^^

subtract $40 in rebates
subtract $30 for combo deal with P5Q & 4850

that system is only about $873 + S&H

6/27/2008 2:32:00 PM

I hope you get luckier than I did if you order that WD 640GB OEM drive. I just received two yesterday and one was DOA due to shitty packing :/, it's a really great drive though.

6/27/2008 2:38:31 PM

^^So I assume that's built for overclocking, right? I'm wondering why you splurged in some areas.



Has anyone been disappointed by a Zalman cooler recently?

I chose this VGA card specifically because it had one, and the thing is loud as crap.




All the non-OEM Zalman coolers I've bought were incredible.

6/27/2008 2:47:41 PM

I'd be interested in hearing other's thoughts on Prospero's gig he made for me:

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=9977848&WishListTitle=tww-b1

I like the looks of it... here is my concern(s):

- The power supply (is 550w enough?)
- If I was gaming and had ventrilo and WoW open, would quad core make a noticeable difference over dual core?
- I know nothing of this video card, but I'll take your word for it over an nVidia
- Is one fan (in the rear) enough?

I really like it and almost hit the "purchase" button....

6/27/2008 2:59:00 PM

If you're using XP, he added too much memory. I'm also wondering why he went with DDR2 1066. That's what my overclocking question was concerning.

The other question I had was whether a 550W psu was overkill. Are the 4850's super power hungry or something? I mean, he'll be running one video card, one hard drive, one optical drive... what's the 550w for?

I can vouch for that case. My older PC is using the last generation of it, and I love it. I really wish I'd bought the Antec instead of the Lian-Li I just got.

6/27/2008 3:06:09 PM

Yes, I forgot to mention, I'd want XP, so 4gigs would be too much.

6/27/2008 3:08:19 PM

you really don't need that ram or mobo if you're not gonna be overclocking at all. I'd say a P35 motherboard with a 2 gig kit of DDR2 800 would save you some $

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128337

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

edit: what resolution would you be playing WoW at, because if it's not that high with AA and AF jacked up, the 4850 could possibly be overkill.

edit2: if you want >2 gigs of RAM, why not just install 64-bit XP, unless that's not an option. And that PSU will be fine.

[Edited on June 27, 2008 at 3:20 PM. Reason : .]

6/27/2008 3:14:06 PM

^both excellent replacements if you want to save some more money... the motherboard/memory i added was to better future proof the PC, and the computer would respond better with 3.25GB than only 2GB, but i have that same motherboard with 2gb g.skill 1066mhz memory in my rig at home.

all - i've done this a long time... here's my responses:

-for dual channel, show me 2x1gb & 2x512mb for less than a 2x2gb kit
if you tried to install 3gb you'd be mix & matching memory, with 2 dimms instead of 4 dimms needed to run 3gb, you're running less power (roughly ~20W less), verdict = 4gb (2x2gb matched pair)

-higher speed memory runs faster, whether you OC or not and is nearly the same price as ddr2-800, this is unless you pay for the extra expensive low-latency ddr2-800, in which the price for the 1066 would win.

-ASUS is brand #1 in terms of compatibility with AMD cards, the board i picked is a newer chipset with a lot of good features (only $120 after combo deal)

-550W @ 85% efficiency is more than enough even if you went with 8800GT SLI...
in terms of overkill, no it's not, when it comes to PSU's, you want to load them at 80% or less of their max power, also it gives him/her the flexibility of adding hard drives or graphics cards in the future.

-in regards to the video card, i've never recommended an AMD card before, i run 100% nvidia, but i've seen the reviews and the 4850 is the best price/performance right now. i'm sure an 8800GT would do you just fine too and save you $40-50 maybe, but again the 4850 will be a bit more future proof.

if you want to blame me for overkill pricing it at $850 when he said his price range was $1000-$1500, then fine... so sue me.

[Edited on June 27, 2008 at 4:12 PM. Reason : .]

6/27/2008 4:07:44 PM

That case is gonna be a furnace with that 4850 and Core 2 running stock fans, maybe AMD/ATI will release a newer driver to allow fan throttling. But yea, I agree that's a really solid futureproof computer you pieced together, just giving him other options considering he only specified that he would be playing WoW, but to each his own.

edit: It'd still really help knowing what resolution you're gonna be gaming at.

[Edited on June 27, 2008 at 4:22 PM. Reason : .]

6/27/2008 4:18:23 PM

Quote :

"- Opt for nvidia (9800 GTX or 8800GT in SLI) "

You should get 2 8800gt's in sli. You can get each one for 130$ off newegg and 2 8800gt's are probably the best deal out there. They even beat the new GTX 260/280 series and cheaper at 260$. Then again if you're only playing WoW you don't really need a powerful video card so it would be a waste of money.

