I finally built a new system!
After the recent problems with my older Abit NF-7 system when I put in a 3850 GPU, I finally had enough. It's been a great PC for over 5-1/2 years, but it's time to upgrade!
:celebrate
So after about 4 hours on Newegg and Tiger Direct, and reading reviews here and elsewhere about the parts, I assembled a new computer.
Parts list:
Coolermaster Centurion 5 blue trim mid-tower case
OCZ GameXStream 700 watt power supply
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R motherboard
Intel C2D E7300 2.66 Ghz cpu
4 GB (2GB x 2) of Corsair XMS2 PC8500 RAM
Samsung DVD burner (SATA, to keep the IDE channel free for my 2nd hard drive)
Visiontek / Radeon 4870 graphics card
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 500 GB hard drive
Noctua NH-U9B cpu cooler
I'll add in my older 7200.10 250 GB Seagate hard drive as a secondary, it'll use the IDE channel.
And it's getting XP Home loaded up right now!
I'm making a 30 GB operating system partition on the 500 GB hard drive. I was thinking of trying the Windows 7 64 bit beta on it, but I think finding drivers would be tough.
I'd like to OC the cpu to around 2.8 to 3.0 . Nothing huge, just warm it up a little.
:celebrate
So after about 4 hours on Newegg and Tiger Direct, and reading reviews here and elsewhere about the parts, I assembled a new computer.
Parts list:
Coolermaster Centurion 5 blue trim mid-tower case
OCZ GameXStream 700 watt power supply
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R motherboard
Intel C2D E7300 2.66 Ghz cpu
4 GB (2GB x 2) of Corsair XMS2 PC8500 RAM
Samsung DVD burner (SATA, to keep the IDE channel free for my 2nd hard drive)
Visiontek / Radeon 4870 graphics card
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 500 GB hard drive
Noctua NH-U9B cpu cooler
I'll add in my older 7200.10 250 GB Seagate hard drive as a secondary, it'll use the IDE channel.
And it's getting XP Home loaded up right now!
I'm making a 30 GB operating system partition on the 500 GB hard drive. I was thinking of trying the Windows 7 64 bit beta on it, but I think finding drivers would be tough.
I'd like to OC the cpu to around 2.8 to 3.0 . Nothing huge, just warm it up a little.
0
Comments
3DMark05:
16243 3d marks
8829 cpu marks
3DMark06:
11497 3dmarks
sm 2.0 5100
sm 3.0 6039
cpu 2314
A lot better than the old computer!
Only real quirk so far is that the screen will just turn black all over now and then. It'll blink to black and return to what I was looking at seemingly at random. It happens in WoW, while on the internet, even when nothing is being done.
I think it's a driver issue, I started with the 4870's 8.6 driver CD, then went to the 8.12 drivers, now I'm on the 8.10's with no differences.
I read somewhere it's a hardware issue, some monitors are not on the approved compatibility list or some BS like that. Mine is a Syncmaster 204B.
I was looking in the ATI CCC wizard for the 4870, and saw it idling at 76* C when doing nothing! The fan was set to run at 18% speed from the factory!
I turned it up to 33% and the temps dropped to around 52* C. When playing WoW, I'd alt-tab out and see temps in the mid 50's. I tried it at higher speeds but they didn't show much temperature drop, and at anything over 33% the fan starts to get louder.