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[Blizzard]

do i need the 64bit one because of the 4GB of RAM?

thanks

YES, unless there's some voodoo I don't know about. 4GB is the max of 32-bit addressing, and due to other factors you won't even be able to access more than like 3GB of it, as far as I know.

About your other stuff...some looks expensive but maybe it's good quality, I dunno. Regarding RAM, unless your RAM is superfast or something, why wouldn't you go with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184 ? It's way cheaper, not Crucial, and gets great reviews.

 

[Blizzard]

stuff

I have the 640GB WD and may format tonight...do you think separate windows/apps directories are best? I hadn't tried it before. (will also probably do a Linux partition)

 

[border]

So how'd I do? I know there is debate about a quad core vs a dual core, but the plan is for this build to be around for a few years so I figure the quad is the way to go.

What is the debate? Is there any reason you'd want 2 cores instead of 4?

 

[zoku88]

I have the 640GB WD and may format tonight...do you think separate windows/apps directories are best? I hadn't tried it before. (will also probably do a Linux partition)

I always keep the OS partitions seperate from everything else. I think it just makes things easier.

 

[Hazaro]

I always keep the OS partitions seperate from everything else. I think it just makes things easier.

I'm not good with HDD stuff, tried it before and it was too much of a hassle for me.

I barely have any data so it doesn't matter to me.

 

[brain_stew]

i think my current CPU is about to go belly up, so it looks like it's time to build a new computer. this one lasted me 5 years, but the original plan was for it to only last 2-3. the plan for this new build is again to last just 2-3 years being about to play all games released in that time frame.

my monitor is a Samsung LCD that has a res of 16x10. my budget is ~$800 including Vista

here's what I've thrown together so far on new egg:

Antec Sonata III 500 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ 500W Power Supply $129 (-50 mail in rebate)
Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120mm Case Fan $20
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $70
ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard $140
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor $190
ASUS EAH4850/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP $181 (-30 mail in rebate)
4GB kit (2GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 memory module $86 (via crucial.com)


So how'd I do? I know there is debate about a quad core vs a dual core, but the plan is for this build to be around for a few years so I figure the quad is the way to go. I also plan on throwing in another 4850 in a year or so crossfire mode.

I'm also not quite clear about which version of vista to buy, do i need the 64bit one because of the 4GB of RAM?

thanks

Clock that quad to 3ghz+ and you'll be laughing. Oh and yes my advice would always be either XP and 2GB or Vista 64 and 4GB.

 

[Hazaro]

the 4870 is $100 more than the card I have listed and I'm already slightly over my budget as it stands. is it really worth it for that? i'm under the impression that a 4850 right now is more than enough and in a year or so i'll be able to add another for another $100.

At 1600x res the 8800GT is still an amazing card, if you don't plan on playing Crysis: Warhead maxed with AA enabled it maxes every single game I've played at great fps for only $100.

Unfortunately ATi doesn't have a card between their 3870, and 4850, and the higher cards just get more expensive from there.

The 4850 isn't a $60 upgrade from that kind of performance. However, if you want ATi at that price it's your only option.

From my perspective since no game needs that much power atm to be maxed, there's no point on spending money on a new card that isn't that much better, save the money when another fantastic budget card comes out again.

p.s. If you do plan on SLi/Xfire get a motherboard with 2x PCI-E 16x lanes not one with 8x. It will limit your speed a tad.

 

[brain_stew]

the 4870 is $100 more than the card I have listed and I'm already slightly over my budget as it stands. is it really worth it for that? i'm under the impression that a 4850 right now is more than enough and in a year or so i'll be able to add another for another $100.

4850 is fine and will run anything for the foreseeable future with ease. Its the best bang for buck out there.

 

[zoku88]

I'm not good with HDD stuff, tried it before and it was too much of a hassle for me.

I barely have any data so it doesn't matter to me.

Oh, I just meant the partitions. I didn't mean putting the partitions on separate HDDs if that's what you thought.

