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Computer Build Thread

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Posts

  • BarcardiBarcardi All the Wizards Under A Rock: AfganistanRegistered User regular
    edited November 2008
    cool

    although i personally would never buy a first generation computer chip... and though i trust intel quality i wouldnt trust the mobo makers or windows compatibility for a long ass time. but thats just my non early adapter ass.

    Barcardi on
  • BarcardiBarcardi All the Wizards Under A Rock: AfganistanRegistered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Yorker wrote: »
    Does this look good to you guys? have i made any glaring mistakes?


    screenshot002oy3.png

    what money type is that?

    Barcardi on
  • Macro9Macro9 Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    I'm the same way. When westmere comes out any kinks will be worked out. Prices will have settled and motherboards will be more varied.

    Macro9 on
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  • Bionic MonkeyBionic Monkey Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited November 2008
    Alright, I've hit a snag with actual gaming. Spore works fine. Guild Wars works fine. Sam & Max works fine. Older games like Painkiller and Deus Ex work fine. The demos for Left 4 Dead and Portal I've downloaded freeze before I even get to the menu screen though. Both are Valve games, so that might be it. I'm downloading other demos to try, but they're going to take a while before I get them. I'm getting these demos through Steam also. Specifically, what happened with Left 4 Dead is it played the opening movie just fine, went to the loading screen for the menu, and then froze about half a second after loading the menu screen. Had to hard-reboot the entire system to regain control. Second attempt, it froze on the loading screen, and wouldn't even go to the menu. Same problem with Portal. Can't even get to the menu, it just freezes on the loading screen and I have to reboot the system.

    I'm running the OP's bang-for-the-buck system. Radeon HD 4850. Intel Core Duo 2.8. 4 gigs of Kingston RAM.

    Edit: I also tried turning down all my settings preemptively through ATI's Catalyst program. Everything is low as possible except resolution.

    Bionic Monkey on
    sig_megas_armed.jpg
  • BarcardiBarcardi All the Wizards Under A Rock: AfganistanRegistered User regular
    edited November 2008
    if certain games are working and others are not its probably a game update or steam issue not your computer itself.

    off the top of my head: update steam, update video card drivers, pause those downloads

    also what os?

    Barcardi on
  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    That is super-weird. Try running the game in a different dx level.

    I think you can go to Steam properties and type
    -dxlevel 81
    
    in one of the launcher icons.

    Malkor on
    14271f3c-c765-4e74-92b1-49d7612675f2.jpg
  • Bionic MonkeyBionic Monkey Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited November 2008
    Barcardi wrote: »
    if certain games are working and others are not its probably a game update or steam issue not your computer itself.

    off the top of my head: update steam, update video card drivers, pause those downloads

    also what os?

    XP Professional 32bit. And yeah, everything's paused. And Left 4 Dead demanded I update my video card drivers before it loaded for the first time, and I downloaded Steam directly from the web site about two days ago.

    Bionic Monkey on
    sig_megas_armed.jpg
  • YorkerYorker Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Barcardi wrote: »
    Yorker wrote: »
    Does this look good to you guys? have i made any glaring mistakes?


    screenshot002oy3.png

    what money type is that?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/norwegian_krone

    Yorker on
    76561198037322631.png
  • expendableexpendable Silly Goose Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Barcardi wrote: »
    if certain games are working and others are not its probably a game update or steam issue not your computer itself.

    off the top of my head: update steam, update video card drivers, pause those downloads

    also what os?

    XP Professional 32bit. And yeah, everything's paused. And Left 4 Dead demanded I update my video card drivers before it loaded for the first time, and I downloaded Steam directly from the web site about two days ago.

    Update Steam anyway. The past couple months they've been updating every 6 days.

    expendable on
    Djiem wrote: »
    Lokiamis wrote: »
    So the servers suddenly decide to cramp up during the last six percent.
    Man, the Director will really go out of his way to be a dick to L4D players.
    Steam
  • Bionic MonkeyBionic Monkey Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited November 2008
    expendable wrote: »
    Barcardi wrote: »
    if certain games are working and others are not its probably a game update or steam issue not your computer itself.

    off the top of my head: update steam, update video card drivers, pause those downloads

    also what os?

    XP Professional 32bit. And yeah, everything's paused. And Left 4 Dead demanded I update my video card drivers before it loaded for the first time, and I downloaded Steam directly from the web site about two days ago.

    Update Steam anyway. The past couple months they've been updating every 6 days.

    Done. Tells me it's already up to date.

    :x

    Bionic Monkey on
    sig_megas_armed.jpg
  • Bionic MonkeyBionic Monkey Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited November 2008
    Malkor wrote: »
    That is super-weird. Try running the game in a different dx level.

