New PC

VirusType2

VirusType2

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OK, I spent many hours researching everything and I finally ordered my parts.

CPU:
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor


Benchmark and Review

Intel's Turbo Mode feature:
Code: 
	 4 Cores Active 3 Cores Active 	2 Cores Active 	1 Core Active
i5 750      2.80GHz 	2.80GHz 	3.20GHz 	3.20GHz
Lynnfield power consumption is just excellent, these are the most power efficient quad-core CPUs we've ever tested. They use less power at idle than similarly clocked dual-core processors and under load they deliver better performance per watt than any of their closest competitors.
Click to expand...
The Core i5 750 is a great processor at $196, in fact, it's the best quad-core CPU you can buy at that price today.
Click to expand...


Motherboard:
MSI P55-CD53 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX

One of the biggest changes with the P55 Express chipset is what it doesn't do. While traditionally Intel chipsets have used the northbridge to control memory (including last generation's Intel P45 Express), that job now falls to the Core i5 and Core i7 processors and on-die memory controllers. The shift makes for some big improvements in memory performance
Click to expand...


RAM:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM (1.5 volts - thanks Asus for the tip)

This RAM is way too ugly for pictures, but the performance is great, and I got it for half price.


Arctic Silver MTX-2.5G Matrix Thixotropic Premium Thermal Compound

New improved thermal paste. Why not?


Putting everything into an Antec 900 [Version1] ATX case


I'm upgrading from a CeleronD processor and 1GB of RAM, so I'm sure I'll be very happy with the performance. Total cost for CPU, RAM, and Motherboard was about $360.

Going from XP Pro (32bit) to Windows 7 Ultimate (64 Bit)
 
Dem flashy blue lights, man. I went with AMD for my new PC, just want to see how they are.
 
Heh. I don't like the lights... at all. The only thing they are good for is showing that the fans are still spinning at a glance. They do match the rest of my electronics though.

One day I'll replace the fans with some really quiet non-lit ones. I've got quite a bit of use out of these ones so far at least.

At first I wasn't hyped about this build or nothin', but the hype is steadily building. I might even consider this excitement.

I kinda feel I made mistakes on the RAM and Motherboard, but whatever. I saved probably $80 and the features I would likely never use. Put that $80 towards something else.

I'm looking forward to trying Windows 7 too. Other than a couple of screenshots, I've never even seen it, and I'm really sick of some of XP's shit.
 
I am very very excited for my case to come so I can finally finalize this build. I'll actually be able to play newer vidya games. Makes me want to pick up one of those soccer games Glenn plays so much of.

Probably going to pick up a bigger hard drive and Win7 this christmas.
 
Ooops.

I made an accounting error. I bounced the payment for this (and some other stuff I ordered with it). Luckily, I've got $300 overdraft protection; my bank honored the charge, and I deposited another paycheck 2 days later. So all is okay, I suppose. But, they haven't shipped it yet.

I hope there won't be a problem with my order. I'm worried that the Black Friday/holiday shopping rush will delay shipment or cause a screw up. Some of the items I ordered are now out of stock. Hopefully, I'll get what I ordered.
 
G.Skill isn't a bad choice for RAM. At least in my experience. Great great great value.
 
VirusType2 said:
I hope there won't be a problem with my order. I'm worried that the Black Friday/holiday shopping rush will delay shipment or cause a screw up. Some of the items I ordered are now out of stock. Hopefully, I'll get what I ordered.
Click to expand...

When I ordered my case on friday it took six hours just to process the payment for the order.
 
Another +1 for great experiences with G. Skill... I've got 8GB in my work PC and another 2 GB in my HTPC.
 
Acepilotf14 said:
When I ordered my case on friday it took six hours just to process the payment for the order.
Click to expand...

That's nothing bro, I ordered Friday at 2:30 AM, and they just now finished processing my order today (Monday) at noon. (my other order was processed instantly)

In the mean time, I emailed them twice, could not get the live chat to work, called them on the phone, to which I waited 45 ****ING MINUTES on hold, no exaggeration. Maybe there was only one guy answering all of the calls on the busiest day of the year.

All that to find out that it takes longer for fraud checks when you have a big order. (or something like that) Maybe because it was my first time using this card there.

Anyway, the stuff is shipped, and now my worries shall shift and focus on shipping damages. I just feel something is going to go terribly wrong before I get this thing set up.
 
errr

I got my stuff

The Processor box says "Graphics Card Required". Well, I knew I couldn't use Windows 7 with nothing, but will my 128MB PCI card work for now? It's a GeForce FX 5200.
 
I don't see why not if your mobo has a PCI slot, which most do. Don't expect very good performance though.
 
just for win. not for games. ya, thought so.

other thing - so i install the card before first boot??


also, i cant find stock voltage value for i5 750. i think mobo bios should know default, but i'm not sure
 
I think the default is 1.25V although all the screenshots I've seen shows 1.208v. Maybe undervolted by power savings.

