Help me maximize my build!

[terdinglage]

I'm doing a lazy/poor man's PC build, and was looking for opinions on how I can maximize my setup. Here is what I have purchased so far, so I would consider those factors set in stone:

Dell Inspiron 620 Case and Crappy Motherboard ------------- $318.00
Intel® Core™ i5-2320 (6MB Cache, 3.0GHz)
Seagate 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
Crappy Stock DVD Drive from Dell

2x 4GB AMD DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 240-Pin SDRAM -------- $24.00
Corsair CX430 V2 430W Power Supply -------------------------- $15.00
XFX Radeon HD 6870 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 ----------------------- $159.00
LITE-ON iHAS224-06 DVD Drive ------------------------------------ $18.00
_______________________________________________________
$534.00

I want to keep my total damages under $600, which leaves me with $64 dollars to spend, give or take.

My questions for you guys are as follows:

1. Will all of this operate on my basic Corsair CX430, or do I need to be concerned? It was tough to pass up for $15.00, and I don't want to return it. I will have to power one of the PCI-E plugs on the graphics card with a 2 Molex to 1 PCI-E adapter. I've done a lot of research, and it sounds like it should work, but it may not be entirely recommended. I've used calculators and I'm fairly confident the wattage will come in short of the total 430W, but I only have 336W and 28A to work with on the +12V, and I'm not sure which of my other components will also be drawing from that. Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Will I need to remove the crappy stock DVD Drive, and is there any chance I will be able to use an additional PCI-E 1x card or a SSD?

2. I don't know anything about overclocking, and wasn't planning on it, but would it be possible to overclock my processor or graphics card in this system? I've been leaning towards no due to the fact that I'm running on stock Dell cooling and also am pushing the limits of my PSU, but if I could safely pull it off without wrecking things, I definitely would like to.

3. If I have the headroom, what are some useful and cheap PCI-E 1x addons; perhaps ones that wont pull power from the +12V rail?

4. I read in a review that this processor has "SSD Smart Cache Control"; what's that all about and why would it not pay to have over a 64GB SSD with it (that's what the reviewer said at least)?

 

[fire r a g e]

You will need the k version CPU to OC a lot. Non k versions have locked cores, so OCing those is very limited, albeit possible.

 

[terdinglage]

You will need the k version CPU to OC a lot. Non k versions have locked cores, so OCing those is very limited, albeit possible.

One Newegg review claimed they overclocked it using TurboBoost to 3.7 GHz. I thought that was an automatic feature of the processor, though, not something you set it to constantly...

 

[g-unit1111]

1. Will all of this operate on my basic Corsair CX430, or do I need to be concerned? It was tough to pass up for $15.00, and I don't want to return it. I will have to power one of the PCI-E plugs on the graphics card with a 2 Molex to 1 PCI-E adapter. I've done a lot of research, and it sounds like it should work, but it may not be entirely recommended. I've used calculators and I'm fairly confident the wattage will come in short of the total 430W, but I only have 336W and 28A to work with on the +12V, and I'm not sure which of my other components will also be drawing from that. Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Will I need to remove the crappy stock DVD Drive, and is there any chance I will be able to use an additional PCI-E 1x card or a SSD?

You can definitely use an SSD but you'll probably need to get a mounting bracket for it. I don't know about the PCI-e cards as that all depends on the motherboard included.

What I generally don't like about pre-built systems like Dell and HP is that they don't use standard form factors (and sometimes the motherboard doesn't have the standard 24-pin and 8-pin voltage connectors) - the CX 430 is a good PSU, I have that same one, but you'll need to check the dimensions of your case and the motherboard layout before attempting.

2. I don't know anything about overclocking, and wasn't planning on it, but would it be possible to overclock my processor or graphics card in this system? I've been leaning towards no due to the fact that I'm running on stock Dell cooling and also am pushing the limits of my PSU, but if I could safely pull it off without wrecking things, I definitely would like to.

No. Pre-built manufacturers like Dell and HP really strip down and limit access to the BIOS (and I'm sure that's so they can sell you their overpriced in-home technical support service). Overclocking has the potential to, and probably will, void your warranty. You'd really be stretching the limits of the CX430 if you attempted that.

3. If I have the headroom, what are some useful and cheap PCI-E 1x addons; perhaps ones that wont pull power from the +12V rail?

Only GPUs pull from the rail directly - everything else pulls from the motherboard. I'm not sure what addons you're referring to though.

4. I read in a review that this processor has "SSD Smart Cache Control"; what's that all about and why would it not pay to have over a 64GB SSD with it (that's what the reviewer said at least)?

Only systems running Intel's Z68 motherboards will have this feature. This might explain it better than I can but I realize Wikipedia probably isn't the best place to look up computer technology info. :lol:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Response_Technology

One Newegg review claimed they overclocked it using TurboBoost to 3.7 GHz. I thought that was an automatic feature of the processor, though, not something you set it to constantly...

It isn't. You have to manually enable that in the BIOS. It's a somewhat hidden feature but it shouldn't be too hard to find.

