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The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition
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Senior Member
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25. November 2010 @ 12:10 |
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One of my goals with this build is to dual boot Win7 and osx10.6 snow leopard. I nearly changed my mind from 5670 up to 5770 because 56xx series it is not on any supported Hackintosh hardware list.
Further research shows that with a bunch of terminal settings, patches, and more flashing than I've ever seen in Windows, the 5670 has full 10.6 functionality. Perhaps if i setup as a Win7 machine now, in a few months when I get anxious to try dual boot there will be a nicer installer and I wont have to do all that hardware hacking.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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25. November 2010 @ 12:37 |
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Happy thanksgiving everyone! :D
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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25. November 2010 @ 12:53 |
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The HD5770 is a fair bit more powerful than the HD5670, it's up there with the HD4850/HD4870 and 192-core GTX260 cards.
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AfterDawn Addict
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26. November 2010 @ 07:56 |
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its my opinion sam, surely i am allowed to give it without it being put down, just because its an asus.
he is clearly american, seeing as he has given newegg links, and its $30 cheaper there. Secondly, negating you bias, all the reviews i have seen for it, have it as, for the price, on of the best x58 boards out.
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|. |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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26. November 2010 @ 13:42 |
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I took the price comparisons as an aside since I was doing others in the UK. Typically price differentials between two products are reasonably similar in the UK and the US so situations like that are rare.
Taking that aside for the moment, if the price was equal, let alone higher in the UK, the feature set of the Sabertooth is pretty poor, completely disregarding the concerns of owning an Asus board.
Taking a lower-end North American spec board, the X58-USB3, that is priced at $180 + $3 shipping, almost identical to the Sabertooth's $180 with free shipping.
The only difference between the X58-USB3 and the Sabertooth apart from brand, is that the Sabertooth has two SATA III ports that the X58-USB3 doesn't have. On the reverse side, the X58-USB3 has an additional PCI Express 1x slot. Which is better is a matter of utility, but given the opportunity to buy from Gigabyte at the same price, for me it's a no brainer.
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Senior Member
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26. November 2010 @ 14:39 |
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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27. November 2010 @ 05:20 |
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LOL America, f*** yeah.
Would almost have to agree with Sam. Apart from QC issues, ASUS has idiotic board design, varying designs for boards in the same series, weird OEMs for 3rd party components, etc. Whereas Gigabyte board follow a modular design philosophy.
Don't get me wrong I'm not directly putting ASUS down. But considering the few basic tenets of engineering, ASUS is epic fail in every way.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388 |
AfterDawn Addict
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27. November 2010 @ 06:48 |
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jeff, all and well but thats very vague. Could you elaborate on those points.
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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27. November 2010 @ 09:00 |
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Ha fair enough.
Basically Gigabyte boards all follow a central design and add or subtract to meet the feature-set and pricepoint. ASUS boards, even those within the same series, all have wildly varying designs and layouts. While this isn't necessarily bad it does mean that every single new board introduces it's own shortcomings and glitches. Gigabyte is basically working from a tried and true design while ASUS is making a blind shot in the dark with every board.
And as far as idiotic board design how about the 24 pin mobo connector directly in middle of the board? Or better yet as far back on the board as possible. Suddenly tower coolers don't fit :P
And as far as weird 3rd party stuff how about onboard audio by VIA that detects as a different OEM until you manually install the drivers on a board that has the mobo connector smack dab in the middle?
Also what about the glaringly obvious fail record for ASUS boards? Sam isn't the only one seeing the pattern you know. 650i in and of itself was a bad chipset, but is it just coincidence that the ASUS P5N series is famous as the single most failed board ever released? Or the Striker series coming in a close second? Personally replaced more ASUS boards than any other brand by FAR.
