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The (new) Official PC building thread!

Discussion in 'Building a new PC' started by creaky, Nov 27, 2006.

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  1. rick5446

    rick5446 Guest

    rick5446, Dec 26, 2007
    #3581
  2. rick5446

    rick5446 Guest

    rick5446, Dec 26, 2007
    #3582
  3. rick5446

    rick5446 Guest

    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 26, 2007
    rick5446, Dec 26, 2007
    #3583
  4. theonejrs

    theonejrs Senior member

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    I have a Question! I went into the control Panel, System, Advanced, Performance-Settings, Advanced, and in the Memory Usage and set it to adjusted for the best performance of the System Cache. Default is Programs. Seems to run everything just a little faster. I'm no whiz at XP-Pro, so if anyone has any thoughts on this, I would like to hear them!

    Best Regards,
    theone
     
    theonejrs, Dec 26, 2007
    #3584
  5. fasfrank

    fasfrank Active member

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    Russ,
    Wild speculation here, XP Pro will run systems with 256MB or less RAM, so maybe in our systems with ~2Gb it's possible to optimize the cache rather than the programs because there is plenty of memory left over to run the programs.
    I could see if you had a small amount of RAM then you might need to give more over to the programs. I'm thinking windows comes default with < 1GB systems in mind.

     
    fasfrank, Dec 26, 2007
    #3585
  6. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    I've only used one deskstar, and that was so long ago they were still IBM, before the Hitachi merger. It was fine, but I don't have any up to date experience of the brand. I never heard of major issues with them, but then I never heard of anybody using them, there's got to be a reason for that. In general Samsung, Seagate and WD drives see to outperform the Hitachis, so go with one of those brands instead.
    Deadrum: Interesting observation. It's not like Asus boards are out of date, it's just that Gigabyte have now ecome more prolific in the market, and the word of mouth is spreading about how good they are. We all used to go Asus because the boards had top features and performed well. We just put up with their almost non-existant customer service. Now we don't have to... :)
    The Opteron 185 was a blazing CPU a little while back, giving stunning results. However, in the Core 2 Duo age, it's eclipsed by CPUs so cheap you won't believe it...
    Russ: Hmm, that's really interesting, it makes a significant difference? I didn't even know you could do that with XP, I may give it a try when I get back.
    Just a little bit on my experience with hard drives:

    1999 Seagate Medalist 13GB IDE - used up until 2004, still works now
    2000 IBM Deskstar 16GB IDE - used 2002-2004, still works today
    2003 WD Caviar 160GB IDE - still working, in use
    2004 WD Caviar 200GB IDE - worked for 7 months, destroyed by faulty PSU (so not a valid test)
    2x 2005 WD Caviar 250GB SATA - still in use today, working fine
    2005 Maxtor diamondmax +8 IDE 40GB - used 2005-2006. Still works today
    2006 WD Raptor 37GB - still in use, works fine
    2006 Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 250GB SATA - still in use, works fine
    2006 Samsung Spinpoint HD400LJ 400GB SATA - still works, but faulty (accessing root folder causes lockup under S-ATA, and long pause under USB)
    3x 2007 WD5000AAKS 500GB S-ATA - 2 still working fine, third damaged by faulty PSU cable
    2007 Samsung SP2504C 250GB S-ATA - damaged by faulty PSU cable

     
    sammorris, Dec 26, 2007
    #3586
  7. mphsbelle

    mphsbelle Member

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    Okay, guys, I am stuck. Had to put build on hold for the holidays; whew, that's over. Now; I can power up and reach the BIOS but it keeps telling me "media test failure, check cable." I have checked all of the cables and they are secure. The optical drives are working because they start to read the cds that I put in. Second, my monitor is clipping off the first few letters on the left side of the screen. I have set the BIOS to boot from DVDRW drive as I do not have a ROM drive in this build. I have 2 RW drives. I have an old DVDROM drive in the basement if I have to use one. Cannot get to a place where in can install the OS. Thanx
     
    mphsbelle, Dec 26, 2007
    #3587
  8. He_Man

    He_Man Regular member

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    Maybe the BIOS is reading from the drive without the OS dvd in?
    Try putting it in the other drive. Unless i misinterpreted your post as saying you have 2 DVDRW drives both in your PC or that there is one in basement and one in your pc)

    Well anyway, after weeks of debate with myself and reading countless reviews, i have settled on what i believe is a top spec system for under £650

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Dec 26, 2007
    He_Man, Dec 26, 2007
    #3588
  9. Mort81

    Mort81 Senior member

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    He_Man,

    good hardware choices. the only thing I might change to make it more future proof is the ram. not that the ram you chose is not good but I would consider going with DDR2 1066 instead.
     
