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"I need a New PC!" 2011 Edition of SSD's for everyone! |OT|

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Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
*Visit out friends at Laptop-GAF

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Banner by: MedIC86

This OP is a work in progress.

Needs:
- Radeon Pro / nHancer / that other nVidia program / FPS capping
- Banner or Text for builds and Questions/HowTo section
- Monitors / Sound Card / Headphones / Mic /Mice : section for second post? Not sure.
- If you have something to add or critique, PM me

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6/1/2011: AMD Bulldozer (AM3+) CPU's delayed 2-3 months or more
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5/31/2011: Updated the ~$1000 Build:Intel 2500K, 4GB DDR3, 2TB HDD, GTX570, $60-$80 case, Corsair 750W, MSI P67A-GD65 motherboard, DVD Burner. < Click for wishlist

5/28/2011: Best overall i5/i7 2500K/2600K overclocking guide (clunk.org)

5/27/2011: Updated the $600-$700 build:AMD x4 955BE, 4GB DDR3, 500GB or 1TB HDD, GTX560 Ti 1GB, $40-$60 case, Corsair CX430W, MSI 870-G45 motherboard, DVD Burner. < Click for wishlist

5/26/2011: Possible AM3+ (Bulldozer) chip delays? Hopefully will know more at E3.

4/26/2011: Added Tech Report Spring 2011 Buying Guide - Updated once a season, I generally agree with everything on these lists.

4/25/2011: AMD | Bulldozer, Fusion, AM3+, FM1, and What's To Come

4/20/2011: Possible Intel Desktop Processor: Enthusiast Roadmap (Sandy Bridge-E & Ivy Bridge)

H67/P67/Z68 motherboard differences
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4/6/2011: Anandtech reviews the Vertex 3 120GB. Check it out! Good info here.

3/26/2011: Stop asking about the P8P67 differences!! Here is a chart for you!
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3/22/2011: C400 demo's flagship SSD. Still no <$300 numbers from anyone in SSD market.

3/2/2011: Revised chipset motherboards (B3) are starting to hit retailers.

2/25/2011: New Corsair TX V2 PSU's hitting the market
Expected Intel revised motherboards due mid March.

2/5/2011: Intel Sandy Bridge Recalls and halt of sale due to faulty SATA ports (5-15% failure over 3 years on SATA 3gbps)
- Because of this almost all sale of Intel 1155 motherboards will halt for about a month. As such substitute an i5-760 + a $130 Socket 1156 motherboard, or wait it out for the new revisions.

1/5/2011:
Top Sandy Bridge Reviews: [H]OCP, Anandtech, The Tech Report
Some good P67 board reviews: **TechReport four board round up, Asus P8P67 and P8P67 Pro (Legit Reviews), [H]OCP MSI P67A-GD65
New SSDs incoming: (Feb = Crucial C400), SF-2000 later, Intel G3 sooner?, SF-2000 OCZ Prelim Testing

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If you want help with a build fill this out AND try making one of your own from the resources in the OP :)

Basic Desktop Questions:
Your Current Specs: CPU / RAM (DDR2/DDR3) / Motherboard / GPU
Budget: Price Range + Country
Main Use: Light Gaming, Gaming, Emulation (PS2/Wii), Video Editing, 3D work, general usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback)
Monitor Resolution: What resolution will you be playing your games at? Are you going to upgrade later?
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Self Explanatory
Are reusing any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX 520W)
When will you build?: When do you want your computer, do you need it in a week, can you wait a month or two?
Will you be overclocking?: Yes, No, Maybe (This means yes)

Video How-to: 15 minute video how-to / 40 Minute how-to / Tested March 15th $1,500 build (100 minutes, but entertaining)

Prospective laptop buyers please fill this out and ask their forum as well.
What laptop should i buy?
Laptop-GAF

General guides: FALCON GUIDE – This is a general UPDATED guide and nothing is the end all perfect guide at any time. Lite version
Tech Report Spring 2011 Buying Guide - Updated once a season, I generally agree with everything on these lists.

PRE-BUILT GAF:
The Builds: $600/$700, ~$1,000, $1,500!? – Remember a lot of parts are good and combos do pop up on newegg.com so take advantage of them.

(Click on the links for a wishlist)
The Damn Capable Build $600/$700
The Get A Lot More Build ~$1000
The Spend a Lot More Build: $1,500+ - Add GPU, PSU, SSD to above build. Post in thread with specifics using the template.


The Damn Capable Build: $600/$700 - AMD x4 955BE, 4GB DDR3, 500GB or 1TB HDD, GTX560 Ti 1GB, $40-$60 case, Corsair CX430W, MSI 870-G45 motherboard, DVD Burner. < Click for wishlist
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The Get a Lot More Build: $900/$1000 – Intel 2500K, 4GB DDR3, 2TB HDD, GTX570, $60-$80 case, Corsair 750W, MSI P67A-GD65 motherboard, DVD Burner. < Click for wishlist
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Choosing a case: Picking a case reflects what you are looking for, and your personal tastes. Note that some cases might not be able to fit taller rifle coolers (Like the CM 212 Plus will not fit in a CM 330 or 360) or longer video cards (Like a GTX 295). Additionally some of the LED fans in cases can have off switches.
Thank your friendly neighborhood feist and TheExodu5.



