Le_Murphant

My Dell Inspiron 5150 from 2004 gets about 3 hours of battery (pentium 4 3 Ghz, but a huge battery and speedstep) and has a 17 inch screen, but it's quite massively heavy and cost me a fortune when I got it. The nspiron 9400 would be the equivalent (more powerful actually) but it overshoots your budget quite a bit (1.3k$). My recommendation is that you keep a good desktop PC and go for a small, cheap laptop. I doubt that you can get 17 inch for that price.

I find it too bad that the American public will vote for whoever dishes out more money during their campaign. It is no different in Canada, I must admit, but I wonder if it is different in some other countries, where people would actually not be influenced by massive amounts of publicity. I also wish that the television debates could be radio only, cause imo the faces of the candidates are of minor importance to whom most represents one's values. I could continue ranting a bit, but I should be studying.

It seems to me like high end must lose value faster in the computer market. There's no telling how much a 8800 GTX will have dropped in a year, whereas a lower end card will still be able to do the job it used to (play movies, general computer use). Still, I have seen 20k$ cars go for 6k$ after 3 or 4 years. If you get an exotic car tho, such as a mustang or something, I don't think that it loses value as fast, for the car market doesn't evolve as fast as the computer market.

I know I'm triple posting but... I did quite a bit of research on the Antec Neo HE series and it looks like still I should not get one with an Asus board, for I risk trouble. Instead, I think I will opt for a Seasonic S13 550 W power supply. http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=14130AC3381&vpn=SS-550HT&manufacture=SEASONIC%20ELECTRONICS There is also a 430W version that's considerably cheaper, but I think that there is no way that it can handle SLI.

I agree with Momma T about the comparaison between cars and PCs. I'm trying to sell my 2 and a half year old laptop with upgraded parts for 600 when I paid 2 grand for it. It's especially true for high end stuff.

Is Celeron compatible with socket 775? If so, I could plug the cpu from my old comp in there while I wait for my C2D. Still waiting for a reply about the Asus-Antec problem and about if I should get a dedicated cpu cooler.

I feel like I seldom see him posting, but he does have quite a few posts. Maybe not in the same areas I read. Or maybe cause he's been around for as long as TMN has. Wasent there another topic with this title a few weeks ago?

For the video card, I've ordered that part already. I didn't chose the mobo for sli really, I just read that it was a good one. For the PSU, I've been looking at the Antec Neo HE 500, but I have read many people say that it didn't work with certain Asus boards (I just bought a P5N-E). Some people say that the problem was fixed, but I can't find a confirmation either on Asus or Antec's website. Anyone know anything about it?

I don't need a burger, but I do wish i had onw

How about this one? Ive bought a few products from Ultra and I have not been disapointed. The review on it is a joke tho, I doubt that you can fit 2x 8800 cards on a 500 Watt psu. http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2974307&Sku=ULT31845%20K

I havent gotten much feedback from you guys o well, I did ask about a few issues before I posted this. I have ordered about half the items, still unsure about the PSU. I know C2D prices are dropping on april 22nd, but do you guys think that the price drops will be immediate at the retailers (like within 2 day)? I was also wondering up to what point I could overclock with/without a special cpu cooler (I assume there is a standard one coming with the cpu). Bear in mind that I have Corsair ValueSelect ram (ddr-667), so that's not an awesome overclocker.

I think they refer more to radical dieting, i.e. dieting for just some amount of time. The way I see dieting, it's a change in habits for the rest of your life.

Hi guys. I'm in the process of upgrading my current laptop (Inspiron 5150, P4) to a desktop, used for general use (lots of multitasking) and gaming. The most demanding game I'm playing right now is C&C TW3, but I might give Oblivion a try. So here are the parts I have selected up to now. Tell me what you think. Case: Antec P180 http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10370AC3772&vpn=P180&manufacture=ANTEC Processor: C2D E6600 (waiting for the price drop at the end of april) Mobo: Asus P5N-E Nforce 650i SLI http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10530BD8982&vpn=P5N-E%20SLI&manufacture=ASUS Graphics: 1x XFX GeForce 7600 GT http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=15180BD0224&vpn=PVT73GUGF3&manufacture=XFX Hard Drive: 2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB setup in Raid0 http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=14120DR9359&vpn=ST3320620AS&manufacture=SEAGATE Gotta buy these soon, supplies are running out fast DVD drive: Sony DRU-120C Multi-drive http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2700058&Tab=0&NoMapp=0 I havent done much research on this item, so if you have feedback, please write it. Card Reader: Sabrent 52-in-1 Internal http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1871218&CatId=942 PSU: OCZ GameXStream 700W http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2235424&CatId=2036 I know I don't need the 700W, but I need the SLI and I have been recommended to go brand name. http://www.testmy.net/forum/index.php?topic=17644.msg216992;topicseen#new If I want that one, I have to order it fast cause the rebate ends soon. Ram (already bought): 2x 1GB corsair ValueRam OS: Windows Vista Home Premium I already have keyboard, mouse, speakers and monitor (might get a second one eventually). I am not going for SLI right away because the games I play at the moment do not require it, but I might get a second card eventually. I have never built a whole system by myself before, so I might be forgetting something big (like something that my computer won't run without) even if it's super-obvious. If you see such an omission, or just want to check, please make yourself heard. From what I understand, ethernet is embedded in the mobo, I just hope I'm not forgetting something. I don't need a 56k modem btw I also assume that the mobo has all the hardware needed to take care of the Raid setup. Also note that I live in Canada, and thus I cannot order from Newegg so don't even recommend it if you see something cheaper there. On the bright side of things, to get an US$ equivalent you must multiply my prices by 0,87. Waiting for your comments.

