New Pc

[efthimios]

OK, I just ordered the components for my new PC, I just hope they include all the cables and muck. Well, they can keep the muck, but I hope they include the cables.

It is costing me a lot of money (for me anyway), and I will probably not buy another PC for a few years (2 at a minimum unless I win the lotto, 3++ more likely)

Freaking expensive though. (Not so much at first till I figured out that I forgot to include the CPU and a UPS) :whistle:

Still cheaper than when I bought my laptop in 2002. :blink:
Anyway, I am now eager to build it (not really but you know what I mean) and finaly try Doom 3. :D

No real reason for this post but that I wanted to say it to someone and since this has been my favourite forum for a while....

[Blood-Pigggy]

Mind giving us the specs?

I'm happy for you, bet you can't wait to try out stuff like Doom 3 or Civilization 4.
Perhaps even Half-Life 2.
Believe me, getting a new PC is magic, you open up a new world of gaming.

[efthimios]

Originally posted by Blood-Pigggy@Dec 20 2005, 01:25 AM
Mind giving us the specs?

I'm happy for you, bet you can't wait to try out stuff like Doom 3 or Civilization 4.
Perhaps even Half-Life 2.
Believe me, getting a new PC is magic, you open up a new world of gaming.
Well, not Half Life 2 since I am not going to support Steam, but the rest, yes! Though I spend so much money on it I don't know if I will be able to actualy buy more than a couple games for a while LOL.

I include a screenshot of the specs. Now, yes it is expensive, but I will also use it for some work and I will not buy another one for years.

http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/6618/updatednomouse0nl.th.jpg (http://img470.imageshack.us/my.php?image=updatednomouse0nl.jpg)

Though I am thinking of getting a tv tuner.

[Blood-Pigggy]

Yowza!

As for Half-Life 2, you don't need Steam to play it.
And please don't tell me that you aren't supporting Steam just by not buying any of Valve's games.

Cause cmon, you know that'd just be stupid.

[Evad]

That's ultimate calibre with doom. You are going to be one happy fragger. Have you looked at F.E.A.R yet? Your system will play that full as well.

[Blood-Pigggy]

Yes, get F.E.A.R. instead of Doom 3.

The game with the F is a new experience, whereas the game with the D is Doom with fancy graphics.

[punch999]

Battle field 2 rocks.

[efthimios]

How else could I not support Steam, but to not buy their games? :blink:
And I know you don't need Steam to play it, I have played the game (rocks), but I am still not going to buy it. (or otherwise for you naughty minds you)

I am going to try the demos of all above mentioned games before choosing one. I tried the demo of Doom 3 on my current laptop and well, it was running about 2 fps per 15 sec, which was not good enough to taste the game.

For an FPS game I am inclined to buy Doom 3, due to how much I liked the first 2.
There is also Far Cry, Painkiller, and like 100 more modern FPS that I could give a go at. Not to forget all the ones that run on my laptop like Renegade, Swat 3, Swat 4 (I hope it will install on the new one), BlackHawk Down+Team Sabre (plays ok with minimum settings but, come on!) etc. And that is just a part of the FPS genre. Wish I had money to not have this problem LOL.

[Blood-Pigggy]

Steam is supported by buying games over Steam, and registering your products.

Don't register with Steam, or buy over Steam, and your money will go to the development of more Valve games, instead of development on Steam.

And what's the grudge? If you're not going to support the gaming community by buying games, then why call yourself a gamer?
Please explain why you don't like Steam, and saying you just don't like how it works or what it's making you do is not a valid excuse.

Yes, all those other FPS games are good, but you know Half-Life 2 is better than all of them.

(Especially Far Cry)

[efthimios]

Originally posted by Blood-Pigggy@Dec 20 2005, 02:56 AM
Steam is supported by buying games over Steam, and registering your products.

Don't register with Steam, or buy over Steam, and your money will go to the development of more Valve games, instead of development on Steam.

And what's the grudge? If you're not going to support the gaming community by buying games, then why call yourself a gamer?
Please explain why you don't like Steam, and saying you just don't like how it works or what it's making you do is not a valid excuse.

Yes, all those other FPS games are good, but you know Half-Life 2 is better than all of them.

(Especially Far Cry)

You have got to be kidding me.

I am not going to get a Steam related game, which for now means Valve, as long as they do not have every freaking game in the world under their system, at which point I will buy a rubik's cube.

I am not going to get into the whole debate on steam again. We had a couple long discussions in the past and I see no reason to repeat myself. Just accept that I hate it and I won't have anything to do with it. :)




EDIT: You know, I am worried a tiny bit that the 500W supply might not be enough. :blink:

[Blood-Pigggy]

Originally posted by efthimios@Dec 19 2005, 09:07 PM


EDIT: You know, I am worried a tiny bit that the 500W supply might not be enough. :blink:
I'm not disagreeing with your choice, I'm just wondering why.

