Buy Me a PC - now seeking new advice!

[Stormwaltz]

Fair enough. At $90 the Earthwatts is one of the cheaper ones in that power range, so I'll give it a shot. If nothing else it will satisfy my curiosity.

[Hoax]

Never ever ever skimp on the PSU.  Like Schild said, get the cheapest one you can and then buy a real one from Newegg, you will have to rerun your cables but the PSU is pretty easy to identify, remove and replace.  If you get really worried just write down which cables were connected where and what they looked like as you remove the crap PSU from your new rig.  Then replace like for like.

I just restarted researching for a new rig build and my power supply choices came down to a couple in Newegg's ~$150 price point.  A Zalman and a Seasonic I'm 95% sure.  I've used both of those companies in the past for PSU with no issues.  Sadly I can't give specifics because I'm not working today and my research is at the office.

[Tale]

I used to use whatever generic PSU was available. Then Lian-Li PC-60 brushed aluminium cases took off. I decided if I was using that case, it deserved more than a generic PSU, so I got an Antec (best reputation at the time).

Until then my PC use included rare lockups and very rare blue screens in games. I had put it down to Windows being Windows. But after adding that PSU, neither of those things happened with that PC again. Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed to make the machine more reliable. So I still use a good brand name PSU.

[Engels]

The key difference between a good and a bad PSU is the degree to wich voltage fluctuations increase over time. A well built one will only fluctuate .3 or so volts over the course of its life span, and generally keep a steady even flow of power going to your rig. A cheap one will slowly degrade, and you'll start to see errors when the voltage goes above or below the acceptable voltage on that particular rail. Most common is the 12 volt rail going up over time to 13 or so, and then blam, BSD.

[Stormwaltz]

Like Schild said, get the cheapest one you can and then buy a real one from Newegg

Last I checked, Newegg wouldn't ship to Canada. But good PSUs I can aquire locally.

Minor pet peeve. NCIX.com accepts PayPal. Good for me, since I have no credit cards (just a Visa-backed debit attached to a checking account I rarely use). However, duruing check out I discovered that they won't accept instant transfers. Only "echecks" that take over a week to clear. I placed my order last Friday, but they won't even start processing it until the payment clears on August 5.

Why offer PayPal if you won't accept instant transfers? I could have mailed a freaking check in less time.

[Hoax]

Here are the 3 PSU's I'm considering for my build in progress..

Enermax
86A on the 12V, 650W total, fan is a 135.

Zalman
80A on the 12V, 750W total, fan is a 2 bearing 120.  Probably the least quiet of the 3, but very solid.  I've used my current Zalman PSU for years with no lockups or issues.

Seasonic
72A on the 12V, 600W total, two fans (120 & 60) but I bet the quietest of the bunch.  Seasonic's stuff is fucking amazing.  You get the least power with your money but if you don't intend on setting up a nutso raid or SLI/crossfire setup I can't imagine you'll have issues.  I put one of their PSU's in my dad's rig I built 1.5 years ago, fucking money and so quiet that even he couldn't complain.

You can tell though that the Enermax is the only mainstream product, I don't think I'll get it unless there is a deal or something to take advantage of since I dont have history with them.  But they seemed to be well regarded when I took a look around.

[schild]

The Seasonics may be the lowest powered, but their the most stable power supplies I've ever used and their output rating is _exact_. It's quality shit.

[rattran]

http://www.newegg.ca/ is coming soon, might want to hold off a bit.

[murdoc]

Finally.

[Stormwaltz]

Thank fucking Christ.

[Ironwood]

FUCK.  My motherboard just got blown like my dick on a Christmas night out.

Suggestions for a new chap ?  Is the one suggested for Mr Red-name still the best for the buck ?

[Trippy]

What CPU and socket type do you have?

[Engels]

just got blown like my dick on a Christmas night out.

Is this a scottish tradition? if not, can you suggest strategies for this to happen to others? what is the normal tip?

[Ironwood]

Time to upgrade, mate, so I'll be getting a new chip and video card anyway.  Currently sitting on an Athlon XP 2500+


As for your question, Engels, the normal tip is at the end of the shaft, roughly 11 inches down.

[Engels]

Athschlong XP 2500+ uses a 939 socket and I think most of those were AGP boards. May have to get a new vid card too? Oh, and new ram, since I think you're gonna want DDR2 or DDR3 with the current boards/cpus.

Edit: oops, I think it actually uses Socket A. same deal tho

[Ironwood]

Yes.

[Engels]

So....budget? Overclocking or not? Raid or not? Interest in SLI/Crossfire? Hard drive number?

[Ironwood]

Got two Raptors (36) in a Raid for TEH SPEEDZ.  Don't give a shit about overclocking or SLI.  Probably snag one of those thar newfangled 4870 cards.

