The (new) Official PC building thread!

I can help you with that. Any particular brands you are looking at?? You want to use SATA right??

Lite-on LH-20A1S $38.39 delivered ZZF (you can get un-official f/w too!! Makes the drive better IMHO.)

Samsung SH-203B $38.99 delivered ZZF

LG GSA-H62K $37.49 delivered ZZF (little more difficult drive but produces GOOD burns)

I "picked" ZZF because they were a few cents cheaper than Newegg delivered.

I think the Lite-on's are "easy" drives right now because they have so many features and will book-type right out of the box. AFAIK of the 3 that I picked they are the only ones with an update in f/w available.

Take a look and see what you think.

...gm

 

nighters,
This is what I use for DVD burners in all my builds and personally, I consider them bulletproof! I've used the Sata as well but I see no difference in performance between it and the IDE. I have both of mine installed with a round cable. About $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827152075

This is what I use for a DVD-Rom drive. Again, I use them in all ny builds with no problems and I consider these bulletproof as well! Comes in Sata as well! About $19.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135097

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Up until Starforce got its way, my NEC ND-4570 has been quite good. The only burners I'd refuse to buy are the ones a lot of people swear by, the Benqs. The build quality would have to have improved a LONG way since 2002 for them to be considered 'good'

 

I bought a Benq burner in 2005 and it crapped out within two months. I didn't handle it badly either, but it stopped reading CDs and burning them.

 

sammorris,

The problem with Benq drives is they are like buying a lottery ticket. You pays your money and takes your chances. If you get a good one fine but don't count on it! LOL!!

Clock On,
Russ

 

they did improve although they are no longer being made. my benq DW1650 has been nothing less than outstanding.

the only dvdrw drives I would not want anything to do with is any made by Samsung/TSST.

 

Mine only lasted a couple of weeks, It ran the write laser even when there was no disc in the drive!
My secondary school has 80 Samsung CD burners and to my knowledge, none of them have broken yet.

 

they might not have broken but they don't write to dvd's worth a hoot. the dvd's burned with the samsung dvdrw in my laptop all have playback problems with all my stand-alone dvd players. the dvd's burned with my benq and litey all play perfect and neither of those drives have ever failed in any way. what good is a drive if it won't write dvd's that are playable in stand-alone dvd players.

go ahead and buy all the samsung drives you like but don't say I didn't tell you so when your dvd's have playback issues in stand-alone dvd players.

 

Fair enough, I haven't used one personally.

 

theonejrs,
I have 2 of these waiting to go into a system but I haven't tried them yet so I was reluctant to say anything about them. I'm glad that you've used the 7170 model and like it. It gives me some hope. LOL. I like the NEC chipset (I have 2 pioneer's too....lol...I'm sick I know) which the Pioneer uses and the Sony's do now as well. I'm very curious to check out the newer drives with the NEC chipset and see how they perform. I never got one of the older NEC drives but I wish that I had.

I have used the others (and use them now....LG, Lite-on, and Samsung) that I linked to earlier and they all work pretty well. I like the Lite-on's because of the support from Lite-on and the "un-official" f/w as I mentioned earlier. I have 5+ Lite-on's right now in 3 different machines and they all work very well.

I have 2 Samsung's (SH-S182D and SH-203B) and they have performed as well as anything that I've used before. The support might be a little weak but the drives do what they're supposed to do and I haven't had any playback problems yet.

I know very little about the ASUS brand and it looks like they are Lite-on's anyway (mediatek chipset) from my observations. If incorrect let me know. Teach that is.

I don't think nighters could go wrong with any of the drives that we've mentioned I was just trying to get something well known and simple to use.

As you so eloquently put it....

Best regards,

...gm

@Lp531,
How's that "wiggle room" coming.....hehehe.

 

@sammorris

No...Sam the A-Open P/S is to be highly recommended...I install one in every barbeque that I own...It gets rid of those pesky unreliable Electric Igniter's...
A-Open's motto...
"The Ronson of Power Supplies"..."We Guarantee to Light...the First Time...Every Time"...

@theonejrs
Man some people...You'd even Complain If you were "Hung with a New Rope"...as you clearly stated...

You have clearly missed the point of a P/S...All anyone wants from a P/S is for it to work...which yours clearly was...
Frankly...You should be doing Testimonials for A-Open...I am quite Impressed by the ability of A-Opens products to work flawlessly even in the face of a Major Fire..

I am very disappointed in you jr...ROFLMAO...

@nighters
I like your choices...except for the P/S...For only $20 more you can have a PC Power & Cooling...P/S...PC Power & Cooling is by far the most respected manufacturer of High Grade P/S...The Corsair is not even in the same league as PC Power & Cooling...I am recommending this P/S because of the $50 instant discount...which brought it down to $149...

