[GUIDE: How to buy/what to look for when buying a computer or new part.] -
GUIDE: How to buy/what to look for when buying a computer or new part.
Discuss GUIDE: How to buy/what to look for when buying a computer or new part.
Posted by: Static_11
Alright, well lately it seems that a lot of people come here and post their question, but they leave out vital parts of what we need in order to give them correct info. In an attempt to clear some of this up, I'm going to make a brief guide to read and what to research before buying a new part.
People seem to ask this a lot, "What *video card, cpu, mobo, hdd, or psu* should I get?
Before asking this, do a little research yourself.
[b]TABLE OF CONTENTS
[color=red]Section one[/color]-------------- When buying a motherboard
[color=red]Section two[/color]-------------- When buying a processor (CPU)
[color=red]Section three[/color]------------ When buying RAM (memory dividers by pzerofgh)
[color=red]Section four[/color]-------------- When buying a power supply unit (written by STE)
[color=red]Section five[/color]-------------- When buying a video card (Updated 4/07/06)
[color=red]Section six[/color]--------------- When buying a case
[color=red]Section seven[/color]----------- When buying a hard drive (written by pzerofgh)
[color=red]Section eight[/color]------------ When buying a sound card
[color=red]Section nine[/color]------------- When buying optical drives (coming soon )
[color=red]Section ten[/color]--------------- MISC
[color=red]Section eleven[/color]----------- Stuff to look forward to. (Created 3/29/06)[/b]
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*********[color=red][b]Section One[/color][/b]*********
[b][color=blue]If buying a motherboard:[/b][/color]
~[b]What socket CPU do you have? [/b]
The most common AMD sockets now-a-days are socket 754's and socket 939. There is still some socket A's still laying around too. Socket 939 is the better out of them all as of now. Socket 939 supports dual channel as well as the most stable overclocks.
~[b]Will you be overclocking anything? [/b]
Some motherboards handle overclocks better. To my knowledge, DFI is the best in this category.
~[b]Do you have an Operating System disk? [/b]
When you buy a new motherboard, you will need to reinstall your OS unless it is the same exact model.
~ [b]What do you plan to do with your mother board?[/b]
If you’re going to game, then get a motherboard with pci-ex16 video card slot because AGP is on its way out any day now.
~ [b]Make sure the RAM slot pin number:[/b]
~~168 pin SDDRAM
~~184 pin DDR SDDRAM
~~184 pin RDDRAM (16 bit )
~~240 pin DDR2 SDDRAM
~[b]Will you SLI or Crossfire your video cards?[/b]
Nvidia has a thing called SLI that basically lets you have two video cards on one mobo. ATI’s version of this is called Crossfire. More will be explained later.
~[b]"I am not going to be gaming"[/b]
Good for you. You just saved yourself a couple hundred bucks on not buying a video card. Most motherboards out there have onboard graphics AND onboard sound. This means that the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is built into the motherboard as is the sound card. 95% of people out there are happy with there integrated sound and don't complain about it. The only reason you should need a sound card if your sound recording, you're a sound freak, or you have the money and want it. Note, the integrated graphics DOES take away from your system memory. For example, a motherboard may have 32MB of memory and your system has a stick of 512MB. The memory will go down to 480 unless you buy an actual video card which has its own memory and doesn’t take away from the system.[/b]
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*********[color=red] [b]Section Two [/color][/b]*********
[b][color=blue]If buying a CPU:[/b][/color]
~[b]What will you be using it for? [/b]
Intel is better for more day to day jobs where as AMD is more of the gaming type of cpu. Many people choose AMD over Intel because of the lower prices and better performance. Your going to multi task more than gaming, get a Dual core processor.
AMD Dual cores = X2
Intel Dual Cores = Intel Duo
~[b]"What is Dual Core?"[/b]
Think of dual core like this. There is a pile of bricks. The dual core would have 2 "people" working to move the bricks where they needed to be moved as where a single core would have 1 "person" moving them. Therefore, the dual core would obviously get it done faster.
~[b]What socket motherboard do you have?[/b]
info in the "if buying a motherboard"
~[b]Will you be overclocking?[/b]
Different CPU’s handle differently than others when it comes to overclocking, but overclocking isn’t my forte so I’ll let someone get into that
~[b]Different type of cores[/b]
AMD and Intel CPU's both have different types of cores. The most popular single cores for AMD are the Venice and San Diego. The San Diego core is more "High-end" so if you’re gaming, I would go with that (that is IF you’re buying an AMD). AMD also has the Toledo and Manchester cores for their dual core cpu's. If you multitask, a duel core would fit you over a single core.
Info on Intel cores will be up soon.
For advanced AMD core details and stuff about overclocking them [url=http://www.tech-forums.net/showthread.php?threadid=59883]CLICK HERE[/url]
[color=darkred][b]Think of it like this if you’re in a pickle between Intel and AMD.
AMD= fat guy
Intel= skinny guy They are in a brick carrying competition.
AMD can pick up more than Intel but moves slower with them as where Intel can't pick up as much as AMD but can move faster with them. Get it?[/b][/color]
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*********[color=red] [b]Section Three[/color][/b]*********
[b][color=blue]If buying RAM:[/b][/color]
~ [b]Will you be overclocking?[/b]
If you’re overclocking, spend what you have. There are sticks for 40 bucks all the way up to 3500 bucks. The more expensive, the better the overclocks. But if not over clocking, go with some value select or something. Remember:
[color=red]Performance: Cheap RAM = Expensive RAM
Oveclockability: Expensive RAM > Cheap RAM[/color]
**[b]NOTE** More will be explained about overclocking later [/b]
~ [b]Will you be gaming? [/b]
Games now-a-days are using up a crap load of your RAM. Don’t even bother trying to game with a stick of 512 or even worse, 256. If your building a gaming rig then get at least 1 gig of ram. Preferably two 512 sticks. Reason is below
~ [b]“What is better? One 1024 gig stick or two 512 sticks?”[/b]
If your motherboard supports dual channel, go with two sticks. Having an odd amount of RAM sticks in a dual channel mobo won’t let the dual channeling take place. Therefore, IF your mobo supports dual channel the two 512 sticks would perform better.
~ [color=red]Make sure your RAM pin number is compatible with your mobo.[/color]
Memory Dividers:
[b][color=red]WRITTEN BY PZEROFGH[/b][/color]
This is how it starts, ram is basically rated at some particular speed
PC-2100 - DDR266
PC-2700 - DDR333
PC-3200 - DDR400
PC-3500 - DDR434
PC-3700 - DDR464
PC-4000 - DDR500
PC-4200 - DDR525
PC-4400 - DDR550
PC-4800 - DDR600
Most AMD motherboards support PC3200 which is the usual speed for RAM. IF you don’t know ram is random access memory, which serves as a temporary storage of files that the CPU needs to access quickly. This will help when you’re opening many programs at once or your multi tasking. In games it will help you during loading times, and minimizing the game when you’re not supposed to .
So your problem is, you bought corsair valueselect knowing that it’s not good at overclocking. Rofl. Anyways you want to OC your cpu but you can’t OC any further cause your stupid ram won’t go any further. You tried various ram timings and voltages but nothing is working!!. So this is what you do O.O smart pc makers. Instead of throwing out your ram and buying some decent ones like OCZ ones you can run memory dividers woot or q00t. Memory Dividers come in a list of things like this
400 = 1:1
333 = 5:6
266 = 2:3
200 = 1:2
or
200 = 1:1
166 = 5:6
133 = 2:3
100 = 1:4
Or if you have a DFI
200 = 1:1
180 = 9:10
166 = 5:6
150 = 3:4
143 = 5:7
133 = 2:3
125 =
100 = 1:2
So on default the ram is 200 or 400, which means if you’re running the FSB/HTT at 200 then your ram would be running at 200. If you were to run your FSB/HTT at 220 then your ram would run at 220mhz. So your problem is your value select won’t go past 220mhz, which is pretty lucky for value select. So you would first try different mem timings then voltages, if nothing works your last choices is memory dividers . This is where you would put it at the next step down. Which would be 166, to solve this, you can set up a 5:6 FSB:RAM ratio. Basically, this ratio will mean that for every 6MHz that your FSB runs at your ram will only run at 5mhz . So if you put it at 166mhz the memory divider. Then your ram would only be running at 183mhz which is lower then the stock speed of 200mhz, so you know your ram would definitely do that. Which means your cpu will run at 220mhz while your ram is only running at 183. Now you can successfully be stable without any memory errors for your cpu to run at 220mhz woot woot.
