Help with Spec?

[guest_9323wk]

Good luck with the build Chris,

 

[ChristopherP]

Thanks.

The final order is:

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 6MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor - Qty: 1
OCZ Stealth XStream 600W PSU - SLI Ready ATX2.2 12cm Fan - Qty: 1
Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB Hard Drive SATAII *32MB Cache* - OEM - Qty: 1
ASUS HD 4670 512MB GDDR3 VGA DVI HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card - Qty: 1
Sony AD-7201S 20X DVD±RW/RAM LightScribe SATA Black Bare Drive - Boxed with Nero 8 *Worth £4.50* - Qty: 1
Extra Value All in 1 Internal Card Reader Plus One USB2.0 Port (Black) - Qty: 1
Infiniti Lightscribe 16x DVD-R - 10 Pack Spindle - Qty: 1
Microsoft Business Hardware Pack - Black/Silver Wired Keyboard with Black Wired Optical Mouse - PS/2-USB - Qty: 1
AKASA Black Velcro Cable Ties - 5 Pack - Qty: 1
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C9 1333MHz TwinX Dual Channel (TW3X4G1333C9)
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU)
Asus M4A79T Deluxe AMD 790FX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

Mostly ordered, just need to order the motherboard, RAM and Case from OCUK.

 

[guest_9323wk]

Thanks.

The final order is:

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 6MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor - Qty: 1
OCZ Stealth XStream 600W PSU - SLI Ready ATX2.2 12cm Fan - Qty: 1
Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB Hard Drive SATAII *32MB Cache* - OEM - Qty: 1
ASUS HD 4670 512MB GDDR3 VGA DVI HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card - Qty: 1
Sony AD-7201S 20X DVD±RW/RAM LightScribe SATA Black Bare Drive - Boxed with Nero 8 *Worth £4.50* - Qty: 1
Extra Value All in 1 Internal Card Reader Plus One USB2.0 Port (Black) - Qty: 1
Infiniti Lightscribe 16x DVD-R - 10 Pack Spindle - Qty: 1
Microsoft Business Hardware Pack - Black/Silver Wired Keyboard with Black Wired Optical Mouse - PS/2-USB - Qty: 1
AKASA Black Velcro Cable Ties - 5 Pack - Qty: 1
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C9 1333MHz TwinX Dual Channel (TW3X4G1333C9)
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU)
Asus M4A79T Deluxe AMD 790FX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

Mostly ordered, just need to order the motherboard, RAM and Case from OCUK.

Cool that is a very nice build indeed. That will last a good few years.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Looking good

 

[ChristopherP]

All ordered. Changed the RAM to:

OCZ Platinum AM3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel

It's got slightly tighter timings so might be a little more responsive. It's designed for AM3 systems, and it was £6 cheaper.

 

[guest_9323wk]

That will be fine, its good to get the lowest timings as possible as this allows for more OC head room.

 

[ChristopherP]

Yeah - my thoughts exactly. I believe the Phenom II 720 that I have ordered is the black edition, meaning it's multiplier unlocked. That means it should overclock nicely. I might try a mild overclock on it - just to boost the performance a little bit. Nothing major, it is after all an office PC for the parents!

Edit: I know that Flops mentioned the stock coolers aren't that great on these chips, so I made sure to get a well ventilated case and am not using any IDE cables or FDD cables so airflow should be very good. It might be the case that the temps will be too high to OC - but i'm not that fussed, as long as the temperatures are safe. It's rarely going to see high load anyway.

 

[ChristopherP]

Flops: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/unlock-phenom-ii,2273.html

 

[floppybootstomp]

Flops: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/unlock-phenom-ii,2273.html

Fascinating, Captain.

My AMD Dualie 4000+ (3.2Ghz stock) is a black edition but I haven't tried overclcocking it.

And it's got a huge Noctua heatsink on it as well, with 2 x 120mm fans.

Perhaps a modest twiddle may be in order?

 

[ChristopherP]

Fascinating, Captain.

My AMD Dualie 4000+ (3.2Ghz stock) is a black edition but I haven't tried overclcocking it.

And it's got a huge Noctua heatsink on it as well, with 2 x 120mm fans.

Perhaps a modest twiddle may be in order?

Agreed.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Ok, I tried an Overclock. And my chip's a 6400+ Dualie 3.2Ghz, not a 4000+ as I mentioned above

Still a Black Edition though

FSB is 200, maximum multiplier is x 16 so I guess that makes the chip locked

Tried the fsb, initially went for 219 cos that would have meant 3.4Ghz.

If a computer is capable on boot of giving you the finger that's what mine did cos it wouldn't enter Win XP.

Through a series of messing about, freezes, BSOD's and a reset CMOS or two I found out that 3.37Ghz was the highest I could go. Temps stayed more or less the same, I could detect no change in the speed of the OS.

Here's how it was:

Then I came back to the machine 30 minutes later and it had frozen.

Whereupon I reached the conclusion 'This is a complete and utter waste of time and heat'.

So I've put it back to stock.

This machine is really good at stock, very nippy indeed, I'm very happy with it.

My memory is 2 x 1Gb DDR2 sticks of Corsair CM2X 8500 C5D XMS2 1066Mhz working at 2.2 Volts and with timings of 5-5-5-15

It doesn't seem at all happy with a slightly increased fsb. Or something doesn't.

I didn't mess with voltages, purely fsb.

With the new generation of CPU's I honestly don't feel the need to overclock, they work well.

For three years I had my Socket A 2.2Ghz XP3200 overclocked to 2.4Ghz and my best overclock of all was an AMD 800Mhz Duron to 1Ghz by closing the small gaps with pencil lead to unlock it.

Now THAT was an overclock

So I'm not averse to overclocking, I just can't be assed with this one.

 

[ChristopherP]

Fair play!!

Was it you I bought Duron off? I'm sure I got a ridiculous overclock off that!

 

[ChristopherP]

Let the build commence!

 

[muckshifter]

... you're gonna need a screwdriver.

 

[guest_9323wk]

Hope the build goes well mate, look forward to seeing how it performs.

 

[ChristopherP]

Motherboard DOA

 

[guest_9323wk]

Motherboard DOA

Sorry to hear that mate, does it not post at all? I am sure you have done all the checks to make sure everything is seated correctly and plugged in.

 

[ChristopherP]

Hi mate,

No post and nothing on screen - although I don't think the MOBO has an inbuilt speaker, and the case doesn't come with one so I don't think it would beep if it was POSTing.

I took the system out of the case and set it up on an antistatic bag to make sure it wasn't shorting in the case. I unplugged all non-essential components (USB ports, DVD drive, Card Reader, Hard Drive etc) and the same thing happened.

Swapped over the graphics card (plugged my 8800GTX in) and no joy with that either.

Moved the RAM over to the other slots too.

Can't think of what else it could be - MOBO seems the most likely component, and I've had it before where the same thing has happened.

 

[guest_9323wk]

Hi,

Do you have any other systems you could try the CPU in? I dont think anything else would course this and as you said I agree it appears to be DOA.


I cant think of anything else to try as you have done everything I would have done as well.

 

[ChristopherP]

Unfortunately not - My system is LGA775.



I'm so annoyed.