Not to be totally unfair here but the only board I've ever truly NOT enjoyed using has been an ASUS. Design so poor it makes the board difficult to work with vs other boards is not a matter of personal preference. Their only redeeming factor is the excellent little Q-connector thing for the front panel. Only wish front panel connections were standardized in some way so I could use them on my Gigabyte boards :D
I will add that ASUS boards have wonderfully open BIOS, but they assume you're sitting with another webpage open staring at all the stock specs for every voltage on the board and tracking every setting individually. While the 2 month lifespan and overly-assuming settings are fine for "Teh 133tz0rz L1qu1d N1tr0 OCrz" it is, however, NOT fine for the other 95% of average joes trying to actually use the board without a bachelors in computer circuitry.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27. November 2010 @ 09:14
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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27. November 2010 @ 12:59 |
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Actually I believe the Striker series far surpassed the failure rate of the P5Ns. Most people went through at least 6 Striker boards. The P5Ns I don't think failed quite so often, mine lasted a full 8 months, much longer than Striker boards ever lasted, and almost as long as normal Asus boards last.
I'll give Asus Qconnect, it's a nice feature. However the labelling on Gigabyte boards is so good it almost negates the need for it entirely.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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27. November 2010 @ 15:38 |
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So hey sam, how are those WD20EARS drives working out for ya? How many of them did you purchase? Mine seems ok so far. In fact it's tempting to get a couple more. I'm quickly running out of space ;)
Of course with my luck, I buy a couple more and I'll likely have trouble with one of them :(
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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27. November 2010 @ 15:40 |
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8, 7 of which I'm currently using on a regular basis (though the 8th is installed in the system and powered up). So far no problems to report with any of them.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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27. November 2010 @ 15:42 |
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That's good news :D I just worry that I'd be pushing my luck. Surely WD has the bugs worked out by now though...
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
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27. November 2010 @ 19:20 |
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Originally posted by sammorris:
Actually I believe the Striker series far surpassed the failure rate of the P5Ns. Most people went through at least 6 Striker boards. The P5Ns I don't think failed quite so often, mine lasted a full 8 months, much longer than Striker boards ever lasted, and almost as long as normal Asus boards last.
I'll give Asus Qconnect, it's a nice feature. However the labelling on Gigabyte boards is so good it almost negates the need for it entirely.
Sam,
You are probably right about the Striker on a percentage basis, but in sheer total numbers, the P5N series wins hands down! What get's me is that Asus could have solved all of those problems years ago, except they chose not to do so! They probably spent more money doing it the wrong way than if they had just gone back to better quality board level components when the P5N-E flopped so bad! They spent thousands of dollars for a problem a few cents worth of crappy parts caused, and then didn't replace the crappy parts with better ones! Now there's a solution that solves nothing! LOL!! No more Asus in this house!
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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27. November 2010 @ 20:24 |
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I'm not necessarily an anti-ASUS person, they are capable of releasing good products. But those good products are far and few between. Their design philosophy could use a refresher. They used to make lots of good boards. A8N-5X(NF4), A8N-SE(NF4), and an M2N32-SLI Deluxe(NF590SLI) and loved them for features and quality. I also have a very base model M2N(NF430MCP)that, while very basic and having a somewhat weird layout, is hardcore solid and AFAIK still working perfectly. Sitting here with my 5000+ BE in it right now with no RAM. May build that into something as I have an XFX 8800GS Alpha Dog sitting here too. I'm not averted to using the boards if they work. Because when they work they work very well. It's just that the chance of failure mixed with hit and miss board design makes them less desirable. I would assume most users want hardware they can trust to just work. Gigabyte has this reputation absolutely 100%, ASUS absolutely do not.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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27. November 2010 @ 23:03 |
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True, the P5N boards were far more popular than the Striker series as they weren't so hideously overpriced. I obviously wasn't always an anti-Asus campaigner, but that was before I had actually owned their products. It's worth pointing out that besides the Maxtor Hard disk biting the dust, the PC built for my grandfather still works at 5 1/2 years old, and that's an Asus barebone, case, board and PSU [it was one of the Terminator SFF systems, not sure what PSUs they used].
