Building A Custom Desktop

[BLindsay]

Originally Posted by PS3-Playb3yond

I will be replacing that CPU cooler soon too. I saw the temperature reading of the CPU on the BIOS last night and it was very hot. Unless the reading was wrong I saw the bar meter full and red and not blue. It was in the 90 degree Celsius. I didn't put thermal paste on it because I saw it already came with one on the heat sink.

it shouldnt be hitting 90c if its stock. sometimes they put a little plastic layer of the stock thermal compound for shipping purposes so make sure there isnt. Also make sure its seated well.

[PS3-Playb3yond]

Originally Posted by crystal_sun

are you still using the stock CPU heat sink?

If you are, then change to an aftermarket one...HUGE difference.

Also, you should put get thermal paste...people recommend Artic Silver 5. Make sure you clean the old paste off the cpu. Google it and there are a lot of picture instruction out there...pretty easy.

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

Good luck.. 90 degree stock cooler is not normal as I recall...

Yeah, I'm still using stock CPU for now. I have Arctic Silver 5 already I just didn't apply it because the heat sink already came with thermal paste on it.

Originally Posted by Torgon

Nice case. I almost bought the same case but bought the HAF 932 Advanced instead. The case is huge; which is good becase I don't think I need anymore space.
Your build is looking good.

Thanks! I was deciding between the 932 and HAF X too and finally went with this one because of the filters and over all design of it.

Originally Posted by BLindsay

it shouldnt be hitting 90c if its stock. sometimes they put a little plastic layer of the stock thermal compound for shipping purposes so make sure there isnt. Also make sure its seated well.

I will double check just incase.

What do you think about this mouse guys?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826104370

[crystal_sun]

when i hold a mouse, I like to make sure it feels good and natural in my hand.

therefore, I would go out and test them first. You'll be surprised in the feel of each mouse...some too small...some too big...and then there are the perfect ones.

I can't comment about that mouse since each person has different size hands.

Originally Posted by PS3-Playb3yond

What do you think about this mouse guys?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826104370

[BLindsay]

did u pick the most boring mouse possible

im sure it will work fine though

this is the one i have

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826153055

have had it for just about 5yrs now and its been great

[PS3-Playb3yond]

Originally Posted by crystal_sun

when i hold a mouse, I like to make sure it feels good and natural in my hand.

therefore, I would go out and test them first. You'll be surprised in the feel of each mouse...some too small...some too big...and then there are the perfect ones.

I can't comment about that mouse since each person has different size hands.

That's a good idea but I'm not that picky when it comes to mouse. As long as it's not an Apple mouse I'm fine with it lol. If I do happen to go to Best Buy though I will check out what they have.

Originally Posted by BLindsay

did u pick the most boring mouse possible

im sure it will work fine though

this is the one i have

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826153055

have had it for just about 5yrs now and its been great

Boring? I picked the mouse that's wired, cheap and has good reviews lol. The one you linked looks great but a little expensive for me for a mouse but it does have high dpi. I don't know, I will keep looking....

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by PS3-Playb3yond

Yeah, I'm still using stock CPU for now. I have Arctic Silver 5 already I just didn't apply it because the heat sink already came with thermal paste on it.



Thanks! I was deciding between the 932 and HAF X too and finally went with this one because of the filters and over all design of it.



I will double check just incase.

What do you think about this mouse guys?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826104370

I get about 20-30C, idling, and only once, when it was disgustingly hot and humid outside, did I ever hit 60C on my CPU. I'm using the stock Heat sink, and air cooling. I'm sure my temps will be lower if I were to get water cooling and didn't live in such a hot/humid area. I did, however, swap out the stock thermal grease with Arctic silver 5, as I had read the stock grease is crap, and causes temps to skyrocket.

I still like my wireless purple mouse from Microsoft. I haven't had any issues with batteries, because it has an off-switch for when you're not using it. My mom, however, has the same mouse, and leaves it on all the time, and hasn't had to change the batteries yet, and it's been about 7 months or so.

