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Lets upgrade JackN's PC!!!

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  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    There's a Fry's and a Microcenter right next to me here in Tustin; I can stop by one or both on the way back to Fresno.

    As for power supplies, just make sure it has at least 15A output on the +12-volt rail and it should be fine. I tend to look for 17A just to be safe, which usually means picking up a 350 W power supply.

    Actually, I should have an extra one sitting around that will do you just fine. I'll do some checking and get back to you on that.
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    Hey Biggles, someone at work mentioned an ABIT FS7 or FS7S Mobo...

    any thoughts or comments? I have no idea about these things anymore. I've been out of the loop for a LONG time...

    :p
  • did a quick look at newegg.com

    look like some of the best out there, which translate to some of the more expencive ones. (90-113$)

    hmm...
    heres a "doh" for all involved...
    Hey Jack...what kind of case you got? a pic of the back would be great...

    namely so we can make certain we don't get to big of a mobo....
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by JackN [/i]
    [B]Hey Biggles, someone at work mentioned an ABIT FS7 or FS7S Mobo...

    any thoughts or comments? I have no idea about these things anymore. I've been out of the loop for a LONG time...

    :p [/B][/QUOTE]

    Good question. :) I upgraded about 6 months ago, and every time I upgrade I tend to drop out of the loop until about 3 months before I feel like upgrading again. :D About all I can say at the moment is that the Asus A7N8X motherboard is great, and the nForce2 chipset is highly recommened (particularly if you get the version with onboard dolby digital sound).
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    What Biggles said. I'm using the A7N8X Deluxe, and highly recommend it to anyone else using an Athlon-based system.

    Re: cases, we may just have to get a new one, anyway; he'll need something with decent airflow, maybe one of those neat aluminum ones....
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    Any A7N is a good board. The A7N8X-X is a great board for the price.
  • CurZCurZ Resident Hippy
    I have nothing but good things to say about my Abit KX7-333.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    What are the relative prices for these boards?

    Make sure we get an nforce2 one with dolby sound. :)
  • [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Bekenn [/i]
    [B]What Biggles said. I'm using the A7N8X Deluxe, and highly recommend it to anyone else using an Athlon-based system.

    Re: cases, we may just have to get a new one, anyway; he'll need something with decent airflow, maybe one of those neat aluminum ones.... [/B][/QUOTE]

    WINGART!!
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    Case?

    This must assume I am shreading up my PIII 800?

    :eek:
  • i'd wouldn't jump on an AMD processor. It's very well documented that intel chips, p4 in particular, are much faster when it comes to rendering and graphic entensive programs. (lightwave in particular, being a fellow lightwave lover, i'm sure u'd see the advantage in this) in which case i'd suggest the Asus p4c-800 delux, or if to save money, you would go with a 533Mhz FSB base, i'd recomend p4b533-e. AMD WILL save you money, and is a good processor, but it will run hot, and if you're rendering that can be trouble. I've seen more than one computer running amd chips (newer ones) burn up when left rendering overnight... and i'm talking sizzle burn black motherboard.. just my humble suggestion, AMD will still do as long as you take that into acccount. And i would DEFINATELY throw my vote to Asus A7N series. i will never get any other brand of mobo than Asus.. while their tech support S*CKS, they'e product rarely if ever needs use of it. I've had problems with abit on the past, so i wouldn't go for them (but u can find something wrong with every brand... so...)

    also get a good vid card, nvidia quadro 4's are on pricewatch.com for under 150$ now, and those were very recently the best workstation class cards. and they are specially certified for openGL programs like lightwave.. they are incredible at boosting performance in the applications themselves.
    i opted for a radeon 9800pro when i got my new vid card recently, a choice i'm semi-regretting... i wanted one of the new FireGL's or Nvidia quadroFX's, but they are 800-1200$. so that left me with the quadro 4 (which only a year or so back WAS 800-1200$ ITSELF) and i opted out in favor of the newer 9800pro. but i suppose it's a matter of taste.. any new card will run lightwave fine, the quadro 4/FX and/or ATi FireGL's were just designed for programs like LW. i know it's probably more expensive than was expected for this particular build, but seeing as you do a lot of LW work, it may be worth it.

