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Community => The Lounge => Hardware/Software => Topic started by: Alex on Tuesday, January 04, 2011, 19:04:17 PM
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I finally have the $140 I need to buy a new motherbord and case. For those of you who aren't spanky, I need a new motherboard because right now my OEM doesn't allow overclocking and I need more performance out of my processor (would overclock from 2.5GHz to 3.0GHz.) I also need a new case because almost every piece of hardware in my tiny case is running at above average temps. So I have the money to buy it, but I'm not really sure that it is worth it. I don't play games all that often anymore, I still do weekly, but not daily like before. And I'm not really sure that the performance increase will be worth the price. Does anyone have an opinion on whether or not to do it?
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Try modding your case to get better airflow before buying one. And if you do get a new motherboard but not a case make sure the OEM case you have will fit it. I know HP likes to use BTX and its quite annoying. But honestly the biggest performance boost you can get with 140$ would be an SSD. You will crap your pants when your in windows in less than 20 seconds. Seriously, even if you manage a 100% OC (not going to happen) you will still see a bigger boost from an SSD.
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Try modding your case to get better airflow before buying one. And if you do get a new motherboard but not a case make sure the OEM case you have will fit it. I know HP likes to use BTX and its quite annoying. But honestly the biggest performance boost you can get with 140$ would be an SSD. You will crap your pants when your in windows in less than 20 seconds. Seriously, even if you manage a 100% OC (not going to happen) you will still see a bigger boost from an SSD.
I don't think Dell uses ATX for their cases either. Also, even if I modded my case, it has one 80mm fan and everything is crammed in (could barely fit my GPU) so even if I opened it up a bit, it would still get too hot. How will an SSD help my games run better? My crappy CPU ( Intel Pentium E5200 Dual-Core @2.5GHz) holds me back in a lot of games including Bad Company 2. I just don't know if I will see a $140 performance increase.
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And you have tried setfsb? Also pics of case are required.
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But honestly the biggest performance boost you can get with 140$ would be an SSD. You will crap your pants when your in windows in less than 20 seconds.
BORING!
FPS or loading times.... hmmmm tough choice... NOT.
Here's what I recommended:
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-45-U3L&title=GIGABYTE-GA-EP45-UD3L-Core-2-Quad-P45-DDR2-1366-A-GbE-ATX-DES-Motherboard
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-43-UD3L&title=GIGABYTE-GA-EP43-UD3L-Core-2-Quad-Intel-P43-DDR2-A-GbE-ATX-Motherboard
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-P43ES3G&title=GIGABYTE-GA-P43-ES3G-Core-2-Quad-Intel-P43-DDR2-1200-A-GbE-ATX-Motherboard
Any will allow good overclocks with high FSB with fast and tight memory. Inside his budget and leaves room for a case.
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He said nothing about FPS increase simply a performance boost. And and SSD will give you the best all around performance boost.
In fact he states he doesn't even play games that often so... Knight 1 Spanky 0.
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He said nothing about FPS increase simply a performance boost. And and SSD will give you the best all around performance boost.
In fact he states he doesn't even play games that often so... Knight 1 Spanky 0.
Well, I said that I didn't play them all that much as a con to getting the motherboard. I guess I should have been clearer.
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Hi.
Just get a mobo. Your probably not going to do much on the comp anyway and an SSD isn't going to increase your FPS. If you have money left, you can get a nice case, or even a really cheap SSD and install only Windows on it. You can always try what I do and load the case up with fans on the front and back with duct tape to get air to pass thru nicely.
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Whole system performance with CPU, FSB & Memory speed boosts > SSD
Load times are nice but he'd get what, 60-100GB for that? Not worth it yet.
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Bought the awesome Antec Three hundred Illusion Case for $55 free shipping, which is a steal.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
Had to buy it today because it was on sale. I'm going to wait until Friday to see if the motherboard spanky recommended comes in stock.
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Something I forgot to mention is that you'll probably want to/have to replace the fans in whatever case you buy. Just like cases that come with PSU's, they're garbage. They might last 6 months or a year or if you're lucky, longer. Look up some nice ball bearing, SSO or whatever fans. Stay away from sleeve (which I'm 98% sure that's what's in the case). Masscool makes great ball bearing fans. I bought 5 80mm ball bearing fans (which also happen to be one of the most fastest 80mm fan) and they're still going strong almost 2 years later.
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Something I forgot to mention is that you'll probably want to/have to replace the fans in whatever case you buy. Just like cases that come with PSU's, they're garbage. They might last 6 months or a year or if you're lucky, longer. Look up some nice ball bearing, SSO or whatever fans. Stay away from sleeve (which I'm 98% sure that's what's in the case). Masscool makes great ball bearing fans. I bought 5 80mm ball bearing fans (which also happen to be one of the most fastest 80mm fan) and they're still going strong almost 2 years later.
