Sophia Died. Thankfully she was an organ donor.

J

Jonao

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Jan 24, 2005
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My computer, Sophia, died. I had her on life support for months, but it's over. I need to move on and build another computer. I tested her power supply and hard drive and both are ready to be used again, as well as her body err case.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Primarily Gaming and Web Browsing. I do use Skype and Ventrilo, and stream content over my network to my television (Hulu, various other video sources, HTPC functions basically)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1000 including tax and shipping

3) Where do you live?
Connecticut

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Video Card, DVD drive and any additional CPU cooling if the stock coolers aren't any good.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Antec TP3-550 http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16817371002 If this power supply is going to severely limit my choices on video cards I'd be willing to upgrade this too.
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

6) Will you be overclocking?
No, unless the motherboard comes with that OC Genie feature, I'd like to be able to use that if it's available.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I have a 19" Viewsonic CRT, but would like to be able to support a 24" LCD eventually

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within a month

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Need : A full PCI-e 2.0 X 16 lane
Need: Onboard sound that can easily handle Skype and Ventrilo
Want : USB 3.0 that doesn't nuke a PCI-e lane would be great too, but I'm not sure if any implementations of that are available yet. As I won't be upgrading again for quite a while, I'd like to have this feature, but would skip it quickly if it over-complicated/overpriced the build.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
I do not yet have a copy of Windows 7. I do have an unused copy of Windows Vista Business (MS sent it to me for doing some surveys. Never installed it, stuck with XP Pro) maybe I could use that to get a cheaper upgrade version of Windows 7? I wouldn't want to have to actually install that crap to use the upgrade CD though.
 
I think you'll be able to easily do it. 24" monitor, that'll definitely be easy.
Just worry if you need to go higher than 27". I'm expecting about a $800 computer.

What er ... organs did Sophia have so we know where you're coming from?
 
Your power supply will be fine.

Pick up an i5, stock cooler is fine unless you want to get into overclocking and serious tweaking. Factory stock settings will be fine for any gaming present or visible future.
P55 based motherboard from ASUS or Gigabyte, compare features. Both I think have some new boards with eSATA 6G and USB3.0
4GB DDR3 kit
Then the most powerful videocard you can afford with left over money. Which will probably be a 5870, the above parts won't drain half of your budget.
 
How soon will you be upgrading to a 24" monitor? If it's not within two months, no point in getting a HD 5870 as there are cheaper cards that'll provide the same gaming experience on a small monitor like that.
 
Danny Bui said:
How soon will you be upgrading to a 24" monitor? If it's not within two months, no point in getting a HD 5870 as there are cheaper cards that'll provide the same gaming experience on a small monitor like that.
Click to expand...
He said "eventually", so I figure not too soon. And a 19" still has a pretty high resolution, 1600 at least, it's been years since I had a CRT, but I think some of ours would do upto 2048 resolution, which would provide a stunningly crisp image.
 
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Menelmarar said:
He said "eventually", so I figure not too soon. And a 19" still has a pretty high resolution, 1600 at least, it's been years since I had a CRT, but I think some of ours would do upto 2048 resolution, which would provide a stunningly crisp image.
Click to expand...

Still, would you really play at 1600x1xx0 on a 19"? Seems kind of awkward to me.
 
How/why did the old computer die, this is a question you must ask when you are thinking about reusing old parts. That "good" PSU might not be so good, it could be tossing high/low current on your lines and thats what fried your old machine. Over the last decade or so of computer building I have found that a majority of the computer failures were PSU related, usually in the +/-5v line.
 
Nanan said:
How/why did the old computer die, this is a question you must ask when you are thinking about reusing old parts. That "good" PSU might not be so good, it could be tossing high/low current on your lines and thats what fried your old machine. ...
Click to expand...

I agree, it would be optimal to figure out what caused the demise of your old system.

