Quote :

"http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp ^Yeah atleast a 500watt. They're getting so cheap now-a-days. Might as well have the overhead in case you need it later for a Qcore, more HDs, or as ^ said OCing."

yeah I wasn't really planning to overclock, at least not for a good while, but point taken on the quad option. ^That was the power supply calculator I used and I keep getting totals in the 350-375 W range.

If the power supply wasn't enough what's the worst that would happen? Just things wouldn't work and the PSU might burn up or would it actually damage other components?

[Edited on August 1, 2007 at 1:39 PM. Reason : ]

8/1/2007 1:38:36 PM

Quote :

"If the power supply wasn't enough what's the worst that would happen?"

Most likely option is that the computer won't power on. It's possible you could damage the PSU, which in turn "could" but not likely damage other components.

[Edited on August 1, 2007 at 1:45 PM. Reason : .]

8/1/2007 1:44:29 PM

^ Yeah there's never really any harm in getting a bigger watt PSU then you need. It'll draw the power it needs. Whereas getting a smaller PSU might give you issues. I'd be on the safe side.

8/1/2007 1:48:10 PM

k i think my mother board is dying and to avoid having to get all new parts, new processor, new video card, new ram etc. i need a board that's 939 AGP and standard DDR 400..... preferably 4 slots... SATA is needed (2 min)

8/13/2007 6:06:01 PM

i had great luck with MSI's K8N, and there's good reviews on the ASUS A8N series too as well as the DFI Infinity and the ASRock 939Dual-VSTA, depends on whether you need an AGP or PCI-E socket 939 motherboard

$30 AR for a foxconn - http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=249240
although i can't attest for them, they are one of the leading motherboard manufacturers

8/13/2007 6:27:40 PM

need agp....

8/13/2007 8:57:49 PM

how is ECS KV2 K8T800PRO ? it's one of the few i can find...

8/13/2007 9:34:02 PM

probably your best bet for the price unless you go ebay, 939/agp boards are really hard to find

[Edited on August 13, 2007 at 10:02 PM. Reason : r]

8/13/2007 10:02:03 PM

/message_topic.aspx?topic=489939

8/14/2007 11:01:40 AM

What is everyones experience with aftermarket air-coolers for the cpu?

I was thinking about putting an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro on a Q6600 in an Antec P180 case.

Too much? Too little? Other recommended coolers?

8/15/2007 12:27:45 PM

You'll notice a big difference in temps with aftermarket coolers ... and yes, go with an Arctic Cooler or a Zalman product.

8/15/2007 1:07:54 PM

from what ive seen these are the best but of course more expensive.
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme and the Thermaltake V1 (Some tests are showing this to be a little better than the Scythe Infinity and almost on par with the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme)

8/15/2007 2:08:50 PM

^^^ i use the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro w/ an E6600 and a P180B case and it lowered my base temps 10'C or so from the retail, just be sure to use AS5

for OC'able reference, i OC'd my E6600 from 2.4Ghz to 3.8Ghz (BIOS post only) w/ the AC7, so it can handle a good amount of heat.

3.0Ghz - 36-38'C idle / 48'-52'C load
3.6Ghz - 40-42'C idle / 54'-58'C load

the cheapest online is here:
http://www.directron.com/acfz7pro.html

i'd recommend any zalman too

[Edited on August 15, 2007 at 2:49 PM. Reason : /]

8/15/2007 2:23:52 PM

/message_topic.aspx?topic=490542&page=1

8/17/2007 8:23:47 AM

By the way, if anyone wants a BFG 7800GTX 256MB, maybe for an HTPC or a cheap way to get your PC gaming ready, I'd be willing to part with mine for around $100. Yeah, this isn't classifieds, but I figure anyone who'd be interested probably frequents this thread.