[PS3-Playb3yond]

So I got everything set up and running and all I can say is.....WOW! I've never used a computer this fast. It opens up browsers in a blink, I had to wait for pictures to load up before lol.

I replaced the original stock thermal paste and used my own Arctic Silver 5 and here are my results:

[Show spoiler]

That's not bad, right?

Also, I'm thinking about updating my BIOS to the most recent version. Should I leave it as is?

[Offender_Mullet]

I'm moving into 2600K territory shortly, so I'm putting up a couple of my toys for sale. A sweetazz Core i7 cpu and triple channel memory if anyone is interested!

Link: http://www.ebay.com/sch/cargeek33/m.html

[/endshamelessplug]

[PS3-Playb3yond]

Originally Posted by Offender_Mullet

I'm moving into 2600K territory shortly, so I'm putting up a couple of my toys for sale. A sweetazz Core i7 cpu and triple channel memory if anyone is interested!

Link: http://www.ebay.com/sch/cargeek33/m.html

[/endshamelessplug]

Stop hijacking my thread!

Why sell the i7 950 though? It's fast enough.

[Offender_Mullet]

lol I'm bored and wanted to try the 'newer thing'. No other real reason. My setup destroys most new games still.

A bit disappointed the Sandy Bridge doesn't support triple channel memory (I love that G.Skill set).....yet. The Sandy E-Brdige or whatever it's going to be called will support it from what I've read.

[PS3-Playb3yond]

Originally Posted by Offender_Mullet

lol I'm bored and wanted to try the 'newer thing'. No other real reason. My setup destroys most new games still.

A bit disappointed the Sandy Bridge doesn't support triple channel memory (I love that G.Skill set).....yet. The Sandy E-Brdige or whatever it's going to be called will support it from what I've read.

I have 8GB on dual channel and that's more than enough for me. Is it possible to use 2 dual channels at the same time though? I'm new to this.

[Offender_Mullet]

Yep as long as your motherboard supports it. The memory slots should be color-coded (example: 2 blue, 2 black or however many you have total).

[PS3-Playb3yond]

Originally Posted by Offender_Mullet

Yep as long as your motherboard supports it. The memory slots should be color-coded (example: 2 blue, 2 black or however many you have total).

So, it's possible to go up to 32GB of memory then? Cool!

[Offender_Mullet]

Which is overkill beyond your wildest dreams but heck, if your motherboard can go that high then why not go all-out.

Edit: Oh *drools* lookie at this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211564 However, it's a bit on the pricey side. lol

[BLindsay]

Originally Posted by Offender_Mullet

lol I'm bored and wanted to try the 'newer thing'. No other real reason. My setup destroys most new games still.

A bit disappointed the Sandy Bridge doesn't support triple channel memory (I love that G.Skill set).....yet. The Sandy E-Brdige or whatever it's going to be called will support it from what I've read.

because despite how fast it is, the current sandy bridge stuff is the low end stuff. it was not meant as replacement for socket 1366.

Sandybridge-E is going to be quad channel.

[PS3-Playb3yond]

Originally Posted by Offender_Mullet

Which is overkill beyond your wildest dreams but heck, if your motherboard can go that high then why not go all-out.

Edit: Oh *drools* lookie at this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211564 However, it's a bit on the pricey side. lol

Yikes! I don't think that's worth it to be honest. You can get the same amount for less but I don't know about performance.

Originally Posted by BLindsay

because despite how fast it is, the current sandy bridge stuff is the low end stuff. it was not meant as replacement for socket 1366.

Sandybridge-E is going to be quad channel.

If you have equal amount of RAMs though whether it's dual channel or quad channel would it make a difference?

Also, I posted my core temperatures above...what do you think? And do you think I should update the BIOS?

