The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

Sam,

Sorry, but I never compromise my sources. That's why I get answers when I ask questions. It's a matter of trust! Still, it's not hard to figure out.

At Newegg, there are 12, i5 processors (one out of stock) that all fall within a $20 price range between $199.99 and $219.99. The next price up is $80 higher. Not only that, but there are 8 of the i5s that sell in very poor numbers, and one unknown. Intel should drop the 8, but won't. Did you realize that only 3 i5s sell in significant numbers. The i5-2400, the i5-3750K. and the i5-2500K. The rest combined equal barely equal the sales of the i5-2400, and it's been around a while. The unknown is the i5-3470s, and I imagine it's a new chip as it's Newegg sales = 0.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

The latter doesn't surprise me as there are so many redundant options in the lineup. It was bewildering trying to actually buy one of those CPUs. I still find it very difficult to believe they make a loss on the 3400s though, the 3570K does cost more, but not a lot more, and the real money is made from OEMs, not the enthusiast-grade K chips, because those are what go in Dell/HP systems etc. They will be using the standard 3400s I almost guarantee it, and no way would they put loss-leading CPUs in those.

I own an i5 3470 and have done for a few months now, they've been around for a while.
Edit: Saw you mention the i5 3470S, not the 3470 - my mistake.
Still, the release date of those was H2 12, and I'm pretty sure they too were on offer when I bought my CPU.

 

I meant to post this PDF the other day. I sent it to a couple of friends that are planning to OC their 1090ts. I got called for dinner and I forgot to send it. Sorry!

http://sites.amd.com/us/Documents/AMD_FX_Performance_Tuning_Guide.pdf

While this is for tuning with AMD OverDrive, I just used some of the same settings in my motherboard's setup. The results are pretty darn good, if I do say so myself!

120,504 MIPS!



MB 12,466MB/s



Cache and Memory performance




Processor Multi Media! 601,104/421,998it/s



This is at 4.03GHz, with great temperatures. That's where I'm going to leave it for now until I get another A/C 120mm 77 cfm, pwm push fan for the radiator.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186078

You can pair two of them to the CPU fan header on the motherboard, using the wiring that comes with the fan, and since they are the same fan, they both run the same speed, controlled by the CPU temperature. I think it will do at least 4.4gHz, maybe more. The definitions of all the new controls in the setup, is worth reading, if you want to OC an AMD.

Have Fun,
Russ

 

Have received it in your PM Russ Sent a reply iirc.

 

Just spent the morning repairing my older-than-dirt stereo receiver. A Yamaha R-10 130W from about 1975. It was free, has sentimental value, and outputs excellent quality sound. Runs about 300-400W worth of speakers so loud it can crack windows. Signal quality is infinitely more important than power throughput. I have tried many budget and mid-range receivers and the difference is almost nil or sometimes the newer receivers are even a bit worse due to the analog-digital differences. I guess quality sound will always be quality sound

Had a broken source selector switch that caused horrible crackling and cutting in and out at random times unless jiggled. Was able to tear apart a similar non-working unit(Yamaha R-700) and cannibalize the identical switch from that. Very luckily, nothing was soldered. Just screw it in and plug in the connector and done. Was one hell of a project getting the front panel apart though. Brass screws and they are glued in place. Had to cut notches with a dremel and use a slotted screwdriver to break the glue.

Glad I could repair this old receiver as it was given by a good friend who passed away a few years ago. Intend to use it until it is no longer useful. Again, very nice quality sound, and able to push high wattage speakers quite well.

 

Congrats on your Antiquated receiver Hey, if it works, heck yah! I definitely in some cases, find audio equipment to be more GREEN than it used to be. In which case, my 14yr old receiver is substantially more powerful. Though I know if I spent more, I'd get a more powerful receiver I intend to one day.

 

The selector wasn't broken it was dirty a good cleaning with a quality contact cleaner/lubricant would have fixed it most probably and much easier too.

The difference between that amp, which I had as well, and newer ones of today is AB class verses D class. AB class are not efficient but in the past have a much better sound whereas D class are extremely efficient and way less but were lacking good low frequency sound. That has changed today as there are very good class D amplifiers like my Crown XLS's. Your 130w RMS is really probably around 90w RMS at 3db (20-20KHz) as Yammy's tend to have weak amplifiers for their rating, or one could say they lie about their wattage spec. It isn't that you can't get 130watts out it is that the distortion is unbearable at full rating.

