Latest posts for the topic "CPU Upgrade"

CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

For all of you technically proficient computer folks, I have a question. In preparation for the new games coming out, I'm planing to upgrade my processor. Right now, I'm running an AMD 3500+ 939 pin setup that is overclocked comparable to the 4200+. My RAM setup is 2GB of PC4000/500MHZ Corsair XMS, and my motherboard is the DFI Lanparty nf4 UT SLI-DR. The video card is the eVGA PCI-E 6800GT 256MB. My question is: In choosing a new AMD processor, would I be better off using the AMD FX series (FX60 at $833.00) or the AMD 64 X2 939 pin processor (64 X2 4800+) at less than half the price? Your thoughts and opinions, please.

Re:CPU Upgrade

Mac_Knife — GMT

Go the X2 4800+. No its not quite as good as the FX60, but bang for buck, it's MUCH better.

Re:CPU Upgrade

TheDruidXpawX — GMT

I dont know... I'd probably wait until UT2007 shows its head. I suspect by then we'll be looking at quad cores...

Re:CPU Upgrade

Grizzled_Imposter — GMT

I would honestly wait on an upgrade. Bang for the buck, you are going to be paying a lot of money for very little difference in overall performance. I have a very similar rig to what you are running, and I don't see a problem with any games that are out now. I can run most of them at pretty dang high resolution with a frame rate that my monitor wont display (over 75). For an older game like UT04 I get reports of frame rates that are impossible. You know what? I did not look close enough. Buy another eVGA card to pair with what you have and you should be good to go for a quarter of a generation (3 or 4 months at least)

Re:CPU Upgrade

Moof — GMT

I have the 64 x2 4200+. Bang for the buck it's WAY WAY better than the FX series. However, I agree with the others. Wait.

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

TheDruidXpawX wrote:

I dont know... I'd probably wait until UT2007 shows its head. I suspect by then we'll be looking at quad cores...

Reading my mind, Dru? I'm thinking in terms of UT2007, Halo 2, Diablo 3, and the remaining 2 episodes of Halflife 2 (er, HL3 perhaps). Grizzled, what would be the advantage of two matched video cards? Simple math leading to 512MB video RAM or are there other advantages?

Re:CPU Upgrade

Flak Monkey — GMT

(DC)DEMONSLAYER wrote:

TheDruidXpawX wrote:

I dont know... I'd probably wait until UT2007 shows its head. I suspect by then we'll be looking at quad cores...
Reading my mind, Dru? I'm thinking in terms of UT2007, Halo 2, Diablo 3, and the remaining 2 episodes of Halflife 2 (er, HL3 perhaps). Grizzled, what would be the advantage of two matched video cards? Simple math leading to 512MB video RAM or are there other advantages?

Mostly because you have an adiquit system to run just about anything, the bottleneck, if any with the new gen games, will be GPU power. For an SLI rig, you have to have matching vid cards to make it work. So if you go SLI, it would drasticly improve that end without having to do any major upgrades. Of course, with the coming of DX10, the case will be, will the next gen games be DX10 only, or will they have DX9 compatibility built in? DX10 is win Vista only with no backwards compatability for earlier versions, as they have done up to DX9. So, I would wait to find out the min/reccomended requirements of the games you want to play first. Software has always driven upgrades and always will.

Re:CPU Upgrade

Celor — GMT

(DC)DEMONSLAYER wrote:

Grizzled, what would be the advantage of two matched video cards?

Sli splits up the frame processing, not always equally but it can make visible differences. Also "two heads are better than one" right?

Re:CPU Upgrade

Spacey — GMT

Celor wrote:

(DC)DEMONSLAYER wrote:

Grizzled, what would be the advantage of two matched video cards?
Sli splits up the frame processing, not always equally but it can make visible differences. Also "two heads are better than one" right?

Not so much "two heads", as that term is used to refer to the monitors, and most decent cards today support that, but rather "two sets of brains" (set because of remembering that most graphics boards have multiple rendering pipelines). ;) Even the Radeon 9500Pro card in my old system has dual heads, but a slow fat brain. I just went through the process of getting a new system, mainly because mine was so darned old (I got it when the K7 Barton core first came out, though I did have a new MB with SATA that I swapped into it) that I could not really wait. So what I got almost certainly cost me a bit more, and is not the hottest item out there compared to what I could get in a few months. But given that we are now seeing things on the GeForce 8xxx video cards, I would expect the prices to drop pretty rapidly on the 7xxx and earlier cards over the next couple of months. BTW... what I have seen on the Intel vs. AMD side would also say that if you are not locked into AMD, Intel is once again worth looking at. Intel has dramatically improved their performance to be competitive once again, and their price/performance ratio has actually been better than AMD for several months. Of course, typical disclaimer, and things could be different tomorrow.

