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therealFrek

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#1 therealFrek
Member since 2003 • 705 Posts
If you have the board I think you do its an MSI 945P chipset.

You should have 4 DIMMS on your board for ram. So you have 2 choices. You can go buy another set of 2 X 512 MB sticks. This is probably more risky though as filling 4 DIMMS with ram can sometimes lead to problems. This would be the cheaper way to go but higher risk of problems. Certainly don't discount this as an option though, I'm just leaning towards a safer choice.

If it were me, I personally would do this. Take out the 2 X 512 sticks you have now and order a matched pair of 2 X 1 GB sticks. All you need is something cheap but with a repuation for stability. Something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134046

Just for reference your board supports up to PC6400. I just quickly choose the ram above as an example, you can find cheaper sets of ram, just make sure you buy something that is between PC4300 and PC6400.
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#2 therealFrek
Member since 2003 • 705 Posts
It does take awhile for it to cure properly. You most likely won't notice any huge difference in temps though.

Keep in mind that this stuff is meant to be filling in microscopic holes on your HSF. If you put too much it will end up acting like an insulator.

Personally this is what I do with AS5. I dab a little onto the bottom of the heat sink, then I rub it into the HS using a cloth in circular patterns. Then I wipe off as much as I can. What this does is fills in those microscopic holes. Then I put as thin a layer as I can possibly attain on top of the CPU (and by thin I mean it's as thin a layer as you can possibly have, I find using an old credit card works really well to do this). Use a q-tip and clean up any AS5 that spills over the top of the cpu while you are scraping it down.

Also never touch the top of your CPU or the bottom of the heatsink. Oil from a fingerprint will act as an insulator.
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#3 therealFrek
Member since 2003 • 705 Posts
Use a driver cleaner with your 7600 in the case. Completely clean out any nvidia files with the driver cleaner. Turn off the computer and put in the ATI card. Install the ati drivers (download the newest ones). Once you have done that reboot and reinstall directx. If you are still having problems after that then you either have a defective card or you have messed something else up in your OS.
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#4 therealFrek
Member since 2003 • 705 Posts
Blows my aging A8N-E system out of the water. Here's my compare http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=200041

Reason I was interested in your score is because I'm building a new system on Wednesday that is sorta similiar to yours, but I went with the asus hybrid board and I'm just curious how it's gonna compare in the CPU tests against the 965 board. The video tests won't be a fair comparison though as I'm going with 8800 GTS's in SLI.
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#5 therealFrek
Member since 2003 • 705 Posts
Can you post your "compare link". It will give you a compare link on your project page. It will have a 6 digit number on the end. It allows anyone with a published 3dmark to instantly compare their score against yours. Look for it near the top of your project page.
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#6 therealFrek
Member since 2003 • 705 Posts
Nice build.

I'd be very interested if you could post what you get in 3dmark06 with this system at stock before you mess around with o/c anything. Even better if you can upload your score and post a compare link.
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#7 therealFrek
Member since 2003 • 705 Posts
For a budget of 900 you have picked out probably the best you can.

I do have one suggestion though with regards to the PSU. Spend just $10 more and get the Corsair 520HX. It's modular unlike the enermax you have picked out and it pumps out 40 amps on the 12v. It is also of a much superior quality than the enermax considering that it is only $10 more. Don't be fooled by it's 520 watt rating. It is in fact a more powerful PSU than the 600 watt enermax.

Everything else looks really good for the price range. I could nitpick the ram a bit and suggest buffalo firestix but they are never in stock at the egg. For the price the OCZ should perform close to the same anyways. Another choice that you might have not considered is the Patriot Extreme LLK series. It has confirmed D9 IC's whereas I'm pretty sure the OCZ's don't. It's not really a big deal anyways unless you plan on going for the absolute highest o/c you can.

For a budget of 900 that should be pretty good. If you dropped an 8800 GTS in this you would hit 8000+ 3d06 mark easy and much higher if you pushed the e6400.
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#8 therealFrek
Member since 2003 • 705 Posts
Depends which game, but yes you should notice a difference, especially with Vista as 2 GB seems to be the sweet spot for Vista.
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#9 therealFrek
Member since 2003 • 705 Posts
The resident PSU guru on the [H] forums has compiled a pretty good recommended PSU list. I went with the Corsair 520HX and it's so far been the most stable PSU I've ever used.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1165067
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#10 therealFrek
Member since 2003 • 705 Posts
Patriot Extreme http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220144

Equivalent Kingston HyperX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820134125

The Patriots use D9 IC's which are far superior. When you add in the price difference it's not even a contest.