This is why it annoys me so much, Asus are a company that made a reputation selling quality hardware, then all of a sudden cut massive corners. There are plenty of cases of manufacturers earning a reputation for quality and then cutting corners to sit with the middle of the pack but charge premium prices, but Asus are an unusual example of a company that does that but cuts quality so far they sit right at the very bottom, and still charge the same prices. Were it just me that was having so many problems I would indeed call into question what was going on, but the sheer number of other people I've spoken to with so many problems with Asus products tells me my experiences, while perhaps slightly more severe than average, are accurate.
You Shaff dodged the only bullet by selling me the Asus board you were going to end up with problems with, not of course that we could know it at the time. Fact is though, when it went belly up at 7 months of age, as a top-end £160 premium board, it's massively cheaper £105 replacement, apart from being vastly more reliable, was a considerably better specification, actually had comparable cooling despite there being about 5 times less of it, and owing to that it didn't buckle under its own weight.
You can call into question our refute of anything Asus any time, but you know that we wouldn't make such a big fuss if it wasn't justified.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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28. November 2010 @ 20:21 |
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Sam, So considering your good luck with WD20EARS drives(Tap on wood), You probably would think that spending 30$ more on a similar WD drive would be unwarranted? What are your thoughts on the WD20EURS drive?
WD20EURS
They appear to have additional features. E.g:
Originally posted by Newegg:
Long-term Reliability - These drives are designed to last in high temperature always-on streaming digital audio/video environments such as PVR/DVR, DVR recorders and surveillance video recorders.
SilkStream - Optimized for smooth, continuous digital video playback of up to twelve simultaneous HD streams. SilkStream is compatible with the ATA streaming command set so CE customers can use standard streaming management and error recovery options.
Silkstream sounds interesting ;)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. November 2010 @ 04:33 |
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Hmm, these drives are completely new to me, I didn't realise they existed. They seem to be optimised for streaming a lot of stuff at once and seem to have a higher-grade hardware specification, but they're a little bit more expensive. To be honest, they sound like perfect drives for my use, as it goes, but never mind, already bought the drives now!
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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29. November 2010 @ 12:32 |
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I definitely like that they're boasting "Long term Reliability". It tempts me greatly to buy 2 or more of them :D
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. November 2010 @ 12:44 |
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It's probably bull, like the 'variable speed 5400-7200rpm' they advertised with the first Green drives.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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29. November 2010 @ 12:49 |
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Perhaps with the design they've explained, they can get away with stating that ;)
"Preemptive Wear Leveling (PWL) - The drive arm frequently sweeps across the disk to reduce uneven wear on the drive surface common to audio video streaming applications."
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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29. November 2010 @ 14:48 |
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Seems like an interesting tech. Might look into one next time I buy HDDs :)
It'd be funny though if it turned out to damage them long-term XD
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29. November 2010 @ 14:49
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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29. November 2010 @ 17:40 |
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Gonna have to test the WD20EARS drive today. 2 times now, it's quit streaming data in the middle of a BluRay burn. Each time was at 6X(~27,000KB/s). I really wish the damned discs weren't so expensive. They make it difficult to troubleshoot :( I may have found some really cheap ones today though. But you do get what you pay for...
I really hope the drive isn't quitting. I'd have to scramble to back everything up :S
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. November 2010 @ 17:41 |
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Surely bluray burning programs have under-run protection?
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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29. November 2010 @ 17:50 |
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But see, even retrying had no effect. It more or less said that the streaming ceased. Yes, bufferunderrun is a thing of the past. No worries there. But It's like the hard drive just wouldn't relinquish the data LOL! I have it running now at 4X. Last disc. Last time, it stopped at 97%. It seems to vary though. I think the first time this happened, it quit streaming the data at 50% of completion. Weird...
There have been no imperfections on the disks...
I suppose it could be the LG burners buffer...
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29. November 2010 @ 17:51
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