Sativa's New Build Advice

[Sativa]

Hello all

This will be my first build. Feel free to offer any advice, tips, tricks.


New

• Nzxt - H440
• Evga - Supernova platinum 850w
• ASUS - Maximus VIII Hero
• G.SKill - Trident Z 3200Mhz (2x8Gb)
• Fractal Design - Kelvin S36
• Win-10

Old

• Crucial bx100 250gb
• Evga 750 Ftw ti
• keyboard mouse monitor

There is only one item missing right now, and that is the Cpu which will be an i7-6700k once the prices drop again, as I am not paying over the odds due to the Uk`s low stock.

Leaves quite a lot of room to upgrade in the future I think. With Nvidia bringing out a new GPU next year I will wait and see how theses compare and upgrade the GPU then rather then do it now.

Putting the parts together is no problem, but getting the best out of them is.

I would like to get all the drivers on a flash drive to make installation easier. There are 46 listed drivers listed on the Asus site for this board. I know I wont need anywhere near that. Does the bios need to be on its own on a flash drive or is it okay to bundle it with the other drivers?

https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO/HelpDesk_Download/

• Bios - Version 1001
• Chipset - Two listed here, do I need both?
• Audio - Version 6.0.1.7553
• Lan - Version 20.2.3001.0&20.2.4001.0
• Usb - Version 1.16.24.0&1.16.26.1
• Sata - Two listed here, do I need both?
• Utilities - Any ones here worthy of installing.
• Nvidia driver

Flash bios, install windows, then the rest of the list before connecting to the internet and updating windows. Plan to just let it run for a week before starting to tweak anything just to make sure everything is okay.

What recommended software should I download to monitor the PC.

I will post some photos soon, already installed everything into the case now just waiting to get my hands on the CPU

Thanks in advance if you take the time to go through the driver list

(Edit_ Ops I forgot to add a proper title, just stuck kkk to preview the post lol)
(Edit_ 2 Thanks for changing it.)

 

[Kilbane]

Nice start to hardware dude.

As for the BIOS, just stick it in the root of the drive with the drivers in a folder. Using ASUS EZ Flash within the BIOS itself will let you browse for the update file on any storage device connected. It is pretty damn fool proof to be honest.

Look forward to seeing how it all comes together.

 

[The_Mard]

Leaves quite a lot of room to upgrade in the future I think. With Nvidia bringing out a new GPU next year I will wait and see how theses compare and upgrade the GPU then rather then do it now.

Putting the parts together is no problem, but getting the best out of them is.

No doubt! Both NVIDIA Pascal and AMD's Artic Islands can potentially be Dx12/Vulkan monsters.

I would like to get all the drivers on a flash drive to make installation easier. There are 46 listed drivers listed on the Asus site for this board. I know I wont need anywhere near that. Does the bios need to be on its own on a flash drive or is it okay to bundle it with the other drivers?

https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO/HelpDesk_Download/

• Bios - Version 1001
• Chipset - Two listed here, do I need both?

As for looking up chipset drivers? One is the version that comes on the CD and the other is an updated version. You only need the updated version.

• Audio - Version 6.0.1.7553
• Lan - Version 20.2.3001.0&20.2.4001.0
• Usb - Version 1.16.24.0&1.16.26.1
• Sata - Two listed here, do I need both?
• Utilities - Any ones here worthy of installing.
• Nvidia driver

For the SATA drivers? Yes you need both. Almost all motherboards these days have two different SATA controllers installed. They're probably split up between certain ports on the board. The manual might describe it in more detail... but yeah, download both.

Flash bios, install windows, then the rest of the list before connecting to the internet and updating windows. Plan to just let it run for a week before starting to tweak anything just to make sure everything is okay.

What recommended software should I download to monitor the PC.

Good plan mang!

I love using MSI Afterburner. You can setup monitoring on Logitech keyboards with screens or setup a keyboard hotkey to have an on screen display show you what's going on with your system. I use it all the time to monitor temps and check that my SLI setup is behaving well or if I'm running into VRAM issues (damn 2GB VRAM! hahaha)

http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm



For MSI Afterburner?

