Buy Me a PC - now seeking new advice!

[schild]

From the look of it, can you run that wire across the top of the fan down the plug? I wonder why they didn't do that.

[Trippy]

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...

I would move it if it wasn't too much trouble to get that fan out of there and put back in with the wire going out the other side. If nothing else it's currently blocking a teeny bit of airflow by having it wrapped around that way.

[Ironwood]

From the look of it, can you run that wire across the top of the fan down the plug? I wonder why they didn't do that.

I'd just flip the thing 180 so that the wire is on the other side and closer to the power.  That'd do it.

[Stormwaltz]

*facepalm*

Tell me I'm overreacting, that there's enough of a gap for this to work, that the experienced professionals who assembled my computer at NCIX are not, in fact, inbred mongoloids I increasingly suspect that they are.

Note: nothing but empty space on the far side of that. If I had an appropriately shaped backplate, I could easily slide it over.

Also: any option for those with more fans than fan plugs on the motherboard?

[Trippy]

Is there a problem? I'm assuming you are complaining about the power supply not being rotated another 90 degrees. Do you have holes in your side panel near there? Rotating the power supply isn't necessarily going to make things better. Hint you do not want your power supply's fan sucking hot air from the compartment above it (yes that means power supplies in standard ATX cases are rotated the wrong direction). So basically it can either be pointing downwards or rotated like you have now and the gap looks about the same either way though pointing it downwards probably would suck in slightly cooler air. Flipping it a full 180 degrees might be slightly better than they way it is now but that depends on what the airflow and temps are like in that lower compartment.

That cutout is also blocking some of the airflow going out. If you have a Dremel or something you might want to cut it open more.

To power additional fans you need some sort of adapter like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812189119

[Tale]

That cutout is also blocking some of the airflow going out. If you have a Dremel or something you might want to cut it open more.

I doubt that's much of an issue - it's an aluminium Lian Li case, full of case fans. Not a heap left for the PSU exhaust to do. My Lian Li has the same exhaust cutout and has held a couple of PC builds, both of which have run very cool.

Tell me I'm overreacting, that there's enough of a gap for this to work

You're overreacting, there's enough of a gap for this to work. When the PC is running, get the temperatures of the CPU and video card from whatever software shows them, and do a google search for forums where nerds post temperatures of those components. Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised that yours are running really cool thanks to the good case.

[Trippy]

That cutout is also blocking some of the airflow going out. If you have a Dremel or something you might want to cut it open more.

I doubt that's much of an issue - it's an aluminium Lian Li case, full of case fans. Not a heap left for the PSU exhaust to do. My Lian Li has the same exhaust cutout and has held a couple of PC builds, both of which have run very cool.

Tell me I'm overreacting, that there's enough of a gap for this to work

You're overreacting, there's enough of a gap for this to work. When the PC is running, get the temperatures of the CPU and video card from whatever software shows them, and do a google search for forums where nerds post temperatures of those components. Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised that yours are running really cool thanks to the good case.

It's not a question of CPU and GPU temps. Heat buildup in the power supply lowers its efficiency and if you have a temperature controlled PS fan means more noise (higher fan RPM).

[Stormwaltz]

Anedotally, this machine is running cooler than my previous one (judged solely by checking the exhaust temps with my hand). The top of the motherboard is unbelieveably well-vented - the CPU fan is huge, and it's flanked by top and rear 120mm case fans. The video card is a tiny sun, but based on what I was told upthread I expected that. I'll double-check the internal temps when I get home.

I was concerned that the PSU fan needed to face inward to get adequate air flow over long periods (it's the fartherst from the case fans), but it sounds like this may not be the case.

My next project will be checking on the HD mountings. The 500GB gets a nasty vibration when it's in use for a long time. If its just tightening screws, no problem. If the screws are tight, I think I should ship it back "just in case." The 1TB monsterdrive is nearly silent, the smaller (which I'm using for the OS and utilities/apps) has fits of loud buzzing. That can't be good.

