About to build my first gaming pc

[WillSK]

Hi all,

I'm just about to build my first gaming pc completely by myself. The main thing i wanted to ask you about is next steps. i know i've bought some parts that have given me the oppurtunity to overclock well and i was just curious to get the forum point of view on what i should overclock, what i should leave and how to go about doing it (new to OCing) Also any other advise you guys would care to give me would be more than appreciated. Also what programmes i should download, all that sorta stuff.

One other area i'm concerned about is the use of the SSD. I've read various stuff about enabling trim etc. but my main concern was is it easy to install the majority of programmes on my secondary drive and use the SSD for frequently used programmes and OS

anyways here's the build...

*CASE: Corsair 600T White edition

*OPTICAL DRIVE: Samsung SH-222

*MoBo: Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P

*PROCESSOR: Intel 2500K

*HEATSINK: bequiet! Dark Rock Advanced

*PSU: NZXT Hale90 650W

*RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB white edition at 1.35v

*GPU: MSI 560-ti Hawk edition

*SSD: Corsair Force series 3 120GB

*HDD: Seagate barracuda 1TB Sata 3 (yes i know sata 6GB/s is irrelavant)

*OS: Windows 7 Premium

many thanks in advance!

 

[RedgyK]

Very nice

I would only change a few small things, like maybe the HDD? I don't know how much noise the Seagate Barracuda's make, but Samsung F3's are fairly quiet and have good performance... Also, if you really need a CD/DVD room, I would recommend getting an external one.. Internal ones just makes more cable mess and looks ugly on both the inside and outside of the case.

Also, the heatsink, if you are going for a white styled build there are white heatsinks that should perform equal or better than the Dark Rock Pro.. Tom just reviewed the Phanteks PH-TC14PE, in his tests it outperforms the Dark Rock Pro, I don't know how much louder it is than the Dark Rock Pro though..

If having a black heatsink is part of how you want your rig to look, then just get the Dark Rock Pro, it is a very good looking heatsink

2500k and 560Ti is a really nice combo, and the MSi Hawk is a very good version of the 560Ti

 

[WillSK]

Very nice

I would only change a few small things, like maybe the HDD? I don't know how much noise the Seagate Barracuda's make, but Samsung F3's are fairly quiet and have good performance... Also, if you really need a CD/DVD room, I would recommend getting an external one.. Internal ones just makes more cable mess and looks ugly on both the inside and outside of the case.

Also, the heatsink, if you are going for a white styled build there are white heatsinks that should perform equal or better than the Dark Rock Pro.. Tom just reviewed the Phanteks PH-TC14PE, in his tests it outperforms the Dark Rock Pro, I don't know how much louder it is than the Dark Rock Pro though..

If having a black heatsink is part of how you want your rig to look, then just get the Dark Rock Pro, it is a very good looking heatsink

2500k and 560Ti is a really nice combo, and the MSi Hawk is a very good version of the 560Ti

It's the Dark rock advanced. not as much of a beast as the Pro but still a good Heatsink from what i've read. Nice to have some approval as to my choices though. means i can't have gone too wrong

Any chance you'd be able to address any of my questions if you knwo the answers?

cheers

 

[RedgyK]

You haven't gone wrong at all, actually. About the SSD, Windows 7 has TRIM support, so that is nothing to worry about.. Windows 7 should detect you have an SSD and enable TRIM, it did with my Corsair Force 60GB, should do on yours as well, but there is a way of checking from inside Windows 7 if it is enabled, just google it if you get a bit paranoid. One thing to remember before installing Windows on your SSD is to enable "AHCI" or choose it instead of "IDE" in the BIOS. I am not sure how this is with sandy bridge and EFI bios, but I remember I should have done it on mine, but I can't be bothered installing Windows 7 over again to enable it. From what i've read you need to re-install to enable it

Also, never defrag SSD's like you do with standard HDD's. Windows 7 should automatically turn of defrag for SSD systems, so just don't do it manually and your good

About the overclocking part, you should read some guides on it, 2500k's run pretty cool so you should be able to overlcock a fair bit

Overclocking is very easy on Sandy Bridge, so just get windows running and check max temps at stock by running Prime95 at SmallFFT's setting.. That will tell how much headroom you have for temps for overclocking. Your CPU shouldn't go over 70C in Prime95 after about 10-30min.. Then you can go into the bios and overclock a bit, then check the temps again. Find an overclock that maxes under 70C full load, then run Prime95 overnight, 12 hours or something to check it's stable. You should also run the Blend mode for a couple hours.. And play some games, some times your overclock/RAM is stable in prime, but not in games..

 

[WillSK]

Really helpful reply! thankyou mate

!

How about installing the majority of programmes to the HDD will that be an issue?

thanks

 

[Master&Puppet]

i was just curious to get the forum point of view on what i should overclock, what i should leave and how to go about doing it (new to OCing) Also any other advise you guys would care to give me would be more than appreciated. Also what programmes i should download, all that sorta stuff.

Hi mate,

I can throw in some general advise but I'm familiar with AMD kit. You'd be looking at getting an everyday overclock on your cpu and gpu.

CPU wise first steps are to find the the manufacturers upper CPU volt limit (this is the highest you should go for a safe everyday clock imo). You'll also want to know the upper temp limit on the processor - 72C according to (http://ark.intel.com/products/52210).

You'll need these tools:

You'll want a hardware monitor - a great one here provided by one of the forums own OC3DHW (http://forum.overclock3d.net/index.php?/topic/37986-hardware-monitoring-software/).

