Future Upgrade Advice

jcb33 said:
Will the Artic Cooler be good enough to still hit around the 4.5ghz mark safely? It seems to get lowish reviews.

Also could I not mount the Radiator to the side panel?

Thanks.
Jcb33.
Click to expand...


It will do 4.5ghz, it gets lower reviews because its physically smaller so its cooling capacity is less than a cooler that uses a 120mm fan.

And then how do you get the side panel on and off easily? theres nothing to disconnect to separate the radiator from the CPU head and the tubes are not that long in length.
 
stulid said:
It will do 4.5ghz, it gets lower reviews because its physically smaller so its cooling capacity is less than a cooler that uses a 120mm fan.

And then how do you get the side panel on and off easily? theres nothing to disconnect to separate the radiator from the CPU head and the tubes are not that long in length.
Click to expand...

True, it could well cause more problems than its worth.... Especially if I forget and try to take the side off in a hurry.

I guess the Artic Cooler it is then!

Just have to hope there is enough room for the graphics card before it hits the HDD bays and I am away!

Thanks again :D
Jcb33.
 
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just throwing another option, how about holding off the cooler, then buying a new case+cooler when funds allow?
the stock intel cooler should handle a mild overclock, around 3.6-3.8GHz
 
jcb33 said:
True, it could well cause more problems than its worth.... Especially if I forget and try to take the side off in a hurry.

I guess the Artic Cooler it is then!

Just have to hope there is enough room for the graphics card before it hits the HDD bays and I am away!

Thanks again :D
Jcb33.
Click to expand...

The card is 26.2 cm long and the power inputs are on the side.

So list the parts you will buy and I will check its the best for the money and all fits etc.
 
Thanks for all this help stulid! Last thing I am unsure about is Hard Drives, I currently have 2x 300gb SATA drives, which I am guessing, being 5+ years old would be a good idea to replace?

I was thinking of getting a 2TB WD for storage/program installs, but I don't know that I will ever be able to fill it. So not sure what to do size wise, or which drives perform the best, been as most dont even seem to have an RPM anymore.

I would idealy like 1 drive for Windows, 1 drive for storage (My documents etc) and 1 drive for programs, so that when it comes to formating It is easy. Is this a good setup or would I be better of just having 1 for Windows/Programs and 1 for storage?

Next, although I have already asked it is it worth getting an SSD? The Crucial M4 64GB has been suggested, so that I can run Windows, AV, FW etc from it, but it does put me a fair bit over budget, so is it worth paying the extra?

Thanks again,
Jcb33.
 
stulid said:
Get a F3 1TB now - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA

Use it to run the OS etc, use the 2X300GB as storage( you can set up a JBOD Raid that adds the capacities together under a single D: location) and get a SSD later.
Click to expand...

Will the 2x 300gb drives still be reliable for my data with them being 5 years old? Or is that the reason for running them in RAID? (Don't fully understand how RAID works).

Also would it be best to keep programs on a seperate drive to Windows, or just have both on the same drive?

Final question, is the F3 better than the Green WD drive? As the 2TB drive http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-327-WD is not much more expensive.

Thanks again!
Jcb33.
 
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Use the REALLY fast F3 to run the operating system and games/programs.


Use the two 300GB as general storage.
You can setup a few types of RAID, but the best two for you are,

JBOD (just a bunch of disks)

JBOD

JBOD, meaning "Just a Bunch Of Drives" is used to refer to two distinct concepts:
all disks being independently addressed, with no collective properties – each physical disk, with all the logical partitions each may contain, being mapped to a different logical volume: just a bunch of disks.
concatenation, where all the physical disks are concatenated and presented as a single disk.
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-RAID_drive_architectures

OR,

RAID1
RAID 1

Diagram of a RAID 1 setup

A RAID 1 creates an exact copy (or mirror) of a set of data on two or more disks. This is useful when read performance or reliability is more important than data storage capacity. Such an array can only be as big as the smallest member disk. A classic RAID 1 mirrored pair contains two disks (see diagram), which increases reliability geometrically over a single disk. Since each member contains a complete copy of the data, and can be addressed independently, ordinary wear-and-tear reliability is raised by the power of the number of self-contained copies.
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels
 
Ok that makes sense then, the only thing I see people saying with the F3 is that they are quite loud?