Danny Bui said:
Still, would you really play at 1600x1xx0 on a 19"? Seems kind of awkward to me.
Click to expand...

I agree. I see no point in playing at such a high resolution with such a small monitor. One of the major benefits of still using a CRT is its ability to change resolution and still look great. Most of the pixel pushing GPU's were designed with LCD's in mind. As Danny mentioned, you need not pay for such a powerful GPU if you'll be using a CRT for 2mo or more.

However, with $1k, you do have room for a good gaming/web comp (Phenom2-based), including a new TN panel 1080P monitor.

Jonao said:
...
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Need : A full PCI-e 2.0 X 16 lane
Need: Onboard sound that can easily handle Skype and Ventrilo
Want : USB 3.0 that doesn't nuke a PCI-e lane would be great too, but I'm not sure if any implementations of that are available yet. As I won't be upgrading again for quite a while, I'd like to have this feature, but would skip it quickly if it over-complicated/overpriced the build.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
I do not yet have a copy of Windows 7. I do have an unused copy of Windows Vista Business (MS sent it to me for doing some surveys. Never installed it, stuck with XP Pro) maybe I could use that to get a cheaper upgrade version of Windows 7? I wouldn't want to have to actually install that crap to use the upgrade CD though.
Click to expand...

9) Nearly all recommended boards for your use will include a PCI-E 2.0 16x slot and good enough on-board HD Audio to handle Skype/Vent. :p

Since no current mobo chipset natively supports USB3.0, all current implementations will most likely be on the PCI-E bus. Intel does not plan on implementing USB3.0 natively into their chipsets until 2011. Personally, I believe its because they're hoping LightPeak will prevent the need for USB3.0, which is why they took so long to finish it and are still dragging their heels. There are boards that still offer it, like the GA-P55A-UD3.

AFAIK, Implementing the "install trick" with upgrade media is not against the EULA, and is legal as long as the license is legal (you own a legit and eligible license to upgrade from).
 
My preference has been to run most of the games I play at 1600 x 1200.

I am concerned that anything connected to my last PC could endanger a new build. I bought a power supply tester and checked all the larger leads going out of it that were connected to anything. I'll check the rest to be 100% sure.

My computer was having problems POSTing, the power indicators would turn on, fans on but no output on the screen ( I tested the monitor and that's fine ). When it would POST, it would lockup whenever it was most inconvenient

At first the POSTing issue was inconsistent, but would take turning off power at the power supply and then turning it back on for it to actually boot. As it got worse I just left it on on standby mode. At that point if it got turned off it wouldn't start back up, so I was going part by part looking for the cause. I'd check RAM seatings, make sure all power leads were connected properly, all other cables connected properly. None of these things reliably fixed the problem.

When it started locking up I reset CMOS and that gave a statistically insignificant window of no problems that I thought that had fixed it, but after a day or so of no issues, it locked up and no amount of reseatings, CMOSing, checking has brought it back.


The computer was running a
2.66 ghz Core 2 Duo (don't remember the exact model number)
MSI P6N SLI
Geforce 8600 GTS
2 x 2 gb DDR2 RAM
640 gb WD Sata Drive
A wireless card, that I didn't use, but it was properly installed

No overclocks, the case is extremely well ventilated, the cooler on the CPU has a large copper heatsink aswell.

When I bought the power supply tester I was certain I would discover that to be the cause of the system instability but it went through the tests showing zero faults so far. I'll get the rest of them tested when I get back from work tonight.
 
I just finished checking each power cord out of the power supply. Every one passed, with the exception of 1 string of 2 4-prong ones that had "Fan Only" printed on them. I suspect these are fine aswell, as they showed they were getting power, but clearly aren't intended for anything other than fans. They were not being used for anything but fans.

So, I'm even more confident now that the power supply isn't the issue here. I'm actually impressed with the power supply, after a couple years on the job all of the power results were well within the acceptable ranges. Go Antec!, I guess.
 
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