AMD Piledriver: FX4300 review

AMD FX4300 Review

AMD recently released its new line of processors codenamed Vishera and based on the 'Piledriver' architecture.

This new line of FX processors are going to replace the older Bulldozer FX processors.

Today we will be looking at the entry level FX4300 which is meant to replace the FX4100

Before we get to the benchmarks let me mention that the new FX processors are about 14% faster than the older generation. Out of this 14%, 7% of the performance comes from raw architecture improvements. So this means an FX4300 will be 7% faster than a FX4100 when running at the same frequencies.

The remaining 7% of performance comes from the higher clock speeds. The new FXs are also said to be able to achieve higher overclocks.


So lets get to the processor itself.
The new FX4300 comes in at the 3.8Ghz clock speed and a turbo speed of 4Ghz

Benchmarks

Lets start with some benchmarks comparing the fx4300 to the similarly priced i3 3220

First we have games

First up is Diablo 3 at 1680x1050 resolution

As we can see the new fx4300 does get ahead of the similarly priced i3 3220. This may be because of the fact that Diablo 3 is pretty CPU intensive so the 2 module fx4300 performs better



Next up is Skyrim again at 1680 x 1050 resolution

Again another CPU intensive game and we can see the fx4300 pulling slightly ahead of the i3 3220.


Now lets look at some more benchmarks

We compressed a file using winrar and below are the compression times.
NOTE: lower is better

Here the i3 3220 performs better and gets the job done faster.


Finally we have Cinebench(multi-threaded)

Here again the i3 pulls slightly ahead of the fx4300.

Conclusion:

We see that AMD has indeed improved on the bulldozer significantly. Last Generation, when people asked me to help decide between an i3 2100 and a fx 4100 I used to always tell them to go for the i3 2100 but this generation I might actually recommend the fx 4300 over the i3 3220.

The fx4300 performs quite well out of the box and can also be easily overclocked.

It gives better performance over the i3 in certain applications such as cpu intensive games.

But for office users who are not much into gaming the i3 will be better as it is faster in day to day tasks.

Gamers however might prefer the fx4300 because of its awesome performance out of the box and overclock ability. 

AMD might still have a good chance against the competition if they keep going this way. Finally some of us can upgrade from out phenom iis to something newer and faster!

Cooler Master Elite 430 review

The Elite 430 is a very popular case from case manufacturer Cooler Master.

Below is a picture of it

The case looks quite good from the front. The front of the case is made out of plastic and the 5.25 and 3.5 inch bays are covered by metal mesh. The case has 2 USB 2.0 ports , HD audio and an optional firewire.
The power and reset buttons have a chrome finish which gives the case a nice look.

The case comes with one blue 120mm fan although CM could have thrown in one more.
NOTE: The front fan spot of the case also supports a 140mm fan.

Lets move on to the back of the case

On the back of the case we can see a spot for an additional 80,90 or 120mm fan.
Then we have 7 expansion slots.One thing I like about this case is that the PSU mounting is at the bottom which makes the case harder to topple over.


Lets move to the inside now:

Inside we can see the three 5.25 drive bays and five 3.5 drive bays and an additional 2 external 3.5 drive bays. These are all tool less.

The motherboard tray is also solid and all black like the rest of the case and has a decent sized CPU cutout which will allow you to install aftermarket CPU coolers without removing the motherboard. However the motherboard tray as a whole is not removable.

We have a total of 6 fan mounting areas and they all support 120mm fans. The two fan mounts on the top will also allow you to install certain radiators.
NOTE: One of the fan mounts is on the window.

This case does not have any cable management features but for the price we're paying I wouldn't expect any in the first place.
The case also supports long graphics card and it also specifically states on the box that it supports a radeon 5970 too. The only cards that won't fit would be the MARS II and the 6990. However the GTX 690s and Radeon 7970s will fit without any problems.

Lets finally go over the features of this case
Material - Steel, Plastic and Mesh
Fan Mounts - Six
Tool less design - Yes(drive bays only)
PSU Placement - Bottom
Fan(s) Included - 1x120mm blue LED
Removable Motherboard tray - NO
Cable Management Holes - NO
Window - YES


The lack of cable management does make a build in this case look messy but if you know your stuff you can get away by hiding your cables in places like empty drive bays.

Thank you for reading this review .If you have any questions feel free to message my or email me at jaideeptw@yahoo.com

Does Video RAM Really Make a Difference?

So guys would you like a 1 GB Graphics card or would you like to pay a little extra and get a 2 GB version.