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Thx Spacey. Yeah, I've been watching Intel striving to regain their edge against AMD. But you know what they say-twice burned, three times as shy. However, I'm locked into the AMD 939 pin as I'm trying to keep to a low cost upgrade (wife's order's and I had to get back on my knees just to get that). I just upgraded to 2GB RAM and was planning to upgrade the process but most people say wait until later, so I'll wait.

Re:CPU Upgrade

InsaneManiac — GMT

Your best bet would not be to get a new cpu. For now I suggest you just go with another 6800GT. Quite possibly another EVGA 6800GT. SLI will considerably improve your performance, but there is no actual guarantee that you will get double the performance. At most, I'd say 10-40% improvments in overall system specs. But your video card is your most likely bottleneck. The only improvement for the FX-60 is the bragging rights, unlocked multiplier and the "wow" factor. So I would say stay with your 4200. Your computer is quite well and I would say stick with your 4200. If your interested, you could try to step up to a liquid cooling system and push the computer even more than you are right now. But you need to be extremely careful with a liquid cooled system. Other than that, regarding Direct X10 and Intel. The 8800GTX is an awesme piece of hardware, but the design is the first of its kind and it is very robust. I would wait until the second or third generation of Direct X10 cards come out when the power requirements and the performance is improved overall. A 400-1K watt barrier to try and get a Direct X10 card(s) is very ridiculous. I wont touch the Direct X 10 cards until the 9800GTX and the R700 come out. The designs by Nvidia and ATI will be refined and improved; in fact, the power requirements should hopefully be lowered and brought down to a more manageable level. Moving onto Intel, I would say their living the high life after two years. The Conroe is an excellent piece of work. If your wanting to jump ship to quad core go ahead, but the Kentsfield is not a "true" quad core cpu design. The gaming industry is one of the slowest industries to integrate over to multiple cores. You will not notice much of an improvement over a regular dual core in terms of gaming; in fact, the performance is actually lower. Performance numbers and benchmarks prove what I am saying. It will be interesting though to see what AMD has in store for the Core 2. The Quadfather is just one of their surprises they have for Intel. The K8L and the rare possibility of having the K9 coming out next year will be interesting.

Re:CPU Upgrade

Grizzled_Imposter — GMT

Grizzled, what would be the advantage of two matched video cards?

As previously stated, you need the exact same (even manufacturer) card to run in SLI. The games I am currently playing with dual 6800's run very smoothly at high frame rates and high resolution. I dont even take a noticible hit on Night of Nature with a lot of players on. UT2004 80+ frames at 1200 X 800 with 4xAA. All the goodies turned on. Counterstrike runs at 74 average using 1200 x 800 with 2x AA and dynamic lighting tuned on. Doom 3 runs at 69 average using 1024 X 768 with all the goodies (no AA). The few adventure games like Titans Quest I play I can turn the res up real high and keep all of the goodies on. The way that SLI is supposed to work, each graphics card will either: 1. render every other Frame (no, in actuality it does not double the frame rate due to the need for the cards to coordinate) OR 2. Each card renders half of the screen and they share RAM for having textures pre loaded. you can also download optimizations from the SLI site that optimize the cards for paticular games, which will increase the overall ability of the cards to render those games, once you have it set up, it will recognize when you launch a paticular application. The cheapest, Largest upgrade where you will actually see some difference is going to be buying a single new card or one of the dual 7xxx series of cards.

Re:CPU Upgrade

InsaneManiac — GMT

Grizzled thats incorrect, last time I remembered due to a driver update somewhere in the 8xxx series, you didnt have to have two cards be the exact same manufacturer. Due to the fact in the past you had to have two cards that were the exact same BIOS, design, etc they wouldnt work out. But I have heard that you can match two different cards from two differnet manufacturers for SLI and it work. But if you plan to do that, either A. Go with a card that has the exact same clocks or B. Go with a card from the exact same manufacturer. Honestly that whole exact same thing is baloney. In the past you had to do it, but because of the driver revisions that is a thing of the past. (:| Note: About the 7xxx series cards. I am running a 7600GT and honestly the thing is amazing. I can run F.E.A.R. at almost max setting with a smooth average of 40fps. I ran doom with the maxmimum graphics mod with high settings at 1152X864, which enhanced and brought out the true capabilities of Doom 3 out. I ran at a consistent 60 fps. Not once did I notice a slowdown. CSS runs at 1152x864 with 80-90 fps. UT2004 runs at 70-80 fps consistently on multiplayer. The real bottleneck would probably be my 1 gig of RAM and my 3200. But honestly, if you wanted to upgrade and do SLI your more than welcome to, but you probably wont notice much difference. My 7600GT is "supposedly" 20% faster than the 6800GT and the ultra. But whatever works out.

