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Computer Build Resource Thread - Page 281

Forum Index > Tech Support
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When using this resource, please read FragKrag's opening post. The Tech Support forum regulars have helped create countless of desktop systems without any compensation. The least you can do is provide all of the information required for them to help you properly.
marvin.
Profile Joined August 2010
United States469 Posts
May 18 2011 03:57 GMT
#5601
I was just planning on using a stock cooler and overclocking a small amount using that.. The only reason I got the 2500k is because it was bundled with the HD for $200.. Do you think I'll be able to overclock the 2500k a decent amount with just the stock cooler?

Also, your comment about the length of the graphics card, would I need to figure out what motherboard I'm getting before I make those measurements? I'm not quite sure what I should be looking at - Newegg doesn't have any measurements, and amazon has

Product Dimensions: 12.8 x 6.5 x 4 inches ; 1.9 pounds
Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

but is that the length of the video card, or the box?

Thanks again for all the help.
Myrmidon
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
United States9452 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-18 04:33:38
May 18 2011 04:32 GMT
#5602
You can apparently overclock a i5-2500k okay to something like 4GHz on the stock cooler, but you'd be pushing temperatures and maybe the noise higher than might be good. Anyway, you still need a P67 or Z68 motherboard to overclock, so keep that in mind. The cost of a more expensive motherboard might not be worth it. If you do overclock though, even a shorter ~$22 tower cooler like a Cooler Master Hyper TX3 would be a big improvement over the stock cooler.

Motherboard is irrelevant when looking at graphics card clearance. The card has to sit flush against the back of the case for any motherboard. The dimensions you quoted are clearly the box dimensions, as even monster graphics cards aren't 12.8 inches long or 4 inches thick. Check reviews of that model to make sure. If the XFX card is a reference design card, then the dimensions of that would be easy to find. Also check how much space you have by measuring your case. I'd think it would work since the HD 4850 was not a top-end card, but it's better to check now than be sorry later on.
marvin.
Profile Joined August 2010
United States469 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-18 05:20:30
May 18 2011 05:15 GMT
#5603
So I was looking up the dimensions of the video card - Seem to have found it here:
http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/graphiccards/hd 4000series/4850.aspx
Dimensions (Metric): 23 x 11 x 3.8

Sorry for being so illiterate, but is what you're asking me to measure.. this?
[image loading]
I measured that to be about 28.5 centimers, so it should be okay in that sense.

In regards to the cooler, after consideration I'm thinking about which cooler to get. My case is about ~19-20 centimeters in terms of width.. I was reading about the Hyper 212+ but I think that might be cutting it too close? Not sure. I don't plan on overclocking my CPU hardcore - I've never overclocked before, so I probably will lean towards the conservative side in terms of clock speed. With this in mind (my relatively small case and the fact that I won't be overclocking too hardcore) Is the Hyper Tx3 a good choice for this, and would it fit in my case?

Edit - Also, looking at the inside of my case there is that "ADVANCED CHASSIS AIR DUCT" (the big ass black rectangular looking things that sit above the motherboard, I think). If I install an aftermarket cooler, I will most certainly need to remove that. That shouldn't be a problem for the overall setup of the case, right? I'm not sure what that big piece of plastic actually does, did they just put that there to redirect airflow?

Thank you so much for all your help.
Myrmidon
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
United States9452 Posts
May 18 2011 05:39 GMT
#5604
Indeed that was the length that's relevant for graphics cards, so that should be well okay.

Well you need for CPU cooler clearance is 16cm above the motherboard. Note the case panel thickness, where the motherboard is installed (raised up against the side), and that the motherboard goes on top of the standoffs (so additional height above the side). There are some high-performance lower-profile coolers, but it's not worth the price for overclocking a i5-2500k. The usual ~4.4GHz should easily be in the capabilities of a smaller tower cooler like the Hyper TX3 as mentioned. Keep in mind that a i5-2500k around 4.4 GHz with minimal or no voltage increase will not put out as much heat as a stock Core i7-9xx or Phenom II X4 or X6.

