Author Topic: Help with computer build... (Read 5369 times)

Freedom Kira · « **Reply #60 on:** January 24, 2011, 07:03:52 PM »

Most LGA1156 mobos do have USB 3.0 and SATA III support, usually with two ports each. You managed to find one of the few that doesn't. And like I mentioned earlier, SATA III is not all that necessary unless you are using an SSD with SATA III compatibility.

I also assume you live in Saudi Arabia?

And the add-on card is another option you could go with. It'd certainly be a lot easier than switching your mobo - just plug the card in and go. Not sure if you'll manage to reach the 5.0Gbps threshold with a card though.

Roven · « **Reply #61 on:** January 24, 2011, 09:39:12 PM »

Quote from: linx on January 24, 2011, 04:53:54 PM

There are plenty of 1156 boards with SATA 3 AND USB 3, I think the problem you have is getting hold of it without having to sell internal organs to fund it. Even if Newegg does ship abroad (don't know where you live but clearly not US/CAN) international shipping won't be cheap, fast or reliable (it goes through your normal service which you do not trust). You can use some of the services which require you to sign on reciept which usually means it arrives and they take better care of it and includes insurance, but that's definately not cheap. Good news is that a lot of sites now take Paypal, offer premium postal services and that you'll be able to get USB add on cards for dirt cheap when they become common. Best get a mobo to last IMO, switching always means a full system rebuild with OS reinstall.

My brother lives in the states, he can send it to me either by post (his money

) or he can send it with one of his friends, so shipping is no biggy.
I have a question though, if I got a new mobo wouldn't I just need to reformat my HDD and just reinstall OS? Isn't basically building a computer from scratch? if so I don't really mind doing all that.

Quote from: Freedom Kira on January 24, 2011, 07:03:52 PM

Most LGA1156 mobos do have USB 3.0 and SATA III support, usually with two ports each. You managed to find one of the few that doesn't. And like I mentioned earlier, SATA III is not all that necessary unless you are using an SSD with SATA III compatibility.

And the add-on card is another option you could go with. It'd certainly be a lot easier than switching your mobo - just plug the card in and go. Not sure if you'll manage to reach the 5.0Gbps threshold with a card though.

It's like this: I find good a mobo but it only supports i7 processors which I can't afford. Or; I find another good processor (the one you mentioned that I mentioned

) But it doesn't support CPU's higher than the Core 2 Quad's, which will bottleneck my GPU. I finally gave up and decided the hell with the USB 3.0 and Sata III, It's not like I fully understand what they do

But it would be nice to change it to a better one later and get all those bells and whistles.

Quote

I also assume you live in Saudi Arabia?

I keep wondering how do people figure that out

Freedom Kira · « **Reply #62 on:** January 24, 2011, 10:29:03 PM »

Quote from: Roven on January 24, 2011, 09:39:12 PM

It's like this: I find good a mobo but it only supports i7 processors which I can't afford. Or; I find another good processor (the one you mentioned that I mentioned ) But it doesn't support CPU's higher than the Core 2 Quad's, which will bottleneck my GPU. I finally gave up and decided the hell with the USB 3.0 and Sata III, It's not like I fully understand what they do But it would be nice to change it to a better one later and get all those bells and whistles.

Currently, only LGA1366 mobos only support i7. Coming out later this year will be LGA2011 boards, which should only support the newest i7 models. What matters is the socket - LGA1156 supports certain models of i3, i5, and i7. If your retailer has a web site, you could try searching that.

Quote from: Roven on January 24, 2011, 09:39:12 PM

I keep wondering how do people figure that out

It's on your tracker profile.

linx · « **Reply #63 on:** January 24, 2011, 10:39:16 PM »

a new mobo will be pretty much a rebuild, you have to fit your new board, refit cpu/memory, replug drives, power cables etc etc as well as reinstall an OS which is exactly the same as rebuilding a PC only without having to screw in HDD's and opticals lol. As far as I'm aware most p55 boards will have both sata3 and usb 3 some h55/57 have that too but at a price that should get you a p55 board.

Quote from: Roven on January 24, 2011, 09:39:12 PM

I finally gave up and decided the hell with the USB 3.0 and Sata III, It's not like I fully understand what they do But it would be nice to change it to a better one later and get all those bells and whistles.