As for the 500W, you should make sure with someone you might know that could most likely figure out the best stats, or any hardware technician.

[Galadrin]

Just curious, what made you decide to go with a dual core system rather than going with a pair of opteron (240 series)? I recently did an upgrade and pondered going dual processor, but the case style that I really wanted didn't have the room (and possibly heat-dump). Beautiful system by the way.

[efthimios]

Thank you for your comments.

I didn't go for Opterons because I simply did not considered them at all. No specific reason, just like that. :blink: More to think of it, wouldn't two opterons need even more cooling?

I went for a dual core for two main reasons. 1)I am planning to do some medium to heavy video editing on it. 2) I am sick of the delay that you get at times on single core cpus on certain circumstances. I won't go in detail to not make anyone die from boredom.
:D

[Evad]

Try out this link. There is a calculator to find out power consumtion.

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

[efthimios]

Thanks. :ok:

[Galadrin]

I understand entirely about the processor issues, that's why I wanted to go dual opterons in the first place :D. And yes, they would have had considerable heat issues, that's why I went with a single processor because even though my prescious Tenor case is a thing of beauty (IMHO) and fits ever so nicely into my entertainment centre it probably would have been even more crowded inside and had more heat issues.

[Evad]

no prob. I'm glag I found it as well. Says I need minimum of 289. I'm guessing yours is close to 450!! LOL

[Belfegor]

Originally posted by Evad@Dec 20 2005, 11:41 AM
Try out this link. There is a calculator to find out power consumtion.

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/
=) I need 320Watt. :blink:
Well I read Gainward´s homesite. And their stats on my 3D card is much higher. (Watt) And it needs more watt when I overclock :whistle:
Anyway. Thx for the good site. Will bookmark it :)

[efthimios]

Originally posted by Galadrin@Dec 20 2005, 07:55 PM
I understand entirely about the processor issues, that's why I wanted to go dual opterons in the first place :D. And yes, they would have had considerable heat issues, that's why I went with a single processor because even though my prescious Tenor case is a thing of beauty (IMHO) and fits ever so nicely into my entertainment centre it probably would have been even more crowded inside and had more heat issues.
Yes. :bleh:



According to the company the order left the business sometime early (before noon) on the 20th (FAST!) and they are sending it with Parceforce 24, which is amazing because it means it will arrive here today 21st (it is 0217 now), or at the latest (because Aberystwyth is a few miles after hell's end in terms of how easy is to get here from the rest of the UK) on the 22nd.

The mouse that I bought from another company hasn't been sent yet, which is annoying, but I guess I will have to install my current mx500 for a day. I can live with that. :-p

I am soooo excited with this, if all go well then for the first few days I will try games that I own that I wasn't able to play at high quality, then demos of games that I couldn't play at all (Far Cry for example).


The watt test said I will need a 360 or something, approximately since they didn't have the exact components (didn't have for example the x1x series of graphics cards or the cpu I am getting). Still, I doubt it will go too far over that, perhaps 400 or so at worst. Which is a bit lower than 500. :-p

[efthimios]

The new PC arrived!!! Well, the parts for it anyway, going to spend the next few hours to build it and all. :-)

[efthimios]

PC 1
Efthimios 0


I can't for the life of me unscrew the small panel at the back of the case so that the mainboard fits in properly. It is just two screws and I can't make it. I am leaving to buy a pair of pliers to hold the screwdriver with. You will not defeat me, case!
:sniper:

[efthimios]

HA! A tie!
PC 1
Efthimios 1

After hours trying to find a place that sells pliers, made it back and I am ready to continue, after having some chicken nuggets and chips first.
I am doing well, with this rate I will finish building it by sometime Christmas 2006.

[troop18546]

Originally posted by efthimios+Dec 20 2005, 03:15 AM****</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (efthimios @ Dec 20 2005, 03:15 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> ******QuoteBegin-Blood-Pigggy@Dec 20 2005, 01:25 AM
Mind giving us the specs?

I'm happy for you, bet you can't wait to try out stuff like Doom 3 or Civilization 4.
Perhaps even Half-Life 2.
Believe me, getting a new PC is magic, you open up a new world of gaming.
Well, not Half Life 2 since I am not going to support Steam, but the rest, yes! Though I spend so much money on it I don't know if I will be able to actualy buy more than a couple games for a while LOL.

I include a screenshot of the specs. Now, yes it is expensive, but I will also use it for some work and I will not buy another one for years.

http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/6618/updatednomouse0nl.th.jpg (http://img470.imageshack.us/my.php?image=updatednomouse0nl.jpg)

Though I am thinking of getting a tv tuner. [/b][/quote]
Muthaf*cka... :omg:
(Damn good PC).

