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wilder
SiNFeCted
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 347
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Posted: Oct. 09 2008,10:20 |
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So I only got as far as putting the mobo in it's case with the CPU... and *gasp* stock retail heat-sink and fan! That's right, no after-market... didnt want to spend additional $$$'s and I dont really intend to over-clock it now (maybe in couple years).
With it, I put 4GB of Patriot DDR2-1066 RAM into it. And will be putting another 4GB as soon as it arrive. (had to purchased them a week apart to qualify for rebates periods).
I got Vista Ultimate 64bit installed, (but i tweaked and switch off most of the features and it really look and behave more like XP), and installed everything BUT videocard drivers.
My current video card is an nVidia 7950 gx2 1GB DDR3 ram. Performance comparable to nVidia 8800GT minus native DirectX10 support. I haven't decided on sticking with this, or getting th ATI 4870 x2.
Parts I re-used:
SoundBlaster X-Fi F4tality
PhysX accelerator
Coolmaster Wavemaster case.
New/purchased (in USD):
- Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor QX6850 $239
- MSI P7N SLI Platinum NVIDIA nForce 750i - $17.42 (with -$139.57 giftcard).
- Coolmax 700W GreenPower Modular PSU - $81.85 (with -$25 giftcard).
- 2x2GB Patriot PVS24G8500ELKR2 DDR2-1066 - $29.99 (with -$100 giftcard)
---> will be $4.99 after $25 mail-in-rebate.
- 2x2GB Patriot PVS24G8500ELKR2 DDR2-1066 - $29.99 (with -$100 giftcard)
---> will be $4.99 after $25 mail-in-rebate.
Total out of pocket expense so far: $402.25 ($352.25 after $50 in rebates); not bad so far for a pretty highend system.
I'm torn between sticking with the 7950gx2 or a newer video card. But a 4870x2 will put me at $902.24 
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wilder
SiNFeCted
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 347
Joined: Nov. 2006 |
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Posted: Nov. 05 2008,18:02 |
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Here's something funny. I gave in and went ahead and pre-ordered a Visiontek Radeon HD 4870x2 off buy.com, I apply for a buy.com credit card to get $30 back. So $549-30 = $519. Since they didnt have any in stock, it took about a month to get some in inventory, then finally it was shipped to me.
Here I am excitinng and got my case naked, and ran into 2 problems. The card is longer than my Geforce 7950GX2! so it ended up not fitting unless I move one of my Harddisk to a different place. So I did, took a little bit to relocate it. Once then and I seat the card in, ran into the show-stopper. I thought it would come with a 2x4 pin PCIe2 adapter... nope.
My PSU only has 2x3 PCIe1 type power. Did a little research, and turns out I shouldnt even attempt to power it on. so I left it the way it is, and put the side panels back on. So ... now I'm waiting on my $10 adapter I got from ebay, that converts a 2x3 PCIe -> 2x4 PCIe plug. I read it works.
If not, I just wasted a whole bunch of time, and money and a 700watt PSU that doesnt support these newer cards! Grrrr. All that horse power at home and cant even power it on. now thats pitiful.
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slatts
Overlord
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 2509
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Posted: Nov. 06 2008,21:59 |
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| Quote (wilder @ Nov. 05 2008,19:02) | Here's something funny. I gave in and went ahead and pre-ordered a Visiontek Radeon HD 4870x2 off buy.com, I apply for a buy.com credit card to get $30 back. So $549-30 = $519. Since they didnt have any in stock, it took about a month to get some in inventory, then finally it was shipped to me.
Here I am excitinng and got my case naked, and ran into 2 problems. The card is longer than my Geforce 7950GX2! so it ended up not fitting unless I move one of my Harddisk to a different place. So I did, took a little bit to relocate it. Once then and I seat the card in, ran into the show-stopper. I thought it would come with a 2x4 pin PCIe2 adapter... nope.
My PSU only has 2x3 PCIe1 type power. Did a little research, and turns out I shouldnt even attempt to power it on. so I left it the way it is, and put the side panels back on. So ... now I'm waiting on my $10 adapter I got from ebay, that converts a 2x3 PCIe -> 2x4 PCIe plug. I read it works.
If not, I just wasted a whole bunch of time, and money and a 700watt PSU that doesnt support these newer cards! Grrrr. All that horse power at home and cant even power it on. now thats pitiful. |
send me PSU... wifes just blew up... give her my 550 watter... take yours... lol
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slatts
Overlord
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Posted: Nov. 09 2008,16:06 |
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was looking at this bad ass.... thinking i wouldn't require one for my next build.... lol. 1600 watt PSU
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wilder
SiNFeCted
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Posted: Nov. 12 2008,11:39 |
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| Quote (slatts @ Nov. 09 2008,10:06) | | was looking at this bad ass.... thinking i wouldn't require one for my next build.... lol. 1600 watt PSU |
What are you going to do with all that power? Thats meant to power extreme OC'ing, with a lot of other internal peripherals. 1000WATT is required for 2 x 4870x2 (or geforce 280 gtx'es); but not if you only have 1 card.
Buying power you dont need is $500 wasted. These days I prefer not to Oc and stick with Stock performances. You get better life out of your hardware that way.. and these days.. you want to make your PC last. I rather invest it a GREAT PSU i need. like 600Watts, or 700Watt for $100 (rather than a cheapo for $30); but i would not get a $500 for 1600 Watts. that's insane. Who can afford the electricity bill for it to keep that running everyday?
