Help me upgrade my hp H8-1300Z - Page 2

Do you know if I can use easytune 6 and overclock this machine while in windows 7? I know that its made by gigabyte and was unsure if it works with other mobo's as well.

As far as the raid ssd, I went ahead and did it with great results. I'll be an early adopter to windows 8 so hopefully it'll get even better with the new platform.


Thanks,

Bought two sandisk extreme 240 gb ssd drives to run in raid 0. It turned out to be a nightmare. While some folks are getting 1000 read/write speeds per sandisk, I was getting about 350. Sandisk was useless.
In the end,after about a week of troubleshooting, they agreed to replace the drives with one 480 gb ssd drive. I'll get about 500 read/write and that's fine.

Sometimes, I need to know when to say when.

Also, I bought this.
http://www.amazon.com/BenQ-GL2450HM-24-Inch-Circuit-Console/dp/B006HIKIHO/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I got it from benq, refurbished and with a coupon. It was 139, out the door.

Let me know what you think... If that was a good deal and a good monitor.



Lastly, I'm seriously considering the evga 680 gtx card.
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-DisplayPort-Graphics-02G-P4-2680-KR/dp/B007KC1R3A/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1347834742&sr=1-1&keywords=evga+680

I know you guys are unhappy with the fact that the memory and cpu are not overclockable in this HP desktop, but I got such a great deal on the machine that I don't feel bad about it.
Plus, if any of the components go in the next four years, it's covered under a great warranty. Of course, not the components that I add or upgrade.

I'm happy to hear your thoughts.

Thanks.
Edited by yakaway - 9/16/12 at 3:35pm

Sorry I've been slacking, I'll try to post a few pics soon. Not sure what's so great about beats audio either. I haven't used the machine much because i've been dealing with the sandisk issue.

Hey Barkinos98, I really don't see much in the machine to take a pic of. The beats design is mostly software related I think. I certainly diidn't buy the machine for it, it was just a nice add-on that came with it.

So, this week I'm buying an nvidia gtx card. I was thinking of evga's 680 gtx or ftw version. I was hoping to get your input about which one to buy. I haven't ruled out the 670 or 660 ti. I don't mind spending the money, but want to go with the best one for performance/value.

Any thoughts?

Also, the 480 gb ssd by sandisk is running great in AHCI. No need for raid. I'm using the 1 terabyte hitachi just as a storage drive. Kind of nice. I'm going to add g skill or corsair ram to the machine. Debating getting 2x4gb or 2x8gb. That would give me 14 or 22 gb or ram total. It all depends on when windows 8 is coming. I have the upgrade option for 15 bucks for professional, so it's a no brainer.

I'm running windows 7 premium 64 bit and I believe you can only do 16 gb ram currently.

thanks,
later

So here's the updates.

I've been using amdoverdrive to increase the cpu performance. Getting about a 10-15% bump in cpu speed and the machine is stable all day long.

Bought another 8gb or g. skil ram (2x4gb) for a total of 14 gb and absolutely no problems whatsoever. voltage, latencies all matched the hp ram, so no problems there.

Totally happy with the sandisk extreme 480 gb ssd drive. Paid 310 for it. Free shipping, no tax. Runs smooth.

Bought the evga 680gtx sc card. Came in the mail today. 20 dollar rebate and borderlands 2 for free. Awesome. 499, free shipping, no tax prior to the rebate and game. (3 year manufacturers warranty on the card)



Folks have continually told me that they could have done much better had they built the machine from scratch. I agree, however if you fry the board, burn the chip up, or have a dimm of memory go bad, you could be in for a rough road ahead.




I am completely happy with the build. It is quiet, the graphics card is one of the best and reliable on the market, the ssd is super fast, plenty of solid performance ram on the cheap.

Oh and I'm really enjoying the xbox that I got as part of the package. I purchased one xbox controller for windows and to my suprise, the original controller that came with the xbox works with the pc as well. I can use both controllers for either the pc or the xbox

I'm gaming on my 60 inch flat panel panasonic tv and a benq 24 inch gaming monitor.


In closing, I'm happy to overclock the graphics card. I went with the signature series because the modules are hand-picked vs the stock evga 680 gtx. I will likely use msi afterburner and this is where the performance overclock is critical. The rest of the machine is super stable. I don't have to worry about bsod or bios troubles, or lost hours, days, and possibly weeks due to troubleshooting.

When windows 8 comes out, I'll be even happier.

I've got a ton of steam games on here.




In the future, I may take the ssd, and graphics card and make a separate gaming machine but right now I couldn't be happier.

If anyone has any other thoughts about how to make this better without doing a separate build, I'm happy to listen.


thanks

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2010823/amd-overdrive-easily-overclock-an-amd-rig.html

This is the link for AMDOverDrive fyi