MWO: Forums - Helping Building for a First Timer

#1 Shahadet

Member

IS Exemplar
98 posts

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LocationUpstate NY

Posted 14 August 2012 - 06:56 PM

Hey folks! I want to start by saying a huge "THANK YOU!" to everyone who took the time and effort to post in the various threads I made previously. Your knowledge and kind willingness to share it with a stranger is gratefully appreciated.

For the curiosity of those who gave advice and wondered what I eventually ended up deciding on, here is the order(s) I have either already placed or finished placing with NewEgg:

- Case: Rosewill Thor V2 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811147053

- CPU: i5-3570K http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116504

- CPU Cooler: SilenX http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835226051

- Mobo: Asrock z77 Performance Fatal1ty http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813157298

- PSU: Corsair HX750 80+ Gold 750W Modular http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139010

- GPU: Gigabyte Radeon 7950 3GB 384 Bit http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814125414

- RAM: 16GB G.Skill Ripjaws 1600 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231568

- ODD: Asus 24x DVD burner http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827135204

- HDD: Western Digital 1TB 7200 RPM Caviar Black http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136533

- SSD: Samsung 830 128GB http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820147163

- Gaming Mouse: Logitech G9x MW3 edition http://www.newegg.co...N82E16826104627

-------------------------------

Total so far, after all discounts/sales (but before 2 $20 mail in rebates) = $1354.32 (I should be set on operating system, and I'm looking into a headset and mechanical keyboard that I can bring into my $1500 budget)

-----------------------------------------------------------

As always, comments are welcome (although I've already paid money, so I think this stuff is here to stay -

).

The real point of this post is to ask for MORE help - namely the details, such as:

1.) I got these OEM drives (HDD, SDD, ODD), and I'm guessing I need cables? What kind of cables do I need for this? I know it's SATA, but is there a difference between cables for 6.0 GB/s and 3.0 Gb/s devices? Ideally, I'd like to hook up my devices to my 6.0 Gb/s controllers.....

2.) Although several people advised being on the cutting edge of the GPU tech level with a 7970, I found that the $464 Sapphire Vapor-X just wasn't enough better than the $308 Gigabyte 7950 to justify the $156 price difference - essentially more than my MoBo in price. (Thanks to Damocles and Henchman 24 for the advice on the 7950).

3.) ESD - I don't have a static wrist strap handy, but someone mentioned just getting some copper wire and tying it around my wrist, and tying the other end to a metal part of my case. Is this a good idea? Does it work? Do I risk shorting out something during installation?

4.) Display cables - I currently have HDMI for my 23" LED flatpanel, and the box came with a DVI cable. But am I better off using DisplayPort?

5.) Extra fan(s) - The Thor has extra fan mounts all over the place. In particluar, this is a mount with filter on the bottom of the case next to the PSU area. I would be interested in adding a fan here, but I have no idea what kind of fan would work with (be compatible with) the Thor case. Any help/suggestions?

6.) Setting memory timings, flashing Bios, updating drivers, etc - I've seen the New Egg Youtube video ("how to build a pc, part 3), but if people have other help in explaining how this stuff works (ESPECIALLY for the specific parts I have), I would love to hear more about it.

-----
That's all my burnt out brain can think of, but I'll update with more questions and stuff as I remember it. If someone can tell me how to add pics to my posts, I'll be happy to put up pics as I build (for the curious, and for the benefit of other first timers who would like some encouragement on taking the plunge)

One final note: A huge thank you to VulpesVeritas for all of his great info, advice, links, and most of all his time and effort in helping to make this Hardware board such an awesome resource.

Thanks all, and good night for now!

#2 Aznpersuasion89

Member

Elite Founder
614 posts

Locationca

Posted 14 August 2012 - 06:59 PM

i have the same cooler. works well, i added another 120mm puller to help though. congrats

#3 Vulpesveritas

Member

3,003 posts

LocationWinsconsin, USA

Posted 14 August 2012 - 07:12 PM

Well, given that you've made the purchase, and the only thing below par for the overall price of the system is the graphics card, the main thing i recommend is overclock the GPU as high as the stock voltage allows. Other than that given what you're looking to do, looks goodish, but given the semi-workstation side use I also would have recommended and AMD 8 core.

Otherwise, sounds good, hope everything comes together well.

#4 sumdumfu

Member

79 posts

Posted 14 August 2012 - 08:43 PM

1) The mobo should come with all the cables you need, in addition to the drives themselves. I've never had to buy HDD cables. all SATA cables are the same.

3) just make sure you ground yourself regularly while building - touch something metal every few minutes.

4) HDMI and DVI are the same video signal, just one's encrypted (HDMI) and one's not. not sure what displayport is, but HDMI and DVI will get you the best resolution your display can put up, unless you're doing some crazy high rez like 2560, in which case you'd need dual-dvi, but on a 23" i doubt that's the case.

