The (new) Official PC building thread!

I've been looking at some Gigabyte mobos and wonder if anyone has read anything bad about GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R This will be the home of a new Penryn when it comes out. It runs DDR2 and 3 but the downfall is only 2 slots for DDR3 so I'd have to buy more expensive 2GB sticks later when I switch over. Anything to look out for or any suggestions anyone?

He_Man---I know enough to have passed a college level course in Visual Basic

 

This stuff will require ByVal, ByRef and a few algorithms

Ill pm you

Anyway about the DS3R, cooling may be an issue, due to how small the things are. But apart from that, it seems a decent board(heck even sammorris, abuzar1 lives by it) and i read enough reviews to see little negativity towards it. It does lack Firewire but im sure the case will have firewire

BIOS layout here,

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2007/gigabyte/P35C-DS3R/g4.htm

 

The case will have firewire? Um, you do realise that just plugs into the motherboard right? There's no controller card attached to that port unless you buy one!

 

I don't think lack of firewire should detract you form buying a board. You can buy a pci firewire card for cheap.

Anyway even if your case has firewire it still has to plug into your motherboard or that firewire controller card I mentioned. So you're gonna need that.

 

What i meant. As in theres no point in paying a few extra quid for the same board with firewire at the back when you can just plug the firewire thing into the mobo(from the case front port)

 

Deadrum33,

I would think, given the development of DDR3 that it's going to be a good ways off time wise, before DDR2 no longer rules. Long enough that you may well no longer even have the motherboard.

Clockin On at the Speed of Light,
theone

 

I didnt look at the specs of Abuzar1 or Sammoris, heck Abuzar stole my case I might as well take his board its only fair LOL! Firewire isnt an issue, my Audigy soundcard has external plug and internal header for front panel (although its descriptions are a little vauge and I never hooked those up). I keep thinking though, by the time DDR3 is as common and cheap as DDR2, there will most likely be a new socket type of CPU and I'll want to try that too making the benefits of this board irrelevant. Anyone have any problems with this board?

EDIT:Ya took the words out of my mouth 5 minutes before I posted theone!!! Great minds and all that???

 

Even if the board does become obsolete, you won't find a much better one for a similar price. If you need the DS3R, go for it.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/476/9

"The manufacturing quality is probably the strongest point of this motherboard, featuring only high-end components: solid aluminum capacitors, ferrite coils and high-end MOSFET transistors."

Sounds good ^

 

Deadrum33,

I looked at the P35C-DS3R and just couldn't justify the additional price over the P35-DS3R. Everything else is the same! Hardwaresecrets implies that the terrific sound is exclusive to the P35C, but it's not as only the DS3L model has a lesser sound chip. All the rest have the ALC889A HD sound. It's awesome! Unless you plan to use DDR3, I would recommend the GA-P35-DS3R. Just be sure to get the revision 2.0, as it's better!

Oh!! What's a mind? Somewhere I read that it's a terrible thing! ROFLMAO!!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Yes I have to agree on the sound being very good. I only have JBL Platinum speakers they definitely sound better when playing rock songs!

 

abuzar1,

I have one question! Why? My Cooler Master Cavalier case has all the room in it I need and then some. It's 8" wide, 20" deep and 17.25" from the desk to the top of the case. Even having to remove the MB is mo sweat as there's more than enough room without having to do anything but unplug everything from the MB and then plug it back in again. Slips in and out with no problem. Completely tool-less too, and the 5 drive bays and the floppy are covered with a Solid Aluminum door that latches with 4 tiny magnets against the front cover screws. Here it is with the door open! It's easily reversible without tools in a matter of seconds.
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/9760/img1048wp4.jpg
The Silver floppy was the real challenge as no one seems to have them and I just couldn't have a beige or Black one, so I just did it myself! LOL!! Looks rather nice if I do say so myself! Here's what it looks like closed!
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1374/1111907501dk9.jpg
Nice looking and roomy!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I just don't like working in smaller spaces. The full towers cases give you so much more room to put stuff in. I'll be honest, I'm not GOING to put stuff in there, I just like the idea of it lol!

Also I'm sure that a full tower case has better cooling if you have fans in the right place, which my case certainly does. In fact I can't think of any reason I would use any other case than the Thermaltake Armor, maybe expect for the fact that I might get something similar for cheaper, or if this design gets outdated like beige cases.

 

abuzar1,

I can tell you this, it would be a horror show in the part of the country I live in! Dust would be a major problem. I've tried every possible combination of intake and exhaust and mine works best if I use the front fan for an intake and the side and rear as exhausts. The air intake for the front is a duct on the bottom, and since it's just a simple rectangle I cut myself some filters from the 1/4" foam they use for motherboard packaging and they work fine. I was very surprised when I took out the old motherboard to install this one, when I found very little dust had gotten inside the case. With my old Generic case, I was having to clean it out every 3 or 4 weeks, usually when my temps started to go up. When I was folding 24/7, it became a weekly chore! A drive door is a must as you would wind up with whiskers all around the drive openings without one. my case is pretty large for a mid-tower anyway as aside from the 7" difference in width, it's pretty close to the size of yours. A little better than 3 inches lower than yours, but almost the same depth. Hey, you like what you like for your reasons and I like what I like for mine. That's why they make so many different cases! LOL!! Nothing wrong with either of them!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

My case actually gets very little dust. Those fan filters you mentioned? Yeah the ENTIRE front panel is a mesh wire backed with foam dust filters. That is apart from any optical drives you might have there.