[efthimios]

Thank you :D

I do wonder when my mouse will arrive though. (Bought it from another company, it is a logitech mx1000 (the lazer or something one) )

Update, the mainboard is in its place!!!
I am doing this very slowly now, reading the manuals at the same time etc, though it will take me a couple more hours to finish, I hope I will manage for once to have a PC run the first time I switch it on, which I have to say might manage to do so with this mainboard. For the first time in ever, I have seen one with so clear as to what is, both on the board itself and on the manual.



I do have one possibly bad news regarding it though. When I took the mainboard out of its bag, I saw a jumper plasticky thing (switch or whatever it is called, the one that you can place on the jumpers), which had apparently left its place somehow. Well, I find out that it is the one that was going on the jumper for the SATA number 7, and it broke off instead of just coming out. Now, I am not going to use as many devices to need 8 SATA devices, I have just two hard drives (The DVD uses just ATA, right?), but I am worried that it might affect the board somehow. I guess I will find out soon enough.

[efthimios]

I think I am too stupid, or grew too old. There are like a million cables, fun this, fun that, meter one, two, 3342, and the *dirty word* power cable will not completely enter the psu and click as it is supposed to. I think I should have paid a 12 yo some money to build it for me. Why don't you *dirty word* cable enter all the way????????????????

So, any bets as to when I will finish with the hardware installation of everything and ready to power it up? The time now here is 2103. When do you think I will finish with it?

[Galadrin]

I'm betting sometime by tomorrow morning. I think you're just tired and frustrated at the moment, Christmas can do that sometimes. Just don't snap and go sledgehammer style kung-fu on the system (although you could claim it came that way ;)).

[efthimios]

Me, lose my temper? NEEEVEEEEEEEEEEEER!!! :w00t:

The time now is 0130. The system is ready to get some juice. Though if it will actualy work is another matter. I know I am going to regret saying this, but, I am afraid of the tiny cables for the HDD LED and POWER SW etc, I am sure I haven't placed them correctly.

I will try to make some space on my small desk and see how it goes. I will leave my laptop on so I will be online.
To be exact, first I have to 1) open the box of the monitor, 2) open the UPS, 3) Make a slipstream version of xp, 4) find the key of the xp that I haven't used for ages.

Back....soon.

[Ioncannon]

hmm I friggen HATE steam, I preffer the old WON system better =(

[Evad]

Cable won't click all the way in??? That's wierd. I'm guessing it came with the psu so why wouldn't it?? I really think they make this stuff as un-userfriendly as possible. Good luck.

@last post, I didn't mind WON, except for those sessions were you'd have to try logging in like 200 times cause it keeps telling you that your legitimate cd key is in use!!!!

[efthimios]

Back, though, not as soon as I was hoping.

The PC did not work. The mainboard's LED of "mainboard in standby" was lit, so I knew it was getting some power. Everything looked ok from the outside but the monitor would get no signal. My first thoughts were of checking the connections to the graphics card and the monitor. Nothing. Changed the video out of the card (it has two dvi), still nothing. Tried the DVI->VGA adaptor and connected it to the monitor's VGA-in , nothing.
I, was, getting, annoyed. It was getting very late, and at arround 4 something am I decided to remove everything from the PC but the mainboard.

Nothing.

So, the mainboard has a 24 pin connector for the main 12V power, but the power supply has this 20+4 pin(s) so that you can plug in to both 20 pin and 24 pin mainboards. I did all of them, though the last 4 were not fit correctly, I think. I also checked the leds on the bottom of the mainboard with the manual, and it would stop when doing the memory checking.

So, I unplugged the last 4 pins for the power from the mainboard, and also remobed the memory. The PC would power up this time properly with the PSU running, but of course, nothing more....I placed on of the dimms in, nothing. I put the dimm in the second slot of the first channel, it worked!, bios and all. I put the second dimm in the second slot of the second channel and it worked! For some reason the first two slots do not work, or something with my memory.

Anyway, I went to bed and formated the first drive earlier and installed windows xp sp2 (slipstreamed). .....

Good thing of course, is that I also went out earlier and bought a couple of games in very good price.
Area 51, Act of war, silent hunter iii. fear, heroes of the pacific, pacific fighters.
:D

Still, the first game I will try to run on it will be a DOS game. :)

[efthimios]

Now, it didn't take me too long, did it? ....
Everything works but the front drive of the soundcard for some reason. I sent an email to creative to get a solution soon I hope.
Other than that, it is working fine.
I tried only one DOS game, a text adventure, and everything looked HUGE!
I also tried the demo of Quake 4, and I have to say, it is going to take me a while this move from my old laptop to this beast.

Glad to be able to share my experience with you lot. Thanks for not bitching or anything. :D