 

[Hazaro]

Oh, I just meant the partitions. I didn't mean putting the partitions on separate HDDs if that's what you thought.

I know what you meant, I just had to change the directory for every install and it took an hour or two off installing time to partition so I'm not doing it anymore.

 

[suaveric]

What is the debate? Is there any reason you'd want 2 cores instead of 4?

from what i've read, right now a quad core clocked at 2.5 ghz isn't any better than a cheaper dual core clocked at 3 ghz. i know i can overclock that quad up to 3 ghz pretty easily, but i'm a chicken shit when it comes to that stuff. i've never messed with any of my hardware like that before.

YES, unless there's some voodoo I don't know about. 4GB is the max of 32-bit addressing, and due to other factors you won't even be able to access more than like 3GB of it, as far as I know.

About your other stuff...some looks expensive but maybe it's good quality, I dunno. Regarding RAM, unless your RAM is superfast or something, why wouldn't you go with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184 ? It's way cheaper, not Crucial, and gets great reviews.

i went that ram because it matches my motherboard, it is DDR2 1200, where that cheaper ram you pointed out is DDR2 800. does that not matter? i wasn't sure what the 1200 vs 800 even meant.

 

[Blizzard]

i went that ram because it matches my motherboard, it is DDR2 1200, where that cheaper ram you pointed out is DDR2 800. does that not matter? i wasn't sure what the 1200 vs 800 even meant.

Duh, sorry, I didn't even check the frequency. I would assume the 1200 MHz frequency means the memory can transfer faster than the 800 MHz frequency. *goes back into his corner and doesn't try to help people*

 

[brain_stew]

from what i've read, right now a quad core clocked at 2.5 ghz isn't any better than a cheaper dual core clocked at 3 ghz. i know i can overclock that quad up to 3 ghz pretty easily, but i'm a chicken shit when it comes to that stuff. i've never messed with any of my hardware like that before.



i went that ram because it matches my motherboard, it is DDR2 1200, where that cheaper ram you pointed out is DDR2 800. does that not matter? i wasn't sure what the 1200 vs 800 even meant.

800mhz RAM is fast enough for a 1600mhz FSB, which is above any retail CPU. Unless you want to go into some serious OCing (i.e. past 4ghz), 800mhz is more than sufficient. You'd actually only need RAM capable of 600mhz if your running a 1200mhz FSB.

That XMS kit linked is a good price but if you don't want to mess about with rebates, I'd recommend this G Skill set:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

There's simply no need to spend $90 like you planned, that G Skill set is likely better anyway (tighter timings).

 

[Blizzard]

800mhz RAM is fast enough for a 1600mhz FSB, which is above any retail CPU. Unless you want to go into some serious OCing (i.e. past 4ghz), 800mhz is more than sufficient. You'd actually only need RAM capable of 600mhz if your running a 1200mhz FSB.

Ooh, I demand nerdy architectural details. Why no more than half the frontside bus frequency?

 

[zoku88]

I know what you meant, I just had to change the directory for every install and it took an hour or two off installing time to partition so I'm not doing it anymore.

Oh, I see. I mess with OS partitions too much to not keep them separate. It takes too long to restore from backup >.>

 

[Hazaro]

Ooh, I demand nerdy architectural details. Why no more than half the frontside bus frequency?

DDR is Double Data Rate

A CPU running at an operation frequency of say 333Mhz (A stock Core 2 Duo) that does 9 processes a cycle (Multiplier) yields an effective clock speed of 3000Mhz or 3Ghz.

That 333Mhz operates with RAM doing (two sets? not sure) at 333Mhz which doubled gives you 667Mhz.

400*9=3.6Ghz which means the RAM is at 800Mhz

Intel's Bus is "Quad Pumped" so the 400Mhz is 1600Mhz bus speed.


*I'm not sure of the inner workings, but that's my general knowledge, feel free to correct it.

 

[Stuggernaut]

Only thing holding me back from a new build is choosing a MB.