    Anyways, as for a case, personally i'm partial to the thermaltake xaser III. but there are several nice Lian-Li cases (those are considered the "modder's" case, as they are easily modded). most are all aluminium and come with side windows, and are easy to paint if desired (a friend of mine has extensive art on his). the prices range from 100-200$ and some will include power supplies (made by lian-li). As for power supplies... a 200watt PS from a name brand (antec, lian li, thermaltake, just to name a few) is worth a 400watt from a non name brand... i'd always opt for a name brand, they will usually last a VERY long time. My antec 300watt has lasted over 3 years and it ain't failing any time soon (and i have WAAAAY more plugged into it than i should). get a case that allows for alot of fans (even if u don't get them right away). especially if your going the AMD road, you'll want optimum cooling.

    i'd also suggest pricewatch.com as a source for parts, they always have the cheapest listings.

    has anyone given thought to memory? 512 minimum, preferably 1gb. at least CL (cass latency) 2.5, 2.0 being optimum. Corsair is a good brand, and their XMS series of memory is CL 2.0 at a very decent price (a rareity). one 512 chip of corsair ddr 2700 XMS CL 2.0 is right at 100$ including it's own active heat sink. i know i just keep adding up money, but it's worth it for what jack will be doing with this pc (and all this is assuming your using your PC to work on LW projects).
  • [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by LogicSequence [/i]
    i'd wouldn't jump on an AMD processor. It's very well documented that intel chips, p4 in particular, are much faster when it comes to rendering and graphic entensive programs. (lightwave in particular, being a fellow lightwave lover, i'm sure u'd see the advantage in this) in which case i'd suggest the Asus p4c-800 delux, or if to save money, you would go with a 533Mhz FSB base, i'd recomend p4b533-e. AMD WILL save you money, and is a good processor, but it will run hot, and if you're rendering that can be trouble. I've seen more than one computer running amd chips (newer ones) burn up when left rendering overnight... and i'm talking sizzle burn black motherboard.. just my humble suggestion, AMD will still do as long as you take that into acccount. And i would DEFINATELY throw my vote to Asus A7N series. i will never get any other brand of mobo than Asus.. while their tech support S*CKS, they'e product rarely if ever needs use of it. I've had problems with abit on the past, so i wouldn't go for them (but u can find something wrong with every brand... so...)
    [b]The AMD was free, and is also much faster then an Intel P3 of the same speed, the P4, while a good chip, is expencive. Feel free to make a nice donation though. ;)[/b]

    also get a good vid card, nvidia quadro 4's are on pricewatch.com for under 150$ now, and those were very recently the best workstation class cards. and they are specially certified for openGL programs like lightwave.. they are incredible at boosting performance in the applications themselves.
    i opted for a radeon 9800pro when i got my new vid card recently, a choice i'm semi-regretting... i wanted one of the new FireGL's or Nvidia quadroFX's, but they are 800-1200$. so that left me with the quadro 4 (which only a year or so back WAS 800-1200$ ITSELF) and i opted out in favor of the newer 9800pro. but i suppose it's a matter of taste.. any new card will run lightwave fine, the quadro 4/FX and/or ATi FireGL's were just designed for programs like LW. i know it's probably more expensive than was expected for this particular build, but seeing as you do a lot of LW work, it may be worth it.
    [b]For gaming, nothing beats ATI right now, NVidia has VERY poor DX9 support, just look at the benchmarks all over the net for it. Anyhoo, once again Jack got a free GeForce 3 ti. Its already been sent[/b]

