The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

Sam,
I might be mistaken but I believe that you have to use only what they've released for the 3200/3300. I tried downloading the latest Catalyst and it locked up the computer solid! A power switch job! No reset or hold the power button, just turn off the mains! I've even tried the drivers for the 3450, and they don't work at all. Gives you a hardware error!

Russ

 

Sam,
As you know, I've been using the Arctic cooling MX-2 since it came out. Every bit as good as AS5, and use my method for applying it,
and you'll get the same temps every time! Just put a 3/16" ball of it, right in the middle of the cpu and install the cooler. AMD, Intel, it doesn't matter. You get a tiny bit of seep where the cooler meets the CPU, but not enough to drool any. I wipe it off with a paper towel. Totally non-conductive, with no curing time and it never dries! Very Good Stuff!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Well...I definitely NEED a new card. As im sure you'll agree LOL! The test appeared to default to a lower res for the first test ran, But I wanted to know how it would do at the typically widely used 1680 x 1050! And I currently have it running at 1920 x 1200! Apparently it wont run the video too well used in the bench, LOL! I saw it dip down to as low as 1 FPS! It never went over 25 either! Though I did leave the room.

 

Oman7,
It certainly makes me feel good about the MSI model N9500 MD512 D3 then! At the same resolution, I got 5776 with 06 and 18487 with 03! LOL!! And you're painfully right, that one game is useless! No way you could play it with this card. It makes the old Texas Instruments T-99a seem fast playing BurgerTime! ROFLMSOAO!!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Did you manually set it Russ? 3dmark defaults to 1280x1024 unless you change it, regardless of what res your monitor uses.

For reference, I get just over 20,000 marks at 2560x1600 with 4xAA and 16xAF applied.

 

Sam,
I set it manually. Actually in doing so I may have discovered an anomaly! I knew with the HD-3200 on the 780, and the early HD-3300's that they were faster at higher resolutions. I would guess that it apparently does the same with a dedicated 16x PCI-E card as well. It's set to 1680x1050 and I have AA set to 2x and everything else is set to medium! I played around with it with everything on high and it played pretty darn good. Like being in a movie! mostly I have to learn the controls and write them all down so I don't forget! LOL!!

Russ

 

I can see that being the case with faster cards due to CPU limitations, but there's no way a CPU like yours is going to limit you to 6000 marks.

 

You guys will probably LOL at this, but I have an oldish Dell tower, with pretty good innards, but I hate the case, and there is no room for upgrading the fans etc, also the Windows disk will only work on a Dell motherboard, and the ram is outdated and will not work on modern motherboards.

I have heard its pretty impossible to transfer a system out of a Dell because, reportedly, the case switches only work on Dell cases on the motherboard, from looking at it, it does look a bit...Odd.

So my question is, is it possible at all to transfer it over to a standard ATX case, or should I just strip it, sell the parts and move on?

Thanks for reading!

 

You could salvage all but the motherboard and Power supply, but would you want to? Depends what you want done with the system, what parts you currently have and how much you're willing to spend.

 

kita24,
Mostly it depends on the motherboard layout, the power supply and other non-standard things, like who made the motherboard. Dell generally uses non standard connectors from the front panel, usually a single cable with 1 or 2 plugs on it. You didn't mention the model, so it's hard to say for sure. Many old Dells use non Standard, "made for Dell" power supplies.

You also said "oldish", so memory is a factor too! Older memory has gone up in price and could be one of three or four types. Rambus, SD Ram, DDR or even DDR2. I just bought a Gigabyte (2x512) of SD Ram for a customer and it cost about $75 with tax and shipping. Modern DDR2 like the 4GB (2x2GB) corsair Dominators I just bought for mine can be had for much less. Some old Dells limit you to as little as, 512MB of memory, while others allow 1GB, and many allow as high as 2GB as well. It's generally not worth the effort, because at the end of the day, you gain nothing but a different look. It might look nicer, but inside it would be the same as what you had with the old case. IMO, you would be better off buying a Bare Bones kit, and building a new one with it and chucking the Dell entirely. It would cost you less in the long run!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Hi guys, thanks for the kind replies!

Its an old Dimension model, the first run of Pentium 4's I think (its 2ghz) and yes its DDR2 I think, has 2gigs of it, and I know for some reason that ram is expensive.

Well, I was hoping to turn it into a media centre PC, really, shame to waste a spare deck, I thought.

Just had another look inside, and yes, there's an extra bit of PCB on the bottom of the motherboard, which the case wires connect to.

Meh, no wonder system building is so popular, Dell are damn lame!

Think I'll leave this to one side for the time being and concentrate on installing windows on my lovely Cosmos setup!

Thanks again for the help, much appreciated ; )

 

kita24,
It's very likely that it has Rambus Ram in it then, which is very expensive at the moment, and not about to get cheaper anytime soon!

It would never work as a Media PC either. The hardware is too old. How fast is the CPU?

Russ

 

kita24,

2GHz tells me it older than DDR2, or DDR. Almost all of the early Dell P-4s were Rambus Ram. 4 sticks of 512 would give you 2GB, but the cost would be very high. I know because there's a lot of them still in offices in my area. The last time I looked, it was $285 for 4x512MB Rambus 800 Ram! The slower memory is hard to find at all!

Russ

 

Hi everybody...
I am looking at a new build...need to make up my mind quick...
ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Superior Graphic & Computing with True @16 3-Way SLI
with
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail Combo price $369.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.176458
with this case...
COOLER MASTER Stacker 830 CX-830DMSK-01-GP Color Aluminum ATX Full Tower CSX Limited Edition Diamond Plate Skulls Computer Case - Retail $449.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119176
$879.43 Out the door...
Has any one heard anything bad about this board...or memory...

Link to current review...
http://hothardware.com/Articles/Asus-P6T6-WS-Revolution-Core-i7-Motherboard/?page=11
The conclusion pretty much described what I am looking for...
"Asus P6T6 WS Revolution is built not for the gamer so much as the Workstation Professional or at the very least, the "well-rounded performance enthusiast". From our perspective, we love the board. It has a ton of flexibility for PCI Express connectivity, especially if you're the type to plug a PCIe-based hardware RAID card in one of it's full length slots. The board also exhibited absolute bedrock stability under all testing conditions as well as serious overclocking prowess. We'd recommend the P6T6 WS Revolution without any reservations, provided you look at its price tag from the proper perspective and intend to take advantage of all the board has to offer, beyond 3-Way SLI."

 

I'm in need of some 184 pin Mem, but at a loss as to the better Mfg.
how about these
CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWINX2048-3200C2PT - Retail
* Original Price: $99.00
* You Save: $20.00
* Free Shipping
* Your Price:$79.00
* Mail-In Rebate pdf:N82E16820145575 $25.00
* Price after rebateN82E16820145575(s):$54.00
So far this is the only page I've looked at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...escription=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

 

Rick,
Decent memory. I had the same memory in my Pentium D 940 Dual Core, and it's still working in socket 939 motherboard with a 4000+ 2.5GHz single core. It overclocked pretty well too! Recommended!

Russ

 

THANKS Russ

 

The board and memory look great to me. You could get the same case for half the cost. You would be paying an extra $200 for a shiny case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119122
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

Sam just got the HAF and he seems to like it. I would go with one of these two cases and spend that money elsewhere.

 

@Rob

Here's what...I was looking at on your drive after running a scan thru...






after words...I ran this software on your drive and I was able to access your drive then it booted up on my other system in the antec case...

http://oldmcdonald.wordpress.com/


but as we talked it did'nt seem the same as normal to you so I put in a fresh install for you Done