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+--- Thread: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) (/showthread.php?tid=14262)
Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-12-2008 04:06 AM
Ok well here's uber-boring the story... (Pics to follow soon!!!)
My desktop was recently relegated to file server in Feburary as I got a laptop with the healp of my university that was more powerful. It was a 3ghz P4 Northwood with 1gig of DDR400 (only running at half its rated speed), a crap motherboard and a 6600GT GFX card. I had inherited it with 1gb ram and a naff case in a constantly BSOD'ing condition from my grandfather. I had had this machine for nearly 4 years and in that time all I had done is change the case to the one you will see soon, add 512mb more ram and add a 250gb drive to the very old 120gb one it had.
When I relegated it I added a cheap SATA card and 3 500gb hard drives giving it 1.75TB (and I ditched the 120gb one).
Recently I've wanted to play some games and had to overclock the 8600GS graphics in my laptop to do so (which I was not happy about, and couldent afford to replace the laptop if this killed it)...
SO, when someone at work offered me £80 for the internals (aka mb, cpu, gfx and ram) of the desktop, I, despite being poor, decided I wanted to upgrade it! I broke out the credit card and decided that armed with £80+70=£150, I would 'upgrade' :-)
Well this is what I have ended up with (albeit £28 over budjet - so £170 (but I did get extras and sell a 256mb ddr laptop mem module for an extra £10 - so effectively went £18 over ;-) )
This is my first real venture into overclocking and I'm pretty chuffed for a budget build...
E2180 @ 3.15Ghz Stable (9x multi) - 1.475v Bios - 1.440v windows idle 1.420v windows load
Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Motherboard set @ 350FSB (1400), +0.1v FSB +0.1v MCH
2GB OCZ SLI Ready PC2-8500 (1066mhz) 2.1v Ram @ only 840mhz 2.0v (due to issues with instability - crappy damn ram lol)
XFX 8600GTS 256mb GDDR3 - up from 675 Core / 2000 Mem to 760 Core / 2200 Mem
Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7
And a 20x LG DVD Writer (as I needed a SATA one)
Not ran any Benchies yet but finally after 4 nights of messing about I have managed to get it rock solid stable...
I cant wait to run 3DMark06 - I know its a crappy card etc and I dont have high expectations... But my mate who is well into £1800+ systems sold his old Pentiom D 955 EE system that got only 6009 marks for either £500 or £750 or something, definately £500 at least anyway and I had bet him that I could put together a MB/CPU/RAM and GFX card for £150 that could beat it... And with out the dvd drive and AC7, I think I've managed. There is no money on it but he HAS to lose!
Anyway, do you think I've done alright? Do u think I'll win my bet?
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-12-2008 03:18 PM
Ok 35 views and no votes.. lol
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-12-2008 04:18 PM
Well some pics for all u ppl ive bored to death...
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-12-2008 04:20 PM
(The inside of the case cycles colours, going through the whole spectrum gradually)
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Lavendersky - 08-12-2008 06:24 PM
I love that cycling coloured light in your computer.
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - joesteel64 - 08-12-2008 07:18 PM
Looks absolutely amazing.
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-13-2008 01:04 AM
Thanks guys
I know its only a cheap case (£17.99 lmfao) But ive tried to make the best of it. I salvaged the blue dials, the front fan came with it and all the ither fans I added. The fans and dials are all blue except the side one which is deliberately 3 coloured to go with the colourcycling leds...
The leds are on 4 strips (hiden around the perspex bit) and came from Ikea and I havent a clue where you'd normally use them, suvice to say I cut the transformer off and added a 4 pin pc connector to the end (as they happened to be 12v). Pics dont the the leds justice.
It does the job anyway
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Wilhemina - 08-13-2008 01:16 AM
I would vote, but you are speaking a slightly foreign language to me.
All I would ever ask was "Can I play WoW?"
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-13-2008 01:33 AM
All I would ever ask was "Can I play WoW?"
LOL!
Yes you could... as far as I am aware most pcs can cant they?
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Domo - 08-13-2008 01:58 AM
It is difficult to discern your history of old PC(s) from the project of a new PC. All of the technical stuff made sense. For all of that technical stuff you haven't at all mentioned temperatures (or did you?). The build looks to be well planned.
