Topic: Need a little help from you guys!

[RossRoy]

I'm getting fed up at my current PC. I can't run any 3D (it crashes instantly, probably caused by either heat, or most probably, a weak power supply) but I'm at a point where I just don't care enough anymore. I've hated that case since I bought it, and I don't want to put any money into it anymore.

I need a case that has good air flow, preferably taking in air only from the front, and exhaust at the back, because the case is in a small place into my desk, and there's no other place I can put it.

So, with that being said, I saw looking around at what I could get nowadays. And here's what I was thinking of getting:

S775 ASUS P5Q P45 PCIE 
INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q9400 2.66G/1333/6M/S775 
CORSAIR 1066MHZ DDR2 NO-ECC 2048MB DOMINATOR
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 512M DDR3 
CASE ATX ANTEC P182 BLACK NOPS
650W POWER ATX ANTEC TRUE650 TRIO

I will be moving over my current 3 SATA HDD (320GB each), 2 PCI TV-Tuner cards and 1 PATA DVD-Writer. I have a USB keyboard, and a USB mouse, and the occasional USB Key and/or my mouse battery charging station.

All other USB peripherals are either self powered, or plugged into a powered USB hub.

Any thoughts? Improvements? Shortcomings?

[Touti]

If you put your PC in an enclouse in your desk maybe you should consider a case with a liquid cooling system.  I never had one but people say they're very efficient.  If you're a big gamer that would definitely help your CPU stay cooler.

[RossRoy]

I'm not a "big" gamer, I actually do most of my gaming on consoles (Xbox, X360 and Wii), but I do play the occasional game on the PC. Especially the upcoming Spore, looks interesting to me.

But I've had a night good night of sleep to reflect on it, and I may actually just buy the case and power supply, and just switch over my current hardware. I mean, it's no pushover as it stands now: Pentium D Dual Core 3.0GHz, on a Asus P5LD2 motherboard with 2Gb PC2-4300 RAM, graphic card is a Radeon x1900 GT (I think, it IS a x1900, but I'm not sure about the GT, XT, Pro, whatchamacallit, etc.)

Everything I've read so far with what I'm seeing from my graphics card points to a faulty/underpowered/dirty power supply. Also, it would seem heat has nothing to do with it. The PC has crashes with ATITool showing 45C, 50C, 55C, 60C, and it usually crashes within seconds of activating anything 3D, it would even have to heat up! So at this point, I'm pretty sure it's power related.

[Touti]

Maybe it's due for a good cleaning with air cans.  Clean the power supply, the fans, the CPU fans.  Maybe you can change the CPU fan, as they get older they tend to slow down a little.  Shooting air everywhere to get rid of all the dust would surely help.

I have 2 computers at home and I clean them both twice a year.  I unplug everything, remove the cover, take them outside and shoot air everywhere to clean it.  Dust in the fans will slow them down because of the extra weight, if the blades seem to be getting loose because the bearings are old then I replace the whole fan.

Bringing fresh air into a computer is good but not until you make sure you get the hot air out.

[RossRoy]

I do that too, cleaning it every 3-4 months. I cleaned the system this morning and it didn't improve anything, the graphics card still crashes as soon as it starts up. And it's only the graphics card that crashes, the rest of the system is still running without any video.

But anyway, it's too late now: I have a new computer. (Damn impulse buys!)

I have pretty much what I said above, except the processor, which is a Q9550 (they didn't have the Q9400 in stock), and the power supply is a 620W Corsair. Memory brand is Crucial, and graphics card is Asus 4850.

[Najemikon]

I'm a little late to the party, but I agree the most likely cause will be the power supply. Seen it so many times before.

I only mention this to be sure, but it's a long shot. Many recent video cards need extra power and sometimes you have to install a special molex dongle that connects two lines from the power supply to one square connector.

All academic now anyhow! Have fun with the new box!

[RossRoy]

I only mention this to be sure, but it's a long shot. Many recent video cards need extra power and sometimes you have to install a special molex dongle that connects two lines from the power supply to one square connector.

Yes, it was there, and connected. But this 12V line might've been "dirty" and underpowered, as it was shared with the hard drives, hence probably causing the failure.