Put the card in and the install Win7. It will probably use a default driver during OS install until you get to the desktop where you can install the proper Nvidia driver.
 
Got the CPU and HS on. Ill put it in the case tomorrow though.

I couldn't test my Win7_64bit.iso to make sure it works because: still using the 32 bit processor. lol

I'm going to stay with my XP install until the new computer is up and running. I've heard the [much welcome] Bios update installer [for this first revision 1.0, brand new board] requires 32 bit anyway :rolleyes:
 
I got the computer up and running. I'm on my laptop right now. I can't get my wireless drivers to work on WIndows 7 64bit

I also installed XP pro 32. I had to do a clean install in order to create a partition with it. I can't get the ****ing wireless to work though.
I'm missing my "wireless connection 5" or whatever. The whole option isn't even there. So I don't know, this is some bullshit.

I guess I hvae to buy a new wireless adapter and router for Windows 7, and I won't have money until like 2013.

SO, xp for me. I just have to figure out how to connect to the internet.


This is the part where you can help me connect in XP or recommend a really cheap wireless adapter that is on a long wire so that I can move it around. THere is exactly 1 inch where the adapter can sit where it can connect.

THis was probably a bad idea, and this keyboard sucsk, btw.


EDIT: As you can tell, I"m kinda stressed out about everything. Windows 7 is ****ing awesome. I found some forceware Vista 64 bit drivers for my crap old video card. Aero runs but not well. Can't really use it. I'm looking forward to a better video card.

seems that I've got everything working despite old drivers, like for my monitor. The only thing that isn't working is ... I HAVE NO INTERNETS
 
I think I have found the solution to my problem with my wireless USB adapter: XP Mode.
* The ability to use many of your USB devices from within a virtual Windows environment, such as Windows XP Mode.
* Seamless launching of Windows XP applications from your Windows 7 desktop, Start Menu, or Taskbar.
* Clipboard sharing, which enables you to cut, copy, and paste data between the host Windows 7 desktop and the virtual machine.
* Printer sharing between the Windows 7 desktop and the virtual Windows environment.
* Drive sharing, which provides easy access to all host data from within the virtual machine.
* Folder integration between operating environments
Click to expand...

GET:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

what does the 'N' denote I wonder?

English N
or
English

Since I don't know what it is, I'm going to assume I don't want it. Hopefully this works.


More information on XP mode:
http://www.petri.co.il/installing-windows-xpm-on-windows-7.htm
 
Got my stuff. I also bought an 8 foot antenna wire, so that I can screw the antenna onto it, and position my antenna better.

Driver installed perfectly on my Windows 7 64 bit and my Windows 32 bit. However, the signal was too weak and I couldn't maintain a connection, even with the extended antenna.

With some aluminum foil, some transparent tape, a colander (large bowl) I made a quick 'satellite dish', and used several boxes to stack the stuff on. Now I am finally able to stay connected and able to update the computer. The best I can get is 1-2 bars wireless signal, about the same as my Motorola USB dongle, maybe a little less. It wants to fade out sometimes (data stops transferring for several moments sometimes, but maybe I can position the router better.

This is an N card, so I assume upgrading from a G to N type router would help a lot. Add that to the list of future upgrades of shit I don't really want to spend money on; shit I didn't need before.

Lots of disappointment, but I cheered and got excited when I began to obtain that elusive second bar.
 
I'm confused. You bought a quad-core processor, and 4 gigs of Ram, but you're still using a 128mb graphics card?
 
Well, I wasn't using a card at all before (on-board actually).

It was free, and it's all I've got; I'm broke. I'll be sticking with Windows XP until I get one.

I'm going to see if I can save up and get a monster, the brand new GTX 280, since I only have one PCIe 16x 2.0 slot. (but whatever, I usually go for the best bang for the buck)
 
You can get so much for so goddamn little these days. My current build costs probably $800 now, at most. I spent $2000+ on it overall a couple years back (q6600, 8800gts[512 rev] and 4gb DDR2 + Asus P5E). Next time I build a new machine I'm capping myself at about $1000 and giving my old computer to my folks.

Very nice build, by the way, VT2. Loving the low power yields and die(sp?) sizes, 32nm is going to be, quite simply, insane. Do yourself a favor and grab a graphics card with at least 512gddr2, though, mid-range cards have come quite far down in price. Talking below $150USD for something that can eat up Crysis on high no problem.
 
Yeah, I can't wait to get a graphics card, but I'll need a new PSU with it probably. I'm using an Antec 500w SmartPower2.0 that I bought a few years ago.

Looking forward to getting a big widescreen LCD too.

This CPU is tight though. The air coming out of the back of the case is actually cold - cooler than the air going in the front, even. Weird, but great.
 
