The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

I like the feel of the Antec earth watts. More mass than I thought it'd be. Rather silly about not including the power cord, but I do have multiple laying around :S Pretty confident with the build. Looks like one of my friends goes over to this guys house fairly often. He's gonna drop it off for me, and give him pointers about running some of the programs. E.g. Project 64. I should really get this guys texting number. Texting is so convenient xD

Oddly, I've bought the case twice now. My mothers has a blue light in the front HDD bay area, the new one does not :S

 

Lots of PSUs I've bought have come without cables, including the pretty expensive Zalman I use in my main PC. Which case is this?

 

COOLER MASTER ELITE 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

 

Ah right. Is that just a blue light, or a front case fan? Might just be that CM no longer include the front fan with the case.

 

See, it doesn't have a fan in the older tower though. Not in the front anyway. I could be mistaken. Have to check tonight. I felt air, but I don't see the fan in there LOL! I'll look later.

 

Oman7,

They omitted the blue fan, to keep the price down. Newegg just never changed the picture. Now it only comes with one rear fan. How is the steel on the side covers? I've used the Elite 310 before, and the covers flex very easily as the steel is fairly thin.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119210

BTW, Sorry about the no IDE. It never crossed my mind that you didn't know that the MB didn't have one as it was the first thing I noticed when I looked over the MB layout. I always do that so I can visualize where the wires and cables will have to go. Sorry I didn't mention it. I'm guessing that leaving it out helps get a lower priced AM3+ motherboard out. I'm still deciding whether to go ahead and get the $136 AM3 board or wait and get an AM3+ when the time comes for it. I'm just thinking ahead, although chances are that Russell will never need more than the 1090T to begin with.

Russ

 

Not sure, but this sounds like a deal to me. OCZ Vertez2 60GB SandForce controll w/Trim Support. $90 w/MIR and Free Shipping I've already gotten the rebate for my new PSU!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...51311-_-EMC-051311-Index-_-SSD-_-20227550-L0A

Best Regards,
Russ

 

No TRIM on XP Russ...LOL
Yes, that price has dropped considerably. Don't hold yer breath over OCZ rebate, but If i remember right though, you don't mind calling companies up and repeatedly reminding them of their obligations so you might be OK...

 

Funny as I just pointed one of my friends towards the same unit and installed it in his machine for him. He got a very nice thick gauge cord with it.

 

Deadrum33,

I've already gotten the Rebate for the Fatal1ty 550 watt power supply I recently bought. It came much earlier than I expected, about 6 weeks, which really surprised me. I've had very good luck with rebates. The only one I can remember not getting was from Pep Boys for my Razor electric scooter. $50! I got a phone call from Pep Boys just last week asking why we haven't done any recent business with them, and I told him about the $50 rebate. The guy's comment was that I must not have filled it out properly. I asked him if they wouls like to see the copies, and they asked to see them. Russell took them over there and they made copies of them and told us that someone would be in contact with us. I doubt I'll hold my breath. The purchase was made in Janruary of 06! The big thud you will hear is my head hitting the floor if they ever call me back!

With the bad economy, they do make it harder to fill out, and you have to be very careful to do it exactly as they tell you to do it. Some companies are better than others, but We've gotten very good at it, with all I buy from Newegg.

Russ

 

Yes, the steel side panel is somewhat flimsy. He loves it though! Apparently he's very excited, and loves how it's running. I figured he would. I guarantee the Phenom would have been overkill. The athlon II should run pretty cool too. And the summer months are coming up Feels pretty good being the go to guy I just love getting my hands dirty. At least with PC stuff

Not a big deal about the IDE. It's obviously being phased out anyway. I had one too many Sata drives anyway. I've had a 7261S on standby. So I gave him my 7241S. They behave very similarly. I got some use out of the 7241S, so I don't feel too bad about it. And it's become obvious to me, that the HAF932 is allowing for longer longevity on the Optical drives. Which is good. I have 2 BD drives in there

 

I have never depended on rebates but I did get the $30 rebate with my second 4870 from Sapphire so it does work when done right.

