So I've built my computer... How do I know how it runs?

[strafter]

I want to make sure everything is running as it should be, the worst feeling is building this sweet rig and than not knowing if there are any kinks in the system.

Here are the specs:

Intel i7 930
XFX HD-587X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
2x RAID0 - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache
CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8D
EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX X58 SLI LE Intel Motherboard

What benches do I run, what results should I be expecting to see, etc.

I've been playing BFBC 2 on all settings all out and I notice little to no slow down except in some really intense cases of a lot of explosion and physics on screen. The one thing I do notice is even with the 2 caviar blacks and 6 gigs of ram I load into games slower than like 30-50% of people which surprises me....

Thanks for your help TPD gurus

 

[TIGR]

I'd run Furmark, Linx/Prime95, Memtest, and HDTune (thorough hard drive scan). Also recommend Everest for checking that all voltages are acceptable. These are all for stability testing and to detect problems, not really for benchmarking. Monitor temps throughout the entire process. I'll let others chime in on the synthetic benchmarks.

 

[Fourstaff]

Run all the benchmarks what TIGR says, add small ones like Heaven and if you want, try crunching if you are overclocking, it is apparently very good when it comes to detecting unstable overclocks.

 

[roast]

I'd run Furmark, Linx/Prime95, Memtest, and HDTune (thorough hard drive scan). Also recommend Everest for checking that all voltages are acceptable. These are all for stability testing and to detect problems, not really for benchmarking. Monitor temps throughout the entire process. I'll let others chime in on the synthetic benchmarks.

This.
And just for benchmarking, run a test using 3DMark Vantage. Always good to use to compare against similar setups.

 

[Lionheart]

Run all the benchmarks what TIGR says, add small ones like Heaven and if you want, try crunching if you are overclocking, it is apparently very good when it comes to detecting unstable overclocks.

do you have 1 HD5870 or 2, I couldn't tell in your description

 

[Easy Rhino]

next off topic post gets an infraction.

 

[strafter]

next off topic post gets an infraction.

Where does this belong technically then?

@ Chaos, I just have 1 5870.

And thanks everyone for the test recommendations, I'll DL them and get them when I get home. Really want to make sure everything is running in tip top condition and I don't have to return anything before i lose the receipts. =D

One of my big worries is that the machine has now bluescreened a couple times and shut down on me once or twice due to what looked to be graphical errors, once when playing Just Cause 2 demo and once when watching some preview on adobe flash on steam. These have been rather infrequent as I have had the machine for over a week and only have had 3 or 4 problems, is this normal for a new built machine to have little glitches?

Any more recommendations on performance benchmarks and just as importantly how to decipher what score it spits out at me and what I should be expecting to see?

 

[Black Haru]

new drivers. if your loading slow in BC2 you prolly have an older driver. this could also cause your crashes.

 

[TIGR]

Those "graphical errors" may be artifacts caused by your video card, which could also cause BSODs. I would consider your system memory a key suspect in the BSODs. Make sure you have all the latest drivers, particularly video drivers.

Are you overclocking at all?

 

[Sasqui]

Where does this belong technically then?

@ Chaos, I just have 1 5870.

And thanks everyone for the test recommendations, I'll DL them and get them when I get home. Really want to make sure everything is running in tip top condition and I don't have to return anything before i lose the receipts. =D

One of my big worries is that the machine has now bluescreened a couple times and shut down on me once or twice due to what looked to be graphical errors, once when playing Just Cause 2 demo and once when watching some preview on adobe flash on steam. These have been rather infrequent as I have had the machine for over a week and only have had 3 or 4 problems, is this normal for a new built machine to have little glitches?

Any more recommendations on performance benchmarks and just as importantly how to decipher what score it spits out at me and what I should be expecting to see?

I think an off-topic post from someone else was removed.

Little "glitches" are fairly normal. If crashes become consistent or frequent, it's usually a cooling problem (or overclocking or both). You might want to experiment with fan speeds on the 5850. My 5870 would crash fairly often until I bumped the fan to 40% manual.

There's also known bugs with many games, you might wan't to look up if it's pestering you.

 

[strafter]

@ Black: Specifically the HDD Black Caviar drivers I assume right? I don't think I downloaded any drivers for them actually... woops? I didn't think HDD needed specific drivers past what Win 7 defaults them to. I don't know how good of a bench the windows system performance tests are, but my entire system is registering around 7.3-7.5 on mem, cpu, and whatever there is, but my HDD score is like at 5.3, which I found kind of odd, because the Black Caviars are supposed to be a pretty sophisticated HDD second only to like super high RPM drives and of course SSD

@ TIGR: my video drivers are completely up to date, it is however a fairly new card and could simply just need ATI to release some updated drivers.... I hope...

 

[Mussels]

Where does this belong technically then?

IMO, System Builder's Advice. which is where i've moved it to.