Hardware: The PC Build Thread

**kamspy** · 10-19-2009, 03:05 PM

Notice any difference in your DX10 games?

Mase · 10-19-2009, 03:19 PM

Well I have only played Crysis Warhead, but it was smooth from the hour or so I played it..

railven · 10-20-2009, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mase

Well I thought I would post my impressions thus far with Windows 7 Ultimate, I have been rocking this bad boy for a month or so now and I absolutely love it. As people have mentioned, this is what Vista should have been, but those who are debating making the switch I say go for it!!! I pretty much always used XP for everything (save for my notebook) and the switch to W7 has been painless. I am able to use all of the same programs I used on my XP system with no problem's at all...

Microsoft did good this time and I am glad I made the switch..

Hellz yeah!!! And if you go into the DX panel, we're running DX11 son! TO bad no hardware (soon...my precious) or games (worth buying) that support it.

**kamspy** · 10-20-2009, 03:21 PM

I'm buying my 5870 when DiRT2 comes out. Sure it's not a good game, but it's the first DX11 game AFAIK.

Pinoy · 10-21-2009, 03:42 PM

So... funny question here. What would you guys do with some old socket 7, socket A, and slot 1 processors/motherboards? I'm talking old school PIII's and AMD k6-2's here

Yeah I was digging around and found another stash of old computer parts I had hidden away long ago, even some nice shiny Geil DDR400 ram with polished heat spreaders. I'm just sitting here looking at this stuff wondering what can I pull off with this stuff... not enough juice for a mini HTPC or any real video encoding/transcoding, not enough juice to play any modern games either.

Thinking about building a mini linux machine to run some old school emulators on and giving it away to some poor kid or something like that.

**kamspy** · 10-21-2009, 03:46 PM

You could run a little file server with it.

Pinoy · 10-21-2009, 04:29 PM

Heh, to give you guys an idea of what I'm talking about:

How many of you remember these?

Got RAM?

You know you're geeking out when shiny things like these give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside:

Quote:

Originally Posted by kamspy

You could run a little file server with it.

I could... but then again my main pc holds everything I really need and the only networked item I actually 'serve' files to is my ps3 and none of this stuff could do the transcoding on the fly (not even if I put them all together into franken-puter)

**kamspy** · 10-21-2009, 05:29 PM

Maybe build a couple working computers out of it and donate them to a local community center?

Pinoy · 10-21-2009, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kamspy

Maybe build a couple working computers out of it and donate them to a local community center?

Actually not a bad idea. I'm gonna have to find a couple of old hard drives for this.

Elitimus · 11-16-2009, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kamspy

Maybe build a couple working computers out of it and donate them to a local community center?

You know, I've had this very same idea for a couple of computers I've got around the house. I got my wife a new laptop for Christmas, which is much faster that the old desktop, so I'd like to donate them somewhere useful. Does anyone know if there is a "Give a kid a computer" type thing for the holidays. I'd rather some poor kid have a descent Christmas than them collect dust in my basement.

Elitimus

Mase · 11-16-2009, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elitimus

You know, I've had this very same idea for a couple of computers I've got around the house. I got my wife a new laptop for Christmas, which is much faster that the old desktop, so I'd like to donate them somewhere useful. Does anyone know if there is a "Give a kid a computer" type thing for the holidays. I'd rather some poor kid have a descent Christmas than them collect dust in my basement.

Elitimus

I am close with quite a few people at my local YMCA and I know that when people donate items such as PCs and old gaming consoles, they go to under privlaged families and kids.. You may want to look into that...

Mase · 11-16-2009, 01:35 PM

Ohhh also, I believe I have a bad stick of Ram, I have been getting a lot of BSODs of late and they are all memory management/memory dumps.. Can someone with more experience point me in the right direction so I know if I need to replace this RAM or simply reload my PC...

railven · 11-16-2009, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mase

Ohhh also, I believe I have a bad stick of Ram, I have been getting a lot of BSODs of late and they are all memory management/memory dumps.. Can someone with more experience point me in the right direction so I know if I need to replace this RAM or simply reload my PC...

