*Guide to Choosing Parts* - Page 5

Well there you go, I trusted some reviewer instead of going to the source... wish I could remember which, was probably here or Anandtech.

Looks like the only real difference these days is the extra PCI-E lanes and virtualization support, and some vague reduction in overclocking ability due to reduced tweaking tools.

I just finished reviewing quite a bit of material on it, so I'll update in a day or two as I can. Thanks for the catch.

Proximon,

You have my "Recommended Builds by Usage" listed twice (Under Other General Guides and right above your Assembly section).

Also, check out this assembly guide created by DRIVERHEAVEN. It looks to be pretty current and informative.

Thanks, fixes made and links changed. I'm thinking of starting a new comprehensive tiered PSU list, from scratch. 5 tiers, then an "unknown" list and finally a "probably trash" list... the last being the only place where I would mention entire brands rather than specific models.

If I started such a thread it would be a big commitment though... lot's of support would be needed *wink-wink*.

I found on some places, how to connect 2 cheap PSU to emulate one more powerfull, but was not brave enough to risk my system on it.

Basically, all you need to do is to join the green and all black cables on the power supply connector.

I would love to see tomshardware experiments (covering reliability and longevity of the hacked PSUs), but still did not achieved to convince some tomshardware/Anandtech dude

Oh heck no he didn't just say that... Or did he?

There was no October article, so yes, I am 3 days late updating it Thanks for the catch.

Please start your own thread, following the guidelines in the other sticky:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ild-advice

From: 10-20-2008

nVidia boards
(750i, 780i, 790i, 980a, etc.)
I do not recommend any nVidia chipset boards at this time. Not for Intel or AMD builds.

Proximon: Since this comment was written in 2008, has your opinion changed? And why?

Please forgive me for not reading through the entire thread before posting this question. I tried to skim through and find updated information but there was just too much "noise" for skimming to work. Appreciate all the effort the regulars put in on Tom's. Thanks.

I am very much disappointed by reading this on this thread => http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] uyer-guide

"The LGA1156 platform is suspended from recommendation due to reports of faulty sockets not providing enough contacts, and frying CPUs under heavy load. The faulty sockets are manufactured by Foxconn, but they are used in almost all p55 motherboards. At the moment, most failures have been on highly overclocked systems, but until the extent of the problem is known, this CPU (and socket) will be off the recommended list."

Kindly suggest should I wait till January 2010 or not, it's matter of $1400 plus planned investment


Thank you very much,

~Akula2

Could you please share that unofficial remedy for the sake of confused buyers like me

I considered LGA 1366 option but that's going to blow my budget targets...actually I've planned to build a new custom PC sample machine (gaming/workstation usage) based on i5-750 processor. The reasons are:

a) Review the new PC and subject to few tests and evaluate them (1 week)
b) Based on the performance results, am planning to build 20 PCs by Jan 2010 end (am not a re-seller at all)
c) I don't live in the US, need to import all these components from a portal like Newegg or Tigerdirect etc (whoever willing to ship to my country with reasonable rates). It's going to be messy if something goes wrong...because we people don't have the kind of advantage like you guys (easy ordering, cheap shipping etc).

Now my entire plans are in doldrums Someone on this board recommended me in another thread:

i) To use a EVGA MOBO: am not confident at all on spending $30,000 plus based on a new MOBO which i never tried
ii) On extremehardware forum or somewhere: Members were discussing that new Gigabyte A series has LOTES sockets? I don't know whether it's true or not...

Please suggest me what to do...should I wait till Jan 2010 or should I take risk and go for Gigabyte new A series etc?

Thank you,

~akula2

I accept your post just as an opinion.

But I want to see real world tests.

Came on, they ruined an Phenom just to see if it worked on an older socket, and burned many mothers and processors doing overclocking articles.

A dual PSU article would be amazing, even if it ends in "but we burned the mother at the end" .

Yes. just google it.