As for RAID, athough JBOD makes sense for maximum storage, I think just due to the age of the drives I would be better off using RAID1? Or should they be ok? Just worried with them being over 5 years old now.

Also last question before I post the spec check, will the Artic Cooler allow the Corsair Vengeance Blue to fit? As I know the A50 did not.

Thanks,
Jcb33.
 
Right here goes, this is the spec I am thinking of getting:

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail [BX80623I52500K] £169.99
XFX ATI Radeon HD 6870 Black Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Dirt3 & Shogun 2 PC Games [HD-687A-ZNBC] £131.99
Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £131.99
2x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) (£59.99) £119.98
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) [HD103SJ] £44.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 High Performance CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/939/AM2/AM2+) £22.99

Total: £623.92

I can push the budget a bit higher but don't want to spend to much more.

Taking into account I will be reusing:
Case: Cooler Master Praetorian 732
PSU: Enermax Noisetaker EG701AX-VE(W) 600W

Will I need anything else such as PSU Adapter so that I have all the required connections?

Thanks,
Jcb33. :D
 
Does the PSU have,

24pin ATX
8pin ATX
2 X 6pin PCI-E (maybe 6+2pin also)
SATA power for harddrive/dvd rive
some 4pin MOLEX for drives (old dvd drive?)
 
stulid said:
Does the PSU have,

24pin ATX
8pin ATX
2 X 6pin PCI-E (maybe 6+2pin also)
SATA power for harddrive/dvd rive
some 4pin MOLEX for drives (old dvd drive?)
Click to expand...

It has:

20+4 Pins Main Power: 1
P4 +12V CPU: 1
6 Pins PCI Exrpess: 1
Serial ATA: 4
HDD Power: 7
FDD Power: 2
Fan Monitor: 1

Jcb33.
 
stulid said:
So its just 4pins? its not 4+4pins? or - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-063-AK&groupid=1929&catid=153&subcat=


You want this for the 6870 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-033-OK - as it must have 2 6pins in it.
Click to expand...

Infact just taken the side off, there are 2x 6 Pin PCI-E plugs, but for some reason (This was a pre-built system) whoever put it together has ignored them and used one of the 2x 4-Pin to 6-Pin adapters to power the Graphics card... Seems a bit strange to me?

Also the 12V Connector, is that what needs to be 8pin? As again the PSU has an 8-pin connector, which then has a converter to a 4-Pin connector which is connected to the 12V socket of my motherboard.

Thanks,
Jcb33.
 
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Sounds weird?

But thats good news, you dont need any extra stuff.

Also the 12V Connector, is that what needs to be 8pin?
Click to expand...

Yes, it goes into the motherboard up near the CPU.
 
stulid said:
Sounds weird?

But thats good news, you dont need any extra stuff.



Yes, it goes into the motherboard up near the CPU.
Click to expand...

It is a bit strange... I hope theres not a reason for them ignoring the 6-pins, maybe just because it was one of the first PCI-E systems...

Also seems strange that I have an 8-Pin connector because the motherboard specs say it only has a 4-Pin. But there is an 8-Pin connector convereted to a 4-Pin and connected to the 12V socket near my CPU so...

Jcb33.
 
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It could be that the current card in your pc came with the adapter (many do) and the guy building it thought he "MUST" use it?

Older motherboards did use to be a 4pin only, but times and power usage etc change and 8pins are whats used now.
 
stulid said:
It could be that the current card in your pc came with the adapter (many do) and the guy building it thought he "MUST" use it?

Older motherboards did use to be a 4pin only, but times and power usage etc change and 8pins are whats used now.
Click to expand...

I have found a website saying:

It has to be noted, however, that this PCI-e connector carries only 12V and ground lines; inexpensive adapters to convert two standard 4-pin Molex power connectors into a PCI-e connector are already available.
Click to expand...

Don't know if thats normal?

Jcb33.
 
Dont worry about it. you have the right connectors.

That quote will be for PSU's that only have a single 6pin PCI-e and someone is using a card that needs two, so its just saying you can use an adapter without issue.
 
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