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*********[color=red] [b]Section Four [/color][/b]*********
[color=blue][b]If buying a power supply unit[/color][/b]
[b][color=red]WRITTEN BY STE[/b] (inside the ~~~ area)[/color]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As was for mentioned, look for weight, if the product does not say how much it is look for the shipping weight that will be pretty close. Anything about 4-6 lbs is a good weight. The heavier the components of the power supply the better quality they are.
You don't have to spend a lot of money for a good power supply the most you would need, as in the cheapest I would go is around 50 to 55$, anything below that usually aren't made with "quality" parts or are very generic power supplies.
To find the right amount of wattage you will need for a computer you can go to a website such as this one and calculate your wattage needs. [url]http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/[/url]
However you can use this simple chart to easily figure out what you need.
High End System=520 Watts to 800 Watts Depending
Medium End System=400 watts to 500 Watts Depending
Low End System= 300 Watts to 400 Watts
High End systems
~This includes Servers, Video work stations and Top of the line gamming computers. Or computers with multiple HD and Burners for different needs.
Medium End systems
~Systems much like high end but have mid quality parts and or single uses.
Low end systems
~Only used for light light gaming, word processing, email and internet use.
With medium to higher end systems you will want to have PFC on your power supply. PFC stands for power factor correction. The power coming into the power supply is not always "clean" there can be variances with frequency and spikes that lower the life span of your power supply and can cause damage to parts if it is not corrected. Active PFC is more efficient then Passive but also is more expensive.
Other aspects of Power supplies, are hold up time and efficiency. Hold up time refers to how long a power supply will continue to produce voltages after the AC input has ceased, it is measured in milliseconds. The longer the better.
Efficiency in a power supply is determined how much of the energy it takes in is actually used and is not wasted in other forms, as with hold up time the higher the efficiency the better, 65 to 70 and higher is recommended, The more efficient power supplies save more money on the electric bill. The efficiency for most power supplies is when it is at highest workload or when the most energy is being drawn from it.
Voltage Rails
~Voltage rails should never straw more then 5% in either direction, that is also what is recommended. If a rail does drop or increase more then 5% of what it should be it can potentially damage and destroy components. This isn't something most companies tell you before you buy it, its something that is bested tested with a Digital Multi Meter (DMM) while the computer is active.
Amperage
~Obviously Higher systems should have more amps on their rails, for low end systems, with power supplies with only 1 12V rail there should be from 15-17 amps on it, Medium end, 19-24, and 26-35 amps for high end systems. For computers that have a PSU with dual 12V rails or more, 12V1 @ 18-22 or more Amps and for 12V2 the same. The 12V rail is the main concern as it is drawn from the most and is directly connected to motherboard.
As for reliable Brand names
(High Priced: Usually Greater Than 150$ USD)
~PC power and cooling
~OCZ technologies
~Hiper
~Tagan
~Fortron (FSP Fortron, 700 Watt Version)
(Medium priced: Usually Between 70$ And 150$ USD)
~Antec
~Enermax
~Seasonic
~SilverStone
(Low Priced: Usually Less Than 70$ USD)
~Forton (FPS Fortron, 400 and 450 Watt Version)
~Vantec
~Thermaltake
~Rosewill ( I Stress The LOW End Part Here)
Some brands I mentioned have higher end power supplies and some lower end ones but for the most part it holds true.
The brands I stay away from and would never recommend. Ever.
~Thermaltake (The Higher Models Only, See Low Priced Power Supplies)
~Ultra (X-Connects Especially)
~Coolmax
~Cooler Master
~ASUS
~Sunbeam
~Sparkle
~RaidMax
~AeroCool
~AMS
~Apevia (Aspire)
Generic ones that come with cases are usually listed at their peak wattage not their continuous wattage, which means the power supply may only be a 320 watt continuous but they list it as a 380 watt Power supply, which is its peak wattage. This way they make it look better then it really is. If you are an overclocker, than you will want to buy from the medium to high priced region. Overclocking puts more strain on the voltage rails. Therefore only high quality Power supplies are recommended. A digital multi meter will assist you during Load Tests. You can check the voltage and amperage readings of your power supply to check for stability.
Those power supplies that look sweet, that glow and flash and are brightly colored are that way for a reason, to sell, they make look awesome but as you will learn these power supplies are only this way cause just about everything else is bad, as in quality of parts, life span and efficiency. There are few power supplies that actually are good performers and look good. They are usually more expensive then people want which is why the cheap crappy ones that look so cool sell a lot. Stay away from these power supplies unless they are made by the name brands I mentioned under good brand names.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~When buying a psu, don’t cheap out. Brand names = good quality even though there more expensive. PSU’s work like this. (my attempt is probably vague but at least I’m trying). If you buy a 500 watt generic PSU and compare it with a ,lets say, 350 watt brand name, the brand name would perform better and last longer. DON’T CHEAP OUT WHILE BUYING YOURSELF A PSU!!!!
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*********[color=red] [b]Section Five [/color][/b]*********
[color=blue][b]When buying a video card:[/b][/color]
~[b]Again, will you be gaming heavily, moderately, or just want a slight increase? Heavy gamers that like EVERYTHING on max settings will be most satisfied with a 7800GTX, that’s if they have the money. So, I’m going to create a little scale for you to try to help you. (note, these are all Nvidia GPU’s as I don’t know ATI’s that well and are all in USD currency).[/b]
~If you have a budget of about $110 bucks, a 6600GT would be perfect for you. They are great in performance, very reliable GPU’s (I will get into cards in a second), and are VERY popular. And better yet, play games with very decent settings.(the new games coming out though may very well murder this card). In my opinion, the best budget card that will ever live In addition, these cards come in 128MB of memory and 256MB’s. If your buying this card, go with the 128MB because the card don’t know what to do with 256MB’s of memory and the 128 would perform better than the 256. Just because the memory is lower doesn’t mean a cut in performance.
~~~~~[b]ATI’s equal----X1600 Pro[/b]
~If you have about $130 bucks or so to blow, go with a 6800. These are great mid- budget cards.. This will also play most game on decent settings. Now, if your going with a 6800, get the 256MB version because the 6800 CAN and WILL use it.
~~~~~[b]ATI’s equal----X1600XT [/b]
~The 6800GS is almost exactly the same as the 6800GT, just a little cheaper. You can pick this card up for around 160 bucks.
~~~~~[b]ATI’s equal----X1800XL [/b]
~The next step up would be a 6800GT. These cards are for people who have around $200. This card is 256mb.
~~~~~[b]ATI’s equal----X1800XL [/b]
~Another card would be the 7800GS (around $300). Just like the 6800GS, this card is the “value” version of the 7800GT (also around $300). These cards will play mostly all games on high settings.
~~~~~[b]ATI’s equal----X1800XT [/b]
~The 7800GTX/7900GTX Will most likely play all games on max settings with ease. Very high frame rates.
7800GTX-$450-500 ( [b]ATI’s equal----X1800XT[/b])
7900GTX (512MB)-$550-600 ( [b]ATI’s equal----X1900XTX [/b])
~[b]When buying a video card you will see AGP or PCI or PCI-E(X16).[/b]
These are referring to what kind of socket they are. Each mobo has either AGP or PCI-E and all will have PCI. I don’t even think there are any PCI video cards worth mentioning. But due to the rise in demand, no new video cards will be designed for AGP. But they will still be manufactured (the ones that are already AGP). AGP cards are also more expensive than PCI-E because not a lot of people make them anymore since most new motherboard’s are PCI-E
~[b]Will you be rich/hardcore enough to SLI/Crossfire?[/b]
As mentioned above, SLI and Crossfire is the ability to have two of the same video cards operating on your computer. It pretty much just splits the screen in half and gives each card half of it. When doing this, you will probably not be as pleased or surprised by the performance. I, personally, am against SLI and Crossfire because I think it’s a waste of money for only a 50% increase in performance. Just make sure your Motherboard supports SLI/Crossfire before buying the two cards.
