making a new computer

[rtil]

my computer is a piece of garbage now, and so i'm going to use the money i'm making over the summer to build a new machine so i can actually work in 3d on it without it taking 12 hours to render a single frame. i think i can build a machine on my own and if i can't i'm going to learn anyway . i'll take some parts out of my current machine and use them in a new one, but for the most part i'm buying new stuff. if you know stuff about computers please tell me if anything that i want to buy here is a ripoff or if i should get something else. i tried to do some research on every part but there's so much out on the market i'm not sure what's best. i don't do any hardcore gaming so i did not choose the most high-end video card in the world, just something much better than my ancient geforce 5700 LE lmao.

so here's what i'm getting:



Thermaltake Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($79.99)
ASUS P5K LGA 775 Intel P35 Motherboard ($179.99)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 ($199.99)
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 ($155.99)
WINTEC AMPX 1GB DDR2 SDRAM 800 RAM x3 ($62.97)
Western Digital 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s OEM HD ($99.99)
ZALMAN 9500A 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler ($48.99)
SIGMA SHARK SP-635 635W ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply ($99.99)
Logitech Cordless EX110 Keyboard ($29.99)

all that adds up to $944.89 and there's about $60 worth of mail-in rebates so that's nice

stuff i'm not getting rid off are 2 maxtor 80gb PATA HD's, a sony dvd-rw, a lite-on cd-rw, and a 300gig SATA which i'm pretty sure is broken but i'd like to get the data off it at least.

i am going to sell my 3 gigs of ddr1 ram if anyone wants it.

i have one question i'm sure the answer is "yes" but just to check - i have xp installed on one of the maxtor drives and if i put the drive in a brand new machine am i going to have to reinstall the OS?

anyway yeah if my list of stuff sucks let me know i've never done this before.

ps i'm buying everything through newegg

edit: changed some parts in and out, deciding to get ddr2

[zomfgbie]

give it go-faster stripes

[Sinitron]

i have one question i'm sure the answer is "yes" but just to check - i have xp installed on one of the maxtor drives and if i put the drive in a brand new machine am i going to have to reinstall the OS?

uhmmm not necessarily i think but the drivers will be completely fucked over so yeah you'd have to reconfigure everything and it would be a massive pain in the ass

[billy]

yo rtil that's a pretty leet pc,

also a quad core processor might be worth your while for rendering and stuff

quad core is pretty much better for everything that supports it and i think most adobe applications support it. it wouldn't run most games as well because of the lower clock frequency and probably only 2 of the 4 cores would be used but who gives a fuck right?

if i were you i would get a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115018 and a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814127329 but the video card doesn't matter much for what you're doing anyhow, i'm just always hearing about how shitty ati cards are every day and it's getting to my head

i have one question i'm sure the answer is "yes" but just to check - i have xp installed on one of the maxtor drives and if i put the drive in a brand new machine am i going to have to reinstall the OS?

uhmmm not necessarily i think but the drivers will be completely fucked over so yeah you'd have to reconfigure everything and it would be a massive pain in the ass

back everything up right now and just reinstall the OS because it'll be a massive pain in the ass if you don't

[cr0m]

i am not ogting to give any input cus i have no clue what imt alken about!!!

[LordZeebmork]

i have a 386 with windows 3.1

i'm so leet

[rtil]

ok i'll just reinstall the os, it sucks cuz mine is OEM so i'll have to buy another copy and download all the security updates again but i'm sure xp is a lot cheaper then when i last bought it.

i was thinking about getting an 8800 but i was looking at benchmarks at tomshardware and tweaktown and the sapphire seemed to have far more consistent results

and if i get the quad core do you know how far i can clock it through the bios?

[psi43]

a quadcore and windows XP? why? You can't use quad cores on XP as far as I know.

[rtil]

i can get 64-bit XP for free through my school

[shittyfurryass]

i can get 64-bit XP for free through my school

ive been dying for that but i highly recommend getting the 32 bit version, you won't notice the performance gain and it will diminish the compatibility of your programs due to it is basically windows server 2003

[naruto102]

use windows vista

[Hammi]

Hold on now. About your OS...

I remember when i had to switch over to a new PC myself, and i had a similar problem about the hardrive. So what i did was just connecting the old hardrive into the new PC. If you try starting its OS up like that, it would restart again because of all the drivers from the old PC messing with the boot sequence on the new PC. So what do you do? What i did was using my xp setup cd, and chose install win. After skipping the license bullshit, you get a view of the existing OS that is still on the hardrive. Do you reinstall it? NOPE. Simply mark that existing OS and choose "repair". When you repair that original OS from the old PC, it automatically adjusts all the drivers to work with the new PC. So there you go, you may give it a try. That is IF you havent lost the setup cd.

[rtil]

no i didn't lose it but every time i hit a 'repair' button on windows it never works.

as far as drivers go, i know there's 64-bit drivers for my wireless network adapter, tablet and video card, but i think my old epson scanner and hp deskjet 5500 may be in trouble. but i don't think i use a whole lot of 16-bit applications.

then again i wouldn't need the quad cores for most of what i do. i don't have 64-bit versions of any 3d app and it would probably be hard to find them where i usually get them anyway.

[Hammi]

Im talking about booting from cd in dos mode, in case you havent tried that out yet. And the repair option did work for me, once though.

[rtil]

i think i\\\'ll just reinstall the OS. i can still get a free 32-bit version of XP

if i have to

[billy]

a quadcore and windows XP? why? You can't use quad cores on XP as far as I know.

you're completely wrong

you don't need a 64-bit os to use quad core either. i've heard most people have had good success clocking the Q6600 to 3.0 GHz

vista's pretty stable now btw. I would get vista home premium 64-bit if I were you.

[rtil]

i have no practical reason to upgrade to vista at the moment so i'm not sure if i want to do that yet

[shittyfurryass]

i think i am going to try ultimate x64 and xp on a dual boot

[billy]

i think i am going to try ultimate x64 and xp on a dual boot

no one believes me but vista has not once crashed on me

[LordZeebmork]

i think i am going to try ultimate x64 and xp on a dual boot

no one believes me but vista has not once crashed on me

how many terabytes does vista fill with its bloated dongles?