They are just faster versions of SATA and USB 2 and are backwards compatable. External drives are already limited in a major way by USB 2, so its worth getting an upgrade. ATM only a small number of SSD's are limited by SATA2 so its not a worry even if you get one now (dosen't seem your budget will stretch to one that will push SATA2 in any case). If get some extra money and upgrade to one say next year (and SSD's are a massive improvement as an OS drive) you may regret why you did not get a board with SATA3. You probally won't be able to get the full 5Gps with an add on card, but thats also the case with most 1156 boards that have them anyway, to get 5.0 from the 2 on the one I'm using I'd have to change a setting in the BIOS which as a result will cut my PCIex16 into x8 taking bandwith from my graphics card QQ

Freedom Kira · « **Reply #64 on:** January 25, 2011, 04:59:37 AM »

Actually, I'm pretty sure all SATA II SSDs can saturate the bandwidth already. None of them ever seem to reach 3.0Gbps though, for some reason - probably for the same reasons that nothing can ever reach its threshold, like USB 2.0, 10/100/1000 Ethernet, or 802.11 wireless connections. Even the SATA III SSDs are just around 3.0Gbps read/write.

linx · « **Reply #65 on:** January 25, 2011, 05:28:35 AM »

My 120gb Vertex dosen't quite saturate the SATA 2 bandwith, but I would expect the ones being released to easily do it. Even if the current ones do, they won't benefit from SATA 3, they're all stuck with SATA 2 connections for reasons I don't quite understand. The only one that I'm aware of that DOES benefit is the Crucial RealSSD C300 since that does actually have a SATA 3 connection but i'll be surprised if anyone releasing a new SSD dosent give it a SATA 3 connection just to grab attention if anything - kinda like WD with some of their drives

vuzedome · « **Reply #66 on:** January 25, 2011, 07:04:02 AM »

But WD SSD drives suck bad.

linx · « **Reply #67 on:** January 25, 2011, 11:24:02 PM »

Quote from: vuzedome on January 25, 2011, 07:04:02 AM

But WD SSD drives suck bad.

Nah they don't, they don't make any xD

Freedom Kira · « **Reply #68 on:** January 26, 2011, 02:14:51 AM »

Uh, you sure?

linx · « **Reply #69 on:** January 26, 2011, 03:00:03 AM »

o.0 I stand corrected! What I was trying to get at was that WD seem to have given some of their mechanical drives SATA 3 connections, some of their caviar blacks/blues have it and they won't benefit at all. No idea why it's not on their SSD's instead. Are you sure the WD SSD's are bad? I've never heard anything of them, they are SLC drives though and are superior to the cheaper and more common MLC ones, can't be that bad can they?

vuzedome · « **Reply #70 on:** January 26, 2011, 06:41:01 AM »

Unable to saturate Sata 2, I'm not expecting it to max out but it being a more expensive SSD should show at least some significant improvement compared to cheaper SSDs.

linx · « **Reply #71 on:** January 26, 2011, 06:59:39 AM »

it does, but not where you'd expect. It's an enterprise grade/near server grade product. Uses better NAND chips, or at least different ones, SLC has ~ 10x the write cycles of MLC. It's not one for your average home user though, SLC is expensive but if you want SSD performance on a server it's your only option

Freedom Kira · « **Reply #72 on:** January 26, 2011, 07:48:47 AM »

SLC doesn't mean anything. Have you looked at the R/W speed ratings on those? They're nowhere close to the levels I've seen on most MLC drives (they're typically about double the write speed and 30-50MBps more for the read). And SLC is theoretically supposed to be faster because each cell is dedicated to fewer bits.

At the moment I don't care much for having more write cycles, especially on a drive that small, which will quickly become obsolete and thus be replaced. On smaller drives, what matters the most is performance, even if it burns out more quickly. If the drive was over 500GB I would reconsider, as its lifetime would be a lot longer.

Just give it up, man - those drives are no better than a 7200RPM drive. I dare say a Velociraptor could outperform those poor excuses for SSDs. With more space, to boot. And when you bring SCSI HDDs into the picture, which easily outperform Velociraptors...

linx · « **Reply #73 on:** January 26, 2011, 06:58:46 PM »

Yeah, the sequential R/W speeds are more in line with 1st gen SSD's - probally what they are. The current MLC drives are faster due to their new controllers. As I said before, they are not aimed at people like you or myself and more at places where they actually would wear a normal SSD out in 2-3 months easily. I eagerly await the day when 256-500GB SSDs are common and cheap enough to be bought by the average computer geek, I got used to an SSD and now find the 5400 in my laptop really unresponsive, that is . . . until I get reminded how much I paid for my 120gb drive lol

Freedom Kira · « **Reply #74 on:** January 27, 2011, 01:59:21 AM »

If they write enough data to wear out a 64GB SSD that quickly, they're better off getting a bigger one for a similar price... Or RAID 5/6 together some HDDs. Even if you RAID together 8 250GB HDDs, the final price would be comparable to a single one of those WD SSDs.

