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GRITS takes the Big Leap
#31
Anon...one thing about case cooling is that it is the 'air flow' through the case that does most
of the cooling. When you remove the side of the case, you stop this air flow and you don't get
the cooling you were intended to get. Put that side back on and cut you a side or top blow hole and
put you one of those bigger fans to push the air out.
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#32
alright, i'll have to do that when i get back, i'm scrableing around here, to get organized for tommorow, and with the blackouts its kinda crazy now.
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#33
Some of you know I have been illin....i.e. sick with a summer cold...well I have not been wasting my time...I have been investigating the reviews on some motherboards...mobos as we 'in the know' like to call them :lol:
I have narrowed my search down to the ASUS P4P800 and the DFI PRO875 They run pretty much neck and neck in all the benchmarking and specs with few differences...downside would be the overclocking which is not something that is likely to affect me (well not presently anyway) and the BIOS for the DFI which they appear to be working on.
It has nothing to do with the carry satchel "Transpo Box" since I don't plan on transporting it and not a whole lot to do with the esthetics of the colors…or I would chose the Abit IC7-G, but, with an open side it doesn’t hurt to have something pleasing to the eye…just not my first requisite for purchase….like it was for the box. ^_^
ASUS seems to have a better reputation than DFI although I can find no ‘bad’ reviews on DFI just not as much out there.
Not sure how much of my comparison shopping you would like for me to share...but I have pages and pages of yellow and purple highlighted points of interest. Any feedback is not only appreciated but welcomed.
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#34
ok I am either really screwing up and you are too afraid to tell me or I am amazing and have come up with the best possible choices and you have nothing to add....
or motherboards just scare you guys in general??
Probably my most important purchase here guys...do I get any feedback? I promise not to hold you accountable for my final decision.:D
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#35
I like them both. The DFI has strong specs and looks cool but I have no experience with them. I love my ASUS but I would probably take the chance on the DFI. It will look great in your box.

Just my $.02
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#36
Thanks for your 2¢ evil...nice to know at least one computer geek that is sitting on more than just his tailbone ;)
I hope I end up with a couple more .....opinions :D
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#37
Unfortunately, I couldn't really tell you as I'm only just getting back into my full techie role. I spent so long just supporting bits and peices that I ain't upto date on all my parts, etc.
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#38
I suggested the DFI in the first place. You think I'm gonna root for another brand?:P
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#39
GRITS,Aug 16 2003, 04:45 PM Wrote:...nice to know at least one computer geek that is sitting on more than just his tailbone ;)
uh, grits, i hate to infrom you, but i don't think that a motherboard would be too comfy when you sit on it, and i really don't think one should. ^_^
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#40
MOTHERBOARD sonny...not HEADBOARD.
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#41
you mentioned 'pushing' air out of the tower pix...is this what you want? so i suppose just taking the side panels off and putting a large home fan blowing air on the machine wouldn't do the trick?
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#42
it's been done. i threw a side fan into my case and my overclocked 2100 went from 45 celsius to 29.
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#43
im not saying you have to push it out. The key is air flow. If you have fans in the front sucking air in and you have fans in the rear sucking air out...then you have a good airflow pattern...getting airflow over the heatsinks and getting the hot air out the back. Same thing if you had a side fan in your case. You have a side fan sucking air in and you have fans pulling this air out some other exit...but the whole time you have flow OVER the heatsinks and the cooling process commences. Now if you have the whole side of your case open. Then your installed fans don't do squat. Your front fan sucks in air but it is dispersed out the side that is open. You are not condensing the airflow over the right parts. If you open up a new Dell or Compaq PC these days, you will see neatly fitted air panels that direct air to the exact places that need it almost like air ducts. Now if you placed a big ass shop fan RIGHT in front of the open side of your case then you probably would get good cooling...be it will make a hella noise.
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#44
How many fans do you guys have in your case?
I have one on the side that came with the case and what appears to be 6 places that I could add fans...
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#45
I have 5
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#46
I have 3 case fans. One of them is dying so I will need to replace that soon. I keep forgeting to ask my friend to bring one out. hehe