And the return deminishes. It's not exactly a good bang-for-buck configuration. I think the best investment in a PC you can make is on the case. A good case will last a long time, and getting those minimalistic looking cases has a style that stays within the trend for a long time. It doesn't depreciate as fast as the mobo-cpu-psu etc.
Dont get me wrong, if you NEED to run a big server, you may need 1600 watts. those RAID array of 4 HDD+ eats a lot of power.
BTW, my adapter/convertor arrived. It accepts 2 4pin power plugs, and adapts it into the PCIe version 2.0 8pin plug. Put it in last night, and finally my machine powered up. I re-updated my Windows Vista score, and got 5.7! hmmm looks like RAM the lowest score. I wonder if i made a good decision to stick with DD2 (1066), instead of going to DD3.
First thing i did was install 3dMark 05, 06, and Vantage.
I got like 19k, 17k, and 15k scores respectfully. I forgot the exact, since i didnt save. But I guess those a decent scores. I loaded Crysis, and put it at the highest setting (but my monitor is only 1280x1024) and it plays the first stage without any hiccups.
Hmmm i might think about overclock the RAM and CPU a little bit. I think CPU should be able to go easily to 3.2ghz on stock FAN/heatsink, and RAM should overclock to 1333... maybe? will research before trying. i know i said i am not big at it... but if it is widely known as "safely" doable with stock and i do not have to spend more $$$ on expensive 3rd party add-ons, I might consider it.
I will reload UT99 as soon as I can; wanna see how it goes!
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slatts
Overlord
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Posted: Nov. 12 2008,13:09 |
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i dont really require that PSU... lol i just saw it when i was looking for a replacement for my wifes... just for an added kick in the nuts... i took apart her PSU hopeing it was just the fuse... NOPE ! cooked.
i went and bought a $40 cheap crap 400 watt so i could put into my mothers PC. so i could get back MY spare for my PC, to put into my wifes PC. that way if mine ever dies i have a strong one here in the house for me. still have issues. just discovered the CPU is fried. tested in my bench model. now i have two spare CPU's here Duron 1.8G and Athlon 1.2G good enough to get here running for now... just prey to God the Mobo isn't fried aswell... CPU cooler fan seams a bit slugish, and thermal past is dried out and cracked. could be the reason for CPU (fingers crossed) been in there since 2002. i cant aford another upgade for me... to give her what i got now... she wouldn't know what to do with it.. lol.
tiz the season to be crusty... fa la la F@#$&^%
hope it all works great for you. does your Mobo software come with the AUTO over clocking software?
Edited by slatts on Nov. 12 2008,13:10
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wilder
SiNFeCted
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Posted: Nov. 12 2008,14:02 |
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(hmmm nice to be able to see what I'm typing now in firefox)...
a bad PSU *shouldnt* fry a mobo. Its not that i wouldnt go for a cheap 20-40$ PSU, they just die and burn out too quickly. I would prolly add up all the watts your components use... then see if you really need a 400Watt PSU or not. (I got a cheap 600watt PSU for $19.99 somewhere). More than enough power a mobo, a althon64, 1 CDROM, 1 HD. Check out craigs list, for used PCs near you. You'll be surprise what you can get for $50 these days.
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slatts
Overlord
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Posted: Nov. 13 2008,08:19 |
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| Quote (wilder @ Nov. 12 2008,15:02) | (hmmm nice to be able to see what I'm typing now in firefox)...
a bad PSU *shouldnt* fry a mobo. Its not that i wouldnt go for a cheap 20-40$ PSU, they just die and burn out too quickly. I would prolly add up all the watts your components use... then see if you really need a 400Watt PSU or not. (I got a cheap 600watt PSU for $19.99 somewhere). More than enough power a mobo, a althon64, 1 CDROM, 1 HD. Check out craigs list, for used PCs near you. You'll be surprise what you can get for $50 these days. |
not looking good brother. with a new chip i managed to get her to post. but thats it.
wont detect HHD. seems the primary IDE is cooked to. and every little twinkle to the monitor i can hear high pitch tones comming from the cpu. i did manage to check the Bios and watch the system monitor.
voltages are up and down like a rollor coaster. and to add insult to injury. the second IDE picks up thew slave HHD and CD ROM, but when i switch over the Master HHD to the second IDE no HHD detected. so i guess it is cooked as well. 80 giger gone, but the 10 gig slave survived??? so did the ram and vid card?
i am starting to thinks she may have been hit with a power surge.
ohh well looks like i will be building a low end 64 bit sempron for the ol' lady.
when you get your bad ass running tip top, i would be interested in the benchmark and UT3.
should be interesting. 
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wilder
SiNFeCted
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 347
Joined: Nov. 2006 |
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Posted: Nov. 13 2008,13:37 |
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sounds like a power surge to me... PSU was the first to gety toast.. it tried to filter as much as possible... but some current leaked out and hit your mobo and peripherals...
so was she using a power surge protector?? if not, thats likely your culrpit.
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i hvent t done any benchmarks pass 3dmark...anythiing you want me to try?
It already plays Crysis @ 1280x1024 but maxed out like it was nothing.
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