The PC Building Thread

[Placebo]

I have the same SSD and get similarly slow speeds unfortunately. I posted an unfavourable review of it on Ebuyer, oddly enough they decided to stick with all the 5 star reviews instead.

IMG]http://www.abload.de/img/as-ssd-benchkingstonsfvkyr.png[/IMG]

Damn that sucks, not sure if I can return it anymore

I had a quick scan of AVForums for that drive and there is a thread here but I'm not sure if it will shed any light on your issue:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/desktops/1611091-ssd-slow-read-kingston-v-200-a.html

Thanks they pretty much suggest the same stuff I've already confirmed, aligned and trim setting etc

 

[Placebo]

Someone on the BIS forums replied:

Do a bench with Atto or HDtune then you should see the advertised speeds.
And I believe AMD sata controllers are slower than the Intel ones, so expect to lose a bit from that.

So I'm trying Atto first:

So Atto seems to be showing speeds nearer the advertised specs.

Spoiler

Not sure I really understand what either of those mean but some of the bars go higher toward 500mb/s so I'm guessing that's a good thing?

 

[bsmaff]

These are the readings from my SSD:



I don't know whether or not there is a firmware update for your drive as if there is that might improve performance.

 

[Placebo]

Damn

And I rejected the OCZ drives as a choice to buy because that brand gets so much bad press

There is a firmware update which I updated to as soon as I got the drive.

 

[Jamezinho]

I've read that the OCZ Vertex drives are supposedly very good now.

This reminds me, I've not bench-marked my Crucial M4. Not had any issues with it at all but nice to know the numbers.

 

[bsmaff]

Damn

And I rejected the OCZ drives as a choice to buy because that brand gets so much bad press

There is a firmware update which I updated to as soon as I got the drive.

The Vertex 1&2 had a pretty bad reputation as they kept crashing and blue screening with certain machine setups.

But I bought the OCZ Vertex 3 and never had a problem and then bought the Vertex 4 as soon as it came out and never had any issues with either.
I bought them as pretty much every reviewer says they are the fastest drives on the market.

 

[uksix]

New PC is up and running, just a few questions.

I'm using my SSD for my OS and programs which I use alot. I noticed that I had 91 GB left from 119 GB. I highlighted everything in my C drive and I have only used 16 GB which should mean I should have 12 GB more. Is there a reason why 12 GB have just gone?

Secondly, I installed steam onto my HDD which is for Games and files. I noticed my SSD go down by 0.1 GB, its not much, but why is this?

Finally, is there any way to get Photoshop CS4 working on Windows 7 64 Bit? I was using 32 Bit on my old PC (I think) and I thought that 32 Bit programs could work on 64 Bit.

 

[Jamezinho]

1. Could be a system backup taking up the missing space?

2. Game saves/data is normally stored in your 'My Documents' folder which will be on your C: drive (your SSD). At least this was the case with me. I moved the location of the my documents folder to my HDD (where all my games are).

3. I've got Photoshop CS3 installed on my Windows 64 bit system and it works ok?

Bare in mind I'm not an expert on PC's so all of the above could be completely wrong!

 

[uksix]

When you say " I moved the location of the my documents folder to my HDD". Did you just drag and drop them over and the games loaded the save data ok?

 

[Jamezinho]

When you say " I moved the location of the my documents folder to my HDD". Did you just drag and drop them over and the games loaded the save data ok?

Right click on the folder and within 'properties' there is a 'location' option which allows you to relocate the file. You may be able to drag and drop, I'm not sure.

 

[Placebo]

I've been using symbolic links, works great, for example my Arma2 was in g:\games\Arma2 but I want it on C now where the SSD is but didn't want to uninstall it, so I just moved the Arma2 folder to my C: then used this symbolic link creator http://code.google.com/p/symlinker/

as so:

Now Arma2 runs from my SSD on C yet windows sees it as g:\games so the installations didn't need redoing or anything, I've also done a couple of others, such as a G:\Games\Downloads folder where all the mods/updates/downloads are but linked it to C:\Arma2\Downloads so I can access them from looking in the C drive

 

[uksix]

Right click on the folder and within 'properties' there is a 'location' option which allows you to relocate the file. You may be able to drag and drop, I'm not sure.

On the KONAMI folder in My Documents? Couldn't see the "Location" option.

 

[Jamezinho]

On the KONAMI folder in My Documents? Couldn't see the "Location" option.

I was referring to the whole my documents folder i.e. moving it and everything within it.

