GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P - motherboard - $180 - N82E16813128377 750gb WD Hard drive - N82E16822136150 2 sets of Reaper 4gb ddr3 memory - $150 - N82E16820227320 Gigabyte case - $35 - N82E16811233041 700w ocz power supply - $70 after rebate - N82E16817341018 amd phenom x4 955 processor - $245 - N82E16819103674 card reader - $20.00 N82E16820816001 Vista 64 - $180.00 - N82E16832116493 sapphire 100259L Radeon HD 4870 card $149.99- N82E16814102810 2 lg burners - $52 N82E16827136153 Any advice on proper motherboard settings for that processor/motherboard combo? I also picked up a an extra 80mm, 120mm, and a pci fan for the video card. I am not planning on overclocking, i think there should be enough cooling, hopefully not to loud.
Default settings should work fine. You usually change mobo settings when you are overclocking your system.
One of my buddies was also suggesting that when building, i clean off the thermal paste that came on the heatsink of the cpu, and on the graphics card, and put artic 5 paste on it. Should I mess with that?
The arctic silver is a good idea; it is tried and true...so you know what you are getting. Overclocking would be easy with that setup, but only if you had upgraded cooling (bigger or more efficient heatsinks for CPU & video card). Bios settings: Make sure the ram is getting the correct voltage, set the. A PCI fan will not help that video card; it comes with something better than a PCI fan. Not all fans are equal. Stay away from the brush fans, try to get a vapo-bearing or dual-ball-bearing unit. Even with similar bearings, there are big differences in motor and fin design...some fans make lots of noise with very little flow, others make good flow with low noise. Then there are high-tech fans that are nearly silent but still powerfull, such as the Sharkoon.
hey, thanks. I am looking forward to building it, I should get the rest of my parts on Monday. Going from a 3.4 p4 single core....I am wondering how much of a difference there will be, very very excited.
I also upgraded from p4 3.4GHz to my signature machine and the difference was jaw-dropping. And your setup is even better than mine. You should be looking forward to it it will be awesome.
i hope so. This is something i have never done. I was nervous picking out parts, i did lots of research making sure i got good stuff and making sure it would work with everything. Lots of people ripped on my case, just because i went with the plain case with good ratings, and it was cheaper then the ones that look like demons with plexi glass, lit fans, etc. I cant believe how big the video cards have gotten.
DRAM voltage varies by the model of the stick; it is almost always writen on the sticker attached to the stick...if not, it is posted on the manufacturer's website. Too little or too much will cause instability. In theory, this should set itself...but it often does not.