Awesome thread for a first time (officially) builder. Thanks for your work.

SR

Proximon,

I'd like to make a suggestion of a little more detail to add under the Memory - P55 section. I have seen a large number of posters buy 1600, 2000 or greater RAM and then be disappointed when they couldn't get their RAM to run at those speeds without a lot of BIOS manipulation. From my experience, the P55 motherboards allow a max memory multiplier of (effectively) x10 for the i5 750 and x12 for the i7 8xx. I don't know if this is 100% across all motherboards, but in my experience helping others I haven't yet seen any deviations. Maybe others can provide some feedback if they know of any motherboards that operate differently.

My suggestion is to add the following a comment to your section that reads:

P55 RAM
RAM for the i5/i7 LGA 1156 CPUs and MBs is purchased in pairs. It is DDR3 and needs to have a voltage at or below 1.65V.

So that it reads:
P55 RAM
RAM for the i5/i7 LGA 1156 CPUs and MBs is purchased in pairs. It is DDR3 and needs to have a voltage at or below 1.65V.

Intel officially supports 1066 and 1333 frequency memory on the P55. Most motherboards allow the i7 8xx chips to run memory at 1600. If you have an i5 750 or i7 8xx and are NOT interested in OCing or are NOT comfortable changing BIOS settings such as BCLK, CPU multiplier, memory multiplier, memory timings (CAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS), EIST, C-states, Turbo, etc. then it is recommended the max frequency you get is 1333 for an i5 750, and 1600 for an i7 8xx. Remember, timings, also referred to as latency, is more important than the frequency of the RAM.


Hopefully if people are reading your guide this will cut down on the number of Why isn't the 2000 RAM I paid for running at 2000!! problems.

Both good suggestions, really. I have been hoping for a new updated memory guide (sticky in the memory section) but that hasn't happened. I will get to this soon.

This is already in progress by a number of us.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] anked-list

Hi. Thank you for this forum it is so informative even to much information for one time. My name is Mark I am living in Russia. I am upgrading my old system in my living room and using some of my existing components. I would like your opining on what is the best components I should buy, like: Processor, mother board, graphic card, power supply and ram. I am using Sony Bravia VPL-AW15 720p LCD Front Projector as a screen (want to use all potential of this projector) and I have Silverstone LC13B-E Home Theatre PC Case that I am planning to use. I am interested in not to expensive but good quality components. I am want to upgrade to HDMI signal (I am using S video). I would like to be able to use this system to watching movies on blue ray disks, play games, work in photo shop, and edit some home movies. Thank you.

LOL

Direct questions are not answered here. Anyone that wants to ask my advice should start a separate thread then PM me with a link to it.

Hey proximon, i'm building my first machine, and i'd really like some advice.
I'm building this computer primarily to play World of Warcraft and listen to music. I'd like my framerates above 30 or 40 at all times if possible, and i'm kinda stuck at this impass.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] CatId=2406
OR
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] u=B69-4086

Between these two, take money out as a factor. Which would preform better in games? I have a nvidia 9800 GT i'm putting in it, and 4 gigs of ram with a 700W PSU.

Thanks in advance!

Awesome guide. This and Proximon's big list of of recommended parts helped me out immensely. Thank you!

Thank you, I have made a few small changes today, most notably I have added 890GX info under AMD chipsets.

I was wondering why this guide no longer talks about RAM required for overclocking. Instead it just says that latency is more important than speed. However it should be noted that to not limit your overclock 1600MHz RAM is recommended, thats for x58 I'm not sure about AMD and i5. I was just concerned that people would leave here with the idea that RAM speed isn't at all important.

Thanks. Very good thread.

how do u pm someone, anyway?

A few updates today.

I have a question. I am using an old athlon xp and to speed up the system. I would like to replace the th processor and MOB. I want to keep the enclosure which is an old antec with a 350 PWS. I also would like to have access to the IDE drive. What parts can anyone recommend?