I'll buy some when I get some more money. The ones in the case should be fine for now.
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Quality case fans are an investment. Something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185005
When you consider 3 or 4 of those, you've passed the $50 range easily. Or these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608009
3 and you're at $75 which is half your current budget. Pain in the ass hidden expense but it's better than buying shitty ones that you have to replace frequently (waste & cost) that requires you to open your case and undo whatever wire routing you had.
Maybe it's just me but I always forget about fans. I'll source parts for someone and push their budget to get quality parts then think that I forgot case fans that I gotta find $30-$60 for somehow.
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You can also recycle fans from other parts = free fans. But that only works if youve got a lot of computer parts lying around.
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Good job on the case Killaman, it just now showed up on Slickdeals :)
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Something I forgot to mention is that you'll probably want to/have to replace the fans in whatever case you buy. Just like cases that come with PSU's, they're garbage. They might last 6 months or a year or if you're lucky, longer. Look up some nice ball bearing, SSO or whatever fans. Stay away from sleeve (which I'm 98% sure that's what's in the case). Masscool makes great ball bearing fans. I bought 5 80mm ball bearing fans (which also happen to be one of the most fastest 80mm fan) and they're still going strong almost 2 years later.
This depends on who you buy your case from and who makes the fans. I have 2 thermaltake fans in my case that have never been taken apart and cleaned that are 3+ years old now. And they are still within 25 rpm of factory spec.
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Skrewy must have a beastly computer, I would never buy a full-size tower. I wanna take up less space around my desk.
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The case I have is bigger than his lol. I hate it I want a micro tower.
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Since the next step will be squeezing performance out of the computer, here's what I suggest:
The following spots of code are BIOS templates, it's stuff that you enter in your BIOS. Before entering settings, always load optimized defaults. The first will test to see if your CPU can do 400MHz FSB. I only thought this was a limitation of the motherboard but after researching, it seems like a lot of people say your CPU (E5200) has a FSB wall of 360-370MHz FSB. I suggest 400 so that your FSB & RAM can be in a 1:1 ratio and run the best that way. So test this code (if it's not listed, leave it default/auto):
MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)
Robust Graphics Booster ...[AUTO]
CPU Clock Ratio ...........7X
Fine CPU Clock Ratio.......0.0
CPU Frequency .............2.8 GHz (400x7)
Clock Chip Control
>>>Standard Clock Control
CPU Host Clock Control.......[Disabled]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) ....400
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz). 100
DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance..............[STANDARD]
Memory Frequency (Mhz) ..........800
Motherboard Voltage Control
Voltage Type
>>>CPU
CPU Vcore...............1.3v..[1.25v]
>>>MCH/ICH
MCH Core.........1.100v...[1.200V]
>>> DRAM
DRAM Voltage ........1.800v...[1.900v]
After saving settings, it should reboot. If your screen stays blank, then maybe you don't have a golden CPU. Since it failed, you can most likely aim for 300x10 with a 2.66 memory ratio. This will mean a 3GHz CPU and 800MHz RAM. It's less optimal but limited to your CPU. You might even be able to get away with 310x10 for 3.1GHz CPU and 824MHZ RAM.
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So I bought everything earlier today., now it is just a matter of waiting. Thanks again Spanky for all the help.
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How many people bought that because they thought it was a product from Apple?
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How many people bought that because they thought it was a product from Apple?
*Does long, strung-out Paul Shaffer laugh*
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Killaman, hopefully you can get your hard drive formatted.
These would be the next steps:
Update your BIOS (I forgot which specific model you purchased... also what revision did you get? Once I know these, I'll link to the BIOS download)
Set optimized defaults (again for the new bios)
Disable integrated peripherals (anything you don't need on the integrated peripherals page. This reduces power and possibly Windows boot time. See 4th image below)
Save BIOS profile ("Save CMOS to BIOS" option I'm thinking this should be a feature on your board)
For your reference, here's images of my BIOS settings: (your settings will obviously be different, do not use my settings)
(https://aao25.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl.dropbox.com%2Fu%2F464376%2FDSC01105.JPG&hash=781487238f91b0c385888aca0d508ea0)
(https://aao25.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl.dropbox.com%2Fu%2F464376%2FDSC01107.JPG&hash=199b6268d0165ee91c92cb06eeb134dc)
(https://aao25.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl.dropbox.com%2Fu%2F464376%2FDSC01109.JPG&hash=9b132e4e72afee065883543c81605427)
(https://aao25.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl.dropbox.com%2Fu%2F464376%2FDSC01111.JPG&hash=cf02b4a7db4ba186743df4fb58dc9f0a)