Download Prime95 as a stress tester.

Then load up bios.

You'll want to turn off turbo mode (this will crash your pc since you will be maxing it anyway...)

Turn on load line calibrations (this prevents voltage drops under load)

Turn off spread spectrums (this can destabilise the system)

Adding the Hz

You're looking for the fsb speed and the multiplier at first. FSB x multiplier = CPU GHz. My multiplier is 17 and my fsb is 234 so my cpu is running at er... 3.9somethingsomething. 3978.

Keep one the same and add to the other. Personally I pick a multiplier and add to the fsb by 10 hz initially rebooting until windows fails to load to desktop. Drop back 10 hz and this gives you the ballpark figure. You can also check out other people's scores or use some oc software to get this figure.

Test

1. Load up windows and open the OC3DHW and run prime95 in blend across all the cores for atleast 20 mins - your job is to watch the temperature. In my experience the temps will rise significantly at around the 17 min mark. Cancel the test and fail the profile (a profile being a particular multiplier and fsb combination) if it gets too high. I'd want the max below 65C to account for hotter and colder days bearing in mind that prime95 will stress your computer harder and for longer than any game so you probs wont reach that temp again.

2. If the temp is fine and Prime reports no errors and no crashes happen then go back to bios and add a couple of hz to the fsb. Repeat the test until a crash, error or overheat happens. That's your best at that voltage. You can carry on by adding an increment to the voltage (upto the oem's upper limit) in bios and retest assuming it wasn't heat that caused you to stop testing (volts = heat).

3. Once you can't get anymore out of it you can try starting again from a different multiplier.

4. Once you've found the best performing profile test it with prime for 10-24 hrs. If you come back and it's restarted to windows then fail that profile and put the fsb back 2 hz.

Don't forget to type in your motherboard or cpu with the word overclock into google to get some very specific advise.

M&P

 

[RedgyK]

Really helpful reply! thankyou mate

!

How about installing the majority of programmes to the HDD will that be an issue?

thanks

Shouldn't be a problem at all

I have the most important programs installed on my SSD, including a lot of Video, Photo and 3D software, and pretty much every program I use daily.. And even with all that installed, the program files folders on my SSD is only at around 7,2GB

I have a 60GB SSD, and currently I have 19GB space left.. Including 2GB of documents and so on.. Only way I could use up my SSD would be by installing games on it..

Only reason I have a HDD is for games, a few programs, movies and documents

 

[WillSK]

Master&Puppet: thankyou for your post, gives me some things to look into.

Redgyk: What i mean is do you get a programmes folder put on your HDD when you try to install a programme onto it as it's not your primary drive or do i have to do some fiddling

 

[RedgyK]

Redgyk: What i mean is do you get a programmes folder put on your HDD when you try to install a programme onto it as it's not your primary drive or do i have to do some fiddling

When you install programs, there should be an advanced or custom option, allowing you to choose where you want to install the program too, which you will have to choose manually every time you install something, or it will automatically go on your SSD.

I just made a folder called "Programfiles" on my HDD, so when I install a game I just choose "F:\Programfiles", so just make a new folder on your HDD and choose that folder when installing.. Some programs and pretty much ALL games put they're settings and save game files in your documents on the SSD though, so that will take some space, there is a way to change that too, I had to do it with Dirt 2 and Dirt 3 as they took up 2GB each on my SSD

Just google it

 

[WillSK]

When you install programs, there should be an advanced or custom option, allowing you to choose where you want to install the program too, which you will have to choose manually every time you install something, or it will automatically go on your SSD.

I just made a folder called "Programfiles" on my HDD, so when I install a game I just choose "F:\Programfiles", so just make a new folder on your HDD and choose that folder when installing.. Some programs and pretty much ALL games put they're settings and save game files in your documents on the SSD though, so that will take some space, there is a way to change that too, I had to do it with Dirt 2 and Dirt 3 as they took up 2GB each on my SSD

Just google it

Once again big help!

thankyou

 

[RedgyK]

No problem mate

 

[Bocephus]

Very nice

I would only change a few small things, like maybe the HDD? I don't know how much noise the Seagate Barracuda's make, but Samsung F3's are fairly quiet and have good performance... Also, if you really need a CD/DVD room, I would recommend getting an external one.. Internal ones just makes more cable mess and looks ugly on both the inside and outside of the case.

Also, the heatsink, if you are going for a white styled build there are white heatsinks that should perform equal or better than the Dark Rock Pro.. Tom just reviewed the Phanteks PH-TC14PE, in his tests it outperforms the Dark Rock Pro, I don't know how much louder it is than the Dark Rock Pro though..

If having a black heatsink is part of how you want your rig to look, then just get the Dark Rock Pro, it is a very good looking heatsink

2500k and 560Ti is a really nice combo, and the MSi Hawk is a very good version of the 560Ti

I see you fall in line with Tom on optical drives

Not installing optical drives in the case is dumb IMO. If you have an external one it just takes up more space on your desk and you have wires on out side of case and on desk. You're gonna have wires no matter where you put one so that argument is right out the window.

But each to their own

 

[RedgyK]

I have an optical drive in all my rigs atm, but I never really use them. What I mean is that if you don't use your optical drive for games, you don't watch movies or listen to music from cd's/dvd's and you don't burn movies and music to discs you might as well just have an external one in your drawer for the rare time you need to put a CD in your PC...

Like you said, each to their own, I only use my optical drive for one game that needs the DVD to play (haven't bothered with a no-cd patch) and to burn music for people that hasn't heard about MP3's.