 

[uksix]

So your right. I can do that and move it to the HDD or move each game seperatly using a long method. Does it work if you move the location of the My Documents folder?

 

[tc811]

New PC is up and running, just a few questions.

I'm using my SSD for my OS and programs which I use alot. I noticed that I had 91 GB left from 119 GB. I highlighted everything in my C drive and I have only used 16 GB which should mean I should have 12 GB more. Is there a reason why 12 GB have just gone?

Isn't 120gb just the advertised capacity? Formatting always claims about 10% of your space. On my 128 GB SSD I get about 111GB free space.

 

[uksix]

Isn't 120gb just the advertised capacity? Formatting always claims about 10% of your space. On my 128 GB SSD I get about 111GB free space.

Is that without files installed? In theory with 10% taken off 128 GB and all the files on it which is 19.8 GB, I should have 95.4 GB whilst I have 87.1 GB.

 

[bsmaff]

Isn't 120gb just the advertised capacity? Formatting always claims about 10% of your space. On my 128 GB SSD I get about 111GB free space.

The reason why HD's never show there correct size within Windows is because Windows sees 1MB as 1000bytes where as DOS sees an HD as 1024bytes.

So you are losing 24bytes per MB which isnt alot but when you are talking GB's then the bytes start adding up.

"Most operating systems, including the Microsoft Windows operating systems use the powers of 1,024 convention when reporting HDD capacity, thus an HDD offered by its manufacturer as a 1 TB drive is reported by these OSes as a 931 GB HDD."

 

[kevano22]

Hi guys.

I'm going to build my own PC, I fancy a project.

I'm going to limit my budget to £500 for a base unit.

Can anyone re-jig my memory as to what I'll need other than:

Case
Motherboard
Power Unit
CPU
Graphics Card
HDD
Sound Card

How do you know if certain things are compatible with one another? It's been years since I bothered doing anything remotely like this.

Ta in advance.

 

[Jamezinho]

Hi guys.

I'm going to build my own PC, I fancy a project.

I'm going to limit my budget to £500 for a base unit.

Can anyone re-jig my memory as to what I'll need other than:

Case
Motherboard
Power Unit
CPU
Graphics Card
HDD
Sound Card

How do you know if certain things are compatible with one another? It's been years since I bothered doing anything remotely like this.

Ta in advance.

You forgot RAM. 4gb is fine but it's not expensive so maybe pick up 8gb.

You may also need a DVD drive but they are not essential these days. They are dirt cheap though.

Also, you probably don't need a sound card as the onboard audio from the motherboard or the graphics card will do just fine. A sound card is worth considering if you use headphones (specifically surround headphones).

If you can budget for it, get an SSD as a boot drive. It's worth it.

 

[Jamezinho]

As far as compatibility goes, the main thing is to make sure you get the motherboard and CPU matched up. For instance, a 'socket 1155' CPU needs a 'socket 1155' motherboard.

CPU - go Intel, don't bother with AMD. You're probably looking at an Intel i5 for a gaming build, either a i5 2500k or i5 3570k. Both of these are a very similar price and performance. The 3570k is newer and a bit more efficient, but supposedly runs hotter than the 2500k it replaces. It's also worth getting a CPU with the 'k' suffix as that means it's unlocked and can be overclocked should you decide to do so. They only cost a few pence/pounds more.

Once you've decided on a motherboard you can look at what memory it supports, normally DDR3 1600Mhz. Also check what other connections it has as that will help deciding other components, but in general you'll be able to slot in any graphics card, HDD, etc....

Building the thing is pretty straightforward. It's just a case of slotting/plugging things in. Everything is standardised and can generally only go in one place.

 

[Placebo]

These are the readings from my SSD:



I don't know whether or not there is a firmware update for your drive as if there is that might improve performance.

Decided to bite the bullet and get a Vertex 4, so either I get my kingston working better and I'll have two SSDs or I'll sell it and try to get as much back as possible

 

[bsmaff]

Decided to bite the bullet and get a Vertex 4, so either I get my kingston working better and I'll have two SSDs or I'll sell it and try to get as much back as possible

When you first plug it in make sure it isnt the boot drive and update the firmware before using it properly.

Because the Vertex 4 has poor writing performance before they fixed it with version 1.4 and version 1.5 adds an extra 7% onto overall performance.

 

[bsmaff]

You forgot RAM. 4gb is fine but it's not expensive so maybe pick up 8gb.

