My bad day

[sniper_nick]

I have just got my new dell pc on friday with all the trimmings but it has Win XP as the os and i think XP blows so i formated my pc to put Win 2000 on instead little did i know this would be the start of a nightmare.

once evrything was back on with windows 2000 i was pleased with how it was working untill i installed the drivers for the sound card. It installed and when it rebooted the sound was teribal so i spent 2 - 3 hours looking for and downloading the new drivers but with no luck, so i called my uncle who knows more about pc's than me for help he told me to format it again and re-install evrything with the sound card first and i reluctantly agreed.

this did not work so i tryed to put it back to XP accepting defeat i was about to put XP back on when i looked at the CD and found a ******* great scratch on it and it did not work at which point i looked at the clock saw it was 2am and went to bed.

Then i got to today still very bad sound at wich point i was about to crack so i re-installed evrything (win 2000 again) without the sound card evrything was going fine untill the sound card came up it installed rebooted then no sound at all!! So i open the tower up to see if there is a loose connection and see the modem (witch i dont use) is connected to the card so i take it out restart and the sound is fine AAAAAAAAA!!!!!
WHY CANT ANYTHING BE EASY!!!

THIS WAS MY LITTLE RANT. what is the moral of the story?

Dont mess around with Pc's they are too damn complicated!!!

[-=DoW=- MauryMac]

Hehe, thats why i deal with my own brand of PC, ive had so many brand names come through here for repair its not funny. In 8 years in business (ive been here for almost 4) and there has only been one system returned. That was the big intel Controller hub recall fiasco when rambus first came out. We bent over backwards for that guy, basicly gave him a new system for nothing, but he was going through a divorce, so he wanted the money, so we gave it to him to get rid of him. Anyway, anyone want a new PC, give me a buzz, i'll build one for ya :-) And im in Canada, so the exchange should make things quite nice for you yanks :D

[Kryten121]

Not complicated for me :-D

Out of all the machines I have built none have come back, and its all because I never use integrated parts, I hate onboard video and sound.

I build my own machines because its the only way I know what goes in them!

[sniper_nick]

Yea i was going to build my own PC but i did not have the time.

Oh well the good thing is i can get back to sinping all of you now.

[IsZi]

You think that's bad? Wait 'till you hear mine. Gonna post in another thread/forum though.

[sniper_nick]

LOL coby i know you have it worse!!

[-=DoW=- Allessir]

maurymac I'll use you for advice and perhaps some parts. With the Exchange I should make ok even after shipping hehe. I'm in Washington state. Just south of BC Canada.

[-=DoW=- MauryMac]

Hehe, sweet, i need the business.

[tedtung]

your little problem is nothing compare to mine... LOL
I've had been infected by 5 different virus at one time, HD over heating, crashes everyone once in a while whenever it feels like it (win2K)....
as soon as I find the time to back up all my files, I will format everything and start fresh!!!!!

[sniper_nick]

Damn that is bad i hope you get that fixed soon.

[tedtung]

Thanks! maybe I'll just get a brand new computer and trash this old one... LOL

[sniper_nick]

LOL dont get a Dell i have had major problems with them getting mine.

[-=DoW=- MauryMac]

Get one from ME!!!!

[tedtung]

Maury, I would... except for the fact that I live in TAIWAN.... LOL :mrgreen:

[-=DoW=- MauryMac]

I'll ship it there :-)

[tedtung]

of course, but shipping will probably cost me another computer! LOL :lol:

[sniper_nick]

Lol it would cost you ALOT of money

[-=DoW=- MauryMac]

oh well, it was worth a try...

[tedtung]

good try :D
however, you could share some experiences with me tho, like which components would make a "stable" system! :mrgreen:

[-=DoW=- MauryMac]

Well, as of now, this is what i would like.