I plan to go Intel Quad Core, and NVidia for GPU, and would like to leave SLI as a "if I ever need it" option but have no idea what MB to get (there are just too many). I really didn't want to spend a fortune on one either.

Suggestions??

 

[Hazaro]

Oh, I see. I mess with OS partitions too much to not keep them separate. It takes too long to restore from backup >.>

I'll probably make a new partition to try Windoze 7 later, but that's all my HDD tinkering extends :lol

 

[Hazaro]

Only thing holding me back from a new build is choosing a MB.

I plan to go Intel Quad Core, and NVidia for GPU, and would like to leave SLI as a "if I ever need it" option but have no idea what MB to get (there are just too many). I really didn't want to spend a fortune on one either.

Suggestions??

Don't.

If you needed SLi a new card that's the same option for the same cost would of come out already. Intel based motherboards offer much better clocking and overall reliability than Nvidia based boards. Saves you money on the motherboard too.

 

[Stuggernaut]

Don't.

If you needed SLi a new card that's the same option for the same cost would of come out already. Intel based motherboards offer much better clocking and overall reliability than Nvidia based boards. Saves you money on the motherboard too.

So you're saying "don't" worry about SLI?

So suggest any MBs?

 

[Hazaro]

So you're saying "don't" worry about SLI?

So suggest any MBs?

I'm partial to the DS3 boards as they are cheap and OC, others like the P5K/P5Q

 

[brain_stew]

So you're saying "don't" worry about SLI?

So suggest any MBs?

On a budget?

This is an absolute steal:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128337R

I've got the standard DS3 version (same board just the DS3L is missing a couple SATA ports and the like) and its a tremendous board, that OCs like a dream. At $60 its an absolute steal. You can spend more, but that board will be more than enough for most people's needs.

 

[Hazaro]

On a budget?

This is an absolute steal:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128337R

I've got the standard DS3 version (same board just the DS3L is missing a couple SATA ports and the like) and its a tremendous board, that OCs like a dream. At $60 its an absolute steal. You can spend more, but that board will be more than enough for most people's needs.

Keep in mind that is the Open Box (aka most likely used) version.

From what I've read it's a 50/50 shot of everything working and maybe 30% of getting the cables and other stuff that comes with it.

 

[brain_stew]

Keep in mind that is the Open Box (aka most likely used) version.

From what I've read it's a 50/50 shot of everything working and maybe 30% of getting the cables and other stuff that comes with it.

They can't sell a faulty product, they'd be breaking the law. I hardly think a couple SATA cables are worth $30.

 

[simpleton]

Is anyone familiar with the quality of the onboard sound on Asus motherboards? Specifically the Asus P5K? I am just wondering if I will need to purchase a soundcard to use with this system.

I will be connecting the spdif coaxial output to my home theater system.

I am not interested in getting higher frame rates, I just want good, clean sound when I listen to MP3's, etc.

BTW, this is what I just ordered. Did I make any bad mistakes? The media centre XP OS might stick out, but I am running a lot of older apps and don't want to worry about compatibility just yet.


1 x Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.33GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail
1 x Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro LGA775 2500RPM 45CFM
1 x ASUS P5K Premium WIFI-AP ATX LGA775 P35 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA RAID Sound WLAN 1394 Motherboard
1 x Corsair XMS2 Dominator TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF 4GB 2X2GB PC2-8500 DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15 240PIN Memory Kit
1 x GeForce GTX 260 OEM 576MHZ 896MB GDDR3 1.998GHZ PCI-E DVI-I *Systems Only - 1YR NCIX Warranty*
The 3rd party brand name for this product may vary
1 x Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio
1 x Corsair HX620W CMPSU-620HX ATX Triple 12V 50A 24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply 120MM Fan 2X PCI-E
1 x Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with SP2 OEM English
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 3.5IN 500GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive
1 x Samsung SH-S223F Black SATA DVD+RW 22X8X16 DVD-RW 22X6X16 16X/12X DL INT DVD Writer OEM

 

[simpleton]

1 x ASUS P5K Premium WIFI-AP ATX LGA775 P35 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA RAID Sound WLAN 1394 Motherboard

I just finally noticed the mobo has wifi built in. That certainly wasn't needed and I probably wasted a few bucks there.

