Building a Gaming / Multimedia PC. (Maybe video editing too)

[Crow550]

Well got it up and running.... Mostly.... Don't have some of the front stuff hooked up yet. Some of the ports don't match the Mobo either.

First when building it.... The stupid CPU latch was a pain to unlock and it looks like it scraped the Mobo a bit. Erg I hope it's not fricked up. Should I prepair an RMA or will it be okay?

Then I noticed one of the plastic caps on the back of one of the power connectors on the power supply is missing. Either it happened when I pulled it through the rubber cable hideaway things on the case and popped off or was already like that. Looked all in the case & all over. Ugh!

Damn PC building issues!

I also switched the bios switch on the 6950 to make it a 6970. Which later I will use the included TRIXX software to OC it.

Should I mess with anything in the bios? Any OC settings for the I5-2500k? The bios says the CPU is 49C? Isn't that kinda high?

The Ripjaws were discovered fine with the correct speeds and everything.

The fan control is cool but I think I'd rather have the Mobo control it?

Well keep you up to date. Got Windows 7 installed and updating.

This PC build took freaking forever! However trying to find a small plastic piece to a power supply connector and cussing because the mobo got nicked.

I hope everything is A-okay. :\

I've done most things on PCs except CPUs and MOBO installing. OMG. I tried to follow the cases A-B-C-D-E-F-G config crap for the holes on the case. Talk about wasted time. Lies the case gave me. I just looked at the Mobo and the case and got it figured out.

So yeah will keep you posted.

 

[Crow550]

Hmmm....

The shaders don't seem to be unlocking on my video card & I switched the dual bios switch away from the crossfire connector like directed. :\

 

[Crow550]

Looks like the Mobo had the ram timings off. I just set them manually to 9-9-9-24. All is well.

 

[Googer]

Looks like the Mobo had the ram timings off. I just set them manually to 9-9-9-24. All is well.

Same Issue here with Ripjaws. Never had that problem with any of the dozens of Crucial DIMMs I've purchased or installed. I only used G.Skill Ripjaws because it's the model ASUS has on their tested components list.

 

[Crow550]

Same Issue here with Ripjaws. Never had that problem with any of the dozens of Crucial DIMMs I've purchased or installed. I only used G.Skill Ripjaws because it's the model ASUS has on their tested components list.

Well for my Mobo it was easy to change. It's not that big of a deal though. A little annoying if you have never done it I suppose.

 

[mfenn]

Hmmm....

The shaders don't seem to be unlocking on my video card & I switched the dual bios switch away from the crossfire connector like directed. :\

Not all cards have both BIOSes preloaded. Since you have dual-BIOSes, it is very easy to flash it yourself with no (ok very little) risk of screwing it up. Read through this guide.

 

[mfenn]

Well got it up and running.... Mostly.... Don't have some of the front stuff hooked up yet. Some of the ports don't match the Mobo either.

Not sure what you mean here, you might have to provide pictures.

First when building it.... The stupid CPU latch was a pain to unlock and it looks like it scraped the Mobo a bit. Erg I hope it's not fricked up. Should I prepair an RMA or will it be okay?

If the PC is working at all, you are probably OK. They generally don't put traces near the socket lever for this exact reason.

Should I mess with anything in the bios? Any OC settings for the I5-2500k?

I'd turn on AHCI and set your memory manually if it wasn't already detected.

The bios says the CPU is 49C? Isn't that kinda high?

A little, yeah. Check your idle temps in Windows with HWMonitor.

 

[Crow550]

About 32C.

 

[mfenn]

About 32C.

You're good then. That's a nice temp.

 

[Googer]

Well for my Mobo it was easy to change. It's not that big of a deal though. A little annoying if you have never done it I suppose.

It's inconvenient, a sign of bad marketing or possibly poor quality control.

 

[Crow550]

Not all cards have both BIOSes preloaded. Since you have dual-BIOSes, it is very easy to flash it yourself with no (ok very little) risk of screwing it up. Read through this guide.

Yes the switch is away from the crossfire port.

Tried it. Not working. I force flashed. No luck just blank screen so I restored the original bios.

I modified the bios with RBE no luck either.

The "unlocked" shaders aren't showing.

