Computer Building & Upgrades

Build an AMD

Sooper1337 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:10:36 GMT

Hello all. im here looking for a new computer build made for gaming. and im trying to keep it 500$ or lower if possible. and amd/radeon are must have brands.

Quick memory upgrade question

CrazedEwok — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:37:13 GMT

Hey guys,

Just a really quick question here. I think everything is going to work fine, but I just wanted to ask, will G.Skill 2x 2GB DDR2 1066 be supported by an ASUS P5Q? I have my computer here running Windows XP on 2 GB RAM, but I'd like to upgrade to the 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate with 6 GB total of RAM. I already have identical G.SKILL RAM, except it's two sticks of 1 GB (here), so that would make for a total of 6 GB. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work, but the only reason I ask is because I didn't see it in the motherboard's compatibility list, I just wanted to check to make sure it supports 4 GB modules.

Thank you!

Looking into a server build.

marksandre — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:23:54 GMT

Good day all,

I'm planning a server build in the next few days and I would hope to have some suggestions and guidance in what I would want to look for. I want to build the server my self of course and while I'm familiar with system building I would like to know what differences or details I would need to be aware of on a server build (power supply types, wattage, cases, memory types and differences between processors).

I'm looking in to the xeon range. Possibly a Xeon E5410 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16819117149 ). BTW, can I run a server motherboard with 2 processor sockets but just one processor (and add the other one later)?

I hope to get a good matching motherboard and case that I can put on a shelf and later add it to a rack mount. I'm aware that I need registered memory and I hope you can guide me on this.

Thanks all.

Looking for some Holliday Help!

Jvance — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:09:56 GMT

Hi, im very new to the computer building world and quite interested in building my own computer but i know nothing about it! I would like to have my build picked out and possibly purchase it come black friday if not sooner. So im requesting some help from anyone in the holliday mood to help me out! Ill use this computer mostly for gaming so performance is key, my budget is 2500 but the closer to 2k i can keep it the better. I want to use windows 7 on it and ive already chosen a case mearly on the look of it so if this case wont work just give me some options to choose from please.

heres my case:

Thermaltake V9 Black Edition ATX Computer Gaming Chassis Item#:N82E16811133074

new machine (hopefully low power)

pdk — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:47:12 GMT

It just so happens that I'm in the market for a new computer. It's been a while since I've built one so I figured I should ask around. I spent about an hour looking on newegg for parts, and realized that I was in a bit over my head.

My goal is a quiet, efficient low power machine with decent performance. I don't do a whole lot of intense gaming (some), but I do program a fair amount. I have a wish list here (should be public) for people to peruse and make suggestions, and a few specific questions:

- Is onboard video enough to drive the monitor (1920 x 1200)? Will it have hardware graphics acceleration? If not, is there a motherboard that can or will I just have to shell out for a graphics card?

- I haven't picked a case. I'm toying with the idea of a MicroATX motherboard/case or something similar. Any recommendations, namely on power draw or cooling?

- Especially on the noise front, will stock fans and heatsinks be adequate, or should I look at

I'm not wed to the exact parts I've chosen, I'm open to alternatives.

I'm going to be primarily running Linux on this machine, in case that makes a difference.

Cheers, and thanks.

Computer build help

Serjreaven — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:57:53 GMT

Hi (:

Im currently trying to build a computer, parts by parts, so I can have a machine that will be just enough for what will be done with it. I will be using this next computer with Photoshop CS3, maybe with a few games. It'll mostly be used to watch high quality videos and for a lot of various internet-related stuff. As it will be located in a living room and plugged on a previously bought HDTV, I'd like the case to be sort of small, so I was thinking about a MicroATX one. I wouldn't want to buy parts that wouldn't fit inside, and I'm not sure wheter the power suppy included in some of these cases are good or not. As a newbie, I was wondering if everything down there could actually work once combined all together. Also, I have difficulties to say wheter a part is good or not, so I kind of need the help of semone who can!

Thanks a lot in advance, and excuse my poor english (:!

-Serj

Computer build opinion?

AzureCuzYeah — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:54:16 GMT

I am running a pretty old machine but it has a HD 4870 Video card inside. The bottlenecking between the CPU and GPU is extremely noticeable. My question is whether I should wait a year to build a whole new machine, or to build a PC around the HD 4870 within the next 2 months. If I build a new PC around the HD4870 does anyone have any suggestions as to where I should begin with the CPU, Motherboard, and Memory combo?

