Author Topic: Preliminary shopping list (Read 903 times)

filadawg · « **on:** July 19, 2001, 04:20:00 PM »

okay, here it is.

Input welcomed

1.4 gig thunderbird
a7m266 asus mobo
512 meg ddr
intellimouse usb
seagate 30.7 gig hd
soundblaster live 5.1
pioneer 16x dvd
us robotics 56k modem
nec 75f accusync monitor
thermaltake blueord vid cooler
planning on using thermaltake fans for cpu. any suggestions? and does anyone see any problems?

Thanks
Fila

bloom25 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 19, 2001, 04:35:00 PM »

Change the seagate to a 60GXP IBM drive and it would look perfect to me.

If you are using a thermaltake fan, I'd say the only one that is near good enough is the Volcano 2. I personally would look for the Thermalright Sk6.

filadawg · « **Reply #2 on:** July 19, 2001, 04:40:00 PM »

Thanks bloom, your my hero!!!

Skuzzy · « **Reply #3 on:** July 19, 2001, 07:05:00 PM »

If you can afford it, I would jump up the monitor to the nec fp955 (19"). It currently has the fastest vertical refresh rate on the market.
You did not list a video card, so the monitor may not buy you much. But if you are getting a DVD drive, I would go with the Radeon 64MB DDR card. It does have the best video performance for DVD playback and it is not much of a slouch for games either.

Animal · « **Reply #4 on:** July 19, 2001, 11:00:00 PM »

I was about to post that you change the hard disk to the 60GXP, but then I read blooms follow-up post

You will not regret the change. I love my new IBM. I'd have robot sex with it, if its spinning plates were not razor sharp.

I also suggest you cut some corners and get at least a 10x CD-RW drive, unless you have one already. Those things are awesome, and I cant live without a CD-RW.

I suggest a Radeon 64 or a Geforce Ultra. Dont go for the GF3 yet, save the extra $150 for their next product, probably Geforce 3 Ultra or something.

anyways, nothing that you dont know already. just some comments

good luck on your upgrade. I love doing these things too.

[ 07-20-2001: Message edited by: Animal ]

Maverick · « **Reply #5 on:** July 21, 2001, 07:30:00 PM »

Question.

Why a DVD in the pc instead of a CD or CD RW?? I see no reason to watch movies on my PC. I have a digital TV for that stuff.

Mav

Tyro48 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 21, 2001, 09:34:00 PM »

Bought a Thermaltake for my 1Ghz CPU and it didn't cut the mustard in fact it was worse than what I had before, try going to 2cool.com and look at the fan tests he has done, maybe e-mail him your sys specs and see what he says is a good heatsink/fan combo for your MB and CPU.

sprint · « **Reply #7 on:** July 22, 2001, 12:13:00 AM »

Tyro48 Take a look at the fan adapters at Plycon > http://216.157.14.244/fanadpt.htm

I dont have one but they look pretty kewl and they seem to make sense. Their are several similar products out in the market place.

You can really force a lot of air down on the heat sink .. Anyway just my $.02 at 1:30 in the morning.

sprint
*MOL*

I finally got my head together;now my body is falling apart.

bloom25 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 22, 2001, 12:35:00 AM »

Thermaltake != Thermalright, they are different companies.

Thermaltake makes the orbs (which all suck), and they make the volcano 2, which is ok, but not for a 1.4 IMO. Thermalright is a new company and they make an all copper cooler called the SK6 that performs very well. You will need to buy a fan though, since the heatsink comes without one. For quiet performance I'd probably get the Sunon "green fan." (The Delta fan you sometimes hear about is INCREDIBLY loud and should only be used if you are deaf or really like a sound much like a jet engine.

)

Sancho · « **Reply #9 on:** July 22, 2001, 03:24:00 AM »

I second what Skuzz said about the monitor... I have an NEC FP955 and it rocks. Very sharp and easy on the eyes, even at 1600x1200 with 85Hz refresh.

I'd skimp a little on the mouse and go with a $15 Kensington Wheelmouse Optical. I have one and it tracks beautifully, and you never have to clean it. MS has opticals too, but you pay extra for the MS name on the same technology.

vatiAH · « **Reply #10 on:** July 22, 2001, 06:57:00 AM »

Bloom is 100% correct about the noise produced by the delta fan equiped heat sinks. I'm getting use to it now, but man is it load. I turn the engine sounds off in Falcon 4 now , the delta sounds more realistic

Defiance · « **Reply #11 on:** July 22, 2001, 07:21:00 AM »

Hiya's,
Dawg if you go with the Live 5.1 you may have to do this.....

Disable the Creative dos emulation (control panel/system/general)
I had no boots with that running

If no probs when all setup for first boot leave emulation on
If probs do the above and also i can explain how to remove the emulation so you never have to disable again

(error will be a VXD error btw)

Have Fun

Def

MrBill · « **Reply #12 on:** July 22, 2001, 10:19:00 AM »

I suggest you spring for a win2000 upgrade cd. It is well worth the cost and Leph and Bloom can get you all set up with it, or you can search for the threads where they helped me.

You can do a full install with the upgrade cd, if you do not know how just ask here or email me.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #13 on:** July 22, 2001, 10:46:00 AM »

FYI: Those of you using Win2K might want to keep very close tabs on the MS upgrades as there is currently a bug with Win2K related to DX based games. Here is the extraction of said text from MS's DX SDK

"- A bug in the Windows2000 kernel causes an issue upon mode-switches for AGP surfaces locked with the NOSYSLOCK flag. The contents of any such surface may become inaccessible for the duration of the NOSYSLOCK lock if a mode-switch happens after the Lock and before the Unlock. This happens for both DX7 and DX8 applications. The most likely scenario is a DX8 application running on a driver that supports hardware vertex buffers, but using software vertex processing (fixed or shader). Under these scenarios, Direct3D might keep a NOSYSLOCK lock on an AGP vertex buffer.
If the user alt-tabs out of the application or does anything else to cause a mode-change, the thread writing into the texture buffer may fault. There is no known workaround. Microsoft will fix this issue in the next version of Windows and will attempt to ship a fix in a future Windows2000 Service Pack."

Lephturn · « **Reply #14 on:** July 22, 2001, 05:24:00 PM »

Just FYI, I've never had a problem running games in Win2k. Ever since the later VIA 4-IN-1's, I've been able to run anything I want and I've not had a problem. Runs as fast as my 98 box, and more stable too.