# new build



## tlarkin (Oct 11, 2008)

I think it is time to retire my PC and make it into a Linux media center and build a brand new one.

I was browsing around newegg and realized I am kind of out of date on what is the best hardware out there.  I build a rig for about $700ish that had Asus MB 775, core 2 quad intel processor, 9800GTX 512 MB, 4gig of RAM

I guess I don't have a budget but I will tell you what I don't want/need:

I will not be over clocking

I will not be running SLI

I will not be running any RAID arrays

I need it to run Vista (yes I am going to put vista on it - so I can update my MS certs).

Basically I want it for a few things:

1)  Virtual machines

2)  Media storage

3)  Fallout 3 and Star Craft 2

Other than that, all my other needs will be done on my Linux box or my Mac.

For purpose of a budget, even though I don't have one, lets try to keep it under $1000, including a new monitor.  I want to get rid of my old monitor and get a new one.


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## tlarkin (Oct 11, 2008)

*Newegg preferred?*

I just got approved instantly for a newegg preferred account, and I have never used one before.  I plan on probably ordering this system in a day or two and was going to put it all on the preferred account then just pay it off in like 3 months.

Anyone have any suggestions?

This is what I am looking at so far

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130376

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227307

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131275

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115043

I also read that starcraft 2 will be 3 separate games, not too sure how I feel about that one.


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## atentora (Oct 11, 2008)

Your board isn't DDR3... Try

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104062 

I am assuming you want 1066 RAM.

As for the rest, they are good.

Oh and be careful with no payment for X amount of time. You pay a lot more due to interest.


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## tlarkin (Oct 11, 2008)

atentora said:


> Your board isn't DDR3... Try
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104062
> 
> ...



No interest for a year from what I read.  I have no payments due for one year and after that year then it hits 23% interest compounded every 25 days.  Pretty standard cred card.

They approved me for $4,000 dollars though, lmao, and I want to spend around $1,000.

Thanks for the memory notice, I must have not read it was DDR3.


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## atentora (Oct 11, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> No interest for a year from what I read.  I have no payments due for one year and after that year then it hits 23% interest compounded every 25 days.  Pretty standard cred card.



Just saying cause some people don't pay at all the first year and get screwed cause of that 
And do you have a case, PSU, DVD drive, OS, ect?


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## tlarkin (Oct 11, 2008)

atentora said:


> Just saying cause some people don't pay at all the first year and get screwed cause of that
> And do you have a case, PSU, DVD drive, OS, ect?



Yeah I am adding the drives in now.  Optical and storage are pretty basic, a hard drive is a hard drive.  I already own licenses to XP Pro and Vista Ultiamte, and the Vista DVD has been sitting on my desk for a year.  Our MS rep gave me a full version for free since we support thousands of windows machines at work.

I am looking at PSU and cases right now.  I already added 2 500GB SATA2 seagate HDs.  At 89 a piece I might as well get two.

I have added this to the build

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001310

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148294

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371009

Now just need a case...mid tower would be nice.  I may go buy a case locally though, I like to see them in person.

I kind of like this case, reminds me of my Antec Lanboy

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

So all of that comes out to just under $1336....I almost want to add a $1 item to make it $1337, then that would make it just that much cooler?


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## tlarkin (Oct 11, 2008)

anyone else have any suggestions?  I am basically going off what I had read off of Tom's hardware and Maximum PC and a few other on line review sites.  

I really need a new monitor so that is a must this time, but maybe it will last me long enough I won't need to buy a new one next build.

The only thing I am skeptical on is the Mobo, because I may want to put an after market heat sink and fan on it, and I would want it to fit.  Anyone have any suggestions on that?

I do prefer Asus motherboards, but am open to other suggestions.  I have just had so much great luck with Asus over the last 10 to 14 years.


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

I am thinking about ditching that motherboard for this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131232

Thoughts on the build so far, anyone?


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

So no one has any input?  I think I am going to go ahead and order the whole build as is tomorrow.  I got newegg preferred financing so I get 1 full year to pay it off.  No biggie if I add or swap things out.  I can probably get 1500 paid off by 2009 no problems.

Let me know if any of you have any input

thanks


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## mep916 (Oct 12, 2008)

I'll post back later tonight. I think I have some better ideas w/ regard to the GPU, mobo and RAM, but I gotta eat dinner first... 

Congrats on the newegg account. You're a responsible guy, so I think it will work out great for you.


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

mep916 said:


> I'll post back later tonight. I think I have some better ideas w/ regard to the GPU, mobo and RAM, but I gotta eat dinner first...
> 
> Congrats on the newegg account. You're a responsible guy, so I think it will work out great for you.



I live alone and have no kids.  So all my money literally goes to me.  I could just save up for a month and buy it but instead I'll just use my credit and pay it off in a few months and get a whole new rig now.

Thanks for looking into it.  I picked the samsung LCD because I have always liked samsung products.  We used to have two maya labs that ran all Samsung monitors and they were all pretty nice.


