amd procs are real cheap but then you end up with a non-intel chipset in your motherboard and you want to fucking kill youself.

[Edited on April 21, 2009 at 5:35 PM. Reason : a]

4/21/2009 5:35:25 PM

Quote :

"but then you end up with a non-intel chipset in your motherboard and you want to fucking kill youself."

4/21/2009 6:00:54 PM

ewwwwwww, non intel chipset. spend the extra $100 and get an i7. 4 cores with hyper threading. my neighbor has a nice i7 set up and loves it.

4/21/2009 6:41:31 PM

So I've read that I'm supposed to wait until the 24th to buy a SSD (pricedrop), but I was wondering how I should approach this.
I'm thinking that I'll wait until I find a RC build of w7, install in it as my primary and use my 1.5 TB hdd as storage. What problems will I run into?

4/21/2009 6:52:28 PM

Built and have been using the configuration I listed on the last page for almost a month now and am very much enjoying it. I am very happy with my case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144214, but I do have a small problem with its left-side hinge on its door. I keep it in an open-air cabinet/slot in my desk which opens to the right and also has a tray above it. It's kind of a hassle to open the cabinet to the right and then the case door to the left whenever I turn it on. As a result, I had thought I might try to set up power-on via PS/2 keyboard in the BIOS. Well, my stupid Zboard Merc is USB only and will not work with a USB>PS/2 adapter. I'm trying to think of another fairly simple solution to have a remote power switch maybe on my keyboard tray. If I could get a REALLY small PS/2 mouse, then I'd just run that and leave it on the front of the tray. Finding a teeny-tiny PS/2 mouse is proving to be quite a bit harder than I'd have thought, even on eBay. Any (other) suggestions?

4/23/2009 3:16:37 PM

I've only read about a supposed price drop on the Intel X25-M SSDs, which are still relatively expensive. I would probably just go ahead and grab a OCZ Vertex, but that's just personal preference.

[Edited on April 23, 2009 at 3:33 PM. Reason : .]

4/23/2009 3:33:27 PM

I just bought a Geforce GTX 260 216, and I would appreciate someone recommending a good fan to put besides it.

4/26/2009 5:04:57 PM

^why? is it overheating?

4/26/2009 5:19:10 PM

New gaming rig to replace p4 3.4, ATI 1800XT

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail - 60

ECS A780GM-A AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail - 70

SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail - 190

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail - 110


AMD Phenom 9950 Agena 2.6GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HD995ZXAGHBOX - Retail - 120


G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Retail - 60

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - OEM - 65

Total - ~700

Thoughts??

4/28/2009 2:50:25 PM

you might want to consider building an i7 system instead

might

4/28/2009 3:09:44 PM

Then he would have to triple his budget

4/28/2009 3:36:12 PM

not really...add another $100 for the motherboard and $150 for proc...$250 isn't THAT much more to spend

that's not assuming any deals, either...you can get 4-6gb of DDR3 for the same price as the memory he's suggesting (so there's no cost increase there), and i7 mobos go on sale for $150-160 all the time...i7 procs have shown up for less than $250 on several occasions...so you could reasonably go with an i7 system for as little as $220 more, all for just over $900

it was just a suggestion and hardly "triple" his budget

[Edited on April 28, 2009 at 3:50 PM. Reason : .]

4/28/2009 3:49:59 PM

You would actually buy one of those POS $170 Core i7 motherboards? I learned my lesson on buying a $150 MSI board, they don't last more than a year. Cheapest one I would buy is the Asus P6T @$240.

Quote :

"Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - OEM - 65"

Spend the Extra $15 and get the WD6401AALS. It has 320GB platters with better read and write speeds.

Quote :

" ECS A780GM-A AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail - 70"

I don't know many people that actually trust ECS, Jetway, ASRock, or Zotac motherboards.

[Edited on April 28, 2009 at 4:47 PM. Reason : :]

4/28/2009 4:46:49 PM

to be honest for most users quad core is a waste of money thats better saved or spent elsewhere (better gpu/faster cpu clock). Most activities still dont take advantage of the multiple cores.

4/28/2009 5:06:08 PM

So the strategy for installing the OS on a SSD is to either put in enough memory to be able to turn the page file off (best) or to be sure to set the page file to a partition on a hard drive?