ASUS P4G8X Deluxe Motherboard
Pentium 4 3.06GHz
512MB Corsair TwinXMS DDR RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card
2 200GB Western Digital 8MB Cache Hard Drives in RAID 0 or
2 80GB Serial ATA Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache Hard Drives in RAID 0 or
1 18GB Seagate Cheetah 15K RPM Ultra 320 and a 200GB WD 8MB Cache
Lian Li Full Tower Black Anodized Aluminum Case, with Matching Aluminum Mouse pad, Internal Temperature monitors, acrylic side panel, red internal lighting
450Watt Enermax Power Supply
Pioneer A05 DVD Burner
Pioneer 16x DVD Rom

What am i forgetting...

There is also a newe chipset coming out soon from intel with an 800MHz front side bus, which will go nicely with dual channel DDR at 400MHz. Might be worth waiting for, but then again, there is always something else coming out "soon" in the computer industry, so you just gotta bite the bullet and buy. BUT this is a big step, so i think its worth waiting for.

The things you need to concentrate on are Motherboard and Power supply. Motherboard because it determines your upgrade path, and power supply because it is the most overlooked component in your case, and if you get a piece of junk power supply, it can fry your whole system. Spend the extra 30 bucks or so for a good one, like Antec, PC Power and Cooling, or Enermax.

If you have any questions, let me know. Glad to help.

[sniper_nick]

That sounds like a very nice PC

[tedtung]

That's a awesome system... would cost me a lot of dough too!! LOL
just wondering, why not an AMD?
I personally perferr Pentium, but a lot of people around me uses AMDs... :shock:
I heard the Nvidia 2 chipset are very nice.... whatever it does... LOL
I was also looking at the new Nvidia GeForce FX cards, what do you think about them?

[Gungjuilio]

Compatability and scalability on the Nvidia Geforce FX card is actually quite nice.
It seems to run much smoother than its predecessor and has virtually no delay when multitasking.
Good card in my book. :_thumb: :P
Then again no-one here really knows what I do or what I am studying at ITI Florida either. :)
I am currently upgrading my Microsoft Certified System Engineer Certificate and my Microsoft Certified Database Administrator Certificate to accommodate the Windows 2000 platform.
Along with these Certifications I am Cisco Certified in A+ hardware, A+ software and Net+.
Basically I live eat and breathe computers. This doesn't mean I know everything!! Just a few things about networking, hardware configurations and SQL databases.
There you have it in a nutshell....Thats who Gungjuilio is and what he does.

[-=DoW=- MauryMac]

In my research, the GeforceFX is somewhat less scalable than the Radeon 9800 Pro, due to the 128bit memory, as opposed to the 256bit memory on the radeon. Ther are lots of other differences, but i am not really sure on a few of them, and only time will tell. It also sounds like a freight train when in 3d mode. I myself love ATI for its superior 2D performance. I just went from a Radeon 7200 to a GeForce4 Ti4200, and the 2d is choppy as heck. Image quality isnt quite as good either, but that is all in the eye of the beholder. As for not choosing AMD, i like intels reliability. Sure, they cost an arm and a leg, but its worth it to have the reliability. If you like tinkering and overclocking and that sort of thing, grab an AMD with the new nVidia Nforce2 chipset, very good. Otherwise, stick with intel's rock solid platform.

[-=DoW=- Allessir]

I don't know nuthin bout computers. But I do have my preferences. Some here are going to bash me for this. But as for AMD's reliability. I've never had a problem with them. And I've always run with AMD. Right now I have a Duron 800. And it plays everything just find. But behind that I've abot 512mgs of RAM. No it's not DDR. But I'm working on it. My newest part is the Radeon 9000+pro. 128mg DDR. And it works like a champ. Next I get to get a new sound card. All my old parts are going to get cycled into a different case for my wife to use. Y'all know alot more about computers. But I just keep my running smoothly.

[tedtung]

What about 3D performance?
I'm working on some 3D animations with Maya, of course, there's no way I can afford a Quadra or anything "professional" so, any recommendations?
and I think I'm just going to stick to Pentiums... :D

[Gungjuilio]

As far as 3D performance, you will find that both ATI a Nvidia higher end cards will suit your needs. Although the Nvidia cards do pack more of a "punch", the ATI cards will still give you quality results and they cost less.