Dead give away, remove sticks of RAM and work your way up to where you were, stop when it BSODs.

Sometimes it isn't the RAM. I had this issue before. The timings my system was setting, while what the manufacturer stated for my RAM, kept BSODing. Swapped the RAM into another PC neither has BSOD to this day.

Elitimus · 11-16-2009, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mase

I am close with quite a few people at my local YMCA and I know that when people donate items such as PCs and old gaming consoles, they go to under privlaged families and kids.. You may want to look into that...

Good idea. The local Y is really close to my house so I'll check into that. If you suspect a single stick is bad there are memory tester programs out there. Memtest98 if I remember correctly. You could also run individual sticks until you find the one that is causing the problem.

Elitimus

Timings as railven said could also be the culprit. But that usually happens on new builds. If this is a system that has been running fine for awhile then that may not be the case.

**kamspy** · 11-16-2009, 02:08 PM

@ Mase: RAM quality has been piss poor the last couple years. Go ahead and start the RMA.

@ Elitimus: Try a church in the bad part of town. That's my favorite charity. It's more "hands on" feeling.

10-19-2009, 03:19 PM	#212
Mase Way of the Samurai Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Tempe,Az Posts: 2,566	Well I have only played Crysis Warhead, but it was smooth from the hour or so I played it.. __________________ PlayStation 3 : legnd Killer Xbox 360: Legnd K1ller Steam ID: Legnd_Killer Currently playing Uncharted 2(PS3) Borderlands (360) NBA2k10 (360) COD4/WaW (360)

10-21-2009, 03:42 PM	#215
Pinoy I'm here for the lulz Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 3,630	So... funny question here. What would you guys do with some old socket 7, socket A, and slot 1 processors/motherboards? I'm talking old school PIII's and AMD k6-2's here Yeah I was digging around and found another stash of old computer parts I had hidden away long ago, even some nice shiny Geil DDR400 ram with polished heat spreaders. I'm just sitting here looking at this stuff wondering what can I pull off with this stuff... not enough juice for a mini HTPC or any real video encoding/transcoding, not enough juice to play any modern games either. Thinking about building a mini linux machine to run some old school emulators on and giving it away to some poor kid or something like that. __________________ SteamID: Pin0y_b0y Speed up your PS3 Network Connection

11-16-2009, 01:35 PM	#222
Mase Way of the Samurai Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Tempe,Az Posts: 2,566	Ohhh also, I believe I have a bad stick of Ram, I have been getting a lot of BSODs of late and they are all memory management/memory dumps.. Can someone with more experience point me in the right direction so I know if I need to replace this RAM or simply reload my PC... __________________ PlayStation 3 : legnd Killer Xbox 360: Legnd K1ller Steam ID: Legnd_Killer Currently playing Uncharted 2(PS3) Borderlands (360) NBA2k10 (360) COD4/WaW (360)

10-19-2009, 03:05 PM	#211
kamspy Esteban Moderatoro Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Cincinnati,OH Good Posts: 12 Posts: 13,048	Notice any difference in your DX10 games?

10-20-2009, 03:21 PM	#214
kamspy Esteban Moderatoro Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Cincinnati,OH Good Posts: 12 Posts: 13,048	I'm buying my 5870 when DiRT2 comes out. Sure it's not a good game, but it's the first DX11 game AFAIK.

10-21-2009, 03:46 PM	#216
kamspy Esteban Moderatoro Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Cincinnati,OH Good Posts: 12 Posts: 13,048	You could run a little file server with it.

10-21-2009, 05:29 PM	#218
kamspy Esteban Moderatoro Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Cincinnati,OH Good Posts: 12 Posts: 13,048	Maybe build a couple working computers out of it and donate them to a local community center?

11-16-2009, 02:08 PM	#225
kamspy Esteban Moderatoro Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Cincinnati,OH Good Posts: 12 Posts: 13,048	@ Mase: RAM quality has been piss poor the last couple years. Go ahead and start the RMA. @ Elitimus: Try a church in the bad part of town. That's my favorite charity. It's more "hands on" feeling.