3DMark06? Ya know there's a marginal difference between 6000 and 6500. Don't take it seriously either way your score turns.
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-13-2008 02:08 AM
3DMark06? Ya know there's a marginal difference between 6000 and 6500. Don't take it seriously either way your score turns.
Lol sorry, what I mean is ive gutted the old pc and for little money put in a new mb/cpu/ram and gfx crd... I just went off track...
Anyway, I know the difference wont be huge but he said I wont hit 6009 or exceed it, or he will be surprised if it would.
Ok temps... (in Celcius)
CPU -
30 idle - 55 Load under Orthos - 59-60 in heavy games
System temp - (and i think that one refers to the MCH) - 36 idle - 39 Orthos load - 42 Heavy games
And just to be really boring...
Total system wattage at the plug with a 17" CRT:
190w Idle
255w Orthos load
265w peak 245w average under heavy games.
I have a temperature dial on those dials I got for case temps but unfortunately the probe's dead so i need to get a new one.
Also I need to get a tiny fan for the MCH and a big one pointed at the RAM sticks as I noticed they overheat and start causing errors at thier rated 2.1v under sustained torture and within an hour of 2.2v operation, hence the underclock...
*** UPDATE ***
Now at 3.186Ghz and Mem @ 850 with a 354 (1416) FSB
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-13-2008 02:10 AM
And GFX card - 62 Idle (+2 deg from stock), 74-81 Load
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Domo - 08-13-2008 03:15 AM
Very good. How did you measure wattage load/idle? Or is that a calculation?
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-13-2008 03:48 AM
I have a plug un watt meter from maplin... it does volts amps watts hz and kwh usage
its a bit like a Kilowatt meter!
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Domo - 08-13-2008 05:51 PM
its a bit like a Kilowatt meter!
I want one 
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-13-2008 11:52 PM
They are about £25 IIRC but mine cost me £13 ;-)
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-14-2008 01:10 AM
*** Update ***
Back at 3.15ghx w/840 ram 1400 fsb since it was not 24 hour stable :-(
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Domo - 08-14-2008 02:28 AM
Back at 3.15ghx w/840 ram 1400 fsb since it was not 24 hour stable :-(
By 24 hour stable what do you mean? You don't actually need to run 24 hour tests. Find the max overclock you can get 1 hour stable, and just shave off 50 Mhz from that (it really is a small amount)
I recommend 2 instances of SP2004, 1 with "CPU only" test and the other with "test all". While that is running, open up a windowed program that will stress the graphics card (perhaps a windowed game in 'AFK' single player) and let it put the video card through a bit of work so that the total system heat output is at it's maximum. If you have been overclocking the CPU irrespective of the GPU's heat output, you're in for a surprise.
1 Hour of that can bring a bad overclock to its knees.
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Joker - 08-14-2008 12:36 PM
Very nice, very nice. Solid system. Myself, I just upgraded my graphics card, and now I'm really pulling the pretty out of my computer. I'll be getting a quad-core for it in a few months, once Spore and a few other must have games are out.
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - ῦ - 08-14-2008 01:08 PM
*cough*
Q6600, ATi 3870, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD....
*shuffles off*
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-14-2008 04:05 PM
I recommend 2 instances of SP2004, 1 with "CPU only" test and the other with "test all". While that is running, open up a windowed program that will stress the graphics card (perhaps a windowed game in 'AFK' single player) and let it put the video card through a bit of work so that the total system heat output is at it's maximum. If you have been overclocking the CPU irrespective of the GPU's heat output, you're in for a surprise.
1 Hour of that can bring a bad overclock to its knees.
What I mean is I could force it to crash and it would only run orthos for 1-1.5 hours... with the 3.15 it runs for as long as I want. And yet I have taken the GPU output into respect with this as you'll see from the temps I gave you including "heavy gaming"
Thanks, yes I will upgrade, but atm at least I think this'll do me... When I can sell another P4 system I have (with the 8600 thats in this) I will be getting an 8800 or 4850 to put in... That should nearly double my framerates hopefully and then i'll have to wait until cpu prices come down as a Q6600 would have cost like 2/3rds of my budget lol...