8/17/2007 8:46:03 AM

Core2 Duo E6600 - $130
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0253108

8/23/2007 9:02:29 PM

that link doesnt want to work

8/23/2007 11:20:19 PM

well it was posted on slickdeals and apparently everyone jumped on it:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=591327

8/23/2007 11:30:58 PM

Dear Thread,

I'm looking to get the following:

ASUS P5N-E SLI (650i SLI)
EVGA nVidia 8800 GTS
Intel Core Duo

I expect a decent deal of multitasking on this machine, usually running WoW, Vent, Firefox, iTunes, and whatever else I need. Also I'm at 2 monitors, with WoW displaying in 1680x1050.

Given these three things, which would be my bottleneck? Should I make the graphics card a GTX? Quad core rather than Duo? Also, if you can suggest a different motherboard, I'm open to ideas.

Hugs & Kisses,
Philihp

8/27/2007 2:54:12 AM

most likely your hard drive or memory to be honest.

in terms of the core 2 duo, you won't notice that big of a difference from a E6300 to a E6850
in terms of the 8800 series, you won't notice that big of a difference either from a GTS 320 to a 640 GTX other than maybe 5-10 fps.

i'd really suggest looking at faster memory or a faster hard drive as those are the most common bottlenecks.

i own a MSI P6N SLI-FI (650i) Motherboard and i love it, i'd also recommend an evga 650i board too

V good call, make sure it's a Core 2 Duo not a Core Duo, didn't see that, maybe that was a typo.


[Edited on August 27, 2007 at 9:55 AM. Reason : .]

8/27/2007 9:51:56 AM

Get a Core 2 Duo at least.

8/27/2007 9:53:10 AM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136012

Single most noticeable upgrade you can make. Yes, it makes a bigger difference than cpu/ram/gpu combined.

8/27/2007 10:13:24 AM

^ agreed. hard drives are the biggest bottleneck in most any computer. work towards lessening that bottleneck with the fastest drive you can stretch your budget to afford

8/27/2007 10:20:50 AM

^^that's what i was getting at, i have the 76gb raptor and it was def. the biggest most noticeable upgrade i made along with the C2D

8/27/2007 11:14:28 AM

Yep, I was going to get the 75 GB Raptor.

8/29/2007 9:25:29 PM

anyone know a PCIe card that isn't going to break the bank (under 100) and let me play Bioshock with a 300 watt power supply? or should I just suck it up and get the 8800GTS and a new power supply?


[Edited on August 29, 2007 at 11:41 PM. Reason : ]

8/29/2007 11:39:22 PM

bttt

10/17/2007 7:05:55 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144038
$69.99 - $64MIR = $5.99

How is the quality (if no overclocking)?

10/25/2007 9:37:16 PM

^

Quote :

"Attention: FOR AMD ONLY!"

wtf?

[Edited on October 25, 2007 at 10:00 PM. Reason : ,]

10/25/2007 10:00:32 PM

i noticed that too. but the some reviews on the newegg say that it works fine on intel mobo also.

10/25/2007 10:11:14 PM

no i know, that's the point, there's no such thing as an AMD only memory, that's messed up

10/25/2007 11:44:02 PM

looking to replace my motherboard since i'm going to have to RMA it soon (assumed leaking cap)

since i have to do this now, i'm looking at the P35 chipset, so which one would you pick and why?

here are the contenders:
ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
MSI P35 Platinum LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

(I'm selling the RMA board I get in return since it's not solid state caps and not as stable as I like [although did fine OC'd for 6 months], I'm choosing to RMA it and sell it before the warranty's up]

[Edited on October 30, 2007 at 5:02 PM. Reason : .]

10/30/2007 5:01:06 PM

^no opinion on any of these?

10/31/2007 10:33:20 PM

The last MSI board i messed with the voltage regulators sucked so ill never go that way again.

I would go for the GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R because the Gigabyte boards tend to overclock higher and that board supports ddr2 and ddr3. Unlike the other two left. That way you have less things to buy up front.

11/1/2007 6:31:08 AM

What was the reasoning for not looking at the X38 boards? price?

11/1/2007 10:50:41 PM

price and lack of performance for what you pay

i look for best performance for the price with the features i want and not the features i don't need

i refuse to pay $100 more for a motherboard for a measly 1-2% performance gain, i'd rather invest that into a G92 based graphics card that would bring me better performance gains.