Quote :

"That case is gonna be a furnace with that 4850 and Core 2 running stock fans"

I don't know too much about the AMD GPUS but the core 2 duos run really cool on stock fans. Not to mention the 45nm run even cooler than the 65nm.

Quote :

"edit2: if you want >2 gigs of RAM, why not just install 64-bit XP, unless that's not an option. And that PSU will be fine. "

Yeah 550watts is fine. DON'T INSTALL XP 64 BIT!! The support is pretty bad and you'll run into compatibility problems all the time. I recommend 4 gigs of ram and 64 bit vista. It'll be much faster than XP and you'll actually be able to run native DX10 games instead of being stuck to DX9 in XP.

Quote :

"edit: what resolution would you be playing WoW at, because if it's not that high with AA and AF jacked up, the 4850 could possibly be overkill."

What's all this WoW talk. WoW was released in like 2004-2005 and was made to run on most computers. My 5 year old dell laptop will max out WoW at 1920 by 1200. There's no need to worry about picking hardware to run WoW because its graphics are quite outdated. I mean look at the recommended system requirements:

Intel Pentium® IV 1.5 GHz or AMD XP 1500+ MHz
1024 MB RAM
64 MB 3D graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting, such as NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX 5700 class card or above
Broadband Internet connection
Two-button scroll-wheel mouse

Quote :

"I'm a WoW player, so I'd need a quick processor, "

That's a joke. You need a slow processor.

Quote :

"edit: It'd still really help knowing what resolution you're gonna be gaming at. "

If he's only playing WoW than it doesn't matter. Whatever he picks will max out WoW at 2560 by 1600 if need be. Now if he's playing Crysis, COD4, Assassin's Creed etc etc, THEN you have to worry about resolution.

6/27/2008 4:56:42 PM

btw, my WD 640GB was fine, i ordered it through directron.com though.

the thing is blazing fast (2 platters instead of the standard 3)

if you want nvidia the closest competitor is the 9800 GTX+, but it doesn't come out until mid-July.

i tried to cover all the bases.

6/27/2008 6:25:31 PM

Mabye you guys can help me out. I built a computer about 6 months ago and its been giving me problems over the past 3 months. I am not sure what the issue is, but I have a feeling its a component issue or graphics card issue. (I have all of the recent drivers installed.) XP is installed.

If I am playing a game, it will just crash and freeze or it's real slow loading games.

CPU INTEL|C2Q Q6700 2.66G 65N 8M R
VGA DIAMOND 2900XT1GPE R
MB ASUS P5K DELUXE/WIFI-AP P35 R
HD 400G|ST 7K 16M SATA2 ST3400620AS
DVD-ROM LITE-ON|DH-16D2P-04 BK
DVD BURN PHILIPS|SPD2413BM/17
MEM 1Gx2|GEIL (4 Gigs of Ram total)

I bought the ram that was recommended and a 800W power supply, which is what was called for. Any ideas or suggestions would be great.

Thanks,

6/27/2008 7:33:13 PM

I know WoW is a joke, that's why I was saying a 4850 is pretty much a waste when he can get a really fucking cheap 8800GT.

6/27/2008 10:32:15 PM

^^ possible overheating.

6/27/2008 11:28:29 PM

^^yea, but the goal was not to build the cheapest PC either, the 4850 bang for buck (@$169AR) is just as good as the 8800gt (@$130AR)...

either way, you can't go bad, but if you want to save $30-40, then by all means, i love nvidia, i'm not going to try to talk you out of it, just justifying why i picked the 4850

[Edited on June 28, 2008 at 1:40 AM. Reason : .]

6/28/2008 1:40:10 AM

It's not overheating....i have two huge fans, plus a nice heat sync....temp is uaually under 78 degrees (digital monitor)

6/28/2008 2:04:52 AM

posting here because i'm after a wolfwebber i actually met in real life...so what like 95 percent of you queers could say is meaningless

6/28/2008 2:31:02 AM

I changed out the MOBO, Video Card and RAM...

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/TemporaryWishList.aspx?BundleExist=N&ChangeQty=0

For a WoW player, nothing too stressful on a computer, do you see any problems with this PC build?

6/28/2008 12:43:25 PM

^you linked to a temporary wish list, save it, then share it, or just post what you swapped out

if you went with stepmaniadud's suggestions and an 8800gt, i'd say that'd be perfect

[Edited on June 28, 2008 at 1:47 PM. Reason : .]

