Simviation Forums

     Hey Guys and Ladies,

     And a good evening to you.      Well I'm ready to order my PC  parts and wish you to check me out to see if I've messed-up on the parts.    I've got them in the "cart"  so to speak at www.newegg.com.

     #1,      DVD Drive, Samgsung DVD  Burner
                 Model # SH-W162Z / BEBN
                 Item   #N82E16827151095


     #2,      Case,  Thermaltake  Tsunami
                 Model #  VA3000 BWA
                 Item   # N82E16811133132

     #3,       Harddrive, Western Digital 250 GB
                 Model  #  WD2500JS
                 Item    #  N82E16822144417

     #4,       Motherboard, ASUS  A8N-SLi Premium Socket 939
                 Model  #A8N-SLi Premium
                 Item   #  N82E16813131540

      #5,      GPU, eVGA  7900GT
                  Model  #  256-P2-N563-AX
                  Item   #   N82E16814130281

     #6,        RAM,   Corsair  XMS  2GB
                   Model  #Twin x 2048-3200c2pt
                   Item  #  N82E16820145575

      # 7,       Processor,   AMD  Athion  4400+
                   1 GHz  HT Socket 939  Dual Core
                    Model  #  ADA4400CDBOX
                    Item  #   N82E16819103546

     Most of these items are those listed earlier  except the case.   With a few clicks they will be ordered no later than tomorrow.  
     The power supply is the same as listed earlier :[  Hier Type R    580 watts ].

        Soon I can take a deep breath knowing that you've seen me through this most important phase of my new PC.

       I'm so very appreciative,       caveman

                 

Personal opinion

I would drop 1 gig of ram and go for at least a 600W PSU, the larger PSU will be helpful if later you add a second GPU for SLi.

That's almost exactly what I was gonna order last month  :D

I'm holding off on the 2X CPU for another year or so.. It'll be then before they're needed and that 4400 will be a year old by then.

I ended up with the 3700 , 7800GT and 1GB of RAM..

I'll get whatever the affordablr 2X CPU is  later.. and go gonzo on the V-Card.

I never plan to get more than a year out of a computer anyway.. without at least a major upgrade.. if not rebuild.

Very similar to my preliminary spec for my next rig... you'll like that WD drive; i have two in my current machine and they're holding up very well. I'd advise you to consider spending a few more bucks for a bigger drive, although 250 is pretty huge.
And one more thing: Double-check your case specs, and get fans for every available location. For example, my cheap-ass but decent case came with a 120 in the back, but has room for two 80s in the front. I didn't notice that, and foolishly bought a crappy, noisy 3-fan slot cooler that I removed when I finally noticed the sort-of buried 80mm fan locations. Took a bit of annoying disassembly to mount the 80s, but it was well worth it.  Now running cooler and quieter (although my rig is not exactly whisper-quiet)!
And for what it's worth, I'm thinking of getting a case with a side vent; I know that can present clearance issues depending on the heatsink used,etc., but it makes sense to me to draw heat directly away from the mobo, instead of letting the rear fan draw hot air across all the other boards on the way out. If the duct inside the case bumps anything, I'll just trim it or remove it, and still have a big fan on the side.
I'd leave the sides off the case for even better cooling, but I've had some problems with mice invading my computer...
Good luck, and enjoy!!

The Asus A8N32 mainboard was another option I previously argued against based on some tests done by Xbitlabs where they showed an obvious chipset flaw.

This was a mistake and I need to report it correctly.
There was a configuration problem and the flaw can be remedied by software tweak, and indeed, may already be fixed with a new BIOS version for that board.

Details here:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainbo ... pdate.html

     Hey Congo,       I get turned around sometimes.    Your Recommendation  PLEASE.

     Thanks much.    caveman

Well, the A8N32 has a later chipset and some nice features, they cost a bit more but if you can afford it, I'd go for it.