Many people think of Video RAM or VRAM as " The more the merrier" but is this really true?
Lets find out!

Many manufacturers make weak GPUs with an enormous amount of vram. Just the other day I saw a Nvidia GT430 with 4 gigs of memory. Most people have also fallen prey to this marketing gimmick. Ask any of your "less hardware conscious" friends about their system specs and you'll find that they would almost always say things like "I have a blah blah processor and a 1GB video card or a 2GB video card"
This shows that most people only card about the GBs.
Little do they know that the manufacturers might have tricked them into buying say a radeon 5450 with 2 gigs of ram or so.

Finally let me answer the question!
Is vram really important

And the answer is that at resolutions like 1080p and below you really don't need more than 1GB of vram maybe 2 gigs at the most. More vram is only needed when you have resolutions above 1080p or if you are doing an eyefinity or surround setup.

Coming to lower end cards there's really no point in putting more than 1 gig of vram into them and a consumer shouldn't buy a 2 gig low end card like a GT520 or a Radeon HD6450. Don't get ripped off by the "Special Edition" low end cards that have something like 4 gigs of vram.

As far as higher end cards go,they require a bit more vram since they are capable of loading high res textures. Recently there was a 6GB Radeon HD7970. Now is this card good for a person with a single 1080p monitor? The answer is a big NO!

However If I was to ask the question "Is this card good for a person who runs 3 30inchers with a 2560x1600 resolution on each? And then the answer would be HELL YES!

In case I out of the 6gigs only about 2gigs would be used during the most intensive gameplay.

However in case II the 6gigs would find their true potential and the second person would greatly benefit from the 6gigs of vram

Bottomline
On a low end card, more than 1gig of RAM is just pointless and a waste of money. On a mid to high end card you may be good to go with 2gigs of RAM and the crazy 6gigs is only meant for monster resolutions like 7680 x 1600!


Thank you for reading this guide.If you have any questions feel free to message my or email me at jaideeptw@yahoo.com

How to put in a new HDD/SSD in your computer

Running out of storage? Wanna upgrade to something better and faster?
Then it might be time to buy a new SSD or HDD. Its easy to buy them but to install them in your pc can be a headache for some people so I'm gonna show you how to do it!

First decide on what you want a HDD or an SSD
For more info on SSDs and HDDs read one of my previous posts

http://neptunecustomsystems.blogspot.in/2012/08/what-are-ssds-ssd-vs-hdd.html

Also note that SATA standards are backwards compatible so a SATA 3 drive will work in a SATA 1 slot however its speed will be affected.

Now lets assume that you have got yourself a new HDD/SSD from a good manufacturer (WD,Seagate,Samsung,OCZ,Intel,Crucial etc) and you are ready to install it into your system

Follow these steps:

Step 1: Take the SSD/HDD out of the packaging and check if it came with a SATA cable or not. If it does not contain a SATA cable you can still use your old HDD/SSD's cable provided your PC is relatively new and has SATA and not IDE or PATA. Alternatively you can also buy a SATA cable for cheap.

NOTE: When unboxing a HDD do not to shake it around too much as it contains some fragile moving parts!

Step 2: Open up the side panel of your PC and locate the existing HDD. It should have 2 cables attached to it. One of them is power and the other is data.

It should look something like this:

The thicker red cable is the data or SATA cable and the other one is the SATA power cable

Step 3: If you are going to replace the old HDD then just remove the cables from your old HDD and remove it by unscrewing it from the HDD cage.Once done,just screw in your new HDD/SSD and then reconnect the same cables.

If you are adding a new SSD/HDD without removing the old one screw in your new device into an empty slot and then locate a SATA power cable coming out of your power supply unit and connect it to the drive and then connect one end of the SATA data cable to the HDD and the other to the headers on the motherboard. Don't worry about putting in the wrong cable as each cable can only go into a specific slot


A SATA power cable looks like this:

A SATA power cable

A SATA data cable looks like this:

A SATA data cable

Motherboard SATA connectors:



Once you have done that then just close up your pc case and boot it up. If you have replace your HDD you will need to reinstall windows. If you have added an extra drive then windows should automatically detect it.


Thank you for reading this guide.If you have any questions feel free to message my or email me at jaideeptw@yahoo.com

How to upgrade your computer's RAM

This requires basic knowledge about RAM so if you have not read one of my previous posts please read the following post:  http://neptunecustomsystems.blogspot.in/2012/08/choosing-ram-for-your-new-computer.html



Assuming you have read my previous post or if you already know about RAM and how to select good RAM for your PC then grab a few tools and read on.