6/28/2008 1:46:33 PM

both are extremely great bangs for the buck, I say just go with your personal preference. I just saw this, 4850 for $195 with a $20 off promo code and a potential $20 rebate with free shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?nm_mc=AFC-SlickDeals&cm_mmc=AFC-SlickDeals-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&Item=N82E16814102747

use promotional code "VGA62620" on checkout, it may still be active, good luck.

6/28/2008 2:36:47 PM

^^ and ^


Not working so well for me....

here is the list:

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B - OEM $28.99

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $94.99

XFX PVT88SFDDU GeForce 8800 GS XXX 384MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card $129.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply $89.99

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ $44.99

GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard $89.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 $189.99

Subtotal: $668.93

Dude I work with says he'd give me his old box.

[Edited on June 28, 2008 at 3:04 PM. Reason : .]

6/28/2008 2:59:13 PM

looks good, although i'd still say 8800GT over 8800GS, but should play WoW great either way.... and i'd still vote for a new box but looks like a good bargain for <$700

6/28/2008 3:13:00 PM

Quote :

"XFX PVT88SFDDU GeForce 8800 GS XXX 384MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card $129.99 "

Yeah do not get the 8800gs. You can find the 8800gt for 130$ on newegg and it performs much better.

6/28/2008 3:17:42 PM

should I look into a different processor fan? one comes with the processor, but is that good enough?

6/28/2008 6:25:46 PM

it's fine for what you're doing with it

6/28/2008 7:39:13 PM

slightly off-topic, but I've had my RMA 8800gts 320 back from EVGA for about a week and just realized they actually sent me the 640 meg version

6/29/2008 1:15:13 AM

Make sure you check the core revison on the card they sent. You might think you got a better card but between my 640 and my friends 320 his gets better fps at stock settings for every benchmark and game unless the resolution was over 1600x1200. Plus he can overclock his card to 735core vs my 675core to make up any difference at the higher res.

6/30/2008 1:24:17 PM

^really? That doesn't make sense. I thought it was the same card just different memory.

6/30/2008 1:26:11 PM

It really doesn't make sense, this card stock with the settings I play is noticeably better with AA and AF than my old card.

6/30/2008 3:39:39 PM

^^^so you and your friend's computers are identical besides the card? There's a million other things that could give him better fps. Normally the 8800gts 640s will bench higher than the 320's. Or are you saying a newer revision gives the 320 an advantage?

6/30/2008 4:18:56 PM

^especially resolution.

6/30/2008 4:54:21 PM

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=7887211&WishListTitle=CC%27s

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to choose some memory, a power supply, and a case to go with the rest of these components. Try to keep the total between $1000 - $1100. There will be overclocking involved. Any other suggestions are welcomed. I still don't know if I should go with the E8400 or the Q6600. Help me TWW!

6/30/2008 6:45:03 PM

i'm an E8400 fan, faster clock speed, larger overclocking potential, 45nm, less power, just as fast as the Q6600 for $10 less

you may also look at E8500 for overclocking since it's multiplier is 9.5x333, versus the 9x333 of the E8400

then again if you do anything related to audio/video/graphics/3d/gaming that utilizes more than 2 cores, than by all means the Q6600 is for you. (most people & most apps don't use more than two cores)

best memory for overclocking:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145043 2gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145197 4gb w/ fan

power supply recommendations:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=50001459%2040000058&bop=And&SpeTabStoreType=0&Order=RATING

v enter obligatory neodata quad-core rant.

[Edited on June 30, 2008 at 7:12 PM. Reason : .]

6/30/2008 7:06:59 PM

comments on http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=6453694&WishListTitle=Tastykakes

friend is building a new computer

6/30/2008 7:27:25 PM

^looks good, although that LG drive is on sale for $125
http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/13020

also that OCZ memory isn't all that great, horrible overclockers which means poor QC, the corsair dominators are much much better

6/30/2008 7:39:27 PM

I've got a 19" square HannsG monitor and I don't think I'll be getting anything bigger than that for a long time. I play mainly play TF2 and C&C3, and I'll be starting Hellgate: London in about a week; not a heavy gaming load. Am I really better off getting a 8800GT rather than a GS? I'm not really concerned with maxing all my settings out, just getting a respectable FPS in-game.

6/30/2008 10:12:45 PM

the GS will be fine, it's just a debate over best bang for buck argument.

