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Topic: Advice on a new rig (Read 62255 times)
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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I really like my 22" LG monitor. I am sort of sad that I cannot get CRTs anymore but that's life. I have more desk space.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question.
They called it The Prayer, its answer was law
Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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SnakeCharmer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3807
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One last thing: A monitor. I figure with the new graphics card and having a HUGE desk now, I want a bigger monitor.
Right now I'm using an Acer 19" widescreen (AL1916W). Want to move up to either 22" or 24" as I do most of my movie and TV watching on my computer. HDMI input isn't necessary, but would be a plus if I could get the monitor for under $400 with it, but I'm sure that's unrealistic. I really don't know the first thing about contrast ratios, bit depth or color ranges. I do understand refresh and viewing angle, knowing that the former is important for games/video and the latter for slouching.
I've got the 24" Gateway, FHD-2400. Love it. Love love love love love love it. Schild has the same one I believe. HDMI, Composite, S-cable, DVI, VGA, 4 USB inputs, and Component inputs, 2 ms response. The price looks to be a bit more than you want to spend, however. |
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23657
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Sheepherder
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5192
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Dell monitors are probably rebranded monitors from another company. They're still quite good.
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Righ
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6542
Teaching the world Google-fu one broken dream at a time.
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Dell monitors are probably rebranded monitors from another company.
BenQ. |
The camera adds a thousand barrels. - Steven Colbert
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NiX
Wiki Admin
Posts: 7770
Locomotive Pandamonium
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Yay for Dell deals! I just ordered this for $250 CDN. Also, despite the Intel price cuts, my processors price went up by $8 dollars. Go Canada! |
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« Last Edit: January 19, 2009, 12:37:19 PM by NiX »
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Reg
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5281
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Hah, now I don't feel so bad for buying my new PC two weeks before this current round of price cuts. Nice monitor. I've got a birthday coming up in March, maybe I'll treat myself to one like that.
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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I don't see any compiled ratings for socket 1366 heatsinks yet, which is bothersome. Does anyone have any advice in the interim? The stock set will probably be dandy but I'd like to make sure since I'm approaching this build as a one-shot deal, meaning I don't want to crack this case again once I have built it.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question.
They called it The Prayer, its answer was law
Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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My advice is to first eyeball each motherboard first. I personally trust Asus and Gygabyte above all others, but ymmv. After you've seen some where the heatsink looks like it'd actually do a decent job without obstructing stuff, look up reviews for those particular motherboards.
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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NiX
Wiki Admin
Posts: 7770
Locomotive Pandamonium
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Suggestions for non-Asus mobos around $100-150
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Segoris
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2637
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Still limiting shopping options to CanadaComputers.com?
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NiX
Wiki Admin
Posts: 7770
Locomotive Pandamonium
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Unfortunately, shipping costs into and around Canada have spiked since the downturn. Don't know why.
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Segoris
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2637
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Just assuming everything is the same, 1 gpu, c2d processor, 4-8gigs of ram or so and answer with the fact that I like the Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L I'm currently using. The newer version would fit your needs and price range ($130 CAD before rebates, $115 after). I was having some bad luck with Asus boards personally, otherwise I'd suggest something along the lines of the p5q model line. |
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rattran
Moderator
Posts: 4258
Unreasonable
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NiX LOVES the p5q!
I have a version of the p35-ds3 in my server, does just fine. Gigabyte seems to have gotten better in the last couple years, their bioses have really come together. I still like DFI for their support though.
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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same. I have the p35-ds3 myself, and its been great. that said, others have not been so lucky with my board in particular, but that was because it was attempting to be a dual ram type board, and some clocking features for ddr3 were messing up.
btw, the onboard sound blows goats, even with my untrained ear. be ready to buy a pci sound card or put up with blechy sound
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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Segoris
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2637
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same. I have the p35-ds3 myself, and its been great. that said, others have not been so lucky with my board in particular, but that was because it was attempting to be a dual ram type board, and some clocking features for ddr3 were messing up.
btw, the onboard sound blows goats, even with my untrained ear. be ready to buy a pci sound card or put up with blechy sound
Isn't the p35-ds3 only a ddr2 board though? I don't think I've ever read/seen anything stating ddr3 was supported (even just went to their website and saw nothing there, they only show supporting up to 1200mhz memory, but that is officially overclocked memory) That is weird about the sound. I'm using Logitech x-230 speakers (basic 2.1 setup) and have had no problem with sound between games, music, movies, and verious shows/animes/etc. |
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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Its not really any 'problem', but the difference in quality is pretty big, at least to my ears. ymmv. And I got a particular version of the p35-ds3 board, the GA-P35C-DS3R |
I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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rattran
Moderator
Posts: 4258
Unreasonable
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Same one I have, I see no reason for the ddr3 slots. It's a linux irc/torrent server for me, has been rock stable. I've no idea of the sound quality as it's running some shit speakers inside my monitor, so it would be tinny as hell anyway.
