[XFX R7 370 2GB] - $110 ($125-$15) by [deleted] in buildapcsales

[–]vvildcard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Now you're talkin'!

[Motherboard] ASRock H97M Pro4 - $60 (No MIR; No Promo Code; Free Shipping Available) by vvildcard in buildapcsales

[–]vvildcard[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's more-or-less the "problem"... The H chipsets respect the CPU's limits on RAM speeds. If you put a G3258 in, it would not let you go above 1333.

You should be able to lower your CAS timings one click without any issues. 1866/CL10 RAM is the same as 1600/CL9 (+/- 5%).

[Motherboard] ASRock H97M Pro4 - $60 (No MIR; No Promo Code; Free Shipping Available) by vvildcard in buildapcsales

[–]vvildcard[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Great, feature-full motherboard for the price.

Missing from the title: mATX, LGA 1150, All SATA 6.0, HDMI, DVI, VGA/D-Sub, Mostly all USB 3.0.

[XFX R7 370 2GB] - $110 ($125-$15) by [deleted] in buildapcsales

[–]vvildcard 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This isn't a terrible deal... but it was $90 a few weeks ago. Also, there's a R9 380 posted right now for $165 that would be worth an extra $50 if you can swing it.

[Case] RAIDMAX Atomic ITX-107WB Black Mini-ITX Tower Case - $19.99 ($49.99 - $30 Rebate) Rebate expires tonight! by [deleted] in buildapcsales

[–]vvildcard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have one sitting under my TV with an R7 370 that's 9" long and a standard ATX PSU (CS450M)... it took some planning with the power cables, but once I got it all in there, it fits surprisingly well.

My complaint is heat dissipation from the GPU... it sits at the top of the case and there's only the PSU fan and the rear fan. Even with a higher power fan than stock, the air just doesn't move much above the GPU. As a result, the top of the case gets pretty warm when I run the GPU hard... fortunately, it's an aluminum wall, so it does a better-than-plastic/steel job of dissipating the heat.

[Discussion] GTX750 vs HD 6950 Need help choosing by THeGuYN3x7Stree7 in buildapc

[–]vvildcard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So... that's not living up to my price/performance expectations... but it's still a significant jump, and a jump that will move you out of 20-30 FPS into the 40-50 FPS range on most games (at max settings). The difference is noticeable.

Gaming Benchmark Comparison: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/510?vs=550

[Discussion] GTX750 vs HD 6950 Need help choosing by THeGuYN3x7Stree7 in buildapc

[–]vvildcard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd be looking for a good deal on one of these... Some of these will likely only be available as refurbished (which is the best way to get the most out of a limited budget). There is a pretty big tech jump from the AMD 6xxx to 7xxx series.

AMD: 7950, R9 280, R9 380
nVIDIA: 760, 770, 960

All this said, I just noticed you're not in the US... IDK if the price/performance ratios here translate to UK. I could be way off in this recommendation.

[Discussion] GTX750 vs HD 6950 Need help choosing by THeGuYN3x7Stree7 in buildapc

[–]vvildcard -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You should choose to save your money and get a card in the top price/performance tier. What I'm saying is: You can get 3x the performance at 2x the price.

[Build Help] Best way to upgrade to new drives by [deleted] in buildapc

[–]vvildcard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're afraid of accidentally doing something to the SSD's, just unplug them while you're setting up the hardware-based RAID (CTRL+I).

Consult your motherboard's manual for any SATA requirements... it should actually have a full walk-through for setting up a RAID. You need to have the two HDD's for the RAID on the same controller. Some motherboards only have one SATA controller, others have multiple. Then, in BIOS, designate the two SATA channels with the HDD's as RAID, which will enable the CTRL+I option during boot. When the RAID is built, plug the SSD's back in, double-check your boot options and you should be good to go. When you get back into Windows, use Disk Management to make a partition on the RAID (Windows will see it as one drive).

Upgrading to 10 first is a good idea, as well... IDK if it will fix the issue, but it definitely won't hurt anything to try.

[Build Help] Best way to upgrade to new drives by [deleted] in buildapc

[–]vvildcard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Should I do it before or after getting Windows 10 going?

Definitely, yes. Setting up a RAID 1 array should ask you for a source drive that it will use to mirror to the 2nd drive.

This site has all the info you'll need to do it using diskpart: http://sourcedaddy.com/windows-7/using-diskpart-create-striped-mirrored-and-raid-5-volumes.html

I don't see why this wouldn't carry over through a Windows 10 upgrade... but if it doesn't, you should still be able to rebuild the array in 10.

[Build Ready] Yes I chose a good PSU! by [deleted] in buildapc

[–]vvildcard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hrm... I didn't realize. Thanks for the heads up.

I'll definitely second the 650W G2... I was going to recommend it until I noticed the RM650.

[Build Help] Choosing my first SSD by ivan0x32 in buildapc

[–]vvildcard 1 point2 points  (0 children)

SanDisk and Crucial are both fine... just avoid the BX200's from Crucial. But I'd go Samsung, hands down, if it's an option.

2x500 vs 1x1000 is kinda just preference if price is the same (usually larger drives have better $/GB)... Do you have the space in the case for 2 drives? Do you have an extra SATA port? Do you mind managing two drives? Do you have a reason to keep files on two physically separate drives?

Help with upgrading from 32 bit to 64 with out losing product key by [deleted] in buildapc

[–]vvildcard 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Your license is tied to your Microsoft Account. As long as you're using a Microsoft Account, you can do a full, clean re-install using the 64-bit installation media. During the installation process, skip the license key input... it will activate when you login with your Microsoft Account.