Sure Would Appreciate Your Opinions of My NEW BUILD!

[Carl]

Hi,

I plan on ordering the following parts in a few days from Newegg. But
before I do, was hoping to get some of your learned opinions of my product
choice. Any suggestions for change?

Thanks in advance.

Aspire X-Superalien Blue Aluminum Server Case w/500W PS Retail

Gigabyte nForce3 AMD Scoket 754 "GA-K8N Pro" Retail

AMD Athlon 64 3200 Retail

Thermaltake SILENT BOOST CPU Cooler All Copper Retail

2x Crucial 512MB DDR PC-3200 OEM (From Crucial)

WD Raptor 74GB HD "WD749GD OEM

ATI Radeon 9800Pro 128MB DDR Video Card Retail

Plextor Black 8x DVD-RW "PX-708A/SW-BL"Retail

MSI Black 16x DVD-Rom "MS-P8216S-707" OEM

Creative Labs Audigy2 ZS PCI "SB0350" Retail

MS Windows XP Pro Full Version OEM

Thanks again,

Carl

 

[ToolPackinMama]

Hi,

I plan on ordering the following parts in a few days from Newegg. But
before I do, was hoping to get some of your learned opinions of my product
choice. Any suggestions for change?

I have a question: How much is all of that costing you?

 

[Carl]

Total setup will cost $1700 plus freight.

I have a question: How much is all of that costing you?

 

[ToolPackinMama]

Total setup will cost $1700 plus freight.

OK, thank you.

 

[Daniel P]

I know that the 74 gig raptor is fast but, personally i like more storage
right now i am about to get two 250 gig WD SATA HDs mybe if you don't want
to go that big a second raptor would be great.

 

[Carl]

Dan, are you going to run the two drives in Raid?

 

[Daniel P]

The thing is i have never tried SATA before. The only hard drives i have
ever put together were ATA and Maxtor.

 

[Minotaur]

Sounds great, but would grab a 256M 9800 if I where splashing out that
much on computer gear. It depends really on how long you wish to keep
using the box, into 2005? If just for this year, 128M should be fine,
but if your a hardcore gamer... Not sure about HL2 or Doom4, they might
push it (not that they havn't pushed our patience already, waiting..)

Minotaur (8*

 

[BarryNL]

Well, you don't mention what you want it for, but if you are intending
to use it as a door stop I'd suggest buying a house brick instead.

 

[Wes Newell]

I plan on ordering the following parts in a few days from Newegg. But
before I do, was hoping to get some of your learned opinions of my product
choice. Any suggestions for change?

Thanks in advance.

Aspire X-Superalien Blue Aluminum Server Case w/500W PS Retail

500w is probably OK, but I'd get 600w minimum.

Gigabyte nForce3 AMD Scoket 754 "GA-K8N Pro" Retail

nf3-150 chipset sucks. Don't buy this board. No PCI/agp lock like the
NF2 and HT only runs at 3/4 speed.

2x Crucial 512MB DDR PC-3200 OEM (From Crucial)

This isn't fast enough. Get PC4000.

MS Windows XP Pro Full Version OEM

64 bit Linux? No extra charge.

 

[Fitz]

I'm running the GA K8NNXP motherboard and AMD64 3200+ processor- I'd do it a
little different if I could (I am going to replace my memory).

The motherboard has a "best performance" option in the BIOS- it provides a
moderate overclock from 2000 MHz to 2080 and steps the memory up to 416MHz.
I'll be replacing the PC3200 Kingston HyperX with Corsair or Mushkin PC3500
as I suspect some instability with the memory (crashing in games, or exiting
back to desktop).

I run 2 36GB SATA Raptors in a RAID 0 config for my operating system and
programs with a separate IDE harddrive partitioned for storage/backup/video
editing and the swap file. Works well, and 72GB is plenty of room for the OS
and programs.

Having a few issues with the ATI Radeon 9800Pro, but I think it may be
memory related. When getting crashed out of games, the error is often the
ATI driver stuck in infinite loop and references relaxing the memory
timings- hence the thoughts of replacing the memory. The 9800 Pro is a good
choice, as the extra money for the XT version doesn't increase the
performance proportionately.
My Aquamark 3 scores are a little over 44000.

I'm using the Plextor 708A and am very pleased with it. Using Nero 6
Ultimate and DVD X-Copy with no problems.

Not a Creative Labs fan- went with a M-Audio Revolution 7.1 with Logitec
Z-680's. Drivers and software interface very straight-forward, stable and
effective.

Good Luck,
Fitz

 

[Roger M]

Hi,

Hi Carl, after careful consideration it has been determined that you will
need to forward your components to me for assembly and evaluation. I will
promptly return them once they have been thoroughly evaluated (approximately
two years). Thanks for your request.


Product Evaluation Manager

Roger

 

[Bob Adkins]

I know that the 74 gig raptor is fast but, personally i like more storage
right now i am about to get two 250 gig WD SATA HDs mybe if you don't want
to go that big a second raptor would be great.

