The New AMD Building Thread

theonejrs: Iagree on the Computer
HDDs really got no use for anything smaller then a 500Gig, & just my personal opinion but I'll never buy a DeckStar again. My preference is Samsung, even though they've only got a three yr warr.. But what ever is on sale. I'm waiting on a e-mail from Newegg when they have the terabyte back in stock
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152135

SAMSUNG HD103UI 1TB 5400 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s $94.99 Free Shipping*

This ones only 5.oo more, just might end up buying it if I get too inpatient. But 5.00 is 5.00, & that'll buy a nice lunch
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152102

 

Seriously, on the back of my friends' experience, I'd strongly advise against Samsung 1TB drives. 5/5 failure in 6 weeks... They weren't even from the same batch either.

 

Quick Question on those HDDs is 7200 RPMs better then 5400. My train of thought is the faster they spin the quicker they ware out
OK sammorris: THANKS, but the 500s R Great I'll look at other options

 

Doesn't really make much difference really. The main advantage of 5400rpm drives is less noise, heat and power consumption.

 

Dude!!! Why would you even want a 5400 RPM 32MB when you can have the extra speed of the 7200 RPM 32MB! $5.00 may be $5.00 but Save the lunch and get the 7200 RPM Model! It's the better drive by far!

On a side note! I bought Samsungs very first model IDE Drive, back in the early to mid 90's. It kind of got panned by the reviewers as a so-so drive as they went along in their tests, but when they got to the end, they found out it was the 2nd best performer of the 8 tested! It wasn't superior in any one of the tests, but when the scores were added up, Samsung got the Silver, and was way ahead of the Bronze. Not a bad start for a new business venture! LOL!! I had one, and it was blazing fast compared to the WD I had at the time. It had the two Q's! Quick and Quiet! I used them for a good while after that!

When I came out here to stay (So Cal) in 03, a Doctor friend gave me a 1GB Maxtor. I put it in my computer, only to have it go belly up within a month. I was about to chuck it when I noticed that it had a 3 0r 5 year (I don't remember) Warranty on it, and it had a month to go! They had no more 1GB's so they gave me a 2GB one, with a new warranty. I liked the drive so I used them for about 3 years. now, because I see so many different computers and components, my insight into Quality and Performance has grown a bit. I've been very busy, and getting busier! It seems that the people around here can no longer afford $85 an hour with a 2 hour minimum at the computer shops! 7 computers this week alone, and the week ain't over yet! I make it my business to keep up with what the computer places around here are selling and their prices, and price what I sell accordingly! I also don't haggle with people because if they want to get something because it's cheaper, I'll still charge them $100 to put it in! It's $70 cheaper than the computer shops charge, so as long as I stay lower than them, I should do pretty good. People just can't live without the Internet! ROFLMSOAOTID!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

These 5400rpm drives exist for a reason. Samsung have made one, and now Seagate have as well. They are not for performance, they are for quietness. Ultimately though, from the scores I've seen the WD10EADS has them all beat, and without the reliability issues to boot. That's not fanboyism, it's just the truth. No inexplicable controller failures (Samsung) reported, and no firmware-related failures (Seagate) either. The only criticism is that the continuous head load/unload will cause reduced lifetime of the drive. Even if it does, I haven't heard of anything like that happening yet.

 

sammorris: Which Drive or Drives are U referring to with this statement.[The only criticism is that the continuous head load/unload will cause reduced lifetime of the drive.]

 

WD GreenPower and Caviar Green drives unload the drive heads from the platter when they're not in use (typically after 8 seconds I think) which is how they maintain their incredible 3.7W idle power consumption (a lot of drives use 10 or more). If you access the drive, say, every 10 seconds for whatever reason, the continuous load/unload will eventually wear the drive out faster than normal, but it's usually only programs like Everest and Speedfan that do this (so a warning to people who leave those programs open 24/7!)

 

sammorris: My Computer and Drives are working 24/7. Which HDD do U think would be best suited 4 me

 

Not the point, it's only if they get probed on a routine basis that's the problem. In 24/7 servers they run fine. Greenpowers are still my drive of choice for the lack of noise and heat.

 

How do the Greenpowers compare to,
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000333AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb
would U classify them as superior

 

Hey Guys, Russ sorry not getting back lately, been so damn buzy fixing things around the house my niece is coming from England saturday for several weeks it's been hectic.

Russ I still need to install the exhuast fan, probably will give you a call next week sometime, my son is home on spring break, he went ape s#*t over the new build, all his friends were amazed also.

I said I was gonna take it and let them use my HP, it almost started a riot, I was just busting balls anyway, I'm really happy to see them get excited over it, they all love and can't believe how speedy it is.

My friend Boris called the other day and asked how was it running, I told him it was great, he said anytime I want to build another one to call him cause he said he enjoyed helping me and learned some things himself, all in all it was a great experiance and so happy I did it.