    I think you can go to Steam properties and type
    -dxlevel 81
    
    in one of the launcher icons.

    Just did that. I've got about a half hour left on my Crysis demo download, that I'm going to let finish downloading (it's through Opera) because I'll have to start over if I have to reboot my system again. I'll boot up Left 4 Dead when it's finished to see if this helps.

    Bionic Monkey on
    sig_megas_armed.jpg
  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    There's no way that your set-up can't handle DX 9+, but maybe something's wonky..

    Malkor on
    14271f3c-c765-4e74-92b1-49d7612675f2.jpg
  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    With the i7's coming out now, how long before you think the Core 2 Quads or Duos will drop in price pretty sharply? I want to build a new computer on the cheap and it would be nice to get something fast on the cheap as well.

    ArcSyn on
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  • BarrakkethBarrakketh Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    ArcSyn wrote: »
    With the i7's coming out now, how long before you think the Core 2 Quads or Duos will drop in price pretty sharply? I want to build a new computer on the cheap and it would be nice to get something fast on the cheap as well.
    The short answer is that they probably won't for a while. I personally don't see the price dropping substantially except on the Q9XX0 series since the i920 outperforms the Q9650 and is around $250 cheaper.

    Barrakketh on
    Rollers are red, chargers are blue....omae wa mou shindeiru
  • SkutSkutSkutSkut Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    OK so I can borrow this compy from time to time.

    Should have about 500 from christmas and b-day money this year, so that's a way off. But I can this now

    OEM Vista, which version should I get? Primarily a mid-range gaming PC this'll be. I already have a monitor, dvd rw drive, input devices and headphones. So that saves a good chunk of change, just wondering about the OS at the moment.

    SkutSkut on
  • AkatsukiAkatsuki Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Ugh it's so hard to keep up with all the new stuff :P I have an AMD 64 3.7, 1 GB DDR, Asus A8N SLI premium or wtvr, and a X800GT. Meaning I can't play new games. I suppose buying some upgrades would be pretty much a worthless patch up job, but in the even that I can't buy a new PC this Christmas, do you guys think it's worth to inject some new blood in the old gal? Any recomendations?

    And if I by chance buy a new PC, should I go for the new Intel processors, or should I wait a while for price drop/time test?

    Akatsuki on
    Preacher wrote:
    ...my inner weaboo can kawaii all over this desu.

    Pokémon HGSS: 1205 1613 4041
  • spidahspidah Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Hey should I get a NZXT Tempest or a Cooler Master RC-690 case? I already overheated an HD4870 so I want to be sure this time. Less than 2 or 3 fans isn't enough.

    spidah on
  • peteaboda1peteaboda1 Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Just a quick question wondering if this motherboard would take this ram.


    edit: I ask because I noticed on another forum people were buying DDR2 800 ram with the motherboard.

    peteaboda1 on
    AcridMeat.png
  • BarrakkethBarrakketh Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    peteaboda1 wrote: »
    Just a quick question wondering if this motherboard would take this ram.


    edit: I ask because I noticed on another forum people were buying DDR2 800 ram with the motherboard.
    Yes. DDR2-800 memory is listed in the memory support PDF for the motherboard.

    Barrakketh on
    Rollers are red, chargers are blue....omae wa mou shindeiru
  • PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    The Good: My new rig should be arriving Tuesday.
    The Bad: That's when L4D launches, and I have to assemble/install/stability test the fucker before I can play
    The Ugly: IRL Serious Business is getting all up in my fucking game again this entire goddamn week so I probably won't get to really play until next weekend :x

    PeregrineFalcon on
    Looking for a DX:HR OnLive code for my kid brother.
    Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
  • Bionic MonkeyBionic Monkey Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited November 2008
    Well, that is damn weird. I installed the Crysis demo and played that through to completion with the highest settings (minus AA) at 1680x1050, with only some minor screen tearing. Seems the problem is with Valve games. I'll try a couple demos from steam though, to see if it is Valve, or if it's a Steam issue.
    Malkor wrote: »
    That is super-weird. Try running the game in a different dx level.

    I think you can go to Steam properties and type
    -dxlevel 81
    
    in one of the launcher icons.

    Okay, so I can't find anywhere to do this in Steam's properties/settings. But right clicking on individual games and choosing their settings, it looks like I can "set launch options" which is where I put that code. Still no luck, unless I'm putting it in in the wrong area.

    Bionic Monkey on
    sig_megas_armed.jpg
  • PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Well, that is damn weird. I installed the Crysis demo and played that through to completion with the highest settings (minus AA) at 1680x1050, with only some minor screen tearing. Seems the problem is with Valve games. I'll try a couple demos from steam though, to see if it is Valve, or if it's a Steam issue.
    Malkor wrote: »
    That is super-weird. Try running the game in a different dx level.

