New Computer, recent AMD Convert.

  • Thread starter Pako
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Small_Fryz
Wonderful system mate!!

I have a setup a little less powerful than yours (4400X2, 7800GTX 256mb) and it serves me brilliantly!

Im sure you will be very happy with yours!

I got 4700 for 3dmark06.
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Thanks, just can't wait for the rest of the parts! Then, and only then, will I install F.E.A.R. :D
 
Yeah i've found a plethora of tweaking options in the BIOS but have so far been unable to decide on a suitable 'clock.

I spent a couple of hours 2 weekends back testing out configurations. Tried about 10 configs all in but reached a plateau:

I made 250MHZ FSB x 10x 'clock to give a 100MHZ increase to 2500MHZ and while that was ok for a while (i was able to run 3DMark06 for instance) it is a little uneasy. I don't think it's heat related either, as it all happens too sudden when it does mess up. I believe the CPU isn't getting enough voltage to function correctly but i have no idea what voltage it should be getting.

I think with some more knowledge i could get it up to 2700 MHZ without the need for extra cooling as the chip seems to stay nicely cooled in my case. It's hard to find people with 4800+ X2s to discuss this with though :guilty:
 
donbenni
Yeah i've found a plethora of tweaking options in the BIOS but have so far been unable to decide on a suitable 'clock.

I spent a couple of hours 2 weekends back testing out configurations. Tried about 10 configs all in but reached a plateau:

I made 250MHZ FSB x 10x 'clock to give a 100MHZ increase to 2500MHZ and while that was ok for a while (i was able to run 3DMark06 for instance) it is a little uneasy. I don't think it's heat related either, as it all happens too sudden when it does mess up. I believe the CPU isn't getting enough voltage to function correctly but i have no idea what voltage it should be getting.

I think with some more knowledge i could get it up to 2700 MHZ without the need for extra cooling as the chip seems to stay nicely cooled in my case. It's hard to find people with 4800+ X2s to discuss this with though :guilty:
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I will definitely keep you in the loop as to my findings and trust you'll do the same. Using the NOS AI utility, it ran the CPU up to 2540 stable. It interesting because it will adjust voltages and frequencies on the fly in a "as needed" fashion. I think it waits until the CPU's reach a threshold (like 80% perhaps) before it starts to tweak on the settings.

I would like to find a fixed configuration that I can leave on ALL the time. :-)

:cheers:
 
Yes indeed, i'll drink to that :cheers: Well i'll have another look at that NOS feature tonight. I tried it before going about the 'clocking manually but it didn't seem to do much. But if you were able to roughly match my manual efforts with the NOS feature then i guess i better had take another look!
 
I'll just post some useful tid-bits as I come acrossed them:
http://vip.asus.com/forum/bbs.aspx?board_id=1&SLanguage=en-us
1)I guess the first problem I had was corrupted downloads. This problem lies with your nVidia firewall, Active Armor. You can either uninstall the firewall altogether or go to Active Armor>Application and change the default from 'Offloadable' to 'Not Offloadable".

2)The second problem was extremely lengthy boot times or freezing at the boot screen. I resolved this by changing SATA hard drive setting.
Device Manager>IDE ATA controllers>SATA Controller(the one in use)>Properties>Primary Channel and uncheck "Enable Command Queing".

3)Considering the hardware being used, poor 3D porformance. This problem was fixed by updating the bios from 1008 to 1009. Yes, a bios update that actually had a huge impact, at least for me!

Some tips... personally I would stay away from nTune the Asus OCing from within Windows. Do your OCing from the bios. The Asus Smart Doctor video tweaker seems pretty stable though.

If you're not using RAID then disable Silicon Image Raid controller in bios for a faster boot.

I would also manually enter the ram timings, especially if you're using performance memory. Auto detect isn't very good. There can be a nice little reward for you here.

All the drivers and utilities contained on your Mobo CD are at least one revision old. Update. Lastly, only install the drivers you need. Don't install RAID drivers if you're not running it.

