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The Official PC building thread!
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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10. June 2006 @ 08:43 |
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Lol. good thing then!
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Senior Member
5 product reviews
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10. June 2006 @ 08:52 |
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Yer congrats sammoris you must be one of the most helpfull people on the forum!
Im not sucking up to you lol....... much.
hahaha
Well can you help me with one last thing im running a LG Dvd +- Drive and a 160gb Barracuda Harddrive. I have plugged them in using the IDE cable but now i have run out of connectors say if i wanted to buy a new hardrive to ad on which i do.
Does any one have any idea what i can do can i buy a lead with more connectors or can i use the spare slot next to it on the motherboard for a seperate wire.
Also could someone tell me were i could get a good cheapish hardrive around 160Gb for round the £50 mark cheers.
Lecsiy
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ddp
Moderator
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10. June 2006 @ 08:55 |
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lecsiy, 2 drives per ide cable. if both ide cables filled than get a pci ide controller card.
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Senior Member
5 product reviews
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10. June 2006 @ 08:59 |
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right ok.... can you point me in the direction of a good one. But reasonaby priced. Doesnt have to be ultra or anything just reliable!
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ddp
Moderator
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10. June 2006 @ 09:06 |
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can't as i'm in canada. can get for about $27 to $58Can. controller card that is not hd.
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Senior Member
5 product reviews
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10. June 2006 @ 09:46 |
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Alright cool found what seems to be a reasonable one. How about a Hd any one?
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aabbccdd
Suspended permanently
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10. June 2006 @ 11:17 |
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check newegg.com oh but your in the UK right? iam sure sam can point you in the right direction
and congrats sam on the aDa you have always been one in my mine anyway
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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10. June 2006 @ 12:30 |
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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11. June 2006 @ 13:31 |
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Hello everyone,
Per some people's recommendations on this message forum, I looked into the Viewsonic monitors in my flat panel monitor search (I also have a couple friends who have ViewSonics that look very nice and I know they've been pleased with. This is what I ended up buying...
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=592226&cartEntryId=2
I called Office Depot and got them to match the $329.99 price that newegg is currently offering. Plus OD is running a $30 off and free shipping on orders over $150 and there is a $50 mail-in rebate from ViewSonic on this model. So total cost with tax ended up being $267.99.
I know the first thing you'll say is that 16ms is NOT good. But I actually went to OD and compared all the models. There was no visible ghosting or streaking at all, and the image quality on this baby was one of the best on display (out of about 20 or so), so I"m pretty happy with it at the price. Nice contrast ratio (800:1), huge screen (20.1"), nice button control features, has DVI and analog compatability, and pretty stylish look in my opinion.
Did I do good?
Also...will I need any special kind of graphics card for this? Or pretty much just any card that can handle DVI? Again...I'm not a hardcore gamer...I'll only play war games pretty much like Age of Empires III and Command & Conquer. Maybe even Diablo...but doubtful since I gave it up cause it's too addicting and I don't have the time, haha. So the 16 ms shouldn't really be a problem and I don't need the absolute best graphics card on the market.
Thanks!
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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11. June 2006 @ 13:42 |
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16ms isn't bad. It's when you go higher that you get problems. That's a fabulous net cost too. The only issue is that you'll need a high spec PC to get the best picture. You may be no hardcore gamer, but AOE3 isn't a soft game, in fact it's one of the harshest in benchmarks when the detail's right up. Depends how you play and what GPU you have as to whether you'll have any issues. If you keep medium detail, most modern cards will do alright.
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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11. June 2006 @ 14:02 |
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sammorris...
This is the graphics card I was considering...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130260
Would that cut it? Looks like a steal at that price (with rebate factored in).
As far as RAM goes...I was considering this...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145486
Also looks like an unbelievable value. Lots of people have recommended CORSAIR to me, and 2 GB is great..especially at this after-rebate price.
Any recommendation on motherboard to go along with these (assuming you approve of the graphics card and RAM choices above)? Would this cut it....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131569
And any special processor you would recommend with this setup? I'm thinking AMD (seems to be the best for gaming and all around use really - even though Intel's low prices are indeed compeling). Maybe 3800+ or better. The 3800 I guess is SOMEWHAT reasonable at $297 from newegg.
Thanks bud!
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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11. June 2006 @ 14:06 |
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an X2 3800+ is the best choice at the moment, assuming your neither loaded nor skint. GPU is alrightish, but for $20 more, this is far better:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131007
That memory is stunning value, it's more than that in pounds here than dollars there (£135 versus $119). The A8N5X is also a superb mobo!
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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11. June 2006 @ 14:27 |
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Thanks Sam The Man,
As always, I appreciate and value your advice.
So I take it that RAM is compatable with the mobo I selected. I looked up the RAM compatability and that mobo had TWINX2048-3200PRO listed. The RAM I pointed out is TWINX2048-3200, so I didn't know if there was really a difference and if the TWINX2048-3200 would still be compatable and work at full potential. Apparently there is SOME kind of different since the "PRO" version is around $285 for 2GB.
I assume TWINX2048-3200 would be compatable if a higher quality TWINX2048-3200PRO is compatable. But then again...making assumptions with PC building is not always safe.
Thanks again.
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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11. June 2006 @ 14:32 |
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Sam,
With respect to the GPU I picked out comapred to yours...it's actually 40 dollars cheaper because the one I chose is only 69.99 after rebate. Is your choice significantly better to justify the price? In what ways is it better?...I don't really know the difference.
