Just Built my First Gaming Computer Need Help

Specs

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400

Sapphire HD4870 512M GDDR5

Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5 4GB

Asrock P45TURBOTwins2000 M/board

Thermaltake V9

600W "SilverStone" ST60F Power Supply

Seagate 320GB

Samsung 22x Speed Plus DVD±RW

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, SP1, 64-bit

LOGITECH G-15 GAMING KEYBOARD

LOGITECH G5 LASER MOUSE

Logitech X-530 5.1 Speaker

ASUS VW224U 22" WIDE

I've put it all together and now its working but I am just wondering what programs I should get and what tests I should run.

Also I have been playing oblivion but it keeps freezing are there any drivers I need to get or patches to help with this problem and my speakers don't play music through 5.1 is this normal they do play through 5.1 when watching movies but music is only 2.1.

I guess what I am asking is just what do I need to do now that it is built to get optimum performance and optimisation.

Any comments will be gratefully appreciated

Run 3DMark06 and Prime95 torture test.  Also, buy Crysis off of Steam and see how high you can get the settings.  You should be able to get some nice benchmarks.  Post 'em here when you're done.

CPUZ, Speedfan, CoreTemp, and Prime95.  Open cpuz, coretemp, and speedfan, then run Prime95 for AT LEAST 8 hours to test stability.  If it cant run for 8 hours, its not a stable system and you will need to adjust either cpu or ram voltage or your ram timing until you get it stable in Prime95 for AT LEAST 8 hours.  I cant emphasize enough how important it is to get it stable in Prime95.

You want cpuz, coretemp, and speedfan open when you run Prime95 so you can randomly check coretemps, and system temps along with ram timing and cpu frequency.  Good Luck.

CPUZ, Speedfan, CoreTemp, and Prime95.  Open cpuz, coretemp, and speedfan, then run Prime95 for AT LEAST 8 hours to test stability.  If it cant run for 8 hours, its not a stable system and you will need to adjust either cpu or ram voltage or your ram timing until you get it stable in Prime95 for AT LEAST 8 hours.  I cant emphasize enough how important it is to get it stable in Prime95.

 

You want cpuz, coretemp, and speedfan open when you run Prime95 so you can randomly check coretemps, and system temps along with ram timing and cpu frequency.  Good Luck.

freesafety13

I've tried to run Prime95, but it keeps failing on CPU 0.   I get this error:

FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4.

Prime95

Any suggestions?

Have you been overclocking? If so, reset that and go up in smaller increments, running Prime each time for at least half an hour (then the full 8 hours when you reach your final clock).

If you haven't clocked, the problem may well be that your RAM is undervolted. Find out what the stock volts ought to be for that RAM, and make sure that your motherboard is running at them. I don't know about Asrocks, but all Gigabyte boards default the RAM voltages to 1.8v. My RAM needs at least 2.0v to run smoothly, meaning that the first thing I needed to do on building my PC was to bump that by .2v. Find out what your motherboard does (shoud say in the BIOS or instructions) and what your RAM requires. Also, make sure that it is running the CPU at the correct voltage.

thanks for the info guys any tips for fixing the oblivion crashes and fixing the sound problem

thanks for the info guys any tips for fixing the oblivion crashes and fixing the sound problem

tom_woolley

The crashing may well be a RAM issue, so make sure you adjust the volts like I said (if necessary). Otherwise, update drivers etc.

I have maxed out crysis on 1680x1050 am and getting around 25 to 35 fps does this seem average for a build like mine, also how do I know if it is in DX9 or DX10tom_woolley

I believe Crysis has an option to run it in DX10.  Your fps seem consistent with your build.  If you continue to have problems with Prime95 failing at its very first pass, then download memtest and let it run for 4 hours.  If you get any errors, even one, RMA your ram and get new sticks.  Your system will never be fully stable.

I'm not having the problems with that program its been runing all day also thanks for the infotom_woolley

You wont have problems with any game because you wont find a single game that can utilize your system to 100%.  That doesnt mean your system is stable.  It wont be stable unless you can run Prime95 for 8 hours.  Until it is that stable, please dont participate in any online studies, like Folding@Home, because an unstable system will kick back inaccurate calculations which will hurt research way more than it will help.

Have you been overclocking? If so, reset that and go up in smaller increments, running Prime each time for at least half an hour (then the full 8 hours when you reach your final clock).

If you haven't clocked, the problem may well be that your RAM is undervolted. Find out what the stock volts ought to be for that RAM, and make sure that your motherboard is running at them. I don't know about Asrocks, but all Gigabyte boards default the RAM voltages to 1.8v. My RAM needs at least 2.0v to run smoothly, meaning that the first thing I needed to do on building my PC was to bump that by .2v. Find out what your motherboard does (shoud say in the BIOS or instructions) and what your RAM requires. Also, make sure that it is running the CPU at the correct voltage.

manic111

I went in to BIOS and increased the voltage from 1.3 to 1.35, and it seems to work now.  My only problem is, it shot up to 62C in about 10 seconds.  I'm looking in to getting water cooling, if I can scrounge up the money, but for now, it looks like a new heat sink is the solution.  

If anyone knows any good water cooling kits that beginners can use (this is my first build, and I've never done water cooling before), please help me out.  I also heard that you can customize a kit and it'll work better than a kit pre-made.  A have an AM2+ socket CPU, if that matters.  My budget is around $150.  Please, if you do it, use Newegg, so I can just order my parts direct.

Unless you want to overclock a considerable amount (ie really push what your CPU can do) don't bother with water cooling. The 45nm chips run so cool anyway that it isn't worth it for most people. I got one of these, and it knocked about 12C off of my load temps over the stock Intel cooler:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134