Quote :

"Any thoughts on AMD processors?"

i'm very happy with my phenom II X4

obviously SOME people will use a faster processor, but these days i think most people's limiting factor is their graphics card, not their processor (if you're buying new-ish, i mean)

3/17/2011 9:11:03 AM

yeah, I agree, if you are looking to build a new system right now, quad core is the only way to fly.

3/17/2011 12:41:42 PM

okay, i want to build a freenas box...criteria:

- as low-power and cool-running as possible
- at least 6 SATA (onboard or via expansion card, i don't care)
- gigabit

past that, i'd prefer DDR3 because i've already got a 2gb and 4gb stick, though DDR2 is okay since i probably have a stick or two of that somewhere

i'd also like a case that will hold the 6 hard drives...i don't know if there are any ITX cases that are built for this purpose

suggestions with links?

3/21/2011 9:41:54 AM

^http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=2&prod=42

maybe go with:
AMD Athlon X2 (and undervolt/underclock it)? FreeNAS scales pretty well so you could also opt for X3 or X4 but uses more power.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103903
ZOTAC 880GITX-A-E AM3 880G Mini ITX AMD Motherboard (4x SATA 6Gbps)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500060

if you want 6x SATA you may have to opt for a core i3 which is $money (and hard to cool)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500043

* Just make sure if you use mini-ITX to make sure the Realtek ethernet card is compatible.

[Edited on March 21, 2011 at 2:58 PM. Reason : .]

3/21/2011 2:41:05 PM

Thinking about selling my GTX 295. Think it's worth 200? It's the EVGA "ftw" edition one, which is overclocked somewhat.

3/21/2011 8:05:28 PM

throw it up on ebay, some idiot would buy it for 200. It's still not a bad card, but the 470 is around that price range and is about the same performance on the new fermi. Too bad it's not the 285 cause I'd pick that up since its one of the few fermi cores that can be hacked for macs at the moment.

3/22/2011 12:30:40 AM

hmm
what would you suggest?

I'd rather sell it locally, face to face.

3/22/2011 5:53:27 AM

ebay it man, you are looking at $150-240 sale price with a median of about $185 + 15 shipping. I mean it's hassle free now days, just sell it, buyer pays for shipping, box it, and drop it off at a fedex or ups store.

3/22/2011 5:21:27 PM

WEAK. I'm saving up my old video cards for something like this:

3/22/2011 5:38:08 PM

hehe, I was gonna do something like that with Pentium processors. I have a stack of like 200 of them somewhere when the school was throwing them away. Line them like tiles.

3/22/2011 6:34:20 PM

you could sell that for so much money.

3/22/2011 7:36:15 PM

seedless from:
message_topic.aspx?topic=610781

Building a PC these days isn't really that hard. As long as you pick out the right socket type, do a little research, and read some reviews the actual assembly isn't that hard. IMO the biggest time is spent doing cable management and making sure you're not blocking air flow.

Lets finalize a build for you before you order though.

3/29/2011 1:34:49 PM

^ dont forget keeping yourself grounded. so many people forget about that and end up screwing up their components because of ESD.

3/29/2011 3:22:17 PM

aka don't wear pajamas and build your computer on a carpeted floor.

3/29/2011 4:02:48 PM

how do you feel about wool slippers?

3/29/2011 5:20:24 PM

wool is so scratchy.

3/29/2011 10:00:20 PM

The build is pretty much what you showed me in the other thread except i got a 1TB hard drive and a GTX 460:

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=23199928

I am thinking about adding a SSD but I don't know what benefits a SSD provides other than just making things faster, and things are generally more than fast enough for me with the normal disc hard drive. I am sure a SSD is superior to the traditional hard drive, however the price per GB is quite steep when it appears it just makes things faster for the most part. Please advise on any other attributes that would make a SSD worth it, as I am really considering it.

3/29/2011 11:07:09 PM

Quote :

"wool is so scratchy."

yeah... if you are using low grade wool fibers. High quality wool that has been properly treated can be very soft. It's all about the finishing.

Take it from me, I'm in Textiles.

