Suggestions if possible.

Archangel · Post by **Archangel** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 5:12 pm

This is what I've learned over the years building many comps......whenever mobo makers come out with a brand new chipset, wait a few months, read the reviews and see if any probs show up. I fthere are probs (which there usually is) there will be better revisions that will come out.

Post by **joeyz** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 2:27 am

I didn't see it or maybe I missed it.

The most important thing... VOLTAGE PROTECTION

A power protection unit, voltage regulator if you will.
Whatever PC your trying to buy or build, don't plug ANY computer system into the wall without voltage protection. Under voltage and/or over voltage can damage electronic components. Don't buy those cheap surge strip protectors at walmart etc. Research APC and UPS online. Everyone of my systems has an APC or UPS. Monitor your lights, tv, radio in your house. If you see lights dim, tv flicker, radio popping, thats a good sign of voltage issues. Not to mention mom or sister on the opposite side of the wall using a micro-wave, vacum cleaner, sewing machine, iron or sun bath,

Be sure the APC or UPS also has the LAN and/or Telephone protection too. Power can still surge through the LAN, telephone, etc and access your mobo thru the LAN card or modem.

Something else on that voltage note. A school music teacher asked me to come buy and take a look at her system. She was getting the Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD) or sudden pc reboot. It only seems to happen in the evenings and the mornings its fine. After looking at the system and room, she no APC or UPS and had a hologen floor lamp with a touch dimmer. Well, the hologen floor lamp was stealing voltage and also the touch dimmer was trying to regulate the dim to everything else in the room,

So watch out for that one.

A note about OVER CLOCKING, stay away from it. Anytime you see these words in ads it should raise the red flag not to buy it. This is one of the reasons why DELL doesnt use AMD chipsets in their systems. Over Clocking can cause over heat and lead to damages. Buy a CPU/GPU that have true performance bench marks. Think of it this way, buying a high performance overhead cam for your car engine. Sure it will work and give you greater performance for the moment but causes stress on all other components. Life expectancy on all the other stock parts are greatly reduced and will fail sooner. If you want a high performance engine you need to change more than just the cam.

Arch is right, don't buy top of the line hardware at top dollar, wait a few months. There will be patches out for that chipset to correct issues and plus the prices will quickly drop. Technology constantly changes, what you buy today will be out dated tomorrow. Don't get caught up in the rat race. Buy ONLY what you need that has at least a 2 year life expectancy to keep up with the present and future hardware and software for next 2 years. As long as your system can perform what it needs to do, dont shell out all that extra money just to be cool.

Remember that when you buy that $500 video card that you will probably need a new monitor to go with it. I had a neighbor who called me over to help him fix his network and he was bragging about his SLI Video. I glanced over to his desktop pc and said, "Wow, you must get great graphics using SLI with that classic 17" VGA KDS Monitor." ROFL He was like WTF? After sitting down with him and drawing out specifications CGA, VGA, SVGA, DVI, pixels, refresh rates, etc., he immediately ran down to best buy to get a new monitor so he can maximize his new SLI,

crayola · Post by **crayola** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 2:58 am

man ill need to ill need to finish reading posts tomorrow rOFL its like 3am and i have work in like 3-4 hours loL

Archangel · Post by **Archangel** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 4:45 am

Dell has been selling AMD CPUs for almost a year now.....

http://www.dell.com/content/products/re ... 3~0~134095

TheSynGame · Post by **TheSynGame** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:42 am

Joey they still sell AMDs for dell's and alienware. I had to glance over it to find the intel stuff. Dell was the first I chose since I have a dell right now.

But you are right, I'm not gonna overclock it.

Archangel · Post by **Archangel** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:16 pm

TheSynGame wrote: But you are right, I'm not gonna overclock it.

OC'ing is not for the faint of heart nor for the noob. OC'ing your parent's PC would most likely get your PC privileges revoked until your 18th birthday (especially if you toast the CPU or mobo).

:charlie:

TheSynGame · Post by **TheSynGame** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:15 am

I didn't know the 8800 GTX had different pins. Grr... I just coped an adapter so now I gotta wait another 2 days to get this thing going.

:charlie:

I'll post pics of the comp soon.

Archangel · Post by **Archangel** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 11:15 am

TheSynGame wrote:I didn't know the 8800 GTX had different pins. Grr... I just coped an adapter so now I gotta wait another 2 days to get this thing going.

:charlie:

I'll post pics of the comp soon.

If your talking about VGA to DVI then you could have got that at your local Best Buy or Circuit City.