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Thanks for all of the input. However, :-w :-w :-w I have to ship the new ram back. For those of you that was playing with me this weekend, you know I was having problems. BAAAAAAD RAM. So I'm back to 1GB of ram until the RMA is over with. RATS As to the dual video cards, I'm getting very interested. I'm sure I can pick up another eVGA 6800GT for a reasonable price but where do I find the "bridge" between the two? My motherboard manual indicates that there is an upper bridge as well as the dual slots. Do I have to worry about a different bios setup as well.

Re:CPU Upgrade

Moof — GMT

Your current card needs to be SLI ready, as do the new card and your motherboard. If they all are, there's a special piece that's small with rectangular plugs on either end that plugs into the top of the two cards that bridges them together. It should have come with your motherboard. Here's a GIS for SLI Bridge so you can see what they look like. As of the writing of this post, the first, middle, and last hits in the first row are all SLI bridges.

Re:CPU Upgrade

InsaneManiac — GMT

Hey Demonslayer, I suggest you go with a company like OCZ, Corsair, Kingston, or XMS. Usually when you get generic RAM there is a slight chance that your getting a worst build quality then spending a little extra money for brand name ram. I have two 512 sticks of OCZ performance memory and believe me, they have not once crapped out on me. Honestly, you will not be dissapointed in the good memory.

Re:CPU Upgrade

Mystic — GMT

YOu all Do know that ut2007 is dropping alot of specifications for the game.. during the preview ,beta testing ,..even the new market cpu's will run 2007 like crap ... ill bring up the post when i find it but .even the duel processors wont run the game smooth. as of now ..theyre trying to fix the map desighnes n overall performance for the lower end machines to boost sales of the game ... id realy wait untill it comes out ...you might be waisting your money if all your upgradeing for is the game.. :-@

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Insane Currently I have 2 sticks of 512MB (each) OCZ PC4000 right now (they were the originals and I cannot find another matched pair of OCZ 512's). The new RAM that crapped out was the Corsair XMS PC4000--right out of the box!!!!! Didn't even get to use it.

Re:CPU Upgrade

Mystic — GMT

Kingston ... never failed me yet ...

Re:CPU Upgrade

InsaneManiac — GMT

Mystic I know about UT 2007 and the modern cpu's running like crap. But to be honest, if anyone knows Epic, they will make it so it can run on almost any type of card. But wait for the first 6-12 months when the patches are released and the optimizations come out. Then things should really pick up for the end user if they have a low to mid end computer.

Re:CPU Upgrade

Continuum — GMT

(DC)DEMONSLAYER wrote:

Insane Currently I have 2 sticks of 512MB (each) OCZ PC4000 right now (they were the originals and I cannot find another matched pair of OCZ 512's). The new RAM that crapped out was the Corsair XMS PC4000--right out of the box!!!!! Didn't even get to use it.

Actually had the same problem with pc3200, upgraded from the higher latency version with 2x512 to their top of the line pc3200 2x1024 and had one stick fail within a couple days.... replaced it and the same thing happened again, so I'm back to 1024 with just 1 stick :( Shame I really felt corsair was pretty decent when I had the two 512 sticks, never had any problems at all, but after going through 2 1Gig sticks I don't know if I'll stick with them or not.

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Well, how things change real quick. I got a full refund on the Corsair RAM and promptly bought 2GB of Kingston KHX4000 RAM. I'll put the OCZ I currently have on my other 64 bit pc. However, I found out that I do not have a SLI capable mobo, so dual video cards are out. Now I'm on my knees again to my wife to buy/make another gaming pc. Wish me luck.

Re:CPU Upgrade

InsaneManiac — GMT

Good luck fire. A little suggestion, try to give her the big, beady-eyed puppy dog look. (Never works for me, but could work for you.

Re:CPU Upgrade

DrkSlayer — GMT

Demon, I have the DFI UT SLI-DR also, just the name of the board SLI, proves it can handle the dual video cards. When you received your board, you should have got a connector chip thingey with it. You have to move the very long jumpers between the pci-e's. I'm running almost the same system, 3500+ oc'ed to 2700 and corsair xms (looks cool), 300gb raid 0, with a radeon x800xl oc'ed. H2O cooling as suggested by someone, is a good idea, just make sure you have, eww it can get complicated, big enough reservoir, radiator, pump and extra juice and visual flow is nice. Fear is the only game I've noticed any fps drop's in, but I'm not in SLI. I agree with the rest that say wait on the upgrade... that's what I'm doing. Until the need is necessary, and the choices are obvious, save the money and take your honey out....(to mc'd's, yeah I said save it). If you could PM me with your bios version, I'd like to know which you've got running. Oh did someone mention D3?!