    Anyways, as for a case, personally i'm partial to the thermaltake xaser III. but there are several nice Lian-Li cases (those are considered the "modder's" case, as they are easily modded). most are all aluminium and come with side windows, and are easy to paint if desired (a friend of mine has extensive art on his). the prices range from 100-200$ and some will include power supplies (made by lian-li). As for power supplies... a 200watt PS from a name brand (antec, lian li, thermaltake, just to name a few) is worth a 400watt from a non name brand... i'd always opt for a name brand, they will usually last a VERY long time. My antec 300watt has lasted over 3 years and it ain't failing any time soon (and i have WAAAAY more plugged into it than i should). get a case that allows for alot of fans (even if u don't get them right away). especially if your going the AMD road, you'll want optimum cooling.
    [b]antec makes great cases, I agree[/b]

    i'd also suggest pricewatch.com as a source for parts, they always have the cheapest listings.
    [b]We left the buying up to Sanfam, hes very good at getting the best deals.[/b]

    has anyone given thought to memory? 512 minimum, preferably 1gb. at least CL (cass latency) 2.5, 2.0 being optimum. Corsair is a good brand, and their XMS series of memory is CL 2.0 at a very decent price (a rareity). one 512 chip of corsair ddr 2700 XMS CL 2.0 is right at 100$ including it's own active heat sink. i know i just keep adding up money, but it's worth it for what jack will be doing with this pc (and all this is assuming your using your PC to work on LW projects).
    [b]RAM is on the list[/b]
    [/QUOTE]
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    Well LogicSequence... I appreciate all the info.

    This started out of my control to begin with as I have NO $$$ to build a machine at this point.

    This effort has been spearheaded by A2597 and picked up on by others.

    The original intent I gather was to get me a machine put together that is mostly free or by donation that would allow me to be able to play HW2, HL2, JK3, etc...

    I must confess that I whined a little about the new games coming out...

    My top machine is a PIII 800 at the moment.

    Just so we're all clear, I can't afford to shred that puppy for this excercise as I am way too far into it for my Bread and Butter projects...

    ;)

    Cheers!
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    In what way? Upgrading the CPU and motherboard doesn't necessarily require formatting your harddrive.
  • [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Biggles [/i]
    [B]In what way? Upgrading the CPU and motherboard doesn't necessarily require formatting your harddrive. [/B][/QUOTE]

    Indeed, we had our PC upgraded recently, and although the games I had installed were gone, all of my saved files remained.

    Regards,
    Morden
  • Should be fine, I just upgraded the vidcard/procc + ram on my PC, no problems. hard drive is completely seperate....
  • not always the case with intel based systems tho. 90% of the time if you replace the motherboard with a different model, you'll have to format (or at least use a different HDD). But, if you manage to match up the chipsets, it usually works out fine. i don't know about the AMD side tho, i only work on Intel based (my friend covers AMD based)
  • CurZCurZ Resident Hippy
    Why would you have to format when you change your hardware?
  • [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by LogicSequence [/i]
    [B]i'd wouldn't jump on an AMD processor. It's very well documented that intel chips, p4 in particular, are much faster when it comes to rendering and graphic entensive programs. (lightwave in particular, being a fellow lightwave lover, i'm sure u'd see the advantage in this) in which case i'd suggest the Asus p4c-800 delux, or if to save money, you would go with a 533Mhz FSB base, i'd recomend p4b533-e. AMD WILL save you money, and is a good processor, but it will run hot, and if you're rendering that can be trouble. I've seen more than one computer running amd chips (newer ones) burn up when left rendering overnight... and i'm talking sizzle burn black motherboard.. just my humble suggestion, AMD will still do as long as you take that into acccount. And i would DEFINATELY throw my vote to Asus A7N series. i will never get any other brand of mobo than Asus.. while their tech support S*CKS, they'e product rarely if ever needs use of it. I've had problems with abit on the past, so i wouldn't go for them (but u can find something wrong with every brand... so...)

    also get a good vid card, nvidia quadro 4's are on pricewatch.com for under 150$ now, and those were very recently the best workstation class cards. and they are specially certified for openGL programs like lightwave.. they are incredible at boosting performance in the applications themselves.
    i opted for a radeon 9800pro when i got my new vid card recently, a choice i'm semi-regretting... i wanted one of the new FireGL's or Nvidia quadroFX's, but they are 800-1200$. so that left me with the quadro 4 (which only a year or so back WAS 800-1200$ ITSELF) and i opted out in favor of the newer 9800pro. but i suppose it's a matter of taste.. any new card will run lightwave fine, the quadro 4/FX and/or ATi FireGL's were just designed for programs like LW. i know it's probably more expensive than was expected for this particular build, but seeing as you do a lot of LW work, it may be worth it.

