Hardware Is this a good configuration?

[alphamule]

Meh, they just use that keyboard because it has a LCD that be set to show CPU consumption. You can do the same with general-purpose I/O ports like USB/EIA232 and a serial LCD display if you're into that sort of stuff. Another 8GB of RAM can vary greatly in price depending on the rated speed. Pricewatch.com has street prices to compare. $40 to $80 depending on the speed which is enough to get a game or get a bigger drive or save for later upgrades. Talk about old - see this 2009 thread that oddly enough seems to cover RAM bandwidth math pretty well.

If you have 2 CPUs each with the same MHz, cores, and stepping, but one has a faster external bus, then the one with the faster bus and lower multiplier is the better CPU. For cases where you have say, a 10% increased bus speed on CPU B but CPU A has a newer stepping and 10% higher clock speed, it gets 'complicated'. The pain of it, is that you can have the bottleneck in the GPU or the CPU or the RAM or the HDD or... (It's most likely in the GPU/CPU/RAM) And it may only be in one specific game that you hit the GPU, but another game might hit one of the OTHER 2 limits.

I assume that everyone's seen this site: http://www.intel.com...?select=desktop

Avoid the Sandy steppings and get the Ivy Bridge steppings if you can. For the same GHz, you'll find that it runs cooler and uses less power and DOESN'T MAKE YOUR CPU FAN SOUND LIKE A JET PLANE. That is, assuming that your CPU fan slows down when not needed at full speed (they all do this unless the lowest-end cheap P-O-S, now). I'm sure XBox 360 owners know all about this one, hehe. It's annoying to be playing a movie or something and you can hear over the TV sound system.

If you run a PSU at or near it's thermal rating (and not just the peak rate that the electronics can handle), then you're asking for trouble. The problem is that most power supply ratings are like apples and freaking oranges dogs. Lies, damn lies, and power supply ratings. But at least you generally get what you pay for. A $20 '650 w' power supply and a $50 '500w' power supply - guess which will work better when your system is drawing 350w average and 500w while in your game? Of course, if you see a tiny and lightweight power supply with one tiny fan and another with an average weight and 2 big fans, you can tell which will likely last, no matter what the price difference is. Here's the general guide line if buying a decent power supply: Calculate the HIGHEST amount your system will use and then multiply by 1.2. Get a power supply there and you won't likely burn your house down.

http://extreme.outer...culatorlite.jsp Just for the heck of it, I put a dual-GTX590 and single-CPU i5-680 system into there and got 757 watts with 807 watts recommended. Haha, that would be a kick-ass system. And for an insane build, I got 1200 watts recommended for dual-GPU, dual-CPU GTX590/E5-1660 with 8 RAM modules, 4 15K RPM drives, liquid cooling, and both a RAM SSD and Flash SSD. Too bad the calculator doesn't cover the newer stuff but it is pretty easy to use.

 

[Originality]

CPU fan? What CPU fan? I've just got a CPU liquid pump and the radiator is hooked up to one of the two 120mm exhaust fans (closed loop so no reservoir).
Oh right, you mean stock CPU fans? Yeah those can be loud. That's why I keep having to replace them when I visit people with after-market CPU fans that are cooler and quieter. Arctic Freezer anybody?

I won't comment on the CPU and PSU anymore - I don't feel like reiterating myself and hijacking the thread.

 

[benno300]

Well I think I'll be going with my last configuration, is it smart to take an aftermarket cpu cooler for this configuration?
Thank you guys for all your help!

 

[Alaude]

Well I think I'll be going with my last configuration, is it smart to take an aftermarket cpu cooler for this configuration?
Thank you guys for all your help!

yes it is recommended if you play games for a long time.

 

[Originality]

An aftermarket cooler runs cooler and quieter. The tradeoff is that you have to buy it (the stock cooler comes with a retail CPU) and it can take up a fair amount of space inside the computer (some like the Dark Rock Pro are too bulky/tall to fit inside smaller cases). Personally I always replace the stock cooler because the damn thing is too noisy, but it's not essential - just optional.

You can start by looking at the Arctic Freezer series (Freezer 7 or 13, although there are newer ones now available) to see what a cheap cooler looks like, then look from there to find one that suits you.

 

[alphamule]

An aftermarket cooler runs cooler and quieter. The tradeoff is that you have to buy it (the stock cooler comes with a retail CPU) and it can take up a fair amount of space inside the computer (some like the Dark Rock Pro are too bulky/tall to fit inside smaller cases). Personally I always replace the stock cooler because the damn thing is too noisy, but it's not essential - just optional.

You can start by looking at the Arctic Freezer series (Freezer 7 or 13, although there are newer ones now available) to see what a cheap cooler looks like, then look from there to find one that suits you.

This! Especially those nice active coolers with the liquid running back and forth inside a rather large set of fins. Greater surface area (more technically - thermal conductivity) can come from faster air or larger surfaces. I kind of compromised and got a big cooler with a lower-RPM but larger fan. It is not a liquid-based system like the fluorinert or water ones. It's still overkill because my system's CPU will never overheat.

The physics of devices designed to carry away heat is pretty interesting, by the way. Well, assuming that you're into sites like Hackaday or Wikipedia or Howstuffworks. Hot coals that people walk on are not actually 'coal' in a related subject, for example. Ceramics would be some of the worst heatsinks, sodium would be one of the best. With boiling/evaporating liquids, it can... depend. But further talk of that should go in a different topic's thread.