6/30/2008 10:50:59 PM

i'm not much of a hardware guy, so i don't come in this thread often but i figure some of y'all would have some good advice for me. i'm trying to build a htpc/media server, what do y'all think of this?

message_topic.aspx?topic=524493&page=2#11754633

Quote :

"http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128090 GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard $89 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103256 AMD Athlon X2 4450e 2.3GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W 65nm Dual-Core Processor $65 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1800610 Ultra Black MicroFly Aluminum Micro ATX Tower Case with Front USB, FireWire and Audio Ports and Ultra V-Series 400-Watt Power Supply $69 i'm open to suggestions on this one. it's gonna be hidden, so cheap is better any suggestions for a HDD? prolly just gonna get a 500GB for now. are seagate barracudas ok? they seem to be a little cheaper, but i thought at some point i heard unfavorable comments about them. not gonna bother with DVD drive (use xbox360 for that) and i've got a gig of RAM from my old desktop i'll throw in there plus a hauppauge 150 i've got."

6/30/2008 10:56:58 PM

Quote :

"^looks good, although that LG drive is on sale for $125 http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/13020 also that OCZ memory isn't all that great, horrible overclockers which means poor QC, the corsair dominators are much much better"

I think that drive is not worth the money and probably won't see that much use but he really wants it.

I use corsair dominator in my computer but he sent me that and wanted to use it but I didn't really do any research about it so I'll change that.

Thanks for the input.

6/30/2008 11:46:00 PM

so i finally got a replacement power supply and the machine starts up fine

however, i ran memtest overnight with 4 sticks of 1gb RAM in there (all crucial ballistix tracers) and i had errors this morning. i took out 2 sticks, but the 2 left in gave memtest errors pretty soon as well. i've now put the last 2 'possibly good' sticks in there to see if they come back with no errors.

my question is: do i need to change anything in the bios specifically for the RAM? The voltage or some latency settings, maybe? my board is a gigabyte ep35-ds3l.

i'm not overclocking, everything is as is.

[Edited on July 1, 2008 at 7:34 AM. Reason : ]

7/1/2008 7:32:07 AM

Quote :

" Make sure you check the core revison on the card they sent. You might think you got a better card but between my 640 and my friends 320 his gets better fps at stock settings for every benchmark and game unless the resolution was over 1600x1200. Plus he can overclock his card to 735core vs my 675core to make up any difference at the higher res. ^really? That doesn't make sense. I thought it was the same card just different memory. It really doesn't make sense, this card stock with the settings I play is noticeably better with AA and AF than my old card. ^^^so you and your friend's computers are identical besides the card? There's a million other things that could give him better fps. Normally the 8800gts 640s will bench higher than the 320's. Or are you saying a newer revision gives the 320 an advantage? "

Sorry for the late reply but I ment to say that the core revision between the two cards were different and his was the newer/faster one (thats all I wanted him to check). As for the computers they were the same. We swapped parts to test to see if that was why his was faster. Both used e6600, ddr2-800 4.4.4.12, evga 680i mobo, evga 640 vs bfg 320.

7/1/2008 8:23:26 AM

follow-up to ^^

in the BIOS, i can see this...

DRAM Timing Selectable_______ SPD __ [Manual]

CAS Latency Time________________ 5 Auto
Dram RAS# to CAS# Delay_________ 5 Auto
Dram RAS# Precharge Delay_______5 Auto
Precharge Delay (tRAS)__________18 Auto

Should I set these manually to 4-4-4-12 which is what my RAM sticks are? Don't know why it isn't picking it up automatically.

Also, should I set the DDR2 overvoltage manually to ~0.3V because the RAM is supposed to run at 2.2V while the current supply to it looks to be 1.9V?

7/1/2008 7:12:54 PM

yes, set it to 4-4-4-12 2.2v then.

7/1/2008 7:18:48 PM

that didn't work either. guess i'm going to have to RMA one pair of RAM sticks. the other pair had no errors after running memtest for about 12 hours.

7/2/2008 9:08:06 AM

competition is awesome, sucks for any early adopters.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008782&showP=1

7/3/2008 10:47:37 PM

I'm looking to build a pretty nice PC.

Something that can be upgraded over the years and is pretty good by today standards.

What does TWW recommend?

7/4/2008 3:00:21 PM

i managed to get wireless working on ubuntu on an ancient pci wireless adapter. what an effort.

7/4/2008 9:39:35 PM

I ordered 8 gigs of ram from newegg on monday...shipped on tuesday...supposed to get here on thursday...and it's still not here.



My raid had to rebuild...so maybe it will be done by the time the ram gets here on monday.

7/4/2008 10:35:23 PM

This may be the dumbest question ever.

but I've heard that it can be faster for a computer to have a hard drive just for the OS alone and nothing else. Is this true?

7/5/2008 12:01:01 PM

really depends on the harddrive, I doubt you'll notice the difference if it's just a 5400RPM IDE drive.

7/5/2008 12:14:12 PM