My New Computer Build - AMD Phenom II x6
My current computer is 6 years old now and is feeling it's age. Time for a new computer build to replace the ageing Intel Pentium 4.

By Tim Trott | DIY Projects | October 31, 2010

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My current computer is getting on for 6 years old and is feeling its age. The motherboard is showing signs of giving up, it only has a single-core processor and the power supply unit is making a buzzing noise. So it's time to upgrade! But since it is so old, this time an upgrade means a whole new computer, not just a new processor and more memory.

This time I have gone back to AMD processors, mainly due to cost - £700+ for an Intel 6-core processor or £160 for an AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition. I then looked around for the best AMD motherboard for the processor and decided on the Asus Crosshair IV Formula. After that, it was simply a case of picking off the rest of the hardware I needed.

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition (6 cores at 3.8ghz OC)
Asus Crosshair IV Formula
4GB Corsair Dominator GT DDR3
OCZ Vertex2 Solid State Hard Drive (SSD) - 120GB
ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU Graphics card (nVidia 460 GTX) - 1GB GDDR5
Antec 750w Truepower New Modular PSU
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium
Logitech Performance MX Mouse
Logitech UltraX Premium Keyboard
Razer Goliathus gaming mat
Samgsung Blueray player DVD/CD writer with Lightscribe
Samsung SyncMaster P2450 24" Widescreen LCD monitor
Western Digital Raptor 500GB

This has all been fitted into the existing chassis, which despite its size, is perfect in every way. I have also continued the water cooling utilising a new CPU and GPU block and a custom cooler block for the motherboard from EK Waterblocks.

Swiftech Apogee XT Extreme CPU Block
Swiftech MCW80 VGA Block
EK Waterblocks Acetal + Nickel block for ASUS Crosshair 4 (EK-FB)
Feser One Cooling Fluid
MCR220 Radiator with fans
MCB-120 R2 "Radbox"
MCP655 pump
MC14 Ramsinks
MCRES Micro Reservoir

The build all went smoothly without any problems, however, after much effort, I had to resign to the fact that the graphics card was faulty (DOA) and had to be sent back.

The system seems to work fine until I do anything that involves 3D content then it quickly crashes. After a few crashes, it then shows artefacts on the screen as pictured above. I cannot run any form of benchmark without the system locking up and/or crashing.

So at the moment, I have a shiny new PC that I cannot use - all my old graphics card spares are PCI or AGP - no PCI Express!!!

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GI

On Wednesday 24th of December 2014, Giraldez said

I have an ATI Radeon HD 5870 at my rig, and a friend gift me his 5450 because he doesn´t use it.
I want to use that card to improve my PC. But I know that I can´t make a Crossfire with that cards cause are different series with differents proccesors.
Can I make a Crossfire with other way?
Can I install the secong graphic without a crossfire to run it like a dual graphic system?

My motehrboard support 2 PCI-E, this isn´t a problem.

Thanks everybody!
On Friday 26th of November 2010, Tim Trott Post Author said

After another RMA I have decided to go back to ATI cards. I now have on order a Sapphire HD 5870 Vapor-X OC. Fingers crossed that this one lasts more than a few weeks!
On Friday 19th of November 2010, Tim Trott Post Author said

OK, my new pc has been running brilliant for a fortnight now, but a few hours ago it seems like the Gigabyte is now dead. I have no errors or warnings, but the primary DVI port has no signal. HDMI out and the secondary DVI port are working, but without the primary there is no boot sequence, no bios or post information and is pretty useless. Bringing out the £20 ATI again and sending off another RMA request.
On Thursday 4th of November 2010, Tim Trott Post Author said

I now have a new Gigabyte 460GTX with the same spec as the ASUS. Everything seems to be working fine now - 3DMark Vantage score of P18657 and a Windows 7 experience of 7.8!
On Monday 1st of November 2010, Tim Trott Post Author said

I contacted the retailer who agreed to take it back and they found a problem with it. They will be dispatching a replacement which should be here soon.

In the meantime I have got an ATI 5450 from the shop down the road which I have been using and the rest of the system is working perfectly! Really pleased with the performance increase!!!