~[b]Will you be overclocking? [/b]
If your planning on overclocking and are on a budget. Get a 6600GT and overclock it. The 6600GT can reach equal performance to the 6800 Vanilla if done properly.
~[b]"I found a 6600GT... but they all say different stuff like MSI, eVGA, Asus, (ect.). But I want Nvidia. What's going on?"[/b]
Alright, I see this asked quite a lot so I figured I would tackle it. There are a lot of company's in this world today and they all want a piece of the pie (money). So, what they do is take [b]their[/b] card and put Nvidia's or ATI's [b]GPU[/b] on it. In my opinion, the eVGA is the best card there is. XFX are tempting because they are cheap but I would [b]NOT[/b] recommend one to someone because they are known for having heating issues. So in short, you'll still get Nvidia's GPU, but would get eVGA's, MSI's, Asus's (ect.) card.
~[b]”WHOA!! I just saw a $2000 video card on a website!! Is this some kind of joke??”[/b]
These cards are for 3D Rendering called Workstation cards. These cards are made to process millions of polygons that would otherwise murder a normal gaming video card.
Nvidia- Quatro
ATI- FireGL
==============================================
*********[color=red] [b]Section Six [/color][/b]*********
[color=blue][b]When buying a case:[/color][/b]
Make sure it has good airflow, enough places for fans, will fit all your hard drives and optical drives.
~[b]”Will my mobo fit in my case?”[/b]
Mobo’s have different categories, ATX and Micro ATX being the most common I would assume. Cases, when buying, will say whether they are ATX or Micro ATX or other. First find out what your motherboard is.
~[b]Different Materials[/b]
Different materials dissipate heat differently than others.. if you’re overclocking, get a case with efficient heat dissipation.
~[b]Durability[/b]
Some cases hold up abuse better than others do obviously. If you’re going to be transporting your computer a lot, I would say to get a durable case. Well, I would say that anyway.
~[b]What to stay away from:[/b]
~Low weight cases (no durability)
~Cases that come with the power supply. The case may be good, but do NOT use the psu that comes with it.. they have a tendency to die and fry valuable hardware.
~Cases that don’t have sharp insides that will eat your hand if you stick it in there
~Cases that do not have room for heat sink fans (big ones, stock will always fit) and video cards.
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*********[color=red] [b]Section Seven [/color][/b]*********
[color=blue][b]When buying a hard drive:[/b][/color]
[b][color=red]WRITTEN BY PZEROFGH[/b][/color]
~[b]"What does RPM's have to do with hard drives?"[/b]
Higher RPM usually means faster access times, but perhaps not in all cases. 8 Meg cache is about all you'll ever need for today's stuff, 16 is more of a marketing thing for people that think they need 16 to look cool. The difference in your everyday usage will not be noticeable.
7200 RPM's is decent
10,000 RPM's is great
15,000 RPM's is excellent
5,400 RPM's is ideal for laptops
[b]***NOTE*** The higher the RPM's, the higher the temperature.[/b]
~[b]What is all this SATA and IDE talk?"[/b]
An IDE hard drive is as good for anything as a SATA drive is. The only difference is that SATA cables are significantly smaller so it helps with cable management.
===============================================
*********[color=red] [b]Section Eight [/color][/b]*********
[color=blue][b]When buying soundcards:[/b][/color]
Someone can get into the complexities of this if they want but I'm getting into a few things.
~[b]"Do I [i] NEED [/i] a soundcard?"
Absolutely not. I'm pretty sure that ALL recent motherboards have integrated sound. 95% of people are happy with the int. but the people who, in my opinion, need soundcards are those who record music, edit music/videos, or are hardcore gamers and want the best of the best. Soundcards can go from anywhere from (they have these on newegg.com) $8-$400. If your going to game, you can pick up a nice sound card anywhere from $80-$150.
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*********[color=red] [b]Section Nine [/color][/b]*********
[color=blue][b]When buying Optical Drives:[/b][/color]
There are several different kinds of optical drives out there:
[b]CD-ROM:[/b] These are the oldest. All they can do is read CDs; no burning, and no DVDs
[b]CD-R:[/b] These can read CDs, and burn them.
[b]CD-RW:[/b] Do the same thing as CD-R's, but they can also burn CDs in such a way that you can erase/reburn the CDs once again. (RW=Re-Write) Unfortunately, this is pretty much pointless because most of the time you can't use these RW-burned CDs on any computer other than the one you burned it on.
[b]DVD-ROM:[/b] These do the same thing as CD-ROM drives, but they can also read DVDs.
[b]DVD-RW:[/b] These can read, burn, and reburn anything you put into them!
Optical drives are pretty much all the same these days. You used to have to shell out over $100 for a DVD-burner, but now they're all about $40-50, so there's really no reason NOT to buy a DVD-burner, unless you're really on a tight budget and have to go with a $20 CD-RW drive. Therefore, I believe most people choose their drive based on aesthetics. I, personally, have a Sony DRU-720A burner, which I chose because the first time I saw it on Newegg, I said "Oh, Mommy" (it matches my Antec Aria case quite nicely). The highest-rated DVD-burners on Newegg are from brands NEC and Lite-On, along with a few BenQ's and Sony's. So pick one that looks nice, matches your case, and has decent reviews.
One last note: Most optical drives use IDE interfaces to transfer data to and from the motherboard. Newegg has one DVD burner that uses the SATA interface, but it costs $100 as of this writing and has lots of problems, judging by the 2/5 star rating.
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[b][color=red]**************MISC.**************[/color][/b]
This section is going to deal with some information on speakers, monitors, keyboards, and mice.
===============================================
[b][color=blue] When buying speakers and headsets [/b][/color]
As of now, this was written by me. By the end of the week, I think DJ CHRIS will be going more in depth into sound cards.
~[b] What does the 2:1,4:1,5:1,7:1 mean?"[/b]
Don't be intimidated when you see these numbers. This is simply stating that, lets say a 2:1, speaker set will have 2 normal speakers and 1 sub woofer. The 4:1 would have 4 speakers and 1 subwoofer ect. I have an Altec Lansing 2:1 system and it performs to my liking. Hardcore music-goers/gamers would, if they had the money, go for a 7:1 system. They are a bit on the pricey side though. There are 5:1 systems for like $400.00 (they do make them cheaper also. You can pick up a decent 5:1 system for about $100 or so) so I have no idea how much a 7:1 system is.
~[b]"What are the benefits of using headphones? [/b]
I have seen this asked a few times. Figured I might as well throw it in as well. When wearing headphones, it's virtually impossible for other people to clearly hear them. So, you can have them blaring and not have your parents yell. But beware for your safety.
===============================================
[b][color=blue]When buying a monitor[/color][/b]
Alright, I'm just going into the MS of this. If someone wants to get in to more details, feel free.
~[b]"What’s the "ms"?"[/b]
MS stands for mili-second. If you’re gaming, the lower the MS the better, the higher the MS the more "ghosting" will take place.
People can use 12MS monitors with little ghosting if they don’t care but most people go for 8 or even 4. Now if it’s just a low-end computer, I wouldn't shoot for a low MS monitor. You would probably be happy with a 25MS or somewhere around there.
~[b]”What’s the contrast ratio mean?”[/b]
The contrast ratio (xxx/xxx) means the difference between the darkest of darks and the lightest of lights.
~[b]”What does DVI and VGA mean?[/b]
DVI and VGA are the two kinds of outputs on a video card. (VGA is on the motherboard if you are using onboard video). DVI puts out more of a quality video than what VGA puts out. Therefore, a lot of people try to get DVI.
===============================================
[color=blue][b]When buying Keyboards and Mice[/b][/color]
If you’re gaming, there are special keyboards and mice out there for you. Different mice have different response times. People sometimes fork over 80 bucks for the best of the best gaming mice.
However, if you’re just building a low/mid end computer you can pick up a 20 dollar optical that works just fine for what you need it for.
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[color=red][b] HEAT!!![/B][/color]
Alright, well everything in our computers has temperatures. The cpu, the motherboard, the video card, and the hard drive.
A good idle temp for a cpu is about 25-40 degrees Celsius on stock cooling. They make coolers for just about everything.