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Darkslayer, I thought I had the SLI version, but I don't. I have the plain jane UT version. As to the bios, I've yet to update it from the original Phoenix 6.00 PG

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Calling all A+ certified players and builders............... Ok, I have kinda gotten my wife on the same page with me, I think!! The following is the parts list for the new pc. Please take a gander at the parts and let me know if I have any mis-matched parts and suggestions, if you have any. I've been working on checking the parts to be sure that they all will work together. Case LIAN LI PC-6070B plusII Power Supply 750W THERMALTAKE Thermaltake W0117 Motherboard DFI UT NF590 SLI-M2R/G Processor AMD 64 FX-74 Quad Hard Drive 1 WD WD1500ADFD-Raptor Hard Drive 1 WD WD1500ADFD-Raptor DVD R/W Drive SONY DWD-120A CD R/W Drive SONY EDM-9100B Memory-4 GB Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C3DF Video Card 1 EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX Video Card 2 EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX Sound Card CREATIVE S/B X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro 7.1 Speakers CREATIVE INSPIRE P7800 7.1 Keyboard/Mouse Set MICROSOFT BV3-00003 Monitor VIEWSONIC VX2235WM

Re:CPU Upgrade

Continuum — GMT

DFI makes a motherboard for the FX-74? I thought Asus was the only manufacture with a motherboard for it so far.

Re:CPU Upgrade

Moof — GMT

Continuum is right. The NF590 is socket AM2, not socket F. May I suggest backing off the FX74? You've got an absolutely incredibly bleeding edge system here. Here's a processor that's still extreme high end, but not bleeding edge. (By extreme high end, you're still talking far more than powerful enough...as in, no mainstream computer manufacturers sell it, and it's illegal to export it from the United States). http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103776

Re:CPU Upgrade

Moof — GMT

Also, let me suggest a Logitech G15 for your keyboard and a separate mouse. And, if you want an external input device made specifically for games (especially FPS), grab a Nostromo n52. G15: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823126179 n52: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16826169003 My mouse, which I like, but not love, is the mx1000. It's ..okay. The G15's companion mouse, the G7, is supposed to be wonderful. G7: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16826104203

Re:CPU Upgrade

Continuum — GMT

^ Warning on the G15... its big make sure you have room for it ;) And as for the fx74... thats what Ive got my eye on for my next pc I just want to wait until there are a more than 1 motherboard for it (although I really do like asus boards)

Re:CPU Upgrade

Moof — GMT

Have the G15. :D Took some time to adjust to it. Love it. It's just so comfy to use and type, even if I don't use the macro capability (I have that on the n52). And yes, it's a good 3"+ wider than your average keyboard...3.5" wider than my old vanilla Microsoft one.

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Continuum wrote:

DFI makes a motherboard for the FX-74? I thought Asus was the only manufacture with a motherboard for it so far.

ASUS and MSI currently has motherboards for the FX74, which I have had good luck with but they are harder to overclock. DFI is currently working on a board for the Socket F. AMD is also supposed to bring out quad core processors for the AM2 setup. My problem is that the FX74 is not a true quad like Intel's Kentsfield, thus the current mismatch of processor and board. Since I'm planning to buy the processor and board last, it will give me time to watch and fine tune my planning with the available selection. Moof, I thought real hard about the 4400+ and it is still a viable alternative, depending on what happens later this year with AMD's quad core setup. The reason for the "bleeding edge" attempt is this will probably be that last gaming computer that I will be able to afford to build since my wife will be retiring in 3 years. Using the current mis-matched processor and motherboard, the total parts cost exceeds $4K. Too bad that I've already bought the new wireless keyboard and mouse, but your recommended mouse is way too big for my keyboard/mouse tray