 

[mfenn]

Yes the switch is away from the crossfire port.

Tried it. Not working. I force flashed. No luck just blank screen so I restored the original bios.

I modified the bios with RBE no luck either.

The "unlocked" shaders aren't showing.

Looks like you got unlucky and got one that won't unlock. It's kind of like overclocking, nothing is guaranteed.

 

[Crow550]

Looks like you got unlucky and got one that won't unlock. It's kind of like overclocking, nothing is guaranteed.

So I should exchange it? :\

Also contacted NCIXs RMA about the missing power plug back piece. It may have came that way. I am unsure.

 

[lehtv]

Unlocking only gives you about 3-5% better performance, it's not a big loss. Overclocking is going to make a bigger impact - in fact, the 10% difference in clock frequency (800 vs 880 MHz) explains most of the difference in performance between stock 6950 and 6970.

 

[Crow550]

Odd. My Mobo says my CPU is 60C and Speccy in Windows days 30C.

Should I give Asrocks Turbo 50 a try?

I turned it on for a bit. It clocked the CPU to 4.8ghz I think. Mobo says 80-90C. Speccy said 40-50c.

 

[Crow550]

So they plaster THX on the box & on the Mobo and offer a gimped version? Erg!

Looks like I will be getting SRS Audio Essentials. Same features as what the THX software would be offering.

Unless I am missing some reg key that came with the program?

 

[lehtv]

80-90C is quite high. Are you using the stock intel cooler? You shouldn't really be overclocking with that.

Could you post a screenshot from HWmonitor at idle?

 

[Crow550]

80-90C is quite high. Are you using the stock intel cooler? You shouldn't really be overclocking with that.

Could you post a screenshot from HWmonitor at idle?

The Mobo said 80-90c. Windows said 50-60c.

Don't know what's up. One of them is lying?

 

[lehtv]

Was it HWMonitor that said 50-60? Also

Are you using the stock intel cooler? You shouldn't really be overclocking with that.

 

[Crow550]

Was it HWMonitor that said 50-60? Also

Yeah using stock cooler

& Speccy and Asrock Extreme Tuner reported 50-60c.

Turbo Boost 50 is off now anyways.

 

[lehtv]

You said you overclocked to 4.8Ghz. I find that pretty unlikely on a stock cooler, at least it'd be a sick chip if it was stable. Could you recheck that? Download CPU-Z (and post a screenshot). In any case, I'd recommend you not to OC on the stock cooler. It's possible to do a mild OC but the performance gains from a mild OC are, well, mild so not really worth it.

So what does HWmonitor report? Post a screenshot at with the CPU at idle on Windows, and at load (e.g. running Prime95). Some tools report Tcase (which is the casing of the CPU), others report individual core temperatures. HWmonitor does the latter.

 

[Crow550]

With Turbo Boost 50 on:

Cpu: 4800mhz

The Mobo shows max CPU speed temp.

As I ran a game a window mode and the CPU speed & temp was raising to the levels the Mobo said. So I will keep it off till I invest in a better air or water cooler.

 

[lehtv]

:thumbsup:

With a proper tower cooler like Hyper 212+ or better you will see maybe 70C at load. 80-90 is way too hot, so keep it at stock speeds for now. Your idle temperatures shouldn't change much if at all at stock vs OC'd because of the power saving functions in the CPU.

When you do OC, you should stress test that overclock properly to make sure it's stable. Playing a game isn't enough. See here.

 

[mfenn]

With Turbo Boost 50 on:

Cpu: 4800mhz

The Mobo shows max CPU speed temp.

As I ran a game a window mode and the CPU speed & temp was raising to the levels the Mobo said. So I will keep it off till I invest in a better air or water cooler.

Do you mean 3.8Ghz? I don't know of any auto OC that will get you to nearly 5 GHz on the stock cooler unless you have a god chip.

 

[Crow550]

Do you mean 3.8Ghz? I don't know of any auto OC that will get you to nearly 5 GHz on the stock cooler unless you have a god chip.

It said 4800mhz which is 4.8ghz. Just need a better cooler for the CPU.

Pretty awesome. Asrocks Turbo 50: http://www.asrock.com/feature/turbo50/index.asp