Quote :

" Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price 1 MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail Model #: K8N Neo4-F Item #: N82E16813130491 ** This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only. what's this? In Stock $80.00 $80.00 1 ATI 100-437509 Radeon X1600PRO 512MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail Model #: 100-437509 Item #: N82E16814102682 In Stock Mail-in Rebate $289.00 $289.00 1 AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail Model #: ADA3200BPBOX Item #: N82E16819103535 ** This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only. what's this? In Stock $158.00 $158.00 1 G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model F1-3200USU2-2GBHS - Retail Model #: F1-3200USU2-2GBHS Item #: N82E16820231020 In Stock $175.00 $175.00 2 Maxtor MaxLine III 7V250F0 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM Model #: 7V250F0 Item #: N82E16822144031 In Stock $100.00 $200.00 "

I already bought the ram, so that's done with. But what do ya'll think

3/22/2006 6:43:46 PM

Product descriptions from newegg I'm guessing? Personally, I wouldn't have gotten that ram. I would have stuck with corsair XMS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145574
$155 after $40MIR

I'm guessing your planning on doing some gaming?

I'd choose another hard drive as I've heard that those maxtor hard drive lines don't play nicely with nforce4 chipsets. Also, do you need 500GB of space? otherwise, spend that 100 on a better CPU.

3/22/2006 7:19:06 PM

are you stupid son? How does a hard drive not play nicely with a chipset>

I do agree on the memory though, since it's cheaper AR.

Video card, get a 7800GT instead.

3/22/2006 7:43:23 PM

Come on, you've got to have heard of weirder incompatability issues than that noen...

3/22/2006 7:55:18 PM

i'm going to build a pretty similar system in a couple weeks, maybe with a lesser video card

3/22/2006 8:00:56 PM

got the Corsair XMS 2gb for $109 last weekend to replace my 2gb of VS, heard good things about gskill though

3/22/2006 8:04:36 PM

^nice deal

Quote :

"are you stupid son? How does a hard drive not play nicely with a chipset"

If you read reviews and hit up other computer sites, you'll see some issues with that hard drive and the nForce4 chipset. Since nearly everything goes through the chipset, shit could happen. Although, Maxtor should have a firmware fix of what I've heard.

3/22/2006 8:11:57 PM

source
check this out:

What You Have	Upgrade Path Today	Why You Should	Why You Should Wait
Athlon 64/Early  Socket 940/AGP	PCI Express Motherboard (Nforce4 or CrossFire 3200); PCI Express Graphics Card.	Processor and graphics cards max out at less than today's top end.	AM2 will offer better throughput with DDR2/667.
Athlon 64/Socket 939/AGP	PCI Express Motherboard (Nforce4 or CrossFire 3200); PCI Express Graphics Card.	Faster graphics cards on PCI Express; dual graphics support.	AM2 will also support faster graphics cards, and you'll be able to move to DDR2/667.
Athlon 64/Socket 939/PCI Express	Drop in a faster CPU or graphics card.	A faster graphics card may help, depending on the application, but don't upgrade the CPU unless you have a slower model (3200 or less).	AM2 offers better throughput, and will still support your graphics card. But you'll need DDR2 memory.
Intel Pentium 4/Socket 478/AGP	PCI Express Motherboard (Intel 945, 975X or Nvidia nForce for Intel)/DDR2 memory/PCI Express Graphics; dual core CPUs.	Can move to Intel dual core; faster graphics; somewhat faster CPUs; better serial ATA support; possible dual graphics card support.	Conroe will use less power and be faster. Waiting for the 965 chipset allows you to move to DDR2/800 in one fell swoop.
Intel Pentium 4/Socket 775/Intel 915 or 925 chipset	Intel 945, 975X or Nvidia nForce for Intel; Intel dual-core CPUs.	Can move to Intel dual core; better SATA RAID support; possible dual graphics card support.	Conroe will use less power; 965 core logic supports DDR2/800.
Intel Pentium 4/Socket 775/Intel 945	Intel 975X or Nvidia nForce for Intel.	Future Conroe support.	Intel 975X maxes out at DDR2/667.

If you have anything else, including Socket A Athlon XPs, Socket 423 Pentium 4s or older systems, you can pick any of the above alternatives. You'll almost certainly need a new motherboard, CPU, memory, and graphics card. Sound like a new system? You can probably retain your mass storage, input devices, case, and monitors. But it is close to a new system. Your application needs and budget will dictate whether you should upgrade now or wait just a few months longer.