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## mep916 (Oct 12, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> I live alone and have no kids.  So all my money literally goes to me.  I could just save up for a month and buy it but instead I'll just use my credit and pay it off in a few months and get a whole new rig now.



It's a good way to improve your credit as well, IMO. You won't pay any interest, and having an additional account will look good on your credit report, especially after you pay off the balance; although it looks like your credit is already pretty solid considering the amount of credit you've been approved for. 



tlarkin said:


> Thanks for looking into it.  I picked the samsung LCD because I have always liked samsung products.  We used to have two maya labs that ran all Samsung monitors and they were all pretty nice.



The monitor is awesome. I've seen that model in person and I don't think you'll be dissapointed. 

RAM: Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066 4GB. <----Top of the line and only $87.99 shipped after MIR.

GPU: If you go with the memory I've recommended, you've immediately saved $35 ($60 if you count the MIR), so I would go with the eVGA GTX 260. It costs more, but it's better.  In the end, this will add to the total immediate cost of the rig by $45 ($35 after the MIRs), but I think it's worth it. You get more memory, a newer GPU architecture and does pose a significant performance increase over the 9 series GTX. The Radeon 4870 is another good card to look at, although I still think the GTX 260 would be the best. 

Since you'll likely run an nVidia card, the mobo you've selected looks good to me. Sounds like you're not interested in running SLi in the future, but if you ever find it necessary, it would be good to have that option available. If Starcraft 2 ends up being a graphically intensive game (haven't seen the recommended specs), a second GPU may be worth considering. If you do some research and find that the Radeon 4870 would be better, then go with a P45 or X38 motherboard chipset.

Everything else looks really good. The only beef I have with the Antec 900 is the amount of thumbscrews associated with the drive cages. Just so you know, you need to remove eight screws per cage to gain full access to the hard drives. Not really a big deal, more of a minor complaint. Oh, also, if you run the fan speeds above the lowest settings, the PC is straight up loud, IMO. The PSU you've selected is an awesome unit and, since it's modular, it will definitely help with the cable management within the 900.

I'm inclined to suggest the Q9550, but I'm not sure if I can offer a good argument that would make you spend an additional $60.


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

Ok I took your advice with the RAM and the video card, what about the motherboard?   I am inclined to change it out for a different one.  Any thoughts on the motherboard?

Also looking at new cases I like these as well

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129025

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112099

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163093

So I am not sure on the case either.


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## mep916 (Oct 12, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> Ok I took your advice with the RAM and the video card, what about the motherboard?   I am inclined to change it out for a different one.  Any thoughts on the motherboard?



I don't really see anything wrong with the mobo. I mean, if you're positive you won't run SLi (doubt you'd want or need to, but, six months from now, you could probably pickup an additional GTX really cheap), then you can look at some ASUS P45 boards. It's an Intel chipset, so you won't be able to add an addtional card. See, that's the only advantage to running an nVidia chipset, the SLi capability.


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

I am going to get the video card you suggested.  It wasn't much more money.


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## mep916 (Oct 12, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> So I am not sure on the case either.



Everyone that owns the p182 loves it, so, for a case, I think it comes down to personal preference. Earlier in the thread, you said you would go view some personally, and I think that's the best idea. I know Fry's electronics has all the popular cases on display, but I'm not sure if there's one in your area. Maybe Microcenter?



tlarkin said:


> I am going to get the video card you suggested.  It wasn't much more money.



Yeah, it's worth it.


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

Yes there is a Microcenter down the way from me.  I worked there many years ago.  OK, so here is my final build I think:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148294

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001310

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145197

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371009

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131327

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115043

total:  $1,376.93

I grabbed two of those 500 gig drives to give me 1 TB of space.  I plan on running a few virtual machines on this rig as well.


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## mep916 (Oct 12, 2008)

I'd go with this board. Same thing, only without the DDR3 support. If you really want the ability to add DDR3, then you could go with the current board you've selected. I've read that people have had various issues with boards that have both DDR2 and DDR3 controllers. 

Everything else looks great, IMO. BTW, are you gonna OC the processor? If so, look into an aftermarket heatsink/fan. The Zalman 9700 is good (and really loud), but there's several others.


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

Now that I think about it, I may as well get an SLI ready board just in case down the road I want to add another card.  I don't think I will, because I think SLI is sort of a waste of money because it doesn't offer that much real world boost in performance, but you never know.


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## mep916 (Oct 12, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> Now that I think about it, I may as well get an SLI ready board just in case down the road I want to add another card.  I don't think I will, because I think SLI is sort of a waste of money because it doesn't offer that much real world boost in performance, but you never know.



Right, that was my point. I feel the same way about SLi, but, down the road, you may be able to find one really cheap, like $100 or something. I'm a member of other forums, and there's some highly reliable sellers that resell their hardware dirt cheap as well, so, if you were ever interested in that, I may be able to find you a good deal. The 750i is a good chipset. 

