PC Tech Thread

^ ^ But that's good cos it means you can buy the magazines and research all the specs and make notes on various configurations, and check your bank statements as you re-budget several times, before you order all the components from 7 different suppliers, only to wait 2 more weeks for the final crucial part, during which time you find yourself taking each part variously to bed with you where you lie and stare at it for hours till you sleep peacefully dreaming of playing computer games and watching films simultaneously.

I'm pretty obsessive with researching things before buying them. However I'm also impatient, so I'm ordering all the things from Novatech.

Now I'm thinking ASRock 970 Extreme3 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) Motherboard
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/motherboards/amdam3plusallchipsetmotherboards/970extreme3.html
and AMD Quad Core Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/processors/amdphenomx4/aduhdz965fbgibox.html

^ ^ But that's good cos it means you can buy the magazines and research all the specs and make notes on various configurations, and check your bank statements as you re-budget several times, before you order all the components from 7 different suppliers, only to wait 2 more weeks for the final crucial part, during which time you find yourself taking each part variously to bed with you where you lie and stare at it for hours till you sleep peacefully dreaming of playing computer games and watching films simultaneously.

Really did laugh at this because it is almost exactly what I did when building my PC. Although I didn't, despite wanting to, take the parts to bed.

If this is for gaming you honestly don't need more than 8GB of RAM. Nothing comes close to using that much.

amd = chrevons

If this is for gaming you honestly don't need more than 8GB of RAM. Nothing comes close to using that much.

this is true, i only got 16 gb because potato shop munches all you give it and more

I'm putting in as much RAM as will fit

so you could say you're really going ram it in...

32gb RAM it is

david is still the winner at 192gb

It's dirt cheap anyway so you might as well put as much in as is affordable. And yes, what spotter said. AMD is huge chevrons. With that said you may want to wait for Ivy Bridge, or not.

Can ANYTHING actually utilise david's ram out of interest?

all his virtual machines, if we shift all of ours in work on to one physical machine they are very ram hungry

I've been using AMD for quite a while now, I have no problem with it.

Ah fair enough. I forget his VMs obviously have to run non stop.

If you want pure gaming power then AMD=chevrons, IMO. Just don't see anything from the AMD camp coming anywhere near to what Intel are doing at the moment...

The CPU is pretty irrelevant for most games anyway, has little effect on performance which tends to be limited the GPU. Some website ran some tests and found even an i3 did a perfectly reasonable job.

Running BF3 my i7 only ever goes above 50% when loading maps.

Insomnia strikes.
Sumo watch the heat on that CPU, it runs toasty.

Spent the better half of the night cleaning out ye olde tower. What a dust/spider magnet. Found out vodka is an acceptable CPU cleaner, knocked off 8 degrees from max cpu temp under load, funny how much new thermal paste makes a difference.

I'd be surprised if you get more than two (small) games on a 30GB SSD, even 60GB's not enough after the OS installation and other necessary applications. I'm running a crucial M4 60GB(I think its 60GB) and a Vertex II (64GB) And that just about does it. Dirt2 is around 11GB, Alan Wake is 8GB etc. I think you should rethink your strategy there on the build Sumo...The card is good but the motherboard doesn't sit right with me for some reason.

Sorry just realised we're onto our second page, duh! and just read the updates. Don't think you'll need 32GB of RAM Unless you're running billions of applicaitons. I run 16GB of RAM, with CS5 (Potato Shop, Illustrator and Bridge) as well as other bits and pieces and it never goes above 11GB. That might change if I start running more than 2 screens.
Sumo: Are you still going with AMD?

[ame="http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18387740"]Ivy Bridge launch shcedule leaked [/ame], you'll need an Ivy Bridge compatible motherboard if you want to run one. Fortunately mine does. Anandtech preview here.

Still thinking about buying more RAM. I've got 4gb at the moment but noticed some games (mainly when Mrs. plays the sims) can take a while to load.

Would more ram (say another 2x 4gb or even 2x2gb) actually speed it up? Also is it OK to have 2gb sticks in there with 4gb sticks?

Would more ram (say another 2x 4gb or even 2x2gb) actually speed it up? Also is it OK to have 2gb sticks in there with 4gb sticks?

Depends on the motherboard. They tend to require pairs or sets. You need to read the motherboard manual as it will outline which slots are joined together.

General rule (for every mobo), is yes: All sticks should be of same capacity.

But as I said, this isn't a universal rule and your mobo may allow varying capacities so long as certain slots actually have the same capacities.

P8P67LE.

It says something about dual channel. Which as long as I have the 2x2gb on the same channel and the same for the 2x4gb it'll be ok?

The CPU is pretty irrelevant for most games anyway, has little effect on performance which tends to be limited the GPU. Some website ran some tests and found even an i3 did a perfectly reasonable job.

Running BF3 my i7 only ever goes above 50% when loading maps.

Yeah, I am running an i3 because I was skint and impatient when building my PC. For the money I'd get the i3 over the aforementioned AMD. I considered both but went for the i3 in the end purely because if benchmarks.

Yes.

In the Channel A slots you could have 2 x 4GB, and in Channel B slots you could have 2 x 2GB.

Last caveat: Don't mix CAS latencies. I'm assuming that your 2 x 4GB were bought at the same time from the same manufacturer, and the same is true of the 2GB sticks.

It's OK to have different CAS latencies per channel, but not different CAS latencies on the same channel.

Ok I understand.

I haven't actually brought the RAM yet.

Still wondering whether I should go for 2x 8gb instead. Or save money and go for 2x4.

Ok I understand.

I haven't actually brought the RAM yet.

Still wondering whether I should go for 2x 8gb instead. Or save money and go for 2x4.

The Sims issue could also be a GPU card issue as well. You should try Scan UK for RAM, I bought 4x4GB Corsair Vengance low profile from there for about £52. Good deal! Also an SSD would sort out load times as well.