The (new) Official PC building thread!

i usually purchase cheap PSU/GPU/UPSU (generic brands, replacements), besides the lower noise level+ extra fan units built in that help the comp stay cooler, do the more expenxive ones offer anything worth coughing up another $50-100? I've run some pretty jacked and relatively quiet pc's on pretty crappy psu's....

btw: i remember some older psu's had small fusses in them so that if the
system lost power, or there was a power outage (dont worry i use power strips) the PSU nor the computer would die..you'd just need to put in replacement fusses..are there any PSU's like that still around? or am i mistaken completely about there every being such a thing?

-tripplite

 

Cheap generic PSUs tend to mess up good computers and sometimes catch on fire.

 

and "tend to" isn't strong enough, they do, have, and still will do in the future. Consider yourself very lucky if it hasn't happened to you tripplite, cheap PSUs are positively dangerous.

 

ho! i wouldn't have thought...good thing i asked hu?.....i'll pick me up antectrue power pronto!


thanxs
sammorris and abuzar1

 

tripplite,

The main problem with cheap power supplies is voltage regulation. It's bad enough that they normally don't come close to their wattage ratings. I've done some testing, comparing a Powmax 480 watt PSU ($27), and my Thermaltake 500 watt ($89), and the results were interesting. At idle, the Thermaltake voltages were more stable with less voltage change than the Powmax. As you increased the load, the differences got further apart. The load on the AC line (mains)increased as the load went up. It barely changed on the Thermaltake! At full load, the 12v voltage of the Powmax dropped from the 12.01v at idle to 11.67v, while the Thermaltake, at idle was 12.06v and under full load 12.03. Once in a rare while on a hot day it will give an occasional flick to 11.99v. I suspect that's caused by Power shifts because of all the AC's in use everywhere.

By looking over those numbers, you can conclude that the Powmax makes a lot more heat, as the amp draw goes up on the 12v (really any) line because of the lower voltage available! The other voltages also were better with the Thermaltake, all remaining nominal regardless of the load on the computer.

Please believe me when I tell you that I am not trying to give a lecture. There is a difference between "Cheap" and "Inexpensive"! the main difference is that "Cheap" can and has, killed people! My own experience in being there at the exact moment a $24.99 CoolMax 450 watt PSU shot sparks out the back and set the drapes on fire, was a very moving and sobering experience! Just a minute or two difference in being there then and walking in on the room on fire made all the difference in the world as I never would have been able to put the fire out had it completely caught up the whole drape! Very good luck that day!

Cheap PSUs, like you are talking about are always more expensive in the end even if it hurts nothing in the computer. It costs more in electricity as the load on the line is higher. Because of the wider diffrence in voltages, it's harder on the motherboard to regulate the voltages, causing even more heat. That's exactly how I blew out my P5P800 SE, the D-940 CPU, and oddly enough my DVD-Rom drive, Using the Powmax. Fortunately everything that was damaged was still under warranty. I had 3 days left on the DVD-Rom drive warranty when I called Newegg! It doesn't take a rocket Scientist to figure out that that cheap, Powmax drives price could have gone up considerably. I wouldn't even put the CPU in that because most have a 3 year warranty. Still, it's not hard to see just how easily the cost of that cheepo drive can double, triple or more, very easily. One other important thing I forgot to mention is that I've noticed that I haven't had a single shut-down or re-set unless the power went off since I installed the Thermaltake! With the Powmax, it was a way of life in the summertime. I've had one GigaByte blue screen that I've since found out was most likely caused by a corrupted bios on a new MB. I used to get at least one a week when it was hot out with the Powmax! The line voltage would drop down to 100-102v and poof, BSOD! I finally got my UPS back from my sister, so no more problems there, I did install a 30 Amp boost transformer out at the box so my voltage isn't so low!

The main point is, We like you (that ought to start something)! None of us would like to find out that your home burned down with you in it. Worse yet, with your whole family in it! Do us all a favor the next time you consider buying one of those cheap pieces of crap. Don't!

Sincerely,
Russ

 

AMD Unveils their first 45nm chips. New graphics system too!
http://www.crn.com/hardware/206901735

Check it out!

 

Hopefully they put up a good competition to Intel. Intel+Monopoly= Never a good idea.

