The (new) Official PC building thread!

most motherboards will support up to 8gb of ram nowdays.

 

spaul40: The PSU is crap, they're very prone to failures, fire, and damaging other PC components. They are not 600W units despite the label. Most will fail if you try to draw more than 200W.

 

dang no help for the non informed first time builder...lol
just how much would the shipping be???

 

dog gone it. asus just screwed up my mobo decission again. they just released their rampage formula I all but had my mind set on the DFI LP LT X38. now I'll have to once again seriously consider asus and the X48 chipset.

 

WOW thats a sweet azz board Mort. guess they aint playing around. asus seems to be trying to make all there boards as strong as there striker series. ilike the look of all that copper running around on that board.

 

HOLLY SHEEP SHYT

LOOK at this from intel
Date: 2008-03-26

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in Intel products. This is a confirmation
of your case:

Case Number: xxxxxxxx
Order Number: xxxxxxx
Order Date: 25-03-2008

Products shipped to you:

Line Item# Product Name Part# Qty Status
Tracking# Carrier Ship Date
------------ -------------------- ---------------- --- ------------
------------------ ---------- ------------
xxxxxxxx-1 BX80570E8400
CPU, BX80570E8400 1 Shipped UPS 2008-03-26
Core 2 Duo E8400 (6MCache,3.0GHz, 1333 MHz FSB LGA775
Product information is conditional based on substitute part
availability.


now thats what i call service. they got it in about 14hrs found out it was bad and sending me a brand spanking shiney new one.... guess my outlook towards intel has just changed.....man the DL just got real short. hopefully be up and running friday

 

Sweet!
I found my new board!
http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2736
8 rear USBs (so I can use all 12), 6 S-ATAs, 2 true 16x PCIe lanes, and a chipset heatsink I don't have to remove in order to use my Thermalright. This board is looking v promising!
£120 too, it's not even insanely priced.

 

MAN another sweet looking board.... i noticed on it, it said SATA II
how different is sata II from sata?

 

cincyrob,

Did I tell ya, or did I tell ya? You got what you wanted and you got it reasonably fast! LOL!! Power to the People!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

sammorris,

Yeah, that would be the more practical of my chouces. My other choice is an EX38-DQ6. In fact I just linked someone the same two motherbords, the other day! Like you say, Sweet!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Yeah, I'm avoiding the DQ6 as I have to entirely replace the chipset, southbridge and VRM cooling system to use it with my Thermalright Ultra 120 as it doesn't get on with crazycool. The DS4 though, plop it straight in! It also seems £20 cheaper. Score!

The sweet, by the way, was separate and was actually directed at Rob's success with his CPU replacement!

 

sammorris,

And just how was I supposed to know that? I told you a year ago, my Crystal Ball is broken! Names help! ROFLMAO!!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

first time post / long time afterdawn newsletter reader:

Ive always been impressed with the knowledge the posters have on these threads and always am looking forward to my newsletter in my inbox. So could you guys be willing to help me build my first pc??? I'm looking to build a pc with:
1) tons of space to store music, movies, and pictures (TONS).
2) video card capabilities to play Crysis
3) Ram to play WoW
4) speed to keep my cable internet connection seamless as it is now

Budget is around $600. Could just go to Frys and get a new tower ready to go but figure I would post here first and see what kind of responses/suggestions you guys might have for a not so savvy computer enthusiast.

Thanks in Response for the feedback and hope I dont catch too much criticism for not knowing what I need or what I'm talking about LOL

 

Theone: Yeah yeah I know, apologies. It was late...
Maginable: $600 is a doable budget for a gaming system, and one can be built that will be able to play Crysis, but not one that will play it that well, I have to say that right now. That's not to say with a little tweaking the game can't look satisfactory though.
Example parts list for 600 dollar gaming build:
E2160 CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116036
GA-P35-DS3L Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059
2x1GB PC2 6400 DDR2: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034
Corsair VX 450W PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003
Radeon HD2600XT Graphics: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102703
Coolermaster Centurion 532 case & Scythe S-Flex SFF21E fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119094 & http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185005
750GB WD Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136150
20x DVDRW:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129018

Comes to pretty much $600, but with a $10 rebate.

 

sammorris,

I think the lack of L2 cache is going to suck, big time! The difference between my E4300 and the E6750 is huge at the same clock speed, and that had 2MB of cache! Everything else was the same as my my E4300 until I got the DS3R! Everything else is a good choice, but you lose way too much performance going with the 1MB cache chip and the 800MHz fsb! It's going to cripple your video performance no matter what video card you install! I think you will regret it in the long run. Remember that almost 4000 3DMark you thought was pretty good, well it wes 2300 or so with the E4300 with the only difference being the CPU! The 2MB increase means that much to the video performance!

If it was me, I would wait till you save a bit more money and by the best priced xx50 model! You can have the fastest video card in the world and it's not going to make you very happy! That's what I think, anyway! Prices on the lower xx50s will be going down in the next couple of months. Buy your other stuff now and live with the E4300 in it, and save some cash till then!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I find that very surprising, as I can make the same 3dmark score as someone with an E6750 when they're both overclocked. In any case I've seen what a PC with an HD3870 and an E2160 can do because I built one, and it plays games just like I'd expect it to. Maybe in terms of video encoding or Sandra tests it's not so hot, but for gaming applications, even at stock it can handle very CPU-intensive games like Supreme Commander:Forged Alliance.

 

i kinda worded that wrong. i got a ton of help from the fine fellas here. without them i couldnt have gotten the stuff i did and the know how to do the build...

i ment that im not getting cut any slack for the faulty CPU. and not knowing it was the CPU.

speaking of said CPU. im hopeing it will be here tomorrow. maybe late today but tomorrow for sure. my new sata burner is out for delivery now. so around 2:00pm(eastern time) it should be here...now the only way this could work out any better is for me to get my last rebate from coolermaster in the next day or 2. then i will get my PSU..lol