You may also need a DVD drive but they are not essential these days. They are dirt cheap though.

Also, you probably don't need a sound card as the onboard audio from the motherboard or the graphics card will do just fine. A sound card is worth considering if you use headphones (specifically surround headphones).

If you can budget for it, get an SSD as a boot drive. It's worth it.

Here you go, not £500 though.



There is some stuff though you could miss out and get elsewhere as could be cheaper.
I would get a 2nd hand graphics card like a 5870 or maybe even a 6870 that is instantly £80 off that, other 2nd hand components could also be used.
You could buy a motherboard and processor bundle of ebay with a 2500K, that would then easily get the budget below £500.

 

[Jamezinho]

Yeah, I think £500 is a bit tight for a gaming build, especially if buying all components from scratch. £600-700 is a more realistic budget.

What bsmaff has put together is your standard lower/mid-range gaming build so you (Kevano) would be well advised to buy something along those lines.

A Z77 motherboard is your best bet, either MSI, ASUS or Gigabyte (GA-Z77-D3H which I have).

Another option on the graphics card is a Radeon HD 7850 which is slightly better than the Nvidia 560Ti and has 2gb VRAM compared to 1gb. It can be picked up for a similar price if you shop around. I've got the Sapphire HD 7850 and it's a really good overclocker - mine is running over 30% quicker than stock and can go higher. Great cooling too.

 

[Placebo]

When you first plug it in make sure it isnt the boot drive and update the firmware before using it properly.

Because the Vertex 4 has poor writing performance before they fixed it with version 1.4 and version 1.5 adds an extra 7% onto overall performance.

Yep thanks I read a few things about that and always planned to update the firmware first before cloning my OS onto it, I did the same with the Kingston, sadly their firmware is apparently no use!

 

[kevano22]

Thanks for all your advice guys. I'll have a proper read through it all tonight.

PS @ forgetting RAM.

 

[bsmaff]

Thanks for all your advice guys. I'll have a proper read through it all tonight.

PS @ forgetting RAM.

If you are really working to a £500 budget, read what I said previous about just getting a 5870 or 5860 they are both really cheap now.

+ Look on ebay for bundles with a 2500K.

 

[uksix]

How do the freezer pro's work? Does the big fan (Not the one facing down on the CPU) detect when it needs to stop, start, go faster etc.?

Edit: Just did a quick search, seems like you can set it in your BIOS what speed for what temperature. Or keep it on Auto. Pretty cool

 

[bsmaff]

How do the freezer pro's work? Does the big fan (Not the one facing down on the CPU) detect when it needs to stop, start, go faster etc.?

Edit: Just did a quick search, seems like you can set it in your BIOS what speed for what temperature. Or keep it on Auto. Pretty cool

The fan speed is controlled by the BIOS so would spin slower or faster depending on CPU temp.
If your like me though it is easy to configure the fan % in the bios, as because my fan is silent I have the fan blowing 100% when the cpu reaches 45c rather than 60c.

 

[kevano22]

You forgot RAM. 4gb is fine but it's not expensive so maybe pick up 8gb.

You may also need a DVD drive but they are not essential these days. They are dirt cheap though.

Also, you probably don't need a sound card as the onboard audio from the motherboard or the graphics card will do just fine. A sound card is worth considering if you use headphones (specifically surround headphones).

If you can budget for it, get an SSD as a boot drive. It's worth it.

Right, thanks a lot you two (bsmaff n jamz), really helpful.

So. I'm going to look for...

A small SSD drive (no need for more than 100gb really)to put the OS on. Using the other two HDDs I already have with music on and just keeping them in there to store things on.
Use the Pioneer 112 D DVD drive I already in this.
A decent graphics card to play all games on, I don't particularly care if I can't play them all on Ultra High in HD.
A mobo that is compatible with a good CPU - I'm not going to overclock it or anything like that, I don't know how/wouldn't need to do it. Also will get 8GB of RAM that will be compatible.

Then I need the case - again, what do I need to look for compatibility wise?

PSU - How much power will I need? Is this what makes the PC noisy? I'd probably pay a little extra to keep it quiet (as well as getting a good sound proof case).

I feel a lot more comfortable going to shop for these things now, I can't thank you guys enough.

When I've sorted the PSU/Case issue out, I'll get shopping round for the best deals!

PS - i've listed these for sale on AV forums - do you think I'm in the right price range?

http://www.avforums.com/forums/comp...r-graphics-card-motherboard.html#post17313396

Look forward to hearing from you guys again.