So...are you interested in OC'ing at all? With better cooling, you can easily get that chip to 3.2 - 3.4 GHz.


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

I won't be over clocking, I don't like that stuff that much these days.  I like it to run fast stock, makes it last longer and leaves less margin for errors.  I am going to be using Vista, LOL, so I want stability over everything else.


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## mep916 (Oct 12, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> I won't be over clocking, I don't like that stuff that much these days.  I like it to run fast stock, makes it last longer and leaves less margin for errors.  I am going to be using Vista, LOL, so I want stability over everything else.



lol. Fair enough. 

Good luck, looks good.


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

Hmm, so I need to pick a new mobo then it is done, and now I am contemplating upgrading the processor so I can get double the cache.


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## mep916 (Oct 12, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> Hmm, so I need to pick a new mobo then it is done



You're not sold on the 750i board? 



tlarkin said:


> and now I am contemplating upgrading the processor so I can get double the cache.



I was just about to bring that up.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...mpareItemList=N82E16819115043,N82E16819115041

The Q9550 is faster and has double the cache. You would know more than I would whether the increase in cache would benefit your uses; it's $60 more.


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

The whole DDR3 vs DDR2 board thing, and now that I am looking at possibly adding another card down the road for SLI maybe I need to pick a new board.  The processor upgrade I think is a no brainer.  If you are going to spend $1300 on a system, what is 50 more bucks?


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## mep916 (Oct 12, 2008)

Well, going DDR3 with an SLi board would add at least $400-$500 to the build. Is that what you're saying?


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## PabloTeK (Oct 12, 2008)

I'd get this drive tlarkin: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152102

It's supposed to be one of the fastest you can buy, cheap too.


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

mep916 said:


> Well, going DDR3 with an SLi board would add at least $400-$500 to the build. Is that what you're saying?



No, I want DDR2, don't want to spend DDR3 money.  The board I chose doesn't say SLI ready, does that matter in the end?  I did read up on some of the newer boards that support DDR3 have some issues with stability, and the reviewers seem to think it is mostly memory related.

Thoughts on that?

Pablo-

I like the idea of having two hard drives for redundancy.  Put all your data on one drive and if it fails, then you are screwed.

Right now I have an intel mobo and a e6300 C2D sitting in my closet doing nothing.  I am going to build a media sever out of it and may buy the 1TB drive for back ups, netboot images of my machines, etc.


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## PabloTeK (Oct 12, 2008)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152098 - sorted 

I agree, that's why I stuck my old drive in as a backup/downlaods drive (47GB and counting!) because if my system drive (which Vista whores a lot) fails then I'm screwed myself.


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## mep916 (Oct 12, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> The board I chose doesn't say SLI ready, does that matter in the end?



You want this board and it's SLi ready. It comes with an SLi bridge.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI...&Description=ASUS P5N-D ATX Intel Motherboard


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

ok so I think this is final:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148294

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001310

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371009

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145197

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131232

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041

total = $1,431.93


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## mep916 (Oct 12, 2008)

Yes, that looks awesome. You're lucky you don't have to pay tax. We have to in California.


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

I think I am going to buy the case and heat sink and fan at microcenter so I can see them in person.  Any last comments before I hit the buy button?

LOL newegg gave me 12 months no interest no payments, I am going to have this thing paid off by march!


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## mep916 (Oct 12, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> I think I am going to buy the case and heat sink and fan at microcenter so I can see them in person.  Any last comments before I hit the buy button?



No, I think you're straight. Looks really good. Yeah, check 'em out in person and you may find a good sale or something. sometimes newegg charges a shitload for shipping on some cases, so you may save money on that as well. 



tlarkin said:


> LOL newegg gave me 12 months no interest no payments, I am going to have this thing paid off by march!



It's a good deal. You can occassionally use credit to your own advantage if you do it right.


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

OK done deal purchasing it now


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## mep916 (Oct 12, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> OK done deal purchasing it now



WAIT!





j/k


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## tlarkin (Oct 12, 2008)

lol, don't do that.  Now I am heading down to Microcenter to buy a case and maybe a heatsink/fan

then I will just have to wait it out while the parts ship to me.


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## tlarkin (Oct 13, 2008)

I ended up getting the HAF 932 by cooler master.  

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8..._Air_Flow_Full_Tower_Case_RC-932-KKN1-GP.html

There were a few features that sold me on it.  For one the 5.25" drive bays have sleds which easily snap in and out. The optical drive rails are built in, with a push button lock, so no more of me losing rails and having to order them from the manufacturer.  The PSU mount is adjustable so it fits all sizes of PSUs.  It comes stock with all the fans, so you don't have to buy them extra.  It allows you to take off the under mounting bracket of a CPU heatsink/fan with out taking the board out of the case via a access hole on the other side of the case.  It also has cable routes on the outer bracket of the closed side of the case that allows you to snake your cables through there so they aren't in the way.