$40-60
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$70-$100
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$120-$200
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$40 - Cooler Master 310/33x/341 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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$80 - Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced ,,,,,,,
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$160 - Corsair 600T​
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$40 - NZXT Beta Evo ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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$90 - Cooler Master HAF 922 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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$160 - SilverStone RV02​
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$60 - BitFenix Shinobi ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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$100 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K62 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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$200 - Cooler Master HAF X​
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$60 - Cooler Master HAF 912 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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$100 - Antec 902/900 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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$ N/A - Various Lian Li
[QUIET OPTIONS]
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$60 - Antec Sonata Proto ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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$100 - Fractal Design Define R3 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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$160 - Antec P183​

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Newegg (Parts)
Amazon (Parts)
Chief Value (Parts)
Micro Center (Parts)
NCIXUS (Parts, Assembly)
Performance-PCs (Parts)
Tiger Direct (Parts, Bing Cashback)
Mwave (Parts)
AVADirect (Custom Built)
Falcon Northwest (Custom Built)
MAINGEAR (Custom Built)

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NCIX (Parts, Assembly, Price Match)
Canada Computers (Parts)
DirectCanada (Parts)
Memory Express (Parts, Assembly, Price Match)
Newegg (Parts)
Tiger Direct (Parts)
PriceBat (Price Comparison)
PriceCanada (Price Comparison)
Shopbot (Price Comparison)

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Novatech (Parts)
Aria PC (Parts)
Ebuyer (Parts, Custom Built)
Microdirect (Parts)
Misco (Parts)
Scan (Parts)
Dino PC (Custom Built)
YoYoTech (Custom Built)

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PC Case Gear (Parts)
MSY (Parts)
Scorpion Technology (Parts)
Umart (Parts)
staticICE (Product Finder)

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AnandTech
The Tech Report
Guru3D
HardOCP
Hardware Canucks
Overclockers
Tom's Hardware
X-bit labs
+Jonnyguru - LEGIT PSU reviews
+Silent PC Review - Silent Computing

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CPU-Z gathers information on your CPU, FSB, VCORE voltage and memory timings.
GPU-Z gathers information on your video card and GPU.
Real Temp / Core Temp allows you to monitor the temperature of your CPU core(s).
HWMonitor allows you to monitor fan speed, temperature, voltage, etc.
Piriform Speccy overall computer hardware monitoring
RivaTuner allows you to manage GPU overclocking, fan speed and monitor many things.

EVGA Precision allows you to overclock your NVIDIA GPU.
FURMark allows you to stress test your video card.
Fraps allows you to record real time video, take screen captures and display your FPS.
Memtest86+ allows you to run a full memory scan to deal with the blue screen of death and system errors.
MemtestG80 allows you to test for soft errors in GPU memory for NVIDIA CUDA-enabled GPUs.
nHancer allows you to optimize the display, improve the performance and fully utilize your NVIDIA graphics card.
OCCT / Prime95 allows you to stress test your CPU and GPU. allows you to stress test the stability of your computer.


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2008 Thread
2009 Thread
2010 Thread

The 2011 high-res PC screenshot thread!
Triple buffering: "Why we love it"
PC games blog list
Intro to dual cards: SLI & Crossfire
 

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
MedIC86's Advanced Information Guide

processors.jpg


Current mainstream sockets:
Intel: LGA775/1155/1156/1366
AMD: AM2/AM3/AM3+ (due for this summer)

MARCH/APRIL 2011

~100$:
Phenom II X4 955BE ($120) or Intel Core i3 2100 ($120)

200$ and up
Core i5-2500K (~220$)

CPU's priced over 220$ are not really worth it, you can overclock the i5-2500K a great deal, you should have enough Mhz to keep you going for quiet some time.

A lot of people in this thread are interested in overclocking. So I give you the top 7 Myths about overclocking:

1) Overclocking should be pronounced “proc-es-sor”

Many newcomers to overclocking make the mistake of focusing too much on their processor and forget that overclocking is an equation that contains multiple variables. Putting an adequate cooling system into place, adjusting the power provided to your component, monitoring your results with the right tools and doing the necessary research are all critical steps on the path to safe and successful overclocking. It's also very important to verify that other key components are able to handle the speed bump. For example, if you plan on overclocking the bus speed and keeping the memory synchronous, make sure that you are using memory that's been rated or tested for the new target speed. If you are a gamer, you might also want to look into overclocking your GPU for maximum performance.