[Engels]

I'd look at x38 or x48 chipset motherboards, either Intel, Asus or Gigabyte. I'm not sure if going DDR3 is starting to be worth it. I don't think anything has changed, and a tightly timed DDR2 set at 800mhz probably does as well as DDR3. Trippy will know for sure.

[Trippy]

Are you buying this stuff online? And like Engels asked, what's the budget?

[Ironwood]

Not a budget as such.  I'm rich, but not stupid.

Don't care where I buy it, but online would be best.  Bear in mind that I'm UK based though.  All I'm really looking for is what spec is 'the shit' at the moment and I'll fetch it.

 

[Trippy]

FUCK.  My motherboard just got blown like my dick on a Christmas night out.

Suggestions for a new chap ?  Is the one suggested for Mr Red-name still the best for the buck ?

The ASUS P5E WS Professional is a little bit more expensive than the regular ASUS P5E which may work just as well for you. Storm's choices were limited by what was available at that particular site. Both boards use the X38 chipset with DDR2 memory which means you get the latest motherboard features from Intel without having to pay ridiculous prices for DDR3 memory which doesn't currently give you any performance benefit (if you really wanted DDR3 you'll probably want an X48 board).

Not a budget as such.  I'm rich, but not stupid.

Don't care where I buy it, but online would be best.  Bear in mind that I'm UK based though.  All I'm really looking for is what spec is 'the shit' at the moment and I'll fetch it.

 

What are some online stores you can buy from over there?

[Ironwood]

I can get the WS Pro from Ebuyer and the card, memory and cooler from Overclockers.

That'll do it, I guess.

[Ironwood]

Stuff ordered and on the way.  I think by the weekend I'll be reinstalling some of my Heavy Hitting games.

 

[Stormwaltz]

Fabulous. NCIX took so long to process my payment that the motherboard is no longer in stock. They expect me to choose another.

No. I just sent you $2500 for a part your site still says you can get with a week to restock. I'll be patient while you get me what I want, or I'm going to take my business elsewhere. I'll regret losing the assembly (because i r suq at the electronics), but I know I can order the individual parts locally.

And get a better PSU while I'm doing it.

[Dtrain]

This just in: the stock heatsink/fan on the 45nm intel processors eats hot flaming dicks (many of them.)

"What's that," you say, "a stock heatsink that sucks? Unpossible!" I've used plenty of stock heatsinks and while they're far from the best solution out there, they are usually adequate. The 45nm HSF is not only a poor cooling solution, it is difficult to install correctly, and probably dangerous to your board. In the 4 corners of the HSF it's got these plastic anchors that hold it into the mounting holes on the motherboard. You push down on a little plunger ontop of the anchor that sends a black plastic spike down between a pair of white plastic anchors that then fill up your mounting hole and hold the HSF in place (in theory.)

Get.
Aftermarket.
HSF.

I put a new system into a case that is 10 years old last night, and by far the hardest part was fucking about with that stupid ass stock HSF.

[schild]

Hm? I've had no problems. Neither has my friend afaik.

[rattran]

They work, but the stock hsf does kinda blow. Easier if you realize push down, then turn.

[Dtrain]

Hm? I've had no problems. Neither has my friend afaik.

This one, right?



If so, you've got more patience than I do.

Push down, then turn - that might help.

[schild]

Nah, I got angry with the first dual core I got, the second time, not as many issues. The third time was cake.

[Engels]

The turn action is actually for the removal of the HS, not the insertion. It should 'snap in'. Make sure you do the push pins in a circle, rather than one across from one another.

[fuser]

Last I checked, Newegg wouldn't ship to Canada. But good PSUs I can aquire locally.

Bah I find NCIX comical just because their sister "store" is generally cheaper(outside of the ncix sales/dedicated rebates).

[Tale]

The fourth heatsink/fan anchor on my Core 2 Duo has never gone in. And I don't care. Never been a problem, temperatures are lower than other people's (probably thanks to a good case).

[Stormwaltz]

The machine arrived today, and it is beautiful. The outside is nice, but the inside is better. Tons of space, and the wiring is in most cases kept well out of the way.

I did say "in most cases."

Here's what I saw when I removed the packing foam around the CPU:



The power cables for the top case fan are wedged between its internal housing and the CPU heat sink blades. I do mean wedged - a gentle tug couldn't move them. The cables are looped up and twist-tied, so there's probably enough slack to go around. I'm puzzled by their decision to do this - maybe they considered the blades hitting the case a more serious concern?

Should I move it aside myself?

Seriously, beautiful machine. I'll probably put up more pics later. Meantime I don't want to turn it on until I'm sure it won't cause an electrical fire...

[Engels]

er, if the heatsink blades are slowly going to cut into the fan cable housing, ya, move it. It will definately short out your system, and possibly cause serious damage.