4/30/2009 8:14:17 AM

Quote :

"You would actually buy one of those POS $170 Core i7 motherboards?"

yes

Quote :

"I don't know many people that actually trust ECS, Jetway, ASRock, or Zotac motherboards."

i have an ASRock and an ECS in use today...the ASRock is over 3 years old and the ECS is more than 4...what's supposed to happen? are they supposed to catch on fire or something?

granted, the computer i use most is an ASUS mobo, but that's because they had the configuration i wanted (mATX with the PCIe slots situated in a way that would let me use a double-slot video card without losing a PCIe x1)

if you're not overclocking AND your power supply isn't crap, i don't see any reason not to use cheaper boards...they tend to be basic, but i don't think i've heard any horror stories that i haven't heard concerning other brands (usually due to something other than the board itself)

Quote :

"Spend the Extra $15 and get the WD6401AALS. It has 320GB platters with better read and write speeds."

agreed...if you're not going with a green drive (which i wouldn't for an OS drive), might as well go with a black...the blue drives are for people who don't know any better, IMO

Quote :

"So the strategy for installing the OS on a SSD is to either put in enough memory to be able to turn the page file off (best) or to be sure to set the page file to a partition on a hard drive?"

SSD or not, that's the best performance option for any drive...i don't run a page file on my 8gb memory system at all (though i think Noen once lectured us on how turning off the page file altogether was a bad idea...i don't remember when or why, but i've not noticed any disadvantages)...the separate partition reduces fragmentation on the OS partition since the page file is the primary cause

[Edited on April 30, 2009 at 8:33 AM. Reason : .]

4/30/2009 8:33:14 AM

^The point I was trying to get at with my question was that I thought it was a bad idea to have something like a page file on an SSD drive because I was under the impression that those drives have a finite number of times you can write to it. I'd also assume that a page file would burn through that fairly quickly.

So I probably need to rephrase: Under no circumstances would you want to have a page file on a SSD drive, correct? I'm making another assumption here. If you install an OS on a SSD drive the page file will be automatically created on that same drive unless you take the extra precautionary step. I don't remember seeing the option for page file location that one time I installed Vista and I know there isn't an install time option for XP. I don't know how it is with Windows 7.

I hope computer manufacturers aren't just leaving the page file on the SSD for their pre-configured systems. Maybe I'm just making too much of a big deal out of the finite write operations characteristic of solid state drives.

[Edited on April 30, 2009 at 8:44 AM. Reason : -]

4/30/2009 8:40:06 AM

^ well, you're right in that SSDs, by their nature, have a finite life (i guess everything does, but it's more quantifiable with SSDs than with hard drives)...and you're also right that the page file significantly increases the number of writes to the disk, thereby reducing its life much more quickly

someone correct me if i'm wrong, but the problem (as i see it) with any of these assumptions is that different manufacturers use different 1.) types of chips (MLC/SLC), and 2.) software that runs the SSD (address translators)

if i'm not mistaken (and i could be), intel is the only manufacturer using both SLC (faster with longer life, but more expensive to produce) and a tailored address translator that (supposedly) increases the life of the SSD by a significant margin

my point is that the quality between SSDs varies enough that you can't use a blanket statement regarding how long they will last based on average OS/page usage...it's just not that simple

4/30/2009 9:30:47 AM

For future applications you may be right about the i7. I know anything is going to be a huge upgrade from my current p4. I mainly game and know AMD keeps up there still and does rather well in the market they target in all fields. Just basically trying to keep a system under 1,000 and have it last over 4 years like my current one has.

Thanks for pointing out the hard drive. I just grabbed a decent priced WD without looking much at it.

4/30/2009 8:18:13 PM

Current specs:
2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128012

Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115003

EVGA GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB 192-bit DDR3
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AXRBYO

2 HDs (1x80gb, 1x250gb both IDE)
XP Pro

I want to upgrade hard drives (need it obviously...IDE wtf) and add another 2gb RAM. As I understand it Vista will be able to handle the increased RAM so I'm also looking to pick up a copy of that too.

In the cart right now:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337

Vista Ultimate OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116490

2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

Questions:
1 - Can anyone recommend a solid video card upgrade? This one looks nice:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130440
2 - Anyone have issues with this hard drive I have listed?
3 - Is there anything else I should take into consideration?

5/8/2009 2:55:16 PM

1. The one you linked to looks great 9800GT is a solid card, along with EVGA.
2. No issues, should work just great.
3. Don't get Vista Ultimate, use the new Windows 7 RC (free) until Windows 7 goes final, then buy Windows 7. Vista is a waste of money, or you can stay on XP, it will use the same amount of memory as 32-bit vista and same amount as 32-bit windows 7, which is currently capped at 3.25GB (but memory comes in pairs, so stay with 4GB). Then buy Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit to fully utilize all 4GB of memory.

5/8/2009 3:03:39 PM

don't get a 9800...spend the extra $5-10 and get a 250 (smaller, runs cooler, uses less power...performs as well or slightly better than the 9800)

5/8/2009 3:08:15 PM

^ so now you got me looking at this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370

^^ regarding 64-bit OS, I guess I don't understand the requirements for 64-bit vs 32-bit, I thought since I had a 32-bit processor I wouldn't be able to run 64-bit, am I missing something?

