Newbie's 1st build

[Bonestock]

Hey all, I have recently made the move over to personal computers. While I have always had an interest, my love has always been for cars & racing. If you can think of it I have probably built it, raced it or had some crazy experience with it. I have owned pretty much everything from a Nissan Skyline to a classic Mini Cooper. I have been a mechanic for 15yrs now. I moved into Management and then as a store MGR with a large automotive chain but just wasn't happy with the super long hrs. With the drastic change in the economy and job market I returned to school and I am currently studying Computer Systems Technology. How little did I know I would get bit by the computer bug so quickly! Turns out I traded one very expensive hobby for a surprisingly not so inexpensive hobby! Funny how that works, eh?

Here is my first ever ground up build. Be gentle, like I said its my first time! Advice or critiques are welcome. I don't pretend to know everything but I am learning more everyday. Its been fun and thus far a rock solid PC. Any problems have been due to me altering settings (mostly OC stuff) to well... learn. I do write down everything I do and try 1 change at a time. Only real problem was changing my RAM from 1333 to 1600 even though it was supposed to be supported....? That caused crashes and BSOD. Once I changed it back to the native settings, everything is OK.

Build:
AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition
Asus M4A78T-E MOBO
PNY 9800 GTX XLR8 Performance Edition
Seagate 7200.12 750GB HDD
Seagate 7200.12 360GB HDD
WD Caviar Blue 80GB HDD (backup only)
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB 3x2GB 1333 PC312800
APEVIA X-SNIPER G-Type X in Blue
LG DVD RW DL Optical drive
Dynex 500w PSU
Win7 Ultimate 64
Saitek Eclipse blue backlit keyboard & mouse
Motorolla Surfboard cable modem
Rocketfish multicard reader
Dynex USB x6 add on card
Antec blue LED case fans x4
*OCZ StealthXStream 700w PSU
*BFG Tech GeForce GT 220 1GB (dedicated PhysX) <--- trick I learned on Tom's!!!!

*Parts just ordered

As stated I just ordered the Geforce GT220 and OCZ PSU to increase my graphics processing. I think the Dynex 500w PSU was at its limit as is so hello 700w.

Pics:

 

[gkay09]

^ Nice build...And good that you changed your PSU...Though you wont need more than 500W to run that setup but you will need a high quality 500W PSU...
And as for the RAM, you would have to increase the voltages also in order to run it at higher settings as the native speed is 1333MHz...And also it is not a good idea to populate 3 or the 4 slots as you will loose Dual-Channel config...
Good Luck

 

[Bonestock]

Funny you mention that about the RAM. Do you know how hard it is to find 1 2gb stick of my RAM?

 

[MadAdmiral]

That depends on if it's PC3 12800 or 1333 mhz. 12800 is usually 1600 mhz.

Either way, I'm looking on Newegg right now, and the XMS3 sticks are only sold in sets. I don't believe the stick has to be the same brand, as long as the specs are the same.

 

[jsc]

I don't believe the stick has to be the same brand, as long as the specs are the same.

For the best results, the memory should all be the same. There's a reason why they sell memory in sets.

 

[MadAdmiral]

I would agree that you should stick with exactly the same sticks. But in this case, I'm not seeing the sticks outside of kits, so a different brand would still work, albeit potentially not perfectly.

Another option is buying another triple channel kit and sell the extra 2 sticks as a dual channel kit.

 

[Bonestock]

That depends on if it's PC3 12800 or 1333 mhz. 12800 is usually 1600 mhz.

Either way, I'm looking on Newegg right now, and the XMS3 sticks are only sold in sets. I don't believe the stick has to be the same brand, as long as the specs are the same.

My exact RAM is:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145236

DDR3 1600 PC3 12800 It runs 1.65v and the timing is 8-8-8-24. I am going to call tiger or Corsair and see if I can find 1x2gb stick. If not I am going to have to buy a diff brand and get 2x2GB to run in the paired DIMM slots.

Next problem my ASUS mobo didnt come with a SLI bridge.... now I gotta try to find one of those as well.

Anyways thanks for the help and comments thus far.

 

[Bonestock]

Quick update, I installed the GT220 and PSU. What a HUGE difference physX makes! Who ever came up with using such a simple VC as a dedicated physX processor? Batman AA is a whole new game.

BTW no SLI bridge needed to run a dedicated physX card. Actually no set up either. I have the latest drivers anyway and a simple check in the Nvidia CP showed the GT220 for physX. Easy-peasy.