Q6600, ATi 3870, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD....
*shuffles off*
lol, Dude I know u have a gd system (but this was a LOT cheaper )
I DID buy 4gb ram but due to the damn P31 chipset I cant run 4 DOUBLESIDED dimms so had to sell the other 2 to my granddad, and that wont be a big upgrade to have to do when I sell the ones that are in there...
As said, I couldent afford a Q6600 Atm...
I WILL be upgrading the GFX Soon when I get a buyer for this other system I have and my existing gfx crd.
And finally... I have 1.75TB in this so ner ner nerner ner!
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Domo - 08-15-2008 03:33 AM
HDD space is overrated. So is speed, for that matter.
The GPU is the CPU of tomorrow. Hell I'm considering my next build to have watercooling only for the GPU.
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - ῦ - 08-15-2008 04:43 AM
grr. 1.75TB?
I have 1.15, the 150gb coming from my c:\ drive; a 150gb Raptor drive @ 10k RPM.
and you know what most of that power gets used for? bloody folding@home.
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Walden - 08-15-2008 09:42 PM
I think that you must have done better than me. I just bought a new Dell - (arrived today) and I feel woefully inadequate now. I thought memoery was important! I would never be able to do what you did.
Q6600 core 2 Quad ...yadda yadda
4 GB memory
640GB hard drive, yadda yadda
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - ῦ - 08-15-2008 10:44 PM
hell, that's not bad. but....what GPU do you have?
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 02:03 AM
Lol yes, 3 500gb sata 2's (7200 hitachis) and a WD 7200 IDE 250gb
Space is important for me
lolI have another TB on my server... if I added ALL my hd's in laptops aswell i'd have 3.24TB LOL
Next UPG is GPU for sure, then PSU then RAM then thats me till a start all over again in a new case...
And Walden? You refering to me or Pika? Cause your system would beat this on multithreaded things due to your extra 2 cores......
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 02:05 AM
And I like your Raptor, would love one if it wasent for the cost, heat and shorter lifespan. (At least going on what ive heard)
I will prob. just raid two 250's in my next system in a raid 0, though i wont have as good access times...
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - ῦ - 08-16-2008 02:15 AM
Raptors are **** ace. I love 'em.
I want a Velociraptor, though. those are even faster.
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Walden - 08-16-2008 02:15 AM
me? GPU? What is a GPU? (I am woefully inadequate - computer savvy wise - perhaps not my new system) I thought I was chose well, but now am confused....
Q6600 (2.40ghz), DCT, 8MB mean
4 GB, 800 mhz-2x1GB/2x512MB, SPNH MT
640 GB SATA, 7200 RPM, No RAID
ATI RADeon HD3650 256MB, IDT
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - micgrace - 08-16-2008 02:16 AM
Must be pretty good. My son looked at the specs, sucked his breth in and let out a whistle. hes trying to figure out how to do some serious overclocking and the attendent heat disposal problem.
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - ῦ - 08-16-2008 02:19 AM
Hell, that's not a bad machine.
Same processor as me, same amount of RAM, (wait. (2*1)+1=3...), same series of GPU (Graphics Processor Unit) as me. 's not a bad machine, but I'm betting you paid a pretty penny for it...
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 03:06 AM
Are you talking to me or the quad core brigade?
My target was to get-as-much-bang-for-my-buck so yes its not bad at all... The bottle neck is GPU atm... (but can play most things easily at 1280x1024...) And will be the next upgrade... Then RAM and PSU.. I think that with a better PSU I could overclock higher.
As for the cooling... If your going air cooling the Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7 I brought is actually very good (and I got mine new for £12.50 which I am guessing is like $30 AU?) and very cheap... - I am running within Intel specs for temperature
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 03:08 AM
Same processor as me, same amount of RAM, (wait. (2*1)+1=3...), same series of GPU (Graphics Processor Unit) as me. 's not a bad machine, but I'm betting you paid a pretty penny for it...
Yes but what your missing is he is unlikely to be able to overclock since its OEM!
What have you clocked your Q6600 to Pika?
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 03:11 AM
And Joker whats your system?
