AMD - Display driver stopped working and has recovered

Surprizingly your specs are not that far off from mine are now. I went from an Asus board to Ggabyte on this one and ran into the 1.5v requirement while the memory supported list shows voltages running upwards from 1.65v to 2.2v with the numbers looked up!

DDR3 2133mhz memory backclocks to 1866mhz on 2v memory to the board's 1.5v. That rather limited the options for selecting the replacement memory however! while leaving everything on auto hasn't resulted in seeing any other problems other then running the memory in now at the reduced speed.

Fortunately however the present memory will work on the upgrade planned for a family memory later this year when finished removing one item from the list of things needed there! That will save a little!

Well as far as ocing is concerned the case you have will be a factor as well as any 3rd party hsf! If the case lacks adequate cooling your other hardware temps will climb like the board for example bringing up the cpu temps too!

At present while the thermal paste is still in the two week bonding phase I will be monitoring the stock temps for the 125w quad core model in use now. The last case however saw the initial temps at stock around 23C for the cpu and about 31C for the main board.

I went from an Antec 900 to the newer 900-2 now seeing dust screens included on the twin front and side cover vent/fan opening there. But that was the case preference here due to where the case is placed inside an enclosed area on the computer desk here. When not in use I simply close the cabinet door on the desk.

Generally a good case is made of steel or steel with a plastic front. ThermalTake has had some nice ones to look over as well as a few other makes. But it also depends on what you want on a case like front or top usb, eSata ports, an lcd display on some NZXT models, audio jacks, etc. when shopping for one as well as what type of case size wise.

Some cases even see a dropdown side panel once the side cover is off for easy access and installation of the board. The 900 series mounts the supply at the bottom not top of the case where you invert the supply unside down for allowing the cooler air coming in from the front to be drawn in by the supply's fan generally seen on the bottom which is facing upward on the 900s.

As for the cpu cooler I ran the Zalman model seen at Newegg.com - ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler on the last build for the AMD 6000+ X2 there and now have another Zalman for the Phenom II X4 model in this case. Newegg.com - ZALMAN CNPS10X Extreme 120mm CPU Cooler with Worlds first PWM Fan Speed Controller

The latest being Aluminum with a copper base also explains why the cpu is a bit warmer during breakin then seen with the large copper array on the last. The 6000+ X2 was also a 125w model dual core however. But the one thing about the new case is how quiet it has been running so far.

Don't worry in a few days the specs here will change slightly with the new memory in! As far as your case there look over the specs for the board as well as those seen for the memory to see the recommended timings as well as voltages the board will run at. GSKILL sees the 1.35-1.65v range for most of their's.

For having room look at the cases used most often by the ocers who have liquid cooling in use! The 900 series due to it's layout of having six 5.25" bays or simply 3 at the top when both drive cages are inplace is considered tight for water cooling.

ThermalTake has one of their own that looks almost identical to the 900 but not the 900-2 model also seeing twin 120mm fans in the front. It also depends where your case will be like on the floor, sitting on top of a stand or desk, or like here placed inside the cabinet on a computer style desk.

As for any full tower again many who opt for water cooling or home server setups will be looking at those more often due the larger sizes seen. More room for hard drives as well as for liquid coolers are the two main reasons of course.

At this point there are so many different makes, styles as well as the types of cases to go through before selecting the one you will feel is the best for your own use. First you need to get an idea of the dimensions as well as features you want to see in order to one by a good brand that sort of "fits the bill" for you.

One thing to remember however is never getting one with a supply included! Generally they throw the cheapie models in on the bundle deal which often isn't adequate for most custom builds to begin with just to move those along! Specs on supplies also is a large help.

Haha yeah, totally. I am making a habit of buying separate power supplies, especially after some of the horror stories in the reviews of some that do come with PSUs on Newegg or something. Was thinking of getting this Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case It suits me, and has enough room for expansion and all that--but mostly it has a side panel that has like a pocket in it for extra room for cable management, something I'm still trying to learn effectively and the current case is.... not helping. Lol.

How do you feel about an Antec Basiq (spelling?) power supply that is modular? I was looking at them, and they're pretty cheap for a modular, but seemingly very good. The corsair ones I was looking at are like, twice the price, but also very very good. I hadn't known of the Antec ones at the time of making my first build, so I didn't consider them.

Hm... I hear that if there is more than one hard disc, you have to do a Raid configuration. Is this true? I've heard of the most commonly used ones, 0, 1, and 5. Don't quite remember which is which, but I recall one being that it's total copy of one drive to the other, another that is partially copied to the other, and the third being that it is a mixture of Raid 0 and Raid 1 (the Raid 5 configuration.) Correct me if I'm wrong. I ask because I'd like more HDDs, but am kind of nervous about setting it up. Tips?

Thanks.

The case looks good having a large front intake that will be a plus for keeping the drives as well as board running cooler. That's a bit larger being a 20cm on front as well as on the top like the Antec 900 series.

I only wish I could have used the hsf on the old build on the Phenom II X4 model in this case since that allowed more room with the round copper array over the bulky box shaped aluminum model on this one! Newegg.com - ZALMAN CNPS10X Extreme 120mm CPU Cooler with Worlds first PWM Fan Speed Controller

I wonder if I could still fit this one on the new cpu? Newegg.com - ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

As far as that series power supply by Antec the largest seen at newegg is a 500w model. Newegg.com - Antec Basiq BP500U 500W Continuous Power ATX12V Version 2.01 Active PFC Power Supply

That wouldn't be any recommendation for running several drives along with large case fans and other things. On the last case here I ran the 900 with 5 HDs along with the 120 on the side cover as well as the twins in front and 20cm on top with a calculation of 587w advised. An OCZ 700w model was in use there as well as on the new build only seeing 4 HDs on this one. And don't forget other expansion cards for video, sound, tv tuner added in as well.

One thing to note is that when using the Antec Power Supply Calculator seen at Antec Power Supply Calculator

Now as for running several drives you do not have to have them set up in pairs for arrays. Creating a storage out of two is an option not any mandate. With several matched drives in a series you can also span a single volume over them. The one thing to note however is arrays and spanning volumes can be costly if any of the drives fail or you simply have a mishap where the entire setup is lost along with data and files!