Re:CPU Upgrade

Flak Monkey — GMT

Ask and thou shall receive.... As anyone, I have my opinion about most thing from being in the industry... I'm not a fan of DFI. (always thought they made junk, but they could have improved) I have a friend in Ca. who used to work for them and he says he doesnt like them either. I do trust ASUS most of all. I'm not an AMD fan either. Beyond that personal item, I would not go with their quad set up. For one, it's temperary. They will have a single die quad in the not too distant future. So any F designs now will be obsolete within the year. No other line of AMD works in this design except what it's designed for. Now, they my be working on a CPU/GPU setup that may use this socket, but right now, that's speculation. I personally dont see a reason to go SLI with an 8800 at this time. It's super fast by itself and will handle anything you throw at it evern in years to come. That's just extra money that can be used elsewhere. I mean, how many FPS is enuf? If you cant tell, then.... 4GB is also overkill unless you plan on doing professional HD video editing. PSU....well PC Power and Cooling is my brand of choice. They make a 1kw unit. Nothing wrong with what you have. PCPnC has a 5 year warrenty...if that makes any difference to ya. They know all the ins and outs of what makes a good PSU and they stand behind their products. 2 Raptors? 1 up front to handle speed of execution. I dont know about a second unless your running a RAID. Better to have Raptor up front with a WD Caviar SE16 500 GB in the back. Very fast 7200 rpm drive with plenty of storage. Just 1 is more than I'm running myself (of course my system is about 2 years old now. Got a Raptor 76 up front with a caviar 40 for just storage in the back end) Good choice on the audio, no complaints there.... Speakers: Well, I would either go with the Gigaworks 7.1 or the M-Audio Stuidiophile LX4 5.1 (if you can find one. They recently were discontinued and are getting harder to find) DVD drives....well, I'm a Plextor flan, (I loved my Toshiba drives back in the day) But no real input about what you have either. KB/Mouse is such a personal item these days. You really have to try 'em nowadays to find out what fees/works well for you. My only thing is I do not like laser mice or wireless. I dont like feeding batteries to my computer perifrials. I experianced jumpiness with lazer mice before, but then it was a Dell, so I guess I cant go off of that. Another brand I'm not a fan of. Case is fine, most of Lian Li cases are quite nice. I love my WaveMaster except the weight and a place for a 120mm fan. I know your thought about this system, and there is nothing wrong with it. You want to make it future proof and be done with it. No upgrades needed for at least 5 years. And that's fine. But unless you can use this system to it's full potential within those 5 years, it's money not spent well. I dont know your plans for the system beyond games.... Oh, the OS.... XP or Vista? (shivers...hoping you say XP) I just envy the fact you are able to buy such a system, what I could do with $4k system....mine was $2k+ when I was done and that was with "bling" I moded it slightly as a Harley Davidson 100th Anniv tribute. And it's still not done yet. Not dissing your thoughts on your selections. We all have our feelings of different items and brand names. What we beleive in and all that. And I'm sure it will be a dream to 'drive'. Be the envy of the DC community. I think afterwords everyone will think you have an unfair advantage and will complain and szlat will have to come over and nerf it along with the vamp gnats... ;))

Re:CPU Upgrade

Flak Monkey — GMT

Ok, next thing... I looked at the case you have selected. It is nice looking, some decent cooling features. Very clean... But that's where it leaves me.. I do not know how your taste in cases are or what you look for in one, but from a tech friendly point of view, it needs a few things. Toolless drives and exp. slots. This aint got it. Options for easy transfer from air cooling to liquid ( if you so are inclined) Front access to USB/Firewire ports. Their might be a few, but they didnt jump out at me. I have seen some real slick tooless cases in the not so distant past. Mine aint one of them, but have built a few for friends which had a good wow factor on the design of toolless accessories. And, it just so happens that the latest issue of the magazine I subscribe to had a case review. They gave top honors to Gigabyte and their 3D Aurora 570. It may not be your style, but is feature rich. I'm rather choosy myself. It has to be appealing to me first of all, then I go by how it's built, features and so forth. This is just an FYI, something to think about is all...

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Flak Monkey wrote:

Speakers: Well, I would either go with the Gigaworks 7.1 or the M-Audio Stuidiophile LX4 5.1 (if you can find one. They recently were discontinued and are getting harder to find) Oh, the OS.... XP or Vista? (shivers...hoping you say XP)

Thanks Flak As to the speakers, remember that I am profoundly hearing impaired, so anything more than the Inspire is wasted on me. However, I am familiar with Gigawork and M-Audio both and love them............ OS---let's face it, there is no Microsoft support for XP 64, I've already tried............SOOOOOOOOOOOO Vista, Here I come. By the way, I'm also looking at the Intel QX6700 processor as well. PC cases are open territory as well. I'm also looking at a Demon 11-bay Black & Red ATX Case on ebay-- http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=020&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=300088243125&rd=1&rd=1 as I'm tired of plain jane cases. If you have any suggestions, please pm me with links. As to Szlat, I have a pot of boiling oil and some stretcher items for him. 2 maps tonite, we lost big time due to those pesky gnats.

Re:CPU Upgrade

Flak Monkey — GMT

Did not know about your hearing issues....so, with that in mind, you are correct. I also didnt know you planned on the 64bit journey.... I wish you luck with Vista. The price tag alone will keep me from it, if not for all the other things I've read about it. Even tho there are appealing aspects of it, there or other apps to add to the existing system that will do the same things as they have implimented in this version. Seeing where you are going, then perhaps the 4Gb of ram is warrented. I will keep a look out for a case for ya. Send ya some links. I have a few ideas....just dont want you to buy a cheap hunk of plastic molding on a recycled tin can frame. Need something robust, friendly, easy to work with and down right sexy.

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Flak Monkey wrote:

I also didnt know you planned on the 64bit journey.... I wish you luck with Vista. The price tag alone will keep me from it, if not for all the other things I've read about it. Even tho there are appealing aspects of it, there or other apps to add to the existing system that will do the same things as they have implimented in this version. Seeing where you are going, then perhaps the 4Gb of ram is warrented.

I can get Vista Ultimate for $188.00 plus shipping!!!!!!!