Well gotta go back to the tile work in the downstairs bathroom, wanna make things nice for the niece. (Keep on Building).

 

The 7200.11 7200rpm 1TB drives are the brute heavyweights. Hot, power-hungry and comparatively noisy (though far better than most of Seagate's other drives), but faster.

 

Here's an interesting article from Xbit labs on overclocking the Phenom II 940!
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/cpu/phenom-2-overclocking-p1.html

There were some interesting things mentioned that have me wondering what AMD's next step along the way will be! One of the more interesting things was this.

"Even though all our games seriously load a graphics card, increased CPU clock rate makes itself felt in all tests. Some of them even show linear response. That's a brilliant show of Phenom II scalability. If performance in non-synthetic tests is limited by small cache or any other architectural restrictions, manufacturing processors with higher clock rates and their overclocking have no future".

Since AMD has so far brought everything along in slow but steady stages, showing improvements along the way with each new release! My best guess is that more L2 Cache is the next thing AMD will address and rectify in coming revisions of the CPU!

It's an interesting read. One that will give a better insight to overclocking the 940BE!

Enjoy,
Russ

 

I'll be honest, that statement goes for pretty much any processor. In most of the games I tested, while the cache could affect performance noticeably, scaling still remained linear with clock speed, just reduced.

 

Here's another article I found on the Phenom II 940BE. Seems it's a pretty fair gamer too, especially at the higher resolutions!

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/phenomii940/

Enjoy,
Russ

 

Well, the higher the resolution, the less the system is bound by the CPU's performance, so the less accurate the test is. Detail level in my mind should always be maxed out, as more graphics settings than you might think have an impact on CPU usage, especially in games like Crysis:Warhead, but the resolution has no impact on the CPU at all, so it should realistically be as low as possible in at least one of the tests. Another feature irrelevant to the CPU is Anti-Aliasing, so should never be enabled during the test. Unfortunately, it has been in Warhead, so the results are not pointless, but of little value, as in Warhead in particular, AA really harms graphics performance.
At that low resolution, you should be seeing far more than 1 extra frame per second going from 3Ghz to 3.755, a lot more. Enabling AA and only using an HD4850 has dropped the numbers significantly.

 

I just ordered a new motherboard from newegg! The GA-MA790GP-DS4H has been discontinued in favor of the GA-MA790GP-UD4H. I knew that was going to happen, as it made no sense to me to make what is essentially the same MB, with a price difference of only $4. The UD4H has a little better layout of the Sata ports and a better heatsink on the SB. That's the extent of the differences. Hopefully it will be here in the morning, as they are overnighting it to me!

Stay Tuned Kiddies,
Russ

 

Most of the DS brand boards are being rebranded as UD across the Gigabyte range, some of them with minor changes as you see.

 

No Sir, I'm sorry, but that is not quite correct! The new UD boards are based on the DS, but are a re-design rather than a revision. With the GA-MA790GP-UD4H, I lose the Parallel port, so the Mustek 600 EP-III scanner is permanently retired. The Sata ports are split 4 and 2. The traces on the motherboard are Copper, about 2 Oz of it per motherboard. You also get a better heatsink fot the southbridge, and a backing plate for the CPU cooler mounting. It's a pity that they haven't got the graphics figured out yet, but I did notice that Avivo is missing in the drivers for mine. The don't include it anymore!

I think I've got the ATi Blues! After a number of conversations with GigaByte and AMD today, I downloaded the latest HD-3300 drivers and the latest version of Avivo. ATi Argued that it was the monitor, but it's use for over a week on 10 different computers with no problems, and adding 5 more today, 2 Desktops and 3 laptops With the drivers, I got the magnificent picture back, but it was no go with Avivo. It didn't work on the DS4H, and it doesn't work on the UD4H either, so there's no hardware acceleration for the software to control so my DVDs, while looking great still makes the screen bump and jump along. The farther away you are from the action, the worse it is. The background seems to move in big chunks, stuttering along. I think I'm just going to buy an nVidia PCI-E 2.0 card. In fact I'm thinking about this one right now! Biostar V9503GT21 GeForce 9500 GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814141078

I just don't seem to have much luck with ATi video. I think I would rather get the GeForce card, than to wait for ATi to get it right. At least The 9500 GT, should be a better card than my old 7600GT was, and when ATi finally gets around to addressing the problem and the HD-3300 works as good as the HD-3200 on the 780GX did, I'll use it and put this card in Oxi, as the 6150 graphics aren't the greatest, even with 2GB of ram! It pales next to the HD-3200 graphics of the BioStar and Gigabyte 780GX graphics. I've looked around and I can't find any better nVidia card for the same or less money. It's the only nVidia at that price or lower that gives you GDDR3 memory. I can afford $75, with the Tax and shipping! That's it!! This one comes to $72.41 delivered! Feel free to make any suggestions, as long as they are nVidia. Like I said, I've got the ATi Blues! ROFL!!

Best Regards,
Russ