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Assembling a new pc

shought

By shought
in Technology Talk

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dock98

dock98

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Guys, i need your thought about the motherboard. I just randomly picked one that seemed good to me, but what brand would you suggest?

And when i'm assembling my pc the site gives me a tip: to take a floppy drive because this might be needed to install drivers for Windows XP to work on a SATA/SCSI drive. I've got a SATA drive, do i really need this?

sata drives are about 33% faster than ide.

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zombiegod

zombiegod

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One benefit of sata for system builders is the fact that the cables which connect the drive are so much smaller than the regular thick grey ribbons which connect ide drives. The reduced size of the wires allow for better airflow which is becoming increasingly important as processors get faster and as systems support more RAM. All that speed and memory can make a lot of heat as you are well aware. Anything that helps keep your PC running cool is a good development.

Another noticeable change is the different power connector. Even though some drives still offer the 5v 4 pin power connector, most sata drives come with a 15pin 250mV power connector. This reduces the load on the computer’s power supply which will also help decrease in-case temperatures.

One final benefit of the sata interface is the ability to hot swap drives. Hot swap means that you can pull your drive from your machine and replace it with a different disk without restarting your computer. This will be especially helpful for people who are not familiar with configuring a RAID array for backups.

It’s been almost 20 years since ide was introduced and it's about time that technology was laid to rest. I can't say there's a night and day difference in performance, however.

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shought

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Guys, i need your thought about the motherboard. I just randomly picked one that seemed good to me, but what brand would you suggest?

And when i'm assembling my pc the site gives me a tip: to take a floppy drive because this might be needed to install drivers for Windows XP to work on a SATA/SCSI drive. I've got a SATA drive, do i really need this?

sata drives are about 33% faster than ide.

One benefit of sata for system builders is the fact that the cables which connect the drive are so much smaller than the regular thick grey ribbons which connect ide drives. The reduced size of the wires allow for better airflow which is becoming increasingly important as processors get faster and as systems support more RAM. All that speed and memory can make a lot of heat as you are well aware. Anything that helps keep your PC running cool is a good development.

Another noticeable change is the different power connector. Even though some drives still offer the 5v 4 pin power connector, most sata drives come with a 15pin 250mV power connector. This reduces the load on the computer’s power supply which will also help decrease in-case temperatures.

One final benefit of the sata interface is the ability to hot swap drives. Hot swap means that you can pull your drive from your machine and replace it with a different disk without restarting your computer. This will be especially helpful for people who are not familiar with configuring a RAID array for backups.

It’s been almost 20 years since ide was introduced and it's about time that technology was laid to rest. I can't say there's a night and day difference in performance, however.

Thanks for your clarifications! I picked a SATA hard disk and a SATA DVD-RW drive, so i guess i'm fine :sneaky: (Being 'cool' is something everyone likes :blink:)

My case has 2 fans, one 250mm side fan and one 120mm front fan. So i guess my system will stay cool even with these new developments and bigger/faster amounts of RAM/MHz.

I think the configuration mentioned in my first post is close to being 'final' now, so if you guys got anything on your minds that might help me please do tell me!

Oh yeah! My friend told me something about the AMD boxed cooler being noisy... Will anyone confirm or deny that? I searched google and didn't find any topics/comments on that, so i'm not sure what to think. My opinion: i'll just stick with the AMD cooler and if it's to noisy i'll buy another one for like € 10,-.

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zombiegod

zombiegod

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I don't think you'll notice anything noise wise. Just remember when you install all your fans, to think about air flow and circulation. You need the front fan blowing in, the side fan blowing in (onto the mobo), the cpu fan blowing onto the cpu, and the rear case fan blowing out.

I had the side fan blowing out, which was nice on the feet, but not so good for the mobo :blink:

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shought

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I don't think you'll notice anything noise wise. Just remember when you install all your fans, to think about air flow and circulation. You need the front fan blowing in, the side fan blowing in (onto the mobo), the cpu fan blowing onto the cpu, and the rear case fan blowing out.

I had the side fan blowing out, which was nice on the feet, but not so good for the mobo :sneaky:

I've got no rear fan i think that 4 fans(Side, Front, CPU, Feed) will do. And the 250mm that's big!

Nice on the feet :blink:

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dumble

dumble

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i can see you are from holland, i think you've heard of tweakers then? Have you heard of the best buy guide, read this one (march 2008 high-end gamesystem edition, :

http://://://://://://tweakers.net/reviews/82...8-pagina-4.html

vooral moederbord en proccesor zijn te gruwelijk en chek de HD.. 750GB voor 100 eutjes :rolleyes:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (170 euro) > english review!!

