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Official 2008 "I Need A New PC" Thread
- Thread starter Kosma
- Start date
That's the only glitches I noticed. I really hope my videocard isn't dying, considering it's only a month old. It'll try turning the clocks down a little.
Edit: Reverting to defaults in CCC/Riva seemed to have done the trick, although I lost around 5 FPS, I can still play High at 35-40 and Very High at 25-30.
Edit: Reverting to defaults in CCC/Riva seemed to have done the trick, although I lost around 5 FPS, I can still play High at 35-40 and Very High at 25-30.
I'm pleased to report that at least hardware-wise, my PC is working now. I guess you do need to plug the case fan into a molex 4-pin even if you plug it into the motherboard.
I'm encountering a new problem though. I'm trying to install Windows XP, but it appears that it may not recognize my SATA hard drive, possibly because SATA didn't exist at the time. I get to the point where it asks me which drive I want to install to, or if I want to create partitions. It lists my old hard drive, as well as the existing partitions on it. There are two other drives listed, but both are listed as only about 131GB, so even if it is recognizing my SATA drive, I have no way to tell which one it is so I install to the correct drive.
Is the only way to solve this to disconnect both PATA drives for now and see if it still recognizes one? How about the diminished space issue? (The newer PATA drive is 160GB, and the SATA is 640GB.)
Edit: Well, I did just that, but as a result I could only make a small partition for the OS. I had been hoping to make a 300GB partition to put the OS and all apps in so I could easily format everything but my media if I needed to.
Also, this thing is god-awful loud. It's almost as bad as having a vacuum cleaner in my room. Probably about half as loud as one.
I'm encountering a new problem though. I'm trying to install Windows XP, but it appears that it may not recognize my SATA hard drive, possibly because SATA didn't exist at the time. I get to the point where it asks me which drive I want to install to, or if I want to create partitions. It lists my old hard drive, as well as the existing partitions on it. There are two other drives listed, but both are listed as only about 131GB, so even if it is recognizing my SATA drive, I have no way to tell which one it is so I install to the correct drive.
Is the only way to solve this to disconnect both PATA drives for now and see if it still recognizes one? How about the diminished space issue? (The newer PATA drive is 160GB, and the SATA is 640GB.)
Edit: Well, I did just that, but as a result I could only make a small partition for the OS. I had been hoping to make a 300GB partition to put the OS and all apps in so I could easily format everything but my media if I needed to.
Also, this thing is god-awful loud. It's almost as bad as having a vacuum cleaner in my room. Probably about half as loud as one.
Jamesfrom818
Banned
Someone please stop me from getting a Eee PC 1000H. I already have a full sized laptop. I'm one click away from buying.
Hazaro said:
Well, hopefully it's not doing anything really bad to the system right now, as I'm in the process of installing Windows.
As for what I put in there that wasn't already in my old system:
Rosewill CPU Cooler (one of those fancy rear-facing ones with a fan the same size as a case fan) replacing a Thermaltake Volcano 6Cu
EVGA Geforce 9600GT SSC Edition (with a huge cooling structure, not two bracket, but still large) replacing Radeon 9800.
PC Power & Cooling 610W PSU replacing Antec 430W (which apparently is what killed my old system, judging from the three charred pins on its 20-pin connector)
I don't think the power supply is making that much noise, especially since the older one had a fan on the bottom and on the back, while this one only has the rear fan. The video card, though large, doesn't look like it could make that much noise. It is probably the CPU fan, although that's strange given how it's basically just another case fan attached to the enormous heat sink.
Jamesfrom818
Banned
Ok. So I'm going to postpone my purchase. If I get the promotion that I'm fairly certain that I will get, I'm treating myself to some netbook goodness.
BoboBrazil
Member
I'm waiting for Nehalem. That way I can use the same motherboard for a few years atleast, even if I update the processor since this platform should be around 2-3 years
BoboBrazil said:I'm waiting for Nehalem. That way I can use the same motherboard for a few years atleast, even if I update the processor since this platform should be around 2-3 years
Everyone always thinks that, but then new chipsets come out that are much better, or that you need for the newer CPUs of the same socket, and then you end up buying a new mobo anyways.
Everything seems to be going ok for now, and installed SP2, so now I can see my other drives in the disk management option under computer management, but I can't see them in My Computer. If I remember correctly, I have to create a partition for the total amount of space on the drive for it to show up right?
I love my 1000H, it serves as a perfect companion to my desktop and 17" laptop. Awesome when I just wanna download something or casually browse the web. I like the matte screen with many levels of brightness and the keyboard is just big enough to not be a hindrance when typing, unlike the smaller 8.9" netbooks.Jamesfrom818 said:
Am I doing it right?