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - ῦ - 08-16-2008 03:11 AM
haven't touched it.
Still using the stock cooler even, bit noisy but very efficient.
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 03:15 AM
Still using the stock cooler even, bit noisy but very efficient.
:-O
Have you not been tempted to??? The Q6600 (if you have a G0 stepping on) is a beast and should be good for 3ghz on that skock cooler and for £12.50 you could use the same cooler as me and go for 3.6! (and even make it run cooler last longer if you went for a conservative 3ghz! )
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - ῦ - 08-16-2008 03:17 AM
yup, I know, she overclocks like a dream, I did take her to 3.2, but took it back to 2.4; don't want to OC it yet, I really don't...need to. it runs SupCom, Gmod and ArmA like silk, so I don't need to atm.
also, what the hell does OEM have to do with it?
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 03:19 AM
Well what I mean is when its computer manufacturer OEM - i.e. he is still using that dell motherboard... it WILL not let him overclock...
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 03:20 AM
I overclocked mine because I thought 3.15ghz Core 2 Duo for under £43 was a good buy
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - ῦ - 08-16-2008 03:20 AM
oh, gotcha; yes, Dell make *** as *** motherboards...
still, at least they don't rivet the side of the case on any more, or actually take the AGP/PCI-E slots off the boards if you don't buy a card....
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 03:21 AM
Oh also what motherboard do u have>?
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - ῦ - 08-16-2008 03:21 AM
aye, twas; but the Q6600 can be had for £100 now.
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - ῦ - 08-16-2008 03:23 AM
my motherboard is a standard Intel one; nothing special, it's good but not amazing.
Will be replacing it when the Sexi and Octos come out.
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 03:27 AM
Coolies...
Again true, but £100 is like 2.32x as much
I will consider upgrading when quadcores get more essential... Plus my motherboard was only £40!!! and is actually damn good save the RAM limitation! It will take a quad but not sure on its OC ability with quad.
But then I am tempted to mait it out for a 45nm processor hmmmm
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 03:31 AM
The guy I was talking about that said I couldent build this has the following:
A QX6650 @ 4ghz, had a 3870x2 but just phoned me to say he installed his new 4870x2, 4gb of 1066 ram, fsb @ 1600...
Its fooking CRAZY excess money... especially for someone on only £13k
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - ῦ - 08-16-2008 03:32 AM
heh. if anyone has £509 knocking around and wants a new machine....Q6600, 4870, 2GB RAM, 1TB HDD, P5K Motherboard, 550W PSU, ThermalTake Soprano case. add in £58 for Vista Premium 64 if that floats your boat, and voila! VROOOM!
you could probably build it even cheaper now, those numbers are about a month out.
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 03:38 AM
Yeah its crazy cheap now days... search on the web foir the Basrgain Basement Blaster System... If you find it its the £300 machine challence. I found it after I had ordered my parts and its very soimilar to mine save they use an 8800GT or a 4850 and the WHOLE system is £300!
That £500 system is V good there man
If only I'd had that sorta money
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - ῦ - 08-16-2008 03:40 AM
A QX6650 @ 4ghz, had a 3870x2 but just phoned me to say he installed his new 4870x2, 4gb of 1066 ram, fsb @ 1600...
Its fooking CRAZY excess money... especially for someone on only £13k
*wheeze*
the guy is a fool!
there is no point getting anything above a Q6600, it's the sweet spot!
but...oooh, that's a nice rig...
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 03:53 AM
LMAO...
(and agreed)
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-16-2008 03:54 AM
And also lol@the fact the rig u just specced will do 2/3rds of that things performance when its overclocked aswell at £91 less then his CPU cost! :-O
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-17-2008 02:16 AM
WOOO HOO!!!!
I did it!!!
6511
!!! YAY !!!
(Tweaking to try for the 7000 now )
RE: Have I done alright??? (My new PC) - Rendeverance - 08-17-2008 11:41 PM
Ok, now, just for nobodies interest... lol
!!! 6920 !!!
Now thats my limit unfortunately no nice round 7000, gonna have to wait until new drivers
lol(Card clocks: 775mhz Core, 1800mhz Shaders, 2200mhz GDDR3)