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Yet another (re)build thread - OPINIONS / SUGGESTIONS?? - Page 3

post #61 of 115
1/2/13 at 1:11pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by darklordjames View Post

.... The short of it, Daver, is that 16GB was the correct choice over 8GB, and provably so.

Thanks for the validation DLJ! cool.gif I read through the the other thread, and not sure if I understand much, if any of it, but 16gigs of RAM seems to be happy on this rig.

In fact, now that I have the SATA DVD drive in and the SSD switched over to AHCI, I think everything is in a good place. Games are running fast and smooth as I wanted, and I keep buying games during the Steam sale. tongue.gif

BTW, if anyone is interested, here's my results of the SSD in IDE mode (from post #57):



And here's the results after changing to AHCI:



Quite a change, but I'm not sure why it's so much lower than pcwebber111's score in post #55? confused.gif I'm not too concerned because it's running great, and I'm not going to get caught up in benchmarking - I just want to play games and have fun.
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post #62 of 115
1/3/13 at 6:23am
Thread Starter 
Speaking of SSD - are these supposed to be silent, or do they emit some noise?

The reason I ask is I can hear a slight "whirr" as my SSD is being accessed. Not a loud grinding of a standard hard drive, but I can still hear something.

Is this normal? confused.gif
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post #63 of 115
1/3/13 at 7:05am
Are you sure what you are accessing is on the ssd? It shouldn't make noise. There's nothing in it to make noise.
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post #64 of 115
1/3/13 at 7:08am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yrd View Post

Are you sure what you are accessing is on the ssd? It shouldn't make noise. There's nothing in it to make noise.

Yeah, I can hear it while browsing, as websites and images load. It's very faint, and I didn't notice it before this build. There's no noise when idle, just when accessing something via the SSD. Could it be something on the motherboard? I turned off the TV to make sure it wasn't coming from the display.

Doesn't make sense though.
Edited by DaverJ - 1/3/13 at 8:30am
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post #65 of 115
1/3/13 at 9:29am
Is there also a HDD in the system, with power management on that spins down the drives? That would cause a whirr as the dive spins back up. There is nothing in the SSD that makes noise.
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post #66 of 115
1/4/13 at 9:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaverJ View Post

Quite a change, but I'm not sure why it's so much lower than pcwebber111's score in post #55? confused.gif I'm not too concerned because it's running great, and I'm not going to get caught up in benchmarking - I just want to play games and have fun.

I'm running two in RAID 0. Really though don't worry about it, just enjoy the system, especially if all you want to do is play some games. You won't notice the difference. As to the accessing noise that's definitely not the SSD. Most likely you're hearing the other HDD. Or if you have speakers up you could be hearing some sort of induced noise from somewhere. If it is the SSD that means you have ears capable of hearing electrons move and that's impressive.
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post #67 of 115
1/4/13 at 10:14am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pcweber111 View Post

I'm running two in RAID 0. Really though don't worry about it, just enjoy the system, especially if all you want to do is play some games. You won't notice the difference. As to the accessing noise that's definitely not the SSD. Most likely you're hearing the other HDD. Or if you have speakers up you could be hearing some sort of induced noise from somewhere. If it is the SSD that means you have ears capable of hearing electrons move and that's impressive.

Thanks, and I think you might have nailed the noise problem. The sound seems more like faint audio interference, not mechanical. But my case and motherboard have no speakers (that I know of), and the source of the accessing "frequency" sound is the computer - I hear it even when the TV is off.

I think over the weekend I'm going to disable the motherboard's audio, and if that doesn't change it maybe disconnect the standard hard drive and see if either of those solves this minor issue. If not, I think I can live with it.

Oh, and now DLJ has me thinking about upgrading to Windows 8 again. tongue.gif I've asked this before, but I just wanted to confirm - there's no compatibility issues (gaming / Steam) or downside to going from Win 7 64-bit to Windows 8, correct? confused.gif
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post #68 of 115
1/4/13 at 11:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaverJ View Post

Thanks, and I think you might have nailed the noise problem. The sound seems more like faint audio interference, not mechanical. But my case and motherboard have no speakers (that I know of), and the source of the accessing "frequency" sound is the computer - I hear it even when the TV is off.
Is the sound more of an intermittent, high-pitched electronic hum (like a CRT tv)? Folks have reported getting electronic interference noises from their SSDs under certain wiring/power conditions. Could have more to do with your house's wiring than with the SSD, or it could be something internal to your PC. I know I occasionally get a similar sound from my laptop. It sounds sort of like HDD "accessing" noise because it seems to happen when your computer does something, but it may actually be from slight increases in power consumption when your computer is working above an idle.

