Building a new computar

[Clay Pigeon]

Don't intel quadcores use the shared memory bus to communicate between the 2 core2duos on the die?

[bubu]

As of right now, they do. It doesn't give you a full "twice the speed" but tests show the Q6600(the quad core) is on Par with the core 2 duo Extreme(an $800 dual core). The quad core extreme blows them both away, but you'll have to drop a good 1g to buy that thing...

[MasterChef]

[quote="MrBlah";p="73686"][quote="[HALO]MasterChief";p="73677"]
I've only had one ASUS mobo and it wasn't great. I had some problems with it always locking up and other weird things. I've heard nothing but good things about them but my one experience wasn't that good. I've since been using gigabyte and have had no issues. I'm sure my experience with ASUS was the exception rather than the rule but figured I'd let you know.

Also I would transfer anything you want to keep off of that maxtor drive. I've had two of their hard drives and both failed on me. And I've heard of quite a few others that have also gone bad.
[/quote]

You seem to have had a lot of stuff go wrong... lol, have you also had a large pool of tech to pull from? I prefer Maxtor over WD, Seagate of Maxtor, and Samsung over Seagate. Hitachi for the laptop and Serial Attached SCSI.

One other thing Frag, dont make this a life changing decision, Asus, Abit, Gigabyte, eVGA, Intel are all valid choices, we could fight over them for an eternity. flip a coin id say for brand but first and foremost, make sure the board you get has everything you need AND THEN SOME for better scalability. you dont wanna board that doesnt allow you to add anything to it.[/quote]

Its not really a lot of stuff that has gone wrong. Just those couple of things. Other than that my builds have all been pretty smooth.

[MrBlah]

I see MasterCHEF... hehe

I dont think ive seen this much input towards one person building a computer before.... we dont want Frag to fail here and frag himself over a computer

Truely though Frag, I would come back when you are 2-3 weeks ahead of building this thing, chances are many opinions will stay the same but none of use know what will or will not be out by then.

Until then, we will continue to argue over which brand is better and which is not. Bubu did mention that RAM doesnt really matter about brand.... in many ways he is right. All you get over another is this or that heatsink on it, one bigger one smaller. They all have standards that must be met just like any other product in the world, or most any.

So until then, dont fret over it, just let it sit in the fridge, or the freezer for that matter, until you need to cook it.

[FragFailure]

I agree Mr. Blah, that's the plan. It's just nice getting my berrings back. You know losing touch with products for even a year can throw you off. Something that was quality from a brand line could turn into utter crap. Nvidia is pretty much ahead in the video card race. This wasn't the case a few years back.

[Gen.Ben]

Open the quote, my message is in there.

[quote="bubu";p="73961"]Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail
$275.99
EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
$209.99


Thats at newegg..
I would go with that performace over the dual core that is being out dated. you'll get nearly double the processing power, cooler temps, more expandability, less power consumption for a better Dollar to Mhz ratio.

At the moment, unless the program specifically multi-threaded, having a quad has no advantage over a dual at the same speed. As time goes on more programs will be written in multi-threading. But when that's here, it will be time to upgrade


Power supply wise a 500 watt will do, I got my 630watt modulated Raidmax Volcano was $40 on sale at Frys Electronics. At the time of this post my whole computer PLUS monitor is only using 275 watts of energy. (i'm running 3 video cards, 2 hard drives, 2 DVD burners, and 6 case fans.)
SO what that means is that people ALWAYS over shoot what their demands are. Also, in my experince, If you're going to go cheap, go very cheap or get a quality PS - not an inbetween one, pricewatch.com has the CHEAPEST powersupply selection, I've burnt up about 3 of the $20 600watt ones in the last 3 years utill my current good one went on sale.

I'm just going to say it now that people over-shoot it for a reason. They don't want to run their power supply at it's max rated rate. They want to run it alot lower so the power draw is more efficient.

Read this: http://www.motherboards.org/articles/guides/1487_7.html

Frag, go with a Corsair 520w At least. You wont be disappointed.


Case! I've been using my same large-midsize tower for going on 8 years now, this is your choice really, I would set $80 aside to pick this - Intel computers run cool, Nvidia video cards run cool (plus you'll have nTune watching over the temp and it will speed up fans according to the temp). The only thing that gets hot in my computer are the memory sticks. It doesn't pose much threat and if you want, they make clipon fans with a fan connected to a bendystraw neck with a clip on the other end that you can hook onto the chassie of your case and point it RIGHT at the memory bays.
My friend bought an antec super expensive case that basicly creates a hurricane inside it... POINTLESS!
His computer produces less heat than mine, he just wasted $150 bucks on a case that does nothing but look rediculus. - Thats what you want to avoid.