EDIT: This is VERY off-topic, but how does this sound?

 

First off I like the idea behind a full tower but man they're big. lol. With that said I want an Evo 830!!! lol.

NOW on the letter you composed for M$!! I would have your "favorite" English teacher do some smoothing of ideas and language. It's nice I guess but what's it for?? I use M$ products as you know but I'm not gonna K!$$ AR$E for anyone especially M$!!!!!!! jm2c there...

....gm

 

I dunno, hopefully they will send me games. I Have to do it, it's Required. Notice the capital letters lol. I have to write about a company I like and a company I dislike. I'm not really a hateful person. I guess I could have written to Sony that they make the PS3 suck less, but I have one. I don't like making fun of stuff I own.

GM, you got any ideas?

 

abuzar1,

Of all the people to ask, you ask me, when I spell Microcrap, Micro$oft and Bill Gate$... well you get the idea! You would have been much better being honest and asking them why they give such cheap prices to Dell, Gateway, Compaq and other computer manufacturers instead giving us, the consumer a break, especially when they have a monopoly on the OS market. $199 seems a bit steep for an operating system that's been around for all the years XP has! Doesn't $ Bill have enough money yet? Poor boy must be down to his last 15 Billion! LOL!! I guess, what with the US Military spending as much money every day that it does, $ Bill must figure that there's just not enough left over for him!

Man, did you ever ask the wrong person. Micro$oft can kiss my A$$. It will snow in hell before they ever get another penny out of me. I tried being the good dedicated customer by buying every operating system Micro$oft has offered for the last 18 years or so, except ME (you have to draw the line somewhere). I spent a lot of money making them what them what they are today and never complained. When they tried to screw me out of money because I couldn't read the Key number because Dell stuck it to the side of the computer and it had gotten rubbed off by a shoe so you couldn't read it, they pretty much told me to go suck an egg! I wouldn't give them 1 red cent now! And I'll screw them every chance I get!

Do you honestly believe that your letter will mean anything to them? ROFLMAO

Here's what happens when you mean something to a company. I sent Maggie (the head of RMA at Gigabyte) an e-mail letting her know that my computer was working flawlessly and wishing her and her staff a Happy New Year!

Here's the response, sent first thing Wednesday (Jan. 2) Morning after the holiday!

Hello Russ,

Happy New Year~!!!
It is really a joy to see your email after coming back from holiday.
Your support is what we here are are striving for everyday. We appreciate your support in this coming new year and wish you a wonderful day everyday.

Maggie Lin
Customer Service Center
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY

That's when you know people care and that you are important to them!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I don't know much about normal Microsoft but the Xbox customer support is very nice. They even called me after a console got replaced to make sure everything was working fine. They sent me some extra controllers and games for the inconvenience it caused me.

Also I once I managed to get a activation key from them when I tried using a pirated Windows MCE that I had gotten back home. After the activation period ran out I just told them I mis-placed the box so they just gave me a key!

 

abuzar1,

That's funny! LOL!! They all but told me to kiss their A$$! I supplied them with a copy the receipt for the OS, Ser.# and a scan of the physical CD itself, and they still insisted I would have to buy a new one! Henry Ford paid workers $5 a day to build inexpensive cars for the masses to put people on wheels. He made money doing it, but he didn't screw his customers, even when they were the only real game in town!

M$ can kiss my A$$! So can bill Gate$!

Russ

 

As far as Bill Gates goes I respect the man. He has given away more then 30 Billion dollars to charitable causes. Sure he may have lots of money buy giving away 30 Billion isn't easy. I wouldn't call him a bad human after all the help he has given to unfortunate people. The kind of people that live in horrible conditions. Most of you here come from Developed countries and haven't seen real poverty.

I've known many people that live either underneath the cart that they sell stuff on in the day or have FAMILIES living in cloth tents be happy and content because they know as far as poverty goes in Pakistan they are not a rock bottom. My damn country is so corrupt that old people who worked for the Government cant get their pensions because they cant afford to bribe the government officials. They are too proud to ask for money so they just starve to death. If they don't have money for food, they DEFINITELY don't have money for vaccines and stuff.

For people like that people like Bill Gates are important. He practically sparked a change in what rich people do with their money and made philanthropy popular.

EDIT: BTW I'm hoping that brown nosing letter pays off. My teacher mentioned people getting free stuff.

Russ, you got any more companies you hate? Maybe you can give me ideas? Asus maybe? *ducks right before NuckNFuts shoots me*