Question regarding compatibility

groovesection · 18 Jan 2011 at 22:07

I have just ordered
Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Triple Channel (CMX6GX3M3A1600C9)

AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 445 3.10GHz (Socket AM3)

Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-US2H 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard

I have a standard PSU 450w with 24 pin atx and 4 pin 12v

will this be good enough for the mb/set up?

I am only running a 500gb SATA internal & 80gb SATA internal (PVR Recording drive) and a IDE DVD drive & a USB WD 1TB drive

No overclocking whatsoever. all stock speed. currently using a K9 Neo with 3gb of 800mhz of Kingston RAM (GTS 240 1gb DDR5 version) and a Atholon X2 5200+ @ 2.7ghz stock (lololol)

*EDIT*
also running Win7 Ultimate 64bit

TIA for any feedback

(oh and how hard is it to register here? keeping the spambots at bay lol)

stulid · 18 Jan 2011 at 22:07

yes.

If you add a graphics card later, then think about getting a named model psu.

groovesection · 18 Jan 2011 at 22:20

Thank you for your reply stulid

I assumed the GTS240 (being lightweight and not requiring any extra power) would not be too much of a strain, but figured it was better to ask

Regarding the 8 pin 12v connection on the MB
is it like the previous atx standard in that only a 4 pin connection is made?

Sorry to appear clueless, i am way out of touch with hardware these days!

Blue160 · 18 Jan 2011 at 22:23

You seem to have ordered a triple channel memory kit for a dual channel motherboard.......

You only need two sticks for that build.

groovesection · 18 Jan 2011 at 22:37

Does that make a difference? I am running 64bit Win7 and i do some video editing via 720p 50fps from my HMX 200camcorder.
I also cap for thebox

so do a fair bit of encoding to XviD from mpeg2

*Thank you for your reply*
Much appreciated

Blue160 · 18 Jan 2011 at 23:07

A dual channel system runs best with equal amounts of RAM in each channel. With 4GB in one and 2GB in the other you will take a performance hit. Run two or four identical sticks for best performance.

groovesection · 19 Jan 2011 at 09:13

Cheers mate,
Just phoned up and changed to a dual channel kit, saved me £22 too

Blue160 · 19 Jan 2011 at 10:10

Good stuff.

If you find you need more RAM for your video editing, drop another 4GB kit into the spare slots. The best thing you could do for encoding and editing speed though us save up for a 6 core Thuban processor at some point in the future.

groovesection · 19 Jan 2011 at 11:30

Blue160 said:
Good stuff.

If you find you need more RAM for your video editing, drop another 4GB kit into the spare slots. The best thing you could do for encoding and editing speed though us save up for a 6 core Thuban processor at some point in the future.

I wanted to go i7 but could not justify the price, lol

so figured i would get a cheap AMD for now and then when the Thurban`s come down in price simply sling it in this set up.

I have another question....

I have been doing some research and am finding differing views regarding the 4+4 12v connection on the motherboard.
Some say my standard PSU with 4pin 12v cpu power will be fine, but others state there will not be enough watts for the cpu

can anyone confirm this please? I would rather not spend another £60 to get a new psu

full spec.
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel
AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 445 3.10GHz (Socket AM3)
Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-US2H 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
GT 240
Hauppauge HVR 1100 PCI
500gb internal sata
80gb internal sata
1tb external usb
DVD writer

psu is a generic 450w

Blue160 · 19 Jan 2011 at 11:37

4 pin is fine for an X3. I've built office machines like that and its never been a problem.

It's never worth skimping on the PSU though. If they fail they can take other components with them. Usually motherboards and hard drives. Cheap generic ones don't always produce the numbers on the sticker and should be treated with caution.

groovesection · 19 Jan 2011 at 11:42

Thanks for the advice, think i will bite the bullet and purchase a branded one.

Do you have any suggestions please? (on my above spec)

Blue160 · 19 Jan 2011 at 11:54

Corsair CX430 looks like a good bet from this site.

groovesection · 19 Jan 2011 at 13:38

Cheers for the input, I will have to wait till after the weekend as my CC is pretty much maxed out till i pay this months bill.

I am so out of touch with Hardware these days, i used to be into overclocking but rarely bother any more,
Best one i ever had was a socket A Atholon 2400+ running at 200 FSB X 12 = 2.4ghz (stock was 166 X 11 = 1.8ghz)
on a GA-7N400 Pro with 2 X 512mb CHEAP Kingston Modules
Ran that system for nearly 2 years before the chip finally went faulty

Evil-I · 19 Jan 2011 at 13:58

If you're doing video based stuff (PVR, editing etc) I'm guessing you're installing your OS and software on the 80Gb drive and using the 500Gb for data? If not, worth considering doing it this way. Always best to keep any high quality video content off the OS drive if possible, as with all the system stuff going on in the background on your OS drive it can cause stuttering playback or failed captures etc. Also be careful with your external drive, I'm often disappointed with the performance of USB external hard drives, best using e-sata if possible, USB is great as a backup drive, but I've had issues using it for capturing video etc.

Evil-I · 19 Jan 2011 at 14:02

Oh and definately get a replacement named PSU. I've got one of the corsair CX430 mentioned previously in one of our media centres. Seems to be good, nice and quiet at least (only had it about 6 months and don't give rave reviews on PSUs until they've been running for 5 years)

E-I

groovesection · 19 Jan 2011 at 16:46

Evil-I said:
If you're doing video based stuff (PVR, editing etc) I'm guessing you're installing your OS and software on the 80Gb drive and using the 500Gb for data? If not, worth considering doing it this way. Always best to keep any high quality video content off the OS drive if possible, as with all the system stuff going on in the background on your OS drive it can cause stuttering playback or failed captures etc. Also be careful with your external drive, I'm often disappointed with the performance of USB external hard drives, best using e-sata if possible, USB is great as a backup drive, but I've had issues using it for capturing video etc.

Thanks Evil-I
I am currently using the 500GB SATA as my OS drive (partitioned to 100gb for C & the rest for D)
This is a SATA II drive (purchased from OCUK)

The 80gb drive is a SATA I and is used exclusively for HVR recording,

The external WD 1TB is used for storage only (music/videos etc)

I have never had any trouble with my HVR recordings, I get a strong FV signal and the HVR 1100 is a solid TV Card for its price (PCI not USB)

I did used to get failed recordings under XP, but since i upgraded to Win7 Ultimate 64bit i have not had any recordings fail, I do however get the odd crash in the application
(but my PC is on 24/7 and i only reboot every few days) lol