[/quote]

[MrBlah]

About what Gen.Ben Highlighted... bubu said.... about PSUs... I can guarantee you that the majority of people that build their computers dont do it on purpose in some senses. After working in a computer store for nearly a year you realise many of the people that come to buy PSUs dont need a 500W PSU yet they buy one anyway because they think they need it. Computer manufacturers.... more like "Computer Put em togethers" use only the needed PSU for the application. The other reason someone would buy a 1KW PSU, like me is because i have 2 8800 Ultras and i need 2 12v rails with atleast 35 amps on each one. And unfortunately what was available to me at the time was a 1KW Thermaltake. I know ive seen some smaller ones but im not gunna regret it, it barely produces any heat to start with. SO yes... very efficient.

[kaze06]

[quote="bubu";p="73961"]

Power supply wise a 500 watt will do, I got my 630watt modulated Raidmax Volcano was $40 on sale at Frys Electronics. At the time of this post my whole computer PLUS monitor is only using 275 watts of energy. (i'm running 3 video cards, 2 hard drives, 2 DVD burners, and 6 case fans.)
SO what that means is that people ALWAYS over shoot what their demands are. Also, in my experince, If you're going to go cheap, go very cheap or get a quality PS - not an inbetween one, pricewatch.com has the CHEAPEST powersupply selection, I've burnt up about 3 of the $20 600watt ones in the last 3 years utill my current good one went on sale. [/quote]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... p?t=108088

Raidmax is notorious for their insanely unstable power supplies. If you cheap out on the PSU, you're putting your entire system at risk. One blown cap or a short can send your $1300+ investment all down the drain. Also, wattage is not all that matters with power supplies. If you don't have supple amps on the 12V rail, then you're going to be bottlenecking the majority of your system and, again, risking all the components with undervoltage.

as far as memory goes, speed and size is ALL that matters. Young and ignorant people will tell you to get name brand.. well. in my experince, name brand has NO performance increses and life expectancy is the exact same - Unless your digging around in your computer changing parts every week ANY band memory stick will hang in there with you untill it's time for an upgrade.
At Frys Electronics you can get no-brander 800mhz 2gb sticks for $50 a piece on sale. I don't know where you live, but thats a pretty common price (other than rip-off places like best buy and circut city)

Speed and size is not, in fact, all that matters. "Young and ignorant" is hilariously ironic. Speed and size are obviously two factors, but timings are the third. If you buy off-brand memory with low quality IC's and with loose timings, you're pretty much slapping yourself in the face. Name brands DO have an impact on performance. Most companies such as Crucial and G.SKILL use Micron GMH IC's. In Layman's terms, they use much higher quality IC's than other companies. These are an enthusiasts dream chip and a set of good Crucial Ballistix will set you back $80 at most.

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
$209.99

The 680i chipset is fairly picky in terms of memory. Also, getting a good P35 or X38 board is a much more advisable choice for performance, as SLI is a complete waste of money unless you're running at an extremely high resolution.

Case! I've been using my same large-midsize tower for going on 8 years now, this is your choice really, I would set $80 aside to pick this - Intel computers run cool, Nvidia video cards run cool (plus you'll have nTune watching over the temp and it will speed up fans according to the temp). The only thing that gets hot in my computer are the memory sticks. It doesn't pose much threat and if you want, they make clipon fans with a fan connected to a bendystraw neck with a clip on the other end that you can hook onto the chassie of your case and point it RIGHT at the memory bays.
My friend bought an antec super expensive case that basicly creates a hurricane inside it... POINTLESS!
His computer produces less heat than mine, he just wasted $150 bucks on a case that does nothing but look rediculus. - Thats what you want to avoid.

NVidia cards by no means run cool, especially the 8800GT. If you cheap out on your case you're going to regret it eventually. You're going to want a decent case with good airflow. Make sure the fans are decent (if not, buy some Yate Loons). You also want to make sure you're not creating too much positive pressure in your case. If you have more CFM's being inducted and less being exhausted, then you're going to end up with warm, stale air in your case. You usually want slightly more exhaust CFM than intake CFM.

[MrBlah]

you can change your timing of your RAM in most CMOS's now adays so that kinda make your point go down the drain there. Atleast in the 680i mobo you mentioned... happens to be the one i use and i can change the timings of my RAM at will. And i also run SLI at 1280x1024.... its not a high res but EVERYTHING is smooth and looks really good.

Oh and one more thing (Volts x Amps) = Watts So the greater Wattage you have on a PSU the greater amount of Amperes you have on your 12v Rails. Its simple physics.

Aside from that, your tone does sound a bit arrogant.

[bubu]

I agree with you MrBlah, I keep seeing talk about the freaking balistix RAM... It's as some one here works for them and is trying to make a sale. We've already discussed memory to the max. - You don't need rip-off ram.

Power supplies do NOT blow your system when they die. There are failsafe capasitors even in the cheapest of PSU's. The thing that blows first is one of those, it will smoke, smell like burning sylicone, thats about it. You might lose unsaved work once, it's harmless.