2) Overclocking is dangerous and will make your computer explode

Speeding up the operation frequency of a hardware component will increase its thermal output in a linear fashion, while boosting voltages will cause the generated heat to sky rocket. If improperly managed, these increases in temperature can cause permanent physical damage to the component or even “heat death”. Having said that, your computer will generally show signs of malfunction, such as crashes or lock ups, long before something dramatic happens giving you the chance to make the appropriate adjustments. Recent hardware is also equipped with thermal sensors that will trigger a throttle mechanism or even a complete shut down when the heat level is too high. Add to that the fact that you are a responsible overclocker and that you will provide sufficient cooling to your system, and you may go about your overclocking business without fear of explosions.

3) Overheating is the only side effect of overclocking

Overheating gets most of the attention when it comes to the side effects of overclocking since its manifestations are flashier and make for better stories. However, functional incorrectness is a much more prevalent and often overlooked side effect of overclocking. Since an overclocked component operates outside of the manufacturer’s recommended operating conditions, overclocking can create unpredictable errors which may lead to system instability and data loss. Although it is near impossible for a private individual to thoroughly test the functionality of a component, “stress tests” such as the System Stability Test provided by EVEREST Ultimate Edition can be helpful in detecting potential errors before they get out of hand.

4) There exists a universal recipe for overclocking

Truth be told, overclocking is trial-and-error and very much so. The reason for this is simple – all hardware components are different. Each component has its unique limits and will behave in diverse ways depending on its configuration and the environment it operates in. Even two processors originating from the same manufacturing process, with the exact same specifications on paper, may give you conflicting results in practice. For example, one could be stable at a higher clock rate than the other with the same voltage. This means that you should always be cautious when reading about overclocking recommendations for your hardware or when comparing notes with others. Nothing beats hands-on testing.

5) Overclocking will allow you to retire richer

A well-known benefit of overclocking is that you can purchase a lower performance, cheaper component and overclock it in order to attain the performance of a more expensive one. However, people often forget that overclocking incurs new costs that may or may not offset these potential savings. For example, you might need to purchase a high-performance fan or acquire a water-cooling system in order to better handle the heat generated by your overclocked component. It must also be said that overclocking results in higher power consumption which may in turn raise your energy bills. At the end of the day, you should consider overclocking more like a hobby than an investment.

6) Half of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives are overclockers

Actually, there are absolutely no laws against overclocking. In fact, overclocking is sometimes offered as a legitimate service or feature to consumers by manufacturers and retailers. Several manufacturers even offer factory overclocked versions of their hardware components, warranty included, which can be an attractive solution for computer enthusiasts seeking better performance that still includes warranty protections. However, it must be said that this is not a universal practice. Many manufacturers will void their warranty if they detect overclocking related tampering. Even though proving such modifications have been made can be very difficult, we highly recommend that you read the manufacturer’s warranty policy before any overclocking attempt. Just in case.

7) Only computer gurus should bother with overclocking

While considering overclocking for the first time, one often feels overwhelmed. If that’s your case, remember that every expert was a beginner at some point. Just take it slow, do your research, familiarize yourself with the tools of the trade and get involved in overclocking communities such as www.overclockers.com and www.extremeoverclocking.com – the rest will follow. Did i mention that you should take it slow? i highly recommend that you approach overclocking with baby steps. Try changing your bus speed from 60 MHz to 66 MHz and see how it goes. If that works, try a little higher. If it doesn’t, take a step back. Whatever you do, make sure to have fun! Overclocking can be an engaging and highly
rewarding hobby that will allow you to gain valuable knowledge about your system and computers in general.

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If you are in the market for a new Motherboard there are a few things worth looking into.You have to determine a few things for yourself:

- Socket Type (wich processor are you going to buy ? this will determine wich socket you want to get)
- Chipset (the chipset will determine in a great way how your mobo will perform. its good to think this over, every chipset has its own feature set -> check this out if you are looking into a certain chipset)
- Memory (How much memory can your mobo accommodate ? what memory is supported DDR2 or DDR 3 etc. Also when you are going to buy memory check if its on the QVL list of the mobo, you can usually find this on the manufacters site.)
- Expansion slots (How much expansion slots do you need? you want 4 videocards? A soundcard?)
- Connectors/features (Do you need HDMI? USB 3.0 ports? on board digital out? all things to consider when buying a mobo)
- Formfactor (Your case will have room for a certain formfactor of motherboard, not all motherboards fit in all cases so check your manual/site from the case if it will fit)
- Compatibility (Double check if your hardware will be compatible with your new mobo, when in doubt contact your seller or neogaf ;) )
- Brand (Brands are always a big debate, everyone will have his personal preference. Most brands nowadays are pretty ok. its important to check tho if your motherboard has solid capacitors these will run a lot longer then the normal ones)
- Power consumption (If you find this important check reviews to find out if they write about power consumption)
- Quality (These days quality is mostly used for marketing, but the golden rule "you get what you pay for" mostly applies, more expensive motherboards use better quality parts then cheaper ones -> remember tho! it does not mean that these are bad mobo's!)
- Performance (again check reviews for performance, check what you find relevant)
- overclock-ability (If you want to overclock check out the pre-installed cooling on the mobo, especially the north and south bridge. there are mobo's that cater for overclockers and use good parts for this)
- Price (Always try to find the best bang for your buck, dont buy a mobo with 100 features that you will never use!)