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fuser
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1572
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Its not really any 'problem', but the difference in quality is pretty big, at least to my ears. ymmv. And I got a particular version of the p35-ds3 board, the GA-P35C-DS3R Interesting I'm using P35-DS3L (rev2) with no sound issues at all. Wonder if its the chip/driver issue (mines an ALC888). Speaking of audio devices taking a look at http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/ it's amazing how much of the market creative has lost over the past few years. |
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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Having used Creative cards since Ye Olde Soundblaster Days... it's not really amazing.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question.
They called it The Prayer, its answer was law
Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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Well, most people have shitty 5.1s, why bother setting up a decent sound setup? Sure, mine was a little pricier than I wanted, but DD5.1 in hardware is what I prefer for gaming + movies. I could probably do 7.1 with my setup if I had the speakers.
I've never had a problem with Creative, other than the whole lack of support for a digital 5.1 stream from the card itself.
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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I've never had a problem with Creative, other than the whole lack of support for a digital 5.1 stream from the card itself.
I had problems beginning in the post-DOS-5 era, but perhaps I am unique. |
Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question.
They called it The Prayer, its answer was law
Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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« Last Edit: January 29, 2009, 02:35:14 PM by Yegolev »
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question.
They called it The Prayer, its answer was law
Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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NiX
Wiki Admin
Posts: 7770
Locomotive Pandamonium
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That's a lot of t-shirt porn.
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23657
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I'd get a bigger power supply, just in case. You are looking at ~200 Watts for the CPU at load and ~200 Watts for the GPU at load. |
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fuser
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1572
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Any "real world" performance hit with the 2x vs 3x? |
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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You mean using 3 matching pairs versus 2 matching pairs of memory sticks in the 'dual' mode?
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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SnakeCharmer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3807
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Your post really makes me wonder how much more performance is sitting unused in my rig because I haven't set the bios up correctly. Or some really obscure tweak or setting that I haven't messed with.
Ah well.
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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I'd get a bigger power supply, just in case. You are looking at ~200 Watts for the CPU at load and ~200 Watts for the GPU at load.
Hmm. Looks like I failed to consider power draw of a quad core. I suspect the 1TB WD will have higher than normal draw, too, so you are possibly right on. The annoying bit is that I have a lot of PSU laying around, some with more wattage, but none are 20+4. Maybe I should return it for a bigger one. Harumph. I also forgot to order a DVD drive. |
Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question.
They called it The Prayer, its answer was law
Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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fuser
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1572
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You mean using 3 matching pairs versus 2 matching pairs of memory sticks in the 'dual' mode?
Nah i7 starts off with three independent memory channels, from the reading on it you populate each channel with a single stick to run in 'dual' and now 'triple' mode.. I was wondering if there is any sort of penalty of running 2x2gb vs 3x2gb for example. P6T manual on page 2.4 shows the triple channel configuration. |
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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That's kinda cool, actually. This time, if you wanna upgrade from say, 2x1 gig you can just buy one more stick and you still have the dua/tripple channel functionality without having to buy a whole two new. Wel, it would have been more important back in the day when ram cost an arm and a leg.
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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I'm still of the mind to use fewer, larger sticks. If my wife maxes out 4GB, I can just get another 2GB stick.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question.
They called it The Prayer, its answer was law
Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23657
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I'd get a bigger power supply, just in case. You are looking at ~200 Watts for the CPU at load and ~200 Watts for the GPU at load.
I suspect the 1TB WD will have higher than normal draw, too Not really. And actually the Green line drive you've picked is lower power usage than their regular "Blue" line. Caviar Green 1 TB (click on specifications tab) Caviar Blue 750 MB |
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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Did I get the green one? Neat? They were sold out of the good ones so I picked the next 1TB WD I saw. I'm still returning the PSU for something more like 550+.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question.
They called it The Prayer, its answer was law
Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Segoris
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2637
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Did I get the green one? Neat? They were sold out of the good ones so I picked the next 1TB WD I saw. I'm still returning the PSU for something more like 550+.
FWIW, your planned system is very close to what I'm running now and our power specifications are very close. That said, I've been incredibly happy with Corsair PSUs and would suggest this one. The one I'm running specifically is only the 520w version, but for $15 more right now (got to love Newegg sales) the suggested 620w is available. Additionally, modular cabling (available on the X20 watt versions, sadly not the X50 watt) is so damn nice  |
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