And as far as SLI being a complete waste of money if you're not in High res... please research what SLI does and know that you can change simple settings to force SLI processing on your OS and every program you use. High Resolution is just one of many things SLI improves performance on.
I also would recommend an SLI board to anyone because SLI is the future of GPU's, and you don't have to use it right away, you can get one expensive card now... and in the future when games require more than that card can handle, slap a 2nd one in at a major reduced price and BAM you've got another few years with that system.

It's kind of interesting how geeks have a version of lockertalk. I used to do it when I was in highschool with my friends. I know now that all of the talk was rubbish.. the only analogy I can come up with is like this... "Hey dude, buy the Ferrari steering wheel instead of the honda one, it's only $120 more for the performance brand and it will make you go faster! zoom zoom!"
Silly ain't it?

[kaze06]

[quote="bubu";p="74124"]
Power supplies do NOT blow your system when they die. There are failsafe capasitors even in the cheapest of PSU's. The thing that blows first is one of those, it will smoke, smell like burning sylicone, thats about it. You might lose unsaved work once, it's harmless.[/quote]

Possibly in your experiences. You don't seem to know anything about what you speak of. Yes, most times a power supply blows a cap and just goes into meltdown and nothing happens, but it also happens every so often that when a PSU goes, it takes a few other things with it. A faulty PSU can ruin your entire rig. Think you're right? Head on over to XS and have your theory disproven. If you don't think they are credible, then I honestly don't know who is. If you really want to take the risk either way and cheap out on a low end power supply, be my guest. It is not a sound investment.

And as far as SLI being a complete waste of money if you're not in High res... please research what SLI does and know that you can change simple settings to force SLI processing on your OS and every program you use. High Resolution is just one of many things SLI improves performance on.
I also would recommend an SLI board to anyone because SLI is the future of GPU's, and you don't have to use it right away, you can get one expensive card now... and in the future when games require more than that card can handle, slap a 2nd one in at a major reduced price and BAM you've got another few years with that system.

SLI is a waste of cash when you consider the fact that for the purpose of gaming, you rarely see beyond a 40-60% increase in any sort of performance. SLI isn't really practical when you consider the fact that the OP did say he was on a budget. The 680i chipset is out of date in comparison to P35 and X38 and has less support for newer hardware.

It's kind of interesting how geeks have a version of lockertalk. I used to do it when I was in highschool with my friends. I know now that all of the talk was rubbish.. the only analogy I can come up with is like this... "Hey dude, buy the Ferrari steering wheel instead of the honda one, it's only $120 more for the performance brand and it will make you go faster! zoom zoom!"
Silly ain't it?

Funny you should say that...

[Clay Pigeon]

[quote="bubu";p="74124"]I agree with you MrBlah, I keep seeing talk about the freaking balistix RAM... It's as some one here works for them and is trying to make a sale. We've already discussed memory to the max. - You don't need rip-off ram.

Power supplies do NOT blow your system when they die. There are failsafe capasitors even in the cheapest of PSU's. The thing that blows first is one of those, it will smoke, smell like burning sylicone, thats about it. You might lose unsaved work once, it's harmless.

And as far as SLI being a complete waste of money if you're not in High res... please research what SLI does and know that you can change simple settings to force SLI processing on your OS and every program you use. High Resolution is just one of many things SLI improves performance on.
I also would recommend an SLI board to anyone because SLI is the future of GPU's, and you don't have to use it right away, you can get one expensive card now... and in the future when games require more than that card can handle, slap a 2nd one in at a major reduced price and BAM you've got another few years with that system.

It's kind of interesting how geeks have a version of lockertalk. I used to do it when I was in highschool with my friends. I know now that all of the talk was rubbish.. the only analogy I can come up with is like this... "Hey dude, buy the Ferrari steering wheel instead of the honda one, it's only $120 more for the performance brand and it will make you go faster! zoom zoom!"
Silly ain't it? [/quote]

Last time I had a psu go it took my motherboard with it.

[kaze06]

[quote="Clay Pigeon";p="74167"]
Last time I had a psu go it took my motherboard with it.
[/quote]

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=42332
http://www.mail-archive.com/vox-tech@li ... 12585.html
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3022
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview ... erthread=y

Just some further statements backing this up.

[sgt stutter]

You have all got some great points, information and ideas here, let’s try and stay focused on Frags build, I know him he needs all the help he can get.

All kidding aside Frag is fairly versed in this stuff he's just been out of the loop for a bit, he will get back into it quickly.

So I'm just asking please don't keep throwing out the I know more then you know stuff. Let’s just put your information out there for Frag and let him decide what he wants to do with it.

This would be appreciated, I would hate to see this get out of hand and have to lock it.

[MrBlah]

indeed... Kaze you are right though, a PSU can take more with it, ive taken a motherboard and a GPU with it. But meh... it happens. Its electronics... things can go off in a chain reaction sorta thing and there is nothing you can do. Quite frankly, the bigger the PSU you get, the less its gunna work so the longer it will last.