What would help my PC run faster?

CapnDerp — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:58:46 GMT

Hey guys. I'm pretty much a re***d when it comes to computer hardware, so excuse me if whatever I say sounds stupid.

I am currently trying to upgrade my PC for gaming. But my computers performance has been slowing down. My frames per second drop from 60 to 12 at times on certain games, and sometimes my computer takes a while to load programs in general.
Heres my specs:
Dell XPS
Pentium (R) D CPU 2.80GHz
2.79 GHz, 2.00 GB of RAM
Physical Address Extension
My graphics card is a NVidia GeForce GTS 250

What would I need to improve my computer? A good processor? A better cooling system? Thanks.

Who sells ram drives?

kieranmullen — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:08:43 GMT

Forget the limited life span of SSD's I need a Ram drive for a temportary disk cache for file writing.

Any ideas where I can get one?
Thanks!

ASUS TUSL2-C board upgrade question

Maniwar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:41:01 GMT

I was sent to this site by newegg, who was absolutely no help.

A friend of mine is looking for memory for a motherboard he's purchasing today, but I'm trying to get him to buy all components from newegg, if they have them.

Basically, he has an old ASUS TUSL2-C board and we want to upgrade him to a faster and newer board, but we have several large in good working order, EIDE hard drives and want a board that is EIDE compatible. We also want to keep the same tower (original tower that came with the ASUS) since it's a good one. He's been looking at buying the following...

ASUS P4B533-X Socket 478 400/533FSB Mainboard with DDR 400, AGP 4X, Audio, LAN, 4 PCI – OEM
from http://3btech.net/asp4so47840m3.html

1GB DDR / 266MHz Memory Upgrade for ASUS P4B533-X Motherboard
from http://www.1stchoicememory.com/catalog/viewitem.asp?p=C285190069

Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz 800MHz 478 pin CPU OEM
from http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=120

Is this a good board to upgrade to, or is there a better suggestion out there? I asked Newegg to tell me if they had the components or a better suggestion, but they said they couldn't answer me and sent me here.

Advice for Processor/Mobo upgrade

kleydj13 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:57:29 GMT

I'm looking to buy a new processor and motherboard for my computer. I have a solid 430 watt power supply, 4 GB of DDR2 RAM, 3 80GB HD's, a solid DVD drive, and an 8800 GT GPU. I love playing games, but I am on a student's budget. Right now I'm using some crappy single core P4. Any suggestions?

I've been looking at a dual core AMD with a matching mobo and hope to spend less than $125. What do you think? I'm definitely looking for some major price/performance scores.

NEED IMPUT ON OS COMPATIBILITY VS CPU

Willhartiam — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:16:53 GMT

I am Currently in a build

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHZ, 140 Watt
Biostar TA790GXE 128M Mobo, on board Radeon HD3300 Graphics
Western Digital Velociraptor 300G,
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb,
Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-8500C5D Memory,
Tuniq Miniplant 950W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply,
Evercool Water Cooling Sys For CPU,
4 120 Fans,
2 HD Cooling Fan,
ASUS EAH4870 DK/HTDI/1GD5 Radeon HD 4870 Dark Knight 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported,

I originally began my build with an

OCZ 600w Extreme PSU Crossfire ready
ASUS M4A78 Plus AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
Mushkin Enhanced Redline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Memory

I was unable to install windows XP 64 Bit Pro But Installed 32 Bit version only after I removed the Mushkin Memory and installed G-skill DDR 2 800 Memory the asus mobo was defective onboard Lan died in 2hrs. I sent the Asus Mobo and the Mushkin memory back for rma. I tested the Drives and DDR2 800 memory checked out.

Using the Biostar Mobo, Mushkin memory, 950 watt psu, and the corsair memory I was installing Win XP 64 bit Pro which failed repeatedly at the final stage, and windows XP 32 bit also failed immediately. I removed the Asus GPU and Corsair memory and installed DDR 800 Flashed bios with the latest Bios From Biostar. Still failed in installing 64 or 32 XP OS’s But I was able to install both Vista 64 and Win 7-64 ultimate Beta Using The Radeon onboard HD3300 Graphics However after about an Hr and installing the latest drivers for the mobo I had What Appeeared to be Gpu failure. I need to know if the This CPU and AM3 CPU’S No longer Support Win XP 32 or 64 or is it possible I Have a Bad CPU and How Can I Test it CPU Temp 26 to 33 C˚ My Guess the Mobo is bad.

win XP 32bit to win7 64 bit?

devilman0 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:58:45 GMT

I have windows XP 32bit version and the upgrade media for windows7 with both the 32 bit and 64 bit. I dont seem to be able to upgrade to the 64 bit version of win7. So can i assume this just isnt possible and my only option would be purchasing the full version of win7 64bit?