Thanks for the continued advice, guys. ^_^

[fuser]

I'll double-check the internal temps when I get home.

hwmonitor, hopefully it will read a lot from your sensors/chipset.

My next project will be checking on the HD mountings. The 500GB gets a nasty vibration when it's in use for a long time. If its just tightening screws, no problem.

Just a tip, usually loosing screws on fans etc will reduce noise, if the hard drive is screwed down tight loosen it a bit as it could be a case metal vibration.

[MahrinSkel]

Once upon a time the PSU draw was a substantial portion of your case's air exchange (if not all of it), and what you're talking about would have mattered.  But mostly you're either pulling air from inside the case and what matters is the system ambient, or you're not.  That PSU will be fine, but if you're really worried about it you might see if it has the screw taps to be rotated 180 degrees (I suspect it doesn't or they would have mounted it that way.  You might note that the cutout on the otherside of the case is 180 degrees reversed, so even if it was over there you'd still have the same situation.

If you're really worried about it (or if the exhaust coming out of the PSU is really hot), cut a vent and mount a fan and screen in the side of the case over its intake.  But I wouldn't expect it to be an issue.

--Dave

[Stormwaltz]

Holy fucking shit.

Just got my ~120GB of MP3s set up on the new machine today.

The improvement of sound quality from the X-Fi card was immediate and obvious. I feel like I'm back at my college radio station, listening to the monitor speakers.

[Tale]

Holy fucking shit.

Just got my ~120GB of MP3s set up on the new machine today.

The improvement of sound quality from the X-Fi card was immediate and obvious. I feel like I'm back at my college radio station, listening to the monitor speakers.

That makes me all warm inside my musical ear.

I might not even need a sound card, as my Audigy 2 ZX Platinum seems pretty solid.

As you're an audiophile with good speakers and gaming interests, consider an X-Fi. To my ears, X-Fi sound reproduction is far richer and more beautiful than older sound cards. I went from an Audigy 1 to an X-Fi ExtremeMusic and was surprised by how much better the sound was from the same speakers.

I'm talking basic, unmodified music and movie playback on an X-Fi, without the card's "enhancements". The downside of an X-Fi is it has three different modes to switch between - gaming (to process the extra effects), entertainment (for music purity) and audio creation (for recording). The gaming sound output is also something to behold. But I have been known to forget to switch back to entertainment mode after gaming and wonder if I had imagined the quality.

[Hoax]

I'm pretty much set on my own personal rig, will post a parts list by Monday for a final "see anything you dont like?" check.  But my friend just tasked me today with a quick build for his wife.  She has a telecommuting job + wants to be able to play EQ2 or whatever MMO she graduates to after she realizes what crap EQ2 is..

Here's what I pulled up in 30 min on the egg, your thoughts please?  Budget is $650 max, playing EQ2 well + being able to upgrade to or just run whatever she picks up next is the goal. 

mobo
psu
cpu
ram

This clocks in at $350, monitor, hd's, i/o are being taken from existing machines.  This leaves us with the money to pick up a GTX260 or whatever is one step under that, the 9600??  I decided on NV because they are more user friendly and she wont be watching the heat or hacking the fan settings.  The ram was a combo deal with the cpu, and I've heard GSKILL is ok, I only have ever used Corsair forfuckingever.  The PSU doesn't seem like a great call, but I'm short on time atm.  I just got a Corsair PSU for $65 myself, to save some money short term (buying a $135 modular Seasonic sometime down the road to replace) figure I can get another one of those though the deal is over now so they are 70-75.

TIA

[Engels]

why AMD? You're seriously curtailing your upgrade ability with that. go for a low end LGA775 cpu that she can switch out when she has money.