Also, some people can't hear those frequencies after a certain age (which is why some stores use "noise deterrents" for skateboarders with young ears). Consider yourself lucky for having young ears! My wife thinks I'm crazy when I tell her a house we're walking by has a CRT on inside. But those of us who can hear that stuff, it's pretty piercing and annoying. It would drive me nuts if I were hearing that coming from my PC.
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post #69 of 115
1/4/13 at 12:11pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by confidenceman View Post

Is the sound more of an intermittent, high-pitched electronic hum (like a CRT tv)? Folks have reported getting electronic interference noises from their SSDs under certain wiring/power conditions. Could have more to do with your house's wiring than with the SSD, or it could be something internal to your PC.

This.

Yes, I didn't notice this until I moved the PC over by the TV, and I live in a old house with old wiring. Thanks confidenceman, I think you hit the bulls-eye here! cool.gif
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post #70 of 115
1/4/13 at 12:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaverJ View Post

Oh, and now DLJ has me thinking about upgrading to Windows 8 again. tongue.gif I've asked this before, but I just wanted to confirm - there's no compatibility issues (gaming / Steam) or downside to going from Win 7 64-bit to Windows 8, correct? confused.gif

I've noticed no issues at all. For all intents and purposes running games in Win8 is the same as Win7. I mean I guess there could be odd instances of incompatibilities but I haven't run into anything yet.
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post #71 of 115
1/15/13 at 1:59pm
Thread Starter 
UPDATE... really enjoying this build - back into PC gaming big time. cool.gif

In fact, now I'm downloading all these games, I definitely need a new harddrive to store and play them from, and want to keep it under $100.

I'm looking at the Western Digital Black 1TB for performance, but a lot of people on Amazon say they are loud, like a "peculating coffee pot". I would rather not have a noisy hard drive.

So this leaves me looking at the WD Blue 1TB or Seagate Barracuda 2TB.

All are 7200 rpm with 64 meg cache. Any reason to lean one way or the other? confused.gif BTW, my OS and often used programs are on a 256meg SSD.
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post #72 of 115
1/15/13 at 3:16pm
Go with the Seagate 2TB.
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post #73 of 115
1/15/13 at 6:01pm
Yup.

All hard drives are cheap garbage. Pick based on price, space, and noise.
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post #74 of 115
1/15/13 at 9:10pm
I will only use seagate HDs. I have bad luck with everything else. I specifically avoid WD, because every single drive I ever owned died. I had to replace one in my mother's laptop because it was dieing.

But you know, read any review of any brand and someone will say the same thing about my beloved seagate drives.
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post #75 of 115
1/15/13 at 9:21pm
Thread Starter 
Seagate 2TB it is - thanks guys!
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post #76 of 115
1/16/13 at 8:07am
So how about a Post-Op.........worth the investment?
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post #77 of 115
1/16/13 at 12:18pm
I'd hazard that his answer is "yes". I've seen him in Steam playing plenty of games over the last little bit. smile.gif Wile I've been endlessly sucked back in to Skyrim, Daver and Marafice keep popping up in my bottom-right corner with "is now playing...".
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post #78 of 115
1/16/13 at 12:22pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadRusch View Post

So how about a Post-Op.........worth the investment?

Thanks for asking! biggrin.gif

Yes, I am happy with every part I landed on, pending the soon-to-come Seagate 2TB. After that replacement, the only thing that survived from my previous 2007 build is the case (Antec Nine Hundred), the power supply (SeaSonic M12 SS-700HM 700W), Crucial m4 SSD 256meg, wireless mouse, and generic keyboard.

What changed:

Even my monitor changed from a Dell 2407 on a office desk/chair to a Samsung 650a LCD using DVI/HDMI input #2 named "PC", in front a comfy La-Z Boy recliner. biggrin.gif There's a little desk next to the chair for mouse, drinks, etc.. A wired Xbox 360 controller is my primary input for games.

And the rest of the build:

Total cost: around $920


Still running Win7 - on the fence to switch to Windows 8 while it's still cheap.