I really wanted the Antec P182 (I think that is the model) but they were out of stock on it.  The Cooler Master case was only $149.00 and even though it was slightly too big for what I wanted, and it has sections for liquid cooling (which I won't use) the other features and the price were right enough for me.

So, now it is just a matter of waiting for my parts.  A lot of my parts had free rush shipping on them, so hopefully that will apply to everything I bought.

I think I will post an update on my blog when I get it, and run some benches stock on XP and Vista maybe (if I have the time) and compare the differences.


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## mep916 (Oct 13, 2008)

That's a sick case. Actually, I was gonna recommend it as an option, but I didn't think you were interested in a full tower. Congrats man.


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## tlarkin (Oct 13, 2008)

Yeah the full tower part was a put off, but the built in rail system is bad ass.  I can't tell you how many times I have lost rails over the years.   The case is sitting here on the floor next to me. Now I just have to wait for my parts.   My buddy is already telling me all the games I have to try.  

I also just factored in all my mail in rebates, which will drop the cost another $150ish so the total cost was like $1260ish all together.  Not bad for all of that plus a bad ass Samsung Monitor.


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## tlarkin (Oct 13, 2008)

So how long does it take to get this stuff shipped?

Oh and I have to pay taxes on everything I buy off of woot.com because they are based in the same state as I am....so you got me beat there.


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## mep916 (Oct 13, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> So how long does it take to get this stuff shipped?



Your order will ship tomorrow, so you should get everything by Wednesday, the latest Thursday. By tomorrow evening, you should receive an email with the UPS tracking numbers. Newegg three day shipping really is three days - it's awesome.


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## tlarkin (Oct 13, 2008)

mep916 said:


> Your order will ship tomorrow, so you should get everything by Wednesday, the latest Thursday. By tomorrow evening, you should receive an email with the UPS tracking numbers. Newegg three day shipping really is three days - it's awesome.



OK so now what games should I try on it?  I think I will try Crysis again, this time at full settings.


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## mep916 (Oct 13, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> OK so now what games should I try on it?  I think I will try Crysis again, this time at full settings.



Sure, Crysis will run at very high with that setup. Um, if you like FPS games then Call of Duty 4 is fun...the multiplayer is the shit, although I haven't played MP in a few months. The single player campaign graphics are pretty sick. Overall fun game, IMO. Assassin's Creed is pretty cool, and that ships with the Q9550, so you can try that out straight away. 

I just bought a crapload of games from DirtyD86 and haven't even tried them all yet. I'm going to try out Battlefield 2 tonight, so I'll let you know if that's any good.


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## tlarkin (Oct 13, 2008)

The last FPS I really played religiously was Counter-strike specifically the gun game mod.  

I used to love quake 3 and all the mods it had.  My buddy keeps telling me to get this

http://combatarms.nexon.net/Intro.aspx

It is free so I will try it when the new parts come in


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## mep916 (Oct 13, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> http://combatarms.nexon.net/Intro.aspx
> 
> It is free so I will try it when the new parts come in



Ah yeah I've heard of that. Never played, but free is good!


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## Respital (Oct 13, 2008)

mep916 said:


> Ah yeah I've heard of that. Never played, but free is good!



I've played it.

It's like a mix of COD4 and CSS. 

But i like it, i play it quite often. 

I recommend you play it but probably not to stress your system .


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## tlarkin (Oct 13, 2008)

well newegg sent me a tracking number its been shipped.  I watched every Fallout 3 trailer last night, and oh my god, I am going to lose a week or two of sleep and free time to that game.


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## mep916 (Oct 13, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> well newegg sent me a tracking number its been shipped.  I watched every Fallout 3 trailer last night, and oh my god, I am going to lose a week or two of sleep and free time to that game.



So you're getting everything Wednesday, right? That's another good thing about the free rush processing. Your order receives priority over all the "regular" orders processed this morning.


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## tlarkin (Oct 13, 2008)

mep916 said:


> So you're getting everything Wednesday, right? That's another good thing about the free rush processing. Your order receives priority over all the "regular" orders processed this morning.



It didn't list the items but the weight is 22lbs, so that has to be everything since I didn't order a case off of newegg.  I mean the boards and cards can't weigh more than 10lbs in the boxes and the monitor can't weigh more than 10 to 15lbs in the box, so I think that has to be everything.


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## mep916 (Oct 13, 2008)

That looks like everything. I'm excited for you and it's not even my stuff! lol.


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## tlarkin (Oct 13, 2008)

mep916 said:


> That looks like everything. I'm excited for you and it's not even my stuff! lol.



yeah my PC is super old been using Mac for most my needs these days because I don't game as much as I used to.  Now there are few new games I want to play plus I want to run lots of virtual machines and with 4gigs of ram and a processor that boasts 12mb of cache I should be able to run at least 3 VMs at once, which will be nice.


