New Build, need advice please.

beejjacobs said:
Hono!? :O What an honour it is to call you that! aha

Still, it's a good GPU even at stock, so of course its even better overclocked :P

What did you decide in the end, Steve Foster?
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Oh you have no idea lol .....plus think of it as a way to preserve the life of your keys ;)

I think when we OC the 460 SOC ourselves (850-900mhz) it has to be close to 6870 spec. So......

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290?vs=293

We are getting 6870 performance for £111 from the SOC. Ok your getting less FPS but you have enough cash to get a SSD. Change the search to 6870 CF to see the approx grunt if you SLI the 460s ;)

Can't blame steve for mulling it ALL over for a while.
 
Going to be getting the card this week. Even though 1 460 is better than my current 5770 (which plays most games surprising good on max settings) and 2 of them in SLI would be better than the 6950 unlocked; I'm put off by some games not supporting plus the increased temperatures.

A bonus for me is the 6950 is now £220 so it's dropped a tenner :)

I'll be playing games like I do now on it, MMO's like SWTOR, indie games and all the way through AAA titles. A quick look at my Steam games shows what I currently have/been playing with this card and the only game it's really struggled on with max settings is AvP:

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Preykousis/games?tab=all

These are a few videos I recorded with FRAPS on this 5770 to gauge quality on it, even though I'm recording to the same drive it's running from, I was impressed with Metro myself at the time:

1. Crysis
2. Just Cause 2
3. Metro 2033

I just want this upgrade so I have piece of mind and at least I'll be able to record footage better as well :)
 
honosuseri said:
Oh you have no idea lol .....plus think of it as a way to preserve the life of your keys ;)

I think when we OC the 460 SOC ourselves (850-900mhz) it has to be close to 6870 spec. So......

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290?vs=293

We are getting 6870 performance for £111 from the SOC. Ok your getting less FPS but you have enough cash to get a SSD. Change the search to 6870 CF to see the approx grunt if you SLI the 460s ;)

Can't blame steve for mulling it ALL over for a while.
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If I ended up getting the 460, I would get 2 not one. I'm trying to think for the future. I won't be upgrading again for about 2-3 years so I want it to be fine for that amount of time. either way, 2 nvidia or 1 ati cost the same while the 460's do offer better quality. By the time I choose to upgrade again, whatever card(s) I'd have in would be sold altogether, maybe for a 8xxx or 9xxx series when they release ;)

So you're also saying those 460's at £112 right now would be similar performance to this:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/301?vs=292

If you guys think 2 460's will do me fine then I'll grab them. I know it boils down to me at the end of the day but I want a fresh system I can enjoy for a few years :)
 
The 6950 is a great card, and there's no reason you can't add another one of those at a later date too :) It really is up to you - personally I prefer to get the best single card I can.

I think Hono was just trying to make sure you know that it was an option to get the 2 460s :)
 
beejjacobs said:
The 6950 is a great card, and there's no reason you can't add another one of those at a later date too :) It really is up to you - personally I prefer to get the best single card I can.

I think Hono was just trying to make sure you know that it was an option to get the 2 460s :)
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Just pointing out all the options. I know i've waffled but I'd rather the OP made an informed decision. I hope i've helped more than I've confused.

You did say you were paying £100 more than want you wanted. So just wanted to show you could get a GPU for less and still have a capable machine but not be limited on upgrade solutions.

You can see the SLI performance of the 460s. It will be generating more heat and using more juice if you OC it, plus with a second card that's producing more heat aswell. So case air flow will be important.

Personally as i said i would have just gone with a single card to start (460 & SSD). SLI is more "faff" but 2 460s would give you excellent performance, cuda support and nvidias take on 3 screen gaming (SLI is required for that). All this does make it a tempting option or indeed an upgrade solution.

If you are just gaming and not bothered by cuda support, a single 6950 is still a good card and you are safe in the knowledge that you can add another one of those at any point too.....plus it's less "faff".

My prefered order if you are interested is (1.) 460 & SSD (SLI upgrade option and better "all rounder") (2.) 560ti 2GB (if you want cuda) or 2gb 6950 and finally (3.) 460s bought together for SLI

Really looking forward to seeing how this goes. Would be great to see some pics as you progress through the build :)
 
beejjacobs said:
One other thing, is this SATA? New motherboards don't have IDE connections on them, worth checking.
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I've decided to go for the 6950 and unlock it to a 70. That means I can't get an SSD straight off the bat but can do soon after. Not sure my current HDD is, was in this system when I bought it in 2010, the code is:

"ST350041 8AS SCSI Disk Device"

If that helps you at all, not sure if that's SATA or not...

EDIT: It seems that is coming up as a Seagate drive in Google but I can't see if it's SATA...
 
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I was interested in your question so had a quick look around, the info I found on a few sites was that the ST350041 8AS SCSI Disk Device 500 GB, 7200 RPM was SATA-II.

So if the above is the exact drive you have then chances are it is.
 
Steve Foster said:
Bump? Anyone know if that's a SATA hard drive?
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Does the data cable going from the motherboard to the drive look like this?
Sata_Cable.gif
 
spain said:
I was interested in your question so had a quick look around, the info I found on a few sites was that the ST350041 8AS SCSI Disk Device 500 GB, 7200 RPM was SATA-II.