 

[terdinglage]

1. Will all of this operate on my basic Corsair CX430, or do I need to be concerned? It was tough to pass up for $15.00, and I don't want to return it. I will have to power one of the PCI-E plugs on the graphics card with a 2 Molex to 1 PCI-E adapter. I've done a lot of research, and it sounds like it should work, but it may not be entirely recommended. I've used calculators and I'm fairly confident the wattage will come in short of the total 430W, but I only have 336W and 28A to work with on the +12V, and I'm not sure which of my other components will also be drawing from that. Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Will I need to remove the crappy stock DVD Drive, and is there any chance I will be able to use an additional PCI-E 1x card or a SSD?

You can definitely use an SSD but you'll probably need to get a mounting bracket for it. I don't know about the PCI-e cards as that all depends on the motherboard included.

What I generally don't like about pre-built systems like Dell and HP is that they don't use standard form factors (and sometimes the motherboard doesn't have the standard 24-pin and 8-pin voltage connectors) - the CX 430 is a good PSU, I have that same one, but you'll need to check the dimensions of your case and the motherboard layout before attempting.

2. I don't know anything about overclocking, and wasn't planning on it, but would it be possible to overclock my processor or graphics card in this system? I've been leaning towards no due to the fact that I'm running on stock Dell cooling and also am pushing the limits of my PSU, but if I could safely pull it off without wrecking things, I definitely would like to.

No. Pre-built manufacturers like Dell and HP really strip down and limit access to the BIOS (and I'm sure that's so they can sell you their overpriced in-home technical support service). Overclocking has the potential to, and probably will, void your warranty. You'd really be stretching the limits of the CX430 if you attempted that.

3. If I have the headroom, what are some useful and cheap PCI-E 1x addons; perhaps ones that wont pull power from the +12V rail?

Only GPUs pull from the rail directly - everything else pulls from the motherboard. I'm not sure what addons you're referring to though.

4. I read in a review that this processor has "SSD Smart Cache Control"; what's that all about and why would it not pay to have over a 64GB SSD with it (that's what the reviewer said at least)?

Only systems running Intel's Z68 motherboards will have this feature. This might explain it better than I can but I realize Wikipedia probably isn't the best place to look up computer technology info. :lol:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Response_Technology

One Newegg review claimed they overclocked it using TurboBoost to 3.7 GHz. I thought that was an automatic feature of the processor, though, not something you set it to constantly...

It isn't. You have to manually enable that in the BIOS. It's a somewhat hidden feature but it shouldn't be too hard to find.

I've already verified that the PSU fits and works, so I'm good to go there. I don't have USB 3.0 so I'm thinking that could be a good addon, and it wouldn't be much of a dent power wise.

As far as overclocking is concerned, are you saying I won't be able to overclock the graphics card due to the likely nerfed BIOS, but I will be able to overclock the i5 using that hidden setting in the BIOS? Is it even worth it to have it run at 3.7 GHz constantly, or should I let the TurboBoost do it's thing?

 

[jeremyp1979]

Overclocking the video card doesn't usually need changes to the bios, unless you want to increase the voltage, and I wouldn't recommend that with the power supply you are using. All of the major video card makers have their own overclocking utilities, so oc'ing the video card should be pretty easy.

 

[angaddev]

For $60 you could get a better mobo and try and get the 2500K

 

[g-unit1111]

I've already verified that the PSU fits and works, so I'm good to go there. I don't have USB 3.0 so I'm thinking that could be a good addon, and it wouldn't be much of a dent power wise.

As far as overclocking is concerned, are you saying I won't be able to overclock the graphics card due to the likely nerfed BIOS, but I will be able to overclock the i5 using that hidden setting in the BIOS? Is it even worth it to have it run at 3.7 GHz constantly, or should I let the TurboBoost do it's thing?

You can certainly let Turboboost do it's thing. Overclocking the graphics card is done through driver's control panel.

Overclocking the video card doesn't usually need changes to the bios, unless you want to increase the voltage, and I wouldn't recommend that with the power supply you are using. All of the major video card makers have their own overclocking utilities, so oc'ing the video card should be pretty easy.

I have that same PSU and it's been great so far - keeps everything cool and quiet. The thing is though is most video card makers do include their own utilities, but this is a pre-built Dell and it probably wont.

 

[terdinglage]

You can certainly let Turboboost do it's thing. Overclocking the graphics card is done through driver's control panel.

Overclocking the video card doesn't usually need changes to the bios, unless you want to increase the voltage, and I wouldn't recommend that with the power supply you are using. All of the major video card makers have their own overclocking utilities, so oc'ing the video card should be pretty easy.

I have that same PSU and it's been great so far - keeps everything cool and quiet. The thing is though is most video card makers do include their own utilities, but this is a pre-built Dell and it probably wont.

So if graphics cards are overclocking with software solutions provided by the manufacturer, then why would having a pre-built Dell affect my ability to overclock?

 

[g-unit1111]

dupe post

 

[g-unit1111]

So if graphics cards are overclocking with software solutions provided by the manufacturer, then why would having a pre-built Dell affect my ability to overclock?

 

[g-unit1111]

So if graphics cards are overclocking with software solutions provided by the manufacturer, then why would having a pre-built Dell affect my ability to overclock?

Because Dell uses their own self-manufactured hardware and provides their own drivers for it. They don't use the ones that NVIDIA or AMD provide.