With the new power supply, I now have a dedicated 12V line to the graphics card. No worries anymore! (at least, theoretically)

[RossRoy]

I need to make a new decision... XP or Vista?

I was thinking of using my previous XP licence and move it over to this new PC, but then, isn't it time I moved to the new-ish technology?

And before anyone says something about it: Linux is not an option. It is XP or Vista, nothing else.

I'm leaning towards XP, as I have a gut-hate of Vista, but then, I never really used Vista, so I have no idea.

[Touti]

If have XP Pro on one computer and Vista Ultimate on the other.  I'm gonna have to reformat the XP machine soon because it's getting slow and I'll have to make the same decision.

The problem with XP is that MS will drop support on it next year so there will be no security updates released anymore.  If you don't mind having to reinstall in a year then I say go with XP, if we're lucky MS will release Windows 7 before support is dropped on XP and then at least we'll h ave another option.

IF you hate reinstalling machines and want to avoid having to do it again in a year then go with Vista.

[Najemikon]

I need to make a new decision... XP or Vista?

I was thinking of using my previous XP licence and move it over to this new PC, but then, isn't it time I moved to the new-ish technology?

And before anyone says something about it: Linux is not an option. It is XP or Vista, nothing else.

I'm leaning towards XP, as I have a gut-hate of Vista, but then, I never really used Vista, so I have no idea.

I haven't seen anything in Vista to make me want to upgrade. Plus, PC Pro magazine compared them at every level and concluded Vista is better... by about 2 points! I've found it a pain in the arse to use on networks. If Vista had a voice, it would say things like "Are you sure you really really want an IP address? You might end up connecting to that nasty Internet thing, and then where will we be?"

That said time is running out for XP (as I've just seen Eric say too) and Vista can only get better with upgrades. Plus have you an opportunity to get a cut price OEM version with your new kit? If it's cheap to get it, try it. You can always go back to XP, even dual boot.

Is it too late to consider a Mac? 

[RossRoy]

IF you hate reinstalling machines and want to avoid having to do it again in a year then go with Vista.

I actually don't mind reinstalling. In fact, I do it about every 6 months, when I get bored and have nothing better to do 

That said time is running out for XP (as I've just seen Eric say too) and Vista can only get better with upgrades. Plus have you an opportunity to get a cut price OEM version with your new kit? If it's cheap to get it, try it. You can always go back to XP, even dual boot.

Didn't think of the OEM pricing.. Hmmm guess I'll give the shop a call tomorrow and see what can be done. If I can get my hands on a decently priced Vista Home Premium, that would be interesting. (Of course, I'd rather have the Ultimate, but I don't see any really interesting reason, to me, for the price difference).

Is it too late to consider a Mac? 

Uhmmmm... Yeah! 

edit: actually, I guess I could turn the whole thing into Hackintosh



Well, for the time being: Windows XP it is.

[RossRoy]

Wow! Can it REALLY make THAT much of a difference??? Going from 3.0GHz Dual Core at 800 FSB to 2.8 GHz Quad at 1333 FSB??

Firefox feels really snappy now. The pages reflow very smoothly as it downloads, as opposed to my previous computer. I'm actually impressed right now, I didn't think it would make such a big difference. Especially considering it's got the same amount of memory, and the same three hard drives as before.

Could be the fresh reinstall of windows, but even then, I've never actually noticed such a big difference before when just reinstalling windows.

I seem to have just built myself one heck of a machine! 

[Achim]

Congratualtions to your new machine! Seems like your having fun with it already...

[Halo2]

Sebastien,

Reinstalling an OS usually helps boot times, due to a leaner registry. I would think that the snappier response in Firefox would be due to the system's throughput. Congratulation on your lean, mean surfing machine!

    

Halo2

[Najemikon]

I'm on a quad core too and see the same response as you. I run a very tight ship so far as windows is concerned, so I don't see much benefit from a reinstall. I use drive images of my core system as backups and go back to those if I think it needs cleaning up. But when I went to a quad and I had the same reaction. It does make that much of a difference. I find a lot of games are very easy to switch in and out of now too.