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## tlarkin (Oct 13, 2008)

Ug, I just realized I have to buy a whole new KVM switch now, since all my machines are now digital.  My Macs have been digital for a while but my PC video was analog.  So, I am in the market for a whole new KVM switch.....

Well glad I got that credit I guess since KVMs are so damn expensive!

If you can find me a decent one, 4 port, DVI, USB , Audio, good max resolution (at least 1900x1200) for under $100 you will win a prize.


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## mep916 (Oct 13, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> If you can find me a decent one, 4 port, DVI, USB , Audio, good max resolution (at least 1900x1200) for under $100 you will win a prize.



Ha! I'll take a look at Hard Forum for a used one at that price, but I think you know a new one would be impossible.


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## tlarkin (Oct 13, 2008)

Yeah I know 

The ones I like are in the $300 range.  Why are they so damn expensive?  I wonder what the mark up on them is?  I will just have to make friends with someone who gets a wholesale or employee discount and buy them a 6 pack of beer or something to get me the item at cost.


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## mep916 (Oct 13, 2008)

Here's one just over $200 shipped...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817107457


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## tlarkin (Oct 13, 2008)

mep916 said:


> Here's one just over $200 shipped...
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817107457



looks nice but they skimp out on the cables and give you DVI-D instead of DVI-I, which wouldn't matter much to me since I am all digital now, but would suck if I had to ever hook up an analog system (like when I fix my cousins computer at home for example).  Those cables are expensive.

I will keep looking.  I am trying to hook up an employee discount somewhere at the moment.  I bet the mark up on these things is ridiculous.


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## tlarkin (Oct 13, 2008)

dude, I totally forgot to froogle search it

http://www.provantage.com/startech-sv431dviua~7STR90K0.htm

Not bad but it is a start


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## mep916 (Oct 13, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> dude, I totally forgot to froogle search it
> 
> http://www.provantage.com/startech-sv431dviua~7STR90K0.htm
> 
> Not bad but it is a start



Yeah, that looks good. Doesn't come with any cables, though, does it?


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## tlarkin (Oct 13, 2008)

That is a great question, not sure.  Cables have crazy mark ups, that I know for sure.  I can probably get a hook up on cables.


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## mep916 (Oct 13, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> That is a great question, not sure.  Cables have crazy mark ups, that I know for sure.  I can probably get a hook up on cables.



I'll bet that's why they're so expensive... because of the cables.


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## mep916 (Oct 14, 2008)

http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemai...8-_-email-_-E0D-_-Case&cm_lm=mep916@gmail.com

They dropped the price on your mobo by 20$. If you think it's worth the hassle, you can call them and they'll probably grant you a refund for the difference. In the ad, it's the third item to the right on the first row.


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## tlarkin (Oct 15, 2008)

Well monitor should be in today, rest of the parts tomorrow!  Monitor shipped from TN, and everything else from CA.  The CA side is lazy and they are coming a day apart instead of on time!


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## mep916 (Oct 16, 2008)

Did you get everything yet?


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## tlarkin (Oct 16, 2008)

it is all at UPS waiting for me to pick it up.  The UPS guy never comes around when I am actually home so I am having them hold it for me at the hub.


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## mep916 (Oct 16, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> it is all at UPS waiting for me to pick it up.  The UPS guy never comes around when I am actually home so I am having them hold it for me at the hub.



Go pick it up now!


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## tlarkin (Oct 16, 2008)

mep916 said:


> Go pick it up now!



I left a note for the UPS guy to call my cell phone on my front door, he said he wouldn't be ready for pick up till probably 5:30ish from will call.

I got an hour to wait, just going to get some work done and stop by on my way home, since it is on my way home from work.


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## mep916 (Oct 16, 2008)

Cool. You gonna put it together tonight, or wait til the weekend?


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## tlarkin (Oct 16, 2008)

mep916 said:


> Cool. You gonna put it together tonight, or wait til the weekend?



tonight for sure


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## tlarkin (Oct 17, 2008)

It is built, installed Vista Ultimate 64, install took about 20 minutes total.  Running tons and tons of updates, and updating my drivers

Should be in full force tomorrow night after work

Just need to go buy a game, and I am thinking Crysis...

I didn't like the cooling fan that snaps on top of the RAM, so I left it off for now.  Enabled multi core CPUs in the BIOS.

Windows updates still take like 9 years to download and install....

I am also downloading a new copy of 3D mark, and I am wondering what it will score stock with zero over clocking.


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## mep916 (Oct 17, 2008)

Is SP1 integrated in your copy of Ultimate? I'll guess a 14K score in 3DMark...stock clocks.

Pics please.


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## tlarkin (Oct 17, 2008)

mep916 said:


> Is SP1 integrated in your copy of Ultimate? I'll guess a 14K score in 3DMark...stock clocks.
> 
> Pics please.



Camera is in my backpack which is like 20 feet away, pics tomorrow.  I did tie all the cables down...

No my copy is the release version of Vista 64 Ultimate.  When it first came out our MS rep showered us with free copies hoping our IT department would actually deploy it.....