    I think you can go to Steam properties and type
    -dxlevel 81
    
    in one of the launcher icons.

    Okay, so I can't find anywhere to do this in Steam's properties/settings. But right clicking on individual games and choosing their settings, it looks like I can "set launch options" which is where I put that code. Still no luck, unless I'm putting it in in the wrong area.

    You running any firewall/AV software?

    Put HL2.exe on the exceptions list for both, and/or try disabling them and see if that fixes the issue.

    PeregrineFalcon on
    Looking for a DX:HR OnLive code for my kid brother.
    Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
  • peteaboda1peteaboda1 Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Barrakketh wrote: »
    peteaboda1 wrote: »
    Just a quick question wondering if this motherboard would take this ram.


    edit: I ask because I noticed on another forum people were buying DDR2 800 ram with the motherboard.
    Yes. DDR2-800 memory is listed in the memory support PDF for the motherboard.

    Ok, so now I am back into confusion because I thought I could only get motherboards that were listed on newegg as having ddr2 800 memory standard. I am now looking at these three,

    1. ASUS P5N-D LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
    2. GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
    3. ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

    peteaboda1 on
    AcridMeat.png
  • ArcticMonkeyArcticMonkey Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Barcardi wrote: »
    so i have everything except the net up and running... currently 2 issues with this new computer:

    vista seems to think i need to confirm that i want to open everything, how do i turn this (and any other type of bloat that will eventually come up) off?

    If you mean http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_Account_Control then that can be turned off fast. Instructions are in the wiki page. The 10 minutes before I found out were the 10 most annoying I have spent in Windows.

    ArcticMonkey on
    "You read it! You can't unread it!"
    venstre.giflobotDanceMiddle.gifhoyre.gif
  • BarrakkethBarrakketh Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    peteaboda1 wrote: »
    Barrakketh wrote: »
    peteaboda1 wrote: »
    Just a quick question wondering if this motherboard would take this ram.


    edit: I ask because I noticed on another forum people were buying DDR2 800 ram with the motherboard.
    Yes. DDR2-800 memory is listed in the memory support PDF for the motherboard.

    Ok, so now I am back into confusion because I thought I could only get motherboards that were listed on newegg as having ddr2 800 memory standard. I am now looking at these three,

    2. GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
    3. ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

    Basically any motherboard that supports a given DDR2 standard will also support speeds lower than that standard.

    The Gigabyte motherboard has optical and coax S/PDIF, the ASUS only has coax. The Gigabyte also has two more USB ports on the I/O panel. Other than that they don't seem too different.

    Barrakketh on
    Rollers are red, chargers are blue....omae wa mou shindeiru
  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    edited November 2008
    For anyone who's looking for a card, Best Buy has a 1gb Geforce 9800GT for $149.00 this week.

    That's the same price as it is on Newegg, but well, you don't have to have it shipped and all that crap.

    Doesn't help me, but thought someone else might be interested.

    The Dude With Herpes on
    Steam: Galedrid - XBL: Galedrid - PSN: Galedrid
    Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
    Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand

  • YorkerYorker Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    E7200 + Radeon HD4870

    Or

    E8400 + Radeon HD4850?

    I need to cut the cost a little bit, but i'm not sure where.

    Yorker on
    76561198037322631.png
  • PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Yorker wrote: »
    E7200 + Radeon HD4870

    Or

    E8400 + Radeon HD4850?

    I need to cut the cost a little bit, but i'm not sure where.

    There shouldn't be that much of a difference between the E7200 and E8400 that it makes a leap from 4850 to 4870 possible. Where are you buying from?

    Also, what size of monitor do you have? The 4870 needs a pretty high resolution in order to really make itself at home.

    PeregrineFalcon on
    Looking for a DX:HR OnLive code for my kid brother.
    Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
  • YorkerYorker Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    I'm seeing differences around 400 from the 7200 to the 8400 and like 5-600 between the 4850 and the 4870. (Not dollars, of course :P)

    I have a 22" Monitor so that's 1680x1050.

    Yorker on
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  • YorkerYorker Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Shit yes, just found a E8200 for the same as that 7200, should be able to get that to 3 GHz pretty easily.

    Yorker on
    76561198037322631.png
  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Wow. Those prices confuse me greatly. The difference between a 7200 and an 8400 is ~$50 here, and you can't find an E8200 for the same price as a 7200...

    Likewise, the difference between the 4850 and 4870 is less than one hundred bucks US.

    Malkor on
    14271f3c-c765-4e74-92b1-49d7612675f2.jpg
  • YorkerYorker Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Malkor wrote: »
    Wow. Those prices confuse me greatly. The difference between a 7200 and an 8400 is ~$50 here, and you can't find an E8200 for the same price as a 7200...