3/23/2006 8:20:33 AM

Quote :

"If you read reviews and hit up other computer sites, you'll see some issues with that hard drive and the nForce4 chipset. Since nearly everything goes through the chipset, shit could happen. Although, Maxtor should have a firmware fix of what I've heard. "

Please show me these reviews, because that would rock my world.

3/23/2006 6:36:23 PM

Quote :

" Firmware for NF4 Boards Pros: None!!! Cons: NF4 Incompatabilities. I tried this with 2 different boards and couldn't get it to reliably load XP. tried to find the firmware update, but you have to get it from tech support. Thought I had a bargain for 100 bucks...... Other Thoughts: I normally like Maxtor drives and have never had a problem, but this is not acceptable."

Quote :

" AARRGGHH!!! Pros: Newegg as always. For them I'll give 5 stars. As for the drive, that's another story. Cons: The drive worked once. Major incompatibilities with Nforce 4 chipset. Apparently received a drive with the "current" firmware version. Other Thoughts: I knew I was going to have problems with this drive when I plugged it in and the system froze on POST the first time. I had to reboot the machine for the bios to detect it. When I booted into windows, the os detected the drive and I had to enable it in disk management. I created the partitions on the drive that I wanted and rebooted the machine. Upon reboot, windows wouldn't load. I tried going into safemode and it would get stuck trying to load the driver for the hdd. I talked to four techs over a two day time period to try to get this drive to work. Most of the techs tried to give me the runaround saying that it was my motherboard or my os was corrupt. I updated my bios on my motherboard as a last resort and that still didn't help. After that windows would fail during boot. There "supposedly" was no firmware upgrade for my drive. After I ripped the last tech I talked to at maxtor a new one, they finally agreed to send me a replacement drive. Not happy. Not good for maxtor. Rant done"

Quote :

" Not pleased Pros: When the drive is configured properly and functioning, it has a fairly quick transfer rate and a nice sized cache. Cons: It has serious issues with the nvidia nforce 4 chipset!! I had to call 3 times and email them before they finally sent me the firmware upgrade to fix the drive! Other Thoughts: It is ridiculous that they wouldnt do something about a conflict with such a popular chipset.. setting the jumper to 1.5 and setting addressing to large instead of auto in the bios may help some."

They go on and on on newegg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?item=N82E16822144013

Alright all, so, I'm going to go with HD's somewhere in the range of 80-100 gigs to keep the cost down so I have more moeny for other stuff. Is SATA II worth the money or no?

Also, recommend some HD's to me.

I like certain computer brands because I've had great luck with them:
MB's - MSI
HD's - Maxtor
Cooling - Thermalright

Any suggestions?

3/23/2006 7:07:18 PM

intel proc with non intel chipset is fucking retarded

3/23/2006 7:08:23 PM

^ What the fuck are you talking about?

3/23/2006 7:29:01 PM

in response to:

What You Have	Upgrade Path Today	Why You Should	Why You Should Wait
Athlon 64/Early  Socket 940/AGP	PCI Express Motherboard (Nforce4 or CrossFire 3200); PCI Express Graphics Card.	Processor and graphics cards max out at less than today's top end.	AM2 will offer better throughput with DDR2/667.
Athlon 64/Socket 939/AGP	PCI Express Motherboard (Nforce4 or CrossFire 3200); PCI Express Graphics Card.	Faster graphics cards on PCI Express; dual graphics support.	AM2 will also support faster graphics cards, and you'll be able to move to DDR2/667.
Athlon 64/Socket 939/PCI Express	Drop in a faster CPU or graphics card.	A faster graphics card may help, depending on the application, but don't upgrade the CPU unless you have a slower model (3200 or less).	AM2 offers better throughput, and will still support your graphics card. But you'll need DDR2 memory.
Intel Pentium 4/Socket 478/AGP	PCI Express Motherboard (Intel 945, 975X or Nvidia nForce for Intel)/DDR2 memory/PCI Express Graphics; dual core CPUs.	Can move to Intel dual core; faster graphics; somewhat faster CPUs; better serial ATA support; possible dual graphics card support.	Conroe will use less power and be faster. Waiting for the 965 chipset allows you to move to DDR2/800 in one fell swoop.
Intel Pentium 4/Socket 775/Intel 915 or 925 chipset	Intel 945, 975X or Nvidia nForce for Intel; Intel dual-core CPUs.	Can move to Intel dual core; better SATA RAID support; possible dual graphics card support.	Conroe will use less power; 965 core logic supports DDR2/800.
Intel Pentium 4/Socket 775/Intel 945	Intel 975X or Nvidia nForce for Intel.	Future Conroe support.	Intel 975X maxes out at DDR2/667.