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## tlarkin (Oct 17, 2008)

14121 was my stock score with nothing tweaked

gotta finally hit the sack


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## tlarkin (Oct 17, 2008)

So, now I am wondering what settings I should run 3D mark on as, and how I should tweak my system if any.

Does anyone here use that RAM cooling fan that snaps on top of the DIMMS?  I am not sure that I like that.  

Also, in device manager it seems to only list 3 cores of my processor?  I was up till about 3AM just updating it and I didn't get a chance to figure that one out yet.  I wake up for work at 6AM every day so I am kind of tired today, but had my coffee!

Overall, I don't regret buying anything just yet, but there are some things I wish were slightly different.  The Vista installer NEEDED DRIVERS!  That is so lame.  Of course my Vista rating is 5.9.  It also uses about 1 gig of RAM when idle.  Like i said though I haven't gone through and tweaked the OS yet, everything is running at default.

This weekend when I have lots of more time I am going to go through and tweak the crap out of it.


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## mep916 (Oct 17, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> So, now I am wondering what settings I should run 3D mark on as, and how I should tweak my system if any.



I always run 3DMark at the default settings. Honestly, I don't think the program tells you too much about your system, i.e, what changes to make. Running actual games would be the best way, and you can download a program called TPUbench  that has the ability to benchmark the latest games, so long as they're installed on your system. 

If you're looking to increase your score, overclock the processor. 



tlarkin said:


> Does anyone here use that RAM cooling fan that snaps on top of the DIMMS?  I am not sure that I like that.



I used to use that fan when I had the Dominators. I thought it looked kinda cool, although I don't think it's really necessary. It'll obviously lower the temps, but I think the heatspreaders are sufficient enough. 



tlarkin said:


> Also, in device manager it seems to only list 3 cores of my processor?



That's strange...


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## tlarkin (Oct 17, 2008)

Yeah there are more updates to run, I hate Windows update it is so ghetto.


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## mep916 (Oct 17, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> Yeah there are more updates to run, I hate Windows update it is so ghetto.



haha. Yeah, it is. Especially when it forces new hardware installation drivers...


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## `PaWz (Oct 17, 2008)

Yeah, I use to hate having to restart my computer for a small update.


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## tlarkin (Oct 17, 2008)

In my BIOS there was something that alarmed me.  It said to enable multiple cores, enable this feature, then it said a maximum of three?

I think I need to scour the Asus site for a BIOS flash

Linux and OS X ftw with system updates.  OS X downloads them all to cache and then reboots/installs them in one large swoop.  Updates that don't require a reboot, don't force a reboot.


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## mep916 (Oct 17, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> In my BIOS there was something that alarmed me.  It said to enable multiple cores, enable this feature, then it said a maximum of three?



What!? Well, I'm assuming a BIOS update would solve that, but what the hell are they doing releasing a board that only supports three cores? You can flash the board within Windows, if you want. The program is called EZ Flash or something...it'll automatically download the latest BIOS. 

Here's a link to the BIOS download page, if you haven't looked yet...

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us


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## tlarkin (Oct 17, 2008)

Well, since I have pretty much been a Mac user the last two years I need to go relearn all the new BIOS features that I haven't got a chance to fuss with.  The board clearly states that it supports quad core processors, but I think a BIOS flash may fix a few things.


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## mep916 (Oct 17, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> The board clearly states that it supports quad core processors, but I think a BIOS flash may fix a few things.



Yeah, I think so too. The 750i natively supports quad processing, regardless of the manufacturer, so it sounds like they shipped the board with a crappy BIOS. You'll find out soon enough. 

Most of the BIOS features deal with overclocking, so, since you have little interest in that, it shouldn't take long to familiarize yourself with the other features.


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## tlarkin (Oct 17, 2008)

mep916 said:


> Yeah, I think so too. The 750i natively supports quad processing, regardless of the manufacturer, so it sounds like they shipped the board with a crappy BIOS. You'll find out soon enough.
> 
> Most of the BIOS features deal with overclocking, so, since you have little interest in that, it shouldn't take long to familiarize yourself with the other features.



I did end up getting an after market heat sink with heat pipes, I may tweak it a bit but I don't plan on going way over board.

The funniest thing about my 3D mark score is that when I compared it to the highest score (the guy with the 30k score) we both have the same processor, and his is over clocked to like 4.2Ghz and mine is stock.  His 3D mark score on the processor bench was only 6 points more than mine stock.

What does that tell you?


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## mep916 (Oct 17, 2008)

Next time you run 3DMark, post a screenshot with your system compared to the 30K system you're referring to. This is the world record and his CPU score was over 9,000 @ 5.6 GHz.


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## tlarkin (Oct 17, 2008)

mep916 said:


> Next time you run 3DMark, post a screenshot with your system compared to the 30K system you're referring to. This is the world record and his CPU score was over 9,000 @ 5.6 GHz.