~CPU's have special Heatsink fans that allows you to take off the entire heatsink and add a big fan in its place. The fan will most likely use copper because of its heat dissipating capabilities.
These could range anywhere from $20-$100 and it DOES depend on what socket you have so refer back up to Section One or Section Two for more info on sockets. (Note: Different cores operate at different temps, if you see your temp go above 60 degrees Celsius and it is NOT overclocked, buy a heatsink fan or water cooling (more will be explained later on water cooling.
~ Video cards also have smaller versions of heatsink fans. These could be from $20 to $30 .
~ Hard drive’s have a thing you clamp on to them and it dissipates the heat. These are about $20.
~ Fans are always a good idea when trying to keep stuff cool. Some people go overboard and have like 10 80MM fans in their computers, but that's for the overclockers or control freaks :). These could be from $4-$20. Depends on the RPM and/or if you get light's in them.
~Water cooling:
This is for the hardest core overclockers. This, as its name states, uses cold water to cycle through the computer and keeps parts cold .Bad things about water cooling is that if you screw up, miss a leak, or spill something, you pretty much ruined your computer. These could cost from $100-$300+
*********[color=red] [b]Section Eleven [/color][/b]*********
[color=blue][b]Stuff To Look Forward Too[/b][/color]
[b]Operating Systems[/b]
The day in time has come when Microsoft has decided to make yet another new OS (operating system). This edition of Windows, Vista, was supposed to be out next month, but they screwed up and have to re-do 60% of their coding. So, Vista is due out at late 2006 or early 2007.
Google is also supposed to be coming out with a new OS as well. It will be free to download and around ten bucks to order for a CD.
[b]Processors[/b]
AMD is working there butts off to get the AM2 on the market. The AM2 is not a new processor, but a new socket. But guess what a new socket means? New cpu’s. These are due out, I think, late 2006. AMD is also working on the fx-62 which they plan to sell for the ridiculously high price of over a grand. (USD)
Intel is also coming out with the Conroe. They plan on NOT selling this for as high as AMD is going to sell the fx-62 which will most likely cost AMD a lot of money because the Conroe supposedly performs just as well.
[b] Video Cards [/b]
Since Windows is coming out with their new OS, guess what that means? Direct X 10. The new video cards (G80’S and I’m not sure what ATI’s new ones will be called) are DX10 cards and will not and can not be released until Windows gets there code right. These cards will play anything with ease.
Though not a video card, PHYSX cards are supposed to be coming out in late may. These cards take some work off the video card by doing its own thing with the physics which will improve what the video card can do so therefore, higher frame rates and more realistic game play.
[b] MISC [/b]
Since AMD is coming out with a new socket, motherboard company’s will be making the boards to fit them. I’m not sure if anything has been announced yet but I’m sure they have something cool to come along with it.
===============================================
Well, hope this cleared a lot of stuff up. I’m open to suggestions on adding stuff or being corrected. PM me or post it here.. either way, I’ll edit it as you see fit.
~Static
[b] Log:
November 7th, 2005-------------Created
March 29th, 2006-----------------Up to date prices added on to Section 5 along with the addition of Section 11
April 7th, 2006---------------------Added ATI equivelents to Nvidia in Section Five. Minor updates to Section 1.
April 25, 2006----------------------Updated Section Six (minor)[/b]
Posted by: Flanker
Looks perfect.
Posted by: Static_11
Thats my plan for tomorow. By the time I'm done it will have a table of contents, more info, and probably double the length. :) Time to sleeeeeep :)
Posted by: Flanker
Sweet :)
Posted by: PZEROFGH
you can always get cheap ram and run memory dividers like flanker :cool: good job, wheres the clapping icon :confused: CLAP CLAP
Posted by: Static_11
Made a few minor changes in the CPU and RAM section. After school is when I'm going to revise it. I get home at 3 Central time, so expect it to be revised at about 4
Posted by: Ste
When Buying Power supplies:
As was for mentioned, look for weight, if the product does not say how much it is look for the shipping weight that will be pretty close. Anything about 4-6 lbs is a good weight. The heavier the components of the power supply the better quality they are.
You don't have to spend alot of money for a good power supply the most you would need, as in the cheapest I would go is around 50 to 55$, anything below that usally aren't made with "quality" parts or are very generic power supplies.
To find the right amount of wattage you will need for a computer you can goto a website such as this one and calculate your wattage needs. [url]http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/[/url]
However you can use this simple chart to easily figure out what you need.
High End System=520 Watts to 800 Watts Depending
Medium End System=400 watts to 500 Watts Depending
Low End System= 300 Watts to 400 Watts
High End systems include Servers, Video work stations and Top of the line gamming computers. Or computers with multiple HD and Burners for different needs.
Medium End systems are systems much like high end but have mid quality parts and or single uses.
Low end systems can be only used for light light gaming, word processing, email and internet use.
With medium to higher end systems you will want to have PFC on your power supply. PFC stands for powwer factor correction. The power comming into the power supply is not always "clean" there can be variances with frequency and spikes that lower the life span of your poer supply and can cause damage to parts if it is not corrected. Active PFC is more efficent then Passive but also is more expensive.
Other aspects of Power supplies, are hold up time and effciency. Hold up time refers to how long a power supply will continue to produce voltages after the AC input has ceased, it is measured in milliseconds. The longer the Better.
Efficiency in a power supply is determined how much of the energy it takes in is actualy used and is not wasted in other forms, as with hold up time the higher the efficiency the better, 65 to 70 and higher is reccomended, The more efficent power supplies save more money on the electric bill. The efficiency for most power supplies is when it is at highest workload or when the most energy is being drawn from it.
As for Volatge Rails and Amperage. Voltage rails should never straw more then 5% in either direction, that is also what is reccomended, if a rail does drop or increase more then 5% of what it should be it can potentialy damage and destroy Components. This isn't something most Companies tell you before you buy it, its something that is bested tested with a Digital Multimeter (DMM) while the computer is active.
Amperage: Obviously Higher systems should have more amps on their rails, for low end systems, with power supplies with only 1 12V rail there should be from 15-17 amps on it, Medium end, 19-24, and 26-35 amps for high end systems. For computers that have a PSU with dual 12V rails or more, 12V1 @ 18-22 or more Amps and for 12V2 the same. The 12V rail is the main concern as it is drawn from the most and is directly connected to motherboard.
As for reliable Brand names
(more Expensive)
PC power and cooling
OCZ technolgies
Hiper
(Medium Priced)
Antec
Enermax
(lower priced)
forton (FPS Fortron)
Vantec
Some brands I mentioned have Higher end Power supplies and some lower end ones but for the mst part it holds true.
The brands I stay away from and would never reccomend. Ever
Thermaltake (TT)
Ultra
Coolmax
ASUS
Sparkle
RaidMax
AeroCool
AMS
The newer ones that I hear are said to be good are Seasonic and eTagean. I have yt to look into them and have heard few reviews and comments.
Generic ones that come with cases are usally listed at thier peak wattage not thier continious wattage, Which means the power supply may only be a 320 watt Continious but they list it as a 380 watt Power supply, which is its peak wattage, this way they make it look better then it really is.
When I get home I will edit this post as I believe I left some things out.
Posted by: Trifid
Sticky!
Hopefully people will look here and work out the components they need and then ask for advice after. I get so board of seeing "spec me a PC!" threads.
I'm pleased to see Hiper on there Ste, even though they are not very common in US due to their high price. But they are great PSU's. Seasonic are winning alot of awards for their PSU's. They should be added to more expensive.
Just to add, cheap PSU's do take out hardware.
Posted by: Static_11
Thank you pzerogfh and STE for the PSU and HDD sections.
Posted by: Flanker
Sticky :)
Posted by: harobikes333
I agree with Flanker:D
But if someone besides dumb me would be able to explain memory dividers a little more so a person would understand what they do and how they do it I think I'd be a great addition:D
P.S. I really don't get the whole memory divider thingy...