So in short, when buying a mobo try to follow these points:
1. Determine your budget
2. Determine the platform (Chipset + Socket)
3. Determine what functions you deem necessary for the motherboard to have
4. Make a shortlist of all motherboards that have your demands
5. Pick the board that has good reviews and has the best price

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4GB or 8GB memory is recommend nowadays. DDR3 prices are currently quiet low so its no real problem i reckon.
Going over 8GB is pointless if your main goal is gaming. Ill drop a few links with some food for thought.

CAS vs. SPEED
DDR2 & DDR3
Memory Overclocking

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When you are in the market for a new GPU follow the same rules as with the motherboard. Determine your budget, features that you need etc.**CHECK REVIEWS!**

MARCH/APRIL 2011
Best PCI Express Card For $80:
Radeon HD 5670

Best PCIe Card For $130/150:
GeForce GTX 460 768 MB/1 GB

Best PCIe Card For $250:
GeForce GTX 560 MSI TwinFrozr 1GB

Best PCIe Card For ~$280:
Radeon HD 6950 2 GB

Question: There are many different brands in videocards, do they differ?
Answer: Well that depends, if the card uses the reference PCB, there is **NO** difference per brand, its the same card they just slap a different sticker on it.
But if you have a pre-factory overclocked card or they are using another cooler then the reference design there might be a difference, check hardware review sites for these GPU's.

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SSD is a abbreviation for 'Solid State Drive': a 'drive' with no mechanical parts, but with a conventional disk-interface (usually SATA).
An ssd contains memory chips (flash memory) to store the data.
The biggest advantage is data is almost immediately available, without the need of moving a mechanical head to the area on the hard drive where the desired data is stored.
At this moment pc-components such as the processor, memory (ram), graphics processor and other components, perform well enough to meet the demand of the most users. Still we have to wait while using a computer...
So where can performance still be increased dramatically? The answer: SSD's!

In 2009 prices of ssd's have dropped by a factor 4. Still at this moment ssd's are much more expensive than hard drives: ssd's now cost around $2.5 per GB, in contrast to approximately $0.1 per GB for conventional hard drives.

Terminology:

- Garbage collection: part of the functionality of the firmware of ssd's that automatically merges fairly unused memory blocks for better performance
- Under-partitioning: leave blank space for better performance
- Wiping: OCZ method (tool) to improve performance
- Aligning: creating a partition with a size that is exactly the cluster size multiplied by a factor
- TRIM: a ATA (contoller) command from the operating system to an ssd, that can tell that a memory block on the ssd can be erased to improve write performance - It's a feature of Windows 7 but keep in mind that your SSD must support it!
- Wear leveling: spreading write-actions on memory cells evenly over the whole ssd - this prevents wear of the flash cells increasing their lifetime
- MLC / SLC: Multi Level Cell or Single Level Cell - the latter lasts longer, is theoretically faster but more expensive, so mlc-based ssd's are now sold more, especially to consumers.

Tips for SSD's on a Windows based system:

- Firmware: YES (check if there is new firmware out and if so install it, usually gets speed increases)
- Partition alignment: YES (Windows Vista (SP1 and later) and Windows 7 always create aligned partitions.)
- Defragmentation: NO (it's important that you turn off automatic defragging on the SSD. see below)
- Indexing: NO (its better for the drive durability + speed to turn this off. right click on the SSD in "my computer" and uncheck "Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties" you will probably get some error for some files that cant be accessed just skip them)
- AHCI: preferably enabled (this is a bit tricky since not all motherboards can actually do this. To enable ACHI also differs from pc per pc but there are some steps that are necessary. you can google this easily enough. -> be warned tho! there is no guarantee that this will speed up your SSD, also enabling ACHI requires to be done before installing Windows, you can hack it into the registry later but that can make your system unstable, so read up if you want to do this)

How to check if TRIM is enabled in Windows 7?
Go to the command prompt (run -> CMD) and key in "fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify" if you get a 0 (zero) TRIM is working. To enable it key in "
fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0"

Here is a list with some good tweaks for your SSD (*WARNING* as always be careful what you change, most of these are quiet harmless but there are never guarantees!)

Disable indexing
Description: Indexing creates and maintains a database of file attributes. This can lead to multiple small writes when creating/deleting/modifying files.

Searching for files will still work.
Instructions: Start Menu -> Right-Click Computer -> Manage -> Services and Applications -> Services - > Right-Click Windows Search -> Startup type: Disabled -> OK

Disable defragmentation
Description: Defragmenting a hard disk's used space is only useful on mechanical disks with multi-millisecond latencies. Free-space defragmentation may be useful to SSDs, but this feature is not available in the default Windows Defragmenter.
Instructions: Start Menu -> Right-Click Computer -> Manage -> Services and Applications -> Services - > Right-Click Disk Defragmenter -> Startup type: Disabled -> OK

Disable Write Caching
Description: There is no cache on the SSD, so there are no benefits to write caching. There are conflicting reports on whether this gains speed or not.
Instructions: Start Menu -> Right-Click Computer -> Manage -> Device Manager -> Disk drives -> Right-Click STEC PATA -> Properties -> Policies Tab -> Uncheck Enable write caching -> OK

Firefox - Use memory cache instead of disk cache
Description: If you use Firefox, there's a way to write cached files to RAM instead of the hard disk. This is not only faster, but will significantly reduce writes to the SSD while using the browser.
Instructions: Open Firefox -> Type about:config into the address bar -> Enter -> double-click browser.cache.disk.enable to set the value to False -> Right-Click anywhere -> New -> Integer -> Preference Name "disk.cache.memory.capacity" -> value memory size in KB. Enter 32768 for 32MB, 65536 for 64MB, 131072 for 128MB, etc. -> restart Firefox

Free up extra drive space
Disable the Page File
Description: Eliminate writing memory to the SSD, free over 2GB of disk space. Warning - If you run out of memory the program you're using will crash.
Instructions: Start Menu -> Right-Click Computer -> Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Settings (Performance) -> Advanced Tab -> Change -> Uncheck Automatically manage -> No paging file -> Set -> OK -> Restart your computer
Alternatively, if you want to play it safer, you can set a custom size of 200MB min and max.

Disable System Restore
Description: Don't write backup copies of files when installing new programs or making system changes. Can free up between a few hundred MB to a couple GB. Warning - Although unlikely, if a driver installation corrupts your system, there won't be an automatic way to recover.
Instructions: Start Menu -> Right-Click Computer -> Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> System Protection Tab -> Configure -> Turn off system protection -> Delete -> OK

Disable Hibernate
Description: You may free up 1GB of space on the SSD if you have 1GB of memory, 2GB of space if you have 2GB memory. You will lose the hibernation feature which allows the equivalent of quick boots and shutdowns.
Instructions: Start Menu -> Type cmd -> Right-Click the cmd Icon -> Run as Administrator -> Type powercfg -h off -> Type exit

And finally the ever important question: What SSD should i buy ?

Unfortunately there is no definitive answer for this question, technology changes and evolves all the time. So if you are planning on buying an SSD read up some reviews on trusted sites (see the websites in the link section).

Links to useful SSD tools:
Crystal Mark Bench + NFO Tool
AS-SSD TOOL
---

As for PSU's use this calculator to check how much power you need: PSU Calculator

In general a good 500w is fine for 1 GPU. 650/750 for 2 GPUs.

Also, never skimp on a PSU, get a good one from a reliable brand (Seasonic, Corsair, Antec, etc.) especially if you want to overclock the PSU is a much overlooked part.
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Looking forward to the "My parents need a computer just for email and web browsing" builds that will hopefully use Chrome OS!
 

gogojira

Member
I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. I'll be building a PC in January and unlike the past two of I've built, no friends are around to help me pick and choose.

I'm looking to build a rather nice rig, something that'll last a while so I'm definitely looking to toss a chunk of money at this thing. $1500 or so should build a nice PC I'd assume, right?

Any recommendations on motherboards or how much ram I should get? The videocard is what I'm really wondering about, it seems like "next gen" is always right around the corner, is there something I should hold out for?
 

Drkirby

Corporate Apologist
Does the topic title mean you are giving out free SSD's Hazaro :eek:

Also, what would be the cleanest way to change the partition my Windows installation is on if everything is in one partition now when I get a SSD one day.
 

Raw64life

Member
Built my first PC in 2007 and it's been awesome but I think it's finally time to build another. I likely wont be doing it until closer to the end of 2011 but I'll still be all over this thread. Will probably budget closer to $1200 this time since on my 2007 $1000 budget PC, my video card was basically obsolete right out of the box and I'm also hoping an SSD will be more affordable by this time next year. Also, I figure I spend hours using my computer every single day so it's probably something worth splurging on.

Also, a dumb question. On the list of sites in the OP, what does "Assembly" mean? Because if that means there are places where you can buy parts and they put it together for you, I'd definitely think about doing it. Although I love the results, I can't say I enjoyed the actual process of putting my PC together at all.
 
saw a $389 Acer PC at staples yesterday. 3Ghz processors, 3GB RAM, 500GB hard drive (I think, can't remember size for sure). Honestly for the amount that I play PC games anymore (just point and click adventure games) this is looking mighty tempting. Comes with Windows 7 too.
 

Slayer-33

Liverpool-2
Minsc said:
Impossible.

SSDs > * rpm's


It's for those of us that don't want an SSD yet, those F4's are the best mechanical boot drives on the market for the price without the need for Raptors.

I know about SSD's dude :lol
 
Any recommendations for 3d monitors? 1680x1050 isn't doing justice to my PC so I'd like to get one with 120hz/1080p which could also be used for PS3/360. Should I be waiting for HDMI 1.4?
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
Long live the PC! Love live these hreads!

I hope to have an SSD at the end of Jan or early Feb. Can't wait.
 

Shambles

Member
Slayer-33 said:
It's for those of us that don't want an SSD yet, those F4's are the best mechanical boot drives on the market for the price without the need for Raptors.

I know about SSD's dude :lol

320GB for a boot drive? No thanks. I might as well switch to a 120GB SSD if i'm going to have to worry about what I can and can't keep installed on my boot.
 

thcsquad

Member
I will be keeping an eye on this thread as well. I won't be able to build a PC until at least a few months into the year, but it's close enough that I'm going to start salivating over parts.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Slayer-33 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...52244&cm_re=samsung_F4-_-22-152-244-_-Product


perfect boot drive bro 7200rpm.

you have failed me son (maybe not the size you wanted but imo 300+ gig density on a single plate is fine imo)

They only thing I would agree with is to let another revision come out since it's newer tech.


I have two of the F3's you ordered and I love them ;p

Same latency/seek times, and the F4 has 16MB of cache instead of 32MB. The F4 is a budget alternative.
 
disappeared said:
saw a $389 Acer PC at staples yesterday. 3Ghz processors, 3GB RAM, 500GB hard drive (I think, can't remember size for sure). Honestly for the amount that I play PC games anymore (just point and click adventure games) this is looking mighty tempting. Comes with Windows 7 too.
I wonder if it's a decent enough setup to throw in a new PSU and GPU. I'm guessing at that price it's just a dual core (which is probably ok for you, just curious myself).
 
Noobish BIOS question regarding hard drives here: Okay, I think I understand that SATA 6gb/s ports need to be in AHCI mode to achieve their advertised speeds, but what about the 'regular' SATA ports and hard drives? Should I set them to AHCI as well or leave them as IDE?

Currently they're all (SSD + 6gb Raptor on SATA6gb, other Raptors on other SATA) on AHCI but I was just wondering if it mattered at all.
 
XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
$249.99 -$10.00 Instant -$20.00 Mail In Rebate $219.99

COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN3 CM690 II Basic Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Case
$79.99 -$10.00 Instant $69.99

SeaSonic X650 Gold 650W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
$179.99 -$45.00 Instant $134.99

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
$69.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
$52.99

Subtotal: $547.95
Intel i5-2500k + $216
LGA 1155 mobo + $150

That's my $900 build entering the new year. Add an OCZ 60GB SSD and it'll still be under $1000.
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
I just want to champion the mother of all PSUs, the Antec High Current Pro 1200.

1286330964dpp74JQIER_2_1_l.jpg


After reading this [H] review I fell in love with it and ordered one. If you are going to do some serious SLI/CF buils, you need a PSU that can handle it, and this PSU is currently rated as the best. I still haven't got it, but I will post my impressions once I install it in my case.
Outdoor Miner said:
COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN3 CM690 II Basic Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Case
$79.99 -$10.00 Instant $69.99
That is a terrible PSU for the money. I recommend the Corsair 750TX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&Tpk=corsair 750 @ $110

I have been running it for 3 years in numerous CF/SLI builds and it has never dissapointed me.
 

Lkr

Member
godhandiscen said:
I just want to champion the mother of all PSUs, the Antec High Current Pro 1200.

http://hardocp.com/images/articles/1286330964dpp74JQIER_2_1_l.jpg[/im]

After reading this [H] review I fell in love with it and ordered one. If you are going to do some serious SLI/CF buils, you need a PSU that can handle it, and this PSU is currently rated as the best. I still haven't got it, but I will post my impressions once I install it in my case.[/QUOTE]
those cables look messier than my PSU
 

scitek

Member
Nice!

So I'm going to be upgrading my graphics card next month. Now that the 69xx are out, what's the verdict? Should I go with one of those or a GTX570 instead? I'm moving up from a Radeon 5770. And will I need a new PSU? My current one is 500W.
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Lkr said:
those cables look messier than my PSU
I will post my cable management once I am done with it. The PSU requires an extreme amount of cooling, so it has one intake grill in the front, which leaves very little space for the cables coming from the other side.
 

Chiggs

Member
I picked up a Crucial 128gb SSD and will use it in my Sandy Bridge Mini-ITX build later this year. It's currently in my PS3 and, good grief, that thing is fast as hell...even in that system.

scitek said:
Nice!

So I'm going to be upgrading my graphics card next month. Now that the 69xx are out, what's the verdict? Should I go with one of those or a GTX570 instead? I'm moving up from a Radeon 5770. And will I need a new PSU? My current one is 500W.

It's really hard to go wrong with Nvidia or AMD in this day and age. Wait for the 570s to come out and see how they fair.

You are going to need a better PSU, though.
 

Mr_Brit

Banned
scitek said:
Nice!

So I'm going to be upgrading my graphics card next month. Now that the 69xx are out, what's the verdict? Should I go with one of those or a GTX570 instead? I'm moving up from a Radeon 5770. And will I need a new PSU? My current one is 500W.
Performance/watts/heat are identical so it's down to the usual nvidia benefits versus a 2GB framebuffer, you choose.

As long as it's a decent PSU you'll be fine, if it's some no name piece of trash then you'll need to upgrade.
 

clav

Member
Revolutionary said:
Noobish BIOS question regarding hard drives here: Okay, I think I understand that SATA 6gb/s ports need to be in AHCI mode to achieve their advertised speeds, but what about the 'regular' SATA ports and hard drives? Should I set them to AHCI as well or leave them as IDE?

Currently they're all (SSD + 6gb Raptor on SATA6gb, other Raptors on other SATA) on AHCI but I was just wondering if it mattered at all.
What?

AHCI is an all-or-nothing thing and only available on SATA devices. You can't set them individually otherwise your OS would be absolutely confused. If you ever installed Windows with AHCI on and then turn it off after installation, it won't boot at all and vice versa. The reason why SATA drives have an IDE mode is for some odd reason installing Windows XP as Windows XP does not have SATA drivers unless you manually load them.

Leave it on AHCI so you can hotplug your SATA devices.

Also, the OP needs to add: http://www.mwave.com/ Mwave's daily deals are sometimes good, and they also give coupons as well.

For those who are looking for a 128 GB SSD SATA Drive today, look at woot.com as they're selling a Kingston drive for $155 AR (After $50 rebate). Has TRIM support so the drive doesn't slow down over time. For the record, Windows and Linux OSes have TRIM support and Mac OS X does not.
 

scitek

Member
Mr_Brit said:
Performance/watts/heat are identical so it's down to the usual nvidia benefits versus a 2GB framebuffer, you choose.

As long as it's a decent PSU you'll be fine, if it's some no name piece of trash then you'll need to upgrade.

I'm thinking of going with Nvidia for the 3d and Physx support. I figure if I don't like it, I can always switch.

This is the PSU I have. I don't know much about quality brands. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341016
 

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
Good OP. I am planning to get an SSD when I do my new build, can't wait to experience the speeds myself. Gonna wait for the next beast card refresh tho, prolly the 6990 or whatever Nvidia puts out
 
claviertekky said:
What?

AHCI is an all-or-nothing thing and only available on SATA devices. You can't set them individually otherwise your OS would be absolutely confused. If you ever installed Windows with AHCI on and then turn it off after installation, it won't boot at all and vice versa. The reason why SATA drives have an IDE mode is for some odd reason installing Windows XP as Windows XP does not have SATA drivers unless you manually load them.

Leave it on AHCI so you can hotplug your SATA devices.
Yeah, I feared something like that and is why I kept it on AHCI only. I told you it was a noobish question! lol
Thanks, though.
 

lachesis

Member
Good OP - Keeping it alive! :D

I'll retire my Intel 2nd gen 80gb SSD to my HTPC, and get 3rd gen SSD. Can't wait!:D
 

Wrekt

Member
claviertekky said:
For those who are looking for a 128 GB SSD SATA Drive today, look at woot.com as they're selling a Kingston drive for $155 AR (After $50 rebate). Has TRIM support so the drive doesn't slow down over time. For the record, Windows and Linux OSes have TRIM support and Mac OS X does not.
Thanks for that. I was just about to ask about this drive. I'm desperate for a SSD but I won't have the money for a completely new rig for another 3 months. Anybody else care to weigh in on whether this drive is worth grabbing now? $150 for a brand new Kingston 128gb sounds like a great deal but I may be overlooking something important.

Edit: Just checked the newegg reviews and it hasn't been getting very many positive reviews lately. I guess I'll hold off till I can put the rest of the machine together.
 

clav

Member
The Kingston for sale doesn't use a marketing feature called Sandforce, which supposedly makes the drive perform faster than drives without it in the same class.

However, this is an excellent drive for 128 GB SSD for the price. Just hope the $50 rebate arrives.

I'm waiting for the time when it becomes $1/1GB. Newegg had one drive on sale for a day 64 GB for $64 for a somewhat solid drive.
 

Jin34

Member
So Gaf I need advice on what to do. I have a Phenom II X4 955 system but my mobo is probably damaged and needs to be replaced since I get some freezes and crashes at totally random times and get lots of CMOS checksum bad at POST. And since it appears to be different things (HDD, vid card) it seems to me its the thing its all connected to, the mobo. I have tested the HDD, Ram, video card and all seem fine.

So the question is, buy a Sandy Bridge mobo/cpu or buy a new mobo and use the Sandy Bridge money for an SSD or new card (I have a 4850). The only reason for Sandy Bridge would be Dolphin really, but man does Dolphin look great.

I do have a crash dump if anyone would know where I can get it analyzed.
 

Jin34

Member
claviertekky said:
The Kingston for sale doesn't use a marketing feature called Sandforce, which supposedly makes the drive perform faster than drives without it in the same class.

