New computer... fresh build

[BushMogulMaster]

Just finished putting together my new machine. Working like a charm (so far......).

Specs, for those other techno-geeks out on AZ:

AMD Phenom II X3 720 (Triple core 2.8ghz Black Edition -- stably overclockable to 3.7ghz!)
Biostar TA790GX mobo (AM3)
ATI Radeon HD 3850 512mb 256bit PCI-E x16 graphics (crossfire ready)
8gb G-Skill DDR3 10600 RAM (4x 2gb) with heat spreaders
730w Raidmax PS
320gb WD SATA IIe internal hdd
320gb WD USB 2.0 external hdd
Multi-card reader
22x DVD-RW
Some semi-generic WIFI card...
External Sound Blaster Live! 24bit (reuse from the laptop...)
System cooling provided by three case fans (2x 80mm 1x 120mm)


Certainly not a monster, but definitely a huge leap beyond the capability of the laptop! Very expandable and upgradable, when the need arises. Bought everything from Newegg. Pretty good deal, overall.

Dual booting with Windows 7 RC Eval and Kubuntu Linux (whatever the latest release is...)


Happy so far. Only one brief snag, but nothing I couldn't figure out.

 

[mondeo]

About what I'd build at this point in time, just swap out the 3850 for a 4770.

Did you try unlocking the 4th core?

 

[RootDKJ]

Did you buy it as a bare-bones or pick out each component individually?

 

[BushMogulMaster]

Did you buy it as a bare-bones or pick out each component individually?

Picked each component individually. I thought about grabbing a bb deal, but it's a lot more fun to do it exactly the way you want to.

 

[BushMogulMaster]

About what I'd build at this point in time, just swap out the 3850 for a 4770.

Did you try unlocking the 4th core?

I picked the 3850 for the 512mb GDDR3 plus the 256bit interface. Most of the 4000 series cards in my price range were either GDDR2 or 128 bit. I was dead set on GDDR3 and 256bit. And based on comparisons, this particular card is supposed to outperform some of its higher priced brothers.


I did mess a little with the 4th core. Had trouble during boot, so I'm assuming it must have been a bad batch x4 that they disabled the 4th core and called it an x3. Either way, this CPU far outperforms the comparably-priced Intel models, and I've read it's even better than the x4 920 and 940. I'm impressed thus far. Overclocking ability is pretty awesome, but I'm not going to push the limits with the retail heatsink and fan, and the "out-of-the-box" thermal compound. If I really feel like overclocking fun, I'll probably grab a better CPU cooling setup, and definitely some decent thermal compound!

Just finished a few laps in NFS Carbon with full settings at high res. Didn't even heat up the any of the CPU cores beyond 36 degrees (c), and the GPU maxed at 69 degrees (c). Not bad.

 

[Marc]

Does this mean it's time to have a KDE vs Gnome dork fight like what happens on slashdot?

Sounds like a cool set up. Get rid of the dual boot and wean yourself off of the evil empire

 

[mondeo]

Does this mean it's time to have a KDE vs Gnome dork fight like what happens on slashdot?

Sounds like a cool set up. Get rid of the dual boot and wean yourself off of the evil empire

Everybody knows XFfce is where it's at.

 

[SkiDork]

did you buy it all from Newegg?

Also, the only thing that sounds a little weak are the sizes of the drives. Why not do with 1TB drives?

Other than that, I'm certainly jealous

 

[BushMogulMaster]

did you buy it all from Newegg?

Also, the only thing that sounds a little weak are the sizes of the drives. Why not do with 1TB drives?

Yes, all from Newegg.


What's the point in larger drives? Disk space is so easily upgraded, I felt it was unnecessary. I don't even have enough media to fill one of my 320's right now. When my needs change, it'll take me 5 minutes to throw in another SATA drive.

 

[dmc]

Im so glad I use MACs and don't need to worry about such things...

 

[BushMogulMaster]

Does this mean it's time to have a KDE vs Gnome dork fight like what happens on slashdot?

Sounds like a cool set up. Get rid of the dual boot and wean yourself off of the evil empire

KDE 4 leaves Gnome in the freakin' dust! No question!


If I didn't need Windows for about 3 specific programs, I would be 100% MS-FREE! But, alas, my duties require that I continue to use some Win-specific programs (the kind that I can't get to work with Wine).

I'm actually okay with Windows 7 so far. Definitely a big improvement over Vista. I hated Vista... with a passion. Almost as much as I hate Apple :angry: :flame:

 

[SkiDork]

Yes, all from Newegg.