 

[travisbickle]

I've a Sony desktop, still nice and quiet but getting dated;

Pentium 4 3.6ghz
1gb DDR 400
500gb harddrive
DVD writer and DVD reader
NVidia Gforce 6600 256mb

And a nice case, very quiet, wireless kb+m, TV functionality, card readers so I like the functionality of this desktop but as you see the insides are getting old.

I do use AutoCAD on my computer, and would really like to make that more bearable, I'm not bothered about playing games at their best, is it worth upgrading this PC more at a new GPU and ram?

I've seen a 8800GT 500mb quite cheap, is it worth sticking that on? will it work? and then add more ram or is my CPU too old?

 

[Aurean_Mentat]

I have 1k for a new comp, will probably put XP on it (have an old copy)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0 Ghz Processor $92.99
ASUS M3N78 PRO AM2+/AM2 Motherboard $104.99 - $15.00 (rebate0
OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 1066 Memory $40.99
XFX PVT98FYDF9 GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) Video Card $199.99 - $20.00 (rebate)
OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W Power Supply $119.99 - $30.00 (rebate)
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM Master Hard Drive $38.99
WD Digital Caviar SE16 HD - 500GB Slave Hard Drive $69.99
APEVIA X-JUPITER-JR S-Type Computer Case $79.99 $15.00
Acer X203Wbd Black 20" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor $169.99
Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 Keyboard Mouse Included Keyboard & Mouse $18.99
LG Black DVD Burner - OEM Optical Drive $26.99

Totals $963.89 - $80.00
Total After Rebates $883.89
Total With Shipping $1,000.64
Total With Shipping After Rebates $920.64

Any thoughts on the build, and I'll need a fairly good wireless card... any good ones for the 30 - 50 dollar range?

 

[JoeMartin]

I have 1k for a new comp, will probably put XP on it (have an old copy)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0 Ghz Processor $92.99
ASUS M3N78 PRO AM2+/AM2 Motherboard $104.99 - $15.00 (rebate0
OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 1066 Memory $40.99
XFX PVT98FYDF9 GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) Video Card $199.99 - $20.00 (rebate)
OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W Power Supply $119.99 - $30.00 (rebate)
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM Master Hard Drive $38.99
WD Digital Caviar SE16 HD - 500GB Slave Hard Drive $69.99
APEVIA X-JUPITER-JR S-Type Computer Case $79.99 $15.00
Acer X203Wbd Black 20" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor $169.99
Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 Keyboard Mouse Included Keyboard & Mouse $18.99
LG Black DVD Burner - OEM Optical Drive $26.99

Totals $963.89 - $80.00
Total After Rebates $883.89
Total With Shipping $1,000.64
Total With Shipping After Rebates $920.64

Any thoughts on the build, and I'll need a fairly good wireless card... any good ones for the 30 - 50 dollar range?

Not a bad build, but HD4850 > 9800GTX and for equal (or less) money.

 

[derder]

I have 1k for a new comp, will probably put XP on it (have an old copy)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0 Ghz Processor $92.99
ASUS M3N78 PRO AM2+/AM2 Motherboard $104.99 - $15.00 (rebate0
OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 1066 Memory $40.99
XFX PVT98FYDF9 GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) Video Card $199.99 - $20.00 (rebate)
OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W Power Supply $119.99 - $30.00 (rebate)
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM Master Hard Drive $38.99
WD Digital Caviar SE16 HD - 500GB Slave Hard Drive $69.99
APEVIA X-JUPITER-JR S-Type Computer Case $79.99 $15.00
Acer X203Wbd Black 20" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor $169.99
Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 Keyboard Mouse Included Keyboard & Mouse $18.99
LG Black DVD Burner - OEM Optical Drive $26.99

Totals $963.89 - $80.00
Total After Rebates $883.89
Total With Shipping $1,000.64
Total With Shipping After Rebates $920.64

Any thoughts on the build, and I'll need a fairly good wireless card... any good ones for the 30 - 50 dollar range?