Like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115052

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128337

[Hoax]

I always thought that AMD was better at the really low end bang/buck wise?  Plus they have AMD systems currently, plus I've never used AMD so it would be more interesting to build...    Easier for me to just go with low end Intel, though since I know the brands/parts much  better from the research I've been doing for my own shit.

[Hoax]

my new rig:
PSU - Corsair vx550w
CPU - Q6600
Mobo - MSI Neo2-FR
Ram - Corsair 2x2GB 1066 DDR2
case - Lian-Li A70-B

So, anyone have any problems with any of that?  The case and psu are already at my house.  The rest is going to be ordered this weekend.  The annoying thing is I can't find a video card option I like.  I want a 4870 (I dont mind ATI cards at all) but the stock cooler sucks dick and nobody has made a good improvement yet.  That means I have to go after-market cooling and void the warranty most likely doing so.  Which sucks.

For those keeping score at home, that is ~$800 with $80 in MIR's pre-gpu of course.  I spent another $430 on my monitor (24" TN panel).

[Stormwaltz]

The annoying thing is I can't find a video card option I like.  I want a 4870 (I dont mind ATI cards at all) but the stock cooler sucks dick

I have discovered that if you're a gamer using Vista-64, you probably don't want an ATI card. Apparently the Catalyst drivers have been buggy under the OS since 2006, but they still haven't fixed it.

WH:DoW suffers a driver crash every ~15 minutes, and I don't dare turn on antialiasing indoors in LotRO.

[schild]

Rattran doesn't seem to have problems with his ATI in vista 64. He can probably provide more insight.

[rattran]

I'm running a 4870 in Vista64. No issues in any games right now. The ATI drivers were crap in both xp and vista for ages, but seem solid now.

And the stock cooling is fine on the 4870s, you just need to set the fan default higher. Currently my GPU is 44C, it peaked at 58C under heavy load earlier.

As for that motherboard the following spec gives me pause. "2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots - When using two PCIE x16 slots, the PCIE x16 lanes will auto arrange from x16/x0 to x8/x8" Seems to defeat part of the purpose of having multiple x16 slots. And I haven't been very impressed with the MSI boards I've had to work with in the last few years. Might want to spend a bit more and got for an x38/x48 board. I know DFI has a couple ddr2 ones, I'm sure others do as well.

[Stormwaltz]

Well, I do have the latest drivers, and I'm suffering crash after crash.

Anecdote: downloaded Expertool to "overclock" the 4870's fan. By default it was running at ~22% speed, with a temp of 79C (just operating Vista shortly after boot). Setting the fan at 50%, quickly temp dropped to 43C, though it doubled (or more) the noise of the computer.

WTH. Were ATI more concerned about noise than cooling? If I can drop temperature that dramatically with just 50% capacity, why aren't the factory setting higher?

If I'm lucky, the crash problems will go away now that the board's temp has dropped by 36 degrees.

79C doing nothing. Jesus Christ.

[Engels]

That's not uncommon with stock cooling and modern GPUs. GPUs are rated for far higher temps than CPUs.

[Falwell]

Nice to hear about that X-Fi card Storm. I'm shopping as we speak for a new one because my old POS Audigy 2 ZS is taking a dive. I think I'm gonna go with that X-FI Titanium Pro with the PCI-E connection. Basically the same as yours without the super fancy remote and box.

[Ingmar]

My video card just took a crap this evening. What are people recommending these days? I'll need something that can handle 1920x1200 with stuff like DoW2 when it comes out, so, pretty beefy.

[Stormwaltz]

Just played DoW for an hour with no problems at all - not even hitches. It was definitely the heat, which makes the low default fan speed look twice as foolish.

[rattran]

I picked up the Fatality Platinum (the pcie one) the drivers installed fine, updated and work. Unlike the Fatality Pro which was cause of much woe.

[Hoax]

I'm running a 4870 in Vista64. No issues in any games right now. The ATI drivers were crap in both xp and vista for ages, but seem solid now.