Cold even under load? That is a bit odd, and maybe symptomatic...

In terms of PSU, it's probably the most overlooked component when people build... I personally have gone with PC Power&Cooling last two builds and they've been rock solid, absolutely no problems and come with a damn card proving they've been stress tested thoroughly. Go with 750+watts and a reliable brand.
 
Nah, it was idle. It's a pretty good CPU. I haven't really done anything that can bring even 1 core over like 3% unless I'm unpacking a zip. I'll see how cool it is next time I unpack a huge archive.


Right now, I'm using a really old HDD - my slowest HDD - for the OS because it was the only one that I could spare. I am eager to clear off one of my newest HDDs. That's going to really help.
 
VirusType2 said:
I'm going to see if I can save up and get a monster, the brand new GTX 280, since I only have one PCIe 16x 2.0 slot. (but whatever, I usually go for the best bang for the buck)
Click to expand...

Right now, the GTX280 is really not brand new. A monster? Yes. But by the time you save up the money the ATI 5xxx series should come down in price.
 
I haven't been keeping up with things. Yeah, I think I saw like a GTX 270 for about $140. And the 280 for about $320 ( the launch price was like 600), so yeah, I guess it's not new, sorry.
 
I guess I'll put this here.
Thank you for shopping at Newegg!

We thought you'd like to know that your recent purchase contains one or more items currently nominated for Newegg's Customer Choice Awards:

Nominated Item(s) Purchased:
CPU INTEL|CORE I5 750 2.66G R
MEM 2Gx2|GSKILL F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM
Click to expand...
I would definitely recommend these to others.
 
VirusType2 said:
OK, I spent many hours researching everything and I finally ordered my parts.
Click to expand...

I just ordered the same thing except I went with the gigabyte mobo instead. the bundle was on sale so I couldnt resist. I'm using my current 8800gt till I get something new sometime next year. for now it's good enough.


edit: I noticed you went with DDR3 1333 ram instead of the dd3 1600? it supports ddr3-1600

also purchased a 11.6" netbook with the new ION graphics chip that'll allow it to play games
 
VirusType2 said:
I guess I'll put this here.

I would definitely recommend these to others.
Click to expand...

Dear -Ace-,


Thank you for shopping at Newegg!

We thought you'd like to know that your recent purchase contains one or more items currently nominated for Newegg's Customer Choice Awards:

Nominated Item(s) Purchased:
MB GIGABYTE|GA-MA785G-UD3H RT
CPU AMD|PH II X3 720 BK AM3 2.8G RT
Click to expand...

I thought I was special.
 
CptStern said:
I just ordered the same thing except I went with the gigabyte mobo instead. the bundle was on sale so I couldnt resist. I'm using my current 8800gt till I get something new sometime next year. for now it's good enough.


edit: I noticed you went with DDR3 1333 ram instead of the dd3 1600? it supports ddr3-1600

also purchased a 11.6" netbook with the new ION graphics chip that'll allow it to play games
Click to expand...

I think 1600 is overclock though. I don't want anything to do with overclock to be honest. I'm running on air and my room gets really hot in the summer.

I prefer to have better reliability to a 2% increase in speed. Because I was reading something earlier today, and it was coming out like that, latency being similar between the two. Of course that depends on the RAM in comparison.


I sorted through RAM with 1333, 1.5v 7 & 8 latency, and mine was on sale $69 plus free shipping, plus bonus $10 or $20 off (for the bundle w/MoBo.) So I figure I got it for like 49$ on my doorstep. What a steal. :D

The only ones left in the sort to compare with it were $90 and up I believe. Oh, and my RAM was actually listed as being compatible with the i5, something I was really worried about.


I wanted 1.5v; that's what I thought the non-overclocked voltage was supposed to be. The 1.5v RAM I got is supposed to run really cool and efficiently.

Intel recommends no more than 1.65v for the i5 BTW. I think the 1.65v ones are often intended for intel CPU's, so they support XMP auto overclocking.

I honestly barely have a clue what I was doing before I started shopping, so I think I did better than I could have. I have no regrets. Cheers man, you're gonna love your stuff.


EDIT: I just realized you got the same RAM. Then why question me? :p
 
shit that's cheap. the gigabyte mobo I ordered has the ripjaws DDR3 1600 on the recommended ram list so all should be good
 
Just found out today that my brother has a "really really good" video card he's giving me.

He got one of the best nVidia ones (I think probably about 2 years ago) to do two 24" displays. Unfortunately/fortunately it didn't support hardware acceleration on the second monitor so it was useless to him, so he's giving it to me. :D

So I'll be upgrading from GeForce 5200 FX 128MB PCI to what is probably a GTX 7xxx or 8xxx PCIe.

Happy now.
 
GeForce 5200
Click to expand...

holy shit talk about a massive bottleneck on your new system. pray your brother has at least the 8800 series
 
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