3/23/2006 7:33:21 PM

goddamn i hate tww tables

3/23/2006 7:34:53 PM

yet another hardware pricing guide for building PCs: http://hardware.gotfrag.com/portal/story/30136/
via digg

3/24/2006 10:14:01 AM

that processor is the weak sauce

3/24/2006 1:25:05 PM

Noen actually does disappear when he gets dominated.

3/24/2006 1:37:14 PM

no, I asked a question, it was answered. I didn't know, it seemed ludicrous that a damn harddrive would be incompatible with a motherboard.

3/24/2006 1:47:32 PM

Why would you go with Maxtor in general, I mean really there's Seagate which gives you a 5 year warranty and has the same specs as the maxtor (minus the 16Mg flash oh noes!). Plus the OEM Seagate with same specs minus 8Mg flash is only $1 more expensive but same specs and onger warranty: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148111

but you should wait atleast until the Core's and Socket AM2 hit retail anyways (prices of older platforms, like 939, will become cheaper).

[Edited on March 24, 2006 at 3:17 PM. Reason : ]

3/24/2006 3:16:10 PM

Well, would I see a big performance gain from an 8mb cache to a 16 mb cache?

3/24/2006 5:41:07 PM

nope, you'll see a much bigger performance gain going from a 250gb drive to a 500gb drive.

And a big loss going down to an 80gb. Bigger capacity = more dense platters = faster.

3/25/2006 12:30:50 PM

Quote :

"Is SATA II worth the money or no?"

no its not (unless you're planning on doing some heavy raid shit). sataII offers more throughput but the drives can't spit out data that fast (yet) so it doesnt much matter.

i would get a 74gb raptor, the prices should be coming down on them by now with the new ones out...and you're going to have a hard time matching that performance with anything else in the price range.

Quote :

"Why would you go with Maxtor in general, I mean really there's Seagate which gives you a 5 year warranty and has the same specs as the maxtor "

a bunch of the maxtors have 5 year warranties now, i know the one i just got from newegg did.

Quote :

"Well, would I see a big performance gain from an 8mb cache to a 16 mb cache?"

well i know when the WD special editions came out they were the hotness for a while since they had the 16MB cache...if the 16MB cache isn't that much more go for it. but really, get the raptor.

[Edited on March 25, 2006 at 1:35 PM. Reason : ]

3/25/2006 1:35:10 PM

bttmft

So, I've made some purchases since we last talked:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811220011

I like the nerd bling on the side of the case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131569

Cheaper and better reviewed than teh MSI. Also, supposed to be pretty good for OCing\

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153023

Uhh PS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231047

No problems with this RAM yet. I have it in my other comp right now.

Now, I need to decide on HD's, Vid Card and Processor.

Currently, I'm leaning towards the AMD X2 3800+ , which is $295 at newegg. Good deal? Good pick?

For vid cards, the motherboard only has one PCI x16 slot so no crossfire or SLi. What do you guys recommend? Let's say $200-300 range.

For HD's the Raptor's are out of my price range the 37 gig raptor is 105, also 16mb Sata 150 drives are a minumum of 100 bucks a piece.

But the WD caviar drives @ 80gig are 54 bucks a piece. Good deal?

Looking for input and suggestions please.

3/28/2006 6:45:20 PM

i have NEVER EVER EVER found any reason to pay for "top-of-the-line" computer equipment...NEVER...give it a few months, it will be half the price and a year later you MIGHT have some piece of software that will actually utilize it

3/28/2006 6:52:12 PM

^ So which piece are you referring to as top of the line?

3/28/2006 7:37:00 PM

Quote :

"For HD's the Raptor's are out of my price range the 37 gig raptor is 105,"

but the 200-300 video card isn't out of your price range? realize that the harddrive is the biggest bottleneck in your computer, by far. I would spend an extra $50 to get a raptor and use a secondary ide (or cheap sata) for data.

what video card were you thinking about? i spent like $140 on an X800GTO and its handled every game i've played so far (quake 3, quake 4, bf2, call of duty2 etc) on the highest settings with no problems. do you really need to spend well over $200 on a video card?

so you decided against dual core then?

[Edited on March 28, 2006 at 11:56 PM. Reason : ]

3/28/2006 11:56:00 PM

^ as long as you have enough memory (2g+), the hdd shouldn't be that big of a bottleneck

3/29/2006 12:17:51 AM