Ebay seller offering custom builds...what do you think of this build? (no flames pls.

[rising_suns]

Re: Ebay seller offering custom builds...what do you think of this build? (no flames

After much research, I discovered that the XP installation CD is lacking certain SATA drivers required to do a proper install. I attempt the workaround by compiling a new installation with the drivers, but that did not work. So I just went ahead and upgraded to Windows 7 instead (I have been delaying upgrading as much as possible, but now I am forced to).

In any case, the install went very well, and the i5 is quite capable. However, I did observe that I needed to overclock it more than expected to get the performance I was hoping for. At 3.9 Ghz, I am about 39*C at idle, and 67*C under load with Prime95. At 4.0 Ghz, I am running stable at 41*C at idle and 74*C under load (however my software never pushes it past 65*C), without having to adjust any of my voltages (all set to auto).

I do have a question about these values. Does this seem ok? Would you suggest that I change anything? All I did to OC was drop my multplier down to 9x, and increase my Bsclk as much as possbile without losing stability (made it to about 195 before the system became unstable (probably due to my RAM limits?), and so I dropped it down to 191). Then I increased my multiplier to 21x, but for some reason, I cannot increase it to 22x (when I do, it automatically adjust back to 21x after restart.

In any case, do these numbers seem ok to you for my purposes? I am not expecting this computer to last forever, and so I do not mind pushing it a little bit.

 

[rising_suns]

Re: Ebay seller offering custom builds...what do you think of this build? (no flames

Oh by the way, I installed the 32 bit version of Windows 7 instead of the 64 bit version because I was worried about compatibility issues with my software. But assuming the 64 bit version is able to run all my software, would it make much of a difference in performance to switch to the 64 bit version? (sorry if this has been already answered ad naseum).

 

[mattk1045]

Re: Ebay seller offering custom builds...what do you think of this build? (no flames

Sorry to hear you had a few bumps in the road man. It happens but now you are a computer builder and the master of the microchip haha.

for your purposes you NEEDED to O.C.? Why is that?
What type of cooler did you get for the CPU? is it stock or aftermarket? That 74c seems awful high to me but maybe for Intel chips that is not so bad. Not sure.
Win 64 allows you to use more RAM i know that, i believe 32 bit only allows 4 GB of ram. Other than that It is also supposed to be faster I beleieve. 64bit worth of data compared to 32bit worth of data. Something like that but maybe wait for a Windows pro to chime in before you ake my word on it.

 

[rising_suns]

Re: Ebay seller offering custom builds...what do you think of this build? (no flames

well, I'm using a $39 CoolerMaster Hyper N, which scored pretty good on newegg for cooling the i5 and i7 (see link below). But, I suppose I can always upgrade to the Noctua NH-D14 if the temps are really that bad. You probably know more about this than I. But apartently the Noctua is known for producing top quality air cooling products. People using this fan with the i7 at 4GHz claim it reaches only about 60* at full load, and just a few degrees above ambient at idle.

Coolermaster:
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler

Noctua:
Newegg.com - Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler

 

[rising_suns]

Re: Ebay seller offering custom builds...what do you think of this build? (no flames

Regarding the problem with speed, I suspect part of the problem is the nature of my work. The computer is retrieving and manipulating thousands of files in just a few minutes. Even though I have a fast CPU, I am now suspecting that my WD Blue is becoming a bottle neck here. Windows Experience Index rated the HD at 5.9, whereas the processor is at 7.3, and my ram is 7.5. So I am now considering upgrading to a Solid State or Velociraptor instead to see if that will release the full potential of this business setup.

What are your thoughts?

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Re: Ebay seller offering custom builds...what do you think of this build? (no flames

SSD has a limited number of reads/writes, if this is for a buisness system, a 10k RPM HDD will be more reliable, and rather fast, and if needed, you can put them in a RAID array, just be aware, the Velociraptor is over rated, and tends to get really hot.

 

[rising_suns]

Re: Ebay seller offering custom builds...what do you think of this build? (no flames

I have read that degradation is not a problem with SSD's anymore, due to TRIM, garbage, and other firmware upgrades.

The more I read, the more I am leaning to SSD rather than the Velociraptor. AnandTech ran some tests on the SSD's, and found that their is no comparison, especially in heavy load testing with thousands of read/write operations of smaller file sizes (which is closest to our business usage). The SSD's absolutely dominates the Velociratpor here.

In addition, one of the reviewers on newegg said he had 3 Velociraptors in Raid 0, and his transfer rates were nowhere near to that of his Corsair SSD (something like 100 mb/s difference). WIE rated the 3 Velociraptors in RAID 0 at only 6.4, whereas his SSD rated at 7.4.

I have also read that Western Digitial's quality control is plummeting, with nearly 50% failure rates within 3 months on some models, including the Velociraptor.

Of course, this is only what I have read. I have no first hand experience, other than recently ordering a 2 TB WD green, and it arrived DOA. This has given me some pause for concern.
.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Re: Ebay seller offering custom builds...what do you think of this build? (no flames

Flash memory is flash memory, still uses transistors to store the ones and zeros, after so many flips of a switch it breaks, and there's billions of those in an SSD.

But, if needed, go with an SSD, but also keep an old fashioned drive around for backups of the system since it's going to be a business system...