Jamesfrom818
Banned
madmook said:
Yes
NOOOOOOO
MOTHERFUCKER
so my newegg order arrives today, well the case did. all the other parts which were ordered at the same time had this little message under the tracking:
uh, wtf IT WAS THE SAME FUCKING ADDRESS. i called UPS Customer Service and the lady read it back to me correctly and said everything was correct and that she had no idea why it was sent back. FUCKING GREAT.
so i guess i have to call newegg tomorrow and wait even longer. my quest for a new PC has been a complete and utter clusterfuck.
so my newegg order arrives today, well the case did. all the other parts which were ordered at the same time had this little message under the tracking:
uh, wtf IT WAS THE SAME FUCKING ADDRESS. i called UPS Customer Service and the lady read it back to me correctly and said everything was correct and that she had no idea why it was sent back. FUCKING GREAT.
so i guess i have to call newegg tomorrow and wait even longer. my quest for a new PC has been a complete and utter clusterfuck.
Sorry to hear that. If that happens to me this week, I'm going to lose it something fierce. Knowing my luck with these things, it probably will. :lol
So I might as well ask this now. What's the deal with HDD configurations? I haven't been up to speed on HDD installs since like, IDE and SCSI.
I ordered two 320GB SATA seagate drives. How should I set it up? I keep hearing stuff about RAID arrays and blah blah.
What's the best thing to do?
So I might as well ask this now. What's the deal with HDD configurations? I haven't been up to speed on HDD installs since like, IDE and SCSI.
I ordered two 320GB SATA seagate drives. How should I set it up? I keep hearing stuff about RAID arrays and blah blah.
What's the best thing to do?
chespace said:
I forget if SATA still has master and slave (probably not) but if it does, set one to master and one to slave (it's a physical pin thing).
Um, I'd probably not RAID it, but whatever you want to do is cool. Try to just install Windows and all your software/games on one harddrive, and just use the other to store data. That way when you reformat Windows to clean out gunk a year or two down the line, you don't have to worry about saving your data, since it's on a separate harddrive you do not have to reformat.
VictimOfGrief
Banned
I'm getting an Intel 64GB SSD here this weekend. Gotta love living so close to Ronler Acres.
Nardonicus
Member
Thoughts on this? (configured it on CyberpowerPC.com) :
$1198.00
(before all applicable rebates)
CASE: ($10 off Mail-in Rebate) Sigma Gaming Orca Mid-Tower 400W Case
PSU: CaseGear Hush 680 Watts Power Supply - SLI / CrossFire Ready
CPU: (Quad-Core)Intel® Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz 1066FSB 8MB L2 Cache 64-bit
CPU Cooling:Raidmax Maxcool Intel CPU Cooling Fan
MOTHERBOARD: ($20 off Mail-in Rebate) MSI P7N SLI-FI 750i SLI Chipset LGA775 Supports LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2/800 Mainboard w/GbLAN, USB2.0, & 7.1Audio
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)4GB (4x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA)
HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
Optical Drive: (Special Price) LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
Is that PSU ok for the 9800gx2? Case big enough?
$1198.00
(before all applicable rebates)
CASE: ($10 off Mail-in Rebate) Sigma Gaming Orca Mid-Tower 400W Case
PSU: CaseGear Hush 680 Watts Power Supply - SLI / CrossFire Ready
CPU: (Quad-Core)Intel® Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz 1066FSB 8MB L2 Cache 64-bit
CPU Cooling:Raidmax Maxcool Intel CPU Cooling Fan
MOTHERBOARD: ($20 off Mail-in Rebate) MSI P7N SLI-FI 750i SLI Chipset LGA775 Supports LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2/800 Mainboard w/GbLAN, USB2.0, & 7.1Audio
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)4GB (4x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA)
HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
Optical Drive: (Special Price) LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
Is that PSU ok for the 9800gx2? Case big enough?
Hopefully, you don't use it as an OS drive. It didn't do so hot in the bootup tests, IIRC. Did worse than some conventional HDDs (and most of the competing slower SSDs.)VictimOfGrief said:I'm getting an Intel 64GB SSD here this weekend. Gotta love living so close to Ronler Acres.
Are there any known issues or problems or other reasons I shouldn't buy the PNY 8800 GT 512MB card that is on sale pretty much everywhere?
I saw one on clearance today at Best Buy for around $104, and will probably pick it up tomorrow provided it isn't known to have any major common defects.