Tools Required

1. A Phillips head screwdriver - A medium size will do however if you have a case with thumbscrews then you won't need one

2. Compressed air or a lint free cloth(OPTIONAL) - I would recommend these because when you first open up you PC you're going to see a lot of dust and so might as well clean the thing since its open

STEP 1:

Open up the side panel of your PC by removing screws or thumbscrews

Like this:

STEP 2:

Once you have removed the side panel take a good look and locate the DIMM sockets.

They should look like this:

The sockets in the picture are empty so the sockets in your computer might have a stick or two of RAM already. That's your old RAM

STEP 3:

Remove any old RAM modules

Push on the two tabs as shown in the picture and the stick should pop out 

Try to hold the RAM by the sides only as they are sensitive to ESD

STEP 4:

Install new RAM by inserting it perpendicularly while the white tabs are open. Push down on the RAM until the white tabs close by themselves.This ensures a proper fit

STEP 5:

Boot up PC and check the amount of RAM it detects

If your PC does not detect the new RAM check that the RAM is seated properly into the socket

Thank you for reading this article.If you have any questions feel free to message my or email me at jaideeptw@yahoo.com

What are SSDs? SSD vs HDD

I'm sure you all remember seeing something like this:

A Western Digital mechanical hard drive

For storage of data we have been using mechanical hard disk drives since decades

These days you may come across the term "SSD" drives so what exactly are these SSDs?

In layman terms a SSD is a storage device that is much faster than a HDD and has no moving parts.

SSDs give you a huge speed boost when compared to a HDD and are also more reliable.

SSDs use NAND flash chips for data storage and have larger caches and so have low access times.

An SSD looks like this:

A SATA II OCZ SSD

To give you an idea of the magnitude of an SSD's speed let me give you an example

I recently upgraded my PC and put in a SSD in place of my HDD and earlier the PC used to boot into windows in about 30 secs and after the upgrade it booted in just 7 seconds!

SSDs still have not replaced Hard disk drives(HDDs) because of the following reasons:

1. They are expensive compared to HDDs

For example a good 60gb SSD would cost around $90(4500INR) while you could get a 1 terabyte HDD for around the same price.

2. They do not come in very large capacities - SSDs usually have small capacities. The largest SSD that a consumer would buy is only about 480GB and it would also cost a fortune while a 3 terabyte HDD can be bought for much less. There are industrial grade SSDs such as the OCZ Revodrive that use the PCI-e interface and have about 1.5 terabytes of storage but if a normal person wished to buy it then he would have to sell his house first!

Below is a benchmark result comparing an Intel SSD and a HDD

You can see from the benchmark above that an SSD is much faster during a random seek and a sequential read but is only a bit slower at data writing. New SSDs have further improved upon this.

In the end I would say that for now just get a 60gig SSD like the OCZ Agility or vertex series for the OS and keep a good ol' HDD for other data.

Choosing Ram for your new computer

At sometime during a computer's lifespan you fell the need for a RAM upgrade.
RAM these days is cheap and can give you some good performance boosts if you often run out of memory

These days the RAM we use in our home PCs is usually DDR and it stands for double data rate
DDR is further divided into separate categories

First we have DDR1 or just DDR - This kind of memory is almost obsolete and some of you might remember your pentium 3/4 PC with 256 megs of DDR memory or so. DDR memory consumes more power than DDR2 and DDR3 memory and runs at slower clock speeds and has smaller capacities. The highest clock speed on a DDR module can be about 400mhz and 533mhz on some modules.

DDR RAM looks like this:

An Old 256meg DDR module

Then we have DDR2 - This kind of memory is still being used in many LGA775 platforms(core 2 duo's, PDCs etc) and AM2 AM2+ platforms ( athlons, phenoms etc)
DDR2 consumes less power when compared to DDR and runs at higher clock speeds. The typical DDR2 speeds are usually 667mhz and 800mhz but however some 1066 kits are available.
DDR2 supports higher capacities and is cheaper than DDR when compared by a price to GB ratio.