I think you're right about the air duct. It looks weird to me too. If you don't want to mess with it, I guess you could just use the stock cooler. But it can't be that hard to remove, or else how would you install the motherboard?
FearTheReaperMan
Profile Joined May 2011
154 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-18 05:51:55
May 18 2011 05:49 GMT
#5605
On May 18 2011 09:11 Myrmidon wrote:
More than enough. You're looking at just a little bit over 200W for the whole system, full load, at stock clocks. Those are some of the best price/performance and particularly performance/watt choices out there. It's crazy the computing and graphics power you can get on that wattage these days.


What does full load and stock clocks mean?

Does that mean, by not overclocking it ? ?
Myrmidon
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
United States9452 Posts
May 18 2011 06:00 GMT
#5606
On May 18 2011 14:49 FearTheReaperMan wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 18 2011 09:11 Myrmidon wrote:
More than enough. You're looking at just a little bit over 200W for the whole system, full load, at stock clocks. Those are some of the best price/performance and particularly performance/watt choices out there. It's crazy the computing and graphics power you can get on that wattage these days.


What does full load and stock clocks mean?

Does that mean, by not overclocking it ? ?


Yes, by stock clock I mean not overclocked. Most computer components use much more power when they're doing more work. So I mean that if you somehow max out the CPU and GPU to 100% utilization, you'll have the worst-case possible power consumption. And the worst case is going to be somewhere around 200W drawn by the computer from the power supply, assuming things aren't overclocked (very roughly, power consumption of a CPU or GPU is proportional to the clock speed and proportional to the square of the voltage, so overclocked/volted parts can use considerably more power).

Short answer is that the Earthwatts Green 380D is going to be plenty.
FearTheReaperMan
Profile Joined May 2011
154 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-18 06:10:59
May 18 2011 06:10 GMT
#5607
K thanks for the info. I am learning a lot believe it or not, by asking these "dumb" questions.
marvin.
Profile Joined August 2010
United States469 Posts
May 18 2011 06:32 GMT
#5608
Thanks Myrmidon for all the help. I am going to go ahead and order the Hyper Tx3 so I can overclock... With this in mind, what specifications should I look for when purchasing a power supply? I've been reading a decent amount in this thread, and it seems that what is important is the amperage on the rails.. Taking into account my HD 4850 and i5-2500k, what numbers should I be looking for on these Specification Pages on Newegg? Take for example

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-17-341-017-_-Product

Output +3.3V@25A, +5V@25A, +12V1@25A, +12V2@25A, -12V@0.3A, +5VSB@2.5A

Is this what I'm interested in? and if so, which values should I be looking for?

Thank you so much.
Womwomwom
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
5930 Posts
May 18 2011 06:58 GMT
#5609
Values aren't so important because companies aren't always entirely honest and those values don't take into account capacitor quality, fan quality, voltage regulation, etc. Just read reviews from like Jonnyguru and Anandtech and they should give decent suggestions for power supplies.

You don't need 600W for a build like that. You only need around 400W considering how power efficient the i5 2500k is. An Antec 380W Earthwatts or a XFX 450W Core should work pretty well.
Ulli
Profile Joined October 2010
Italy19 Posts
May 18 2011 07:13 GMT
#5610
Hey guys, I have finally pushed myself to buy a new computer. My price range is 800-900€. And I will probably order it from alternate.de. But if there are better/cheaper options that's fine...

So here the components I would use:

Case: Sharkoon Rebel9 Economy-Edition 9x 5,25" extern, 1x 3,5" extern, 4x 3,5" intern, ATX LINK 42.99€

CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-2500K
4x 3300 MHz, 4x 256 kByte, 6144 kByte, Sandy Bridge LINK 182.9€

Mainboard: ASUS P8P67-M R.3.0
Intel® P67 Express, µATX, 2x PCIe 2.0 x16, 1155 LINK 112.90€

GC: GIGABYTE GeForce GTX460 OC
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460, 1024 MB, 256 Bit, PCIe 2.0 x16 LINK 139.90€