I'm definitely a Yammy fan and have had several versions of Yamaha receivers over the years. What I'm doing now is using my Yamaha to control my sound environment but using Crown XLS amps to drive my main speakers (Front/Back) and allowing the Yammy to drive the surrounds which it is more than capable of doing. Because I have quality speakers, very expensive too, my imaging and low frequencies are reproduced very well.

As to quality sound it isn't true that quality today is the same as it was in the 70's, unfortunately the bar has dropped immensely over the years.

 

I was looking at getting a Yamaha receiver, but found that you have to pay a lot more money to get a similar spec. Perhaps there's extra quality involved too, but the Pioneer receiver I paid £250 for compares favourably spec-wise to the £500 Yamaha...

 

Pioneer is OK but Denon and Yamaha are much better for mid level audio gear. In fact even though I love my Yammy's, Denon is better gear from an amplifier prospective but from features Yamaha is better. I would put Pioneer in the third slot and then it is a toss up with Harman/Kardon, Marantz, Sony, and others. I know you love specs but they don't always tell the true story especially in the audio world. You really need to listen to Speakers and Amplifiers to determine what is better and do a side by side comparison unless you have a very good trained ear, which most people don't, even if they think they do.

 

Please don't put $ony next to the other names...

$ony can burn in hell...

 

Ah no when I mean specs, I don't mean things like amplifier wattage ratings, I mean feature specifications - number of HDMI ports, the ability to upscale analog inputs to the HDMI output, and so on. In all honesty, pretty much anything you can buy as a receiver would suit me for now in the amplifier capability department.
Amplification is a secondary requirement of the receiver as I'm currently using it with a set of PC speakers that normally would use their own amplifier - luckily the satellites use speaker wire so I can hook them up as normal and use the sub preout as the only input to the original speaker system.
When I move out and get more than a small bedroom and can actually justify a large sound system then some proper speakers may follow, but until then the 100W per channel amp in this receiver is wholly overkill - the 60W per channel the satellites are rated at isn't even remotely approached.
The reason for getting the receiver is the need to consolidate all my various inputs - composite, component, HDMI and so on, and I needed a receiver that could send an input analog signal over composite/component with RCA audio, out over HDMI, and you don't get that feature on Yamahas until the £500 mark, below that it's just passthrough - receiver amplifies the audio, but what goes in analog, goes out analog the other side. The Pioneer offered this functionality at half the price.

 

Actually if you have good speakers 100w amp is just fine unless you have a large room or venue that you're using it in. And for the money you spent the Pioneer will work just as well as the Yamaha. It is a good idea to spend 4x the amount on speakers then what you spend on your amplifier, as a general rule. The most important area to focus on in your system is your speakers, then the electronics behind it falls in to place. Pioneer is good gear so you did well and saved money too, which is always a smart move!

Stevo ....

 

Yeah my original purchase idea was a high-end earlier model Yamaha they had on clearance, but they turned out not to have it, so that was what I bought.
Currently using a set of Logitech Z-5500s, so brand new, they were worth about 1.1x as much as the receiver (back in 2005!) but since I bought them second hand about 6 years ago, they only cost me 0.6x what the receiver did!

 

Joke of the decade!

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Intel-Heat-Sink-AUPSRCBTP/6614639/product.html

Check the price. LOL!

 

Rofl, I think someone's made a typo there I'm guessing it was meant to be £4.28 or £4.38 judging from the two characters adjacent.

 

I want to know how many you really bought at that price? Stocking up Russ? LOL

 

Sam,

Nope, that's the price. I added it to the cart, and went through the whole process, up to the code. Price never changed!

Russ

 

Oh I'm sure it's legitimately added, but whoever posted the price to the database has obviously got it wrong! Nowhere legitimately charges that sort of money for those coolers.
I know we have it hard in the UK, but not that hard!

 

Sam,

I just contacted Overstock.com, And they checked the price. It's not a mistake. That's the price! She even checked the master list.

Russ

 

ok guys here is what i have come up with getting opinions.



memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233336


MB

good to OC with? not really gaming anymore to speak of

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131821


core

should be able to OC to 4 GHz ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116501

HDD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m4051X642410Xd7311f1275144bc945ed0735205ef12f

maybe this one or the 64 cache?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136555


thanks for all the help opinions guys..going with Windows7 64 bit OS