[crystal_sun]

different cases..with different cpu, etc...will have diff cpu temp.

my temp is in the 20s at idle.....again, I don't have too many things running inside... Your 30s should be okay..if it starts to hit over 70+, then you might want to be concern...

as for the BIOS, I would update it...should be very simple...If anything goes wrong, then take the opportunity NOW to contact support while you still have warranty.

Before you do that, use the Windows 7 backup feature and back up your whole system to an external drive...make sure you create a system disk as well from the backup feature.

Then update it. BIOS update...follow their instruction...it probably will put everything back to default. So..if you had change anything, then you might want to write it down...especially the AHCI option. When I updated the EVGA mobo, it brought everything back to default and I couldn't boot up the system again. After going into the BIOS after the update, I changed it to AHCI and it booted up.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by PS3-Playb3yond

Also, I posted my core temperatures above...what do you think? And do you think I should update the BIOS?

[BLindsay]

Originally Posted by PS3-Playb3yond

Yikes! I don't think that's worth it to be honest. You can get the same amount for less but I don't know about performance.



If you have equal amount of RAMs though whether it's dual channel or quad channel would it make a difference?

Also, I posted my core temperatures above...what do you think? And do you think I should update the BIOS?

Quad channel is def. faster then dual channel but realistically what it comes down to is that not many applications can take advantage of the extra memory bandwidth so its not to worry about, i was just mentioning it more as an fyi.

Updating the BIOS should be fairly straightfoward so you might as well, like crystal_sun said, at least if anything goes wrong now its under warranty rather then updating it down the road.

as far as the temps, idle is really hard to judge, run something like intelburntest and that will give you your max which is really the more important number to guage

[PS3-Playb3yond]

Originally Posted by crystal_sun

different cases..with different cpu, etc...will have diff cpu temp.

my temp is in the 20s at idle.....again, I don't have too many things running inside... Your 30s should be okay..if it starts to hit over 70+, then you might want to be concern...

as for the BIOS, I would update it...should be very simple...If anything goes wrong, then take the opportunity NOW to contact support while you still have warranty.

Before you do that, use the Windows 7 backup feature and back up your whole system to an external drive...make sure you create a system disk as well from the backup feature.

Then update it. BIOS update...follow their instruction...it probably will put everything back to default. So..if you had change anything, then you might want to write it down...especially the AHCI option. When I updated the EVGA mobo, it brought everything back to default and I couldn't boot up the system again. After going into the BIOS after the update, I changed it to AHCI and it booted up.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by BLindsay

Quad channel is def. faster then dual channel but realistically what it comes down to is that not many applications can take advantage of the extra memory bandwidth so its not to worry about, i was just mentioning it more as an fyi.

Updating the BIOS should be fairly straightfoward so you might as well, like crystal_sun said, at least if anything goes wrong now its under warranty rather then updating it down the road.

as far as the temps, idle is really hard to judge, run something like intelburntest and that will give you your max which is really the more important number to guage

Ok. Thanks guys! I appreciate it. I will let you know how it went. Wish me luck!

[Offender_Mullet]

Originally Posted by PS3-Playb3yond

Yikes! I don't think that's worth it to be honest. You can get the same amount for less but I don't know about performance.

To my knowledge that's the only 2 sticks that equal 16GB on the market for desktops (I'm sure there's server ram out there), but there will be some soon enough at cheaper prices. And going from dual channel to triple channel I've never noticed a difference.

Asus' UEFI BIOS sounds a bit weird if you can only access it with a mouse. My Asus Rampage Formula III has an in-bios option to update the bios without having to use a mouse. Yours should have the same option, unless that UEFI is the only way to do it? If so, that's a bit strange I don't know why they'd change their usual method.

You can update your bios using either a usb stick or burn it onto a cd-r or dvd-r. Start up the computer, go into the bios. Load 'default values' (if you've done any tweaking write down what you changed). Your Asus should have an option in the bios to update it. Run it. Boom. Done. I've never been a fan of updating the bios while in Windows.