Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16399
Loc: Brooker, FL
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Well, the last of the "bargin" components (although they were the only not-on-sale components I got) arrived today - three enterprise-class (subset "NS", 32 MB cache) Seagate Barracuda 500 GB HDDs, to be set up in RAID 5. Actually, the Intel E8500 Core 2 Duo wasn't either, but Intel's price slashing impelled me.
Quote:
The Graphics Card is an EVGA 8800 GTS. I also plan on buying a second one and bridging them.
Charlie, I hope you have a mobo with the nVidia core logic, as Intel supports only ATI's Crossfire. Which is odd, as ATI is owned by AMD...
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N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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Charles
Post Laureate
Reged: 06/12/03
Posts: 4111
Loc: Enterprise, AL
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I have the ASUS P5K Deluxe MOBO and it does support the NVidia Core Logic (I believe). I spent most of my research finding a Mobo that would get me through at least two upgrades.
Charlie
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Charles
Post Laureate
Reged: 06/12/03
Posts: 4111
Loc: Enterprise, AL
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Hi Dave, Thanks for the comments. The Mobo is a ASUS P5K deluxe Wifi. I love ASUS Mobos. I have never had a problem with them. I will only have to change the mobo if I decide I want DDR3 memory.
BTW; That is a ASUS Cooling tower and because of its height forced me to buy the Thermalake (spelling) tower. I love the tower. It has plenty of fans on the top, front, sides and back and supports liguid cooling. I am thinking about running a liguid cooler on my next upgrade.
Charlie
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16399
Loc: Brooker, FL
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Quote:
I have the ASUS P5K Deluxe MOBO and it does support the NVidia Core Logic (I believe).
Charlie
That mobo uses the Intel P35 Northbridge; the upside is that the new 4850- and 4870-based ATI graphics cards are superb.
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N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16399
Loc: Brooker, FL
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It's getting a bit crowded in here; last week, I got the three HDDs for the RAID 5 setup, the last components. Originally, the Noctua NH-C12P was arranged, but there wasn't enough clearance in the case (one of those "upside-down" arrangements). SO I got another Noctua, the NH-U12P, and while it fit, the DFI mobo's HSF for the Northbridge didn't. A bit of minor surgery cured that, and here's where the build stands today:
From the top:
The Noctua CPU HSF
The DFI included Northbridge HSF
To the right: The Corsair Dominator RAM with its fans
Next, the eVGA nVidia 8800GT
Bottom PCIe slot: 8-Channel RAID card, to be run at RAID 5.
The soundcard (Creative X-Gamer Hi-Fi) goes in between. This is my first from-scratch build in several years, and the volume of the geek-style aftermarket parts caught me off guard!
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rboe
Numbfinger
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 39705
Loc: Phx, AZ
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Charles; I've been slumming.  Was going to build again but with the outlet store at Dell there was simply no way I could build something affordable compared to them.
A new Mac is in the pipeline at some point and the PowerBook is still running strong (the PowerBook and an IBM A31 both recieved 7200rpm hard drive upgrades last year - breathed new life into them  ).
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
15X70 Obies
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Charles
Post Laureate
Reged: 06/12/03
Posts: 4111
Loc: Enterprise, AL
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Rusty have you considered the ThermalTake Case. It has room for the space shuttle.  It is what I have and other than being HEAVY I love it. Best case I ever had. Check out this link on Newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133021
Charlie
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Charles
Post Laureate
Reged: 06/12/03
Posts: 4111
Loc: Enterprise, AL
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Ron, you know I just had to jab you over going with a Dell when for years all you talked about was the Apple. 
Been there and have that T-Shirt though, sometime an outlet store just has a deal so good you really can not pass it up. All our family's laptops are from HP's outlet store. Not the best laptops, but great customer service.
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16399
Loc: Brooker, FL
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Quote:
Rusty have you considered the ThermalTake Case. It has room for the space shuttle. It is what I have and other than being HEAVY I love it. Best case I ever had. Check out this link on Newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133021
Charlie
I considered many cases, and ended up with the Lian-Li V1200 Plus II, which has more volume even than the ThermalTake.
Oddly enough, I was scrounging for a 40mm fan, and ran across two TT Golden Orbs (one still in the box!), which back in The Days, were the creme de la creme of aftermarket HSFs for overclocking. I guess I just throw nothing away.  This peecee is on its third or fourth mobo, and is still in the Lian-Li PC-60USB I bought years ago.
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N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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Charles
Post Laureate
Reged: 06/12/03
Posts: 4111
Loc: Enterprise, AL
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I like the case especially those wheels. I wish mine had wheels because it does wigh a ton.
Charles
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Mattbtn
Post Laureate
Reged: 02/08/06
Posts: 3163
Loc: Chattanooga, TN
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Lookin like a nice setup Rusty...you got it booted yet?
What kind of Memory cooler is that?
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"Computers help us solve the many mysteries of the universe. They also help us make the same mistake many times, really fast."
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16399
Loc: Brooker, FL
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The RAM cooler is stock Corsair Dominator - clips onto the tabs of the RAM slots. The Northbridge cooler came with the mobo (except the fan was missing, so the scrap box came into play).
First Light should come Friday or Saturday - Project of the Week is retiling the master bedroom shower, about 90% done. Finish placing tile tomorrow, and while the mastic cures, flash up the new peecee. Have a few connections to make (FDD, Monitoring Center, and a CD-RW drive, and it's Go For Launch). With all the software and drivers to be installed and configured, I'd guess about 30 M/H to bring this one fully online.
