Building a PC for the first time, need questions answered.

[coldReactive]

Rule of overclocking: Don't use the auto overclock software provided by motherboard manufacturers like ASUS.

Your system WILL crash when it reaches the overclock limit (causing the system to restart by force, then re-run the overclock diagnosis when you login again; causing a second crash, then displaying the results on your third login.) At least that's how ASUS' does it.

Honestly, I don't see the point in overclocking unless you plan to do hefty computations and whatnot, or run something other than your game at the same time while recording fraps while listening to music from a media player and chatting via an instant messaging program by alt+tabbing out of the game.

otherwise you won't need that overclocking. Check the base speeds, not the turbo speeds; and technically, Turbo is overclocking.

I tried the UEFI BIOS overclocking system for my AMD Phenom II X6 1100T, and anything over 3.8 GHz will make the system unstable. (Base speed is 3.3 GHz; most people can get over 4.1 GHz.) I have 5 fans, I hate watercooling, and it's the HAF-X Case with a Thermaltake Frio CPU Cooler. Three fans are 200 mm, two fans are 140mm.

You figure out why I can't overclock higher.

Also, another rule of ASUS: Don't press the "Go!" button on the motherboard. I took a day or so before I realized I could only fix my unbootable system by pressing the Clear BIOS Button that's on the back of my motherboard.

[Ellondu]

I'm not getting an ASUS motherboard, I'm getting an ASrock mobo.

Also, I think that AMD's CPU's might be a little behind intels atm, but I don't know much about your overclock problem. Maybe it is just a cooling problem. Have you checked your fans to make sure they are installed correctly.

[coldReactive]

Originally Posted by Ellondu

I'm not getting an ASUS motherboard, I'm getting an ASrock mobo.

Also, I think that AMD's CPU's might be a little behind intels atm, but I don't know much about your overclock problem. Maybe it is just a cooling problem. Have you checked your fans to make sure they are installed correctly.

All of the fans save for the optional 200 mm fan at the top were already installed by Coolermaster. All of them are three pin save for the CPU main fan, which is 4. The 5 fan connectors on my motherboard are all three-pin compatible, and two of them are four-pin. I have them all installed correctly.

[Allen]

Originally Posted by coldReactive

All of the fans save for the optional 200 mm fan at the top were already installed by Coolermaster. All of them are three pin save for the CPU main fan, which is 4. The 5 fan connectors on my motherboard are all three-pin compatible, and two of them are four-pin. I have them all installed correctly.

It's probably your ram or not enough voltage on the cpu to sustain the increased clock speed causing the unstability. Try changing the timings on the ram or increasing the voltage slightly on the cpu. There's many factors that could cause unstable overclocks...not just "Asus mobo's are bad". Asus overclocking software is perfectly fine, it's just more straight forward and pretty much idiot proof but there are still factors to take into account. Unstable overclocks crash the system...that's what they do, its nothing to do with asus's software. Rinse and repeat until you find the weakest link and adjust your settings accordingly.

Also, why not overclock? if you can get 30% more performance for free, there's no reason not to...you obviously thought it was worth doing. It just takes time and patience to do some reading and applying know how and its a free performance boost that costs nothing and is perfectly safe to do.

[coldReactive]

Originally Posted by Allen

It's probably your ram or not enough voltage on the cpu to sustain the increased clock speed causing the unstability. Try changing the timings on the ram or increasing the voltage slightly on the cpu. There's many factors that could cause unstable overclocks...not just "Asus mobo's are bad". Asus overclocking software is perfectly fine, it's just more straight forward and pretty much idiot proof but there are still factors to take into account. Unstable overclocks crash the system...that's what they do, its nothing to do with asus's software. Rinse and repeat until you find the weakest link and adjust your settings accordingly.

Also, why not overclock? if you can get 30% more performance for free, there's no reason not to...you obviously thought it was worth doing. It just takes time and patience to do some reading and applying know how and its a free performance boost that costs nothing and is perfectly safe to do.

The motherboard can do 1600 MHz on the RAM without OC'ing. The timings are default, CAS 9: Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 996988

The asus software for overclocking would only overclock it to 3.6. Manually, I could overclock to 3.8; but doing so causes the fans to run full blast on the frio for just idling. Playing skyrim when I do the manual overclock will crash the entire system (Not just skyrim within an hour or two.) The motherboard will also auto-reset the overclocking portion of the BIOS Config (On its own, mind you) if an overclocking error occurs. This is part of the Crosshair V Formula's BIOS Auto-healing system.

[Dee]

Originally Posted by Saex Conroy

you dont need mac or linux - the software support for both is so poor, especially on linux - i couldnt even run a portable edition of MS Office 2003 and was too lazy to install another copy, so if one thing doesnt work, it means the OS isnt worth it

Lol what? Just because you don't know nothing about Linux it is bad? Of course MS office isn't going to work on Linux as it is a Microsoft product. Yes, it works on MAc because they can make money with that. Linux users ain't gonna use Office. They mostly use open source software. (openoffice)


Anyway ontopic:

Building a pc isn't hard at all. There are tons of video tutorials on youtube. I see you already got help with what hardware to choose so i'm not gonna say anything about that. Just look it up and build it yourself. It isn't hard at all and there can't go really anything wrong.

[coldReactive]

Originally Posted by Dee

Just look it up and build it yourself. It isn't hard at all and there can't go really anything wrong.

Three words: Machine Fed Screws

[Allen]

Originally Posted by coldReactive

The motherboard can do 1600 MHz on the RAM without OC'ing. The timings are default, CAS 9: Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 996988

The asus software for overclocking would only overclock it to 3.6. Manually, I could overclock to 3.8; but doing so causes the fans to run full blast on the frio for just idling. Playing skyrim when I do the manual overclock will crash the entire system (Not just skyrim within an hour or two.) The motherboard will also auto-reset the overclocking portion of the BIOS Config (On its own, mind you) if an overclocking error occurs. This is part of the Crosshair V Formula's BIOS Auto-healing system.

There's something screwed up somewhere either you're running an older BIOS version or something, or you're just doing something wrong which is likely the case as well. I suggest you look around for solutions rather than saying the boards totally at fault, the crosshair V formula should have that CPU at 4+ with sufficient cooling.

[Ellondu]

Okay I am building my PC this week. At this point in time this is my build:

Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 59.99

Mobo: ASRock Z68 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard 174.99

GPU: SAPPHIRE 100315-2GL Radeon HD 6850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card 179.99

PSU: SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold ((SS-650KM Active PFC F3)) 650W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply 139.99

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K 219.99

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 (2 sets, 45.99 each) 79.98

HDD: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive 149.99

KB: RAZER Black USB Wired Lycosa Mirror Special Edition Gaming Keyboard 79.99

Mouse: RAZER Black Wired Laser Naga Molten Special Edition Gaming Mouse 79.99

OD: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM 17.99

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM 99.99

Thermal: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM 12.99

Heatsink: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 29.99

Subtotal: 1359.83

Estimated total with shipping: 1375.25

Recommend any changed? I was thinking about upgrading the GPU and possibly the processor.

[Allen]

I'd say the CPU is fine, its more than capable of anything you'd want to do....there's really nothing to upgrade to. The GPU could use a little boost. Something like a GTX 560 ti or AMD 6950 2GB would be good if you could fit it into your budget. Personally, I'd go with a 6950 2GB because later when you feel you need a little more boost in the GPU department you could add another one and go crossfire, the AMD 6xxx series has some really nice scaling. If you're not worried about crossfiring later or having a little bit of a VRam bottleneck in certain games, the GTX 560 ti is just fine. Either will max majority of games out at 1920x1080