    Likewise, the difference between the 4850 and 4870 is less than one hundred bucks US.

    Coincidentally 700 NOK difference between a 4850 and a 4870 equals one hundred US dollars almost exactly.

    Something like 60-70 Dollars between the 8400 and the 7200.

    Yorker on
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  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Well then.

    Malkor on
    14271f3c-c765-4e74-92b1-49d7612675f2.jpg
  • YorkerYorker Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Malkor wrote: »
    Well then.

    Surprising that there's as much as 40$ difference between the 8200 and the 7200, they're mostly equal here, so there's no reason not to spring for the large cache.

    Yorker on
    76561198037322631.png
  • BarcardiBarcardi All the Wizards Under A Rock: AfganistanRegistered User regular
    edited November 2008
    short of installing all of my fun (not so fun) computer drafting/cad/rendering/photoshop stuff, what sort of fun shinanigans should i start my new pc off with?

    beyond a nice new video game i mean

    Barcardi on
  • BarrakkethBarrakketh Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    I've been skimming through the documentation for the parts that came in today and found something amusing.
    dgjbt2.png

    I know lots of things are excluded from warranty coverage, but that's the first time I've ever seen riots specifically mentioned.

    Barrakketh on
    Rollers are red, chargers are blue....omae wa mou shindeiru
  • expendableexpendable Silly Goose Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    First boot POST!

    The only real problem was having to dremel a couple screw holes wider in the case for the PSU.

    expendable on
    Djiem wrote: »
    Lokiamis wrote: »
    So the servers suddenly decide to cramp up during the last six percent.
    Man, the Director will really go out of his way to be a dick to L4D players.
    Steam
  • peteaboda1peteaboda1 Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Barrakketh wrote: »
    peteaboda1 wrote: »
    Barrakketh wrote: »
    peteaboda1 wrote: »
    Just a quick question wondering if this motherboard would take this ram.


    edit: I ask because I noticed on another forum people were buying DDR2 800 ram with the motherboard.
    Yes. DDR2-800 memory is listed in the memory support PDF for the motherboard.

    Ok, so now I am back into confusion because I thought I could only get motherboards that were listed on newegg as having ddr2 800 memory standard. I am now looking at these three,

    2. GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
    3. ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

    Basically any motherboard that supports a given DDR2 standard will also support speeds lower than that standard.

    The Gigabyte motherboard has optical and coax S/PDIF, the ASUS only has coax. The Gigabyte also has two more USB ports on the I/O panel. Other than that they don't seem too different.

    I guess I'm going to go with the P5Q then, thanks.

    peteaboda1 on
    AcridMeat.png
  • peteaboda1peteaboda1 Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    For anyone who's looking for a card, Best Buy has a 1gb Geforce 9800GT for $149.00 this week.

    That's the same price as it is on Newegg, but well, you don't have to have it shipped and all that crap.

    Doesn't help me, but thought someone else might be interested.

    Just saw this, do you think it would be a good deal for me to go and buy it now? I'm planning on the P5Q as stated, E8400 and 4 gigs of DDR2 800 RAM. Will I really see a difference between this and a regular 512mb 9800GT on a 17 inch monitor?

    What I mean is comparing it to this card

    peteaboda1 on
    AcridMeat.png
  • DeadOnArrivalDeadOnArrival Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Flyingman wrote: »
    Building a high-end unit for a design studio, working with large photoshop documents, polygon-heavy 3D scenes and video editing etc. etc.

    I haven't built a computer for a very long time. I am looking into a seperate mac machine, but this will by my personal PC as well. I don't know what's the best these days, but here is what I'm looking at. I already have monitors and PSUs.

    MBD; Asus P5Q-Premium | x1 | $389.00
    HDD; Seagate 1TB 7200RPM 32MB SATA3.0Gb/s | x2 | $638.00
    CPU; Intel QUAD XEON E5450 3.0GHz | x1 | $1599.00
    MEM; Corsair TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF 4GB | x2 | $411.00
    VID; Asus Nvidia GTX280 HTDP 1G | x1 | $770.00

    I've read bad things about the current (11 series) Seagate HDDs doing the rounds. Dark tales of them dying prematurely and rendering data useless. They have a good long warranty, which is nice, but the warranty of course doesn't cover any data you may lose.

    Found a thread on a UK PC shop forum (Overclockers.co.uk).

    I've no idea as to the validity of those reports myself, but it is something to consider. It's made me a little worried as I have an 11 series 750GB in my rig right now.

    I shouldn't have tempted fate with this. I had my first cyclic redundancy check (basically bad sector error, written data becomes corrupted) today on my Seagate 750Gb HDD. I'd best start trying to see if I can salvage stuff. :/

    DeadOnArrival on
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This discussion has been closed.