Anyway, let's get back on topic here.

raandomer · « **Reply #75 on:** January 27, 2011, 02:29:54 PM »

OP, forget about ssds with your budget, I dont even know why these guys keep pulling it up.

Now to address a few of your issues. First the usb3/sata3 stuff. now, are you even going to get a hdd with sata3? if not then you can ignore that. what about usb3 devices, do you have any right now? no? forget about that as well. Even if you do end up really needing usb3 just get a usb3 card and chuck it in your pc.

Second, for you all motherboards are practically the same. There are no "good" motherboards you can get for your purpose, they all work as they intend to and are pretty much of muchness. Just stick the the major brands and buy a low end one and you should be fine.

And why are you getting an i5 760? For exactly the same price you can get yourself an i5-2500 and it performs much better. you'll need a p67 (1155) board, I'll suggest getting an matx board as its smaller and can fit in more compact cases.

And lastly, psu: always get one with 80+ efficiency. And around 400~500W for your pc. If its your first time building maybe get a modular, its a bit more expensive but a lot cleaner and much easier to install.

linx · « **Reply #76 on:** January 27, 2011, 08:59:51 PM »

SSDs/USB3/SATA 3 are being mentioned due to upgrades and then we went a little off topic. We all knew a while ago SSDs were over budget but they are an obvious upgrade route when the time comes for upgrading. The Sandy bridge parts have also been mentioned before, but they seem to be a no go, the OP can't get them, he is shopping locally in his area in Saudia Arabia, the i5 760 was the best he could get at a price he can pay. Modular PSUs if the OP can source them are a good idea, helps air flow and most recently built PSUs from the major brands should be at least 80+ but do check before buying

raandomer · « **Reply #77 on:** January 28, 2011, 03:11:52 AM »

well he did mention having relatives in the states so getting parts shouldnt be too hard. I highly recommend getting the second gen i5 as it is much better and will give you more upgrading paths compared to 1156.

Back to the psu, be careful with "major brands" as a lot of them are really just generic crap. Like antec, most the stuff they put on the market is trash (the truepower and earthwatt is ok), you crack one open and its filled with cheap capacitors and low end components and just bad circuitry design. Just give it a google search and you'll see if its a timebomb or a quality psu.

and about the gpu, how big is your screen? what res is it? With a gtx460 you might not be able to max a few games if your using a 1920 res. might want to think about the gtx560 instead. Its basically an unlocked 460 with no disabled logic. I haven't been able to get my hands on one yet but judging from reviews its about 30% faster than a 460 and with a good oc you'll probably be able to hit the 50 mark.

linx · « **Reply #78 on:** January 28, 2011, 04:34:53 AM »

Well if relatives in the US can bring things for you then it's definately worth gonig for the new parts, the K parts can be OC'd like nothing before on air. It would depend how soon the computer is needed and how fast the parts can get there. Most major brands just buy in the PSU's and re-badge them, only Seasonic and FSP come to mind as ones that actually make their own and in buying them you're buying hoping that their reputation would ensure they've tested these things thoroughly to ensure that the wattage they state isn't a lie. If you want the "best one" in any shape or from then of course you'd have to look at reviews to see what parts are actually used and how it compares. If buying from the US you may as well get the GPU from there too and upgrade yourself to a gtx560, either that or get something cheap to make do until you get a 570/580 - I remember you mentioning getting one. Honestly if you're gonna get the mobo from the US it's silly not to get the CPU there too and makes sense to get the GPU as well, it's much cheaper over there and the range is better. Probally best leave the PSU to be bought locally, a good one is usually heavy and will eat into the 20kg luggage limit or postage costs.

kureshii · « **Reply #79 on:** April 27, 2011, 09:27:01 AM »

http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=532&t=138432

Stance from an AMD engineer. Oh AMD, we just *love* how clear you are on backward compatibility for Bulldozer. And isn’t it great that we already know *so much* about your proces—oh wait, we don’t ._.