CPU Fan: Scythe Mugen 2 Rev.B SCMG-2100 LINK 34.99€

Case Fan: Scythe Ultra Kaze DFS123812H-3000 LINK 9.99€

Nrg: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W
500 Watt, ATX12V 2.2, ATX 2.03, EPS, 6 Stecker, 4 Stecker LINK 51.90€

HDD1: OCZ Vertex2 E 2,5" SSD 60 GB
60 GB, 285 / 275 MB/s, LINK 89.90€

HDD2: Samsung HD103SJ 1 TB
1.000 GB, 8,9/32/7200, Serial ATA/30 LINK 49.99€

DVD: LG DH-18NS
18 / 52 fach, 5 fach, Serial ATA/150 LINK 13.99€

RAM: Kingston ValueRAM DIMM 4 GB DDR3-1333 Kit
4096 MB, CL9 9-9-24, 2, PC3 10666 LINK 34.99€

Win 7: 77.90€

Total: 841.50€

What is your opinion about this setup, is there anything to improve or any problem with this list? Are 4gb enough or should i go for 8gb? I will be using it mostly to play games such as SCII and Diablo3 ect..

Thank you!
South Tyrol
marvin.
Profile Joined August 2010
United States469 Posts
May 18 2011 07:47 GMT
#5611
On May 18 2011 15:58 Womwomwom wrote:
Values aren't so important because companies aren't always entirely honest and those values don't take into account capacitor quality, fan quality, voltage regulation, etc. Just read reviews from like Jonnyguru and Anandtech and they should give decent suggestions for power supplies.

You don't need 600W for a build like that. You only need around 400W considering how power efficient the i5 2500k is. An Antec 380W Earthwatts or a XFX 450W Core should work pretty well.


I was debating between those two power supplies and a Corsair CX 430. What's the main difference between the three? It's kind of hard to decipher what I'm looking for in terms of a power supply.. The Earthwatts is the cheapest of the bunch though, but it's only listed as 380W. If I oc, would that definitely be enough to power my setup?

Thanks for all your help.
FinBenton
Profile Joined March 2011
Finland870 Posts
May 18 2011 10:25 GMT
#5612
Corsair cx430W gives abaut 340W on 12V rail which your computer parts generally use. Its ok quality, nothing really crappy parts inside (neither they are japanese) and its quiet. XFX 450W gives you abaut 410W and its seasonic build (actualli it is rebranded Seasonic S12II) with high quality japanese parts, I would go with it.
asdd
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
228 Posts
May 18 2011 11:51 GMT
#5613
On May 18 2011 12:21 Myrmidon wrote:
@asdd:

Which cables are you talking about? Extra SATA cables are common if your motherboard came with...more SATA cables than you have SATA devices. Extra cables left on the power supply are to be expected unless you're really running the exact number of hard drives, fans, graphics cards, etc. that correspond to what they give you. On most motherboards, you should have enough headers to take all of the case front panel connections, but possibly not.


Sata and extra power supply cables. Thanks for clearing that up for me. What does this sentence mean though " On most motherboards, you should have enough headers to take all of the case front panel connections, but possibly not. "

Also, I bought this DVDr player + Show Spoiler +
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039
and it needs 2 cables to go into the back of it. It is supposed to come with one of the sata cables but it does not. I read the product reviews to try to figure out why this was and one of them said this "It is an OEM product, so no SATA cables, but my ASUS P8P67 MB had a SATA data cable for it." I'm wondering what that first part means and how it can be fixed (my MB doesn't have a cable that size for it).
I
Womwomwom
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
5930 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-18 12:50:34
May 18 2011 12:41 GMT
#5614
Sata and extra power supply cables. Thanks for clearing that up for me. What does this sentence mean though " On most motherboards, you should have enough headers to take all of the case front panel connections, but possibly not. "


It means exactly what it means. He means that your motherboard should have enough places to connect all of your cases' input/output features like USB ports and headphone/microphone jacks.

On a side note, I love it how manufacturers still haven't standardized header locations. I still have to use the damned manual to do it correctly.