3/30/2011 1:32:28 AM

Quote :

"I am thinking about adding a SSD but I don't know what benefits a SSD provides other than just making things faster"

low-power, no-noise, longer life span

3/30/2011 10:41:57 AM

^^^ Sorry guys I did not realize you had to make your list public here it is now;

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=23199928

3/30/2011 11:37:36 AM

no idea why you need 750W power supply unless you're going SLI... a 600W would be fine.

[Edited on March 30, 2011 at 12:15 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2011 12:15:19 PM

Oh OK, you didn't have to be a dick about it lol. Just as easily could have said 'I'd recommend a 600w PSU for this build'.

3/30/2011 1:24:54 PM

^^/^ why not get the 750 watt? If he's getting one 460 and a mobo with SLI support. Why not get the power supply to add a second 460 later? It would be a cheap upgrade and a big performance boost (if you play any games).

3/30/2011 1:28:16 PM

good grief, if i had a dime for every person (myself included ) that said, what if he adds a graphics card in SLI and whom never does, i'd be rich... with a 7200rpm hard drive and 4GB of ram i'm just gonna go ahead and say SLI isn't a priority.... but that's why i was asking.

i wasn't being a dick about it, just an honest question, asking if you had a reason why you picked 750W? it just stuck out on the list as being expensive for what you're getting, you could save $30 by going with a 600W.

[Edited on March 30, 2011 at 2:43 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2011 2:38:40 PM

Quote :

"good grief, if i had a dime for every person (myself included ) that said, what if he adds a graphics card in SLI and whom never does, i'd be rich... with a 7200rpm hard drive and 4GB of ram i'm just gonna go ahead and say SLI isn't a priority.... but that's why i was asking."

This happens all the time. I had a single 460 for a few months then bought a second one. A 7200rpm HDD and 4GB are plenty. Especially for gaming. The only advantage of a SSD for gaming is load time. The biggest performance increase will be from adding a second 460.

3/30/2011 3:14:18 PM

If you leave your computer on 24/7 or run cpu intensive tasks I would get an 80 PLUS GOLD certified power supply. It WILL put off less heat and save you more than you think over the 2-3yr you have it. I am also a fan of not running a power supply over 75% usage to prolong the life and get better efficiency. I am also not a fan of hitachi drives. Get a Samsung Spinpoint F3 or a 1Tb WD Black. It’s no SSD but neither is the price as you pointed out.

Since you are buying the K processor, I might get an aftermarket cpu cooler to overclock higher (Prolimatech Megahalems). Other than those small details it looks nice and will perform great.

[Edited on March 30, 2011 at 4:19 PM. Reason : ]

3/30/2011 4:18:50 PM

If you buy a gold or platinum certified PSU and use it for only 2-3 years, you're doing something wrong

3/30/2011 4:46:08 PM

Yeah mines been going since 2007 I believe.

3/30/2011 5:15:47 PM

^&^^ VERY TRUE. A power supply is just one of those thing you get once and reuse till it no longer has the power requirements you need or dies. I should have never put a year figure on my last post.

[Edited on March 30, 2011 at 5:18 PM. Reason : your to fast for me]

3/30/2011 5:18:05 PM

Yeah I got my 1050 watt PSU in 2007 just in anticipation of needing it. Been using the same one since then. Unless you're really looking to save money putting some cash into a good power supply is a good idea.

3/30/2011 5:20:09 PM

Ok for reference, I have an E8400 & and a dual-GPU graphics card (9800GX2) with 3 hard drives and 4 DIMMs of memory and I'm running ~280W TOTAL at 100% load on my 500W Enermax Liberty I've had since May of 2007.

Add in newer graphics cards that can run ~250W on load just by themselves, I still don't see how you would need over 750W PSU for SLI. It's $30 difference though, so you might as well get the extra wattage, but I think there's even more efficient PSU's than Antec's Earthmax. For $100 a PSU better be modular as well, IMHO. I do agree you should never use more than 75% of your PSU's rated capacity.

3/30/2011 6:04:15 PM

How are you calculating it? I have dual 460's and an i7 and easily hit 600 load. I'm glad I got the 1000. If you had a couple 580's i'm sure you'd hit closer to 750. This calculator is fairly accurate:

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

It's fairly close to what I've seen using a watt meter.