Then, of course, comes the overclocking... (I can't help myself...) The Core2Duo E8500 is stock at 3.16 GHz; I think 3.6-3.9 is doable. I'd certainly like the 50% OC I used to get from the Celeron 300s, but I'm a realist.
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N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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bsim
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/04/08
Posts: 683
Loc: New York City
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That's a nice setup. I ditched the Creative cards, including my X-Fi. Too many driver issues. If you're going to use Vista, Creative finally released drivers.
The 8800GT is a nice card. You're not using it for games, right?  My 8800GT is only used for serious applications 
I may upgrade my processor to an E8500 for the heck of it. Currently, I have the E6400 which is honestly more than fast enough for everything including any games.
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Teeter's 10" F/6 Truss Dob / Sky Commander DSC / Round Table Platform
Celestron C80ED / MoonLite CF Tri-Knob
William Optics ZS66, Orion XT8i, Orion XT4.5
Canon 10x30 IS, Constellation View 2.3x40 Bino
Astro-Tech Voyager, Bogen 3011 & 3036, UA MicroStar Deluxe
Howie Glatter Laser & tuBlug
13 & 8 Ethos, 35 & 24 Panoptic, Nagler 3-6 Zoom, TV 8-24 Zoom
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Mattbtn
Post Laureate
Reged: 02/08/06
Posts: 3163
Loc: Chattanooga, TN
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I remember being very very hesitant to install my X-Fi card when I upgraded to Vista, but after seeing that the drivers were available and not many complaints posted online, I gave it a go and haven't had any issues.
Rusty that's a nice cooling setup...I've never been one for overclocking but I should probably look into it once I upgrade my CPU Cooler. What temps does your system normally operate at? My CPU typically runs around 90ºF with the stock heatsink, and the chipset sits right around 99ºF or so.
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"Computers help us solve the many mysteries of the universe. They also help us make the same mistake many times, really fast."
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16399
Loc: Brooker, FL
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bsim, so far the only games I would use the 8800 GT for are pretty lightweight. Doom 4 is the heaviest, which the 8800 can handle without a sweat. If worse comes to worse, and I have to upgrade, the ATI/AMD 4870 is out there...
Mattbn, I don't relate, as I run my stuff at Celsius. Anyway, using conversion tables, your CPU is running at 33°C and the chipset at ~37°C. In Geek terms, both are quite cool - 55°-60°C are reasonable with stock cooling. To stress test the cooling, one has to run for a time Prime 95 or other app that stresses the CPU and ancilliaries. I run Prime 95 to "burn in" the Arctic Silver 5 thermopaste I use, which needs to "settle in" before optimum performance.
Once the max temp on Prime 95 is determined, one can know how to proceed. Note that the stock Intel HSF is woefully inadequate for overclocking even in the slightest. Prime 95 should reveal that in around 15 minutes...one feature of Intel CPUs is that if they over temp, they throttle or shut down; AMD CPUs can commit suicide...
Also note that overclocking depends not only on Northbridge and CPU cooling, but also on the facilities built into the mobo BIOS. Intel mobos (except Skulltrail), fuggedaboudit...
Actually, the main reason I decided to replace my 5 year-old P4 2.6/3.0GHz is the bogging on astrophoto processing - which is substantial.
This peecee will have my ratholed XP Pro installed...then I wait for elebentity billion hours for the patches and "upgrades" to download...
I got the X-Fi card only because my Audigy2ZS is very old. That, and the fact the X-Fi was on sale (Yeah, I'm weak that way...)
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N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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Paul Romero
professor emeritus
Reged: 04/05/05
Posts: 556
Loc: Reno, NV
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Hi,
Today, I went dual core...AMD Athlon X2 4200, 1gb RAM, 160gb HDD, Nvidia 6150SE Graphics, Vista Home, DVD/CD Burner, LAN/Modem, 6 USB ports, 1 year Warranty from HP, 24x7 support. Brand: Compaq. Price: $250.
Dual core sure has come down in cost.
Paul
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Nexstar 11 GPS
8'x10' backyard 'skyshed'
and presenting...."Sweet Pudding", my AM 110mm FLT on 'Max', a MI-250 mount.
travel: BORG 45EDII on an Astrotrac.
"Pablito Clavo un Clavito en la Calva de un Calvito"--by Jose A.
Edited by Paul Romero (08/09/08 04:00 AM)
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16399
Loc: Brooker, FL
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The reason\ behind the price reductions in the E8500/E8400 CPUs was revealed yesterday; Intel is releasing (Monday) the E8600 with a stock speed of 3.33 GHz...and others. Still (this declaration is good for 450 milliseconds), the E8500 is the current dual-core sweet spot, at ~40% of the E8600's cost.
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N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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daev
Post Laureate
Reged: 03/10/04
Posts: 3482
Loc: On the edge of the desert
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I'm going to bump to a quad if the prices come down a bit, and I can get 2.8GHz or better. This 1066 RAM is not breaking a sweat at 800MHz. I built this box with a quad in mind, but dropped a dual in there for now.
dave
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"Yes, I know it's flat here. When the seeing is good you can stand on your toes and see Chicago...."
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16399
Loc: Brooker, FL
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Well, the Built-On-The-Basis-of-Sales-at-Newegg peecee passed its "blue-smoke test" today, in that there was none. Sadly, the highly-rated Ciprico 5000 series PCI/SATA drive controller tanked. Although recognized by the BIOS, I couldn't get into the Ciprico BIOS to configure the card for booting. SInce Ciprico is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, tomorrow I'll switch the 3 HDDs to the onboard RAID controller and relagate the essentially-orphaned Ciprico to the trash bin.
Then comes the "enjoyment" of configuring the new peecee to what I have now...
--------------------
N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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