Building $500 Budget Gaming Rig Feedback Wanted

That EA430 is more than enough power for your planned rig, and its a good quality PSU, too. ;)
 
Build the rig today, it posted on first try. Windows corrupted from my old IDE hard drives, something about hal.dll, and I cant reinstall it w/o a Sata CD Drive. Do you guys have any recommendations?
 
genester said:
Build the rig today, it posted on first try. Windows corrupted from my old IDE hard drives, something about hal.dll, and I cant reinstall it w/o a Sata CD Drive. Do you guys have any recommendations?
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Yeah that's why we never recommend moving an existing OS install to a new system. Shit like that happens.

Anyway, if you have a IDE CD drive, just connect it to the same IDE cable, Might be a performance loss but at least it'll get your system up and running

Alternatively, buy a SATA CD drive.
 
Danny Bui said:
Yeah that's why we never recommend moving an existing OS install to a new system. Shit like that happens.

Anyway, if you have a IDE CD drive, just connect it to the same IDE cable, Might be a performance loss but at least it'll get your system up and running

Alternatively, buy a SATA CD drive.
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I'm pretty sure my mobo (EP45-UD3P) has 2 device max for IDE, and I have 2 IDE hard drives. Should I try disconnecting my slave HD and connecting my CD Drive in order to reinstall windows?
 
I just have one last problem, I'm not sure which HD has XP installed. My old pc used D:/Windows, does that mean its the slave? Thanks for all the help

As far as a new Sata drive, is LightScribe worth an extra $5?
 
No, lightscribe is not worth an extra $5 if you won't ever use it; and to use it, you need lightscribe disks.

Plug one in, and hope the XP setup detects your old XP installation. If not, try the other one. If neither disks yield a previous version of XP installation being detected by XP Setup, then get a new HDD if you don't want to erase either of the drives. How old are these IDE drives? You can't really enjoy your new system if it has slow HDDs, btw.
 
enginurd said:
No, lightscribe is not worth an extra $5 if you won't ever use it; and to use it, you need lightscribe disks.

Plug one in, and hope the XP setup detects your old XP installation. If not, try the other one. If neither disks yield a previous version of XP installation being detected by XP Setup, then get a new HDD if you don't want to erase either of the drives. How old are these IDE drives? You can't really enjoy your new system if it has slow HDDs, btw.
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Thanks for the feedback, saved me from wasting money on LightScribe. I decided to just buy this Sata drive and install XP that way instead of fumbling around with IDE devices. Hopefully just a repair will do the trick. My IDE hard drives are both 60 GB and 7200 RPM, I hope that wont bottleneck me.
 
I forgot to mention this is my first build, and I now realize I made a mistake when installing the motherboard, and now I'm freaking out. I didn't use any of the brass standoffs, I just screwed it into the case with the long screws that came with the case. How big of a mistake did I make? Is it urgent enough to disconnect everything and unscrew the motherboard and do it over again with the standoffs? I'm worried about messing something up if I have to unplug the connectors and unscrew everything to reseat the mobo. It's a EP45-UD3P and NSK 6580 if that means anything.
 
YES, you NEED to carefully remove everything and install those standoffs. If you tried to power the system on with no standoffs, the board may have been fried.
 
the brass pegs are an absolute necessity. you will seriously fuck your system up without them. it will only be a matter of time before something grounds and cooks your components.
 
rennyf77 said:
the brass pegs are an absolute necessity. you will seriously fuck your system up without them. it will only be a matter of time before something grounds and cooks your components.
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Thanks for the heads up, looks like my freaking out was warranted. I'll definitely install them before booting up again. Can I screw the standoffs into my case with just my fingers?
 
Thanks enginurd and renny for the critical advice. I forgot to mention that the case came with a single brass standoff that was already screwed in, thats prolly what saved me. Sorry for all the questions, I've never installed a motherboard before. I had a couple of online guides bookmarked for building a computer, and they all mention the standoffs, but I ended up using the motherboard guide when I installed it, and it doesn't mention anything about them. Hopefully I realized my mistake before it did any damage.

One last question (hopefully), none of the screws that came with the case are marked, so I'm not sure which to use. Do I screw in the long screw with a little bit of thread or the short screw thats all thread into the standoffs? Also, is it okay to leave the ram and graphics card plugged in when reseating the mobo?
 
the screws that go with the pegs are the ones that can completely thread into the pegs.
 
rennyf77 said:
the screws that go with the pegs are the ones that can completely thread into the pegs.
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That makes sense, not sure what I was thinking, just don't trust myself with any decisions anymore. Will reseat it and plug in the new sata cd drive I ordered thats supposed to arrive tommorow and update on my progress. I can also upload pics if requested.
 
enginurd said:
No, lightscribe is not worth an extra $5 if you won't ever use it; and to use it, you need lightscribe disks.

Plug one in, and hope the XP setup detects your old XP installation. If not, try the other one. If neither disks yield a previous version of XP installation being detected by XP Setup, then get a new HDD if you don't want to erase either of the drives. How old are these IDE drives? You can't really enjoy your new system if it has slow HDDs, btw.
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Lightscribe is easily worth the extra $5 bucks! No lables to fuck with or trying to read shitty ass hand writing on the discs...Lightscribe discs are but mere pocket change more then standard discs...
 
maleficarus said:
Lightscribe is easily worth the extra $5 bucks!
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Not if you don't use it. Paying for something because it was cheap but never using it doesn't make it worth anything.
maleficarus said:
No lables to fuck with or trying to read shitty ass hand writing on the discs...Lightscribe discs are but mere pocket change more then standard discs...
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To you, lightscribe may be worth it. Personally, my handwriting is easily legible -- I'm no doctor, but I still like to be able to read my own writing, so I actually have good penmanship, unlike some illiterate friends I have, lol.