I actually just did that calculator with a 4.2GHZ overclock on an i7 and dual 480's and it said recommended PSU wattage: 882 with 5 HDDs.

I don't see why you are so against over compensating.

Just read some reviews:
http://guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-460-review/13

Quote :

"Here is Guru3D's power supply recommendation: GeForce GTX 460 On your average system the card requires you to have a 450 to 500 Watt power supply unit. GeForce GTX 460 in SLI A second card requires you to add another ~200 Watts. You need a 650 ~700 Watt power supply unit."

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2977/nvidia-s-geforce-gtx-480-and-gtx-470-6-months-late-was-it-worth-the-wait-/19

Two 480's are hitting 851 load. Sure it's quite high but that's only using a i7 920 at 3.33. not too overclocked.

[Edited on March 30, 2011 at 8:11 PM. Reason : s]

3/30/2011 8:03:14 PM

this is what i use:
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=209

^and that's exactly what i posted, 600W is fine for single card, 750W if you plan on SLI

i'm not against over-compensating for the PSU, i'm just trying to save him unnessary cost that's all, i said that in my OP, i don't know why everyone's getting on me about it.

[Edited on March 30, 2011 at 8:10 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2011 8:09:03 PM

$25 off $100 or more @ Newegg
Today and tomorrow only (expires March 31)
Use coupon code: NEWGEEK25
http://promotions.newegg.com/nepro/11-0828/

3/30/2011 8:31:01 PM

I have an i7 at 4.2 with two OC gtx465s, 1 HDD, 3 fans and water pump. When everything is folding (assumed max wattage) I have nudged over the 700W mark at the wall. I know everyone knows this but am reiterating it to point out that 700W at the wall includes the power supplies inefficiency. Assuming my PSU is 85% efficient, my power supply only needs to be a 600W model. Now 600W is 100% usage and the magical 75% PSU load rates me at 800W PSU models. I hope I did my math right


With that said, I think he should get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207003
He should be running about 350-400W max which will put him at this PSU max efficiency range = 88%. Then if he wants to run SLI in the future he has room to grow. yes it costs more but he will save more than that over life of the PSU. I also like the single 12v rail too. No complicated balancing act with this card here and that HDD there. Just plug and play.

I talk too much Congratz Prospero on getting 10,000+ posts. Maybe I dont talk as much as some .

[Edited on March 30, 2011 at 10:11 PM. Reason : ]

3/30/2011 10:08:38 PM

thanks, i think 9,999 posts have been in tech talk, lol.

i think your math proves my point... and most good PSU's are single 12V these days.

^I do like that PSU, 5-year warranty, single 12V, modular, 750W, 80 PLUS silver (88% eff.) all better specs than the Earthwatts for pretty much the same price.

3/31/2011 12:31:07 AM

@Seedless: You should check out OCZ power supplies, cheap and really good. This is what I have, 700w 80 plus cert. The best part was that it's more efficient that other 700w PSU's in its class and the reason why I picked it over more pricier versions. At 550w load, its 86-88% efficient; even 650w load only dropped to 84%. It's $70 AR, but I picked mine up for $40 in the summer during a sale.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341018&cm_re=OCZ_power_supply_700-_-17-341-018-_-Product

While I value Antec PSU over the years, I don't think their brand has such a brand identity as it once had 5-10 years ago. They were the industry trend setters, but now that so many good manufactures offer similar products around the same price range, it's hard not to shop around. Don't get me wrong, Antec is still good, but they used to go against shitty PSU brands that weren't efficient. Game has changed though.

@stepmaniadud: J33Pownr's comment on the year was more about the idea of cost savings over an arbitrary long term and since it's common that most people who play video games and build computers (at least in this demographic) will be most likely to build a completely new computer every 2-3 years, negating the need of harvesting the PSU for the new build.

@Prospero: you never want to run PSU at their rated max to reach their most optimum running efficiency. Most PSU's efficiency curve is very much like a simple bell curve, some 80 plus PSU can actually dip below 80% if the load is very low. For example, some higher watt Corsair PSU models run around 74% only at 30% load, which could be idle on a system that only draws 250w or so. Around 70-80% load tends to be the sweet spot for most PSU, but really depends on the manufacturer and quality of materials.