Posted by: PZEROFGH
come on static, make a whole section about memory dividers :freak: sense you spent 7 hours already make it 8
_----------------------------------------_
**********[b][color=blue]Section 10[/color][/b]**********
[b][color=red]MEMORY DIVIDERS[/color][/b]**
The basics of overclocking your memory, O.O. This is how it starts, ram is basically rated at some particular speed
PC-2100 - DDR266
PC-2700 - DDR333
PC-3200 - DDR400
PC-3500 - DDR434
PC-3700 - DDR464
PC-4000 - DDR500
PC-4200 - DDR525
PC-4400 - DDR550
PC-4800 - DDR600
Most AMD motherboards support PC3200 which is the usual speed for RAM. IF you don’t know ram is random access memory, which serves as a temporary storage of files that the CPU needs to access quickly. This will help when your opening many programs at once or your multi tasking. In games it will help you during loading times, and minimizing the game when your not supposed to :D.
So your problem is, you bought corsair valueselect knowing that its not good at overclocking. Rofl. Anyways you want to OC your cpu but you can’t OC any further cause your stupid ram wont go any further. You tried various ram timings and voltages but nothing is working!!. So this is what you do O.O smart pc makers. Instead of throwing out your ram and buying some decent ones like OCZ ones you can run memory dividers woot or q00t. Memory Dividers come in a list of things like this
400 = 1:1
333 = 5:6
266 = 2:3
200 = 1:2
or
200 = 1:1
166 = 5:6
133 = 2:3
100 = 1:4
Or if you have a DFI
200 = 1:1
180 = 9:10
166 = 5:6
150 = 3:4
143 = 5:7
133 = 2:3
125 =
100 = 1:2
So on default the ram is 200 or 400, which means if your running the FSB/HTT at 200 then your ram would be running at 200. If you were to run your FSB/HTT at 220 then your ram would run at 220mhz. So your problem is your valueselect wont go past 220mhz, which is pretty lucky for valueselect. So you would first try different mem timings then voltages, if nothing works your last choices is memory dividers :cool:. This is where you would put it at the next step down. Which would be 166, to solve this, you can set up a 5:6 FSB:RAM ratio. Basically, this ratio will mean that for every 6MHz that your FSB runs at your ram will only run at 5mhz :D. So if you put it at 166mhz the memory divider. Then your ram would only be running at 183mhz which is lower then the stock speed of 200mhz, so you know your ram would definitely do that. Which means your cpu will run at 220mhz while your ram is only running at 183. Now you can successfully be stable without any memory errors for your cpu to run at 220mhz woot woot.
Posted by: Spartan
good post on memory, pzerofgh
Posted by: PZEROFGH
thank you :D
**********[color=blue][b]**LOL**[/b][/color]**********
[b][color=red]Overview of OCing[/color][/b]
So you just bought your new system eh? With your cool X2 processor or freakin AMD 64 3200+ Venice, that you want it to do like 3.0Ghz like you see everywhere. But you don’t know squat about OCing, well you came to the right place :D. After you installed everything, make sure you run your comp on all stock settings for around a week or two. This is called the “burning-in” period :D. After the thermal grease has settle and the silicon expanded and what not it is time for you to do it. You OC through the bios, when you start up your computer you either hit delete, or any combinations of the F keys. Once your in the bios, I would say familiarize your self with it like its your own house. Go through all the sections, settings, etc. Once you get to know your bios, find the HTT/FSB speed. This is the main part of your OCing, this is what makes your processor go faster O.o. You need to up this about 5mhz increments, and everything you do it I would suggest you run prime95 for about 12 hours or 24 hours to be on the safe side. Once you get to the point you start to get errors in memtest or prime95, it is time to raise the VCORE or the DIMM voltage. This raises the voltage obviously lol, you will need to raise this in 0.25 increments for the VCORE and the DIMM voltage .5V. If that doesn’t help its obviously your ram crapping out on you and it doesn’t want to go any higher, that’s where the memory dividers come in. LOOK UP! If that still doesn’t work, add more voltage, and if it doesn’t, then you either get a crappy cpu, a bad working psu, or just you got a bad mobo. Those are the three main causes of why you cant OC any further. Obviously you cant just raise the VCORE to like 5.5V or your cpu will fry on you and the temps would be outrageous. The max temp for an AMD 64 processor for me would be around the 35C for idle and 55C full load. Once you reach the 250FSB/HTT mark you will need to lower the LDT multiplier, but on most mobos they do this auto and lower it for you so you don’t have to worry about it.
==============================================
[color=purple][b]MEMORY[/b][/color]
In memory timings, you always want the first number the lowest, the CL timing. 2 is ideal, 2.5 is just average, and 3 is way to high :shocked:. If your OCIng and your producing many memtest errors, its time to adjust the timings. You would first start out at raising the CL timings up .5, so if you were at 2 raise it to 2.5 and add more DIMM voltage. 2.85 is probably a good voltage for regular ram, but some types of other ram like upwards 3.3V. If you can get that stable, you would want to lower the timings. Usually the second number the ras to cas would be higher then the ras precharge which is the third one
CAS latency – RAS TO CAS – RAS PRECHARGE – ACTIVE TO PRECHARGE
Usually it is best to leave the last number high on some types of chipset. So if your stock timings are 2-2-2-5 and you cant OC any more try 2.5-2-2-5 then if you can get that stable try to tighten the timings to like 2-3-2-5, and try some different VDIM voltages.
===============================================
[b][color=green]OCING YOUR VIDEO CARD[/b][/color]
To OC your video card is simple, you download aTiTool for ATi cards or rivatuner for nVidia based cards, and then you simply start the program up, increase the core speed and memory speed 5mhz increments or 3, and then play your favorite game, not minesweeper something more like BF2, FEAR, HL2, which is very sensitive to OCing your video card. Make sure you also watch your temps to your video card, the video card would take temps upwards to 80C but most people keep it around 50C. Usually the GPU runs hotter then the CPU unless you have some nice super water cooling. This is why people buy after market heatsinks with AS5 and stuff so they can OC farther sense usually the thing holding them back in the heat. If your playing your game and you see dots, or slashes of lines, that means you OCed too far. You will need to downclock a little bit. The reason why you are getting these lines are that the GPU is heating up and can not produce those, or you just got a bad video card like just like you could get a bad CPU. If you OC too far you could also fry your video card . Just make sure you go up slowly, play your game for a couple of hours or minutes rofl, and then keep going until you could get the most stable OC out of your video card. Usually before you want to OC, you want to get a reference, you would want to run 3dmark03 or 3dmark05 and copy that score down, then OC your video card and then see how much improvement you can get :D.
im not sure if this will help i just wanted to post it rofl
===============================================
[b][color=deeppink]What happens if you OCed too far for your CPU[/color][/b]
Well all you have to do is put the CMOS jumpers from 1-2 to 2-3 and then leave it there for 10-30 seconds and your done, if that doesnt work refer to your mobo manual or take out the CMOS battery for around 10 minutes.
===============================================
[b][color=chocolate]THE MHZ WARS ARE OVER[/b][/color]
[color=teal]CPU marketing[/color]
Processors are traditionally rated and advertised by their speed. Computers would be advertised as athlon xp 1.5GHz or athlon xp 2.0GHz. The more gigahertz (GHz) the faster they go. What most buyers don't realize is that in terms of construction, a athlon xp 1.5GHz thoroughbred is identical to a athlon xp 2.17GHz. So why is there a difference in speeds? When a batch of processors is built, different processors in the same batch will have different tolerance levels. In a single batch some processors will only be able to run at 1.5GHz while others can run 1.7GHz, 1.8GHz or 2GHz and so on. This rating is known as the "clock speed". Ideally, processors will be sold at the maximum speeds they are capable of operating at and bring the largest amount of profit to the manufacturer. But as faster processors cost more than the slower ones, demand for the latter is usually higher. In order to meet the market demand, the manufacturer marks processors capable of running at 2GHz at the speed of 1.5GHz units. Because of this, some "slower" processors can happily run at a higher speed. The same thing happens to video cards and ram so if your building a OCing system do your "homework"
Posted by: Static_11
Why are you posting overclock stuff here???