Get a cheaper, less wattage PSU and a 4850 instead of a 9800gtx.

 

[EviLore]

Fucking PS3 browser is a giant piece of shit. Just lost a post explaining my current predicament. Anyway, to summarize, my raptor OS drive failed and my laptop charger is not available to me at the moment, so I'm stuck on an 18th century internet browser that only logs my keystrokes if I type at 1/3 speed and logs me out randomly. Better than using my cell phone numpad, I s'pose. Barely.

I will explain the ridiculous and unnecessary replacement PC components I just bought in my next post, since it seems I have to split this in two.

 

[EviLore]

Part 2: the goodies.

Why pay pennies per GB when you can take a time machine to several years in the past and pay $1 per GB? Sound good to me. Since I lost a raptor, it seemed natural to get its successor as a replacement OS/app drive, so first on the list is a 300 GB Velociraptor.

Cable management, though, is an utter nightmare on my current rig. My nice little budget Cooler Master Centurion case served me well in the past, but with video cards becoming ever larger and having 3 hard drives and several other components in there, there's just no space. Instead of approaching a sensible solution, I went with a Cooler Master Cosmos steel full tower monstrosity.

But with a full tower case incoming, I have to have an unreasonably large video card to justify it, right? My 8800GTS doesn't quite fit the bill there. I eyed AMD's offerings carefully, but with overclocking being the norm for me and not seeing a justification for something ike a 4870x2 (I'd need a new PSU, and I'd probably be pissed off at the power bill), a highly overclockable nvidia GTX 260 seemed an attractive solution. Lots of folks seem to get theirs near 280 levels, so for $240 it's a sensible enough completely unnecessary upgade that will work with my current PSU.

In summary:

-WD Velociraptor 300 GB
-Cooler Master Cosmos 1000
-eVGA GTX 260

It's a good day for '80s style excess

 

[EviLore]

Ah damn, nvidia *did* end up revealing a new GTX 260 just now? My information gathering abilities are so limited on this PoS browser. GTX 260 Core 216, guess I'll be grabbing that one.

Edit: n/m, going for above MSRP at the moment, $60 more expensive, and marginal gains over the normal part. Doesn't look like much of a point for now.

 

[Hazaro]

They can't sell a faulty product, they'd be breaking the law. I hardly think a couple SATA cables are worth $30.

These are mostly returns from customers that said they are working tmk.

Except they usually are messed up in a few ways.

Newegg will take care of you if it's faulty but just be aware that there's a 50% chance something is off with it.

 

[JudgeN]

I have 1k for a new comp, will probably put XP on it (have an old copy)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0 Ghz Processor $92.99
ASUS M3N78 PRO AM2+/AM2 Motherboard $104.99 - $15.00 (rebate0
OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 1066 Memory $40.99
XFX PVT98FYDF9 GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) Video Card $199.99 - $20.00 (rebate)
OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W Power Supply $119.99 - $30.00 (rebate)
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM Master Hard Drive $38.99
WD Digital Caviar SE16 HD - 500GB Slave Hard Drive $69.99
APEVIA X-JUPITER-JR S-Type Computer Case $79.99 $15.00
Acer X203Wbd Black 20" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor $169.99
Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 Keyboard Mouse Included Keyboard & Mouse $18.99
LG Black DVD Burner - OEM Optical Drive $26.99

Totals $963.89 - $80.00
Total After Rebates $883.89
Total With Shipping $1,000.64
Total With Shipping After Rebates $920.64

Any thoughts on the build, and I'll need a fairly good wireless card... any good ones for the 30 - 50 dollar range?