So if the above is the exact drive you have then chances are it is.
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It says 450GB on the computer tab but I guess 50GB is taken up by the system.

stulid said:
Does the data cable going from the motherboard to the drive look like this?
Sata_Cable.gif
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I'll open it up ad have a look now.
 
Opened it up an hour ago and it is indeed a Seagate Barracuda 7200 .12 500GB HDD and it had these cables connected, no need for a pic but:



Obviously SATA :)

Now one thing this did is make me want to do this build myself. I was going to get a friend or an expert to do it but that would cost money. I am technically qualified for this since I trained in college for it a few years back. But one thing that scared me is destroying some equipment be accident, mainly, the motherboard. One friend said they're very easy to break...
 
Patience is the key Steve. There are plenty of guides both here on the forum and Youtube. Obviously we are here to help too ;)

In my opinion it's fitting the CPU and heatsink which is the most nerve racking moment for a "noob".

People who break mobos are either bolting it down to the chassis without standoffs, or using a metal screwdriver and accidently "stabbing" the mobo when fiddling with heatsinks or just dropping the heavy screwdriver on the mobo.

If you seat the RAM and CPU and heatsink before you mount it in the case life is much easier. Watch some vids and you'll build in confidence, any more questions feel free to ask....i hope my waffling is proving helpful lol
 
I really want to build it myself, I can remember the basics but a friend really worried me about the motherboard, he put this:

yeah best to get it done in a shopt if your doing a mobo.. there aresey ****s.. ive blown so many in my time lmao.. use the wrong screws. or screw them too tight etc etc and they just **** up.. best to have it done in a store so they hold responsability haha. The GFC card and the PSU just slot in like. but the mobo's are dick heads.
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That's what worried me. How easy are mobo's to break? Brings a few things back, do the parts come with the screws and necessary cables? Also, do I need any special screwdrivers (guessing you want to be using handheld not electric for sure).

I remember using static gloves/wristbands back in college as well as mats, I know the gloves and bands are cheap. I left the power supply in but switched off when I opened this up earlier so I could ground myself easily.
 
Steve Foster said:
I really want to build it myself, I can remember the basics but a friend really worried me about the motherboard, he put this:



That's what worried me. How easy are mobo's to break? Brings a few things back, do the parts come with the screws and necessary cables? Also, do I need any special screwdrivers (guessing you want to be using handheld not electric for sure).

I remember using static gloves/wristbands back in college as well as mats, I know the gloves and bands are cheap. I left the power supply in but switched off when I opened this up earlier so I could ground myself easily.
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With all due respect it sounds like your friend is a "Ham fisted monkey". You have to remember that there is always a small chance that you will be sent out a faulty board or one that is DOA. That doesn't mean you killed it, unless you know yourself you did something stupid.

I just have a small magnetic screwdriver which takes the plugin bits. You will only need a philips head really but I open xbox's etc so need torx bits and the like. The magnetic bit helps hold the screws in place on the screwdriver and recovering any screws that do try making an escape ;)
 
Steve Foster said:
I have a torx screwdriver cos I've opened up an Xbox 360 before (the white ones).

So do all the parts come with the components that I buy? I won't need to buy any extra screws or anything.

Was looking as well for some extras, but are these needed?

1. Anti Static ESD Safe Gloves
2. Anti-Static Wrist Strap Grounding Wrist Strap
3. Anti Static Mat + cord esd
4. PC Tool kits

Would I need any of those or would I be fine?
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Everything you need bar the screwdriver will come in the box. Only exception to this is buying B grade items, they are cheaper as they may miss the driver CD or cables etc etc.

I've never used a wrist strap ever. You can ground yourself on the case, you'll be touching it plenty throughout the build.

The underneath of mousemats are anti-static. If you were to buy an anti static work surface, you might as well look at the gaming surfaces/mousemats.......you can have a funky design on your table when you are using your rig and flip it over when you want to use it for a building surface.

Personally I just use the box the mobo came in lol
 
Just read this also:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18046396

Now I feel much more confident to do this. I might just buy that first tool kit and mat for £25 as I'd rather place the mobo on that rather than the box or bag is comes with. The tool kit will come into use eventually.

Only thing that slightly worried me was the the thermal paste as I've never used it, but it seems easy enough. I guess it only starts to get complicated when you add radiators and water cooling :)
 
Steve Foster said:
Just read this also:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18046396

Now I feel much more confident to do this. I might just buy that first tool kit and mat for £25 as I'd rather place the mobo on that rather than the box or bag is comes with. The tool kit will come into use eventually.

Only thing that slightly worried me was the the thermal paste as I've never used it, but it seems easy enough. I guess it only starts to get complicated when you add radiators and water cooling :)
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Fair enough! BTW, don't put anything on the "anti-static" bags they come in, as the outside is conducting I believe. Sounds like you're gunna be super safe anyway, just letting you know for future reference :)

Yeah, thermal paste is easy enough. A pea sized amount in the middle and let the cooler spread it is usually the best way I find!
 
Yeah, the thread said cut open the bags if needed and use the insides but I'd say it's worth a tenner for a mat for piece of mind.
 
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