New built, comment please.

[zpod014]

I finally decided to go ahead and upgrade my old PC. I kept some of the old components and added the following new items:

CPU:AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
PSU:Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V
VGA:XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0
CPU heatsink/fan:COOLER MASTER V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
RAM:G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
MOBO:ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD
HD:Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s


The installation process went extremely well. The heatsink installation took slightly longer than anticipated... but it was expected and absolutely love the heatsink. Everything was recognized and after updating to current drivers, system seems to be running well. CPU is running around 34c. The only thing I would keep in consideration would be a better quality PS. the wires in this specific model are a bit too messy.

Problem:
Windows is registering 3.25gb of RAM @ 782 Mhz, but the bios is registering 4gb @ 1600.
could this be caused by the OS?

should I upgrade to 64bit xp or 7?

I would like to OC the CPU. Can anyone give me some hints before I dig into it???

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/IMG_1572.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/IMG_1561.jpg

I appreciate any comments or advise.
thanks in advance.

[glc]

Windows is registering 3.25gb of RAM @ 782 Mhz, but the bios is registering 4gb @ 1600. could this be caused by the OS?

That's exactly what it is. 32 bit operating systems are limited to 4gb of ram, and it can't use all of it. That hard drive is one of the new 4k sector drives, and it does not perform well with XP. Therefore, I recommend you upgrade to Win 7 64 bit.

[orbrit]

when you say your memory is registering in Windows at 782 MHz. is that measured using CPU-Z or something?

The reason I ask is that mine shows 829.2 MHz as the DRAM frequency, but you double that to get your actual frequency. (DDR=Double Data Rate)

i.e. 533 MHz would be 1066, 666.5 would be 1333 and 800 would be 1600MHz.

[glc]

Windows is showing the DRAM frequency. The bios is showing DDR.

[zpod014]

Originally Posted by glc That's exactly what it is. 32 bit operating systems are limited to 4gb of ram, and it can't use all of it. That hard drive is one of the new 4k sector drives, and it does not perform well with XP. Therefore, I recommend you upgrade to Win 7 64 bit.

Thank you glc. I was hoping to hold off on the upgrade... But I guess has to be done very sooner than expected......

[zpod014]

Originally Posted by orbrit when you say your memory is registering in Windows at 782 MHz. is that measured using CPU-Z or something? The reason I ask is that mine shows 829.2 MHz as the DRAM frequency, but you double that to get your actual frequency. (DDR=Double Data Rate) i.e. 533 MHz would be 1066, 666.5 would be 1333 and 800 would be 1600MHz.

Orbit, You are right about the DRAM freq, and actual DDR freq. I was more concern about not registering at full 4gb @ 1564Mhz?

[glc]

You don't have to upgrade right away if it's performing to your satisfaction. I've been running XP 32 bit on this machine with 4gb ram for 2 years and don't have any complaints. It's using 3.25gb. I honestly don't know exactly how much effect the hard drive issue has.

[zpod014]

Originally Posted by glc You don't have to upgrade right away if it's performing to your satisfaction. I've been running XP 32 bit on this machine with 4gb ram for 2 years and don't have any complaints. It's using 3.25gb. I honestly don't know exactly how much effect the hard drive issue has.

If that's the case... it will make my life much easier and buy me some more time... thanks for the advise glc