[Edited on November 1, 2007 at 11:12 PM. Reason : .]

11/1/2007 11:08:44 PM

^

agreed

11/1/2007 11:23:34 PM

i'm thinking of going with the Gigabyte P35 based boards

I'm having a hard time justifying the $150 price tag of the GA-P35C-DS3R vs. the GA-P35-DS3L

the P35C-DS3R has RAID, 8x sata, and DDR2 & DDR3 but is $150
the P35-DS3L has 4x sata, has better reviews, and only $90

again i'm not sure the $60 is worth it, DDR3 probably won't be mature for another year or so and at the rate I go through motherboards i may switch motherboards by then, and i don't have any plans for 5 hard drives, nor plans for RAID

[Edited on November 1, 2007 at 11:29 PM. Reason : .]

11/1/2007 11:27:05 PM

Im also looking at the P35-DS3L, for $90, it has pretty much the same stuff as other boards for $100 more (minus SLI)

11/2/2007 12:05:40 AM

It's getting to that time for me, my old Dell 2400 is slowly but surely dying. Unlike most everybody else in the thread, I'm going for a good economy model, something that will be relatively cheap now but easier to upgrade in the long run, when I do happen to be making a decent amount of $$. So:

Old Antec case of unknown model, courtesy of neodata

Old Sony CD-R/RW, courtesy of jakirby

New Sony DVD drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827131047

Ultra XFinity 600 W power supply, from jakirby

Western Digital 250 gig 7200 RPM SATA drive, from par0d0x

Random 80 gig ATA drive, unless I get a Raptor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136067

ATI Radeon x1300 Pro (yes, I know it's very old)

Kingston 1GB (2 x 512mb) DDR2-800 and maybe
Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800, from NC86

Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 Allendale 2.0GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115014

ASUS P5B LGA 775 Intel P965 mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131030

If I get all this, I'll have spent roughly $500, which makes my bank account quite happy. I've bought most of the pieces already, what's left are the CPU and motherboard, unless the TWW community insists that I buy other more better things. Seeing that I'm going for cheap and good, is what I've got here decent?

11/7/2007 11:37:34 AM

Here are two crazy deals on VERY VERY nice case/PSU

Antec Solo Black Mid Tower Case ($80, shipped free) - $30 AR
http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4895610

Antec EarthWatts 500W Power Supply ($60, shipped free) - $30 AR
http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5086635

11/7/2007 11:44:16 AM

....bttt, just wanted to see if I could get any input on my desired build ^^....

11/12/2007 8:07:30 PM

looks solid, though i don't know how long that Ultra PSU will last

11/12/2007 9:18:29 PM

^^^ my 30 dollar case arrived and is nice

here's to hope there are a bunch of SDs to build a nice q6600 system in the next few weeks.

11/12/2007 10:59:08 PM

I got my case and psu today too

11/12/2007 11:03:59 PM

Does any one know if i can get a deal on vista or xp as a academic license or at the bookstore? (Oem or retail would work)

11/12/2007 11:07:47 PM

^ upgrade only

11/12/2007 11:25:22 PM

So is Ultra generally a bad idea for power supplies?

11/13/2007 2:24:53 AM

Personally I've never had a problem with them, and they do have a limited lifetime warranty.

But, they used to sell a lot of their PSU's for ~$5-15 after rebate from RadioShack... I'm not sure I'd use those.

Read some reviews on your particular model, depends, but chances are some of the Ultra model's have been far from ideal. While their voltage seems rock solid, they are not very efficient, costing you more on your electric bill, and since the circuitry isn't that good, it probably won't last as long as another name-brand.

Example:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1719&page=4

[Edited on November 13, 2007 at 2:40 AM. Reason : .]

11/13/2007 2:36:10 AM

k need a LGA 775 motherboard for a friend any suggestions?

most likely going with a Core 2 Duo E6420 Conroe and a 8800GT and 2 gigs of ddr2...

11/18/2007 10:19:24 PM