Both boards are very nice anyway but the A8N32 has the nVidia NF4 SLI x16 which has a few more features, probably the main difference is the support of 2 full 16x PCIe graphics slots. The Premium board only has 1 x 16x slot or 2 x 8x PCIe slots and thus half the Graphics bandwidth potential, should this be an issue in the future.

     Hey Congo,    Just got back a bit ago and read the update on the motherboard.    You said it cost more but I can only find a " Refurbished " board at newegg.  The cost is $145.99     The board is Item : N82E16813131568R.

     Is this the one that's better and is a  "Refurbished " board OK or do  "THEY" have problems  ?

     Unsure,     caveman

[quote]

    Thank you so much .   I had those same thoughts as to why it failed in the first place .     Sorry to have bothered you on such.      Like I mentioned  - - -  just plain unsure of myself.        caveman

You must have got sidetracked on their website somehow, because that board is here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131568

Caveman, I have not researched this board in great detail. I use the cheapest one in the range with the older chipset and I'm very happy with it.

There were 4 types of 7900GT in stock including the evga model.

 2:58 am  ;D     You really don't sleep  ;D

     If my Lil' wife heard me thumping on the keyboard at that hour - - -  I would not be here - - - she'd put me in the  "funny farm "  ;D

   Good morning my friend.  Good to see you are still around.  

     Now down to business , I printed out 12  of the "test " pages of  THAT motherboard  and I can only say that I'm glad you understand it  ???    Anyway  - - - I got enough understanding with your help to know that it is indeed a much better buy.    And yes,  I will get it .  A very good investment.

    After going over all my PC parts,  are there any others  I should consider changing.      I will be ordering  this evening  /  only if everything checks out OK.

    I sure do appreciate your help so much.  You and Cameron and the others are so helpful.   Thank You.      caveman

     [ Hope you stay away from the "funny farm" ]  

Personal opinion

I would drop 1 gig of ram and go for at least a 600W PSU, the larger PSU will be helpful if later you add a second GPU for SLi.

And my personal opinion......for what it's worth....

In a performance/gaming PC, core components are the absolute essentials that make or break a system. These are, more or less in the order of cost and not importance:

cpu
video
mainboard/chipset
ram
hard disk
psu

The other items such as case and DVD are superfluous and the hard disk choice is really a personal requirement.

Hard drive performance is very important, but performance solutions are the expensive WD Raptor or RAID 0 solutions.

Raid 0 becomes expensive because it requires 2 drives plus a backup drive for data integrity. Sometimes the extra drives are already at hand and this solution becomes attractive.

I always see a preoccupation with the case choice and this is understandable because people are individuals and the case is the one way people express their egos through case choice. There really isn't any other way to express your taste visually, as the components don't do anything exciting in that regard.

However, the case is but a $7 worth of standardised sheet metal and paint, if that. It doesn't do a thing other than hold the components in an organised fashion.

Even a bent case from the dump can be effectively pounded into something useful.

To drop 1gb of ram and retain such thin metal and over expensive eye candy as a PC case would be a mortal blow to the purist's PC assembly.

     Hey Congo,    Good Morning  - - -  Here's wishing you a very nice day.

     My Friend,  I am NOT into  "eye candy" when it comes to a PC  case.      What you say makes a lot of sense [as always].

     May  I again ask you to help me by recommending  a case that would also be big enough to house even more fans  "if needed"  ?    Size or appearance  does NOT matter to me.   I just want the job done correct.

     Also - -  I look at this PC as an investment in my good mental health  and would spend more if really needed.    Would you give it another  "look-see" ?

    I sure do appreciate your help on this.   I'm really starting to understand  much of what I'm reading - - - to ME - - - that is very exciting - - -  exploring new areas of knowledge .

     It's fun peeking out of that dark cave  

             Thank you so much,      caveman
     

   
    Hey Congo - - -  I forgot to mention that I will be getting the "motherboard" you spoke of  in  a  correction in the test.

[ Anus A8N32-SLI  Deluxe  Socket 939  etc ]
Item # :  N82E16813131568.

                                                caveman