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Moshman
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I just did a major upgrade to my computer, that's why I've been away for a couple of days. I gotta say, this upgrade boosted my computer 1000% it's unbeleivable. Here's my old system specs: Old Setup[/b] Mobo: I forget the exact model, but I know it's Abit, has 333 Mhz FSB, 3 PCI slots, 1 AGP 4x8x slot, Socket A design, supports up to 3GB PC3200 DDR400 system memory. CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2200+, 128kb cache, 1.8 Ghz Memory: 1GB PC2700 (2 x 512mb) Video Card: ATI Radeon 9600 128mb Current Setup[/b] Mobo: DFI, nForce 4 chipset, 1000 Mhz FSB, 3 PCI Slots, 2 PCI Express Slots, 2 PCI 1x slots, Socket 939 design, supports up to 4GB PC3200 DDR400 memory. Supports SLI dual video cards. Memory: 2GB PC3200 (2 x 1GB) Dual Channel Mode Video Card: GeForce 6800GT 256mb Click on thumbs to enlarge.  Inner Beauty...  Body shot...  Glow in the dark... oooOOOooo... :] I already ordered an Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card (because the weakness of this mobo is the on board sound eats the CPU up) the second video card and 2GB or RAM. |
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Phoenix
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Very nice specs. The only things I'd be concerned about is heat buildup with a second vid card, and making sure you have an adequate power supply to handle it. Cables are a bit cluttered, but they're out of the way of the fans, which is a plus. Keep an eye on your temps just to be on the safe side. Otherwise, very good! 
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  I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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games keeper
Elite
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thats a chieftec case ( or other brand same case ), it has 2 fans on the front , 2 in the back , 1 in the side , and still some room to put 1 in the top ( if you wanna drill a hole in it ) these cases are UBER , and with 1mm thick steel there very solid cases without any knocking panels or so. only thing you need to do to it to stand out is sunbeam lighted casefeet. 2 new leds ( for harddisk and power ) and 2 10cm led tubes ( neons ) behind the front grill (its really SWEET then. |
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Moshman
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Oh I forgot to post this which was the purpose of this topic:
I got this stuff off of new egg for a grand total of.... $690 including shipping... That is cheap, so if you need an upgrade, a serious upgrade... newegg is the bomb. I recommend all these parts.
My lights are LED, and I have a 350 watt power supply which I think is fine.
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« Last Edit: 2005-09-25, 02:10 by Little Washu »
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Phoenix
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Uh... 350 watt is not fine if you add a second video card! 
I'd say it's a bit underrated for what you're using as it is. If you plan on doing SLI, you MUST go to something higher. Nvidia has a list of SLI approved power supplies. I strongly urge you to check this out before adding a second card!
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« Last Edit: 2005-09-25, 06:38 by Phoenix »
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I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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games keeper
Elite
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LED is not the same as neon. Neon is "cold cathode", looks like I didnt make myself clear. I actually meant to say or you put led tubes behind them or you put neon tubes behind them. I know perfectly well the difference between leds and neons. |
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Phoenix
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It was that wonderful grammar at work again.
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I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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Angst
Rabid Doomer
Team Member
Elite
 
Posts: 1011
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I already ordered an Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card (because the weakness of this mobo is the on board sound eats the CPU up) the second video card and 2GB or RAM. DANGER DANGER!Fair warning, Audigy 2's eat just as much cpu as nforce onboard, if not more. And have a high rate of failure in heavy-use systems. As an example, I've personally had 3 audigy 2's fail. 3rd warranty replacement I gave up and intended to use my nforce 2 onboard audio as a temporary measure until I found a decent card. Haven't had to pick up a new one as it runs flawlessly. Beyond just myself, I've had 5 friends/acqaintances return their Audigy 2's for various failures including 100% cpu spikes (in high-end athlon XP's and intel p4's) entirely failed live-drive hardware (creative labs claimed it worked fine twice before replacing) garbled audio, and DOA boards. |
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"Who says a chainsaw isn't a ranged weapon?"
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games keeper
Elite
Posts: 1375
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I have an audigy 2 ZX , and I never wanna get rid of it again , the sound is just amazing. hell , I even wanna order 1 for my laptop . its WAAAY better then any onboard sound I encountered. only thing buggy is the drivers , specially in doom 3 where your sound sometimes just fell out. but this is fixed in the latest drivers. if you have 5.1 or 7.1 surroundsound and you tell the card the exact distance of the boxes and stuff , you can really pinpoint sombody's location in online gaming. this card has saved my life many times in ET. |
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Phoenix
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I wish Hercules was still making sound cards. The Fortissimo series was fantastic. Can't get them any more, and they cost less than half of what Creative charges. Creative sucks, they have a high failure rate in anything they manufacture. Don't even get me started on their CD-ROM drives... I'd use onboard over a Creative card, or else I'd go for something more professional, like Roland or Turtle Beach. I'd really have to do some homework though, it's been ages since I've investigated sound hardware and I have no good suggestions. My Fortissimo 3 is still going strong, and I've never had trouble with it so I've had no reason to research. Only downside is it doesn't do EAX, but considering the age of the card, and the fact that I really don't care, it's no biggie.
Games Keeper: My stereo headphones have killed more people than your audigy 5.1 surround sound has. 
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« Last Edit: 2005-09-26, 17:59 by Phoenix »
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I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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Moshman
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Here's the exact card I'm getting. http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/FeedBa...N82E16829102178and check out the reviews that say this helps a lot, esp. with on board sound. My on board sound is a shit bag. It locks up in Doom 3, and most of the newer games. I researched it and it is defiantly a sound problem. Fair warning, Audigy 2's eat just as much cpu as nforce onboard, if not more. And have a high rate of failure in heavy-use systems. As an example, I've personally had 3 audigy 2's fail. 3rd warranty replacement I gave up and intended to use my nforce 2 onboard audio as a temporary measure until I found a decent card. Haven't had to pick up a new one as it runs flawlessly.
I appreciate the advice.  This is nForce4 we're talking about, a completely different interface. As for CPU consumption, I will just lock the PCI bus speed to 33 MHz, the freq, of what it should operate from. I forgot to mention that I wanted to fix some system instabilities caused by sound problems as well as conserve CPU consumption. I'll send it back if I don't like it. As for the power supply I think I will purchase a 550W, so I can run SLI. Thinking about getting this baby: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817709003[edit] Damn, out of stock. [/edit] |
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« Last Edit: 2005-09-27, 01:51 by Little Washu »
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games keeper
Elite
Posts: 1375
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Games Keeper: My stereo headphones have killed more people than your audigy 5.1 surround sound has. maybe im not so good in getting the bastard killed , the only thing I say is that it really helped me to locate an enemy somewhere around me. |
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Phoenix
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Good choice. Can't really go wrong with Antec.
Games Keeper: That's exactly what I was referring to. I have absolutely no trouble locating people by sound.
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I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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Phoenix
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Good good, looks like someone (Anandtech) put it through the paces and it did well. It's always better if you can find out someone else did the grunt work for you instead of "finding out the hard way". It also appears Kooldrew on the second link you posted is only interested in offering his opinion of SLI and convincing you not to use it rather than helping you find a good power supply. (Don't you hate it when they do that?) 
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I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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