I just can't recommend an AMD CPU, you go with an E7200 and overclock to 3.4-3.6.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115052&Tpk=E7200

Going to need a good fan for overclocking though.

This motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128347

And HD4850 instead of the 9800GTX

 

[Blizzard]

Considering how I'd never done thermal paste stuff before, I was daring. >_>

Before even installing an OS, I took the heatsink off my VisionTek ATI HD 4850, cleaned off the paste, and put Arctic Silver 5. I got the old paste around the core on some little components (hopefully it wasn't conductive) and got 91% isopropyl alcohol all over the place. Here's hoping I didn't TOTALLY screw everything up and make the card fry in short order. >_____>

At least the monitor's still working...*crosses fingers*

*edit* Yikes. I haven't even done anything yet...does the 4850 normally heat up the metal of the case where it connects? I knew it was going to be hot, but didn't realize it would be heating up the DVI jacks and surrounding metal as well.

 

[vag 2.0]

How are the Thinkpads these days? I'd only be doing very light gaming on one, emulation et cetera, but are they still well thought of?

 

[Hazaro]

Considering how I'd never done thermal paste stuff before, I was daring. >_>

Before even installing an OS, I took the heatsink off my VisionTek ATI HD 4850, cleaned off the paste, and put Arctic Silver 5. I got the old paste around the core on some little components (hopefully it wasn't conductive) and got 91% isopropyl alcohol all over the place. Here's hoping I didn't TOTALLY screw everything up and make the card fry in short order. >_____>

At least the monitor's still working...*crosses fingers*

*edit* Yikes. I haven't even done anything yet...does the 4850 normally heat up the metal of the case where it connects? I knew it was going to be hot, but didn't realize it would be heating up the DVI jacks and surrounding metal as well.

GPU you don't really need to, some people do it. You did do CPU too right?

And yes, some card do get that hot, it uses the whole metal body to release heat.

Install RivaTuner and measure the temperature idle and underload

 

[aznpxdd]

Phew, received my 24" monitor today! Games and HD movies look glorious at 1920x1200!

Nice pick ups Evilore...though I would have gone with a Lian Li or Silverstone if I was spending that much.

 

[Blizzard]

GPU you don't really need to, some people do it. You did do CPU too right?

And yes, some card do get that hot, it uses the whole metal body to release heat.

Install RivaTuner and measure the temperature idle and underload

Thanks for all the help. Vista installed, I guess it's time to try to get online and activate it, and mess with drivers...mostly tomorrow, though. Is RivaTuner better than CCC for reporting stats or whatever? So far, here are the tools I apparently ought to check out:

* Memtest
* CCC (installed with drivers, need to do 4850 fanfix)
* cpuz
* Rivatuner?

 

[Hazaro]

Thanks for all the help. Vista installed, I guess it's time to try to get online and activate it, and mess with drivers...mostly tomorrow, though. Is RivaTuner better than CCC for reporting stats or whatever? So far, here are the tools I apparently ought to check out:

* Memtest
* CCC (installed with drivers, need to do 4850 fanfix)
* cpuz
* Rivatuner?

Rivatuner can offer you everything.

Grab ORTHOS or Prime95 along with the FUR benchmark tool to stress your GPU.

Here's a pic of mine

 

[Blizzard]

Catalyst Control Center is reporting my 4850 as idling around 73-74 C. I guess I really did mess up the heatsink, oh well. >_>

Going to check for the fanfix and Rivatuner now, to check the processor as well.

*edit* Temperature is dropping, but yeesh, fan is loud. Kind of a whine even at 40%. Ah well, deafness incoming! 40% fan lowers idle temperature to 50 C. Once I figure out how to configure Rivatuner, I'll put CPU temp as well.

What temperature should I aim for? I really don't want to burn anything out. I only have the two stock Antec 300 case fans, on low, right now.

 

[MWS Natural]

Anyone have any experience building a SSF PC? I would need something small to fit in with my Home Theater setup. Was thinking of buying a bare bones PC and dropping in the necessary parts.