[tedtung]

What do you guys thing about this?
P4 2.4 C FSB800Mhz with Hyper Threading
it's less than 200 USD
supposely there will be a Intel 875 chipset that supports it

Maury, is that what you were talking about??

Is HT technology really worth it? or just hype?

What do you guys think??

[-=DoW=- MauryMac]

Wow, i didnt realize you could get an 800MHz processor yet. Hyperthreading is going to be standard eventually for all intle cpu's, so go for it. I run a dual processor machine myself, and i dont think i'll ever be able to go back to a single CPU. I started off with dual PII 400's, and it kicked butt!! Now im up to dual 1GHz, and lovin it, only problem is my agp slot is messed up, and it only runs at 2x :(

I do however know that there are boards out now for the 800MHz fsb

http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4c800-d/overview.htm

This is only one, but im a firm believer in ASUS reliability and quality. I would update my "dream machine" above to include this motherbaord, and 800MHz processor to match, along with the dual channel DDR400. You may need to give me your suppliers name :wink: cause i want one of those porcessors and boards myself. and 200USd is a great price, for such a new product. I keep forgetting how long it takes for new stuff to filter to this god forsaken island. We are like the last to get anything.

[tedtung]

well, I do live in Taiwan, so we get most things as soon as it comes out. That's the good part... The bad part is that you want to upgrade just about every other month... LOL

Let me check the pricing again, cuz there are a few P4 with 800Mhz fbs, so....
I'll get back to you later :D

[-=DoW=- MauryMac]

sweet :-)

[tedtung]

seems like all the big manufacturers are coming out with the intel i865/875 motherboards, so far, more 875 then the entry leven 865 boards.
The new P4 cpus all come with HT technology, with FSB800Mhz, the "slowest" is 2.4Ghz, and then the fastest so far is the P4 3.0c.
p4 2.4c is sold here in Taiwan for about 200USD, and the
ASUS P4C800 DELUXE dual DDR400 board with i875 chipset is for about 240-250USD. and the i865 boards will be expected to be much cheaper than that.
The i875chipset is set for workstations, while the 865 is for regular users. the 875 will expect a 5% performance gain from the 865...

so right now I think the best combination for regular users is the P4 2.4c with a i865 motherboard, which sould be around 300-350 all together?

I guess that's what I will go for once the boards all come out! :mrgreen:

[-=DoW=- MauryMac]

It is my understanding that the 865 will come with a lot less features, like raid, serial ata, firewire, less usb ports, etc. as well as a slight performance decrease, but still a good board.

[tedtung]

yup, less features, perfomance wise, I just read a testing report, with P4 2.4c HT, the cpu was overclocked to 3.06G (air cooled not water cooled), ran 3DMark2001/03 without any problems. Since 865 will be about 1/3 price of the 875, so I think it's good enough for me :mrgreen:

[-=DoW=- MauryMac]

So, can you hook me up with your computer guy :-)

[tedtung]

I have read so many test reports on the new 865/875 chipset motherboards, it's actually getting more and more confusing... LOL
I have asked my friend to check on the prices of some motherboards, and the 800FSB CPUs, will post them as soon as I get them! :mrgreen:

[tedtung]

Intel has lowered their CPU prices:
P4 3.0Ghz FSB 800Mhz 417USD
P4 2.8GHz FSB 800Mhz 290USD
P4 2.4GHz FSB 800Mhz 195USD
These prices looks pretty good...
the FSB 533 versions are just a bit cheaper... about 30 to 60 bucks...

as for the motherboards:
ASUS P4C800 Deluxe With Intel 875 chipset 235USD

Albatron has PX865 PE Pro and Pro II
difference is ProII uses Intel's chip for Lan, and Pro uses 3com's chip
ofcourse, Pro II has Raid, IEEE-1394 and a SPDIF card...
PX865 PE PRO 110USD
PX865 PE PRO II 165USD

I'll post more as I get more info.... :mrgreen: