Author Topic: Upgrade is done... So far (Read 253 times)

SOB · « **on:** September 16, 2007, 12:06:37 AM »

E6420 (OC'd to 400MHz FSB (3.2GHz) @ stock 1.3 volts with stock cooler)
MSI P35 Neo2-FR
2GB G.Skill DDR2 800 (4,4,3,9 @ 2 volts)
Cooler Master Elite 330
Thermaltake Purepower 430w PS ...similar to this
Samsung SH-S203B DVD/CD Burner
And this bad-assed video card: EVGA GeForce 7200GS 128MB

The motherboard is working great and the CPU was incredibly easy to overclock. I know I could push it further, but I'm happy with where it's at (3.2GHz up from 2.13 GHz, and a 1:1 ratio with the memory). I'll probably pick up an aftermarket cooler just because, but it's OK for now (~48° at idle to to ~68° max running Orthos with both cores at 100%).

Two things the motherboard disappointed me on a little was not being able to set the tRAS Timing on the memory below 9 and the fact that MSI doesn't have any downloadable BIOS updates for it. Instead of being able to manually flash it, you have to use their LiveUpdate software to do it automatically. Neither of these is that big of a deal though.

The case is great, though it was a much better deal when I bought it from Newegg last month - $39.99 with free shipping & a $10 MIR. The steel on the case is fairly thin, of course, but it's plenty sturdy when assembled. It's screwless for expansion cards and drives, and it's nice having the 120mm in & out fans. I read some complaints on newegg about people having problems with the screwless drive mountings, but I can't figure out how you'd manage that - they're simple as can be, and although they could probably break if you really torqued 'em, they're not exactly flimsy and install pretty effortlessly. The specs say it has 2x 3.5" external drive bays, but it really only has one...though there is an opening in the face plate and mounting points in the chassis - but you'd have to break out a Dremel and make an opening through the front of the chassis to install a drive in there, and that would eliminate your front panel audio & usb.

I got the video card locally for $36 on sale at PC Club (just to get me up and running until I can afford a real card), and to my delight, it runs AH just fine. I've only flown for an hour or two with it, but haven't noticed any studdering, and a pretty consistent 40fps @ 1680x1050.

Power Supply was from my old system, but was purchased in June, and is good enough for now.

Next up, a Corsair CMPSU-450VX PS and a GeForce 8800 GTS. But that won't be until November.

LePaul · « **Reply #1 on:** September 16, 2007, 03:05:41 AM »

Just a thought since RAM is pretty cheap these days...I got a nice bump going from 2gb to 4gb a year ago. Have you thought about kicking the RAM up a bit?

Fulmar · « **Reply #2 on:** September 16, 2007, 09:27:18 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by LePaul
Just a thought since RAM is pretty cheap these days...I got a nice bump going from 2gb to 4gb a year ago. Have you thought about kicking the RAM up a bit?

I bumped my system up from 2gb to 4gb. I'm a graphic designer by trade so I notice a boost in large photoshop files, especially multitasking with Illustrator or InDesign etc.. Boot time was quicker, otherwise no performance boost in games. Still running 32bit XP Pro. Migrating to Vista is gonna be either after SP1 or before I graduate (Premium for $89 through school).

eskimo2 · « **Reply #3 on:** September 16, 2007, 10:14:42 AM »

Vista only recognizes a little over 3 gigs of ram. I put 4 -1 gig sticks of generic Mwav ram in my machine anyway, just so they would match. They were pretty cheap at only $37 a stick. Had I picked better more expensive ram I think I would have only bought 3. I went cheap because I really don’t understand ram qualities and specs anyway.

SOB · « **Reply #4 on:** September 16, 2007, 11:47:47 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by LePaul
Just a thought since RAM is pretty cheap these days...I got a nice bump going from 2gb to 4gb a year ago. Have you thought about kicking the RAM up a bit?

Thought about it, but I don't do any serious photo or video editing, so I don't think there would be any advantage to kicking it up at the moment. I've got two more slots for memory though, so the option is there if I find that I need it down the road.

Eskimo- Nice sig.

Fulmar · « **Reply #5 on:** September 16, 2007, 11:57:37 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by eskimo2
I went cheap because I really don’t understand ram qualities and specs anyway.

If you don't overlcock your system, the only things you need to know are your ram type and ram speed (say DDR2 800mhz). Quality may come in the form of having bad ram, which can happen (more often than not ram is bad out of the box, failure during service life is rare * I still have EDO ram that works just fine).

As simple as I can put it, when it comes to say timings or latency like 4-4-4-12 etc. (you may see these listed as CL, tRAS, tRP,CMD etc.) these only play a role when you're overclocking your computer or want to really tweak it. Better quality RAM, the more you can overlcock it or the more stable it is at overlcocking.

If you're a plug an play guy that just want to do simple computing and gaming, don't sweat yourself over these. Just buy whats reasonably priced. I've bought both ends of the spectrum and I've never suffered ram problems other than trying to overlcock cheap SDRAM back in the day on a cheap motherboard (went from 800mhz to a blazing 832mhz!).