Thanx in advance to the readers.

monitor recieves no signal from computer

Tom528 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:28:09 GMT

I am a first time system builder, and recently assembled my rig with no problems. When I plugged it in the lights came on, the fans worked, the optical drive worked, but nothing showed up on the monitor. I have checked the cable connections and have tried both D-sub and HDMI cables. I have a foxconn g45m-s motherboard with on board video. Is there anything that I could try before I troubleshoot the entire system?

Need info on laptop cards for wireless connection

AndreaCary — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:52:48 GMT

I am trying to recycle a DELL Inspiron B130 laptop (at minimal cost) and was told that it was Internet ready if I bought a card to insert n it......I have no knowledge in this area------any suggestions????????? Thanks for any advice!

New gaming rig

aircrue — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:56:19 GMT

Its been awhile since I built a new system, and I need some help with equipment choices/part #/compatibility for an extreme gaming rig. I have some preferences which I will note below, any help would be appreciated.

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Processor

ASUS Mobo with Crossfire

(2) ATI Crossfire Cards 512 to 1g each

Win 7 Ultimate

8gb Memory

500g HD

CPU Cooling

Memory Cooling

Power Supply

Any help with picking out compatible parts would help.

Thanks

Looking to build a new system

aircrue — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:58:30 GMT

Its been awhile since I built a new system, and I need some help with equipment choices/part #/compatibility. I have some preferences which I will note below, any help would be appreciated.

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Processor

ASUS Mobo with Crossfire 16x (int. sound)

Win 7 Ultimate

8gb Memory

500g HD

CPU Cooling

Memory Cooling

(2) ATI Crossfire Graphic Cards 512+

Thanks

Building a new rig 1st time suggestions and random

jeffjuice — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:19:36 GMT

Hello all, How are you? I was wondering if some of the veteran computer builders can look over the specs of my future build and tell me if everything seems to fit. This is my first ever computer build so I am very naive, and shakey and the totality of items and the how many options there really are in building a computer vs buying a prebought one at costco. No matter how much i read up on reviews or articles i always end up confusing myself even more [especially in re: to whether or not to get a mid range gpu now vs wait for gt3 series / dx11 cards] Also I have another question - i did searches but could not find an exact answer, so if you could be so kind to shed some light on this it would be AMAZING in my search for items this shopping seasons. [mind you i even contacted customer service at newegg and amazon about this question and did not get any answers that helped clear my question ]

What is the difference between black friday deals and cyber monday? For instance if i bought all my items on black friday is there a high chance of them going on sale cyber monday? and would i be able to get a price adjustment? Likewise i dont want to hold out to see cyber monday deals only to see that black friday was cheaper.

My build is:

CPU: i7-920

PSU: Corsair CMPSU - 750HX 750w or the 850 depending on the sales and if i end up SLI

GPU: For the time being GTX 275

MOBO: Asus p6t delux v2 or the evga 3way sli [still looking into the main dif between p6t and p6t deluxe]

Case: antec 900 [already bought since i thought it was a good deal here at newegg for 90 bucks shipped]

CD: hp black 24x dvd+r 8 x

HD: WD black 1th 7200rpm

RAM: OCZ 6gb ddr3 1600 or g skill 6 gb ddr 1600 / patriot viper 6gb ddr3 1333 [sorry forgot what cas latency they are]

Mouse/keyboard: deathadder 3.5 [if anyone has experience with this new sensor can you also put your 2 cents in, loved the old one, but figured new rig, new stuff] and razer lycosa [same deal here if you have any experience with this keyboard info would be great]

Edit: Monitor: 24" widescreen 1080 p Asus lcd monitor.

Again thank you for taking the time and patience with my post to provide me with info. Have a good one.

Jeff

Wanting to create a modest HTPC

egoo33 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:25:09 GMT

Hello, if you all could please excuse my noobish questions and help me out i would greatly appreciate all of you comments and support. I have been looking at either getting the asrock ion 330 with the dvd drive or the Acer Aspire Revo with the atom 230. I was wondering if there was a significant advantage while using a dual core Atom, i know the atom still chokes up on flash (single and dual core). I know the future flash update will address this issue but seeing that the acer is $150 cheaper i wondered if the dual core atom was worth the price.