I saw one on clearance today at Best Buy for around $104, and will probably pick it up tomorrow provided it isn't known to have any major common defects.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/15433/5Hazaro said:
I don't really know Intel's SSD line's name (they have two, right?) so I'm not sure if the one the poster got was the same as this one. This is the X-25. I forget the reason it had a slow boot time. Something to do with IO...
It has faster level loading time for games though.
EDIT:　Btw, AMD is saying that Shanghai is supposed to be 20% faster than Barcelona.
This is pretty nice so far. Running PC Probe II shows me that my CPU is idling at around in the low 20s, with the motherboard at 29C. The Asus utilities did have a nice fan adjustment tool which allows the fan speed to scale with the CPU temp. Once I finish formatting the other 500GB of my SATA drive, then I can start installing stuff again. Only really graphically intensive games I have are Battlefield 2 and Vietnam, maybe UT2004, so I guess I'll try those out first.
The only major hiccup left is transferring all the files from each of two hard drives to my new ones, since I can only have one of the old ones installed at a time. I have to take out my video card to swap them.
The only major hiccup left is transferring all the files from each of two hard drives to my new ones, since I can only have one of the old ones installed at a time. I have to take out my video card to swap them.
bee
Member
chespace said:
separates the data and writes half to each disk. take a 10mb file it will put 5mb on one disk 5mb on the other and the speed gain comes from simply reading/writing simultaneously to two disks is faster than one disk or that's the theory anyway
it can be a total pain and has no redundancy, one disk fails you lose the data on the whole array. some people swear by it and claim it makes windows and game loading much faster others say the performance gain using onboard mobo raid controller is minimal and you need a proper pci raid controller to get the benefit
modern disks are fast enough for me, especially the new 320gb per platter ones
OK, I think I'm close to pulling the trigger on this build. I'd like to get some opinions on the mobo and ram though.. If you disagree with any other component please do share also.
Case: Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower Gaming Case 300
PSU: Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB
Video: Evga E-GEFORCE Gtx 260 Superclocked 602MHZ 896MB 2.052GHZ GDDR3
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 640GB 3.5IN SATA2 7200RPM 32MB Cache Ncq
DVD: SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223F
Mobo: ASUS P5Q ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN 1394
OR
Asus P5Q Pro Atx LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 Crossfire 3PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 Sound Gblan Esata
OR
Gigabyte EP45-DS3R ATX LGA775 P45 2PCI-E16 2PCI CrossFireX SATA2 RAID Sound 2XGLAN 1394A
OR
Gigabyte EP45-DS3L ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 HD Sound GBLAN
(for my needs, leaning towards the Gigabyte EP45-DS3L..)
RAM: OCZ Reaper OCZ2RPR800C44GK 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-15
OR
Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-18
I don't think I'll be overclocking. Should I still get a cooler for the CPU? And what about the RAM timings?
I plan on gaming at 1920x1080 on an LCD HDTV, but I don't mind dropping down to 1360x768 if I can get improved image quality or better framerate.
--------------------------
Update:
OK, since no one was replying I went ahead and Google'd all that info and finally placed the order.
Here's the final build:
Case: Antec Three Hundred - [$46]
PSU: Corsair TX750W - [$92] (after mail-in rebate)
Mobo: Gigabyte EP45-DS3R - [$119] (after mir)
CPU: E8400 - [$170]
RAM: OCZ Reaper 4GB DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-15 - [$75] (after mir)
Video: Evga Gtx 260 Superclocked 602MHZ 896MB 2.052GHZ - [$240] (after mir)
DVD: Samsung SH-S223F - [$28]
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 640GB - [$76]
Thermal: OCZ Freeze - [$5]
Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - [$20]
Total: $870
From DirectCanada. They have a free shipping promo right now and no PST, only payed 5% GST since I'm outside BC. Pretty sweet deal.
In the end, I decided to do a bit of 'future proofing' with the P45 DS3R, low timing memory, and CPU cooler, in case I might want to OC the E8400 a bit in the future (or upgrade to a monster video card in the case of the 750W PSU).
Case: Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower Gaming Case 300
PSU: Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB
Video: Evga E-GEFORCE Gtx 260 Superclocked 602MHZ 896MB 2.052GHZ GDDR3
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 640GB 3.5IN SATA2 7200RPM 32MB Cache Ncq
DVD: SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223F
Mobo: ASUS P5Q ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN 1394
OR
Asus P5Q Pro Atx LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 Crossfire 3PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 Sound Gblan Esata
OR
Gigabyte EP45-DS3R ATX LGA775 P45 2PCI-E16 2PCI CrossFireX SATA2 RAID Sound 2XGLAN 1394A
OR
Gigabyte EP45-DS3L ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 HD Sound GBLAN
(for my needs, leaning towards the Gigabyte EP45-DS3L..)
