Whee! New parts with my tax refund!

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2006-04-26 05:09am

All but the X-Fi and speakers on this list, plus the BFG 6800GT, ABIT AV8 mobo, and A64 3200+ I'll be keeping.
Plus, if I can, a Thermaltake XRay.

I'm getting just under $700 from the IRS, so I thought I'd give my PC a much needed upgrade. Thoughts?

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2006-04-26 09:22am

I'd suggest ditching the bling and getting a real power supply. First off, your current one peaks at 500W. This means, that by RMS, you're going to get 353 watts out of it on average. Second, its bundled with at $100 case, so its going to be a poor quality PSU; I'd recommend a PC Power and Cooling (although the cheapest Newegg has $210), and others here have suggested the mid to high-end Antecs. I've also heard good things about Seasonics, but nothing beyond that.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-04-26 09:23am

Wasting cash on LEDs?
And I advise getting a mouse after you try it out in person.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-04-26 09:34am

I'd sell the sound card and put the money towards an X2 processor.
The onboard sound is more than adequate for most usage, especially if you're going to run it through the S/PDIF out to those Logitech speakers.

Failing the X2, I have the Asus version of that board (A8V) and run a San Diego cored 3700+ at 2.65 Ghz with no problems using 2 plain jane Crucial 1 GB PC3200 DIMM's at 2.5-3-3-7 timing.

Oh, and I'd skip the overpriced Sony burner (which is actually made by Lite-On) and get an NEC.
I've had several NEC's over the years and had nothing but good luck.

Finally, let me second the comments about the power supply.
I run my Asus paired with a power hog of an ATi X800 Pro and I had stability issues that I couldn't run down until I replaced the PSU with a beefier unit.
In my case, an Antec TrueControl 550.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-04-26 09:51am

My 330W Seasonic S12 PSU is quiet and happily runs an Opteron 165, 7800GT GPU, 74GB 10kRPM HD and a 200GB 7.2kRPM HD.

PC Power & Cooling is good, but expensive and tend to be loud.

The case looks like bling, I'd rather have something like an Antec P180 or one of their cheap SLK8000Bs.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2006-04-26 10:25am

phongn wrote:PC Power & Cooling is good, but expensive and tend to be loud.

I've found the one in home machine (850 SLI) and the ones we use in our lab (510s) to be no louder than any other PSU.

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2006-04-26 12:24pm

Ace Pace wrote:Wasting cash on LEDs?
And I advise getting a mouse after you try it out in person.

Already have tried it out at Best Buy, plus I had a Razer Diamondback before. Best damn mouse I ever had, especially for games.

I'm not going all-out on the lighting like some people. I'm only buying 4 things, the most expensive of which is $8. Plus, it's not like I don't already have a lot of light going on in my current case, thanks to really bright red motherboard LEDs and really bright blue LEDs on the GPU fans. Plus a blue cold cathode light I got on clearance at CompUSA. It's hard to pass up when it's a dollar.

Phong, I was trying to go for something that would look nice, but not be overkill like some of the cases on Newegg, and be around my $100 case budget. So, I just searched for a black aluminum case with a window and a 500W PSU, and found this one. The only "bling" thing about it is the LED fans that come standard. I could show you the one my roommate has, for example. That's a bling case, and a cheap, tacky-looking one at that. It's got headlights, for goodness' sake!

Glocksman, it may be more than adequate for most usage by most people, but I have very sensitive hearing and I've been spoiled by the Audigy2 I've had for three years that finally gave out. I could immediately detect a huge difference after I took out the Audigy2 and enabled the onboard sound. That's with my cheapo Altec Lansing ACS41 speakers that I got for free, plus the massive Labtec subwoofer I got for $10 at the Salvation Army. Not exactly high-quality speakers, there.

As for the power supply, I'll see how well the one in the case works first. If I have problems, I'll see about getting an Antec, probably this one.

Also, it's not on the list because it's not out yet, but sometime in the near future, after I see how well it takes off and what the gaming public and the reviewers have to say about it, I'll probably get a PhysX card, probably by BFG unless there's a better-priced one of the same quality.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-04-26 02:49pm

Those logitechs have their own built in DAC and if you run the digital output to them instead of the analog outs, you should be able to eliminate the sound degradation caused by the cheap components used for the analog outputs on the mobo.

