My New Computer Build - AMD Phenom II x6My 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.
My current computer is getting on for six years and is feeling its age. The motherboard shows signs of giving up; it only has a single-core processor, and the power supply unit is buzzing. So, it's time to upgrade! But since it is so old, an upgrade means a whole new computer, not just a new processor and more memory.
I have returned to AMD processors this time, 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 went smoothly without any problems; however, after much effort, I had to resign because the graphics card was faulty (DOA) and had to be sent back.
The system works fine until I do anything that involves 3D content, and then it crashes. After a few crashes, it shows artefacts on the screen, as pictured above. I cannot run any benchmark without the system locking up and 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!!!
