Computer M-M-M-MEGATHREAD

[slade]

okay... well my computer worked fine for a few days after i installed the video card and ram, then yesterday my computer randomly decided to crash on me. it just shut down all of a sudden. i tried powering it back up, and it would work for a little while, then crash again. it was literally the worst time possible for the computer to crash... besides maybe after writing a 10 page paper without saving . anyway this morning i tried turning the computer on again. it wouldnt. it powered up, but was stuck in the "VAIO" screen, and i couldnt even get to the bios. i turned it off, turned it on again, and after a few times doing that it still wouldnt power up. i took out the video card and it powered up again... but then crashed, and did so a few times. it came up with a "windows has recovered from a serious error" message, and when i sent an error report it said one time it had to do with the drivers and another the memory. eventually i took out the extra memory i put in. i just powered it on now and havent had a problem as of yet.

since i got the computer i added another hard drive, a video card, and ram. do you think that the power supply is too weak to handle that, or do you think that it could be a problem with the extra memory i bought?

[sbpyro]

Just a little warning

since i put my computer under a desk the temp as gone up a bit, so i am looking at watercooling. what do you guys think of these?

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0213610

http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0212811

i am leaning more towards the top one. are there any problems you can see with them? thanks.

Had a coworker who use to work for microcenter tell me about their business practices, I didn't believe him til I went to buy a new P4 2.0 ghz processor. I open up the packaging (shrink wrap) and pull it out noticed there was thermal paste on the processor and residual on the heat sink.Apparently some one had returned the processor and they resealed the processor and tried to sell it as new.

[tribalman]

well, i went out and got the zalman 9500, and on vertial mounted rails, it's kind of a pain, but i got it on. it's keeping the processor cooler, but i've noticed it likes to jump around more than before. but it's not going into the 80*F, so that is good.

[CodeMA]

slade...get a copy of memtest or microsoft memory tester...you might have got some bad ram thats causeing system instability....

[zackzel]

Processors

I am looking into building a super computer and I've been looking at the processor chips, which is better the AMD or the Pentium? Also are there any new chips coming out in the next few months as I will most likely be building this over the summer.

Also how hard is a water cooled system to set up?

Thanks for the info in advance, also if this has been covered please refer me to it I'll admit I didn't really read through the thread.

[FooTemps]

I am looking into building a super computer and I've been looking at the processor chips, which is better the AMD or the Pentium? Also are there any new chips coming out in the next few months as I will most likely be building this over the summer.

Also how hard is a water cooled system to set up?

Thanks for the info in advance, also if this has been covered please refer me to it I'll admit I didn't really read through the thread.

Okay, processor wise: wait until the AMD chips are updated. They should come with an update that'll give them another few hundred mhz...

Watercooling can be easy or extremely difficult depending on the setup you make. You can either buy kits or assemble setups yourself. You can also build your own waterblocks and reservoirs if you desire.

I've built my own watercooling system around a custom made waterblock that Colin from Deadlywinds (nicad on these forums) helped me make. It was a custom waterblock that ran off an aquarium pump and an oversized tank of water (due to lack of radiator I had to have some sort of cooling or a mass of water so large it takes a while to heat up). Now I'm building a watercooling system from off the shelf parts. It still takes time and effort. If you really want it easy, you can get an easy install kit that is almost as simple as aircooling. (For example, the coolermaster aquagate mini)

As for building a system, I'd say that waiting until a couple weeks before you can build to start looking for parts would be a good suggestion. This ensures top of the line parts and latest technology and better compatibility if you buy all at the same time. Just make sure that you plan your build before and make the plan flexible to fit whatever you buy.

[zackzel]

Okay, processor wise: wait until the AMD chips are updated. They should come with an update that'll give them another few hundred mhz...

Watercooling can be easy or extremely difficult depending on the setup you make. You can either buy kits or assemble setups yourself. You can also build your own waterblocks and reservoirs if you desire.

I've built my own watercooling system around a custom made waterblock that Colin from Deadlywinds (nicad on these forums) helped me make. It was a custom waterblock that ran off an aquarium pump and an oversized tank of water (due to lack of radiator I had to have some sort of cooling or a mass of water so large it takes a while to heat up). Now I'm building a watercooling system from off the shelf parts. It still takes time and effort. If you really want it easy, you can get an easy install kit that is almost as simple as aircooling. (For example, the coolermaster aquagate mini)

As for building a system, I'd say that waiting until a couple weeks before you can build to start looking for parts would be a good suggestion. This ensures top of the line parts and latest technology and better compatibility if you buy all at the same time. Just make sure that you plan your build before and make the plan flexible to fit whatever you buy.

So the AMD is going to be a better chip after they update?

[FooTemps]

So the AMD is going to be a better chip after they update?

AMD has been the better chip since 64 and dual core. It's been tested by various overclocking sites.

[tribalman]

personally i think AMD has been better since the 1800 or so. the pentium 3's weren't that good, and i feel the pentium 4s can't compete with some of the single core amd's.

[maxama10]

deffiently agreed. 64 bit (AMD Athalon 64) vs 32 bit (Intel P4)
no contest.....

[maxama10]

Here's my mean machine right here:
Powerbook G4 1.5ghz 512mb ram pc2700 (blegh) ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 AGP 64mb meghhhh couldve been better but im happy with it over all builtin wifi and bluetooth so pretty nice machine....all in all (i think)
osx v10.4.3 tiger!

then of course i have my Dell Dimension 8300 with a p4 2.6 ghz i think eghh 1.25 gb pc3200 ram some crappy geforce4 mx440 vid card and a 80gb hard drive a true GAMING MACHINE
wooo it gets what i need done though....which isnt much since i never use the crap windows on it unless the occasion arises where i need Xp rather then osx (not trying to turn into a nother M$ sucks thread just saying i dont use it much thats why the specs are crap..... or atleast the vid card is crap also its AGP so not much to update it with these days...)
anyways yeahhh....ii love my powerbook

[Mango]

Here's my mean machine right here:
Powerbook G4 1.5ghz

NICE! I LOVE my 15" Powerbook, Mac's seriously are the greatest PC's...period. The only reason I built my AMD rig was for games, no other purpose. All of my work and important items are on my macs.

[maxama10]

Oh boy i cant wait to get a job, Ill have a sweet setup just like that!
mabey a powermac g5 instead though
but those new Imac's are sweet too

[Mango]

Anybody want to buy an A8N SLi Premium motherboard by any chance? My buyer never got back to me, so I still have it here. Brand new Let me know.

[pbzmag]

Anybody want to buy an A8N SLi Premium motherboard by any chance? My buyer never got back to me, so I still have it here. Brand new Let me know.

Wished that you were selling it back in November. I just bought a new rig.