Posted by: PZEROFGH
FINE IM SORRY im going to make myself a new thread :D lo
cause if i make myself a new thread it wont be stickied so i wont be famous :(
Posted by: Static_11
:amazed: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :amazed:
lol, try it.. I wasn't expecting a sticky but then I edited it and spent 7 or 8 hours on it with the help of you and STE
Posted by: ilovesocks
Here's my take on choosing optical drives. Feel free to append/reject; I am by no means an expert - just a consumer. :D
There are several different kinds of optical drives out there:
CD-ROM: These are the oldest. All they can do is read CDs; no burning, and no DVDs
CD-R: These can read CDs, and burn them.
CD-RW: Do the same thing as CD-R's, but they can also burn CDs in such a way that you can erase/reburn the CDs once again. (RW=Re-Write) Unfortunately, this is pretty much pointless because most of the time you can't use these RW-burned CDs on any computer other than the one you burned it on.
DVD-ROM: These do the same thing as CD-ROM drives, but they can also read DVDs.
DVD-RW: These can read, burn, and reburn anything you put into them!
Optical drives are pretty much all the same these days. You used to have to shell out over $100 for a DVD-burner, but now they're all about $40-50, so there's really no reason NOT to buy a DVD-burner, unless you're really on a tight budget and have to go with a $20 CD-RW drive. Therefore, I believe most people choose their drive based on aesthetics. I, personally, have a Sony DRU-720A burner, which I chose because the first time I saw it on Newegg, I said "Oh, Mommy" (it matches my Antec Aria case quite nicely). The highest-rated DVD-burners on Newegg are from brands NEC and Lite-On, along with a few BenQ's and Sony's. So pick one that looks nice, matches your case, and has decent reviews.
One last note: Most optical drives use IDE interfaces to transfer data to and from the motherboard. Newegg has one DVD burner that uses the SATA interface, but it costs $100 as of this writing and has lots of problems, judging by the 2/5 star rating. :rolleyes:
Posted by: Tyler1989
ilovesocks what do you have to say on Blue Ray and HD-DVD you can buy the burners and roms and you can even buy the discs already but there are not affordable to the consumer.
Posted by: majistic
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by PZEROFGH [/i]
[B]come on static, make a whole section about memory dividers :freak: sense you spent 7 hours already make it 8
_----------------------------------------_
**********[b][color=blue]Section 10[/color][/b]**********
[b][color=red]MEMORY DIVIDERS[/color][/b]**
The basics of overclocking your memory, O.O. This is how it starts, ram is basically rated at some particular speed
PC-2100 - DDR266
PC-2700 - DDR333
PC-3200 - DDR400
PC-3500 - DDR434
PC-3700 - DDR464
PC-4000 - DDR500
PC-4200 - DDR525
PC-4400 - DDR550
PC-4800 - DDR600
Most AMD motherboards support PC3200 which is the usual speed for RAM. IF you don’t know ram is random access memory, which serves as a temporary storage of files that the CPU needs to access quickly. This will help when your opening many programs at once or your multi tasking. In games it will help you during loading times, and minimizing the game when your not supposed to :D.
So your problem is, you bought corsair valueselect knowing that its not good at overclocking. Rofl. Anyways you want to OC your cpu but you can’t OC any further cause your stupid ram wont go any further. You tried various ram timings and voltages but nothing is working!!. So this is what you do O.O smart pc makers. Instead of throwing out your ram and buying some decent ones like OCZ ones you can run memory dividers woot or q00t. Memory Dividers come in a list of things like this
400 = 1:1
333 = 5:6
266 = 2:3
200 = 1:2
or
200 = 1:1
166 = 5:6
133 = 2:3
100 = 1:4
Or if you have a DFI
200 = 1:1
180 = 9:10
166 = 5:6
150 = 3:4
143 = 5:7
133 = 2:3
125 =
100 = 1:2
So on default the ram is 200 or 400, which means if your running the FSB/HTT at 200 then your ram would be running at 200. If you were to run your FSB/HTT at 220 then your ram would run at 220mhz. So your problem is your valueselect wont go past 220mhz, which is pretty lucky for valueselect. So you would first try different mem timings then voltages, if nothing works your last choices is memory dividers :cool:. This is where you would put it at the next step down. Which would be 166, to solve this, you can set up a 5:6 FSB:RAM ratio. Basically, this ratio will mean that for every 6MHz that your FSB runs at your ram will only run at 5mhz :D. So if you put it at 166mhz the memory divider. Then your ram would only be running at 183mhz which is lower then the stock speed of 200mhz, so you know your ram would definitely do that. Which means your cpu will run at 220mhz while your ram is only running at 183. Now you can successfully be stable without any memory errors for your cpu to run at 220mhz woot woot. [/B][/QUOTE]
Why do you always whore memory dividers? It's faster and better to not use them.
Posted by: PZEROFGH
dude what are you takling about, memory dividers dont lower your performance especially on AMD 64 sense they made the memory dividers so good :cool:
what else are you supposed to do with valueselect ram ?
Posted by: majistic
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by PZEROFGH [/i]
[B]dude what are you takling about, memory dividers dont lower your performance especially on AMD 64 sense they made the memory dividers so good :cool:
what else are you supposed to do with valueselect ram ? [/B][/QUOTE]
Nothing, don't use valueselect. Valueselect for a 1GB kit is like $20 cheaper than getting some quality RAM.
Posted by: PZEROFGH
what happens if you are on a budget you need to save taht 20 dollars
Posted by: ilovesocks
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Tyler1989 [/i]
[B]ilovesocks what do you have to say on Blue Ray and HD-DVD you can buy the burners and roms and you can even buy the discs already but there are not affordable to the consumer. [/B][/QUOTE]
Yikes, I don't know anything about those, but what you say seems to be all there is to say about it. :D
EDIT: Actually, I may have heard about these .. the next generation of discs that has huge storage capacity and has some sort of feature that can allow companies to keep people from ripping/copying them right?
Posted by: Snake-Eyes
[quote]
~What is all this SATA and IDE talk?"
An IDE hard drive is as good for anything as a SATA drive is. The only difference is that SATA cables are significantly smaller so it helps with cable management.[/quote]
I just want to add that SATA has faster access time (so i've heard) than IDE.
Posted by: majistic
SATA has faster transfer times, 3GBs.
Posted by: PZEROFGH
sata is like 150mb/s while SATA II is like 3GB/s or something while ide is only 100mb/s or 50mb/s
usually the speed stays around 100mb/s even if you have sata
Posted by: PZEROFGH
[quote]High end :
Nivida 7800GTX
Two ATI X800GTO's
Mid Range:
ATI X800GTX series
Low Range:
On board graphics[/quote]
wtf are you talking about, i think you need to learn about video cards more, there are no X800GTX series from ATI and the GTO arent the best high end cards...can you even run two GTO's in crossfire?
High End:
7800GTX 512MB
X1800XT 512MB
Mid Range:
6800GS
Low Range:
X1300
6200
Posted by: Flanker
Someone delete this ****er's post.
Posted by: Tyler1989
Yes the 50 Gig Disc format Blue Ray and the 30 Gig HD-DVD.
Posted by: Static_11
Ill be updating it once newegg sends me my friggen psu :(
Posted by: darkoverlord
i dont think this is the right section, but would a pc3500 and a western digital raptor speed up my hp pavilion vx74 performance and speed? Im a 13 yr old with a few hundred dollars and i wanna get my computers performance alot better. Would it help if i give it 2 sticks of pc3500 and a new hard drive?
Posted by: darkoverlord
and tha hardrive i want is a western digital raptor 74 GB. Its a 10,000 RPM. Plz tell me if getting a new hard drive and more RAM will boost my computers speed and performance.
Posted by: darkoverlord
i dont know if this will help you or not, but i use my computer for gaming and sometimes hacking. I dont hack that much. So yea, idk if that helps you out or not.
Posted by: Static_11
no... not even close to the right topic...
stop hijacking my thread
dont talk about hacking
learn to edit
Posted by: Noom
Very very useful and powerful guide for everybody.
Thank you very much.
Noom.
Posted by: XxDeceptoRxX
useful indeed :)
after reading all that i can make some changes to the parts i'm planning to buy like changing my PSU from thermaltake to antec
Posted by: harobikes333
Nice guide. I've been looking all this crap up now for about half a year so I new all this stuff but I enjoyed reading it!
P.S. You may want to add that some cases have issues when it comes to having cables from the PSU connect to the mobo, etc.