Also, regardless of which one i get i plan on running the latest ubuntu on it along with xbmc. i know with windows 7 you need to configure DXVA or purchase CORE AVC to get 1080p acceleration but by using unbuntu will i be able to forgo all of the gpu configuring and be able to watch hd rips with out additional tweaks?

I thank you all for your time and once again please forgive my noobish questions

Patriot memorys product support friendly?

devilman0 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:02:31 GMT

I seem to have half faulty memory out of a set of 2x 2gb patriot viper 1066 dd2 (pc8500) memory with cas latency of 5.

both sticks had worked then one seemed to have croaked. 1 is still working but the other wont boot with the system so i fear im going to have to rma them to patriot since they have a limited lifetime warranty on the set i got. Im just hoping patriots support are friendly and wont jip me. Memory has sky rocketed in price.

Having a problem installing a 4-port SATA RAID car

premis — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:33:19 GMT

I'm trying to install this card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132017

I can't get past the driver install. I use the found new hardware wizard, it finds the driver but then hangs up on the file suilsupp.cpl. Anyone have any idea how I can fix this??

Laptop help

jmredfox — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:52:23 GMT

I am trying to find an affordable yet performance and portability driven laptop to use on the go and at satellite offices when i am not using my beast of a desktop. I have looked at various laptops from HP, Dell, Acer, etc. and i feel like i might have found a good one with Acer.

Acer Aspire AS3810T

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115653&Tpk=Acer%20Aspire%20AS3810T

I am not sure who might be familiar with stock trading platforms but what i need this laptop to do on a routine basis is run Think or Swim desktop software (its a stock trading platform), Microsoft Outlook, iTunes, and web browsing all at the same time. My desktop i built does this beautifully with no hang ups what so ever but i also spent a pretty penny on it going with Core i7, 6gb DDR3, 1 Tera-bite, Asus motherboard, dual monitors, etc.

So when i am on the go i would like to know i have the same type of reliability and performance i can get out my desktop but without being demanded 24/7. Does anyone have any suggestions, recommendations, or opinions on what i am trying to do here? I would appreciate any feedback because i want to make sure i am going to be completely happy with my purchase.

**i know i could use less demanding applications than iTunes and outlook but i like them and have a solid system with them (especially outlook) so i want to keep those programs running.

Thanks again!

Wireless Adapter for Win7 64-bit

MarkPharaoh — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:39:30 GMT

Hi, I've been searching for a wireless adapter to use for my next desktop build; however, it seems that most adapters are having issues with drivers with Win7 64-bit. A google search has been bringing up articles from January and nothing really up to date. Does anyone know of any adapters on the market that currently work with Win7 64-bit?

Thanks in advance.

Need input for gaming build.

jigglebilly — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:01:14 GMT

This is all being purchased at Newegg. Any input would be appreciated. My biggest question is will that motherboard fit nicely in that case?

Also will that powersupply be sufficient? Enough of the correct plug ins? I just want another person to look this over before i buy it. Make sure i haven't overlooked anything silly. Oh and I will most likely put XP Pro and then switch to Windows 7 later.

Strange Bootup BIOS Error

djotaku — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:28:11 GMT

I built a computer for my wife's aunt using a a Shuttle Case. The BIOS is Phoenix AwardBIOS.

Recently they asked me to look at it because sometimes when they turn it on it will boot normally and other times it gets stuck at the BIOS logo. So I went to their house and, sure enough, sometimes it gets stuck at the BIOS logo and nothing works - can't hit "del" to get into the BIOS. Other times it will boot right into Windows XP. So I took it home with me, thinking it was a RAM error.

I plug it in at home to diagnose it and it works correctly. I can't get this problem to happen anymore. I turn the computer off and on. I reboot it from within Windows. No matter what I can't get the problem to occur.

I'm reaching out for any possible answers. I really can't figure this out and my google searches turned up nil. At first I thought it might be because I was testing with a PS/2 mouse and keyboard, but they also have a PS/2 mouse and keyboard attached. We both used the VGA output and both had the audio out (spkr) jack plugged in. What could be causing this?

Also, I went into the BIOS while it was at my house and told it to never halt on error while booting.

Thanks for any help!