I always keep 2 drives. My primary drive is a 37GB Raptor, and I keep
Windows XP and my every day apps on it for speed. I have a separate WD 120
GB SATA drive for backing up my documents and family pictures, and keeping
lots of "stuff".

Man, defragging a 250MB drive sounds like a nightmare!

Bob

Remove "kins" from address to reply.

 

[Larry Gagnon]

Hi,

I plan on ordering the following parts in a few days from Newegg. But
before I do, was hoping to get some of your learned opinions of my product
choice. Any suggestions for change?

MS Windows XP Pro Full Version OEM

Carl: don't waste your money making Gates and Co. any wealthier than they
already are. To show the true power of your new build install Linux instead!

Larry Gagnon

 

[Mercury Scythe]

Hi,

I plan on ordering the following parts in a few days from Newegg. But
before I do, was hoping to get some of your learned opinions of my product
choice. Any suggestions for change?

Thanks in advance.

Aspire X-Superalien Blue Aluminum Server Case w/500W PS Retail

Gigabyte nForce3 AMD Scoket 754 "GA-K8N Pro" Retail

AMD Athlon 64 3200 Retail

Thermaltake SILENT BOOST CPU Cooler All Copper Retail

2x Crucial 512MB DDR PC-3200 OEM (From Crucial)

WD Raptor 74GB HD "WD749GD OEM

ATI Radeon 9800Pro 128MB DDR Video Card Retail

Plextor Black 8x DVD-RW "PX-708A/SW-BL"Retail

MSI Black 16x DVD-Rom "MS-P8216S-707" OEM

Creative Labs Audigy2 ZS PCI "SB0350" Retail

MS Windows XP Pro Full Version OEM

Thanks again,

Carl

You will need better memmory for a monster like that, Get Corsair or OCZ.

I Would also get a better board such as the Gigabyte K8VNXP with the VIA
chipset, which i am using. The best preformer by www.tomshardware.com.
But if you want NF3 get the K8NNXP.

Apart from that you will have a very nice system.

 

[ToolPackinMama]

But if you want NF3 get the K8NNXP.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1901&p=12

I agree, that Gigabyte board looks amazing.

 

[ray hartman]

Carl: don't waste your money making Gates and Co. any wealthier than they
already are. To show the true power of your new build install Linux instead!

Larry Gagnon

LG:

Which Linux would that be? I've got a (less impressive) new BARTON2600 build running
WinME -- love to pick a *nix distro, but since RedHat scr*wed me dropping
rhn on my older P4 RedHat_8 system I really have little trust. Neither ENTERPRISE
nor ENTHUSIAST that's me ...and lots of other *nix lusrs. Just looking for
a solid platform for MYSQL & some C-code. Where do we go for
a stable, well_supported v2.6 *nix ?

ray
***

 

[Carl]

You will need better memmory for a monster like that, Get Corsair or OCZ.

I Would also get a better board such as the Gigabyte K8VNXP with the VIA
chipset, which i am using. The best preformer by www.tomshardware.com.
But if you want NF3 get the K8NNXP.

Apart from that you will have a very nice system.

Mercury Scythe

Tried to email you, but got the message returned.

As you suggested, I switched the mb to the GA-K8VNPX and 512 x2 Corsair XMS
3200 CMX5123200LL. I also switched the hd from 1 74GB Raptor to 2 WD 120GB
SATA hd's.

I noticed that you have pc3700 Corsair on your board. Is there a lot of
diff between 3700 and 3200?

Thanks for the tip. Your PC looks Great. Would like to see it in the dark.

Regards,

Carl

 

[Mercury Scythe]

Mercury Scythe

Tried to email you, but got the message returned.

As you suggested, I switched the mb to the GA-K8VNPX and 512 x2 Corsair XMS
3200 CMX5123200LL. I also switched the hd from 1 74GB Raptor to 2 WD 120GB
SATA hd's.

I noticed that you have pc3700 Corsair on your board. Is there a lot of
diff between 3700 and 3200?

Thanks for the tip. Your PC looks Great. Would like to see it in the dark.

Regards,

Carl

Thanks Very Much.

As i later found out 3200 memmory is faster than 3700 when not
overclocked due to its faster CAS timeings. All 3700 memmory is is 3200
that has been tested to 3700 (466MHz). If you want the best memmory get
4000 as it is Astual 500MHz chips and has good timeings.

(Thanks for pointing out the email, it wrong on the signeture. arent i
stupid)

 

[wm]

I always keep 2 drives. My primary drive is a 37GB Raptor, and I keep
Windows XP and my every day apps on it for speed. I have a separate WD 120
GB SATA drive for backing up my documents and family pictures, and keeping
lots of "stuff".

Man, defragging a 250MB drive sounds like a nightmare!

Actually...I think 250MB would go pretty fast these days.
I remember having to defrag my 16MB HD way back in the day though...that
took forever.