RAM: OCZ Reaper OCZ2RPR800C44GK 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-15
OR
Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-18
I don't think I'll be overclocking. Should I still get a cooler for the CPU? And what about the RAM timings?
I plan on gaming at 1920x1080 on an LCD HDTV, but I don't mind dropping down to 1360x768 if I can get improved image quality or better framerate.
--------------------------
Update:
OK, since no one was replying I went ahead and Google'd all that info and finally placed the order.
Here's the final build:
Case: Antec Three Hundred - [$46]
PSU: Corsair TX750W - [$92] (after mail-in rebate)
Mobo: Gigabyte EP45-DS3R - [$119] (after mir)
CPU: E8400 - [$170]
RAM: OCZ Reaper 4GB DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-15 - [$75] (after mir)
Video: Evga Gtx 260 Superclocked 602MHZ 896MB 2.052GHZ - [$240] (after mir)
DVD: Samsung SH-S223F - [$28]
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 640GB - [$76]
Thermal: OCZ Freeze - [$5]
Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - [$20]
Total: $870
From DirectCanada. They have a free shipping promo right now and no PST, only payed 5% GST since I'm outside BC. Pretty sweet deal.
In the end, I decided to do a bit of 'future proofing' with the P45 DS3R, low timing memory, and CPU cooler, in case I might want to OC the E8400 a bit in the future (or upgrade to a monster video card in the case of the 750W PSU).
Everything was going great up until now. I opened everything up to swap out one of my old PATA drives for the other one to finish transferring my old files. Put everything back where it should be, but now Windows XP takes forever to start up. The system also now doesn't recognize either of my PATA drives in My Computer or Disk Management. Apart from that, everything works right.
TheWolf said:
UPDATE: newegg's solution was to have me order everything again and they'll give me free overnight shipping. i'm waiting for them to refund my original order before putting another charge on my credit card though. and i'm pretty sure i'm losing out on the Alone In The Dark and free USB drive deal from when i ordered before...
Big Takeover
Member
chespace said:Wooot!
10/02/2008 18:42:00 ARRIVAL SCAN REDMOND, WA, US
Nice! Are you ready for this? Do you have yourself a plan of attack, or are you just going to figure it all out after you rip everything open?
Big Takeover
Member
Yep, just be sure to read, and re-read any instructions. Absolutely everything has one way, and one way only of fitting together. From the cpu, to the memory, to the all the cables.
The cpu heatsink will give you a bit of grief with it's pushpins, but you'll get it. Other than that, I hoping you'll be pleasantly surprised about how easy it goes together.
We've got your back. Any questions you have, just fire away.
The cpu heatsink will give you a bit of grief with it's pushpins, but you'll get it. Other than that, I hoping you'll be pleasantly surprised about how easy it goes together.
We've got your back. Any questions you have, just fire away.
I assembled my first PC last month in about 3 hours from opening the boxes to installing Vista. The hardest part was actually probably the stupidest mistake I made: forgetting to insert the custom bezel that goes on the back of the case included with my Motherboard. Took about an hour to remove that and whatever components I had inserted and replace. Don't be afraid to use force with everything except for the CPU, which should be treated like a baby. For the RAM, you might need to shove that bitch like it owes you money to get it to fit.
All in all it was a pretty simple and enjoyable experience. A lot easier than it used to be, according to my brother. It's nice to be able to identify both my own parts and parts on other peoples machines who are less aware, and help them identify hardware failures.
Also, with CCC 8.10 RC2, I got my Crysis FPS up to around 25-30 with everything on Very High except the Shaders. Looking good!
All in all it was a pretty simple and enjoyable experience. A lot easier than it used to be, according to my brother. It's nice to be able to identify both my own parts and parts on other peoples machines who are less aware, and help them identify hardware failures.
Also, with CCC 8.10 RC2, I got my Crysis FPS up to around 25-30 with everything on Very High except the Shaders. Looking good!
zoku88 said:
No, I think Rivatuner underestimated the default clocks on my 4870, so when I clocked the Memory up to 1100, it was actually higher than that. It's still overclocked through CCC, but since it was built and updated for this card and these new drivers, I assume it is more efficient at it.
Is it normal for the CPU to idle slightly warmer than it did on the first day after it's had time to settle in for a while? I'm not running anything particularly taxing (unless utorrent is) but it's now running at around 33C instead of the 20C it had yesterday.
Jamesfrom818
Banned
I cracked. 1000H is on the way.