When you get everything built, I'd try the onboard sound through the digital output and see if it sounds worse than the Audigy.
If it does, just keep using the Audigy.
If it doesn't, then you can sell it to finance a CPU upgrade.

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2006-04-26 03:28pm

I'd do so, but:

Executor32 wrote:Glocksman, it may be more than adequate for most usage by most people, but I have very sensitive hearing and I've been spoiled by the Audigy2 I've had for three years that finally gave out. I could immediately detect a huge difference after I took out the Audigy2 and enabled the onboard sound. That's with my cheapo Altec Lansing ACS41 speakers that I got for free, plus the massive Labtec subwoofer I got for $10 at the Salvation Army. Not exactly high-quality speakers, there.

I didn't just take the Audigy2 out for shits and giggles, something on the board went kaput and I couldn't even get Windows to recognize it anymore. I'm also not getting the X-Fi just for sound quality, I'm also getting it for performance reasons and for the extra features it has over my integrated sound.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-04-26 03:41pm

I was mixing up the X-Fi and the audigy.

Anyway, if the X-Fi gives you features you need and reduces CPU drag from the onboard sound, by all means get it.

It's just that the cheapass part of me winces at the idea of a $300 sound card these days.

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2006-05-18 04:50am

Sorry to bump, but I finally got my first batch of parts in at noon yesterday. I got the case, mouse, keyboard, RAM, fan guards, and UV cold cathode light. Plus, my friend gave me a 120mm Thermaltake hard drive cooler that came from his Armor case. Now I just need to save up over the summer for the rest of the list. Methinks the LCD is the next priority, given my aging Gateway-branded Samsung 17" CRT.

Ypoknons · Post by **Ypoknons** » 2006-05-18 05:55am

The X-Fi is a good card for gaming but if your computer is more music orientated you can save a bit by getting an Envy24 card. But it seems like you're a gamer anyways.

I'm not so sure about that PhysX. Almost $300 seems to be a lot for something that has an uncertain future - it's your money, but what games are certain to support the card in the near future?

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2006-05-18 08:52am

Ypoknons wrote:The X-Fi is a good card for gaming but if your computer is more music orientated you can save a bit by getting an Envy24 card. But it seems like you're a gamer anyways.

I'm not so sure about that PhysX. Almost $300 seems to be a lot for something that has an uncertain future - it's your money, but what games are certain to support the card in the near future?

I wouldn'tt even bother with a PhysX card. It results in slower performance in GRAW, and now it appears its not a lot of difference in Cell Factor with and without a PPU (HardOCP link). I'd only look at a PPU when the performance issues have been addressed and it provides actual acceleration.

Tiger Ace · Post by **Tiger Ace** » 2006-05-18 09:40am

I'll third the PPU down reccomendation, it costs too much and not many games currently support it, throw the extra money at more RAM, more HD room, a better GPU, whatever.

The PPU will only pick up when Unreal Engine 3 games arrive with some neat effects from the PPU.(Source: Tim Sweeny interview by NVnews)

Ypoknons · Post by **Ypoknons** » 2006-05-18 09:48am

Come to think of it, a PhysX is the price is of a 500GB hard drive. Go for the hard drive; your happy parts will thank you.

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2006-05-18 01:05pm

Yeah, the PPU was my last priority anyway, and I figured by the time I got everything else out of the way, there might be more of a reason to get one, plus the price may have dropped some by that time. It's not a certain thing, by any means. Right now, though, the priority is DVD writer first, followed by the monitor, sound card, speakers, and then the rest of it, with the PPU being the last thing I get, if I get one. If you look again, I've also decided to go with the cheapest X-Fi, since I now have no open drive bays to put the Fatal1ty's front panel in, and the performance increase offered by the X-RAM isn't enough to warrant a nearly threefold increase in price.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-05-18 08:07pm

Ypoknons wrote:Come to think of it, a PhysX is the price is of a 500GB hard drive. Go for the hard drive; your happy parts will thank you.

For the price of a single 500 he could easily get two 300s for a total of 600.

Ypoknons · Post by **Ypoknons** » 2006-05-18 09:09pm

Uraniun235 wrote:For the price of a single 500 he could easily get two 300s for a total of 600.

Good point. I've been stuck in a laptop mindset for a while, so I haven't thought about two drives.

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2006-05-19 01:47am

Also, if I got SATA drives, I could add that to my current 180 for a total of 780.