Very happy I splurged on the videocard - fast as hell, and more quiet than the EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX that it replaced. And now I'm tempted to try a second for some SLI action. tongue.gif But I've found almost everything I throw at it runs 60fps @ 1080p w/ v-sync on, and if it doesn't, dialing back or deselecting anti-aliasing usually brings it back to that sweet spot. Lack of anti-aliasing at 1080 doesn't bother me much. Some extreme DX11 games (Far Cry 3, Crysis 2, Batman Arkham City) require dialing back a barely noticeable graphic feature or two to maintain 60fps, but it still looks awesome in the process. All the older "console" games look and play much better on this PC: Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY, Sleeping Dogs, RAGE, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Alan Wake, Prince of Persia (2008) to name a few.

At this level, I feel like this machine has jumped far ahead of the Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii-U in terms of quality of graphics and smoothness of gameplay. I'm curious to see how the the PS4 and next Xbox expected later this year will stack up to this build.

If I had to do it over again? I'm not sure if I would change anything.

Thanks to everyone on AVS who helped me put this together!
Edited by DaverJ - 1/16/13 at 12:30pm
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post #79 of 115
1/16/13 at 12:32pm
"on the fence to switch to Windows 8 while it's still cheap."

Spend the $40 and get your key now. Even if you don't install it immediately its worth having for next year when you do decide to move to Win8 where it will be $100.
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post #80 of 115
1/17/13 at 2:17am
For those thinking of using Win 8 with a 720p 120hz projector as an HTPC in that mode, Windows is a kludge, although a stable one. Metro app tiles will not work in that resolution, the native VCD is kind of useless, and the native flash player has no option for hardware acceleration that I could see. Steam works pretty flawlessly though. If Windows 8 was Microsofts idea of One Ring to rule them all, they have to go back to the drawing board.
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post #81 of 115
1/27/13 at 10:18am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by darklordjames View Post

"on the fence to switch to Windows 8 while it's still cheap."

Spend the $40 and get your key now. Even if you don't install it immediately its worth having for next year when you do decide to move to Win8 where it will be $100.

Good idea, I did just that and am downloading it now.

What tipped me in that direction was this article that pointed out I can purchase now, download it and it gives the option to create an ISO file which can be used to create a bootable Setup DVD for later. Let's put that new DVD burner to work. smile.gif

EDIT: it turns out that the free Win8 Media Center upgrade keys only work 'till the end of this month. frown.gif Oh well, it's only a $10 upgrade to wait 'till later, but still....
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post #82 of 115
1/27/13 at 12:53pm
You could do a quick install to a flash drive, then activate your Media Center key, then it should stay active forever.
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post #83 of 115
1/27/13 at 3:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by darklordjames View Post

You could do a quick install to a flash drive, then activate your Media Center key, then it should stay active forever.

Brilliant.

But of course, once I have momentum on something, I just keep going. So I went ahead and installed Win8, and already got the Media Center update.

So far I think Win8 is very nice. I heard stories about people stumbling around in it, but everything makes sense to me and haven't had any problems yet. Nice system font. smile.gif There's no reason for a Win7 user not to upgrade to 8 at this price.
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post #84 of 115
1/27/13 at 6:58pm
Thread Starter 
And btw, Win8 does seem to like SSDs better.

Here's my Win7 SSD benchmark results:



And after the upgrade to Win8, here's the results:

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post #85 of 115
1/27/13 at 9:35pm
Was curious what my vertex benched at after seeing yours.. think I broke it.

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post #86 of 115
1/28/13 at 12:03am
That looks like the entire test is being cached to RAM. Those are very RAM-like performance numbers.
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post #87 of 115
1/28/13 at 5:30am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by darklordjames View Post

That looks like the entire test is being cached to RAM. Those are very RAM-like performance numbers.

Wow! eek.gif

Did you do a clean install of Win8? I just did an upgrade. I don't know of that has anything to do with it, but... damn! tongue.gif
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post #88 of 115
1/28/13 at 10:16am
9Gigs a second? Man they must make em with secret sauce at OCZ.
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post #89 of 115
1/28/13 at 10:21am
Forgot to turn off caching ^^

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post #90 of 115
1/28/13 at 10:27am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mekret View Post

Forgot to turn off caching ^^

How does one turn on caching in Win8?

EDIT: Sorry, Google is my friend. tongue.gif Is there any reason not to do this?
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