Derek's Upgrade Thread

[American Zombie]

Only cases I buy anymore are Lian-Li.

 

[kcnychief]

Picked out my case, only $49.99 after rebates. I was thinking about it, and my computer is under my desk and I'll never look at it. This one has a lot of features I like, and saving money is always good

 

[kcnychief]

Done

 

[Nick M]

Picked out my case, only $49.99 after rebates. I was thinking about it, and my computer is under my desk and I'll never look at it. This one has a lot of features I like, and saving money is always good

Good choice. The deciding factors for me in choosing a case are fans ( 120mm pref, how many it can hold ) and size in terms of how many hard drives you can stick in here, and how cool they'll be. Dual PSU is also a needed requirement - and mesh filters ( immense amounts of dust in my flat, ancient house )

That said, congrats and what did you pick?

 

[kcnychief]

Links to all hardware are in original post at the top

 

[Heeter]

I just bought my Case.

It's a PC-V1100Plus by LIAN-LI.

I love it.

Almost finished putting together.

This is where I got it from: SilverPC's

You should get one too.

Heeter

 

[kcnychief]

That is a nice case, but too much for me. I'm only going to have one hard drive and two opticals, I'd be wasting the space.

I could get more, but remember I just bought that 1TB NAS

 

[kcnychief]

I just picked up this sound card too, it's a real nice unit as y'all probably know and after the rebate the price is solid too

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=290236

 

[kcnychief]

Last component I need to pick is the video card. My requirements are a PCIx16 slotted card, that has VGA support as my LCD is VGA. What do you guys think of this card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102681

 

[madmatt]

Depends on how much you want to spend and what you plan on doing with it.

 

[kcnychief]

I would like to spend around 150, if not less.

I don't game or watch movies on my PC, I just want sharp video to be able to handle such demands if I ever venture into it. Generally speaking I have gotten away with onboard video in the past, but I have started to notice the lack of quality in that department.

I also want a card that going forward won't have issues running Vista, as well as the other possibilities (gaming, video, etc.)

 

[kcnychief]

Who's got a suggestion? I want to order it tomorrow

 

[LeeJend]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102681

ROFLMAO. 4 pixel pipeline card with a 128 bit memory interface and a guy posting comments says he's running fear at max resolution???

For $160 you should get at least 8 pixel pipes and 256 MB memory interface.

Look for a 6800 GS. There is nothing in the ATI line up I'd consider worth the money in that price range. ATI has been neglecting the mid-price cards for a while.

Price range options. Look at the X850XT or the 6800 GS. They are probably the most bang for the buck. Warning the X850XT is hot card that takes 2 slots.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...609641&Submit=ENE&Subcategory=48&minPrice=140

Then again considering how badly I blew my last video card upgrade you might no want to look at my suggestions.

 

[kcnychief]

ROFLMAO. 4 pixel pipeline card with a 128 bit memory interface and a guy posting comments says he's running fear at max resolution???

For $160 you should get at least 8 pixel pipes and 256 MB memory interface.

Look for a 6800 GS. There is nothing in the ATI line up I'd consider worth the money in that price range. ATI has been neglecting the mid-price cards for a while.

Who said anything about running fear? I don't game and never have :s

I will look at the 6800 GS, thx.

EDIT: how about this one?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127179

 

[kcnychief]

Upgrade complete. Reference the original post for the components selected. All parts have been ordered and will be here by Friday, w00t

 

[Son Goku]

Being an abject coward I'd go with the 7200 RPM with the bigger cache. 10,000 RPM screams short life to me.

Umm, though I'm not sure about these drives from Western Digital, 10,000 RPM doesn't necessarily scream short life My 2 hard drives are 10,000 RPM (the Seagate Cheetah). One of the drives was bought in December 2005 and is now 5+ years old. The other was bought in May 1998 and is almost 8 years old. I have not yet seen any signs of them dieing as of yet...

The one thing about such fast drives however, some active cooling on the drives can be a good thing. In my case, I have 2 fans (1 pulling air away from each drive, though it originally blew inward prior to my current case), and a mettle enclosure, that the drives are scrwed into that restricts the air flow, so as to create a bit of a "wind tunnel" like effect around them. As long as one's sure to cool them (which Seagate, last I heard, did recommend with the Cheetahs), one can be fine...

Anyhow, good luck Derkek with your upgrade there... Tell us when you got the thing up and running

The Plextor itself might or might not prove problematic, though I only have other people's word on this. Reason, I have a Plextor RW 4/2/20, which was their very first RW drive, that they ever made. It's about 7 or 8 years old, and no problem. Other people also reported good experiences. I've heard some claim that they've had a number of Plextors (in recent years) die on them at work, in a variety of different comps. I don't have a newer one to compare this suggested experience with however. Good luck there also...

 

[madmatt]

You purchased it in December, 2005 and it is five years old? Where does the time go?

 

[kcnychief]

You purchased it in December, 2005 and it is five years old? Where does the time go?

He may be referring to the manufacturer date off the hard drive. Either that or the poor boy hasn't had his coffee yet

 

[Son Goku]

ROFL, December 2000... Ah well, it was 5:55 am, and I hadn't gone to bed yet. And given I have class at 10 am, I think the prospects of my going to bed this morning are rather out :laugh:

 

[kcnychief]

mmhmm, modified the order a bit this morning before it was processed.

Ended up going with the P-160W case, different RAM as the other rebate had expired, and got a modular PSU