Russ, how is that 550W OCZ fatal1ty treating you? Any comments on build quality or noise. Voltages stable? The last OCZ PSU I had was exceptional.

 

Estuansis,

I'm pretty pleased with it. When you open the box, even the packaging reeks of quality, and everything inside it is neat and orderly. The internal wiring is routed neatly, so nothing interferes with the airflow. Noise is non existent thanks to the quiet 140mm fan and the fan controller is nice and smooth in operation. Voltage stability is excellent. With only having to use 3 of the six cables that came with it, case wiring was a snap. Nice and neat. They even give you a little zippered bag for the extra cables.

I've now repaired the 700 watt GameXStream, so I have a decent spare if needed, or I can even sell it if I chose. I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with both OCZ PSUs.

Russ

 

The OCZ Fatal1ty units use Impervio OEM platforms, a new company that's pretty unheard of up to now, however, they also manufacture PSUs for Silverstone's ultra-high output Zeus units, and unlike most brands they are machine-soldered, so quality looks good inside. As far as component choices go, Hitachi 105ºC capacitors along with Nippon Chemi-Cons suggests that they're pretty decent quality units. I'd probably wager better than the FSP units OCZ used to use (and probably still do for some units). It's worth noting that some of the GameXStream (not Gamestar Russ )units have moved to Impervio as well.

 

LOL so OCZ units are finally out of the bargain basement. They need to decide on a final OEM, because my last OCZ was Seasonic-built and it was amazing. Quiet and stable and everything. Would be willing to give one of the Fatal1ty units a go as I've heard nothing but good things about them. Even Sam had some kind words XD

As of currently just got done cleaning out my radiator and doing some re-wiring. My SATA DVD-RW arrived. An LG GH22LS30. Apparently a somewhat older unit as it's a DVD-RAM drive as well. So far so good. Nice and quiet compared to my old Lite-On and burns cheap media just fine. Very pleased with the effect it's had on my cabling which was a main motivation XD

 

OCZ have had loads of OEMs. My opinion on Fatal1ty units is simply on hearing which OEM they use. I can't state that they use the exact same components in their units, as I don't know how strictly they adhere to the OEM design, my information was derived from a high-end Silverstone that uses the same company, so keep that in mind. However, it was written explicitly in the article that the units are machine soldered, which eliminates a lot of the concerns for units (poor soldering quality is a really big issue in a lot of PSUs), but it can potentially mask other issues, like component choices. Not so for the silverstone, but I've not seen inside one of the OCZs.

The S30 series of LG drives is quite old now, my 20x drive from 2008 ish is a GH20NS15, whereas my 22x drive from a few months back is a GH22NS50, and the latter does not show as DVD-RAM.

 

Yep I figured as much, I got it used for $5 though so I can't complain. Functionally it's just perfect for my needs. I just wanna read the few disks I actually use and sometimes burn some. AFAIK there's not a whole lot to differentiate it from any other burner except the model number. I'm really ignorant to burners and media remember ;P But yeah it's treating me well and working as intended so no reason to care about it any more than that. If I were a big media burning buff I might give a flying crap but I'm not and I don't

Think this is the 3rd ever DVD-RW I've ever bought for my own uses. Could seriously go for over a year without using one.

 

Never had any issues with my LG drives/burners, but then they're just devices to me, not intricate systems with their own distinctive characteristics to the extent you need to own half a dozen of them, ahem

 

Sam,

My 700w is a GameXStream, not a GameStar. It's a GXS-700 It's made by FSP. It actually has pretty decent components, and a few interesting design features. The only down side I see is is no MOV (Surge Suppression). I've since added it, which is easy enough to do, and takes longer to get the cover off the PSU than it takes to install. I recently replace all the Caps in the voltage regulation circuits with Solid caps from Nippon Chemi Con, so it should be good for many years to come.

Best Regards,
Russ