if you're not overclocking I usually reccomend Zalman, they are a little pricey (but not obscene) but are very very quiet and effective

5/9/2007 2:38:29 PM

any particular model?

im not going to OC right now but might in the not too far future.


prefer something about ~$50 or preferably cheaper

5/9/2007 6:27:57 PM

[Edited on May 9, 2007 at 6:35 PM. Reason : double post]

5/9/2007 6:29:43 PM

Quote :

"I usually reccomend Zalman, they are a little pricey (but not obscene)"

zalman is the most expensive next to maybe thermalright

i am a long, long time zalman user and i've owned the 7000, the VF-700 and tons of other zalman heatsinks and fans, but the price of the 9500/9700 was too much

i would go with the classic Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7, the easiest to install (no backplate, lightweight (less strain on mobo), easy release pins), the least expensive and a very good cooler, not as good as the massive 120mm heatsinks like thermalrights and scythe or zalman, but DEFINITELY the best bang for buck.

i have one cooling my E6600 @ 3.3Ghz and it's doing just fine, ~32'C idle - 48'C load

http://www.directron.com/acfz7pro.html

[Edited on May 9, 2007 at 7:54 PM. Reason : .]

5/9/2007 7:48:44 PM

looks like a good heatsink, but the problem is that i have this case

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=186334&CatId=32

which has a ventillation (sp?) duct on the side of the case, directly above the cpu for extra cooling. That sideways fan would then blow air away from the duct i would think...

5/9/2007 8:02:23 PM

ah, then swing for the retail cpu with the retail HSF, the stock HSF that comes with the E6600 would do just fine, if you are going to OC later you can lap the stock HSF to help it out a bit... it's actually a pretty good performer... the only other decent alternatives are the zalman 7000/7700

[Edited on May 9, 2007 at 9:32 PM. Reason : .]

5/9/2007 9:30:22 PM

CNPS7700-Cu will run you 40-50.... but it's big and heavy.... you can get the Al version for a little less and it weighs less too...

but i agree stock should be fine

5/10/2007 9:49:13 AM

/message_topic.aspx?topic=476757

5/14/2007 10:54:30 AM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827106073

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820146545

http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813186115

http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103023

Any glaring issues for my next build? This is for just internet, mp3, office stuff, and video editing. A micro ATX can go in a full case right?

5/24/2007 12:45:24 PM

I decided to go with a AMD Athlon X2 4400+ for Socket AM2 with a deal from slickdeals.

I ordered a GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3 linked below.

https://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-M61P-S3

I was wondering if the onboard video supported 1680x1050 resolution, due to an LCD I am thinking of buying. Anyway I can find this out?

5/24/2007 6:56:21 PM

so i want to get a new computer

i want to combine my file server and desktop into one unit to cut down on capital and energy costs

what would be a good motherboard that will help me accomplish this?

numerous sataII ports are a requirement (im thinking 4-5 320-500 GB drives in RAID 5)

im thinking a middle of the road core 2 duo processor

5/24/2007 7:21:24 PM

i'm a huge fan of the MSI P6N SLI series (both the FI and Platinum are excellent)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=msi+p6n+sli&x=0&y=0
also supports (4) SATA3.0Gbps RAID 5

both have EIST support and C1E support that change the speed of the processor to help reduce power, you'll also want to look at the E6420 or E6600 as good middle of the road processors

typically speaking you'd be lucky to find raid 5 on the p965 platform, so you're natural starting point would be the nforce 650/680 chipset, the 650 chipset is common to have (4) RAID 5 ports, whereas most of the 680 supports (6-8) RAID 5 ports, but at an added cost (~50-100 more)

Quote :

"I was wondering if the onboard video supported 1680x1050 resolution, due to an LCD I am thinking of buying. Anyway I can find this out?"

yes it will support the LCD, but because of the extra resolution, your performance will suffer... this is physics and happens to all graphics cards.... essentially the more pixels the card has to display the greater the performance hit.... i guess "support" should be a relative term

[Edited on May 24, 2007 at 10:01 PM. Reason : .]

5/24/2007 9:52:03 PM

thanks Prospero.

I probably won't be using it all that long, as I will add a video card....but just for time being.

5/24/2007 11:08:27 PM

is sli really worth it

im really not into computer games as much as i was, i dont want to spend the cash on an sli board if i dont need it

5/29/2007 11:42:41 AM

what's the difference in price at the boards you are looking at? it will require that you get a SLi compatible video card... (and later another card for the second slot)

with the current power available in the newest video cards I don't think you would see a huge huge jump in performance really... unless you are planning on using 2 or more monitors or something like that...

