My £400 build

[SniperUK]

Morning all,

Doing my first build, tried to keep the budget to £300, but that failed so budget changed to £370 (meaning i have to sell something else of mine to recover my costs! haha ! )

Soooooooooo, this is what i got:

AMD FX-6300 - £100.31
Corsair CX500 - £46.00
Gigabyte 970A-D3 (Rev 1.3) - £60.00
XFX HD6950 XXX Edition (Used, but as new) - £105
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO Heatsink/Fan - £25
CiT Gaming Case- X11 Mesh - £31
Boot Drive for Win7 Pro x64 - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 (7200rpm) - 500gb - THIS IS A SPARE USED DRIVE - FREE
16GB Crucial Rendition DDR3 1066mhz - FREE (std memory, nothing fancy!)
x2 HDD's, 1 for games, 1 for data

Gonna start building in my lunch break, will take pic's along the way just in case anyone else doing the same..........

However, does anyone know if its gonna be a ballache fitting the CPU cooler to the mboard ? would i need to remove the fitted plate from the mboard to fit all the extra bits that come with the CPU cooler ? looks like a big puzzle to me!!!!!!

Once all done, my plan is to clock the CPU to 4.0ghz, although never OC'd before, so not sure how i am gonna do that!!

 

[SniperUK]

My first Hurdle:

The gaming case has 2 side fans, had to remove the 1 as the Hyper 212 Evo Heatsink is HUGE!, and the fins near enough touch the case, so removed the 1 fan cos of this...
The side fans are manual extra fans anyway....

Other thing, i am totally stuck with trying to figure out how to install the Hyper 212 Evo cooler!
I mean, am stuck at stage 1!!!! The cross thing that holds the heatsink to the mboard, theres no option to screw it in ?!!
Anyone else come across this before ?

 

[mikerockett]

Have you read the install manual, it explains clearly there. If you do not have the manual you can locate it on the CM website or with a simple google search.

If you've seen the manual are you making sure to follow the instructions for AMD and not an intel board?

 

[jo_de_manne]

There's a good youtube video here: skip to 27minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKnbazLsM7g

I <3 Carey!

 

[SniperUK]

cheers guys
and yeah, got the instructions, but where i struggled is:
I assumed the 'X' clamp thing which holds down the Heatsink, i assumed that locked into the heatsink, but judging by the video, it doesnt, just needs some careful hands playing the heatsink directly onto the chip with the x clamp aligned correctly

 

[iceclock]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAXqEftJ0Q4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWG73Mom4cY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_QVWBm4CI4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eAnLZDXOSA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-86x9Q2BQhs

all the guides u need mate

for ur cpu and heatsink and complete pc installation

 

[SniperUK]

Ok...........
All built, turned it on, left it in BIOS mode for a while, which got me panicking as the CPU temp was showing 51 degrees!!! After reading a few posts, realised the BIOS would show that...
Just built with Windows, rest to do later....

Heres a question:

In my current PC, i have an audio card which is about 3 years old, didnt cost much when i got it..
Its a 'Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio (http://uk.creative.com/products/productarchive.asp?category=924&subcategory=926&product=15855)

Now, with the sound on the gigabyte motherboard (same connectors, states 7.1 sound), would it be worth me using my old card, or is it safe to say the sound you get from onboard is probably better these days ?!

I listen to music and lots of gaming!!

 

[mikerockett]

I Couldn't say that the sound is better, but for general listening to music and gaming you will not hear any difference. Sound cards are only for high quality music production.

 

[iceclock]

the sound is alot better, sorry mike but theres a world of difference for gaming and music.

Well, basically:
Increased sound quality
Lower CPU usage in almost all scenarios
Typically better recording capabilities
Better software support

Sound quality is improved because of:
Less electrical interference with voltage controlled components
More stable power distribution among components
Better quality DACs and operational amplifiers (the major components of the output path)
Improved DSP and/or DSP effects (EAX)

If you're an audiophile, or if you're obsessed with gaming performance, grab a sound card. If you're not, stick with what works for you.