Re:CPU Upgrade

Pyramidion — GMT

(DC)DEMONSLAYER wrote:

Flak Monkey wrote:

I also didnt know you planned on the 64bit journey.... I wish you luck with Vista. The price tag alone will keep me from it, if not for all the other things I've read about it. Even tho there are appealing aspects of it, there or other apps to add to the existing system that will do the same things as they have implimented in this version. Seeing where you are going, then perhaps the 4Gb of ram is warrented.
I can get Vista Ultimate for $188.00 plus shipping!!!!!!!

You know, with Ultimate you can have a video as your desktop backround... that's pretty neat! :o

Re:CPU Upgrade

Flak Monkey — GMT

$188? SWEEET! Upgrade or student discount? I have a friend here at work that bought the open licence copy of XP pro with sp2 for $80. But after a warning with the new valid copy thing that poppled up recently on every machine I have installed it to, including his own, we are thinking it is a chinese dupe ( a very good one at that). We found a fix for it but it was an eye opener. Wouldnt a movie as your wallpaper become distracting? You theoredicaly can do that now with active desktop being able to display web pages, have a Quicktime or flash thing play on it....well, I think it could work. Never tried it as I usually turn active desktop off. Just be warned, if it's an upgrade, you must have a valid copy of windows INSTALLED. No more just having a blank drive and a copy on CD to validate the upgrade. MS "fixed" that this time. AND, only certain copies of windows can be upgraded with certain copies of Vista. Cant upgrade XP home with Ultimate of vista.... There is a list of what copies of Vista will upgrade which copy of XP, 2000 and so forth. Gates descided if you were too cheep to get XP Pro at home, that you dont get the upgrade discount for Vista Ultimate or Business....

Re:CPU Upgrade

Pyramidion — GMT

I'm running Vista Business on my laptop which I got for free through my school, but I'm still a bit timid to upgrade my desktop :-SS ... and the movie background would really distract me, but can you imagine having a waterfall being run as your desktop... or a beach with active waves? I'd so love that lol.

Re:CPU Upgrade

Fro13 — GMT

Flak Monkey wrote:

only certain copies of windows can be upgraded with certain copies of Vista. Cant upgrade XP home with Ultimate of vista.... There is a list of what copies of Vista will upgrade which copy of XP, 2000 and so forth. Gates descided if you were too cheep to get XP Pro at home, that you dont get the upgrade discount for Vista Ultimate or Business....

According to their site, XP Home lets you upgrade to the home editions, business, and ultimate. With XP Pro you can't upgrade to any of the home editions, just the other two. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradepaths.mspx cooler picture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Vista_Upgrade_Paths.png

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Flak Monkey wrote:

$188? SWEEET! Upgrade or student discount? I have a friend here at work that bought the open licence copy of XP pro with sp2 for $80. But after a warning with the new valid copy thing that poppled up recently on every machine I have installed it to, including his own, we are thinking it is a chinese dupe ( a very good one at that). We found a fix for it but it was an eye opener.

Look on e-bay--here an offer: http://cgi.ebay.com/Microsoft-Windows-Vista-Ultimate-64-Bit-DVD-FULL-VERS_W0QQitemZ250091699027QQcategoryZ11229QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem As to the open license---no way!!!!!!

Re:CPU Upgrade

Flak Monkey — GMT

Forgot about that option, it's an OEM copy. So, you will get a DVD and maybe a thin users manual. Wont be the prety box, but who needs that anyway. Nice flow chart for the vista upgrade path.....somebody had some time to figure it all out and make it visual...

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

ok, update on the new pc: I've gotten the following items already......all drives and power supply installed Raidmax Sirius-black case Powertek 750w power supply WD Raptor 740GD (2 drives) Samsung Dual Layer Lightscribe 18X (2 drives) Mitsumi Multidrive 7 FDD (Floppy/Flash card drive) SB Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro 7.1 Microsoft Wireless keyboard and optical mouse Creative Labs Inspire P7800 7.1 speakers I've pretty much settled on the Intel QX6700 quad core (gonna try Intel again for the first time in over 10 years) and trying to decide between the Asus Striker Extreme LGA and the Intel 975 Bad Axe 2 motherboards. If you'all have any suggestions regarding the Socket 775 SLI motherboards-let me have them. In case you're wondering, I had to bribe my wife, so this pc is costing me double....................

Re:CPU Upgrade

Flak Monkey — GMT

As long as both of you enjoy it, shouldnt be a comprimise, unless your letting her do some "shopping" too.... Women love shoes and "bling" It's a beutiful rig!

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Flak Monkey wrote:

As long as both of you enjoy it, shouldnt be a comprimise, unless your letting her do some "shopping" too.... Women love shoes and "bling" It's a beutiful rig!

Flak, she's a regular "Imelda Marcos" when it comes to shoes. However, it's the "bling" that scares me!!!!!!!!

Re:CPU Upgrade

Flak Monkey — GMT

No doubt. Mine already has shrinking diamond syndrome and we aren't even married yet. She wants the 2ct version of what she has now.... not for a while....a lot has to happen before I spill that kind of money on rocks...pretty rocks, but rocks...

