I'm going to jump right into the story since the begginging with my purchase of the PC, hopefully it won't be too boring to read : /. In June I made my PC using parts of Ebuyer, costing around £600 altogether. I did maybe a months research before kinda knowing what criteria of each product was good for its price and reasearching the manufacturer. The day I got it, like an excited 5 year with a toy aroplane, I wanted to use it immediatly. I think some damage was likely caused upon assembling it which I will discuss after laying out the specs.
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 (2.13Ghz) Socket 775 FSB1066 4MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor Track £99.13 £99.13
Inno3D 8600GT 256MB 128bit DDR3 DVI PCI-E Graphics Card £58.59
MSI P6N SLI Platinum nForce 650i SLI Socket 775 eSATA 8 channel audio ATX motherboard £76.55
OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory Gold GX XTC CL5 DUAL CHANNEL (LIFETIME WARRANTY) £57.57
Casecom Black Mid Tower Case - Front Blue LED 120mm Fan - With Side Window £15.31
Sumvision 450W 20+4pin SATA PSU £10.20
Looking back now I hardly know what any of this means, but at the time I knew what part of each item was good, I hope =). heres how i feel I may of damaged each of the aformaentioned items:
I made it in my room which has a carpet - no socks, on my desk, possible damage from static. Unlikely significant damage?
Processor - This is the only bit I look back on with a certain amount of shame. The small chip part I attempted to place in with the cover still on so I probably damaged the receptors there, if that makes sense. The worse part, however, is that I didn't pin the cooler on the processor properly. This meant it was running at 70-82 degrees for maybe 5 hours before I realised it and screwed it on properly. Despite this, I'm using it right now and have been for 6 months, it now runs at a cooler 30-40, I never see it go over 43. Lasting damage caused? I think so.
RAM - my first time putting Ram in, possible minimal damage on getting it in right. Unlikely significant damage?
Graphics Card - Placed in easily if i remember correctly, I only properly screwed in in a 2-3 monthis later after it slipped out of place a few times. Possible damage?
Motherboard - Upon placing the motherboard it bended slightly 2-3 times on screwing it in. Not very much I don't think, but it certainly was slightly curved maybe once or twice before I got it in place properly. Possible damage?
PS - I placed my crappy PS there because I felt it could be slowing my pc down, like not geting enough juice, ya know?
So... I've vomited out all background information onto the page in a hopefully somwhat articulate way. Now, what it is that I want know is how to get more out of my pc. Its scores well on "Welcome centre" that comes with Vista with an average score of 5.5 out of 6, yet on 3DMark06 it came out with a rather pitiful 4130, way less than it should do. If I play a FirstPS like Nexuiz the FramesPS is somthing underwhelming like 20-30 on fairly modest settings.
So, there it is. Whenever I make a thread I try and give all necceasry information which somtimes means I include stuff that might not help; I just wanted to throw it all out there as my limted knowledge on the subject indicated it wise to do so.
To sum up the things I'd like to know:
- If I have done any irreprable damge to my PC what what parts and impact wil it have.
- Where my specs good for the time, I asked a few people and they seemed to think its was pretty OK; although I understand it will be harder to remark upon this now as times, and technology have moved on.
- How is the best way to improve stuff like the FramesPS on my pc. When I play War3:TFT (5 year old RTS game) it runs at 64 FramesPS which is the capped amount as far as i can tell with all settings maxed out.
Thanks for reading, I understand that some of the stuff I did (specific reference to the processor) may dismay. Regardless any help is really, really appreciated - so thanks in advance for any future help that may come my way.
-Jonny
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 (2.13Ghz) Socket 775 FSB1066 4MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor Track £99.13 £99.13
Inno3D 8600GT 256MB 128bit DDR3 DVI PCI-E Graphics Card £58.59
MSI P6N SLI Platinum nForce 650i SLI Socket 775 eSATA 8 channel audio ATX motherboard £76.55
OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory Gold GX XTC CL5 DUAL CHANNEL (LIFETIME WARRANTY) £57.57
Casecom Black Mid Tower Case - Front Blue LED 120mm Fan - With Side Window £15.31
Sumvision 450W 20+4pin SATA PSU £10.20
Looking back now I hardly know what any of this means, but at the time I knew what part of each item was good, I hope =). heres how i feel I may of damaged each of the aformaentioned items:
I made it in my room which has a carpet - no socks, on my desk, possible damage from static. Unlikely significant damage?
Processor - This is the only bit I look back on with a certain amount of shame. The small chip part I attempted to place in with the cover still on so I probably damaged the receptors there, if that makes sense. The worse part, however, is that I didn't pin the cooler on the processor properly. This meant it was running at 70-82 degrees for maybe 5 hours before I realised it and screwed it on properly. Despite this, I'm using it right now and have been for 6 months, it now runs at a cooler 30-40, I never see it go over 43. Lasting damage caused? I think so.
RAM - my first time putting Ram in, possible minimal damage on getting it in right. Unlikely significant damage?
Graphics Card - Placed in easily if i remember correctly, I only properly screwed in in a 2-3 monthis later after it slipped out of place a few times. Possible damage?
Motherboard - Upon placing the motherboard it bended slightly 2-3 times on screwing it in. Not very much I don't think, but it certainly was slightly curved maybe once or twice before I got it in place properly. Possible damage?
PS - I placed my crappy PS there because I felt it could be slowing my pc down, like not geting enough juice, ya know?
So... I've vomited out all background information onto the page in a hopefully somwhat articulate way. Now, what it is that I want know is how to get more out of my pc. Its scores well on "Welcome centre" that comes with Vista with an average score of 5.5 out of 6, yet on 3DMark06 it came out with a rather pitiful 4130, way less than it should do. If I play a FirstPS like Nexuiz the FramesPS is somthing underwhelming like 20-30 on fairly modest settings.
So, there it is. Whenever I make a thread I try and give all necceasry information which somtimes means I include stuff that might not help; I just wanted to throw it all out there as my limted knowledge on the subject indicated it wise to do so.
To sum up the things I'd like to know:
- If I have done any irreprable damge to my PC what what parts and impact wil it have.
- Where my specs good for the time, I asked a few people and they seemed to think its was pretty OK; although I understand it will be harder to remark upon this now as times, and technology have moved on.
- How is the best way to improve stuff like the FramesPS on my pc. When I play War3:TFT (5 year old RTS game) it runs at 64 FramesPS which is the capped amount as far as i can tell with all settings maxed out.
Thanks for reading, I understand that some of the stuff I did (specific reference to the processor) may dismay. Regardless any help is really, really appreciated - so thanks in advance for any future help that may come my way.
-Jonny