What's the point in larger drives? Disk space is so easily upgraded, I felt it was unnecessary. I don't even have enough media to fill one of my 320's right now. When my needs change, it'll take me 5 minutes to throw in another SATA drive.

true, but with video these days I can eat up 320gb in no time. Plus the cost difference had to be minimal between 320 and 1tb

Newegg has a Samsung 1TB for $75. 320gb are prolly in the same ballpark.

 

[dmc]

I'm actually okay with Windows 7 so far. Definitely a big improvement over Vista. I hated Vista... with a passion. Almost as much as I hate Apple :angry: :flame:

Can't understand why someone would hate Apple? What did Apple ever do to you? It's almost like the hatred between Ford and Chevy owners... Ridiculous...

I love my MACs... I don't think I'll ever buy another "PC"...
I use VMWare when I need to do something on a PC... Works great... Have a ton of differenent setups on a drive that i can access...

Since I don't use a PC to game anymore - I really don't need a sooped up PC...
I just need power for creating music and video now...

 

[BushMogulMaster]

true, but with video these days I can eat up 320gb in no time. Plus the cost difference had to be minimal between 320 and 1tb

Newegg has a Samsung 1TB for $75. 320gb are prolly in the same ballpark.

Naw, I paid less than $50 for the 320gb.

 

[BushMogulMaster]

Can't understand why someone would hate Apple? What did Apple ever do to you? It's almost like the hatred between Ford and Chevy owners... Ridiculous...

I love my MACs... I don't think I'll ever buy another "PC"...
I use VMWare when I need to do something on a PC... Works great... Have a ton of differenent setups on a drive that i can access...

Since I don't use a PC to game anymore - I really don't need a sooped up PC...
I just need power for creating music and video now...

I just hate the unfair pricing structure, and I can't stand that OS. I just don't like the interface. It's a solid system, for sure. More secure than Windows, absolutely. I just don't like it. And I really can't get over what they charge........ something in the range 150-200% of what you pay for a comparable PC. And you can't use the "better hardware" argument... it's the same darn thing! When two machines are both built on an Intel architecture with exactly comparable hardware, and one is price almost double the other, I think there's a problem. I don't like Macs. Never have, never will.

 

[SkiDork]

Naw, I paid less than $50 for the 320gb.

well, we can agree to disagree but getting an additional 680gb for maybe $20 to me is a no brainer.

Still, I'm interested to hear a performance report on the box once its all burned in. Maybe run some graphic benchmark programs...

 

[dmc]

I just hate the unfair pricing structure, and I can't stand that damned OS. I just don't like the interface. It's a solid system, for sure. More secure than Windows, absolutely. I just don't like it. And I really can't get over what they charge........ something in the range 150-200% of what you pay for a comparable PC. And you can't use the "better hardware" argument... it's the same damned thing! When two machines are both built on an Intel architecture with exactly comparable hardware, and one is price almost double the other, I think there's a problem. I don't like Macs. Never have, never will.

See I'm just the opposite.. I like the UNIX OS... I can do stuff with my UNIX skills a can't on a WinTel.. And i really like the Interface.. And i love the software that comes with it...

i can understand you feeling the way you do... i know lots of people that way about Windows and only use LINUX..

 

[SkiDork]

See I'm just the opposite.. I like the UNIX OS... I can do stuff with my UNIX skills a can't on a WinTel.. And i really like the Interface.. And i love the software that comes with it...

i can understand you feeling the way you do... i know lots of people that way about Windows and only use LINUX..

dmc - being a MAC dummy, are you saying you've get a Unix shell available on the MAC OS? Thats pretty cool...

 

[dmc]

dmc - being a MAC dummy, are you saying you've get a Unix shell available on the MAC OS? Thats pretty cool...

MAC Leopard OS is a full on UNIX OS... conforms to SUS v3 and POSIX 1003..
You can write scrips in UNIX to manipulate ITunes, etc.... very cool...

Very intuitive to us UNIX/LINUX geeks...

 

[mondeo]

dmc - being a MAC dummy, are you saying you've get a Unix shell available on the MAC OS? Thats pretty cool...

Mac is a UNIX OS.

And I, for one, like Vista. Need to install Win7 RC, downloaded it already.

And I like overkill, but I'd probably go with dual 1TB drives in RAID 1. A lot of storage space makes it so much easier to play around with different OSs and have tons of programs.