Mohtherbord: Gigabyte GA-X38-DS5 (180 euro) > homepage (english)

Hard Disk: Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB (100 euro) > dutch review (benchmarks)

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shought

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i can see you are from holland, i think you've heard of tweakers then? Have you heard of the best buy guide, read this one (march 2008 high-end gamesystem edition, :

http://://://://://://://tweakers.net/reviews...8-pagina-4.html

vooral moederbord en proccesor zijn te gruwelijk en chek de HD.. 750GB voor 100 eutjes :rolleyes:

Yep, i know tweakers.net ;) I'll check it out. But i know 750 GB is a bit too much for me :P

Auch, dat is allemaal wel heel duur he... Ik probeer een beetje een goedkoop systeem in elkaar te zetten :P Maar toch bedankt he ;)

Translation: Auch, that's quite expensive... I'm trying to put a cheap system together :P Thanks anyway ;)

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Auch, that's quite expensive... I'm trying to put a cheap system together ;) Thanks anyway ;)

You've seen this one? http://tweakers.net/reviews/821/2

Oh shit, i was overlooked that. I thought it was just about an excellent gaming pc! Thank you very much :rolleyes:

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zombiegod

zombiegod

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One thing to take into consideration when buying your tower case is whether or not to buy one with a window in the side. Only buy a windowed one if you intend to light the insides of it up, otherwise they look dead.

Once again here's mine:

picture009nj5.jpg

Another Window Case thing is to make sure you braid all the power supply cables first. I decided against this idea until it was complete and then ended up having to muck around removing all the ties, and untangling the wires to make a tidy cable wrap job as it looked like an explosion in a mattress factory.

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shought

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I don't intend to lighten my case.. That's a bit too much for me, your case looks great though! Have i selected a windowed case now? Because i wouldn't even know how to see that.

dock, i'm waiting for my birthday ;) My parents will pay a part of it and around that time i made enough money with my work :rolleyes:

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I picked another burner, this one is even cheaper and has better reviews! It's still a Sony. (NEC Optiarc AD-7200S)

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shought

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what is your price limit?

That's another one of my problems. My parents are willing to pay a part, but i don't know how much. The max will probably be around € 500,-(absolute max). I'm now at... € 449,- if i count € 5,- for sending costs(which will probably be the case). I'm thinking about taking a better processor/video card(most likely processor) but for € 10,- extra i just get 100 MHz more! For € 20,- extra i get 300 MHz more.

I'm also planning on buying a monitor(17 or 19 inch) second hand. Because if i buy one new it's around € 160,-!

Anyway i'm waiting till the 16th of March because the prices will get updated that date. So maybe i'll spare a few €'s there and then i'll be able to buy a better processor/video card.

About the video card, what do you guys think? Did i pick a good one?

It's mentioned on this site, it's placed 38th there so i think it's quite a good one...

(I picked the ATI HD2600 Pro, that one matched mine most, the only difference is the one there has DDR3 memory and mine has DDR2, speed and amount of memory is the same)

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shought

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i would go for the HD2600XT then.. 57€

So XT is better the Pro?

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i would go for the HD2600XT then.. 57€

So XT is better the Pro?

yes it is the newer improved version

I see, it's graphic chip is faster. But on the site i'm intending on buying my pc it's € 72,-! That's different from 57... If it was 57 i'd certainly pick that one, but as i said prices will probably go down the 16th so i'll wait for that :blink:

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Here are some benchmarks

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2278494

why dont you buy the parts in a local shop?

or here:

http://www.4allclients.nl/?action=4&id=887266

That test shows that FEAR Combat needs more resources then Oblivion!?! Is that true? I thought Oblivion was quite a heavy game and FEAR wasn't...

The site where they sell it says it has pixel shader version 3.0 but all other sites say 4.0... Typo?

Edit: I don't want to buy it at a local shop because then i have to put it in myself... And to be honest i wouldn't know how!

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You made me think about another video card, i've came to this one now: Club 3D Radeon HD2600XT(800 MHz Chip speed, 1400 MHz memory speed the rest is mentioned at the link below)

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.aspx?sku...led#ProductTabs

It is € 79,- at the moment. (Where i want to buy it) So that's + € 24,- from the other one.

More detailed DUTCH link: http://www.alternate.nl/html/product/detai...owTechData=true

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