And the stock cooling is fine on the 4870s, you just need to set the fan default higher. Currently my GPU is 44C, it peaked at 58C under heavy load earlier.

As for that motherboard the following spec gives me pause. "2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots - When using two PCIE x16 slots, the PCIE x16 lanes will auto arrange from x16/x0 to x8/x8" Seems to defeat part of the purpose of having multiple x16 slots. And I haven't been very impressed with the MSI boards I've had to work with in the last few years. Might want to spend a bit more and got for an x38/x48 board. I know DFI has a couple ddr2 ones, I'm sure others do as well.

DFI wasn't even on my consideration list tbh, I was looking at Gigabyte, MSI and to a lesser extent Asus, who seems to have good boards for what I want in the PQ5 series but I really really hated their company back in the day due to lack of support and general dickheadedness, haven't bought them in a long long time.  See what your saying though, honestly I was paying the $$ to get the Neo2 instead of the Neo3 just because of tiny things that aren't worth the money but I didn't mind spending it.

No fucking way in hell I'm getting a stock cooled 4870, I hate the idea of fan hacking, noisy fan and the temps I'm hearing don't sound bad.  That cooler just looks like crap.  I wanted a 4870 one of these but I've been reading how HIS are dicks and scamming people out of rebates/rma's on another board so I'm back to square one.  Annoying.  Sapphire makes some non stock cooling but it isn't rear exhaust, which is just amateur hour.

[rattran]

Mine's not that loud, and the 'fan hacking' is just setting a profile in the ccc, and changing a .cfg file. But, there should be quieter better ones in 4-6 months, just in time for the 5870s to hit the market.

[NiX]

that the experienced professionals who assembled my computer at NCIX are not, in fact, inbred mongoloids I increasingly suspect that they are.

How is buying from NCIX?

Looking to upgrade mobo, cpu and ram. Not going to be doing any overclocking. Suggestions?

[Big Gulp]

Just played DoW for an hour with no problems at all - not even hitches. It was definitely the heat, which makes the low default fan speed look twice as foolish.

The ATI HD4850 is the same way.  I just bought a DuoOrb for the damned thing rather than cranking up the fan speed and dealing with the subsequent jet turbine-like noise.  On the plus side, those damned things WORK.  At load my card rarely goes over 40^o celsius.  In fact, my CPU is consistently running hotter than my GPU now.   

[Miasma]

that the experienced professionals who assembled my computer at NCIX are not, in fact, inbred mongoloids I increasingly suspect that they are.

How is buying from NCIX?

Looking to upgrade mobo, cpu and ram. Suggestions?

I built my last two computers with parts from them and had no problems.  I got lucky and didn't have to return anything or deal with them past ordering the components though.  They have some option for expedited RMA type service if you pay a certain percentage more.  I thought they were pretty good.  Their website is solid with little forums for each item and such, the customer reviews and comments are better on newegg because so many more people use them so I just decide what I want to buy from them and buy from ncix since newegg doesn't do Canada.

[NiX]

since newegg doesn't do Canada.

Yet!

[Stormwaltz]

How is buying from NCIX?

Buying parts would probably be fine. I wouldn't let them assemble it again, though.

[NiX]

I might as well stick with Canada Computers than. For the most part they're usually way cheaper. The Q6600 is $223 with NCIX and $209 with CanadaComputers.

[Falwell]

I picked up the Fatality Platinum (the pcie one) the drivers installed fine, updated and work. Unlike the Fatality Pro which was cause of much woe.

What OS are you using Rat? V-64? I remember you using Vista when we played Hellgate but I can't remember if you ran 32 or 64.

[Lantyssa]

My video card just took a crap this evening. What are people recommending these days? I'll need something that can handle 1920x1200 with stuff like DoW2 when it comes out, so, pretty beefy.

I'm really liking my ECS 8800 GT.  Seems like they may be getting hard to find, and it's "old" now, so maybe not worth it.  [Review]