    Mort81, Dec 26, 2007
    #3589
  10. He_Man

    He_Man Regular member

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    Thanks for the input dude. 1066 seemed ideal but the build i am doing atm is really for experience and 800 is fine for me and will do me till July when i will just need to upgrade RAM, purchase a x38 board. Be about £200 max i expect. I may actually go for a 620w corsair for crossfire ;)
     
    Last edited: Dec 26, 2007
    He_Man, Dec 26, 2007
    #3590
  11. Mort81

    Mort81 Senior member

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    good PSU! I have one that replaced a 580 watt modular hiper that died after about 4 months. hipers warranty sucks. you have to send it directly to the manufacturer. it's made in England and I live in the states.

    edit for spelling
     
    Last edited: Dec 26, 2007
    Mort81, Dec 26, 2007
    #3591
  12. He_Man

    He_Man Regular member

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    I also like the fact it's modular and i can attach what cables i really only need to minimise clutter and maximise airflow.
     
    He_Man, Dec 26, 2007
    #3592
  13. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    He_Man: Please don't get the powercolor GPU. Powercolor are an awful brand, and though cheap, renowned for premature failings and poor quality products. Get a Sapphire or HIS one instead.
    The rest of the component choices are good though.
     
    sammorris, Dec 26, 2007
    #3593
  14. He_Man

    He_Man Regular member

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    Okay will do Sam.

    Oh and lucky me guys, i just won £60 on a scratchcard so it's going in the PC fund. For a mobo i was going to go all out and invest in a "free" x38 board(as its about a £60 jump from the p35 board). The Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6.
     
    Last edited: Dec 26, 2007
    He_Man, Dec 26, 2007
    #3594
  15. Mort81

    Mort81 Senior member

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    oops, I never even payed any attention to the make of the GPU he selected. agreed, sapphire is a much better choice.
     
    Mort81, Dec 26, 2007
    #3595
  16. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Suit yourself. I really don't see the benefit of the higher end boards. I'd keep the £60 and use it for something further down the line.
     
    sammorris, Dec 26, 2007
    #3596
  17. fasfrank

    fasfrank Active member

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    He_Man,
    Your choice of the 3870 GPU is going to make you happy. I have the Sapphire brand, so I can speak well of it.
    What do the companies like Sapphire, HIS, Diamond, etc, get when they get the cards? Don't these come pretty much completely built from ATI or Nvidia? Is it software, case and cooling they add? What makes one brand different from the other?

    I have them in Crossfire on my older 975X Asus P5W-DH Deluxe board and an E6700 C2D. With the cpu at 3.5Ghz and the cards at 842/1231:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    I would expect your system to be 12,000 or more with non-overclocked settings. Your P35 board should work better than the 975X board I'm using.

    You case selection is excellent as well. I have the silver version of this case. It's very roomy, light weight for a full tower and you get a nerdy projector LED on the front. Woohoo!
     
    fasfrank, Dec 26, 2007
    #3597
  18. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    They don't "get" the cards from ATI. What they get is the reference design. They actually produce their own cards. That's why you have differences in quality between different companies.
     
    abuzar1, Dec 26, 2007
    #3598
  19. jazmanuk

    jazmanuk Member

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    Hi guys, thanks for all the help you have given me over my new pc build (Ream, theonejrs, Sammorris), I have taken a lot on board and have ditched the twin 8800 Ultras for the DDR3 combo with HD3870 crossfire, this will give me the memory performance I was looking for combined with my HD requirements, hope you approve:

    QUAD Extreme QX9650 3.2GHz 12MB 1333MHz (Sorry but I still want this)
    Asus P5E3 Premium/Wifi@N Intel X48 DDR3 Motherboard
    2 x HIS Radeon 3870 512MB GDDR4 PCIE DVI/HDMI
    4 x 1024mb OCZ Platinum Edition Memory 1800MHz DDR3 PC3-14400
    2 x Western Digital Raptor X 150GB S150 10,000rpm (For OS/Software)
    4 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM 32MB S300 (Not let me down yet)
    2 x LG Blu-Ray Re-Writer/HD DVD-ROM SATA
    Hauppauge Win"HD"TV HVR 4000 DVB S2 DVB S DVB T Receiver
    PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 1000W 1KW-SR PSU
    Thermaltake VE2000BWS Armour Super Tower + Liquid Cooling
    Logitech Z-5500 Digital 500W RMS Dolby® Digital & DTS®

    p.s. Merry Xmas and all the best for the New Year.
     
    jazmanuk, Dec 26, 2007
    #3599
  20. jazmanuk

    jazmanuk Member

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    Picked up this monitor from Microdirect on Monday, its one hell of a monitor, I have never seen quality like this before, takes the pi$$ out of the big brands! Cost £368.

    Hyundai 24" LCD Monitor ImageQuest W240D Full HD Ready widescreen 2ms piano black DVI HDMI
     
    jazmanuk, Dec 26, 2007
    #3600
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