Below is a picture of DDR2 RAM:

A DDR2 module

Finally we have the newest and best DDR3 - DDR3 is whats currently being used in new systems. Most modern PCs built in 2010 or later have this kind of memory. DDR3 is much faster than DDR2 and is also cheaper,has higher capacities and is power efficient. Typical DDR3 modules usually run at 1333mhz and 1600mhz kits are also available for cheap.
The new AMD FX processors support upto DDR3 1866. Some high end kits such as the G.skill Trident and Corsair dominator series can be clocked as high as 2.4 Ghz or 2400mhz.
Recently one of Corsairs kits were clocked close to a whooping 3.0 Ghz

Below is a picture of some DDR3 modules

Two DDR3 1333mhz modules

G.skill Ripjaws 1600mhz modules

A Corsair Dominator 3GHZ module

Laptop RAM - Laptop RAM modules are the same as desktop modules except the fact that they are much smaller physically

A laptop modules looks like this:

A SO-DIMM memory module

Now many of you might have different questions about RAM and so I have prepared a FAQ below:

Q1. Can DDR or DDR2 memory be installed in a DDR3 slot and vice versa?

Ans. No you cannot use any one kind of memory in a slot designed for a different type of memory.
       The Reason for this is that the slots are physically different so a DDR3 or DDR2 memory won't fit
        in a DDR slot.

Q2. Can laptop RAM be installed in a desktop and vice versa?

Ans. No desktop and laptop RAM sticks are not interchangeable mainly due to them being physically
       different from each other. There are some adapters that allow you to use laptop modules in your
       desktop but they are quite rare.

Q3. Can I mix different RAM sticks of different capacities and speeds?

Ans. There is no definite answer to this question. Some motherboards are flexible in choosing RAM and  
       some are not. If you mix say a 1600mhz module with a 1333mhz then even if your motherboard
       detects both of them and remains stable you'll notice that the 1600mhz volume has been clocked
       down to the slower 1333mhz speed.

       As far as capacities are go it is usually not recommended to mix sticks of different capacities.
       Doing this usually leads to BSOD and instability issues.

Q4. How much memory is required for a computer to function smoothly?

Ans. It all depends on your needs. For a basic computer intended for web browsing a minimum of 2GB
       is recommended. Casual Gamers might require about 4GB of RAM while hardcore gamers and
       enthusiasts may need 8GB of RAM. Going above 8GB is just overkill and most of your ram then
       is just left unused.

Q5. What speed of RAM should I get?

Ans. This too depends on your needs and how much you are willing to spend.Usually DDR3 memory at
       1333mhz is good enough. Some people might like using 1600mhz memory as its only a little more
       expensive and only Hardcore gamers and enthusiasts go for the expensive 1866,2133 and
       2400mhz kits.


Thank you for reading this article.If you have any questions feel free to message my or email me at jaideeptw@yahoo.com

Why is a good power supply unit important?

Many PCs on the market today use low cheap cost PSU in them.
In the PC building world we refer to them as "Generic PSUs"

A generic PSU looks something like this

A typical generic PSU. AVOID IT!

A Power Supply Unit or PSU is one of the vital components of a computer and shouldn't be taken for granted.
PSUs come in a wide range of prices and wattage.
A simple computer intended for web browsing and other simple tasks can get away with only a 300watt PSU in it while mid range PCs with a dedicated graphics card are suggested to have atleast a 500watt PSU powering it and PCs with dual card setups usually have quality 800+watt PSUs. The ultra High end 1000w and above PSUs are only recommended for enthusiasts and extreme gamers using a quad SLI/Crossfire configuration.

Now lets come to some important points to look at when you buy a new PSU:

1. Generic PSUs - AVOID BUYING THESE!!! These PSUs are cheap low cost PSUs and are not reliable at all. They usually come from small manufacturers and use cheap components inside. Sure you may get away with them sometimes but if they fail they usually take down your whole system with them!

Always look for good branded PSUs and you shall be fine. Brands like Seasonic,Corsair,Thermaltake,Tagan,Rosewill,Inwin,Antec,OCZ,ASUS,Gigabyte and Cooler Master are good brands and make quality PSUs


2. Wattage - As stated earlier a PC with no dedicated GPU and a low power consuming processor should run well on a 300-350 watt PSU. Now there are some even cheaper PSUs that are rated for 250watts but its always better to have some headroom and not stress the PSU too much!

On a PC with a single card setup a 500-550 watt PSU is usually good enough. I am writing this post on a Phenom II x4 970 PC with a GTX 550ti and a Seasonic S12II PSU. As stated earlier a good brand PSU is always good.

3. Current on 12v Rail - One of the most important things to look at when buying a PSU is the number of amps on the 12v rail. The 12v rail is very important as it powers your CPU and GPU. For a single card setup atleast 28-30 amps on the 12v rail are recommended while for a dual card setup about 45 amps would be good.

