The Official PC building thread!

That is weird, what exactly happenes? Because I have a Hanns-G that blew on me a couple days ago, and it just white screens now..
shame.
But aabbccdd, how is that video card of yours? and the duel core?
I dont think we have ever seen any benchmarks of that thing?
could you post some?

Peace,
Ryan

 

I ought to run some benches for my system do, all I have is a 3Dmark 03 of 18,000 or so I can't rememember any others...

HOLY....

When did that 7950GX2 appear???

 

sammorris...

Thank you for your reply. It's good to have you back on these message boards.

After doing some research on benchmarks of Intel Duo Core Conroe vs AMD processors, I've found that Intel is the obvious choice. So this is my new potential build.

Case & Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811129155

HD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822144701

Graphics Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814102657

Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16835118115

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145098

Mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131030

Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115004

Note that the graphics card is cheap...taht's because I figure it is good enough for my needs for now (madden, age of empires III, dvd viewing) and I can upgrade to a DirectX10 card anyway when it comes out - so now point in blowing huge money on a great card right now. Also...if you think something is lacking and I should improve it, then I would consider getting the 6300 processor instead (it still matches and/or far exceeds the X2 4200+ from AMD and even AMD's top processor in some categories), or I could get 1 GB of RAM (maybe upgrade to DDR2 800 RAM), and worry about the second 1 GB stick later if my system seems to be lagging for my needs.

Please let me knwo what you think

Thanks everyone!!

 

Hey.. dont get that video card.. get the X850XT same price if not cheaper, and kicks that cards ass very brutaly..

on another note.. i would get the duel core with the 4mg of L2 cache.. it will do you longer, and you will not regret it when games ask for that.. and i herd they overclock like whores..

and i have that same hard drive.. and it rocks..

other than that.. it is a kick ass system..

good luck,
Peace,
Ryan

 

sammorris its been doing this on and off for over a month now . its done the same thing on both video cards the 7800-GTX and the 7950-GX2 . i thought i had a bad card but apperanty thats not the case. its been booting up fine the last couple days though

 

Ryan,

Great find. Thank you very much. You're right that it is MUCH better than the card I picked out, and it's actually CHEAPER too!!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102688

I don't overclock. Never had a need really. I'm not a hardcore gamer, so I don't know how to do it, and I've never really been interested in doing it. But this card is still better, so I think I'll go with that.

 

The case is nice and very quiet, if a little on the expensive side, but that's OK, you're paying for Antec quality. The hard disk is excellent, one of the fastest and quietest you'll find. I'd agree with Ryan on the Graphics card, an X850XT will easily eclipse an X1600XT, so unless you're concerned about Pixel Shader 3.0 for games, get the 850 instead. The CPU cooler is excellent, as is the CPU itself. The Motherboard's good, I don't really care for RAID anyway. The RAM is a little weak, Value Select is good in DDR form, but DDR2 and you really want XMS2 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145015
The E6300 is more a match for the 4200+ overall, it doesn't really beat it much unless overclocked. That system could handle an overclock, and since mine can't, you'd be one up on me there.
All core 2 Duos overclock very well with the right gear, 4MB cache isn't important other than specific programs, and that doesn't include video converters or games, only applications like Folding at Home, where jobs manage between 2 and 4MB of memory.
The new card you've selected is perfect, doug.
aabbccdd: Hmm, sounds a little weird. But it always picks up windows?

 

Thanks a lot sammorris. Good find on the RAM too. It's about the same price after rebate, so I might as well go with that.

I might order tonight. This seems like a reasonable deal that will suit me well.

Sam...are you recommending the 6300 over the 6400? Or was your comment just a general statement?

Thanks again!

 

Well the E6300 is about 4200+ on average if I remember rightly, the E6400 is about 4600+, but the two Allendales both overclock to pretty much the same speed, so if you're into that, the 6300 is the better option. With cheap gear, the 6300 can go from 1.86 to about 2.15, and the 6400 from 2.13 to about 2.45. Yours is not cheap gear though, and with decent hardware, both the 6300 and 6400 are capable of above 3.0. 64026402's E6300 using a Gigabyte DS3 runs at about 3.31 I think, from 1.86!

 

well...

the graphics card I wanted was all sold out. Does anyone have any other suggestions? I have about $200 left to work with and I need a graphics card and fan because someone said that the fan I listed previously is probably too big for the case I've selected (mid-tower case).

Please respond ASAP because i'd like to order tonight.

Thank you!

 

Well....

this is what I ended up with. HOpefully this is good enough...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143049

Still need a fan though if anyone can help! Someone recommended the following to me....but the reviews say it's big and heavy so i'm unsure about it...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106061

 

dougisjc , the fan you picked out should work. who told you it wouldn't?

sammorris yes windows always loads fine. its goes from the mobo screen to the windows screen then i get a black screen saying "No DVI-D Signal" sometimes i have to reboot two or three times to get a signal. then sometimes when booting up i get NO mobo screen and NO windows screen and it boots right to the desktop screen. but for the last two days its been booting up correctly. so I'm at a lost with whats going on. as said its done the same thing with BOTH video cards 7800-GTX and my current card 7950-GX2

 

Heres a review of the fan you bought.
Its not the best value, it's a serious sized monster to fit in your case but the cooling properties are near the top performers.
The Artic freezers are still at the top in terms of cooling performance and value.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/08/01/conroe_heatsink_group_test/1.html

 

A 7600GT for $115??? LOL get that! I agree with bigDK on the heatsink, it's good but Arctic Freezers are better.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835186134
aabbccdd: Does the same happen on any other monitor?

 

sammorris...

are you saying that $115 is a good price for that GPU?

I think i'll get the fan you recommended.

Thanks everyone!

 

I dont recomend the 7600. . it is 128bit.. which bottlenecks you..
I would get a X1800GTO2... they are a downgraded X1800XT, but u can flash the bios over the the X1800XT.. it is a kick ass card for the money..

I am just not as big of a fan of Nvidia as i used to be..

Peace,
Ryan

 

Ryan,

Thanks for your comments. I wish I could have gotten the first fan you picked out...unfortunately it was out of stock though and I didn't want to wait.

Unfortunately it's too late. I already ordered the 7600. Hopefully it's good enough for me. I'm sure it will be because I don't overclock and I don't even know what you mean by "flash the bios", haha, so I guess that doesn't apply to me. I just need something good enough for madden, age of empires III, and watching dvds on my 20" viewsonic widescreen flat planel that I bought about 2 months ago.

Thanks again.

 

The 7600 is a good enough card, just below the X1800GTO in terms of performance, quality and what not, but the X1800GTO goes for like $180, and isn't worth the premium on the 7600GT. Flashing the BIOS of a graphics card is giving it software that belongs to another card fooling it into thinking it is that other card. Since many cards are the higher end models just with things turned off (usually pixel pipelines) they cn easily be turned on again and be converted to the models they used to be.

 

I thought they turned things off when they found them to be unstable with them on thats why they are chaeper

of course I'm probably wrong

welcome back sam

 

Thanks pcrepair, good to see you again. That's generally how it works with clock speeds and memory speeds, but with regard to pipelines, the lower-number models are genuinely the higher end models with the pipelines disabled.