Finalising new rig (advice welcome)

Hello Tech-Watchers

I'm currently trialling out my new system on a pre-existing build of Windows 10. Basically I got a hand-me down from one of my brother's best mates who prefers Alienware laptops to desktop computers. It's my first time using the OS and to be honest it's not as bad as I was expecting…

For $400, I got the following:

Asrock motherboard 990FX Extreme 3
AMD FX 8150 8 core 3.59 GHZ CPU
16 Gig RAM (Patriot)
AMD Radeon 6970 GPU
2 x 2 TB Seagate HDDs.
Corsair TX850 PSU

First thing I noticed when it booted was how loud the sucker is compared to my old machine. It's like a veritable infestation of crickets inside your own lounge room.
I'm assuming that's the cooling system at work, although if anyone can help me to possibly limit its noise output, that'd be handy! At any rate, overall it seems like its a nice mid-range machine would should handle most new games and definitely all of the programs my old computer couldn't. I've been testing Scholar of the First Sin for instance which runs very nicely.

My hardware knowledge is quite poor and out of date and I haven't done much research on the nature of PC tech since when I built my old AMD-6000 on a tight budget back in 2007. That system has done me well and ran some things it probably shouldn't have over the years. Thus, I have some questions some of you might be able to help with:

1) I was considering going for an SSD for booting purposes. I've never done it before though, so wanted to hear from any who recommend this?

2) I'd probably prefer OS wise to go back to Windows 7 Ultimate. However, my attempts to pick up a boxed edition locally has proven difficult. I should have known that it's unlikely that Microsoft would allow the retail selling of an OS that would compete with Windows10. But if anyone can recommend a genuine seller of Win 7 Ultimate, I'd really appreciate it. (Got a couple of possible sellers I'm watching on ebay for the moment…)

3) General opinions on the specifications and its upgrading potential?
I'm guessing the video card might be the first place to start; though from what I can see the Radeon 6900 family it is still reasonably mid-high range.

Anyway, there's nothing like the thrill of moving to a new system and getting everything working smoothly. Once I get my OS finalised and decide on the SSD issue, it'll be time to start the data transition to the new drives. Thanks all in advance for reading!

The only thing that I would say is to 100% go for an SSD.

It is just amazing.

The prices have dropped to a point where it is just so worth it.

Yep, I would plop an Ssd in there, and wait and see what new GPUs AMD and Nvidia have for us this year.

Does the CPU have the stock cooler on it? I remember reading that the AMD stock cooler can be very loud, maybe investing in an aftermarket cooler will reduce the noise level.

Thanks for the feedback gents. Two solid votes (three counting Joxers?) for the SSD. Cool.

I'm not sure on the stock cooler question Neb, as I said my hardware knowledge is poor and not up to date at all. The sound is something one gets used to and will probably subside a little once I close the case for good (keeping it open for now to monitor things…)

Ahh, I've so much to learn. I like it.

The FX comes with a stock cooler and it is considered pretty good unless you OC. Also, the fan(s) that is going to make the most noise in his computer is going to be on the AMD Radeon 6970 GPU most probably (the GPU is always what makes the most noise in my PC).

I would support others suggestion of a SSD and also keep your GPU until AMD/Nvidia release their new 14/16mn video cards later this year and the next.

Definitely move Windows to a SSD. And I'm also guessing that it's the graphics card cooler that's so noisy. Had my hands on an old one once in my office that sounded like a vacuum cleaner. Removed it and everything was nice and quiet.

On the noise issue, I spent quite a lot of time messing around trying to create a very quiet pc. In the end, there was always some trade off between power and volume.

Eventually, I realized I could drill through the floor, run long cables, and keep the PC case itself down in the store room. In my office I just have the monitor, keyboard, a couple of USB3 hubs, and complete silence. Depending on the layout of your house, and your fondness for DIY, it might work for others.

Originally Posted by Pessimeister
Two solid votes (three counting Joxers?) for the SSD.

Yes, my vote too. SSD became a must.
Assuming your PC is not ment to be used as newsreader/viewer through a browser and for facebooking/twittering. In such case there is no need for PC, for those people there are supercheap chinese tablets.

One more thing about SSD I've already said before (just can't remember if it was on this forum) - don't search for the top warranty, companyname and benchmark proved as the fastest. The end user can't spot anything better or worse between different SSD, they're all perfectly reliable and they'll all fart eventually (cca 10 years) but you'll buy a new one with bigger size before that because pricedrops. So go for a cheapest one.
Assuming you'll want to keep at least one game on it, except OS and essential software, don't buy anything less than 120Gb. It does seem perhaps maybe too much, but recent games' size grew skyhigh so for example you can't install on a lesser one GTA5.