 

i wonder if AMD's Deneb is good enough to compete with Intel? Since AMD just started to move to 45nm, it still a long journey before the chips are mature.

BTW can anyone attend CeBIT and big computer exhibitions like Computex?

 

Ive now burned two DVD-r's at 8x speed (verbatim TY discs) - will try quicker at some point - but found with IDE anything quicker than 8x didnt really seem to speed up the copy, but made it spin louder lol - and the noise at that speed appears to be on a par with my old Optiarc 5170AD but a lot quieter than the Sony AW-G170A thats now sitting on the side.

Ive also burned a DVD+r Double layer disc at 4x speed and apart from the initial spin up and the layer change it was basically inaudible. Good thing is the discs are the Ebuyer Aone ones that are about 40p each and the burn was perfect - I did a 6gig mpg version of T2 and tested it on my PS3 - this is the first DL disc I have ever successfully burned - all the ones Id tried previously on the Optiarc and Sony failed very early in the burn - even these Aone discs. So basically what I am saying is I am very happy with the Pioneer drives and would (so far) recommend them.

Just means Ive got to spend more money and get more discs lol

 

hey guys old will is back again..i bumped up the e6750 a little to 3.42Ghz running the Vcore at 1.4 temp right is at 40c core 1 34c core 2 at idle..I hav'en did a stress test yet at this level when it was at 3.12GHz stress temp was at 61c core 1 59c core 2 at 8 hours on Orthos..i'm havin a few issue with the memory timming.i cant seem to get to 4-4-4-12..it wants run loose..lol right now it's runnin at 427x2=854 at 5-6-6-20.when i try to change it to 4-4-4-12 it shut down and goe's back to default level also my bio's flahed back to F2 was F3b..something went wrong somewhere..i dont know here's at few pics of the out come..

cpu specs

memory specs

Bios specs

the links below is for everest pic!!
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/8938/biosflashbackpiczf8.jpg

 

Pepp: IDE won't limit your performance that much. The place where the files are stored could though. To burn a DVD at 20x requires 20MB/s of bandwidth, and when hard disks get full up or fragmented, they often run slower than that.
Bigwill: Is your memory multiplier set right? The RAM might be too overclocked to run at stock timings.

 

Set at 2.0 if you leave it at auto it's way overclocked..then..

 

Hmm, 854mhz on the RAM at that FSB... Is it PC6400 or 8500 you run again? If 6400, you may have to live with slack timings. 8500 shouldn't give you any issues...

 

bigwill,

your memory should run at that speed at 4-4-4-12 fairly easily. make sure the dram voltage is set at it's rated voltage of 2.1v. you might even bump it up a notch to 2.2v.

 

samm, what did you mean by this (To burn a DVD at 20x requires 20MB/s of bandwidth,) are you talking about a cable provider or does this mean something else?

 

I mean actual bandwidth to the drive, or from wherever the data's coming. If you burn a DVD straight from an ISO you will need your hard disk to manage at least a 20MB/s transfer rate.

 

Ok my PSU is a Corsair 550VX.

I'm gonna be running

Q6600 OCd
GA-P35-DS3R
3850 OCd
1 SATA HDD
1 SATA DVD Burner
2GB of PC-6400 also OCd.

What happens if my PSU burns out my System? Will Corsair replace my parts?

 

That Corsair should be okay with that.

I have a question as well - trying to judge if my northbridge is getting too hot, so my question is how long should I be able to keep my finger on the heatsink for under reasonable temps?

 

Abuzar: The 550W VX will be fine, but if a PSU destroys parts, that's tough luck, you can probably get the PSU replace, but I doubt many warranties will cover the parts connected to it. That said though, even if you overload a power supply it won't damage anything attached, that only happens with cheap crappy units.
Pepp: If you can hold your finger on there without it burning, it's fine. If you can hold it for a good 5 seconds before it's too hot to carry on, that's about normal. If it's so hot your finger instantly 'reflexes' in the opposite direction and you feel scalded, it's on the hot side (This is how my P5N-E ran for all of its short life...)

 

Samm - I can have my computer running under full load and still keep my finger on the northbridge heatsink indefinitely. It never gets to the point where it starts to get uncomfortable, so thats good then