Posted by: Static_11
ill update it and add on intel and all the other goodies as soon as egg heads (newegg) stop screwing me and give my motherboard back :(
Posted by: ulater6000
I found the guide to be useful. Thanx.
Posted by: keba
Sry for being an 4sshole and posting a link to my own topic but, would you plz help me out? I really need it!
[url]http://tech-forums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=91468[/url]
Posted by: Static_11
umm...yeah this would have fit more in with a pm than this but ok...
Posted by: Lord AnthraX
wait a secon static_11, Newegg wont send you your psu AND motherboard?
Posted by: Static_11
do what?
Posted by: Lord AnthraX
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Static_11 [/i]
[B]Ill be updating it once newegg sends me my friggen psu :( [/B][/QUOTE]
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Static_11 [/i][B]ill update it and add on intel and all the other goodies as soon as egg heads (newegg) stop screwing me and give my motherboard back [/B][/QUOTE]
that^ is newegg giving you your stuff?
Posted by: alexsabree
Newegg is the most trustable eRetailer around, it really has never let me down, even tho i have only got about 6 things from them..
Thats kinda akward
Posted by: Static_11
they gave but i've been a little busy with trying to not screw up what me and my gf have at the moment... as soon as everythings ok ill try to look into it a bit but as of now i hardly get on here because some stuffs goin on right now..
Posted by: fr34ky
No I myself cannot buy stuff from newegg becuase they are kinda dumbos when it come to shipping.Whenever I order something (3 times) it doesnt even get to me before newegg orders it to be reshipped to there wharehouse.I've got one package from them too.And they dont re-shipp either they just give you a refund.I've be buying stuff from a local retailer that sells for same price of newegg or even cheaper on their awesome clearance rack.Newegg is probaly a good retailer but I still think their idiots once the package leaves them.
Posted by: ilovesocks
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by fr34ky [/i]
[B]Whenever I order something (3 times) it doesnt even get to me before newegg orders it to be reshipped to there wharehouse.I've got one package from them too.And they dont re-shipp either they just give you a refund. [/B][/QUOTE]
I don't get it ..
Posted by: fr34ky
when they shipp my order they tell ups to return it to them for no reason its retarded and doesnt make sense.
Posted by: Thellama
This is a great guide, but on your analogy for the dual core processors, I think it might be better explained like this:
Think of dual core like this. There is a pile of bricks. The dual core would have the pile split into 2 smaller piles, and the have 2 "people" working to move the bricks where they needed to be moved as where a single core would have 1 "person" moving the one big pile. Therefore, the dualcore would obvisouly get it done faster.
Thellama
Posted by: StephanieB
Spam Removed.
Posted by: ilovesocks
^^ Uh .. spam.
Posted by: Static_11
Thank you Elba for keeping the thread nice n' tidy :) since i got nothing else to do, anyone have suggestions for updates? since this thing is defintly getting outdated when it comes to video cards.. besides vid cards, what else should i put it in it?
Posted by: Brtnboarder495
[quote]when it comes to video cards.. besides vid cards[/quote]
Didn't you just contradict yourself?
Posted by: Static_11
no.. i said this thing is becoming outdated when it comes to video cards. Besides video cards (because i know that it needs updating), what needs updating. (that i dont know of)
***Updated
~video card section
~entire new section (11)
Posted by: Brtnboarder495
Okay ... anyway.
Posted by: Static_11
Updated---
Added ATI equalivilents to Nvidia in Section Five. Minor updates to Section 1.
Posted by: snakemaster
Great guide, now have it printed out for further use.
Posted by: Static_11
Thanks.. but since this guide has been written it has lacked a sound card section..DJ chris said he would do it but he never did.. so anyone wanna do it?
Posted by: snakemaster
I have learned alot from you guys, thanks...
Posted by: Static_11
thats what we're here for isnt it :D?
Posted by: Static_11
Updated Section Six
I still need a sound card section... iff someone would like to do that, feel free too
Posted by: julz
That's a very handy little guide you've written there. I'm sure many people will learn a lot from it, including myself.
Thank you for putting in the time and effort Static, great stuff!
PS: Just thought you'd like to know, my [URL=http://www.build-gaming-computers.com]website[/URL] provides similar information as your guide. And the funny thing is, my video card section needs updating too :)
Posted by: duayne.com
hi. just a newbie here..
this thread rocks.. :)
by the mean time, ill just browse thread more so as to know how to build my new rig. it will be my first time. :)
Posted by: Static_11
you have any questions feel free to ask... my contact info is in my profile.
Posted by: duayne.com
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Static_11 [/i]
[B]you have any questions feel free to ask... my contact info is in my profile. [/B][/QUOTE]
thanks... ill PM you as soon as i finish choosing the parts.. :D i hope i wont bother you if i do so. :)
Posted by: Static_11
nope... if it would've, i wouldnt have said to ask lol :D
Posted by: eleclipper
i was a little bored so i got this, most of the stuff i just copy-n'-paste, you can add whatever you want, it is just a start
Sound cards are usually not a necessity for a regular home computer, and are usually used to get a more three-dimensional sound. Good cards also boost PC performance because they feature small processors of their own. Consumer sound cards range from $5 to $250. If you use your PC for games look at the sound cards in the $50 - $150 range. One of the more popular sound cards out there is the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Sound Card for $110 and a popular cheap one is the CHAINTECH AV-710 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card got 23.00. The price difference is just mostly just because the X-Fi includes a ton of stuff it can do:
X-Fi 24-bit Crystalizer™ X-Fi CMSS®-3D The Fastest Gaming Performance Ever EAX® ADVANCED HD™ 5.0 support The Latest Cinematic Technologies for the Ultimate PC Movie Experience! High-Quality, Feature-Rich Recording Dedicated Modes for Music & Movies, Gaming and Audio Creation
Another thing to keep in mind is that your sound card can only sound as good as your speakers. Many multimedia kits come with a cheap set of speakers. Usually these get the job done, but don't sound too good. If you're into multimedia, get good speakers. The best offer the subwoofer system. These produce rich bass and a more symphonic sound. They are capable of surround sound. This is the best choice. Don't hook your home stereo speakers to your computer directly. The sound will usually be bad because those speakers need more power then a sound card's amplifier can produce. Also, home stereo speakers are not magnetically shielded. Therefore they could warp your monitor's picture as well as damage the data on your hard drive or floppies.
Posted by: pbx
Helpful post! :)
Posted by: macdawg
reasons for soundcards borrowed for tweakguides.com-
i get better mp3 quality and bass and volume with my audigy 2 zs compared to onboard.
creative labs has cornered the audio market, I only recommend the Audigy 2 ZS ($75) or the X-fi extreme music card ($115).
in almost every recent game, to get the best quality and least troublesome sound effects you need to enable Hardware support, EAX advanced HD 4.0 in particular. if you're not on board with a decent Creative sound card (namely a full-spec Audigy), you'll miss out on a lot of effects in games, as well as finding hardware incompatibilities and audio glitches when using other sound cards.
My thoughts: just like I wouldn't buy a soundcard from any brand other than Creative, I wouldn't buy mice/speakers unless they were Logitech, I wouldn't buy motherboards unless they were Asus, MSI, or DFI, and Corsair seems to be the most trusted brand for RAM.
Posted by: cdurex
Do you think it would be better an ATA, SATA or SCSI to get the best performance.
You already talk about speed on ATA and SATA, but could you add something about SCSI.
If it's better or worse...
Thanks.
THIS TREAD IS GREAT!!!!
Posted by: Usp45shooter
I am a complete newbee when it comes to computers. I got alot of info from the guide. With the help of a freind who is more knowledgable in the field. I plan to build for gaming but can i still do things like web browsing, excel, video download etc with no problems?
Posted by: Static_11
if your building a gaming machine, browsing/excel/downloads will be no big deal.
pretty much any comp can do that...
edit: i also cant edit the guide... soooo... i guess im going to have to edit it then give the revised to trotter who will hopefully make the changes...
Posted by: Static_11
Updated:
[url]http://computeranatomy.kentspenser.com/viewtopic.php?t=9[/url]
TF wont allow me to edit the one here anymore... so it is updated on the above link now...
Posted by: Yoad
Ask a moderator, any moderator will agree to update your post here.