However, this is an excellent drive for 128 GB SSD for the price. Just hope the $50 rebate arrives.

I'm waiting for the time when it becomes $1/1GB. Newegg had one drive on sale for a day 64 GB for $64 for a somewhat solid drive.

SandForce is not a marketing feature, it is the name of the memory controller made by a company of the same name that has better performance than Intel SSDs. In fact the SSDs memory controller is the single most important part of the SSD.
 

Jin34

Member
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Does anyone know if windows 7 oem would bitch if i switch from a core 2 duo to an amd processor with new motherboard and ram?

You can't switch processor brands w/o a clean install.
 

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Slayer-33 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...52244&cm_re=samsung_F4-_-22-152-244-_-Product


perfect boot drive bro 7200rpm.

you have failed me son (maybe not the size you wanted but imo 300+ gig density on a single plate is fine imo)

They only thing I would agree with is to let another revision come out since it's newer tech.


I have two of the F3's you ordered and I love them ;p
F4 = F4 2TB in my mind. I have no idea why you would buy a 320GB platter boot drive today when you can have a 1TB 500GB platter main drive for not that much more.
Raw64life said:
Built my first PC in 2007 and it's been awesome but I think it's finally time to build another. I likely wont be doing it until closer to the end of 2011 but I'll still be all over this thread. Will probably budget closer to $1200 this time since on my 2007 $1000 budget PC, my video card was basically obsolete right out of the box and I'm also hoping an SSD will be more affordable by this time next year. Also, I figure I spend hours using my computer every single day so it's probably something worth splurging on.

Also, a dumb question. On the list of sites in the OP, what does "Assembly" mean? Because if that means there are places where you can buy parts and they put it together for you, I'd definitely think about doing it. Although I love the results, I can't say I enjoyed the actual process of putting my PC together at all.
NCIX will assemble your parts you buy for $40 or $50.
darkpaladinmfc said:
If I find the time I might write some stuff about 'gaming' mice that you may or may not want to put somewhere in the OP.
Go for it.
Kintaro said:
Long live the PC! Love live these hreads!

I hope to have an SSD at the end of Jan or early Feb. Can't wait.
New SSD's will be coming Q1 2011. That is when I'll be jumping on board.
godhandiscen said:
I just want to champion the mother of all PSUs, the Antec High Current Pro 1200.
After reading this [H] review I fell in love with it and ordered one. If you are going to do some serious SLI/CF buils, you need a PSU that can handle it, and this PSU is currently rated as the best. I still haven't got it, but I will post my impressions once I install it in my case.

That is a terrible PSU for the money. I recommend the Corsair 750TX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&Tpk=corsair 750 @ $110

I have been running it for 3 years in numerous CF/SLI builds and it has never dissapointed me.
[H] is not bad, but for serious PSU reviews I always turn to jonnyguru.com http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=198
Looks great.

That Seasonic is a beastly PSU, spending more on that than a CWT Corsair is just fine. Plus it's pushing 90% efficiency.
 

Jin34

Member
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
I know that, I'm worried about it activating if it senses that as too much of a change and won't activate correctly.

Well that's sort of a toss up, I upgraded my mobo and cpu (stayed AMD though) and I could have had activation problems but it went smoothly, if you get problems you might have to call customer support.
 

Wrekt

Member
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
I know that, I'm worried about it activating if it senses that as too much of a change and won't activate correctly.
Even if Windows doesn't activate, all you have to do is call in the number it provides and punch in a pre-generated code it gives you. You don't even have to talk to foreign tech support anymore. It is all automated.

They ask how many times your software has been installed. If it's just 1, they'll just read you off an activation code and you are all set. If it is more, you'll get patched through to support and they'll ask you some questions and decide from there whether or not you can have an activation code.
 
Jin34 said:
Well that's sort of a toss up, I upgraded my mobo and cpu (stayed AMD though) and I could have had activation problems but it went smoothly, if you get problems you might have to call customer support.

I would think I'm fine then. I can't see them raising more off a flag for a different brand, I would think a new CPU is a new CPU.
 

clav

Member
Jin34 said:
SandForce is not a marketing feature, it is the name of the memory controller made by a company of the same name that has better performance than Intel SSDs. In fact the SSDs memory controller is the single most important part of the SSD.
The term is being thrown around like if it were Sony's Cell processor or Sony's Emotion Engine.

Not necessary a bad thing.
 
Wrekt said:
Even if Windows doesn't activate, all you have to do is call in the number it provides and punch in a pre-generated code it gives you. You don't even have to talk to foreign tech support anymore. It is all automated.

They ask how many times your software has been installed. If it's just 1, they'll just read you off an activation code and you are all set. If it is more, you'll get patched through to support and they'll ask you some questions and decide from there whether or not you can have an activation code.

Well, I installed it once on the now dead machine but that's it so I could still select 1? If this is true then I wonder what I should upgrade to... Sucks there are no more DD2 boards and would need new DDR3 ram. There's no reason to wait for sandy bridge if I'm getting AMD is there?
 
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