Like I said before...

Do Not Believe the Hype on Multi Rail...P/S...It is a Marketing Gimmick...Nothing Else...Modular Cables offer No Benefits...They Reduce Electrical Efficiency...And offer no Improvement in Air Flow...Due to the Multiple connections Coming out of the P/S...Go with Non Modular...Single Rail P/S...

Oh...and I like the Lite-On drives...They work...Like Mort said...the important thing is that they make disc's that will play consistently in a standalone player...Which is the only thing that matters in a back-up Copy...

Hey...greensman...Unfortunately my New House is cramping my personal "Wiggle Room"...Right Now...

 

how would this pair go:

read:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827101131
to burn:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106045

i've been wanting to try lightscribe lol

Sorry i screwed up on the power supply. to be honest i didn't know i was buying into the multi-rail hype or anything because i honestly didn't know what it was - I hadn't researched it. Will the power supply I got work for me, or should I return it?


Thanks again for all the help. I really like that silver set-up you got theone, it's snazzy =D

I'm going to have to buy treats for the UPS guy - he's going to be busy for a few days and I don't live in town lol.

 

@nighters,

I think the Sony is fine and I would order a round IDE cable to go with it if you don't have one already. look at this one

I would get the Lite-on from ZZF. It's $5 cheaper (not retail tho) and the $5 can go for the round IDE cable from Newegg. link to ZZF Lite-on

I don't think you need a retail version of the drive. If you need LightScribe "software" there are a few places to get it and it's free. You might get lucky and receive some software anyway. I got some the last drive I ordered from Newegg but you really never know.

btw the Lite-on is a good choice a few of my friends here have that model and love it. GOOD luck with whatever you choose to do.

...gm

 

@nighters
No...You did not screw up...If the PC Power & Cooling was not on sale...I would have probably recommended the one you bought...or an OCZ...It will work just fine...

Its just a much better P/S for the money...You can always change the order just sign into your account...cancel the one...and add the other P/S...If it was not already been shipped...One other thing...the Corsair you ordered only comes with 2 SATA Connectors...so keep that in mind when ordering DVD Drives...You might want to stick with IDE...

 

What about the molex4 to SATA power cable Lp?? Is that a bad idea? Just wondering because I've had mine that way for a while.

The next P/S and the next board will have a minimum of 6 SATA connections maybe more. I might want to run 4 SATA HDD's and 4 SATA Opticals. LOL Well if that's possible....

....gm

 

I went with the sony and lite-on from zzf. Already have a brand new set of round cables made by thermaltake.

Welp, time to wait for everything to arrive. decided to not mess with changing the power supply order.

looked up a 775 cpu install video - looks like things have changed quite a bit since my last time lol. - i'm going to be afraid to breathe until i get it plugged in and locked down.

Any assembly tips or suggestions?

 

@greensman
An Adapter (which is not included) will work...however...the purpose of modular is suppose to be how clean you can make the cabling...which an Ugly Adapter kind of defeats that purpose...or you can try to buy additional SATA cables which wipe out any savings on the P/S...

It was 2 SATA cables...allowing 4 devices...2 more cables would have been nice...

 

the specs indicate it has enough cables/connectors to power up 4 SATA drives. I have the same p/s only the 620 watt version instead and it will power up to 8 SATA drives. it comes with 3 different cables for SATA power, 2 different length cables with 3 SATA power connectors on each one and 1 SATA power cable with 2 SATA power connectors. I'm running 3 SATA hdd's.

I'm guessing the 520 watt probably has 2 different length cables with 2 SATA power connectors on each one.

nighters,

the 775 cpu's are a breeze to install compared to the 478 cpu's. all the pins are on the motherboard socket as oppossed to the cpu. just set it in the socket (after correctly alligning it of course) and lock it down. no more worries or hassle with bent pins on the cpu.

 

Well he (assuming nighters is male...) solved the SATA questions. LOL.

I was a bit unclear when I was talking about the SATA connections for the optical drives. NOT only pertaining to his situation but to mine as well. I'm thinking the molex4 to SATA will be ok for some time without fear of power loss or something worse. My present p/s only has 2 SATA connections and is NOT modular so I added one of the molex4 to SATA power cables. I will look at modular next build but I might go with that PC Power & Cooling instead. ME LIKES IT!! LOL

....gm

 

I'm sure the pc power and cooling is a very good p/s, even better than the corsair 620HX especially for that price, but I'm a neat freak and don't want any more cables (even tied up) than I absolutely have to have. I think the corsair p/s's are good as well. I have no complaints as of yet.