3/31/2011 1:00:59 AM

Do you guys think Crucial RealSSD C300 for $120 is a decent deal? Its only 64 gigs. Do you think that is enough for the OS drive with a big harddrive for storage? I usually just buy parts that are good deals. If I get this I will only need a CPU and motherboard to complete my build.

4/2/2011 12:00:13 PM

^No, not a deal. I've seen 64gigs ssd for $90AR before, but you should look at getting a 120gig size IMHO. They run sub $200; if I can find a decent one for about 150, I'm getting one, but that won't happen till summer (hopefully).

4/2/2011 4:50:02 PM

Has anyone ever dealt with the Gskill warranty process before? I have to return some bad memory and it has been longer than 30 days so newegg will not rma it.

4/2/2011 5:05:37 PM

Nope, but I've have some Gskill ram's in some of my older computers, I'm sure they'd be like most other RAM companies with it's RMA process.

4/2/2011 6:17:58 PM

not really hardware related per se, but what does everyone use for benchmarking/stress-testing as well as temperature readings? there seems to be a whole bunch of utilities on the interwebs and i'd like to use what is best, most common.

4/6/2011 11:31:26 AM

INTEL processors = Lynx and Folding At Home
INTEL monitor = Real Temp 3.60 or Core Temp 0.99.8.
AMD Processors = prime95 or ???(havn't had AMD in a few years)
Video Stress Testor = Furmark or Folding At Home
Nvidia GPU monitor = EVGA Precision or other manufactures software
ATI Monitor = ????(havn't had AMD in a few years)
Memory = memtest86
Whole system = Vantage and 3DMark06 looped 10times

Anyone else run anything different?

4/6/2011 1:03:25 PM

yeah how much I don't have to turn my heat up in the winter. haha. but no that looks great. good list. 3dMark06 is a little dated. Doesn't test newer DX10/11 features.

4/6/2011 1:50:28 PM

when it was 85 the other day, I took a nap and woke up to 92 degrees in my room since the windows and doors were closed and the AC was off. Opps.

4/6/2011 3:28:23 PM

Yeah In the summer I feel like I should be venting my case out the window because it's just making the AC work harder.

4/6/2011 3:34:14 PM

BTW, slickdeals has a post about a Kingston 64GB SSD for 75AR

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2820637

Newegg had the same one for $70 on April Fools Day. Hopefully the 120gig will be around 140 later on this summer for me to snatch up.

4/7/2011 4:26:24 PM

What do you all think of this combo on Newegg?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.627552&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10440897&PID=404255&SID=189944

Seems like a good deal. Been wanting/needing a new desktop for a while and was leaning toward an i5 2xxx system. Might throw in a mid-range video card (suggestions for $100-$130?) and maybe another 4GB ram. Thanks

4/7/2011 9:12:23 PM

personally, I've had bad luck with rosewill PSU's, had one that died in 6 months and a computer I built for a friend with the same PSU died within a year. Personally, I think you can find some better deals on some of the components, but seems like a pretty good deal for the whole system. However, I think 8GB would be a good idea since RAM is insanely cheap now days.

In terms of mid range video cars, ATI offers a whole line of 5 or 6000 series cards that are in that price point.

4/7/2011 11:50:57 PM

Alright guys, I'm stepping back in here because you all gave some great advice the last time I was in here.

I am looking to slowly make some upgrades to my tower. I'm currently running:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz LGA 775 65W
Motherboard: ASUS P5KPL-CM LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX
Memory: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit
Video Card: XFX GF 9800GTX 738M 512MB DDR3 DUAL DVI TV PCI-E
Hard drive: 3.0 GB/s, 7200 RPM.. I can't really remember specifics off the top of my head.
Power Supply: Ultra X4 500W ATX Modular Power Supply

First off, do you think it's worth upgrading? I'm a decent gamer, I do see myself buying future games and playing them. I haven't had really any trouble playing anything lately, but I know my socket type is way outdated, and I want to keep my eyes open for deals. However, I'm not sure what to go for. I'm not looking for a Sandy Bridge i7 by any means - just another step up.

I've loved my processor so far - good running temperatures, wasn't too expensive - real workhorse. I'm looking for something similiar, good bang for my buck.

4/15/2011 11:30:13 AM