New Computer

[ctjoyce]

Well running like a $1800 rig is debatable. A $1800 rig now or a year ago, cus for $1800 now I can build a rig that nothing else on the market can even touch. Where as a $1800 rig a year ago is not going to offer the same preformance.

@Jon: Ide rathar save $10 and buy a Zalman. Then Push the clocks to where mine are now (600Mhz core, 850Mhz mem).

Cheers
Cameron

[BAW0343]

Ok! I have the REAL specs now!!

AMD 64 X2 939 socket 4400+
DFI Ultra LAN UT Expert SLI board 939 board.
Patriot OCX Memory CAS2 latency 2 Gigs
Geforce 7900GT 256meg SLI Graphics
Seagate Baracuda 320 Gig SATA3 drive
Samsung DVD/CDRW 16X -R+R Dual layer drive
and the cases I am looking at:
http://www.xoxide.com/nzxt-nemesis-elit ... black.html
Cheaper and I liked the name:
http://www.xoxide.com/x-aviator-case-black.html

Now that I have the real specs what you guys think?

[NicksFXHouse]

Ok! I have the REAL specs now!!

AMD 64 X2 939 socket 4400+
DFI Ultra LAN UT Expert SLI board 939 board.
Patriot OCX Memory CAS2 latency 2 Gigs
Geforce 7900GT 256meg SLI Graphics
Seagate Baracuda 320 Gig SATA3 drive
Samsung DVD/CDRW 16X -R+R Dual layer drive
and the cases I am looking at:
http://www.xoxide.com/nzxt-nemesis-elit ... black.html
Cheaper and I liked the name:
http://www.xoxide.com/x-aviator-case-black.html

Now that I have the real specs what you guys think?

The DFI board is a good one but be advised if you are new to computers the BIOS will not be "plug-n-go" You will need to set it up correctly andit WILL take knowledge of a clocking BIOS.

Also, verify the memory is CERTIFIED to run on that board. One thing I have learned about DFI is they ARE BUGGERS when it comes to memory. Even OCZ has trouble with them. Is this the memory?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820220082

If it is and the memory is known for working withthe DFI board you selected then it is a decent buy. It is rated 1T which is critical for AMD64 performance.

The only other item I think you should consider is the hard drive. What you choose is a good name in drive but it is not much faster than any good SATA 150. Also, I need to look at the DFI board because a SATA 3 drive will revert to SATA 150 if the board controller does not support it.


I would recommend you consider a single WD RAPTOR and be careful about choosing one because they are NOT made the same. The best bang for the buck and quiet is this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136012

10,000 RPM
@ Average Seek Time 4.6ms
@ Average Write Time 5.2ms
@ Average Latency 2.99ms

it will wipe the drive you choose off the board for speed.

Dont fall for the 300 and SATA3 gimick. What makes a hard drive fast is:

1. Faster Rotation
2. Lower Seek, Write and Latency times
3. Lower Access time

If 150GB is not enough capacity, my advice would be to buy the 150GB as the Windows/Programs work-horse drive and buy a cheap SATA or even ATA for storage of software, documents and backups.

Make sure you get the latest processor driver and dual core optimizer from the AMD website. It will NOT come with the motherboard drivers on the CD.

Assuming the board comes with an older BIOS than what is available at the manufacture website, and many of them do,... Always go to the motherboard website and download/flash the latest OFFICAL (not beta) BIOS for the board and set it up correctly BEFORE installing Windows.

Never use the Motherboard CD for drivers and utilities. Most of them are outated and I have rarely ever seen a utility off a motherboard disk that was worth installing. Allot of those utilites do nothing but use up memory and cpu cycles.

For motherboard drivers, ALWAYS go to the manufacture of the chipset for those. If its a NF4 board, go to Nvidia and get the latest motherboard drivers, NOT DFI.

Motherboard drivers are the FIRST thing installed after Windows is installed. Then the AMD driver/optimizer. After that a trip to Windows update for all the critical updates.... and finally the rest of your drivers with the Video card drivers installed absolutely LAST.

ALWAYS reboot between each driver install and ALWAYS reboot twice after the video card drivers are installed.

After the video card drivers you can install the rest of your software.

[BAW0343]

Im not building this alone, the guy who is helping me as i said, worked for M$ for awhile, hes built many computers (im willing to bet more then most of you) and he knows what he is buying and is also looking to keep it within my costs this computer will cost about $1175 thats close to my range and I dont need the absolute top of the line computer. This will run what I have and what is comming just fine. Im not worried. now stop trying to get my to buy parts im not going to  ;D He will be ordering these parts most likely tomarrow and with luck i will have it all set up by saturday  ;D I was just hopeing to get your guy's opinion about the computer  :P  You guys have brought up some good ideas but most arnt in my price range, also if you guys really wana start giveing me some good ideas meet me in the overclocking forum in the next week as the guy whos helping me build this isnt going to help me overclock beacuse he doesent want to be part of it if i make my computer shut down  ;D and he basicly want me to research it on my own  :D

[NicksFXHouse]

[quote]Im not building this alone, the guy who is helping me as i said, worked for M$ for awhile, hes built many computers (im willing to bet more then most of you) and he knows what he is buying and is also looking to keep it within my costs this computer will cost about $1175 thats close to my range and I dont need the absolute top of the line computer. This will run what I have and what is comming just fine. Im not worried. now stop trying to get my to buy parts im not going to

[BAW0343]

I am not trying to get you to buy anything. I was simply giving you the benefit of my 50 years experience working around electronics. Being I have a meeting on Thursday at Microsoft in Redmond, do I qualify for having enough experience to give computer advice?  

lol true and i apoligize, it just seems people dont like what im buying and want me to get other stuff  :P  Anyway im over to the overclocking forum for some general info.

[NicksFXHouse]

[quote]


lol true and i apoligize, it just seems people dont like what im buying and want me to get other stuff

[BAW0343]

now for storage what are you talking about? do you mean hard drive or something elce?

[NicksFXHouse]

now for storage what are you talking about? do you mean hard drive or something elce?

Hard drive

When ever anyone uses the words "storage system" it means hard drive (internal or external)

The Raptor I posted will perform at nearly 1/2 the access time of the other drive which means it will call up FS9 scenery files to the system nearly twice as fast as the Seagate drive you have listed.

Segate is an excellent name. I happen to own several of those drives but I use them for storing backups and data.