Originally Posted by joxer
Assuming your PC is not ment to be used as newsreader/viewer through a browser and for facebooking/twittering. In such case there is no need for PC, for those people there are supercheap chinese tablets.

That's a bit of an oddly expressed assumption really Joxer, not sure why you'd even mention that nonsense here. Also, I don't play puerile garbage like GTA

Nonetheless, thanks for the thoughts on the SSD.

I suspect the two seagate TB's will be enough storage space for me for awhile. I've also the two drives out of my current system if necessary for archives.

In regards to DIY, I have a humble little abode which I rent, so can't do anything too radical to the property unfortunately.

Originally Posted by Pessimeister
That's a bit of an oddly expressed assumption really Joxer, not sure why you'd even mention that nonsense here. Also, I don't play puerile garbage like GTA

You'd never believe my reason. While searching for some stuff in google, it sometimes returns RPGwatch between the first 10 results. No, not logged in so some telemetry suggests in but on an anonymous basis.
Since that is so, adding those few sentences won't hurt if a lurker gets pointed here while googling for anything about 990FX Extreme 3.

I'm in the minority here and you probably shouldn't listen to me. But I don't consider SSD's as that much of a revolution. Sure, windows starts significantly faster, programs load faster, and so do loading of textures and such.

But game performance, such as framerate, resolution, what graphics settings to use are not affected. And unless it's caused by loading of textures, lag and stuttering is also not affected.

By all means, get an SSD. I have one as well, for windows, programs and the games I play most actively. But I also keep a regular hard disk in my PC, with games installed. It is of course is slower, but to me the difference when playing is not significant.

pibbur who probably is old-fashioned.

Of course graphics is not affected, it's not GPU, it's a storage.

I know that of course. But since SSD's are praised as high as they are, I felt like being the devil's advocate and point out that the things that affect game performance most are not improved by an SSD.

If my budget was limited, I'd rather spend my money on a better GPU. But as I said, I'm in the minority.

pibbur who thinks that SSD's are nice, but not a revolution

I tend to agree with Pibbur. For purely gaming purposes, an SSD isn't necessary. Games are all still designed to load relatively modest chunks of data into memory, at modest speeds, and HDDs do that job fine.

I expect the time will come when SSDs are added to recommended specs, to allow for more efficient streaming of data in games, but I've not seen it yet. The only edge case I've come across is when I massively modded Skyrim, with hundreds of mods and HD textures. Running it from the HDD caused stuttering and loading hitches that were solved by running from the SSD.

For general use, I really like SSDs, because they make the system more snappy and responsive, which I really appreciate.

Well, loading times of some games will significantly improve with an SSD. Overall SSDs are one of the things which made your PC "feel" much faster the most. Subjectively it can have a bigger impact than one or two additional shaders.

I'd go for an SSD as well. They become quite cheap (e.g. 850 EVO or 750 Evo with 250GB)

CPU is fine though. However it eats a lot of power and probably generates a lot of heat:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpu…8150-review/10

And that is probably the reason why your PC is so loud, especially if it's overclocked.
Also from my experience the older stuff gets, the louder it gets, so maybe getting something like a Noctua NH-D15S will do wonders: http://noctua.at/en/products/cpu-coo…l/nh-d15s.html
In addition: Should you ever upgrade, this is probably a part to stick with. (Doesn't come cheap though)

The GPU is rather weak though relatively speaking. And by upgrading to a gtx 970 you could probably get about 100% speed on demanding games (probably only 50% for "normal games").
Would not do this though until the new cards come out this year, being Polaris (AMD) or Pascal (NVIDIA)

So if the noise is annoying for you:
First check where it is originating from.
If it's CPU or graphics, check if it is overclocked. You might want to set it back.
If it is CPU fan or case fans, and they are always loud, check in your bios if there is a profile set for them. For example I exchanged my coolermaster fan a few months ago by a noctua NF-F12 PPC-2000. When starting my PC it sounded like an airplane is going to start. But it was at 2000 Rounds per Minute - always. So once adjusted with a profile in the bios it's perfectly silent.

Originally Posted by Ripper
For general use, I really like SSDs, because they make the system more snappy and responsive, which I really appreciate.

And really quiet: SSDs are inaudible, as there are no moving parts. Main reason I eventually replaced my old gaming HD with a SSD.

No one should bother with HDDs anymore at this point IMO, except for external cold storage.