 

[mikerockett]

the sound is alot better, sorry mike but theres a world of difference for gaming and music.

Well, basically:
Increased sound quality
Lower CPU usage in almost all scenarios
Typically better recording capabilities
Better software support

Sound quality is improved because of:
Less electrical interference with voltage controlled components
More stable power distribution among components
Better quality DACs and operational amplifiers (the major components of the output path)
Improved DSP and/or DSP effects (EAX)

If you're an audiophile, or if you're obsessed with gaming performance, grab a sound card. If you're not, stick with what works for you.

I understand where you're coming from. I'm just of the opinion that for 90% of people out there, they won't notice any difference between the two. Maybe a slight difference but not nearly worth the cost of a dedicated sound card for it.

In this case though as he already has one there's no reason not to use it.

 

[iceclock]

yes, but there is a big difference tbh, onboard sounds is nothing compared to even a

30$ soundcard such as this:

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=56330&vpn=XONAR%20DG&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1338

 

[mikerockett]

yes, but there is a big difference tbh, onboard sounds is nothing compared to even a

30$ soundcard such as this:

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=56330&vpn=XONAR%20DG&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1338

Yup, but as i say, unless your used to listening to the highest quality of sound, just using the digital out on the mobo will be perfect for most people. Also it requires you to have a high quality sound system too otherwise it's lost there. For the general user it's just not worth it. If your an audiophile or want to do music production then yea, other wise, on board is fine.

 

[iceclock]

i guess, when i first got a sound-blaster live platinum my ears could never go back to standard audio, ive been pampered with high quality audio .

 

[mikerockett]

i guess, when i first got a sound-blaster live platinum my ears could never go back to standard audio, ive been pampered with high quality audio .

:lol: maybe i've just got useless ears, i had a sound blaster on my second to last computer and i honestly couldn't tell any noticeable difference.

 

[iceclock]

lol.

i guess im an audiophile than.

 

[mikerockett]

Think you must be. So to conclude, i would suggest to Sniper that seeing as you have the sound card already you might as well use it.

Also, i'd be keen to hear back if you could try both the on board sound and the sound card and see if you can tell any difference.

 

[iceclock]

i have, i build a new pc a while ago, was using onboard than purchased a xfi fatal1ty championship card, the difference in movies, games. music was night and day.

but yeah hes already got a card so whynot use it

 

[SniperUK]

Hi all

Well, after listening to music and gaming with the 7.1 sound from the Gigabyte 970A-D3 motherboard, figured i would try my old X-Fi card....

Yes, the soundcard does sound better, with the audio options enabled, the sound has a bit more punch and depth, although dont get me wrong, sound from the motherboard was fine, just wanted to get that extra oomph !

Anyway, as to my new build, all is going good!

I got a PNY 120GB XLR8 SSD to use as my boot drive, YUP, you sure do notice a difference!!!!

My Graphics card is clocked at 830mhz as opposed to the standard 800mhz, although i have no idea what that means !!!
The EasyTune6 software that comes with the motherboard is about changing the FSB, but again, until i do some reading, the whole OC thing goes over my head as with what to change to get upto 4.0ghz!

But as a whole, CPU runs hot at 29 degrees, and idle cool at like 10, according to CPUID HWMonitorPro.......
I got a good rig for not a lot of money !
Hardest part of the build was the CPU cooler! haha!
and then lack of space once all bits and cables are in !!!

Spec is:
CiT Warlord gaming case
Gigabyte 970A-D3 (Rev 1.3) Mboard
AMD FX6300 CPU
Hyper Evo 212 Cooler (1 fan)
16GB std RAM (1066mhz)
XFX HD6950 XXX Edition 2GB Grahics
PNY XLR8 120GB SSD
x3 Sata HDD's + DVD Writer
Oldskool X-Fi Extreme Soundcard
3 Fans on the case....

Cost me £430 in the end

 

[mikerockett]

Glad your enjoying the rig thanks for posting back about the sound.