I had that problem a while ago with my laptop (Pentium 4) and speedstep was the culprit. I know some third party programs do that also. You should also make sure in control pannel that your power options are set at maximum performance.

Okay, well the cheaper one does not seem to support pci-e so I'l just go for the more expensive one. Thx for ur advice guys.

I realize that the first PSU I was looking at (the cheapest) has no pci-e connectors, could that be a problem? It has the required wattage (550) but I don't know how to interpret the Amperage correctly, not knowing what connector goes where. Frankly, I don't mind going for the most expensive one, but I don't think that I need the 700W. Too bad I can't order from newegg. Voltageman, I'm not going for a 8800 or anything that high end, only a 7600 which is about 3x cheaper and consumes 2x less power. Of course, if in doubt, I still might go for the expensive one.

So is there a certain type of connector that I must specifically look for? How about power? Ive seen some 400W SLI-certified PSUs, so I guess 550 W could do it. Plus 7600 GTs are not the most power-consuming cards around. But really, as you will have noticed, I don't know much about PSUs, so I'm waiting for ur advice.

But does that mean that I need a SLI-certified psu to run sli? Or just that a SLI-certified one will do, but others will to?

Does a PSU have to be SLI-certified to run SLI? Or does it only need a certain amount of power? I was looking at this one http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=719600&CatId=1079 to put with one or two 7600 GT and two hard drives in RAID0, and was wondering if it would be enuff to power it. Note that the prices are in canadian $, so that's pretty cheap compared to what you guys were offering. I know that Coolmax make some cheap PSUs but that one looked well rated. Btw I need long cables cause I'm building in a big case (Antec P180). Edit: If you have anything to recommend, take into account that I can't order from Newegg cause I live in Canada . I usually do business with Tigerdirect or DirectCanada. Edit2: I just found this PSU that looks like the one disturbed recommended, but I think that 700W is just overkill for what I use it for. The nice thing is that there's a rebate on it. http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2235424&Tab=11&NoMapp=0 Also, I was wondering if a 700W PSU consumed significantly more power than a 500W one if it never sucked out more than 500W. Gonna have to pay my electricity bill next year

Do you mean you think that raid 0 is overkill, or 0+1? How about a seperate internal hard drive for backup that I only activate when I do these backups? Anyways, you pretty much discouraged me from raid 0+1. I had just thought of it cause I had found a real good deal on hard drives, but I know the noise will get on my nerves. How about the noise for raid 0? I'd assume its about twice the noise of one HD, but maybe not because there are less operations on each drive. Frankly, I can barely hear my hard drive except when its writing like mad, the fans cover it.

I have never done a raid arrangement before, and I plan on doing one on my next rig (raid 0). I'm not a freak about data integrity, I have no files that are overly important, but I was wondering if raid 0+1 could be a good thing. I assume that the basic principle is that you have 2 discs in raid 0 and one separate that mirrors the whole thing (although I haven't read on the sizes). So I was wondering if that last disc should be twice the size of the other two, or what? And if I decide not to go for raid 0+1, is it possible to have a hard drive that's basically like an external hard drive but that's inside, meaning that I only turn it on when I want (let's say for backups)? Finally, does having 2 hard drive make the computer much noisier? Obviously, there is two times as much noise made by the disks, but is it really noticeable? Thx.

I might get my card for my next box early, and test it in that computer to make sure that its the card that's the problem. Then again, I would not get as good of a deal for the card tho if I buy it early (not like I'm gonna get a real high end one). I think that the sound card is integrated, but I'l check inside when I get a chance.

About the memory score, this is the quote from the website that was provided above about memory: "The Memory Score The memory score measures the bandwidth of moving data into and out of memory in mega bytes per second. The higher the bandwidth, the better the memory. Not having enough memory is a limiting factor on performance. As a result, the amount of memory in the system constrains the score value. The amount of system memory is determined by the overall system memory minus any memory reserved for graphics (if any). The amount of memory limits are: Less than 256 MB 1.0 Less than 500 MB 2.0 512 MB or less 2.9 Less than 704 MB 3.5 Less than 960 MB 3.9 Less than 1.5 GB 4.5" That should clear things up.

I would not be so sure they know how it works Actually, no one person knows of everything in windows, they all have seperate projects and unite them into an OS. But then again, they can communicate.

Yeah, I'm afraid that it still doesn't work. My conviction that it is a hardware problem gets more profound. I think I'l start doing the works to get it RMAed.