The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

I've seen two tempting SSD's in the last year. An ocz, and an intel. It won't be long now, hee hee hee <-------insanity giggle.

I couldn't afford the 300Gb at the time. I would have, but just couldn't do it

 

I'ma wait for some 500GB SSDs to come to a sane price point before I make the switch. The performance is amazing but I'm not suffering with my current drives

 

LOL! My family and friends are JEALOUS of my setup. And I drool about making my super machine even better! Im not hurting either. But darn it, the idea of something better...

 

I was initially tempted by the Corsair X series / OCZ Summit but after seeing how the Intel performed, the 34nm 80GB X25 is on my to buy list. Perhaps more urgent currently is an extra games drive for my gaming PC, thinking WD1001FALS.

 

I tell you what, I am very impressed with the silverstone drive caddy I bought a while back, thoroughly recommended. It's not cheap, but after making sure all my noisier 7200rpm drives in my server went in that, leaving only the 5400rpm drives in the standard HDD mounts, the 120Hz vibration has completely gone from my server, I can't hear it if i go right up to the PC, nor can I hear it downstairs. Excellent damping. The only noise now is from the overzealous CPU fan which I intend to change and the PSU fan, which I may or may not change, depending on how rich I am this year (so it's unlikely!), that plus the gentle, and actually quite soothing 90Hz hum of the 5400rpm green drives. 90Hz is so much more bearable to hear than 120.

 

how is the samsugn SLC 64GB. cant find any reviews

 

Even MLC drives proved it's all about the controller. The Samsung ones tend to be among the weakest of the useable (ignoring the horrific JMicron ones) controllers for performance, Indilinx scoring slightly higher, but Intel coming out top.

 

just bought Vista Home Premium retial for £20

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-215-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=

"guess who's back, back again?"

 

Yes! that was it. I thought I would need those plugged in but was just afraid I would over power the cpu or something dumb like that. Figured it was better to ask a look foolish than to screw something up. Thanks for the help everyone. Running great now.

 

Ha glad you could be sorted

 

So you can buy a Q9450 with no stock cooler and a 1 year warranty for not much less than a Q9550 with a cooler and a 3 year warranty. Hmmm... Methinks I'll pass.
Especially those who have free delivery from Hexus and not from OcUK, that makes an OEM Q9450 £151, and a retail Q9550 £165.

 

By the way, since the Q9450 has not been re-introduced as a retail product, these are RMA replacement chips from Intel that have built up. Whether you want to trust an ex-RMA CPU is up to you...

 

Sam,
Is this a UK thing? The reason I ask is because here in the States, they do not sell ex-RMA CPUs! RMA replacement CPUs here are brand new! Generally near the end of a particular CPU's production they manufacture a certain number of CPUs that are not for sale, that are set aside strictly for warranty RMAs. Generally when a CPU is sent back for RMA, there's almost always something wrong with it. Almost all returns are destroyed several times a year and this is done under the supervision of the IRS, and they do check every single chip that's to be destroyed! IRS themselves cart them away and see that they are physically destroyed! Otherwise they are not entitled to any tax write-off caused by the loss of Taxed inventory when replacing them!

I've been through that in my business with the IRS, and it's a PITA! What you get is a bunch of Officious Pencil necks running around with clipboards, checking everything, generally getting in the way and bothering everyone who is trying to do their job as quickly as possible! Here, they even bring their own dumpster!

Russ

 

Not really the same law in the UK so I don't know.

 

Sam,
I can not purchase one from there, here in the states, but I notice that there is no mention of a warranty? Do you have any idea why?

Russ

 

Probably because the only warranty it has is the mandatory 1 year retail.

 

Sam,
I think your laws are better there, as I found a new Q9440 for $225.31, but here's the warranty, a fat 21 days from the invoice date!

Russ

 

Any product labelled as 'new' and not 'refurbished' to my knowledge has a minimum warranty of 1 year unless inappropriate (e.g. printer cartridges). Refurbished items have a 30 day warranty.

 

Sam,
The Q9450 I mentioned costs more than a new Q9550 from newegg with a full 3 year warranty, I don't imagine it would be worth the price then! LOL!!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041

Russ