Budget pc advice

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You will need to set up the postage from Scan first and there should be details in their forum.

I have the 320gb version of the Samsung 400gb hard disk and it seems reasonably quiet to me in my Shuttle SFF PC but YMMV.

The Samsung F1 drives seem to be very quiet though.

The 320gb version does look good:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums...81a51dbe8088dd

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=178045

AFAIK it is a single platter hard drive.

[no_numb]

I'll stick with the F1 then.

Thank you very much for your help!

[Domestic_Ginger]

CPU/MOBO compatability with the bios version may prove a problem if your board ships with the first bios version.

I'll tell you what mine comes with if it arrives today; I was feeling adventurous when I ordered mine.

[no_numb]

Ah I see if it is a problem how do you update the bios in this situation?

[Domestic_Ginger]

Ah I see if it is a problem how do you update the bios in this situation?

a)You can pay Scan an extra £10(?) plus vat to update prior to shipping.

b)Buy a processor supported by the particular bios (these seem to be about £10 on ebay for the low end am chips). Or borrow if you have any friends!

c)RMA

Thought I would risk it and go with B if all else fails.

Should get mine on the morrow if the missus is in when the man stops by.

BTW what made you choose th Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme? Not really looked into aftermarket HSFs before After finding out what a joke the HSF that come with the P2s are I may need a new one.

Saw this one at the same price. I have not really had enough time for comparisons but it got a cracking review.

Coolermaster Hyper N520

[scaryjim]

Even if the processor isn't recognised by the BIOS it *should* still boot up sufficiently to allow you to flash the BIOS (at least, mobos always used to - has this changed?). Generally speaking you have to boot a minimal OS to flash the BIOS but Gigabyte may have moved on (I believe ASUS now include EZFlash in the BIOS so you just go into the BIOS, select EZFlash and off you go!). Your manual will tell you the exact procedure, though.

[no_numb]

I just was looking on ebuyer and that HSF looked quite good I'm very open to suggestions and if the coolermaster one is better then I'll get that if theres free shipping from scan

Interested to see how you get on with the motherboard!

[Domestic_Ginger]

tbh I know very little about overclocking and cooling; I was hoping you might be able to give me some pointers!

I'll post how the bios stuff goes.

Thanks Jim for the EZFlash/Q-Flash tip; I'll get a usb ready when I boot up.

From p64 of the 770-UD3 manual:-

What is Q-FlashTM?
With Q-Flash you can update the system BIOS without having to enter
operating systems like MS-DOS or Window first. Embedded in the BIOS, the
Q-Flash tool frees you from the hassles of going through complicated BIOS flashing process.

There is also a backup bios incase I screw it up!

[scaryjim]

No probs DG - nice to know that Gigabyte have Q-Flash, definitely a plus point IMNSHO.

[Domestic_Ginger]

The bios was FA (the first revision). Posted and the bios update was really easy via usb; forgot to unzip the bios first time

Had a quick check with ACC and it posted a B50 (x4); have to play with that sometime when I get windows re-installed. Fingers crossed that its stable.

One thing I am not happy about is the HSF. It is THE SAME ONE I got with my athlon64 S939!
It was going to be bad but I didnt realise it was that bad.

Frostytech has a large selection of cooler reviews. There seem to be alot of really good ones around 30squid.

[no_numb]

The bios was FA (the first revision). Posted and the bios update was really easy via usb; forgot to unzip the bios first time

Had a quick check with ACC and it posted a B50 (x4); have to play with that sometime when I get windows re-installed. Fingers crossed that its stable.

One thing I am not happy about is the HSF. It is THE SAME ONE I got with my athlon64 S939!
It was going to be bad but I didnt realise it was that bad.

Frostytech has a large selection of cooler reviews. There seem to be alot of really good ones around 30squid.

So how do you do it? Put the updated bios on a usb stick then what? is there an option to update the bios when in there?

Whats ACC?

Will take a look at that website and see what they say. I dont doubt that the HSF supplied is pretty dire. Has been on most of the retail processors I've seen.

Thanks all for your replies

[Domestic_Ginger]

You can effectively update the Bios while in the bios; apologies my previous post does not make much sense.

ACC is 'Advanced Clock Calibration'; there’s plenty on the web. It is supposed to be able to help unlock the other two cores on some 550s. Mine only has the two usable cores. The two locked cores are definitely unstable; I don't think it is due to mobo instability.

The xigmatek s963 looks like a good budget cooler. £14 seems a bargain but it does not point horizontally in a standard atx case; the fan points vertically which is not much use for me as it will be discharging straight into my psu.

[no_numb]

Right so finally getting round to ordering it!

Final specs

amd x2 550 (Its not that much more expensive than the 545 and I have read about people unlocking the other cores and this might be something that I would be interested in doing in the future.)
Samsung f1 320gb hard disk
Gigabyte motherboard from scan
LN27732 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2, PC2-8500 (1066), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-6-6-18, EPP memory from scan
ocz stealth xtreme 400w psu
XIGMATEK HDT S1283 Socket 775 AM2 754 939 940 Heatpipe CPU Cooler (seems to have excellent reviews)
Zalman ZM-STG1 Thermal Grease

This all comes to £270 which is pretty much the maximum I can possibly spend not including graphics card.

Then add a new graphics card in a couple of weeks (probably the saphire 4670 recommended in this thread)
I also read about lapping the heatsink which I could do as I have a lot of wet/dry sandpaper going up to very high grits.

Can anyone give me any extra info on unlocking the extra cores on the 550 anyone have an experience with it? how exactly does it work do you do it in the bios? Is it easy to get it stable?

Thanks again.

[Domestic_Ginger]

The x3 720 is available at £93 from ebuyer. If I had ordered my rig one week later I would definately have tried to get it instead of the 550. You Also have a chance of unlocking it to a quad core and the HSF on the higher end Phenoms is alot better; how much better I couldn't comment though never having owned one!

The heatsink (s1283)is excellent apparently; I think it will be pointing vertically like the s963; you might want to check that.

Unlocking the 550 cores is really easy; you just need ot change three settings in the bios:- turn ACC on, set to hybrid, turn cool'n'quiet off and save settings (and of course cross fingers). My 550 was not stable although I am going to improve my cooling and check again as my cpu is from a with a good number of successfull unlocks.

Btw according to the manual the mosfets will need extra cooling if you are going to overclock on the 770-UD3 mobo.

[no_numb]

Hmm intresting I dont think I can afford the extra £20 to be honest as nice as it would be.

Bit of a shame that yesterday had 4 of the items on one day specials and now none of them are oh well. I guess I'll just order now before the prices go up or anything.

Thanks all for your help

[Domestic_Ginger]

The special offers go in roundabouts. The 700W FSP keeps coming on at <40.

I hope it gos well and please post your core unlocking result!