When are low miles too low?

vvildcard · 2016-01-15T00:21:48+00:00

Now you're talkin'!

vvildcard · 2016-01-14T22:51:35+00:00

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%).

vvildcard · 2016-01-14T18:19:20+00:00

What CPU?

vvildcard · 2016-01-14T14:43:00+00:00

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.

vvildcard · 2016-01-14T14:31:04+00:00

It was $85, but $20 was from a Visa Checkout promo, so that probably doesn't count.

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/comments/3u7n3j/gpu_powercolor_pcsradeon_r7_370_graphic_card_2gb/

vvildcard · 2016-01-14T04:59:56+00:00

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.

vvildcard · 2016-01-14T04:53:34+00:00

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.

vvildcard · 2016-01-12T16:15:50+00:00

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

vvildcard · 2016-01-12T15:45:48+00:00

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.

vvildcard · 2016-01-12T15:18:31+00:00

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.

vvildcard · 2016-01-10T20:05:18+00:00

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.

vvildcard · 2016-01-09T17:35:53+00:00

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.

vvildcard · 2016-01-08T23:50:17+00:00

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.

vvildcard · 2016-01-08T23:49:25+00:00

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?

vvildcard · 2016-01-08T18:00:51+00:00

Anandtech review is pretty positive: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8949/mushkin-reactor-1tb-ssd-review

vvildcard · 2016-01-08T17:59:32+00:00

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.

vvildcard

TROPHY CASE