I would appreciate any help you people have to offer as well. Thank you in advance.
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They've been telling me a couple of weeks for the last week which means they don't know. I can't hardly stand it! I did get my raptors yesterday so I need t setup the raid and get the OS re-installed so that will bide a little bit of time. Other than that, with the new clock settings I'm hitting up to 58 deg C which is quite a bit hotter than the stable 30-34 deg C that I was getting without OC. I might have to step it down a bit, or get a aftermarket cooler. :D Not sure which.

:cheers:
 
Well, through much disappointment I can say that I am a AMD convert but not a nVIdia convert. I canceled my graphics card order and will have my ATI X1900XTX 512mb PCI-E card on Friday. This card is cheaper, faster, AND AVAILABLE!!!! Down the road I'll sell the MOBO and get a crossfire motherboard for some dual X1900's. Probably this summer or late fall. Anyways, no one can tell me anything about the BFG 7800GTX 512mb's or any other MFG for that mater. I found prices for units that were available for $999.99. These people are out of their minds. Anyways... Looks like I still hold on and continue to support ATI!!

:cheers:
 
Pako
Well, through much disappointment I can say that I am a AMD convert but not a nVIdia convert. I canceled my graphics card order and will have my ATI X1900XTX 512mb PCI-E card on Friday. This card is cheaper, faster, AND AVAILABLE!!!! Down the road I'll sell the MOBO and get a crossfire motherboard for some dual X1900's. Probably this summer or late fall. Anyways, no one can tell me anything about the BFG 7800GTX 512mb's or any other MFG for that mater. I found prices for units that were available for $999.99. These people are out of their minds. Anyways... Looks like I still hold on and continue to support ATI!!

:cheers:
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When you do get Crossfire, tell me how it performs. As much as I love ATI, SLi is looking quite nice. :indiff:
 
Oooh Crossfire X1900XTXs, my my, someone has money to burn. You know, it's my birthday soon... :D

Great choice. I'm no nVidia fanboy, i know that the ATi 1900 series is great value for money and a worthy substitute for the GTX. It's got something silly like 48 pipelines and monstrous clock speeds, i'm sure you'll have fun!
 
More importantly, I'll actually have a card plugged into my system. I was planning to go SLI with this system, but in the long run, I'll actually be saving money going Crossfire with better performance out of dual x1900's vs. dual 7800GTX's. I'll post some benchmarks this weekend as the card should be here on Friday.
 
Finally got a response from BFG, here's what they said:
Thank you for contacting us. I am sorry to say we only received so many 7800 512MB cards and we shipped the last of them last week to the etailers listed on our website.
We will not be shipping anymore of these cards.

Kind regards,
Kathy
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So there you have it. They boast about this great card but don't make enough to make them available. Short the market and let your e-tailers charge $350 over MFG. Yikes.

Needless to say, nVidia left a sour taste in my mouth.
 
Well...here we go again! Ok, so I wasn't able to find any 'reasonable' 7800GTX 512 cards on the market so I went with ATI's flagship X1900XT 512mb Card. The SLI Mobo with the nVidia chipset just didn't make sense with the ATI Graphics card so I was on the hunt. I came across the A8R-MVP which supports Crossfire except it's based on the RD480 chipset which only supports 8 channels of PCIe pipelines per graphic card running in Crossfire mode. This was discouraging as the X1900 card can deliver 16 pipes of data on it's own. I wanted 16x2 for a total of 32 pipes of graphical data. Much to my surprise, ASUS delivered. This board is not even on their website yet, it's the A8R32-MVP Deluxe Mobo that is based on the new RD580 chipset and will compliment the X1900XT card and a master Crossfire card quite nicely as it will support a full 32 pipes of Graphical data! My 'To Do' list is as follows:

1.) Pull SLI Premium board out. DONE
2.) Install new Crossfire 3200 board. DONE
3.) Format, reinstall OS and apps. DONE
4.) Sell SLI Premium board on Ebay.
5.) Pick up a master Crossfire X1900 card.
6.) Play VGames until my eyes bleed! Working on it.