I think they class you, into similar hardware configurations, this guy was double my score with a similar configuration, but it wasn't because he over clocked his CPU.  It was because he was running xfire.


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## mep916 (Oct 17, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> I think they class you, into similar hardware configurations, this guy was double my score with a similar configuration, but it wasn't because he over clocked his CPU.  It was because he was running xfire.



First, the previous link I provided is not the top score. It's K|NGP|N's top score and I assumed he was still the world record holder.

Check it out: http://service.futuremark.com/resultComparison.action?compareResultId=8321957&compareResultType=14

His CPU score is only 4K, which I think that's what you are talking about. My only guess is that they're overclocking the crap out of the GPUs. I always thought you needed a CPU at at least 5GHz to get into the 30K range. Odd...


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## tlarkin (Oct 17, 2008)

mep916 said:


> First, the previous link I provided is not the top score. It's K|NGP|N's top score and I assumed he was still the world record holder.
> 
> Check it out: http://service.futuremark.com/resultComparison.action?compareResultId=8321957&compareResultType=14
> 
> His CPU score is only 4K, which I think that's what you are talking about. My only guess is that they're overclocking the crap out of the GPUs. I always thought you needed a CPU at at least 5GHz to get into the 30K range. Odd...



Yeah my CPU score is like 6 points below that one.  If I over clocked I think I could push close to 20k (guessing) but really would that make a real world difference in gaming?


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## mep916 (Oct 17, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> Yeah my CPU score is like 6 points below that one.  If I over clocked I think I could push close to 20k (guessing) but really would that make a real world difference in gaming?



Overclocking your processor will definitely lead to higher, real-world framerates. Dude, you can safely OC your processor to the 3.4 range. If fact, you may be able to reach that speed without raising the voltage. Which HSF did you get? 

I'm guessing that you could get to the 18K range if you could get your chip to 3.8 - 4.0. I have no idea how those guys are achieving scores like that in the 4GHz range...


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## tlarkin (Oct 17, 2008)

mep916 said:


> Overclocking your processor will definitely lead to higher, real-world framerates. Dude, you can safely OC your processor to the 3.4 range. If fact, you may be able to reach that speed without raising the voltage. Which HSF did you get?
> 
> I'm guessing that you could get to the 18K range if you could get your chip to 3.8 - 4.0. I have no idea how those guys are achieving scores like that in the 4GHz range...



I forget the brand, it was a generic heat piped sink with a standard 120mm fan on it.  The pipes and the fan should easily be at least double efficiency of cooling than the stock fan.

I went to microcenter to get my case and I asked the sales guy what the most cost-effective after market heat sink was, and that was the one he haded me.  It was like $34.95 or something and didn't have a built in fan.  I think it was a good buy.

Well my processor scored practically the same as his on the processor benchmark, so I guess I would have to figure out how much the processor actually helps the video card....I may do some tweaks this weekend.

I want to get vista up to date and stable first of all and get rid of some of the crap.  There are a lot of things I hate about Vista already after using it only for one day on my computer.  I had Vista business loaded on a work machine but I would just tinker with it here and there and I didn't care because it wasn't my personal machine.


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## tlarkin (Oct 17, 2008)

here is a screen of my score versus the number one guy


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## mep916 (Oct 17, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> here is a screen of my score versus the number one guy



I wonder why they compared you to that system. The specs aren't even close. You should be compared to another Q9550 and GTX 260...


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## tlarkin (Oct 18, 2008)

mep916 said:


> I wonder why they compared you to that system. The specs aren't even close. You should be compared to another Q9550 and GTX 260...



pfft like I know.....

What I do know is I just picked up Crysis, Crysis Warhead and COD4 for a total of $40!

I had a trade in, plus my little brother Manages a Gamestop, so that helps!

I think I am going to write up a Windows Vista Vs OS X Vs Linux article here pretty soon, with screens and everything.  Vista has a lot of crap wrong with it out of the box, or at least a lot of things I do not like.  Right now I am HATING Windows updates.  I tell it to find all updates and it does, then 5 minutes later it finds 5 more from 6 months ago, AFTER I TOLD IT TO FIND THEM ALL!!!! aaarrrrrrrgggggg!


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## mep916 (Oct 18, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> pfft like I know.....
> 
> What I do know is I just picked up Crysis, Crysis Warhead and COD4 for a total of $40!
> 
> I had a trade in, plus my little brother Manages a Gamestop, so that helps!



lol. That's an awesome deal. Were they used or brand new? 



tlarkin said:


> I think I am going to write up a Windows Vista Vs OS X Vs Linux article here pretty soon, with screens and everything.  Vista has a lot of crap wrong with it out of the box, or at least a lot of things I do not like.  Right now I am HATING Windows updates.  I tell it to find all updates and it does, then 5 minutes later it finds 5 more from 6 months ago, AFTER I TOLD IT TO FIND THEM ALL!!!! aaarrrrrrrgggggg!