1. Install it WITH the RIVIA Tuner Server Monitoring
2. Go into the "Settings"
3. Go into the "Monitoring" Tab
4. Select the Options you wish to monitor with (such as GPU Usage)
5. Select "Show in OSD" for each option you want displayed
6. Go into the "On-Screen Display" Tab
7. Setup a shortcut keyboard combo (I use CTRL ' as an example)
8. Launch the game of choice and tap your keyboard combo set in MSI Afterburner
9. Enjoy!

Here's an example of my setup on MSI Afterburner (please ignore the VRAM doubling bug lol MSI Afterburner has fixed that meow)
http://i.imgur.com/l5AEFcL.png

You can then go into "Rivia Tuner" and setup some options, such as how you want the text to appear (Vector 2D, Vector 3D or the beautiful Rasterizer 3D... which depending on the game might detect it as a hack potentially... so might wanna do a support ticket with the game of choice before using it.).

I will post some photos soon, already installed everything into the case now just waiting to get my hands on the CPU

Thanks in advance if you take the time to go through the driver list

(Edit_ Ops I forgot to add a proper title, just stuck kkk to preview the post lol)
(Edit_ 2 Thanks for changing it.)

hahaha good times. Yeah look forward to the pics.

 

[Sativa]

Nice start to hardware dude.

As for the BIOS, just stick it in the root of the drive with the drivers in a folder. Using ASUS EZ Flash within the BIOS itself will let you browse for the update file on any storage device connected. It is pretty damn fool proof to be honest.

Look forward to seeing how it all comes together.

Ah its that simple kilbane, good. Always had a limited bios due to owning pre-built rubbish. So never really ventured into it.

Please don't post multiple times in a row

No doubt! Both NVIDIA Pascal and AMD's Artic Islands can potentially be Dx12/Vulkan monsters.

Dont really know too much about them tbh gonna have to do some reading. So long as its not towards the end of next year, else I pick up a pair of 980`s

As for looking up chipset drivers? One is the version that comes on the CD and the other is an updated version. You only need the updated version.

For the SATA drivers? Yes you need both. Almost all motherboards these days have two different SATA controllers installed. They're probably split up between certain ports on the board. The manual might describe it in more detail... but yeah, download both.

Nice thanks, better to be prepared with it all rather then wait till the day I set it all up.

 

[The_Mard]

Dont really know too much about them tbh gonna have to do some reading. So long as its not towards the end of next year, else I pick up a pair of 980`s

What's your end goal? 2560x1440? 3840x2160? I have a friend who owns an i7-4770K and GTX 980 SLI setup and he uses a 4K UHD 60Hz TV and he has problems hitting 60fps average without cranking down a bunch of graphical settings. Of course Dx12 might alleviate that issue... but that would also be banking on unproved software. It's up to you which way you want to go though. 4K UHD at 60fps average with everything cranked to the highest settings? You're going to need a pair of GTX 980 TI's or potentially its Pascal successor.

Nice thanks, better to be prepared with it all rather then wait till the day I set it all up.

You're very welcome. I look forward to seeing the completed rig. Definitely going to be quite the dramatic change in hardware so it should be well worth the final upgrade. Going from an entry level discrete GPU to some of the latest enthusiast parts.

 

[Sativa]

What's your end goal? 2560x1440? 3840x2160? I have a friend who owns an i7-4770K and GTX 980 SLI setup and he uses a 4K UHD 60Hz TV and he has problems hitting 60fps average without cranking down a bunch of graphical settings. Of course Dx12 might alleviate that issue... but that would also be banking on unproved software. It's up to you which way you want to go though. 4K UHD at 60fps average with everything cranked to the highest settings? You're going to need a pair of GTX 980 TI's or potentially its Pascal successor.

I missed the Ti off, Will have to wait and see how the prices go when the new ones get released. Would mean an update to the 17" Vga only dell monitor I have too. But all in good time. Anything is going to be an improvement over what i have now.

You're very welcome. I look forward to seeing the completed rig. Definitely going to be quite the dramatic change in hardware so it should be well worth the final upgrade. Going from an entry level discrete GPU to some of the latest enthusiast parts.

Looking forward to playing with it all. As we descend back into darkness tonight so there be plenty of time to tinker with it once i get it running. I see some shops have CPU updates listed for mid November so not to long to wait.