Most PSUs have a Rating on their side that looks like this

Power ratings on a XFX 1000w PSU

4. Efficiency - Have you recently got sky high electricity bills? wanna make them come down well pickup a PSU with a good 80 plus rating.
Efficiency basically tells you how efficient your PSU is when it converts AC to DC
These days PSUs come with various efficiency ratings
Some of them are-
Non 80 plus - these PSUs are below 80% efficiency.
80 plus standard - These PSUs stay at 80% efficiency under max load
80 plus bronze - These PSUs are about 81-82% efficient under max load
80 plus silver - These PSUs stay at about 85% efficiency under max load
80 plus gold - These stay at 87-88% efficiency under max load
80 plus platinum - These are about 90-92% efficient

For a typical computer we would recommend a 80 plus bronze PSU or even a standard 80 plus PSU.

For enthusiasts and gamers a silver or gold unit might be more economical

However 80 plus Platinum is just overkill and is only for the extreme PC builders as they are quite expensive.


5. Rail setup - PSUs come in single and multi-rail setups and usually a single rail setup is better in low wattage PSU while a multi-rail setup is better in higher wattage PSUs(above 550watts)

6. Modular/Non modular and looks - A modular PSU is that which allows you to disconnect the cables that you don't need to reduce cable mess.They are a little more expensive than non modular

It looks something like this

In the pic above you can see the the points where your required cables plug in

However Non modular PSUs don't have that feature and the cables are directly attached/soldered to the PSU's PCB

A non modular PSU looks like this

In the PSU shown above you can see that the cables coming out of it cannot be detached and are soldered/connected to the PSU's PCB

Finally we come to sleeving
Most good PSUs have their cables sleeved with nylon or a similar material to make it look better and some cheaper PSUs come without sleeving.
Now this is does not affect performance so its your choice as to which PSU you wish to select



Thank you for Reading this short article and if you have any questions you may send me a message or email me at this ID - jaideeptw@yahoo.com

Zotac GTX 550ti Review

Today we are going to review the Zotac Nvidia GTX 550ti

First lets have a look at some pictures

From this angle we can see that the card has a nice Black and Yellow Design and a 75mm fan for cooling
Kudos to Zotac for the colour scheme!

On the back of the card we have a 6pin Pci-E connector for an additional 75watts of power.
This card consumes about a 114 watts of power and we recommend a quality 450watt PSU to run it.

Now on the Rear I/O we have two DVI-I , one HDMI and a Displayport 1.2 output
This card can also support a VGA output by using a DVI to VGA adapter that is included with the card.

Finally we have a shot of the rear PCB and you can clearly see the PCI-E 2.0 x16 connector aswell as the SLI finger.

Two of these cards in SLI should near the performance of a GTX 570!

Now we have a few Benchmark Results that we would like to share

First up is Mafia 2

On Mafia 2 with everything maxed out at 1080p we get about 30 fps which is very playable. Now again this is a benchmark and real gameplay results will be higher so you can expect about 36-38 frames.

Next is Just Cause 2

On JC2 we turned down the settings a bit. AA was turned down to 4x instead of 8x and AF was at 10x instead of 16x. We managed around 35 frames on the benchmark at 1080p. Again during real gameplay you will get a better frame rate.

Finally we have a shot of GPU-Z

This is GPU-Z version 6.2 and it fixes the pixel rate calculation of fermi cards. So as you can see this card gets us 98.5 GB/s memory bandwidth and can be overclocked by a 100mhz on the core and memory without touching the voltage.

Competition:

This card stands between the Radeon 6770 and the 6790

It is a bit faster than the 6770 but lags behind the 6790

So if you can get this card at a price close enough to that of the 6770 we would say go for it!

However if its around the same price as a 6790 then the latter would prove to be a better choice

So finally we would say this is a great card at a good price and it comes with a 1 year extended warranty plan in addition to the normal warranty period.

So even if you have a 1080p monitor and are on a budget we would say get this card as by turning down the settings slightly you will experience a great visual experience!

Video:

Below is the video review of the same card done by one of our members

We here at NCS have decided to add this card to our list of Recommended graphics cards

Introduction

Welcome to Neptune Custom Systems
We are a PC building team and we specialize in designing unique computers for everyone
Want a PC that's different from anything you've ever seen?
You've come to the right place!
Contact us and we will build it for you at a reasonable price