    Anyways, as for a case, personally i'm partial to the thermaltake xaser III. but there are several nice Lian-Li cases (those are considered the "modder's" case, as they are easily modded). most are all aluminium and come with side windows, and are easy to paint if desired (a friend of mine has extensive art on his). the prices range from 100-200$ and some will include power supplies (made by lian-li). As for power supplies... a 200watt PS from a name brand (antec, lian li, thermaltake, just to name a few) is worth a 400watt from a non name brand... i'd always opt for a name brand, they will usually last a VERY long time. My antec 300watt has lasted over 3 years and it ain't failing any time soon (and i have WAAAAY more plugged into it than i should). get a case that allows for alot of fans (even if u don't get them right away). especially if your going the AMD road, you'll want optimum cooling.

    i'd also suggest pricewatch.com as a source for parts, they always have the cheapest listings.

    has anyone given thought to memory? 512 minimum, preferably 1gb. at least CL (cass latency) 2.5, 2.0 being optimum. Corsair is a good brand, and their XMS series of memory is CL 2.0 at a very decent price (a rareity). one 512 chip of corsair ddr 2700 XMS CL 2.0 is right at 100$ including it's own active heat sink. i know i just keep adding up money, but it's worth it for what jack will be doing with this pc (and all this is assuming your using your PC to work on LW projects). [/B][/QUOTE]

    My new gaming PC uses both a P4C800-Deluxe and 512Mb Corsair XMS PC3200. One problem with the Asus P4C8000-Deluxe: the proc's heatsink often clamps down too tightly, resulting in the CPU not functioning properly... it took us a while to figure out why turning my PC on gave me a "System Failed CPU Test" over the speakers. I assume if you get a P4 2.4 like my own, you'll have the same problem. Either buy a good heatsink, or sand the bottom down a couple MMs.
  • i've not any problems with it, but i have a 3.2Ghz chip, so it may be slightly different. could just be one time anomoly (sp?)... you might check out hardwareanalysis.com to see if it's known issue.
  • StrikerStriker Provided with distinction
    Let's try to stay on topic here guys... :)
  • we are on topic.... we're discussing issues facing jack if he decides to get a P4... how much more on topic could we be?
  • well...the 1800+ was free, and should be in his posession shortly...if it isn't already. (Silly USPS)
  • Bump...C'mon people! We CAN do this...
    Sanfam is taking collections to buy the parts via PayPal...just make CERTAIN he knows what you donated for!
  • I smell a scam.
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Captain,Simmonds [/i]
    [B]I smell a scam. [/B][/QUOTE]

    You smell yourself...

    and once again you made a typo...

    It's spelled scum...

    ;) :p
    __________________

    Seriously though...

    I don't want this to turn into some kind of Christian Childrens Fund scenario...

    A2597 is putting this forth on his own, as are those who have joined with him. I certainly appreciate what he is doing. Anybody would... :p but I did not request this, nor am I in control of any funds or donated equipment.

    ;)
  • yea, no scam. Just a few peeps (As in, those willing) getting together to upgrade Jacks PC...

    hey...Jack will actually be able to play HL2 now... :eek:
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    So: What's still missing?
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Bekenn [/i]
    [B]So: What's still missing? [/B][/QUOTE]

    Well, haven't received the Proc or Vid card yet, but after I do, will still need heat sink mobo and memory...

    Trying to lock down a case and power supply myself...

    :)
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    A2597's not sending the heatsink along with the proc?

    Cheapskate....
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