[Edited on May 8, 2009 at 3:29 PM. Reason : just saw this in another thread, anyone use it? http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010437]

[Edited on May 8, 2009 at 3:40 PM. Reason : link]

5/8/2009 3:28:11 PM

^last i checked the E6600 was 64-bit enabled, it can be run under 32-bit or 64-bit

^^dang, i had no idea the 260 has come down that much in price... def. best deal

5/8/2009 3:30:52 PM

yeah, $160 $155 for the GTX 260 OC is pretty good excellent...if you can find a 1gb 4870 on sale for $15-20 less, i'd say go for that, but i don't see any at the moment go for it

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127430

although, the 4870 uses GDDR5 (where the GTX uses GDDR3)...that doesn't seem right...

[Edited on May 8, 2009 at 3:37 PM. Reason : from LimpyNuts' post in the other thread]

5/8/2009 3:33:37 PM

Intel chips have had 64 bit support since the later Pentium 4's in 2004. That is a sweet deal for a 260.

5/8/2009 3:40:40 PM

awesome. I am about to pull the trigger:
HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098
Video: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127430

5/8/2009 3:57:59 PM

skip the 1.5tb seagate...their drives have been sketch recently, and while that one might be fine, unless you NEED the space, i'd recommend going with a western digital black drive, instead

also, i'd go with 4gb (2x2gb) of something like the corsair DDR2-800 that keeps going on sale for $15-20...personally, g.skill is overrated

[Edited on May 8, 2009 at 4:06 PM. Reason : .]

5/8/2009 4:03:03 PM

The reviews on the 1.5tb seagate are all over the place, this WD black looks solid and is a little cheaper. I don't NEED that much space at all, although I'm sure I could find a way to fill it up. New consideration - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

As for the ram I was only getting 2 more sticks of what I am already using, thinking that would be the best idea. But now that I look at something like this for only $20 more it might be a good idea - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145241 Would I be able to use my existing 2 sticks and have 6gb or would that just be overkill?

[Edited on May 8, 2009 at 4:16 PM. Reason : links dur]

5/8/2009 4:15:19 PM

i'd just get 2 more sticks of what you already got, besides your current G.Skill has better timings than the XMS and no you wouldn't be able to use all 6 sticks since you only have 4 DIMM slots and mixing/matching timings can cause compatibility issues.

5/8/2009 6:09:56 PM

great, thanks for the advice everyone.

[Edited on May 8, 2009 at 6:18 PM. Reason : sorry I meant all 4 sticks, 2x2gb and 2x1gb, sticking with more of the same anyway]

5/8/2009 6:15:15 PM

i have (3) Seagate 1.5TBs running fine, all new ones are good to go

5/8/2009 7:42:13 PM

After having killed my ASUS M2N-SLI DX mobo by BIOS update SNAFU, I'm looking into something which'll run my old proc but with room to spare... something in the M4A78 seems almost right, except I'll miss having seven internal SATA ports
_{Not looking to spend more than $100 on the board... but then again I experimented with the Bios (0702 to 1701) update to see if I could upgrade the board to a Kuma 7850+ ... a firm F no was the answer I found. For $10 more I may just try a tricore 8650.}

5/11/2009 12:07:04 AM

Quote :

"i have (3) Seagate 1.5TBs running fine, all new ones are good to go"

Same here. I have one in my Popcorn hour, one in an external enclosure, and one as the main HDD in a little storage box I put together, and haven't had a single problem from any of them.

I know they were sketchy when they came out, but as far as my experience goes, they're fine now.

5/11/2009 12:25:49 AM

^yeah one here too. the newer ones are fine. i believe the first releases were buggy.

5/11/2009 2:29:54 AM

Went with the M3N78 Pro & a 7750 since it was the cheapest AM2+ setup I could snag... and adding 2 gigs of RAM to bring me to 8!

5/12/2009 6:15:48 PM

so i got a WD raptor (300GB) with my new build and I'm wanting to put it in one of my 5.25 bays (my case is a media center type I've had for a few years now http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133169, and the new mobo/video card layout won't allow for the HDD to be installed on the overhead rack)

given that the raptors are laptop-sized drives mounted in heatsinks, can I use something like this with it? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994054

I'm worried that the non-standard design of the HDD will make it so that the drive cases won't work and I'm going to just have to use some brackets like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811993004 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816215114

thoughts?

5/18/2009 3:28:39 PM

I got one of those on the build I just did. It basically comes in a 3.5" hard drive cage. In other words, it'll fit it in anything designed for normal desktop hard drives.