Also...what is this "SLI" that i'm reading about everywhere. In review I keep seeing as a "con" that some of these things don't have "SLI".
Thanks.
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aabbccdd
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11. June 2006 @ 15:44 |
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dougisjc, that montior will be great very good choice the ram will be perfect and the AMD 3800+ depending what you want to spend on a CPU is a great choice, i would go with a little better mobo though ,the one i have per my sig is a very nice one or go with the SLI premium
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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11. June 2006 @ 16:33 |
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Thanks aabbccdd,
Any reason why you recommend another mobo, and the SLI Premium in particular? I've seen a lot of talk about this one on the boards so it seems to be very popular. But i'm not convinced that it's worth the cost difference for my needs...I guess that's probably because I honestly don't really understand the difference.
I guess I should take some quality time and do my own research, but if you could provide some insight that would be great too.
Thank you.
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aabbccdd
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11. June 2006 @ 17:01 |
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the mobo has lot more options when it comes to OC(ing)tweaking etc. and if you upgrade your CPU ram etc. in the furture this board is a good match .iam sure sammorris cam explain it better lol
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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11. June 2006 @ 17:05 |
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Thanks for the attempt. I don't overclock. Never tried it. Never wanted to risk breaking my CPU or something and never really saw the benefit in learning how to do it and actually doing it. I'm not that hardcore into gaming.
I think the mobo I stated may suit me fine. But like you said, the Premium would be good for RAM upgradeability if nothing else. The mobo I picked only accepts two 1 GB sticks of the DDR400 PC3700. So you can't really upgrade beyond 2 GB even though it says it can have 4 GB.
That said...2 GB realistically would probably be more than enough for me for the next few years AT LEAST. I'll give the Premium some consideration though when I put together how much this baby is gonna cost me all together.
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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11. June 2006 @ 17:13 |
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FIHSNERD
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11. June 2006 @ 18:47 |
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I dono a lot about memory, but i know that cas latency, and voltage, and timings make your ram. what i mean is that the lower the voltage and the tighter timmings are going to give you the faster, most error free ram that you can have.. btw: when mobos say that they can handle ddr400 does that mean they can go above pc3200, as long as they dont hit ddr2 speeds?
and aabbccdd.. god.. if their was a woman of you beauty (sexyness) and had the smarts that u did, OMG... i think you would be split into about a million pieces... lol..
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aabbccdd
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11. June 2006 @ 21:47 |
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FIHSNERD, so "Adriana" does it for you huh lol shes def. "Perfect" enjoy the pics
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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12. June 2006 @ 00:08 |
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To my knowledge the pro XMS is the low latency CAS2 stuff, needlessly expensive imo. The X800GTO is a significantly better card than the 6600 (in fact I think that 6600 is overpriced a bit) because it is clocked better, and will run more modern games a lot better. $40 doesn't seem a lot to spend getting the performance advantage it gives you. SLi is the use of two nVidia cards together to make one mildly faster setup. To be honest, it's not particularly good value as you never get a 100% performance boost from two cards, and you don't very often see it 50% better, either. The A8N-SLi premium is just a very very good board, it's not used because of its SLi functionality. To be fair though, unless you're a power user, the A8N5X is plenty good enough. 2GB of RAM is tonnes until Vista comes along, so I see no reason to go for more until then.
Timings/Latency basically means how long a stick of RAM takes to retrieve or write information. Although lots of RAM sticks run at the same speed, some are still faster than others. You want those timings to be as low as possible, but without getting a set that's too expensive!
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dougisjc
Junior Member
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12. June 2006 @ 05:27 |
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DAMN...newegg raised their price on my ram...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145486
It's now 129 after rebate instead of 118. Hopefully it will drop again. I'll wait a little while for it and see if it does indeed drop.
I may hold off in building my PC until august anyway. I hear rumors that AMD prices may be slashed when the Intel Conroe processors come out (late July still?), so I"m thinking I might be able to get a great deal on the AMD X2 3800+ in August. Any thoughts on this?
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m-singh
Newbie
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12. June 2006 @ 09:22 |
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Hi people. Im looking to get a new gfx card and need some sugestions.
Current Rig:
AMD Athlon 64 3400+
MSI 6741 mobo
1GB PC 2700 ram
AIW ATI 9800pro
2x WD 200GB Hdd
I also have a noob question aswell lol. I currently have a VIA Chipset, and am wondering if i can straight swap the 9800pro for an NVIDIA card like a 7800GT for example or do i need a new specific mobo? I also heard that NVIDIA and VIA chipset dont mix well, is that true?
I want the system mainly for gaming and video encoding/transcoding and general office work. But i still wannna play games like Olivion and FEAR at decent FPS with some nice looking gameplay. If i have to OC i will to play the games i want nicely. Oh and the budget is gonna be around £80 ~ $140
Over to you guys, and thanks in advance!!!
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12. June 2006 @ 09:26
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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12. June 2006 @ 09:30 |
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The single core prices have recently been cut almost in half, so maybe you are better off waiting.
As for the card in your current system, as long as its got a PCI express 16x, you can do what you like if your PSU's powerful enough. The 7800GT's a very hot and power-hungry card though, If you can't do a 7900GT, then an X1800GTO may be better...
Oh no! the RAM went up to $129! Shock horror! Still £135 here. Nah, I'll stop whining, it's just mad how cheap US RAM is.
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