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)
- 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
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition
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
My New Computer Build
Corsair Dominator DDR RAM
ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU Graphics card
Asus Crosshair IV Formula
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.
Artifacts with nVidia Geforce 460GTX
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!!!
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!
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!
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.
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!
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!!!