took the plunge

[skysurfer2010]

i didn't want to wait to see what new mobos come out, what new vid cards come out etc when vista is unveiled. so i did a lot of homework, did a lot of searching, and took the plunge with buying a new PC. here are the specs:

   * CASE: RaidMax Smilodon Med-Tower 420W Case w/ Side-Panel Window [+21]
  * CASUPGRADE: 12in COLD CATHODE NEON LIGHT [+10] (BLUE COLOR)
   * CPU: (Sckt775)Intel

[ctjoyce]

Looks like you bought a rig from IBuyPower.

Anyway, the specs look pretty good, however I don't like the RAM. Its crappy quality and will burn out when you try to clock it. Also you may want to replace the stock sink with a Zalman.

Cheers
Cameron

[cheesegrater]

I thought Corsair was your favorite brand CT?

Corsair doesn't make PC2 6400 Value RAM. Corsair PC2 6400 is the XMS2 series which are great for overlocking.

Which is why that description is a bit confusing.

[ctjoyce]

I thought Corsair was your favorite brand CT?

Corsair doesn't make PC2 6400 Value RAM. Corsair PC2 6400 is the XMS2 series which are great for overlocking.

Which is why that description is a bit confusing.

They say Corsair, but its actually GeIL. Trust me. I've made the mistake of getting a rig from IBuy and CyberpowerINC.

But yea I used to be a fan of Corsair, but OCZ all the way now. XMS couldn't get me to 4GHZ but OCZ did

Cheers
Cameron

[Politically Incorrect]

I thought Corsair was your favorite brand CT?



They say Corsair, but its actually GeIL. Trust me. I've made the mistake of getting a rig from IBuy and CyberpowerINC.

That Asus Z81sp I bought from Cybercrap I mean Cyberpower I just noticed a few weeks ago this is the case, thought I was getting 2gigs of Corsair ram in it but it is all a name
Still works good but sad that a company who is known for its product is selling its name to a lesser quality.

[skysurfer2010]

so you say you made the mistake of buying from ibuypower just  because you think the ram was junk?

[ctjoyce]

Well technically they didn't lie. They say Corsair OR other Value RAM. So they did tell you that you are getting crap RAM no matter what. As for making the mistake, my problem was that when I bought the system it had a botched install of XP, and my rig didn't come with a power cable.

Cheers
Cameron

[skysurfer2010]

looks like i'll be giving customr service a call tomorrow. there was an option to upgrade the ram to "corsair XMS2 Xtreme w/ heat spreader" for $44 more. is this better ram?

[ctjoyce]

Its better, but if you want the best overclocking and preformance RAM, do what I did and say goodbye to IBuyPower and go over to newegg.com

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820227139

Thats the same RAM I have in my rig. Lets just say it clocks well  8-)

Cheers
Cameron

[skysurfer2010]

i don't need the "best". i just want something reliable. i doubt i'll ever over clock and i doubt i'll do upgrades for a very long time.

[ctjoyce]

Then your fine with what you have. The reason we were commenting on the quality because we were looking for the best quality. I actually fried a stick of the value crap trying to get 4Ghz out of my P4.

Cheers
Cameron

[skysurfer2010]

my PC just arrived and i have a few questions for you guys....

is the Nvidia 8800GTX better than the EVGA 8800gtx? i thought i read somewhere that the envidia is better if you ever want to overclock. is that right? the reason why i'm asking is because i ordered it with an Nvidia 8800GTX and it came with an EVGA.

secondly... my liquid cooled fan shipped with it not attached to anything. it was "resting" on my video card. can this have done any damage to my card?? i'm NOT happy about that. it looks like the fan didn't have any wholes to screw through on the case, so they just tried to wedge screws against the meshing for the fan vent. the morons weren't smart enough to put washers between the two so the screws couldn't pull through. genuises.

also, since i ordered this PC with Windows Media, shouldn't it have come with the CD?  does that mean this copy is pirated if it didn't? it's supposed to come with a free upgrade to Vista when it comes out. they did put a Windows XP Certificate of Authenticity on the case though...

besides that, the case is missing one screw on the outside of the case and i haven't even fired the thing up yet....

when i do finally start it, what should i be looking for to make sure it was set up correctly? any advice/ tips would be greatly appreciated.

[ctjoyce]

Okay, lets start answering in order.

1st: nVidia makes the GPU, eVGA makes the card. You cannot buy an nVidia branded card as they don't make a home brand. However the eVGA do have the best clocking ability, well for the core at least. MSI beat them out on RAM clocking.

2nd: Did you get an aircooled or watercooled PC? Im confused, because in the origional post you said that you got a aircooled system, and now its changed to watercooled. But could the fan falling off the socket damage your card? This depends, if the whole copper block fell off then yes, there could be some damage done, if its just the fan, nothing else, then no...its too light.

3rd: Yes it should come with some sort of OS disk. It would be illeagle for them to ship you a system with a pirated copy of XP so its legit, but if it didn't come with a disk thats a bit wierd.


But the quality of what you bought dosn't supprise me. Though its a "gaming specific" company, they are still an OEM. What I would suggest is rip everything out of the case, down to the motherboard and rebuild. Personally thats what I had to do because they had used barely any thermalpaste on my CPU.

Cheers
Cameron

[skysurfer2010]

thanks for replying so quickly.

1) thats good news about the card. sorry for being ignorant on the subject, i really don't know a whole lot about PCs.

2) it's air cooled. i had to cancel my first order and reorder, but i bought exactly the same thing, however it came with a free upgrade to a CM aquagate mini 80mm liquid cooler fan. the entire fan assembly was not attached to the case. hopefully it didn't do any damage.

3) upon closer inspection, one of the CDs my PC came with was a CD that read "recovery DVD rom". in smaller type, it reads "the software included on this recovery DVD was preinstalled on your hard drive at the factory and may only be used for backup and recovery of your american future tech. computer system. performance of the software is the sole responsibility of american future technology"

i assume this is legit then and when it comes time, MS will honor my free upgrade to Vista? ... i hope.

ripping everything down is a very good idea, i'm sure. however, the entire reason why i purchased this from a company was because i don't know what i'm doing. if i'm going to spend this kind of cash, i want it done right. i didn't want to take any chances.

upon further inspection, my USB plugs in the back don't line up with the case and as is, half aren't usable. i'm getting pretty dissapointed so far and it hasn't  been turned on yet. hopefully when i finally do turn it on my initial let down will be masked by utter joy of how great FS9, CFS3, and FSX run... ok, maybe not FSX., but the others...

thanks again for such a quick reply.

[ctjoyce]

So you didn't buy from iBuy, you bought from American Future Tech? I've never heard of them, which isn't necessaraly bad, but its not good.

All the problems your having are common problems with a raidmax case. Ripping the motherboard mask off the back of the case isn't going to hurt it, and all your ports will be useable.

But with an E6600, 2GB of RAM, and a 8800GTX don't worry about FSX. You will be just fine with any game you try to play.

Cheers
Cameron