5) the case manual should tell you what size fans should fit in what slots on the case. just get the correct size fan, and you can plug it into any of the 'fan case' connectors on your mobo.

6) you shouldn't have to touch any of that when first building a system; if you wanna do some overclocking then yeah, but with how beefy your new system is i wouldn't mess with overclocking until much later down the road, especially when you're more familiar with how things work. except for updating drivers. you can just go to AMD's website and download the latest drivers for your GPU. i would skip the driver disk it came with and just install those.

#5 Shivus

Member

394 posts

Posted 14 August 2012 - 09:18 PM

No need for anything fancy to deal with ESD. Just tap the metal part of your case or a nearby faucet before touching your electronics. This changes on your climate though. If I was living in a very dry climate I'd be super paranoid and take every precaution just because I know from experience how absolutely everything wants to shock you.

For fan types: sleeve bearing fans generally work well only in a normal vertical orientation, and they're amazingly cost effective for that purpose. If you stick them in a horizontal orientation they'll start to grind after a couple months because they aren't designed to self lubricate in that position. For horizontal running like on the bottom or top of your case look at rifle and ball bearing fans.

Flashing bios is a tricky prospect because it can possibly brick your board, so generally as long as everything is running fine, it's usually best to not flash unless you feel like risking it.

If the performance mobo is at all similar to the extreme 4, then setting ram timings should be handled for you by the xmp profile. You may just have to specify that particular profile and manually set it to run at its rated speed in the UEFI. You can also set the Dram voltage to the ram's rated voltage just to have total control.

---Min/maxing past this point---

Once everything's up and running you can get Prime95, CPUZ, and HWMonitor, and experiment with undervolting the ram just to see if you can get it to run stable at a minimum possible voltage. I got some kingston hyperx 1600's rated at 1.65v because they were dirt cheap. They're running completely stable at their rated timings and speed at 1.55v.

Also go ahead and experiment with some overclocking. There are a great many guides out there, possibly one tuned specifically for your mobo.

#6 xxx WreckinBallRaj xxx

Member

Legendary Founder
3,852 posts

Posted 15 August 2012 - 04:04 AM

That build looks similar to what I am planning to get, although most of my choices are slightly better and more costly. What you have better is a case and GPU. I however dropped the Thor because I found a better deal with Rosewell.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811147107
This case with a manual fan addition(5+1) will get pretty much the same amount of cooling but cost around 25$ less total. You're losing the extra space for an XL board but your board, like mine, is standard ATX. You're also losing some drive bays but again, if you aren't going to use them, it's just wasted excess. For simply having an ATX board with 1-2 drive bays for HDs and 1-2 disc drives; this box is a better deal. I'm going to order the case with an extra fan to install; bringing the total up to 6. I'll have more or less the same cooling as the Thor but only for 105$. The Thor is a huge beast meant for people with numerous drive bays or a huge board; neither of which you seem to have with your build. If you merely want to slot a standard ATX board with not so many bays; you don't need to spend that much. You're buying extra space you'll likely never use

#7 RooftopVoter

Member

Legendary Founder
12 posts

LocationPhoenix, AZ. U.S.A.

Posted 15 August 2012 - 12:00 PM

Shahadet, on 14 August 2012 - 06:56 PM, said:

ok question 1 the only thing thats fast enough to utilize 6g sataIII is your SSD everything else is way to slow and should be plugged into sataII ports, as for cables the oem drives with the exception of the SSD should ship with cables and your mobo should also have them the speed differences in "high speed" sata 6g cables is usually negligible unless youve got a really crappy low end cable so just use what comes with the mobo & drives.

question 3 as far as static discharge and build up goes the easiest thing to do if you dont have a wrist strap is this install your PSU in the case make sure the power switch is OFF plug the power cord into your UPS or surgeprotector(plugged into wall outlet) and touch and then maintain contact with the computer case this will ground you and remove all static charge then just make sure your grounded before handling any components and no worries.

question 4 not sure if HDMI is capable of your monitors max resolution/refresh either DVI or Displayport will be but you might be fine (its early Im tired in pain and a little too lazy to go check, I think your ok though. Basically if its doing everything you need why bother.

question 5 I am personally a huge fan of airflow in cases the more the better the cooler you keep your components the longer theyll last and better theyll perform. As far as size check the manufacturers site ( or newegg or whoever sells the case) for information on the size and number of fan mounts in the case. SVC.com has a great deal on 110 cfm blue coolermaster fans 120mm for 4.99 each cant beat that with a stick. as for 80mm fans look around and see what the highest cfm you can get for the money. You may need to buy a splitter or two for fan power connectors check your mobo for fan mounts and see if your PSU has any fan plugs on it.

question 6 Tomshardware.com has tons of information on all that stuff. Also Anandtech.com(to a lesser degree). Hope this helps.

