm new to this stuff, so I am not completely against running things at stock speeds.
 
DPete27
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Re: $800 Mid-Level Gaming Build

Mon Dec 03, 2012 11:57 pm

If you want to overclock and don't know what you're doing, DO NOT increase the cpu voltage. You can easily find overclocking results for the 3570k by googling "overclock 3570k stock voltage" which will basically tell you that you can increase the multiplier to 40 or 42x without any trouble. There will be an entry in the bios for this. After that, you run prime95 for at least 4 hours. If prime95 doesn't return any errors or crash the system, you're stable. As long as you don't increase the cpu voltage, there isn't much harm you can do.
Anandtech.com has a really nice writeup about undervolting ivy bridge. The basic goal there is to reduce voltage to lower power consumption and heat while retaining stability. That's a little more advanced. Just keep reading articles about overclocking. Try browsing around on hardwaresecrets.com for more in-depth info.
The 3570k was suggested because you showed interest in learning about overclocking IIRC. Practically speaking, overclocking isn't absolutely necessary for your processor at this point, but its good for squeezing a little more life out of it as it gets older and falls behind the performance curve. Its definitely an interesting thing to learn about and play around with though. Overclocking makes you feel like you're sticking it to the man.
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
HTPC: A8-5600K, MSI FM2-A75IA-E53, 4TB Seagate SSHD, 8GB 1866MHz G.Skill, Crosley D-25 Case Mod
 
Chrispy_
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Re: $800 Mid-Level Gaming Build

Tue Dec 04, 2012 8:59 am

You don't need to overclock a 3570K, period.

If you want to overclock for interest/fun - it really is as simple as going into the UEFI BIOS and setting the turbo boost multiplier to 40. Anything further than that and you may have to start tweaking voltages, but that is a discussion for another thread: Don't start to run until you can walk.
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