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Ok, final configuration is done and parts purchased/where purchased. CASE RAIDMAX ATX-701WB SIRIUS/NewEgg POWER SUPPLY POWERTEK 750W F5-Series ATX12V 750W Power Supply/NewEgg MOTHERBOARD GIGABYTE GA-N680SLI-DQ6/NewEgg PROCESSOR INTEL CORE 2 EXTREME QUAD CORE QX6700/E-Bay CPU FAN ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED/E-Bay HARD DRIVES (2) WESTERN DIGITAL WD740GD/E-BAY OPTICAL DRIVES (3) 2 SAMSUNG 18X SATA DUAL LAYER DVD+/-RW DRIVE LIGHTSCRIBE/E-Bay MITSUMI FA404M FLOPPY & FLASH/TIGER DIRECT RAM (4GB) 4 GB Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5D/ClubIT VIDEO CARDS (2) XFX 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Fatal1ty/NewEgg SOUND CARD CREATIVE S/B X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro 7.1/NewEgg SPEAKER SYSTEM CREATIVE INSPIRE P7800 7.1/E-BAY KEYBOARD/MOUSE SET MICROSOFT BV3-00003/GearXS MONITOR VIEWSONIC VX2235WM 22" LCD MONITOR/E-Bay

CPU Upgrade

-Jason_x- — GMT

ooooh niiice ...how big are the HDrives?

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

74 GB each. Now comes the HARD part, putting the pieces together.

CPU Upgrade

-Jason_x- — GMT

o.0....and not breaking them (like static..:/....unfun stuff...)

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

To paraphrase Dr. Frankenstein: "EEEEEECK, the monster is alive" Still have some minor wiring issues, but it is posting correctly and recognizing all ram and drives.

Re:CPU Upgrade

Flak Monkey — GMT

GREAT! Glad to hear it. What did you do to find the "no boot" issue we discussed over the weekend? What did it end up being? Sad tho, I was hoping you would send it to me to fix :-j

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Flak Monkey wrote:

GREAT! Glad to hear it. What did you do to find the "no boot" issue we discussed over the weekend? What did it end up being? Sad tho, I was hoping you would send it to me to fix :-j

The no-power issue was my inability to follow the TINY instructions closely when connecting the power supply wires to the board. I had two wires placed in the wrong area. However, the case went bad. The power leads from the fan speed/temp/HDD gauges to the board are shorting out. So now, I'm shopping for another "cool looking" new black case (blue led), this time, without a door to the optical/floppy drives but still has the gauges. BTW Flak, if you buy the new case and pay the shipping, I'll let you play with it for a few days. (Hehehe)

Re:CPU Upgrade

Flak Monkey — GMT

Thank you, you're so generous. :)) Well, you can either replace that case with one just like it in hopes that it works right (it may be in warrantee), or, you can try the Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 as we discussed a while back (for a full size case). Mid size, well, Antec Nine Hunderd, or Cooler Master has a new, slick case, The Cosmos.

CPU Upgrade

-Jason_x- — GMT

hey just curious wats the avg cost so far for this comp youve made?..for future ref..(cus eh im broke..:P..) but still

CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

-Jason_x- wrote:

hey just curious wats the avg cost so far for this comp youve made?..for future ref..(cus eh im broke..:P..) but still

Jason, You really DO NOT want to know. However, if you have to know, you can copy and print the part list mentioned earlier and look up the prices online (don't forget to include the shipping costs tho). I feel that it would be inappropiate for me to list the total parts cost since many of the younger DC players have to live with their current systems as they are not in a position financially to upgrade or build a high end gaming rig. God has been good to me--all kids grown and out of the house, wife and I have well paying jobs, and so on. Many of the players, such as Flak, Spacey, and Bot, know what I am trying to build since they have A+/MCSE/other computer/networking certifications (why do you think Flak is absolutely foaming at the mouth 8-|) BTW Flak, I love that Cosmos, but it's too tall. RATS!!!!!

CPU Upgrade

-Jason_x- — GMT

...cus ..hes ...flak....(monkey)... and hmm will try to do....cus the comp im on now is typical Dell production computer..which is decent..but unfortunately my sis is cramming so full of stuff thats its a real pain ..:)..and she cant really delete her stuff cus she uses ti for skool..which is art..so its lots and lots of images...and bunch of programs..but yeah.. (also it wuld be nice if i culd run on UT higher settings..)

CPU Upgrade

-Jason_x- — GMT

wow yeah ...this quickly adds up...o.0...heh...itd be a few yrs b4 i culd get something like that ...def not in this country...shipping wudl be $$$ and buying here will be well...just plain ..stupid...(price wuld even more $$$) but yeah wow...o.0... ps ..saw a comp on ebay for bout $4, 500 ...4 Gig memory and tera of drive. i belive...heh....a lil bit out of price range..:P..