#8 xxx WreckinBallRaj xxx

Member

Legendary Founder
3,852 posts

Posted 15 August 2012 - 04:03 PM

Shivus, on 14 August 2012 - 09:18 PM, said:

Just touch the metal PSU box inside your case and you're good to go. The PSU(Power Supply Unit, aka that box power at bottom left) is where most of the electricity is stored on an inactive PC and when there is a discharge; it is between you and the PSU but bridged across other components. So equalizing your body's charge with the PSU in advance effectively prevents almost all chance of a discharge while putting in or taking out parts. You don't really need to do anymore than that as a home user unless you're dragging your feet across a carpet while wearing soaks or doing your work on a static heavy bed cover.(And even in those cases you can just touch the PSU more often)

#9 ultra1437

Member

39 posts

LocationOhio, USA

Posted 16 August 2012 - 09:21 AM

Shahadet, on 14 August 2012 - 06:56 PM, said:

As always, comments are welcome (although I've already paid money, so I think this stuff is here to stay -

Insofar as #1 goes, it depends on your motherboard actually. Sometimes MOBO manufacturers send more than two cables. My Biostar (if i'm remmbering right) Z68, came with four SATA 3 (6.0gb/s) cables. From newegg, it looks like you'll get two, but that's fairly standard.

#2 you shouldn't 'need' to stay cutting edge everytime something new comes out, just get a top (or just off-top) of the line model every couple generations, (Usually every couple years or so). I just went all-out for my newest computer, upgrading from an AMD Phenom II X3 1.8 GHz, 4 GB DDR2 800, and a Radeon 2600XT (as the major parts for gaming), to an i7 2600 3.4 GHz, 16 GB DDR3 1333 (or 1600, i don't remember at the moment), and a Geforce 570-series. Haven't looked back. My next planned upgrade will just be a video card, probably into a GTX 700+ series. It's all i really would need, other than possibly a solid-state drive, which i actually have, i just need a decent cold-booting, bit-for-bit ghosting program, Norton Ghost 15 doesn't work like the old Ghost 7.0 did.

#3 ESD, both is and isn't as big a problem as it used to be. It will still damage things if you're not careful, but just assembling a computer, from personal experience, just keep away from assembly on a carpet or rug, and you should be fine. Keeping a hand on your new case if it's grounded already (PSU installed and plugged into the wall) when you grab a part, will be just be fine, you shouldn't need a strap.

Bluten's advice is very good too about touching the PSU instead of the case, it's just the case is probably a little easier to grab a hold of.

#4 Displayport if you can manage it, it's not all that common yet, some monitors (like mine, don't have a displayport on them, just DVI), but otherwise DVI works plenty well. VGA i'd avoid if possible nowadays, if it's for gaming at all.

#5 This is more for overclocking than anything on the cases, better airflow means your computer can run cooler on stock speeds, and you can tune them up a bit for that extra edge, and will probably not have a problem. I personally don't overclock, so i can't really help you there...

#6 Most of the memory timings are easy enough to set, if they aren't automatically picked up on. Most of the other settings run the same way, BIOS i wouldn't touch UNLESS it's ABSOLUTELY necessary, as a flash, even as well-intentioned as it can be, might still potentially screw up and cause it to fail. I don't touch my BIOS with a flash unless it adds a new feature, or fixes a bug in the current one. Drivers are easy enough anymore, you can usually just go to the manufacturer's website (or in the case of videocards, the Nvidia or ATI/AMD website) and get the latest ones pretty easy. Make sure to keep the model numbers of your parts on hand, just to make sure you're getting the right ones. Made that mistake too many times of getting the wrong drivers and finding out later why it's not working quite right.

I did notice you dont have a stand-alone sound-card. I personally can't stand onboard audio, and had gotten myself an old Creativ Soundblaster PCI card, it's not failed yet after three computers' worth (roughly 10 years) of use. It still works like the day i bought it. Was actually thinking of picking up a new one, but if it ain't broke, i won't fix it.

Edit - Adding pics to a post: upload the pictures to an imagehosting site like www.photobucket.com or imageshack.com.

They usually have a little thing off to the side or to the right of the picture that has pre-made code for forums, HTML, or other direct links. The one you'd be looking for will start with [ img ] tags, and end with the same. If you want to make the code yourself would look like this:

[img]photolink[/img]

Edited by ultra1437, 16 August 2012 - 09:25 AM.

Helping Building for a First Timer - the Details!

#1 Shahadet

#2 Aznpersuasion89

#3 Vulpesveritas

#4 sumdumfu

#5 Shivus

#6 xxx WreckinBallRaj xxx

#7 RooftopVoter

#8 xxx WreckinBallRaj xxx

#9 ultra1437

1 user(s) are reading this topic

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