Help with PC gaming build

[ZenfoldorVGI]

westplay said:

ZenfoldorVGI said:

Thanks! :)

I have a GTX 260 that I have in there temporarily. Perhaps it would be a good idea to simply buy another one and go sli?

Thanks for the tip about prime 95. I have been using AMD Overdrive and it seems to do ok. Couple of questions.

Under load I get up to 50 degrees c not overclocked. Is that good or bad? Might have to wait longer for the Arctic Silver to set before OCing.

Second, on my ram, I increased the voltage from 1.55 to 1.65. I'm not sure I needed to do that, but I did because the timings set by my mobo were really shitty and it was running at 1300 mhz instead of 1600. I upped the voltage and manually changed ALL the timings(even the ones after the initial 4) to what the mobo said the factory recommendations were. It hasn't hurt a thing that I can tell. How do I go about testing that to see if I can reduce the voltage, or if I need to increase it or what?

Also is it save to change ALL the ram timings(I changed like 10 numbers, lol). I think that the second row of numbers in my mobo settings were the ones on the actual stick and the "auto" numbers were the "safe" ones set by my mobo.

Thanks for the advice!! :)

I wouldn't recommend the SLI configuration, as it has some drawbacks, your pc inside the case will produce a lot more heat, there is micro studder which i don't remember exactly what i is but i think is that there are sudden increases and decreases at the fps of a lot of games and makes the gameplay annoying. I have a sli configuration and i still regret not getting a 4870 back then.

I would recommend getting a 5870, or the new Radeon series that is coming out the 60xx. Its your choice, you could stick to the 260 untils summer, i should play all games very fast!

50 degrees on load without overclock is not that good, but it depends what is the ambient temperature in your room. If you can, post your cpu cooler and your case, i've missed the whole conversation on this post. I had a coolermaster v8 and i had 55-57 C full load overclocked, not during summer though, at summer time i had to drop the overclock because the ambient tempereture was 35 !. Until I installed watercooling.

Now a lot of ram need to have increased voltage to operate at full speed, in your case 1666mhz. It should be written on their box, or even on them. The timings that need to be changed and that make a difference are 4. These are the main timings that are always advertised, like my memory that is 800mhz 4-4-4-15. Again if you can post your ram make and model number so i can search for their timings to see if i can help you! The safe ones that your mobo put are usually a lot lower than the optimal.

To check if you can decrease the voltage first decrease your ram voltage and if your pc boots up ok :P run prime 95 for at least 15 minutes to be sure and if you have no blue screens or restarts then they are fine. For better testing and final configuration, you should let it run for an hour, i know its boring.

Here is my cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118223&cm_re=zalman_cpu_cooler-_-35-118-223-_-Product

Here is my cpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727&cm_re=amd_phenom_ii_x4_965-_-19-103-727-_-Product

I used Arctic Silver 5 which supposedly has a "burn in" period after which the temps will drop between 3 and 7 degrees c.

I have 8 gigs of this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211409&cm_re=gaming_ram_4gb-_-20-211-409-_-Product

Is Prime 95 the best program to torture test with?