What should I do to get best performance out of my new build?

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JJEAVS123

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Apr 18, 2013
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Hello I built my own computer and I found it very easy but I need help with CPU/GPU settings to get the most out of my machine without burning it up. The games I play range from FPS, RPG, or Racing. I'm fairly new to creating and customizing my own PC because this is my first build. My Hardware is as follows...

AMD 6100-FX 6-Core Processor
ASUS 990FX Sabertooth Motherboard (Bios Utility)
ASUS 7870 2GB DDR5 Graphics Card (GPU Tweak)
16GB DDR3 Corsair Vengeance Ram
GS800 Corsair Power Supply
Zalman CNPS10x Large CPU Heatsink/Fan (Ready for Overclocking)
Zalman Z11 Plus Case
Windows 8

These Are my questions
1. My Asus Monitor has two connectors a vga to vga and an Hdmi to dvi. There is only an vga and hdmi port in the back, the hdmi connection is clearer but it has an ugly black border going around it making a 23" monitor 21" lol. And the vga connection is flickery during gaming but it fills the whole monitor.
2.My GPU runs at 55 degrees Celsius when putting the hammer down. What can I do to keep it cooler does anyone know any topside vga fans that work great?
3. My cpu has a very good heatsink that keeps it at a cool 23 degrees celsius so it is ready to overclock. What should my settings be in bios to get the cpus full effect during gaming without burning up.
4. My Corsair Power supply has a large fan built into the top of it. It never spins though, I'm wondering if the fan can be turned on somehow or if it comes on at certain moments? I'm confused by that.
5. Would buying another graphics card help the video quality or would it just be a waste of money.
6. Along with overclocking the Cpu what GPU Tweak settings should I use while gaming... what should I use if I'm just browsing the internet.
7. Is there any settings In-Game that make the Frame rate better to my hardware?
8. It says in my settings that I'm only using 8GB of ram, how do i change that to 16GB

Any help with these questions would be awesome. Now please remember I'm new to this so I need things explained to me in the simplist ways possible. Thanks!
-Jesse
 
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Stealth117

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Apr 18, 2013
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rhysiam

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Mar 24, 2013
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I'll have a go at a few:
1) use the DVI to HDMI, check your resolution is set correctly. Right click on your desktop and choose Screen Resolution (unless Win8 is different to 7), set it to your monitor's res - probably 1920x1080.
2) 55C under load is great, no issues there at all. Don't worry about chassis fans for the GPU unless/until you get a second
3) I'd recommend looking for an OC guide for your CPU. People here might recommend one, but google overclocking fx 6100 should help!
4) many PSUs won't spin their fan until needed. You're probably only pulling 250-300W under load at the moment, no surprise that it doesn't need its fan.
5) it gives you more performance in games that scale well with crossfire, at the cost of heat, noise, micro-stuttering (google if you haven't heard or it) and the annoyance of needing new drivers and CFX profiles to get good scaling from new games. Generally it's not a good idea unless or until you're not happy with the performance of your card.
6) again, google a good guide, lots of people OC that card and share how they do it
7) depends on the game
8) when you say 'using' does that mean your system has only detected 8GB of RAM, or it has the full 16 but task manager says it's only using 8? If the latter, Windows will use as much as possible but 16 is really overkill for most use cases at the moment and won't often be used. If the former - computer is only detecting 8GB Ram:
- with the computer off, double check RAM is seated properly (you have to push quite hard). If that doesn't solve it
- check with mobo manual that your RAM is in the right slots, that's often not adjacent slots! If that doesn't help...
- use 1 stick of RAM at a time to verify each one works.
Hope this helps.
 
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tiny voices

tiny voices

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Sep 6, 2012
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1. Check the scaling in your GPU settings in the catalyst control manager. This was my problem also.

2. 55c is nothing to worry about. That's fairly cool for full load.

3. Overclocking the CPU won't really change much in gaming at all.

4. could be broken. I would RMA ASAP.

5. kind of a waste. The 7870 should max modern games. Mine has no problem.

8. Is your RAM in 2 adjacent slots? If so, that is incorrect. It should be in slots 1 and 3 or 2 and 4.

 
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J

JJEAVS123

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Apr 18, 2013
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The Monitor can only be set up to 1600 by 900 on the dvi / hdmi connection on the vga to vga I'm able to set 1920x1080. Any other ways to enlarge screen resolution on dvi to hdmi? I'll check for an oc guide for the cpu. Ill test out the two ram sticks too. Thanks
 
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markwp

markwp

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Jan 22, 2013
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1. What ASUS monitor do you have? Are you sure there is not a DVI connector on it? Look on the back of your 7850 - the white connectors are DVI - you should have one on your monitor also.
2. Your GPU temperature is absolutely fine, and you still have substantial head room. No changes are needed.
3. Go to the AMD forum on overclock.net. They have great information about overclocking that processor, as well as temperature parameters, etc.
4. The fan on your power supply is triggered by a heat sensor. If it's not spinning, your PSU is not running a high enough temperature. With your setup, you're going to be hard pressed to put enough stress on 800w to get it to heat up. That's a good thing!
5. You could certainly run crossfire 7870's - they will scale up reasonably well. But - then you run into driver issues, set-up problems, etc. The single 7870 should give you excellent frame rates and very good quality for any game.
6. Download MSI afterburner to mess with your GPU settings. You can set that up so that under minimal stress (surfing the web, etc), the GPU will automatically underclock and reduce power usage. You can also set up a custom fan curve that will increase fan speed as GPU heat increases with gaming. The effect (if you take the time to set the curve correctly) is that you will find a good temp (60-80*) and the fan will automatically increase to keep the GPU within that range. On my 6950, my fan maxes at 60%, and my temp maxes at 65*.
7. Your frame rate will largely depend on the resolution you run (higher res - lower FPS), quality settings (low=fast FPS, High/Ultra=lower FPS), anti-aliasing (off is faster, 2x slower, 4x slower still, etc). Download Heaven Benchmark and play with that - try different settings at different resolutions. That should give you a pretty good idea of what effects settings and resolution have.
8. What settings say 8g? What does your bios say? How is your memory configured? 4x4 or 2x8? What memory do you have?

Mark
 
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JJEAVS123

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Apr 18, 2013
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10,510
Hey guys sorry about the later post but I was able to scale my screen size by moving the slider in Catalyst Control Center under flat-panel TVs by setting over scan slider all the way to the right.
Power Supply Issues have been answered.
GPU Temperature is great.
RAM Sticks are both working fine.
I will try MSI Afterburner.
Hard to pick a solution everyone has has some great advise to contribute.
Thanks again!
Jesse

 
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