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Building a graphics/gaming machine

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What brand is the power supply? Chances are it should be fine.

Since the 955 is a black edition you should have a very easy time performing a mild overclock, but I wouldn't push it too hard with a stock heatsink.

Sometimes/supposedly Windows has scheduled defrags, if you are using an SSD this needs to be disabled. Never defrag an SSD.

There's plenty of tweaks if you become familiar with your bios and the settings. Disabling unnecessary components or processes, tightening your RAM, optimizing Windows. If you're just looking to enjoy your games though, most of this is pretty much unnecessary as you won't see any significant changes aside from single FPS here and there and moderately better benchmarks.

However you could benefit from overclocking the 460, they do so extremely well just on stock and, to my knowledge, all currently available ones have voltage control as well so you can push it pretty high.
 
Im not sure, someone told me the risk isn't work OC'ing your CPU...but the GFX card is easily OC, since MSI supports it

And the mobo said it supports dual channel...but the ram I got says triple channel, is 3 sticks gonna default it to single channel? Do I need to get an extra stick?
 
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The risk of what? The gains from overclocking your CPU are potentially very large... in CPU-limited scenarios.

As for the memory kit: for that set-up ideally you should be buying a dual-channel kit (e.g. 2x2GB for 4GB). Running 3 DIMMs with that motherboard will be in single-channel mode (not a huge problem in terms of performance): you could remove one stick to see just how tiny the difference in performance is from dual-channel, or add another matching stick if you insist on lots of memory and dual-channel.
 
"And the mobo said it supports dual channel...but the ram I got says triple channel, is 3 sticks gonna default it to single channel?"
Why did you buy a triple channel kit when your MB only supports single/dual channel?

Again... What brand/model is your power supply?
Not all 600W PS are created equal. Some 600W PS are high quality and some are total crap.
 
I just bought exactly what they linked 🙁( ugh...I payed all that for nothing...gay, I just trusted everything they said, I don't know much about hardware at all.... I'll know what model the PSU is tomorrow.

So what should I do? Get another stick? Sell it? Only use 4 gigs. Get a mobo?
 
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Ignore the RAM thing. 99% chance you won't have any problems, and running in dual channel (at least on AMD systems) really is not particularly beneficial; it trades blows with individual channel modes and the margin between the two is pretty small. You've got 6GB of perfectly good RAM.

The PSU is probably going to be fine. Even if, god forbid, it's a low quality unit you're still far within it's operating requirements and will be in good shape for at least the time being. Long term, you might consider replacing it depending on what it is, but lets just wait and see.

Stick with what you've got so far, I'm betting you aren't going to have any issues.
 
cmmenke said:
I just bought exactly what they linked 🙁( ugh...I payed all that for nothing...gay, I just trusted everything they said, I don't know much about hardware at all.... I'll know what model the PSU is tomorrow.

So what should I do? Get another stick? Sell it? Only use 4 gigs. Get a mobo?
Click to expand...

There are a million links in this thread and I don't see a single one involving a 600w PSU. Model, make, and link, please. And for the most part, PSUs are perfectly fine. High end enthusiasts get a little crazy over them - with good reason when you're squeezing every last drop of wattage out of one.

However, I find that within the context of a more casual build, as you have here, your system isn't going to crap the bed just because you don't have a BEAST MODE 600A!!!!™ on your 12v rail.

AM3 chipset DOES NOT SUPPORT triple channel RAM. So, you can either buy another stick, only leave 4 gigs in there, or just leave all 6 in and see if there's really a performance hit (unlikely).
 
cmmenke said:
Im not sure, someone told me the risk isn't work OC'ing your CPU...but the GFX card is easily OC, since MSI supports it

And the mobo said it supports dual channel...but the ram I got says triple channel, is 3 sticks gonna default it to single channel? Do I need to get an extra stick?
Click to expand...

The GSkill 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 At $135 is on the Asus QVL list for your motherboard.

Extra RAMs is essentially one of the best upgrades you can make. Go for it.

As far as the single-/dual-channel thing ... fuggggggetaboudit.

And as far as the OC on your CPU ... you got some really, really, really bad advice. (Though the 870 motherboard you selected is the weakest link in this equation -- a bump to the 880g/PhII 955 would be ideal).

The 'general' rule of thumb is dual-channel provides a 5% boost over single-channel. In your case this is a non-factor because:

1) With 6gb of RAMs you have 50% more memory (less hits on the page file); and

2) With the Phenom arch, for each 10 percent you increase the NB/IMC speed, memory bandwidth is increased 3-4 percent and latency is reduced 3-4 percent. This more than overcomes any boost derived from dual-channel.


The stock NB/IMC on the Phenom is 2000MHz ---- 2400MHz (or a 20 percent increase at stock volts) is pretty much a 'slam dunk'. 'Enthusiasts' are cranking 2800-3000MHz on their NB/IMC.

To further drive home the point on OC'ing the CPU and NB/IMC:

fc2720nba.jpg



Kinda looks like a 40 percent increase in average frame rates (and 33 percent increase in minimums). Applications (and games) that are heavily dependent on memory throughput and low latencies will benefit greatly.

If you can't crank that 955 with at least a 15-20 percent OC, please provide your street address so that we may drop by and fit you for some of these ...

400px-PantyStyles.png



:biggrin:




--
 
Since OCing seems to be a must, could you guys link me a up to date tut on it?

Thanks for all your help, by the way.

oh and the PSU is

Thermaltake: purepowerRX ATX12V2.2
 
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OCing is not a "must" at all.
It's a throwback from the old days where sqeezing a little more out of a processor made a difference in the "real world".
 
cmmenke said:
Since OCing seems to be a must, could you guys link me a up to date tut on it?

Thanks for all your help, by the way.

oh and the PSU is

Thermaltake: purepowerRX ATX12V2.2
Click to expand...

Thermaltake makes some thoroughly "meh" PSU's, but at 600W, it should be plenty for a 955 and a GTX 460.

I would like to echo that overclocking is not a "must" but it is a fun (for some 😀) way to get a free performance boost.
 
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