~$1000 P55 system upgrade

[Turbo_Supra]

So I decided it's time to upgrade my three-year-old computer. I'm looking to spend approximately $1000 dollars on upgraded parts while salvaging as much as i can from my old system. I use this computer for gaming -- currently playing WoW, Starcraft 2, Counterstrike: Source, Crysis, and a couple other games.

Parts I feel are worthy of re-use from my previous computer:
DVD Drive/Burner: LITE-ON --- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106057

HDD: Seagate Barracuda (7200.10) --- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148140

Computer Case: NZXT ATX Full Tower --- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146029

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX 520W --- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139001

Potential Upgrades:
Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D Deluxe--- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131400 (Seems like a great deal with the 30 dollar rebate even though i may or may not need the additional features)

CPU: Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield --- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115215

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) --- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231277

GPU: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5850 1GB --- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102857

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 640gb --- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136319

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit --- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116754

A couple of questions:

• Can my old 520watt power supply handle this system?
• Should i go with the 5850 instead of two 5770's in crossfire (Tom's hardware suggests the crossfire setup) or go with a 5830 and save 60 dollars for a pretty significant performance hit?
• Are those my only options in terms of graphics cards on my budget?
• Will i regret not getting a HT CPU sometime down the line? It's only $80 dollars more to get a HT CPU.
• Do i want the 64 bit version of Windows 7?
• Anything else worth pointing out?

Thanks for the help!

[glc]

1. It will handle a single 5850 but probably not 2 5770's in crossfire.
2. See #1. I'd go with the single card so they both don't run at x8 or one at x16 and the other at x4.
3. Of course not.
4. For gaming, not at all.
5. Depends on software compatibility.
6. Look at the P7P55D-E to get SATA 6.0 and USB 3.0 for the future.

[Turbo_Supra]

Switching to ASUS P7P55D-E per your suggestion. Good catch there.

One last question: Should i go with an Asus, HIS or Sapphire 5850? I've always used nvidia GPU so I'm not up-to-speed on the ATI brands.

[glc]

I'd go with Asus.

[Turbo_Supra]

Thanks for all the help, GLC. You're the man!

[Turbo_Supra]

I talked with a friend of mine and he mentioned that the P7P55D-E creates a high-pitch squealing sound and that it's a pretty wide-spread issues amongst all the P7P55D-E's. I did a search and found a bunch of product reviews that support this. He said i might be better off going with a P7P55D and buying a USB 3.0 & SATA 6Gb/s Add-on card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813995004) sometime down the line if and when I need that functionality.

Is this a better course of action?

[glc]

That's a definite possibility.

[ryuk999]

Originally Posted by Turbo_Supra I talked with a friend of mine and he mentioned that the P7P55D-E creates a high-pitch squealing sound ....

Isn't that from 2 opposite charges being too close to eachother? So like the pegs for the capacitors put too close to eachother on the oppposite side of the board? I could've sworn I learned that 2 highly opposite charged objects put closely to eachother makes a squeal sound last week in my physics class.

[Turbo_Supra]

Not sure about that. From what i can gather it has something to do with Intel's C-States. If you disable C-states then the high-pitch sound seems to go away. The sound originates from the chokes surrounding the CPU socket.

The issue seems to be more common in the high end models of the -E, especially the Pro version.

Some threads about the problem:

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?...Language=en-us

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?...Language=en-us

The risk of getting a bad board was not worth the future-proofing the -E series provides when i could just get an addon-card that adds the same features.

[Turbo_Supra]

Just got my parts today. I forget i had a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102006) lying around. Should i use that or is the on-board sound on the ASUS P7P55D Deluxe (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102006) VIA VT2020 chipset better than that rather old sound card? All i could find about the VIA VT2020 is it's 10 channels.

[glc]

Try the onboard and see what you think. The specs are pretty impressive.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-p...-review-test/3

[Turbo_Supra]

So, i got everything installed and everything is working fine. However, windows is showing that i have 4gb's of RAM installed but only 1.99gb's is usable. Any ideas what is causing this and how do i fix it? The suggestions i found on other sites didn't seem to do anything.

[triquee]

Try reseating the RAM. Make sure it's properly aligned and firmly clicked into place.

[glc]

Exactly what is showing 1.99?

[Turbo_Supra]

Start --> Right-click Computer --> Properties. See attachment.

[glc]

Google:

windows 7 hardware reserved memory

Start reading! There's quite a lot of info on this with possible solutions.

[triquee]

Mine did the exact same thing when I first installed the RAM. I thought I had a dead stick. Reseating the RAM fixed the problem for me.

[glc]

Triquee - it's seeing all 4 gigs. It's just reserving half of it for hardware, THAT is a bios or OS issue, did you look at the 2 screen shots he posted?

[Turbo_Supra]

Re-seated the ram and the problem was fixed. The fact that my computer passed post and both CPU-Z and Windows recognized 4gbs of memory installed led me to believe that the memory was fully-seated. Apparently not though! Re-ran Windows Experience Index just to see the difference and the memory score jumped from 5.5 to 7.8. Small difference much?

I still have no idea why Windows Resource Monitor was showing 4gbs with 2gbs of that reserved for hardware. Now (after re-seating the memory) it's showing 10mb for hardware reserve. See attachment. Highly suspect if you ask me!

On a side note: the new 'single-clip' RAM design ASUS is using makes it extremely difficult to tell if the RAM is seated correctly, not to mention the fact it takes more force than I'd ever expect necessary to install the ram.

Thanks for all the help guys, seems that everything is in order now

[triquee]

Originally Posted by glc Triquee - it's seeing all 4 gigs. It's just reserving half of it for hardware, THAT is a bios or OS issue, did you look at the 2 screen shots he posted?

I sure did I remember at least the Windows Experience Index vividly, as mine said exactly the same thing when I first installed my RAM. Now, I can't tell you *why* it worked, just that it worked for me.

[triquee]

Originally Posted by Turbo_Supra On a side note: the new 'single-clip' RAM design ASUS is using makes it extremely difficult to tell if the RAM is seated correctly, not to mention the fact it takes more force than I'd ever expect necessary to install the ram.

Yup, yup. The P7P55D has the same design. I thought since we have similar boards, that we may have had the same issue. Glad it worked for ya!

[glc]

Re-seated the ram and the problem was fixed.

WOW. I will definitely have to remember that. It really doesn't make any sense!

As a tip, it's always best to install ram with the motherboard out of the case on the table. That way, force can be applied without flexing the board. I miss the old days of SIMMS - insert the memory into the slot at an angle, then flip it up.

[Turbo_Supra]

Originally Posted by glc WOW. I will definitely have to remember that. It really doesn't make any sense!.

Yeah, i was shocked too that it fixed my problem. I tried at least five other solutions first and re-seated the RAM as a last resort. I still have no clue why Windows was reserving 2gb's for hardware though.

But on the plus side, my CPU is running 2°C cooler now after removing and subsequently re-installing the heatsink to check for bent pins on the CPU (one of the other 'solutions' i found on another site).