5/29/2007 11:55:08 AM

im going to grad school so this computer is going to be more of a number cruncher than a gaming machine

two monitors definitely, but it will just be to increase productivity, my only video card requirement is dual DVI

5/29/2007 2:01:52 PM

Yeah, if you're not doing any graphically intense stuff just get a 8500/8600 nvidia card. They're fairly cheap and can support 2 monitors, plus they're DX10 so you'll be up to date.

5/29/2007 2:20:08 PM

^ agree

yeah you wouldnt notice SLI in practical usage...

5/29/2007 2:56:41 PM

Then there are idiots like me who try to get high scores on 3dmark 06 by buying all the latest hardware and running it in sli. It's not always for practical use, but I tell ya when Crysis comes out, everyone will need all the power they can get. That game is going to be wicked.

5/29/2007 4:06:57 PM

well since i dont know nor care what that is, im going to assume that i dont need sli

5/29/2007 6:48:41 PM

lol doesnt sound like you do

5/29/2007 8:31:51 PM

scalable link interface!!!

5/29/2007 8:54:47 PM

^he means he doesn't know what Crysis is...

5/29/2007 9:04:54 PM

^ exactly

5/29/2007 9:06:59 PM

^oh, great game that's coming out. Directx10, with beautiful graphics.






Sorry had to share, basically this game is rediculous and everyone should play it. (oh and these are not ingame cinematics, everything is ingame rendering)





[Edited on May 29, 2007 at 9:53 PM. Reason : .]

5/29/2007 9:29:53 PM

I'm looking at these - good choices?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813135047
ECS NF650iSLIT-A (V1.0) LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115015
Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6320

I'm definitely interested in overclocking, but nothing crazy or dangerous. What can I reasonably expect without needing special cooling hardware?

I'm using that as my starting point and I'll build from there. Anybody got suggestions for a good PSU and Memory? I was going to stick it out for one of slickdeals' specials on RAM, unless there is something decent that's not too expensive regularly.

5/29/2007 10:36:43 PM

i'll tell you what you won't be OC'ing that far with that motherboard, no mosfet cooling, sub-par NB/SB cooling... but 650i is a good chipset to start with... 6320 is good too

but in all honesty since it's rated for 1333mhz w/ manual OC (mine is MSI and it's the same way)... i was able to manually OC straight to 1333mhz fsb w/out a voltage increase, so likely since the 6320 is at 7x267, you should be able to go straight to 7x333 making it OC to 2.33Ghz w/out any voltage increase.

[Edited on May 30, 2007 at 2:44 AM. Reason : a]

5/30/2007 2:42:57 AM

Agreed, 650i or a p965 chipset is the way to go. Or if you want a stable computer go with a stock intel board, won't ever break but usually a 10 percent ocing cap.

[Edited on May 30, 2007 at 9:31 AM. Reason : .]

5/30/2007 9:30:48 AM

So is this a good board for overclocking, or even at all? I know a bit about processors, but I know nothing about what kind of board to get. Is there something else you would recommend thats < $120?

5/30/2007 10:18:40 AM

It depends how much overclocking, and if you want to do sli or not. I'd get an asus board with a p965 chipset, that's what i have. A 650i nvidia chipset would also be good, just make sure the board has good north/south bridge cooling if you're going to be overclocking.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131177
That's a good board if you don't need sli.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131153R
Even better board for cooling and it's on discount. (The heat sinks and copper tubing are great for cooling the north/south bridge.)

[Edited on May 30, 2007 at 10:33 AM. Reason : .]

5/30/2007 10:26:35 AM

these are probably the top OC'ing boards of the respective chipsets

650i - MSI P6N series (SLI-FI & Platinum) - i own the SLI-FI and was able to get a 66% OC w/ E6600 on air
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=msi+p6n&x=0&y=0

P965 - Gigabyte DS3 series
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128042

[Edited on May 30, 2007 at 11:23 AM. Reason : .]

5/30/2007 11:22:45 AM

^ Agreed. That msi series is nice, i just have an asus but i wouldn't mind having the MSI P6N Diamond with the 4x pci-e slots. I'd stick two 8800gtx's in there, along with my old 7950gx2.

- On another note, according to most benchmarks the asus boards do usually come out on top in regard to OCing ability and stability, but MSI is up there too.

[Edited on May 30, 2007 at 11:43 AM. Reason : .]

5/30/2007 11:41:56 AM

That P6N SLI-FI looks perfect. I think that'll be what I order. I got a deal on some RAM from Fry's today -
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5259627

Should do the trick. I'll be ordering the CPU and mobo this week too, so hopefully I can migrate these new parts into my existing P4 system, though I don't feel too good about how the 250w PSU will fare... I don't hold a lot of hope, so it looks like one of those is in my future too.

