Re: OT: Building A New System
 

Thanks Therm. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

That is very helpful.

Re: OT: Building A New System
 

I'm currently on a Soyo MB, with Athlon CPU. But they seem to have a rather nice P4 mobo as well {link}.

Memory, I've used Kingston and PNY in the past, and they've worked well for me, no failures. Get cooling sleeves though, they only cost something like $1.50, and I know DDR can get fairly hot (friend's personal experience with burned fingers, not my own).

For the DVD Drive, I have a Lite-On DVD burner, supports +, -, +/-, RAM DVD formats, and was at same speeds to the other DVD burners I was looking at (a Sony and some other brand). Only difference was the Lite-On was $190, and the other two were $240.

HDDs, I've only used Maxtor and Western Digital. I haven't had a hard drive failure. One of my friends had a Western Digital fail after something like 9 years (I think the computer was dropped...).

Re: OT: Building A New System
 

Therm's specs are fine. But figure on 2 Memory modules. P-4's are memory hungry, there want a lot, & the want it fast. 2 modules will make use of the dual DDR.
you also might look at the Asus P4P800. It has comparable specs to the Intel board (I think expect for firewire) for a comparable price. Asus has a proven record for stability, performance & tweakability. Intel keeps their Boards pretty average.

Re: OT: Building A New System
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">They have a long record, but are relying on it lately, instead of producing Boards up to their previous standards. Their latest Boards, especially the P4B800, has serious design flaws. Capacitors blowing is not what I call stable or reliable, and waiting for replacement Boards 4-6 weeks is not customer service. I seriously advise against Asus right now.

Re: OT: Building A New System
 

Your right about the capacitors, but it is a wide spread problem.
There is some really cheap caps coming from China.

We had one customer who is buying those cheap caps, and then complaining about our power management chips.

It seems this cheap stuff tests OK on RCL analyzer equipment, but fails under real life stress.
We found that some old, crude, tried and true methods, would expose the weakness. Take a few measurements, mix in a little MATH, and the problem is well defined.
Then the real problem of communicating some basic math and science to managers begins.


BTW: I have been very happy with MSI mother Boards.

Re: OT: Building A New System
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">You are correct; the post should have said two sticks. The pricing did reflect 1/2 a gig of ram. 512 is the min. amount for an WinXP system that is going to do more than word process.

[ March 21, 2004, 18:32: Message edited by: Thermodyne ]

Re: OT: Building A New System
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">They have a long record, but are relying on it lately, instead of producing Boards up to their previous standards. Their latest Boards, especially the P4B800, has serious design flaws. Capacitors blowing is not what I call stable or reliable, and waiting for replacement Boards 4-6 weeks is not customer service. I seriously advise against Asus right now. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">This has to be the most fustrating thing when during research on a new piece of hardware. For instance, I've done a lot of research on the ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe and I have read many reviews that its the best motherborad that they have ever bought. But your right, I got a handful of people who had nothing but trouble. Some people even get 2 or 3 Boards and have nothing but problems like DOA. But it's not just ASUS. I would do research on Abit Boards, generic Intel Boards, and even EPOX Boards and see people complaining about tech support or a problem on the board. I guess it boils down to features you want, which board you feel comfortable with, and which board didn't screw you over. If I got 3 bad mobos I would be upset too but you read how so many people have no issues.

My first computer I bought myself was a Packard Bell many years ago that still runs fine today. But I have read dozen of websites where hundreds of people had bad experiences with hardware, tech support, etc. But I bought another one two years later from buying the first one and never had one problem. I haven't done much reseach on the ASUS AMD Boards but PC World just gave the ASUS A7V600 motherboard 4 out of 5 stars. So you sit there going what do I believe? I probably still get the ASUS board (unless I get a AMD 64-bit FX-51) because I like the features and hope everything works out ok.

[ March 21, 2004, 19:03: Message edited by: hicksz ]

Re: OT: Building A New System
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">ASUS is ok, but they are overkill for an Intel system that will not be OC�d. I use the ASUS SK8N for my FX51. It was an early board and chip, so I had a few issues at first, but with the latest bios and drivers, it runs real well. When I put Windows 64 on it, I found the driver support to be awful, but that should get better with time.

When I first booted it up, this was the first thing I saw.
http://Groups.msn.com/ThermodynesPla...oto&PhotoID=15

Re: OT: Building A New System
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Do you see any better performance from the Windows 64 OS? I assuming since most programs are written in 32-bits you wouldn't but I was curious. I'm assuming that Windows "Longhorn" will be 64-bits but I haven't read that yet.

Re: OT: Building A New System
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Do you see any better performance from the Windows 64 OS? I assuming since most programs are written in 32-bits you wouldn't but I was curious. I'm assuming that Windows "Longhorn" will be 64-bits but I haven't read that yet. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Na, but then I couldn't use the raid and I didn't have any 64bit apps.