All my fans are hung with strings to get them into the places I want them to be in. 2 sitting above the hard drives and 1 under my video card. :)
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#47
I have lotsa fans.... I also have lotsa people who don't wanna be a fan...
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#48
netniV, we refer to those type of people as stalkers!
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#49
I thought they were the press... dang... and there I thought I was famous....
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#50
I could probably use more fans..right now my cpu is running at 52 degrees.. and it'll reach the early 60's in no time
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#51
mine was running at 52 for months... it worked perfectly... it wasn't until I turned the damn thing off that it blew on me!
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#52
Motherboard arrived and it looks awesome..looks huge...and it came with a couple of round cables that are neon orange to match the board and a FrontX ....a device that I want, but......this one is putty in color and my box is black,...havent checked out the options yet but I will.
Next step is RAM and a couple hard drives. two 40GB or two 80GB I am not sure how I will configure them. And if I can swing the cost I will go for 4GB memory. Is that overdoing?

Anyone have a company that they swear by that I should look at? or one that the swear at that I should avoid. So far I have just priced out IBM Deskstar 80GB and it is pretty pricey especially since I am going for a match set of whatever I get. Well just starting this next purchase so any input is welcome.

OH ...has anyone ever heard of arctic silver? You use it in place of the thermal pad between the heatsink and the processor. scientificaly it makes a lot of sense, anyone have practical experience with it?
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#53
Samsung 2gb sticks are good for servers. I use that gooey stuff in place of a thermal pad, it works great.
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#54
it seems to make sense, but then, would it really make that much of a difference, since the other stuff has been used for ages and copes adequately.
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#55
I'm a little late, but a good PC for the money would be:

Processor: Athlon 2400+ $77
PC Chips Motherboard $34
Monitor - Samsung 753DF (I have this, 17 inch) $129
RAM - PMI-Power Memory Int. 512MB DDRAM $73
HDD - WESTERN DIGITAL 8mb cache 80GB 7200RPM $72
Videocard - Radeon 9600 128mb $107
Pro Source Koala Silver Mid-Tower Case w/350W PSU $30
CD ROM- Cyberdrive 40x16x48 CDRW CD-RW Drive $28
Sound Card - Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy ES PCI $43
Speakers - Logitech Z640 5.1 Speaker $60
Generic mouse (optical, usb) $10
Gen. Keyboard $5

Total ---- $668. Not bad for a system that can run any of today's games (including HL2) well.
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#56
Oh, and to answer the fan question, I have 7 fans... and I'm about to get a pci-slot fan cooler thing for my video card. My CPU hits 40 degrees if it's under extreme stress while overclocked. While not, it stays around 36-38 degrees.
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#57
O yeh are you finished Grits? Or in between?
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#58
are those prices american?
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#59
Yes, those prices are American. I got them from Newegg (not always the best prices, but the most reliable). Pricewatch.com might have better prices...
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#60
Hey GRITSY.

You can NEVER have too much memory. Stack it with as much as you can afford. Just find out what type
of memory that bigass motherboard supports and get the fastest available. Those Deskstar harddrives
are a little lackluster (alot of those for sale are refurbs). You want a dependable storage device so you don't
have to do the switch-a-roo again like we had to do with your old hard-drive. Maxtor, Western Digital (definately
gone downhill the last 2 years) and Seagate are the orders I would pick. I believe alot of those DeskStar drives are
actually Seagate drives.

Those neon round cables are probably your IDE cables to connect your storage devices to the motherboard. They make them
round instead of flat ribbons to better the airflow inside the case. Plus they look cooler.

You can get good memory at www.memory.com and your harddrive at www.pricewatch.com. Make sure the HD is at LEAST 7200RPM. Alot
of the BIG ASS DRIVES are only 5200RPM speed, hence the cheaper price.
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