Also, I bought this DVDr player and it needs 2 cables to go into the back of it. It is supposed to come with one of the sata cables but it does not. I read the product reviews to try to figure out why this was and one of them said this "It is an OEM product, so no SATA cables, but my ASUS P8P67 MB had a SATA data cable for it." I'm wondering what that first part means and how it can be fixed (my MB doesn't have a cable that size for it).


This is how you connect a DVD drive:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/200708/LGGSAH62N_sata2.jpg

OEM devices only come with the DVD drive so you have to supply your own cables. The smaller cable is your SATA cable and you should connect one end to the DVD drive and the other end to your motherboard's SATA ports. If you don't have one, go to any computer store and pick one up for like $2-5.

The larger rectangular one is the SATA power cable. You should find it connected to your PSU.
Corr
Profile Joined January 2009
Denmark796 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-18 14:26:30
May 18 2011 14:00 GMT
#5615
Turns out he'll be going for a pricier rig after all. I'll post it later. For now though... regarding hdd's 32/64mb buffersize? important or not?
FinBenton
Profile Joined March 2011
Finland870 Posts
May 18 2011 14:28 GMT
#5616
Doesnt matter.
Myrmidon
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
United States9452 Posts
May 18 2011 15:31 GMT
#5617
@Ulli:

I would get maybe a slightly better case (or maybe downgrade to a Cooler Master Elite 3xx) and not get the extra case fan. The customer reviews for the case are good though, so I don't know. GTX 460 is good, but you may possibly want to upgrade it. i5-2500k doesn't need anything nearly as good as a Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B, but that's a good and very quiet cooler. All the choices make sense so there's not much to say really.


@marvin.:

FinBenton's assessment is right on. But the Earthwatts Green 380D is enough to power the system too, with room to spare. That one has similar 12V capacity as the Corsair CX430, slightly/somewhat better internal components (still worse than the XFX), but slightly worse electrical performance.
asdd
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
228 Posts
May 18 2011 16:38 GMT
#5618
This should be my last question regarding my computer ^_^.

Everything is plugged in right to my knowledge and I am installing windows 7 right now. Some of my components came with driver disks, do I need to put those into my computer to install the products or will it auto update to the latest drivers.
I
Corr
Profile Joined January 2009
Denmark796 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-18 17:07:27
May 18 2011 16:55 GMT
#5619
Ok it seems my buddy is fairly close to making up his mind, this is what he came up with a bit of advice from here:

Intel Solid State 510 SSD 250GB
ASUS P8H67 B3 Sandy Bridge
Intel Core i7 2600 Sandy Bridge
Kingston 8GB DDR3 1333MHz (2x4) HyperX
Seagate 2000 GB LowPower 32MB
Fractal Design Define R3
Antec EarthWatts EA500D Green 500W
Samsung SH-S223C SATA Sort
MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC (1 GB)

I think he's going with the big SSD instead of getting a second monitor for now, but I'm not sure its worth it? Is the performance really that different between the 120/240gb's as long as its 6Gbps? :x

He's set on spending what would translate into an almost 3000$ budget so...
Myrmidon
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
United States9452 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-18 17:20:51
May 18 2011 17:19 GMT
#5620
@asdd:

I'd get most drivers online so you get the lastest versions. It shouldn't be a big deal in general though.

@Corr:

How much space on the SSD does he need? We're talking about the difference between really good and really good, though the 2nd gen SandForce SSDs like the OCZ Vertex 3 are even faster. The 250GB version is definitely faster, though it's hard to say by how much in practice. On a quick check, I didn't find a review that looked at both versions. The difference between modern SSDs really isn't that important unless you're looking at enterprise I/O workloads or somebody needs some monster read/write speeds for some specific application. I wouldn't get the larger capacity just for the slightly higher performance.

Once the OS and most applications are on a decent SSD, I think most people would find much more utility and value from a second monitor, better peripherals, a better sound system, etc. than more SSD space. In fact, those things are probably more beneficial to most people than the SSD in the first place. I'd consider cheaper options other than the Intel 510 120GB as well.

and what is he running that needs a i7-2600? I'm just checking to make sure he's doing renders all day, heavy encoding, etc., or else money would be better spent on a i5-2500 and allocated elsewhere.
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