:)

:cheers:
 
I figured it was time to build a monster. Of course it will be obsolete by next year..... :lol: I haven't ordered the second card yet....., but it is in the works. I just got done loading XP Pro x64 on the new machine and downloading updates, drivers. etc right now.....

I am probably a month or so out before I impliment the second Video card.
 
Half a system, as in Half as good as it's potential of becoming? :)

Then you have over-clocking which is another step towards making the system perform to it's full potential. At some point we have to stop and ask ourselves.....Honestly, it's it all necessary? :lol:
 
Ah mate that's gonna run niiice. I wish you had bought your pc before i got mine, i would have totally got the 1900 over the 7800. Keep us posted with how things progress 👍

Which sound card were you getting, XiFi?
 
donbenni
Ah mate that's gonna run niiice. I wish you had bought your pc before i got mine, i would have totally got the 1900 over the 7800. Keep us posted with how things progress 👍

Which sound card were you getting, XiFi?
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I honestly haven't decided yet. I really only need 5.1 DD optical out that will also run 2 channel analog out as well. Most the time I will be at the computer monitor, in which case I will run just a simple 2.1 system. On the occasion that I pull the big guns and play on the 60" LCD, I will run the sound off of the Home Theatre system.

Any suggestions welcome...
 
Well, being the Klipsch 'Fan Boy' that I am, I couldn't start letting them down now so here I am. Inspired by CAMAROBOY69, I was in the search for a great sounding 5.1 setup for the computer. I already have the Home Theatre 7.1 setup, but there's something more appealing being at the computer desk playing FPS'ers at 1600x1200 on a 19" CRT monitor vs. the 60" Sony LCD. Part of it is the amount of accuracy I can have at the desk vs. being on the couch. Anyways, to keep up with the sound quality that I have become accustomed to, I recently ordered the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 setup.


Outside of the THX certification, the 170w Amp just for the Sub, or the Klipsch name (remember I'm a Klipsch Fanboy), the speakers are not hard wired! This is huge for me. I have to route the wire through the walls for the surrounds and am looking at wall mounting the front's the center speakers as well and don't need unsightly wires draping down the walls so yeah, theses satellites are like regular speakers with wire connectors on the back. I was surprised at the shipping weight of 56lbs as well. A testament to the sub and amp for this unit. Reviews show cons being Cost and the lack of optical inputs. Well I found this unit at our local shop for 25% less then anywhere else I could find and optical input is not a selling feature for me as my sound card only has analog output for 5.1. I should have them hooked up this weekend and will provide my opinion (will try to be as unbiased as possible) as well as pictures.

:cheers:
 
:cheers: Nice little find that.

I must say they're a beautiful set of speakers, real soft looking, but solid too like they'll take your face off at full volume :D

Will look forward to the snaps and review 👍
 
I've been using the Logitech X-230. They were/are great speakers for the $35 I paid for them, but I was just looking for a little ( or alot ) more.
 
Well....I must say that the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 rips my head off with clean sound all the way. I had to utilize the sound cards crossover points and found that the system sounded best with the HP filter at 125-130 hz. I only have the two fronts, center and sub hooked up at the moment because of mounting issues of the rears ( still need to figure out where to put them ). The sound awesome! Did I mention how good they sound? ;)

I will post more later, but I had to at least post what I could.

:cheers:
 
Jeez, Pako, they only go down to 25Hz??? That blows.

*cue up the :jealous, man I wish I had one: smilie*

:guilty: <-- I guess this'll have to do.
 
:lol: I know man, they really suck. Actually for just being computer speakers they may be alittle bit of a overkill, but hey you only live once right? Besides, since the little one (Grace of only 19 months old) insists on watching Nemo 24/7 on the other Klipsch 7.1 system, I had to have something for my gaming system that reminded me of the other system that used to have before she commandeered it. ;)
 
Eat it, Pako. My cans do 10. :D

Nice system, though. Do you plug wiring in through a jack, or do they just have the regular clips like everything else that isn't hard-wired?
 
They have standard spring clips on all of them. So your Cans go down to 10hz, eh? You do know that the human ear can only hear down to 20hz right? :D
 

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