5/18/2009 3:40:37 PM

yeah, it's got the normal connectors, but the alignment of the power and sata cables are different

here's a photo I took of the raptor drive connectors (right) versus a standard 3.5" HDD drive from my last computer (left)



as you can see, they aren't the same, and thus I'm thinking it won't work with hot-swap bays like I had and I'd have to use the brackets...was looking to see if anyone could tell me differently as I'd prefer the more robust bays

5/18/2009 5:09:29 PM

you just can't use the 5.25" bay enclosures since the 2.5" hard drive doesn't line up with the 3.5" drive. and NO the brackets will not fix it, as the brackets center the hard drive EXACTLY like the heatsink does.

you need something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994066 for 2.5" drives and take it out of the heatsink.... keep in mind though with this solution you need an empty 3.5" bay or get a black shroud to fit the 5.25" bays.

[Edited on May 18, 2009 at 6:36 PM. Reason : .]

5/18/2009 6:34:40 PM

i meant using the brackets to mount the raptor w/ heatsink in the 5.25 bay...which will work as for mounting purposes the combo is like any other 3.5 HDD. was just hoping to have a "nicer" solution than the brackets

5/18/2009 7:29:11 PM

Quote :

"to be honest for most users quad core is a waste of money thats better saved or spent elsewhere (better gpu/faster cpu clock). Most activities still dont take advantage of the multiple cores."

are you kidding? the graphical load widgets make it worth every penny!

5/19/2009 4:38:59 PM

My computer is 4+ yrs old, trying to build something inexpensive but decent. I wanted to get some opinions on this build.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz = $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103300

ECS BLACK SERIES A780GM-A Motherboard = $69
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135075

LOGISYS Computer Area 51 = $37
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811148030

OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) = $48
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227362

I also need to get a fan that will fit this. I have no idea what a decent one would be, so I am wide open here.

Anything you would change/swap out. Please keep it close to the same pricepoint or tell me why the cost difference is worth it if it is significant.

Edit: I know I need a HD, video card and dvd burner. I have an old PC I am considering pulling from. Just trying to get the guts in first and I can figure when I need to.

[Edited on May 20, 2009 at 4:07 PM. Reason : i know I need...]

5/20/2009 4:05:16 PM

Intel Pentium e5200 - $70
Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU 500W - $40 AR (best bang/buck great quality PSU)
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $55 (best build quality)
Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 7100 - $69 (more reliable, stable)
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 - $48 (best compatibility)

drop in your existing hard drive & dvd rom. the motherboard has integrated video, fine for video, you may need a dedicated video card if you have a high resolution or do gaming.

just don't buy AMD, and just don't buy a cheap case that comes with a cheap PSU, you'll regret it when the PSU fails and damages the rest of your components

[Edited on May 20, 2009 at 4:16 PM. Reason : ,]

5/20/2009 4:14:12 PM

^Looks like a solid build.

1) Why the no go with AMD?
2) Is it worth spending $95 on a case when there are other less expensive options? I did pick a "cheap" case but it had good reviews on newegg. I am wondering if I would ever see the difference in my day to day.

5/20/2009 4:29:51 PM

AMD is behind right now.. Intel offers more for less at the moment.

and the case isn't what you need to be worried about.. the power supply is.

5/20/2009 4:32:15 PM

^what he said.

AMD just can't compare to an Intel at the same price, I mean not even close.

And the power supply is what you need to be concerned with. You can still buy that case/PSU combo, but you'll still need to buy a good PSU like the one I recommended. But you can't get better than Antec cases (best airflow and build quality) and it's only $18 more than that Logisys... I really think that case looks dumb, but to each their own, the case is somewhat subjective if you don't have high heat / air flow needs.

[Edited on May 20, 2009 at 4:46 PM. Reason : ,]

5/20/2009 4:43:50 PM

I don't have high airflow needs(that I know of, lol). I am a normal user and just wanted an updated computer.

Is there a case/psu combo you could recommend that was not $95. Spending 33% of a build on the case/psu seems like a bit much. I understand i would probably get the same one if I was putting the latest and greatest i7 in it, but is there a step or two down that will work for me?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147001

Would save me $30 and is rated best entry level case by Anandtech.

???

5/20/2009 4:48:07 PM

buy the cheapest case you can find or use one you already have..then spend the $65 on a power supply

5/20/2009 4:50:50 PM

Do not buy a case/psu combo, unless it's Antec, or a similar manufacturer who builds QUALITY power supplies.

Buy whatever cheap case you want, buy a quality PSU, it's that easy.

I've owned Rosewill PSU's before, I thought they were great until 3 months after I bought them. Both crapped out.

[Edited on May 20, 2009 at 5:04 PM. Reason : .]

5/20/2009 5:01:59 PM