How'd I do?

[offlinesuperhero]

Hey guys,

Thought I'd ask for an honest opinion on my build.

So...here's my battle station:

Case: Rosewill Thor v.2 (white, stock fans)
MoBo: Asus Crosshair V Formula
CPU: AMD FX-6100 (slightly OC @ 3.4)
Cooler: Corsair H80 (Push/Pull)
GPU: Asus DCII GTX 670
RAM: Mushkin Redline Ridgeback 16GB (4x4) @ 2133 9-11-10-28
PSU: Corsair TX 750

I do plan on upgrading the PSU to something modular and the CPU and/or MoBo depending on how Piledriver/Excavator perform. But to be honest, I haven't had a problem with my CPU.

Aaaaaannnnnnd....Go.

 

[offlinesuperhero]

Forgot to mention my storage...

SSD: 60 GB Vertex 2
HDD: 2 x 1 TB WD 7200 RPM (Can't remember exact model)

 

[djscribbles]

Seems fine to me, but not what I would have built.

I would probably leave the PSU alone, as you have a good one, Modular isn't really worth buying a new unit for imo.

I've heard the H80's aren't really that great for what you pay, and a Hyper212Evo does as well or better.

Intel performs better than AMD, though for gaming at 60hz it's all a wag most of the time anyhow; unless it gives you actual problems why bother replacing it.

Typically OC ram doesn't really provide much benefit over standard speeds.

A vertex2 is pretty poorly regarded, but any SSD is >>> no SSD. Differences in speed between SSDs don't net you much anyway; it's mostly reliability that affects SSD recommendations, and as long as the one you have is reliable then your all set.

Lastly, not quite sure why you would post a build review of something you already built, but I decided to play along

 

[offlinesuperhero]

Seems fine to me, but not what I would have built.

I would probably leave the PSU alone, as you have a good one, Modular isn't really worth buying a new unit for imo.

I've heard the H80's aren't really that great for what you pay, and a Hyper212Evo does as well or better.

Intel performs better than AMD, though for gaming at 60hz it's all a wag most of the time anyhow; unless it gives you actual problems why bother replacing it.

Typically OC ram doesn't really provide much benefit over standard speeds.

A vertex2 is pretty poorly regarded, but any SSD is >>> no SSD. Differences in speed between SSDs don't net you much anyway; it's mostly reliability that affects SSD recommendations, and as long as the one you have is reliable then your all set.

Lastly, not quite sure why you would post a build review of something you already built, but I decided to play along

Thanks for the response DJ!

I'm still getting a feel for building; I ask because I was just a little unsure of my choices.

Yea, I play (as of now) on a 25" LCD @ 60Hz 1080p, but planning on perhaps hooking this puppy up to a very large Plasma. Would the CPU bottleneck performance in that situation?

Good to know about the Vertex SSD. I had no idea. Fortunately she's been good to me thus far.

I got the RAM at a steal, so why not?

Thanks for playing!

 

[djscribbles]

If your large plasma is also 1080p, then it makes absolutely no difference. Your computer only cares what resolution and refresh rate your monitor uses.

aside:
Also, CPU bottle-necking is something that is extremely dependent on the game you are playing, it's not really something that happens because your GPU is more powerful than the CPU. The CPU plays a relatively small part in rendering the actual scene of a game, however if it gets bogged down by the game logic, it doesn't get to the part of code where it tells the GPU to draw fast enough (this is an over-simplification).

If you look at CPU benchmarking, you'll notice they don't choose the prettiest games for their testing; but rather they choose games where there are lot's of dynamic objects and logic, such as left 4 dead, where your GPU may happily render 30billion zombies all day long at 400fps with 64x anti-aliasing, however your CPU struggles to update the position of all the zombies once a week even on lowest settings, once you kill most of the zombies off, and there is a lot less work to do and your framerate will pep back up.
Strategy games are also often great examples of CPU bottlenecking; just try a long game of Civ5, it doesn't matter what you set your graphics to, your CPU is going to cry. It's not necessarily because they are badly programmed, they just have the potential for putting so much stuff in play that your CPU doesn't stand a chance.

A CPU could always bottleneck a GPU; but typically it's situational (think lots of zombies), or in some cases bad programming.
/aside


I owned 2 vertex 2s, one failed and OCZ upgraded to a vertex 3. All in all, they function quite well, but if I were buying again, I would probably go for a Crucial M4 or Samsung drive.

 

[offlinesuperhero]

If your large plasma is also 1080p, then it makes absolutely no difference. Your computer only cares what resolution and refresh rate your monitor uses.

aside:
Also, CPU bottle-necking is something that is extremely dependent on the game you are playing, it's not really something that happens because your GPU is more powerful than the CPU. The CPU plays a relatively small part in rendering the actual scene of a game, however if it gets bogged down by the game logic, it doesn't get to the part of code where it tells the GPU to draw fast enough (this is an over-simplification).

If you look at CPU benchmarking, you'll notice they don't choose the prettiest games for their testing; but rather they choose games where there are lot's of dynamic objects and logic, such as left 4 dead, where your GPU may happily render 30billion zombies all day long at 400fps with 64x anti-aliasing, however your CPU struggles to update the position of all the zombies once a week even on lowest settings, once you kill most of the zombies off, and there is a lot less work to do and your framerate will pep back up.
Strategy games are also often great examples of CPU bottlenecking; just try a long game of Civ5, it doesn't matter what you set your graphics to, your CPU is going to cry. It's not necessarily because they are badly programmed, they just have the potential for putting so much stuff in play that your CPU doesn't stand a chance.

A CPU could always bottleneck a GPU; but typically it's situational (think lots of zombies), or in some cases bad programming.
/aside


I owned 2 vertex 2s, one failed and OCZ upgraded to a vertex 3. All in all, they function quite well, but if I were buying again, I would probably go for a Crucial M4 or Samsung drive.

DJ, thanks again for the info!

I was reading the Bottleneck articles on here and I just couldn't follow; your explanation is much better in so many less words.

Kudos!

 

[djscribbles]

Thanks! Glad I could clarify it for you.