Re:CPU Upgrade

Flak Monkey — GMT

And how, Demon. Too tall? Wasnt what you have a full tower? I have the Cooler Master Wave Master. Weighs a TON! Cooling could be better and no tooless drive install. But it has thumb screws for the case and exp. bays. You got this in a cubboard? Yes, the Cosmos looks cool. I dont know what else to recoomend, I dont know what your hight restrictions are.

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Flak Monkey wrote:

And how, Demon. Too tall? Wasnt what you have a full tower? I have the Cooler Master Wave Master. Weighs a TON! Cooling could be better and no tooless drive install. But it has thumb screws for the case and exp. bays. You got this in a cubboard? Yes, the Cosmos looks cool. I dont know what else to recoomend, I dont know what your hight restrictions are.

The cosmos is 589 mm high and my cubbyhole is 500 mm. But, I'm thinking about taking the case out of the cubbyhole and place it under the desk instead. So, I'm still think about it.

CPU Upgrade

-Jason_x- — GMT

...or u culd get a saw..o.0...hehe

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Funny how things happen. A friend of mine who owns a computer shop had a brand new Thermaltake Xaser II A6000C case that he didn't sell (the last one) and offered it to me at his cost. Price was good and I didn't hesitate.

Re:CPU Upgrade

Flak Monkey — GMT

Cool. Their pretty cool cases. Built in fan control and all... sweet.

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Ok. As I get closer to finishing up the new PC, I need to sell the old one. Here is the description what I'm currently using. Case: Lian Li PC-60B Power Supply: Enermax 535W Motherboard: DFI LanParty UT Processor: AMD X64 3500+ Processor Heat Sink: Zalman 700BCA Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 300GB DVD R/W Drive: Sony DW-D22-B2 16X Dual Layer DVD R/W CD Drive: Sony 52X Floppy: Plain Jane Memory-2 GB: Kingston HyperX 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 500 (PC 4000) Dual Channel Video Card: Evga G-Force 6800 GT Sound Card: S/B Audigy ZS Gamer Monitor: Mitsubishi 21" CRT Monitor Please pm me if interested in buying.

CPU Upgrade

-Jason_x- — GMT

Dang....Id say I am but got no dough and well....um....shipping will be murder..\/.....

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

YAY, the monster is up and running. Here's some pictures showing how it looks.

Re:CPU Upgrade

Flak Monkey — GMT

SHWEEET! Ya know, It's been my biggest challenge and I think a real art is cable management. Too short, they cant be tucked, too long, too much to find a place for (unless the case has built in management). All my extra cables get stuffed in the unused 5 inch bays..none of it is pretty. Air flow in my case isnt the greatest. So in the summer months, the case remains open or it beeps at me when the Aerogate says it's getting too warm and it's annoying. Is there a space issue with your HDs sticking out so far?

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

Flak Monkey wrote:

Is there a space issue with your HDs sticking out so far?

Nope. I put them that far out to increase the air flow from the twin 80mm front fans. Cable management-I agree with you-most of the time spent was just trying to get the cables nice and tidy. It didn't happen. However, I've seen new sata cables, that are about 1/8" round, that exceed the transmission speeds of the standard flat sata cable and they run about $10.00 each. Thinking very much about buying 4 of them. Still working on other things as well. One of the biggest items is that the pc will not reboot when warm. It reboots as it should at startup, but let it run for an hour or more-forget it. I'll have to admit that the final work was a rush job since the hard drive from the AMD 3500+ went bad (I think).

Re:CPU Upgrade

Ratar_Killer — GMT

A friend told me that this place is really good for cables. http://www.monoprice.com

Re:CPU Upgrade

ECHO — GMT

Ratar_Killer wrote:

A friend told me that this place is really good for cables. http://www.monoprice.com

That's so crazy you would suggest monoprice, because that place is pretty close to where I live. I'm going to their warehouse to pick a KVM.

Re:CPU Upgrade

(DC)DEMONSLAYER — GMT

(DC)DEMONSLAYER wrote:

Flak Monkey wrote:

Is there a space issue with your HDs sticking out so far?
Nope. I put them that far out to increase the air flow from the twin 80mm front fans. Cable management-I agree with you-most of the time spent was just trying to get the cables nice and tidy. It didn't happen. However, I've seen new sata cables, that are about 1/8" round, that exceed the transmission speeds of the standard flat sata cable and they run about $10.00 each. Thinking very much about buying 4 of them. Still working on other things as well. One of the biggest items is that the pc will not reboot when warm. It reboots as it should at startup, but let it run for an hour or more-forget it. I'll have to admit that the final work was a rush job since the hard drive from the AMD 3500+ went bad (I think).

Finally got the no re-boot issue resolved............stupid little teeney tiny motherboard BATTERY!!!!!!!!!!