5/31/2007 4:54:27 PM

if you are going with the P6N SLI-FI, here's the 77-page thread on overclocking @ HF:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1164174

also ClubIT has it for a bit less and they are a good reputable company (~$116):
http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?SID=300644-2-0-ARTICLE-0&itemno=CA4854013
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/ClubIT

[Edited on May 31, 2007 at 7:21 PM. Reason : .]

5/31/2007 7:16:40 PM

This ClubIT site looks like it's the shit. I found my processor there too for less than newegg.

6/2/2007 11:59:50 AM

I posted this in the classifieds, but thought someone here may be interested.

http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=480713

6/5/2007 2:22:47 PM

Advice needed:
I am looking to build a gaming/video editting comp. Right now I am looking to get 2 evga 8800GTS 320mb vid cards sli'd with a Rosewill rx750-d-b 750watt psu. I'm just lookin to get something that will last a good 1.5yrs for me. I have heard that multiple gpu's get worn out quick, or are usually just a waste..
So.. Should I stick with this or just go for a single 8800GTX? Also, do I need to get a better psu? Something like 900w.. or higher..?

Thanks.

6/20/2007 12:04:06 AM

why are you getting a rosewill psu? if you're gonna spend money, spend it, get a very good psu... nothing else can screw up your rig faster than a shitty psu...

6/21/2007 12:16:34 PM

i don't know much about psu's. whats a bestter brand to get?

6/21/2007 5:37:31 PM

pc power and cooling makes the best power supplies. You should get the Silencer 610 EPS12V or the Silencer 750 Quad-Blk if you want it to be more future proof.

I believe if you wait a month you will be able to get a quad core for the price of a dual core. Price drop around July 22. Add 4gb ddr2-800 or better and only one 8800gtx and your set.

[Edited on June 22, 2007 at 7:58 AM. Reason : ]

6/22/2007 7:55:20 AM

^indeed. The 8800gtx evga ko edition is what i have. It's about on par with the new 8800 ultras in terms of performance and it's alot cheaper. The 320 meg edition can't handle higher resolution displays very well. 4 gigs of ddr2-800 is defin the way to go too. Just remember xp32 bit doesn't handle any more than 2 gigs per application, which can be changed, but only up to 3.xx i think. For 4 gigs, run either vista 64 or xp 64.

6/22/2007 3:42:17 PM

How is SLI, and is it the shit? What on earth would I need that much power for?

6/27/2007 12:07:51 PM

Any of the newer games will require SLI to max out the settings at resolutions of 1920x1200 or 2560x1600. A single 8800gtx will do alright on medium settings at these resolutions, but if you really wanna turn everything up, sli is the only way to do so.

http://www.tomshardware.com is a good source for benchmarks and GPU comparisons. They give single/sli benchmarks for the newer games and at different resolutions. So you can get a feel for what card you need and what games it'll run at good frame rates.

6/27/2007 12:12:13 PM

Seems like a big drain on a psu, can one handle the load of a board and two gpus along with everything else? What's safe, 800w?

6/27/2007 12:25:01 PM

Check out:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

Put all your information in there and it'll give you a pretty good rough estimate. It's probably the best online watt calculator out there. Sli configs can vary, it just depends on what cards you're running. Obviously dual 7950gx2s (in quad sli) or dual 8800gtxs will draw more power then a couple 7600s. The important thing is having the same card for sli though. I'm pretty sure you need the same clock speeds on each card too, but don't quote me on that.

[Edited on June 27, 2007 at 12:46 PM. Reason : .]

6/27/2007 12:45:22 PM

Can anyone recommend a good gaming LCD in the 22-23" widescreen category? I'm looking for amazing clarity and response time, but I don't want to buy a crt.

[Edited on June 28, 2007 at 10:18 AM. Reason : widescreen]

6/28/2007 10:15:37 AM

http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=482472

I'm in the market for the same, Sayer.

6/28/2007 10:37:53 AM

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productlisting.aspx?c=us&category_id=6761&cs=19&l=en

I just got the dell 24 inch.
1920x1200
6ms response
450 cd/m2
1000:1 contrast ratio.

It's a great monitor, amazing clarity, and they just dropped the price from 669$ to 599$.

[Edited on June 28, 2007 at 11:59 AM. Reason : .]

6/28/2007 11:57:57 AM

That looks... yummy. I was thinking about getting two smaller lcds, but with one of those I wouldn't need to.

6/28/2007 12:03:44 PM

I'm still researching what I want to put together as a rig, and i doubt I'll be making purchases until September or October.

What is going to happen to processors by then? Is Dual Core --> Quad Core? Should I just wait on those prices to come down? What about overclocking options? Will mobos be changing drastically between now and then?

6/28/2007 12:38:23 PM