-Jo.
Posted by: Static_11
i have a feeling the mods dont like me lol
Posted by: Swordsikan
[QUOTE]~”WHOA!! I just saw a $2000 video card on a website!! Is this some kind of joke??”
These cards are for 3D Rendering called Workstation cards. These cards are made to process millions of polygons that would otherwise murder a normal gaming video card.
Nvidia- Quatro
ATI- FireGL[/QUOTE]
I just saw this card:
NVIDIA Quadro FX Go 2500M 512MB
It's £250 more than
NVIDIA GeForce 7900 Go GTX 512MB
I understand the quadro one is for 3D design and CAD, so I am wondering will it outperform the 7900 in games considerably, or is the advantage only really visible in CAD or 3D design. Also, how would the quadro card compare against the 2x the 7900 with sli.
Also, a quick question on the side: I have been looking at high end laptops and all the best laptops have either Intel Core Duo T2700 2.33GHz or AMD Turion 64 ML-44 (35W, 2.4GHz, 1MB) or AMD Athlon 64 FX60 Dual Core. I have been looking for bechmarks to compare these, but I am either no good at it or they are not about, so I am wondering which of these three is better (perfomance wise)
Thank you
Posted by: tommyboy123x
ha i totally think i asked that question (gfx card one).... let me see if i can find it
Posted by: rezapci
thank you :)
Posted by: Ste
As was for mentioned, look for weight, if the product does not say how much it is look for the shipping weight that will be pretty close. Anything about 4-6 lbs is a good weight. The heavier the components of the power supply the better quality they are.
You don't have to spend a lot of money for a good power supply the most you would need, as in the cheapest I would go is around 50 to 55$, anything below that usually aren't made with "quality" parts or are very generic power supplies.
To find the right amount of wattage you will need for a computer you can go to a website such as this one and calculate your wattage needs. [url]http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/[/url]
However you can use this simple chart to easily figure out what you need.
High End System=520 Watts to 800 Watts Depending
Medium End System=400 watts to 500 Watts Depending
Low End System= 300 Watts to 400 Watts
High End systems
~This includes Servers, Video work stations and Top of the line gamming computers. Or computers with multiple HD and Burners for different needs.
Medium End systems
~Systems much like high end but have mid quality parts and or single uses.
Low end systems
~Only used for light light gaming, word processing, email and internet use.
With medium to higher end systems you will want to have PFC on your power supply. PFC stands for power factor correction. The power coming into the power supply is not always "clean" there can be variances with frequency and spikes that lower the life span of your power supply and can cause damage to parts if it is not corrected. Active PFC is more efficient then Passive but also is more expensive.
Other aspects of Power supplies, are hold up time and efficiency. Hold up time refers to how long a power supply will continue to produce voltages after the AC input has ceased, it is measured in milliseconds. The longer the better.
Efficiency in a power supply is determined how much of the energy it takes in is actually used and is not wasted in other forms, as with hold up time the higher the efficiency the better, 65 to 70 and higher is recommended, The more efficient power supplies save more money on the electric bill. The efficiency for most power supplies is when it is at highest workload or when the most energy is being drawn from it.
Voltage Rails
~Voltage rails should never straw more then 5% in either direction, that is also what is recommended. If a rail does drop or increase more then 5% of what it should be it can potentially damage and destroy components. This isn't something most companies tell you before you buy it, its something that is bested tested with a Digital Multi Meter (DMM) while the computer is active.
Amperage
~Obviously Higher systems should have more amps on their rails, for low end systems, with power supplies with only 1 12V rail there should be from 15-17 amps on it, Medium end, 19-24, and 26-35 amps for high end systems. For computers that have a PSU with dual 12V rails or more, 12V1 @ 18-22 or more Amps and for 12V2 the same. The 12V rail is the main concern as it is drawn from the most and is directly connected to motherboard.
As for reliable Brand names
(High Priced: Usually Greater Than 150$ USD)
~PC power and cooling
~OCZ technologies
~Hiper
~Tagan
~Fortron (FSP Fortron, 700 Watt Version)
(Medium priced: Usually Between 70$ And 150$ USD)
~Antec
~Enermax
~Seasonic
~SilverStone
(Low Priced: Usually Less Than 70$ USD)
~Forton (FPS Fortron, 400 and 450 Watt Version)
~Vantec
~Thermaltake
~Rosewill ( I Stress The LOW End Part Here)
Some brands I mentioned have higher end power supplies and some lower end ones but for the most part it holds true.
The brands I stay away from and would never recommend. Ever.
~Thermaltake (The Higher Models Only, See Low Priced Power Supplies)
~Ultra (X-Connects Especially)
~Coolmax
~Cooler Master
~ASUS
~Sunbeam
~Sparkle
~RaidMax
~AeroCool
~AMS
~Apevia (Aspire)
Generic ones that come with cases are usually listed at their peak wattage not their continuous wattage, which means the power supply may only be a 320 watt continuous but they list it as a 380 watt Power supply, which is its peak wattage. This way they make it look better then it really is. If you are an overclocker, than you will want to buy from the medium to high priced region. Overclocking puts more strain on the voltage rails. Therefore only high quality Power supplies are recommended. A digital multi meter will assist you during Load Tests. You can check the voltage and amperage readings of your power supply to check for stability.
Those power supplies that look sweet, that glow and flash and are brightly colored are that way for a reason, to sell, they make look awesome but as you will learn these power supplies are only this way cause just about everything else is bad, as in quality of parts, life span and efficiency. There are few power supplies that actually are good performers and look good. They are usually more expensive then people want which is why the cheap crappy ones that look so cool sell a lot. Stay away from these power supplies unless they are made by the name brands I mentioned under good brand names.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~When buying a psu, don’t cheap out. Brand names = good quality even though there more expensive. PSU’s work like this. (my attempt is probably vague but at least I’m trying). If you buy a 500 watt generic PSU and compare it with a ,lets say, 350 watt brand name, the brand name would perform better and last longer. DON’T CHEAP OUT WHILE BUYING YOURSELF A PSU!!!!
Posted by: apdrummer
[URL=http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp]Here's[/URL] a better wattage calculator.
Posted by: KlNGPlN
this thread needs to be updated, alot of new tech. has been developed since the birth of this thread.
Posted by: NosBoost300
are you the world record breaking kingpin?
Posted by: Ste
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by KlNGPlN [/i]
[B]this thread needs to be updated, alot of new tech. has been developed since the birth of this thread. [/B][/QUOTE]
Ask tri to remake the PSU Section. Im to busy and too lazy to make a better one. :p
Posted by: Wildside
i just tested to see how much watts i need for the AMD quad-core, ATI R600, n other stuff i want to use when i fully upgrade my computer.
it calculated i need 1268 watts!!
OMFGZ, THIS CANT BE RIGHT!!!???
Posted by: Ste
Even though I linked a PSU calculator I don't use one.
Its not hard to estimate the wattage needed.
Posted by: Wildside
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Ste [/i]
[B]Even though I linked a PSU calculator I don't use one.
Its not hard to estimate the wattage needed. [/B][/QUOTE]
well, got any suggestions about calculating my wattage? I just want a decent power supply i can use in the future.
the only thing i would try to overclock is AMD's quad-core n ATI R600 that i am planning on getting, plus an AM3 mobo, 2 x 2 GB DDR2 800 SDRAM, that's it!
as of now, i have nothing overclocked.
Posted by: Holy Mouse
WOW nice stuff it's perfect
Posted by: Ste
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Wildside [/i]
[B]well, got any suggestions about calculating my wattage? I just want a decent power supply i can use in the future.
the only thing i would try to overclock is AMD's quad-core n ATI R600 that i am planning on getting, plus an AM3 mobo, 2 x 2 GB DDR2 800 SDRAM, that's it!
as of now, i have nothing overclocked. [/B][/QUOTE]
Id go with something in the range of 520 to 580 Watts Max.
Just stick with these brands youll be good.
PC Power and Cooling
Etasis
Mushkin
Corsair
Fortron
Antec
Enermax
Silverstone
Seasonic
Hiper
Posted by: Ste
Updated Power supply section.
[URL=http://www.tech-forums.net/showthread.php?threadid=144427]Link[/URL]