Yeah, I'd like to read that. You've covered all those subjects here and there at CF, but it would be cool to have verything in one thread...or are you going to post it only on your website? Either way, lookin forward to it. 

Windows Update is a PITA.


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## tlarkin (Oct 18, 2008)

they were all new, I just cashed in on some trade in deals.

Crysis runs at 1280 x 1024 with 8x AA pretty damn nicely.  No lag what so ever, except on a few occasions when I run really fast into a lot of bullets and explosions, otherwise general game play is smooth.


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## mep916 (Oct 18, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> Crysis runs at 1280 x 1024 with 8x AA pretty damn nicely.  No lag what so ever, except on a few occasions when I run really fast into a lot of bullets and explosions, otherwise general game play is smooth.



Try 1680x1050 with, say, 4xAA...

You can use Fraps to monitor your framerates.


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## tlarkin (Oct 18, 2008)

Yeah I got a free copy of fraps with my video card, it is installed but i haven't fussed with it too much.

Trying to figure out why sometimes I idle at 10% CPU and 1gig of RAM usage.  Going through and picking apart Vista....

The Asus BIOS flash utility doesn't want to run in Vista 64.....


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## mep916 (Oct 18, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> Trying to figure out why sometimes I idle at 10% CPU and 1gig of RAM usage.  Going through and picking apart Vista....



Good luck with the surgery. 

Overall, how was your experience building with the Haf 932? I may buy this case, as it has nothing but positive reviews from websites and owners. One guy said it looked "too industrial," but other than that, everyone loves it! 

I'm mostly interested in it's cable management features. You know, the ability to run the cables behind the case 'n stuff? Cable management good with this case, in your opinion?


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## tlarkin (Oct 18, 2008)

mep916 said:


> Good luck with the surgery.
> 
> Overall, how was your experience building with the Haf 932? I may buy this case, as it has nothing but positive reviews from websites and owners. One guy said it looked "too industrial," but other than that, everyone loves it!
> 
> I'm mostly interested in it's cable management features. You know, the ability to run the cables behind the case 'n stuff? Cable management good with this case, in your opinion?



I will just post some pics give me a few minutes....

Gotta go grab the camera out of the back pack and fire up the laptop, since I use iPhoto to manage all my digital pics.


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## tlarkin (Oct 18, 2008)

here you go:





















At first I was against a full tower, and honestly, I still kind of am.  This case is a full case.  However, given my choices and the price I had at my local computer stores it was the best buy.  I do not regret buying it, but I do wish it was a bit smaller.  The built in 5.25 rail system for optical drives is superb.  The snap down expansion slot covers are so-so.  On my video card the top one locks down no problem and the bottom one doesn't.  The card itself is definitely seated properly.

The star feature of the case is cable management, and open air flow.  It is so easy to just route the cables behind the case, and then with a few zip ties you can manage them pretty easily.  Given all the built in fans and how quiet it is, this case is almost perfect, if it wasn't quite as large as it really is, and if the snap down latches for expansion cards worked slightly better.

I still think it would be very hard to find a better case.


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## Respital (Oct 18, 2008)

Nice!

Specs?


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## tlarkin (Oct 18, 2008)

Respital said:


> Nice!
> 
> Specs?



Intel C2Q Q9550
4 Gigs DDR2 1033 RAM Corsair
GeForce GTX 260
1 TB of HD space
850w Antec True power supply
Samsung DVDRW DL
Asus P5-N


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## mep916 (Oct 18, 2008)

Respital said:


> Nice!
> 
> Specs?



http://www.computerforum.com/1091059-post31.html

Yup, I think this will be my next case. I'm gonna go check it out at Fry's next week. Looks like you have a ton of room to work with in there, which is the big upside with FT cases. It's murder trying to work within the 900. It really sucks, and nothing is screwless which adds to the frustration.


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## mep916 (Oct 21, 2008)

How's the rig working out, so far? You satisfied with everything?


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## tlarkin (Oct 21, 2008)

Love it minus Vista.  I don't like how my processor will spike idling at 20% and how it is always using at least 1gig of RAM.  I understand the more RAM you have the more it will use, but I just wish there was a better way of micro managing the processes that run.  Also for using that much of my resources I would have hoped it would perform faster.

I am up to date, completely patched, using the newest version of firefox and on my wired desktop.  Browsing on my wifi on my macbook with firefox is faster.  

I feel that Windows 7 will make my system run a lot better than Vista and hopefully they get rid of the bloat.

It runs games great

30 to 40 FPS on crysis 1200x1024 8xAA (it spikes and drops on occasion to 10fps but then jumps back to 30ish)

200+ fps 1200 x 1025 8xAA on HL 2 and HL 2 mods (running net_graph 3)

Have yet to install COD4 and Crysis warhead will do that this weekend

Last night I unrar'd a 1 gig compressed file, and it decompressed that 1 gig file in about 8 to 10 seconds, which that is pretty damn impressive.


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