What is the best value out of these?

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Recs=10&Nav=|c:1210|&Sort=1

Was thinking of ordering one.

 

[Chiggs]

When is the 4850x2 hitting?

 

[Blizzard]

Wow, RealTemp is reporting my CPU cores as 34 C. If that's accurate, that's good, at least. I'm kind of scared to do any stressing of the GPU though...I don't want to melt anything.

Oh, and I just verified that my CPU is apparently the E0 stepping e8400, not that it probably matters to me. Tomorrow I'll update the BIOS and try the rest of the drivers, if all goes well. My only concern is really the GPU temp at present, plus a full memory scan just for fun.

Thanks again, everyone, for putting up with me. I appreciate the help. The system seems pretty quiet except for the video card and hard disk. Things run cool except for the video card. The monitor has no dead pixels as far as I can tell, and doesn't bounce around TOO much.

 

[AstroLad]

Don't know who's still reading this, but I'm looking to put together a new desktop to replace my gaming laptop that has been giving me fits of late. Unfortunately I have neither the time, nor the inclination, nor the patience to put together my own from scratch. I thought newegg had some service where you could pick parts and they would put it together for you but apparently not. I certainly understand the skepticism re premade so I'd be happy with anything short of actually having to put together everything myself. Cost not an issue. Any website/manufacturer thoughts/recommendations?

 

[Wanace]

AstroLad, someone a few pages back mentioned this:

has anyone ever bought a custom system off of mwave.com? You can custom buy all of your parts and for $80 they will assemble everything and test if for you. I want to be able to customize everything, but don't want to put it together myself.

Also, I am thinking of splurging on a 9800 GX2...is a 500w power supply enough?, and are there any size or overheating concerns on the that card?

 

[Hazaro]

Don't know who's still reading this, but I'm looking to put together a new desktop to replace my gaming laptop that has been giving me fits of late. Unfortunately I have neither the time, nor the inclination, nor the patience to put together my own from scratch. I thought newegg had some service where you could pick parts and they would put it together for you but apparently not. I certainly understand the skepticism re premade so I'd be happy with anything short of actually having to put together everything myself. Cost not an issue. Any website/manufacturer thoughts/recommendations?

Short of NCIX I believe M-Wave has the option.

Both cost you money.

Pay a friend to do it.

If you really don't care about cost go Maingear / Velocity Micro or other boutique dealer.

You can also buy a Dell and slap a new GPU in.

 

[AstroLad]

Thanks guys, looking into all of that. Except the friends thing. Sadly (?) I am the nerdiest of all my friends.

EDIT:

This is what I am looking at currently:

Motherboard: Intel D5400XS SKULLTRAIL Motherboard
Processor: Dual Intel Xeon X5450 (3.0GHz x 8)
Memory: 4GB 800MHz FB-DIMM Memory (4x1GB)
Hard Drive One: Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache - SATA II
Video Card: 2x ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 4GB GDDR5 in CrossFireX™
Sound Card: Integrated 8-channel High Definition Audio
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (64-Bit) SP1

 

[Hazaro]

Thanks guys, looking into all of that. Except the friends thing. Sadly (?) I am the nerdiest of all my friends.

EDIT:

This is what I am looking at currently:

Motherboard: Intel D5400XS SKULLTRAIL Motherboard
Processor: Dual Intel Xeon X5450 (3.0GHz x 8)
Memory: 4GB 800MHz FB-DIMM Memory (4x1GB)
Hard Drive One: Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache - SATA II
Video Card: 2x ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 4GB GDDR5 in CrossFireX™
Sound Card: Integrated 8-channel High Definition Audio
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (64-Bit) SP1

Oh shit dude, you weren't joking were you? :lol

If you are going overboard you might as well wait for the new socket.

Get Intel's SSD as well, accept no substitutes.

Both socket and Intel's SSD are coming out this year.