My mom does those slideshow things for people, so she actually makes use of lightscribe... so to her, its worth it. To people like me... not so much.
 
Posting from my build. Finally got XP installed, had to overwrite an old installation. Temps feel a little high, only have 1 system fan for now so hopefully more will help. Pics will come later. I haven't ran Prime95 for a long duration or Memtest86 yet, anything else I have to do? Core temps went up to 51 degress after 15 min of Prime95, that normal? Here are my temps, anything alarming?
tempstp0.jpg

w1440.png
 
cable management please... its painful too look at. Nice build once you get those cables in order.
 
Thanks for the positive comments. Special shoutout to enginurd, Danny Bui, and tiraides for all the help. I would probably have a dead rig if not for all the help. I haven't tried OC'ing yet, but will prolly work my way up to 400 fsb on the cpu for a 1:1 ratio with my ram. Will I need to up my voltage to get to 400 from 333? I'm thinking I should wait a week or 2 to let everything break in. I'm worried my CPU temp sensors are stuck, the temps dont move much even at load. My 4850 is pretty hot at idle, usually ~53°C. I already upped the fan speed, but it hasn't helped much, not sure what to do besides better airflow. It's the TOP edition though, so its factory OC'd to 680 and 2100, what do you guys think? Here are my temps, most of the max values are at load.
tempshc2.jpg
 
No need to "break-in," so to speak, the system before OC'ing. You may or may not need a vCore bump, but I doubt it at only 400. When you say CPU temps, you mean the Core temps (#0 and #1)? Use RealTemp or CoreTemp and see if those reading are any difference, especially when running Prime95 or Orthos (Or Intel BIT). I'll leave the GPU temps to someone else. :p Oh, thanks for the pics!
 
nice build. I am thinking of doing the same build. I have one question I have a Samsung syncmaster 204B. I think it will only support 1900x1200, which is more than enough for me. My question is should I go for 4850 or 4870? I need to save where I can, but dont want to be disappointed for 40 bucks. Also I just purchased A Corsiar 550 watt psu. I was thinking of maybe going with a 260gtx, but they have high power requirments. This psu wont handle a 260 will iT?
 
SSinner said:
nice build. I am thinking of doing the same build. I have one question I have a Samsung syncmaster 204B. I think it will only support 1900x1200, which is more than enough for me. My question is should I go for 4850 or 4870? I need to save where I can, but dont want to be disappointed for 40 bucks. Also I just purchased A Corsiar 550 watt psu. I was thinking of maybe going with a 260gtx, but they have high power requirments. This psu wont handle a 260 will iT?
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You might want to start your own thread. ;)

Quick answers: 4870 1gb minimum. It will handle it just fine, and then some. Please start your own thread for more thorough answers/suggestions. Don't forget to answer the sticky questions.
 
I set the Vcore to 1.2875V in the BIOS but CPU-Z see's it 1.248V at idle and goes bounces down to 1.232V and back at load, is that typical? I'm guessing its fine since its running stable. Should I enable Load Line Calibration to lower the Vdroop? (I think that's what this is called)

Also, I second the 4870 1GB recommendation.
 
I think I am done OC'ing for the time being. Although its tempting to see how far I can push it, I think I'm going to settle for 423fsb x 9 = 3.807GHz. 4GHz would be great, but I don't want to push it that hard for the sake of CPU longevity. I have my Vcore set to 1.28v in BIOS, 1.248v and 1.232v in CPU-z idle, and 1.216v on load. That seems like too much of a vdroop, no? Would LLC help or hurt my chip? I've heard its bad for 45nm CPUs but I dont know much about it. I'm pretty happy with my CPU temps, 51° prime95 load, 63° from IBT. RealTemp always has my temps 5° lower, so I'm not sure which is accurate, but I go with the higher one just incase. I might try to lower my Vcore and see the lowest it's stable on. Do you guys recommend enabling C1E? All comments about my setup/voltage/temps are welcome.

tempsoctf9.jpg
 
Good temps, great voltage... you can probably still go higher without any longevity risks, and I re-enabled EIST & C1E after I found my stable OC... saves on power consumption, so you don't feel like you're wasting all that power (or just run Fold@Home instead and make use of that processing power, lol).
 
enginurd said:
Good temps, great voltage... you can probably still go higher without any longevity risks, and I re-enabled EIST & C1E after I found my stable OC... saves on power consumption, so you don't feel like you're wasting all that power (or just run Fold@Home instead and make use of that processing power, lol).
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Thanks for all the help enginurd, you helped me from day 1 all the way through the end, I really appreciate it.

Sorry to revive an old thread, but as predicted by you guys, my HDD's are bottlenecking me. What do you guys think about the WD6400AAKS going at Newegg for $60 right now? Is there a real-life performance drop for 16mb buffer compared to 32mb?
 
genester said:
Sorry to revive an old thread, but as predicted by you guys, my HDD's are bottlenecking me. What do you guys think about the WD6400AAKS going at Newegg for $60 right now? Is there a real-life performance drop for 16mb buffer compared to 32mb?
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Not really. In fact the 32Mb cache version of the WD6400AAKS (the WD6401AAKS) performs about the same as the WD6400AAKS. At $60 I HIGHLY recommend getting in on that deal ASAP!
 
No prob, glad you got it worked out.

As always, I agree with Danny.
 
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