soul .gc

The case is $69 this week from Newegg after rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...Tpk=antec%2b900 I agree with Cujo on the 6550 as well. The PSU - You can get a 600w from CompUSA this week for $39 after rebate that will do everything you need - Coolermaster Extreme Power

WILCO!!! - Long time no see bud! How goes life? ZD - I decided against Raid after reading a bunch of articles on it - at least against Raid0 configs. I am going to try and get an 8800GT, and eventually get 2 so I can SLI them. Here is my current stuff in the mail to me this week: Case - Cooler Master CM690 Case - $49 PSU - Cooler Master 600w Extreme Power - $39 Board - Asus Striker Extreme - $180 CPU - Intel E6550 - $125 Ram - 2GB OCZ Reaper 800 - $45 HDD - 250GB Western Digital SATA (I have two other SATA drives that are smaller to serve as backups and storage) - $40 GPU - ATI x850xt - this sucks but I have run out of cash until my Office 2007 sells - $35 DVD - Lightscribe Writemaster super-multi drive and a spare DVD drive - Had it already in current system OS - Vista 64-bit - $180 Total so far - $693 - I think this is pretty good so far, a bit more then I wanted to spend but this should last awhile. Once done I am hoping to sell or part my current system for $500-600 on Ebay/Craigslist/Hardforum Needed: GPU - I need an 8800GT or GTX or Ultra but need cash first haha Sound - Waiting for a Creative Fatality with the control panel Heatsink - trying to decide which heatsink to get Monitor - Current one only does 1280x1024 I do not mind using the Asus built-in sound, it has optical out and a ton of options. The thing I really need is a good vid card - wish my Office version would sell so I can get one. Ebay closed my auction and warned me since it was the Military Appreciation edition and I guess that cannot be resold per Microsoft.

$2500 - WOW - That is going to be a rockin PC man!

Hey Chip - I am doing the exact same thing as you... I did a lot of RAID research and reading and I wanted to pass along some of this info: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=...#post1031710143 http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles.php?id=29 http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1244860 It changed my mind on RAID configurations. As far as the board - go with one that has the 680i chipset, not 650i. There is a ton of arguments on which one is best - it seems to be split between the EVGA board, 680i 122-CK-NF68-A1, and the Asus Striker Extreme and the new super board they have that is WAY too expensive. I went with the Asus due to the easier OC abilities, whereas EVGA offers better Tech Support but who needs that anymore haha. If you are interested in a E6550 there is a guy on hardforums selling them for $125 a pop when he gets them in - mine arrives today. I am just about 15 minutes from Lansing so give me your address so I can come steal your vid card!

Hey Chip - Where are you in Lansing so I can come steal your 8800 haha. Your build looks identical to mine so far. I ended up going with the Asus Striker Extreme board and a E6550 chip, both from hardforum.com. Dark mentions the EVGA board and I read a lot of good things about it as well. They offer a better tech support plan but who really calls tech support anymore? haha. I almost went with the Quad chip but since I am upgrading from a 3700+ system I figured the C2D is good enough and due to my board being upgradeable I can always pick up a Quad when the prices fall farther in 6 months.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-NINTENDO-Wii-CONSO...S:B:SRCH:US:101 Right there is one closing in 15 minutes - not sure if it is a help or not since you may not see it in time - but it is a good seller and a brand new Wii at not much over retail since it includes the extra controls and chuks.

I boot to the Windows CD and have it format and partition for me - I prefer the floppy way but my drive broke awhile back and I am too lazy to buy a new one for the 1 time every two years I need a floppy.

Damn Cujo - 4x500? So a terabyte of storage that use can use and the extra is mirrored for safety in case on crashes? I am going through that website now. I did not realize that Raid 0 gave such a performance boost. I am thinking of buying 2x150 (not raptors as those are too damn expensive) for my C: and then using my existing 250 as storage for my media crap.

Those who get newegg emails there are some good deals today: I just picked up the 2GB of OCZ ram for $40.

Alright you experts - With my new system I have been considering a Raid setup. What is the advantage to a raid setup? More recovery options and safety? Windows OS - I have XP now but am thinking of moving to Vista Ultimate - I have not heard many good things about Vista yet but with some of the support I do for friends and offices around here I am thinking I should probably get familiar with it. Will I run into constant crashes and driver conflicts? Also - What is the benefit to Vista 64 over Vista 32? My new system is as follows: Case - TBD - Antec 900 or the CoolerMaster CM690 Board - Asus Striker Extreme Gamer Ram - OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 2x1GB - DDR2 800 CPU - TBD E6550 or E6600 - waiting on the best price from hardforums right now HDD - 250GB SATA, 120GB SATA, 75GB ATA - I can trade some of these out and get another 250GB for raid once I understand benefits to it DVD - Lightscribe dual-layer super-multi drive DVD - Generic DVD player Sound - Waiting on a Creative with front panel setup but prices are still too high for me Thanks again for the help all.

Zester beat me to it - seriously thinking of picking it up for my new system from Newegg - although CompUSA has the CM690 CollerMaster for $34.95 after rebate. - cannot decide which one to get.

Wow - Well I went to CompUSA for the 9pm opening to get the Antec Gaming Case and the Coolermaster PSU - at 8:30pm there were close to 200 people in line!!! Crazy - so I left. On the way home I stopped by Best Buy to see if there were people in line for the 3am ticket handout - At 8:45pm (6 hours and 15 minutes before they handout the tickets) there were over 80 people on the sidewalk. It is 28 degrees and snowing - some seriously crazy people out there!!! Next year I am just going to pay my babysitter and her boyfriend $60 to stand in line from 6pm on and do it that way lol. All I wanted was two laptops from BB so I could resell them on Ebay and make $300 each haha.

Here is one for sale that is a little over your budget but boy is it nice and already built: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1221...hlight=quad+sli I use that forum for a lot of my purchases and you can get quite a savings - most items from the folks there come in original boxes with receipts. I just got an Asus Striker Extreme for $200 - $110 savings from Newegg and Ebay prices.

ahh ok - thanks. I heard you were the intel expert. I passed on it - it was the normal board, not the deluxe the guy told me it was so I am still searching. I have a 680i set if I want it but an Asus Striker Extreme just came along for a little under $200 and that is one nice board....too many damn choices. Why can't this be simple like Macs - one option and away you go.

Hopefully Cujo reads this soon - like in the next 45 minutes: ASUS P5K - the P35 chip - Is that a good board? I have a chance to get one for under $100 and am thinking of taking it to save some money.

The -E model is 680i.

All BB's in a 100 mile radius from me are out of stock

Ok Guys - I think I have settled on a setup - opinions please before I finalize: - Asus p5n32-SLI Plus with Thermalright HR-05 heatsink installed on northdbridge and copper ramsinks on voltage regulators - $100 - Intel C2D E6550 - $120 - ATI X850XT - $40 (I know this sucks but I gotta save for the 8800 series card - 2GB DDR2-800 G.Skill RAM - $60 $320 - is that a decent setup and price?

Thanks Guys - Hard to put a budget on it. I am using 3-4 different forums out there and trading items and some cash for different products so I am trying to get an idea on what would be best to get. I will shoot for the P35 chipset and an 8800. I did forget about RAM though and I think I may need a new PSU to support an 8800 series card...not sure there.

Thanks All - After reading all of this and doing some research I think a Quad is not quite needed right now, I can always upgrade later. I am thinking of changing the board though since it is old and hard to run SLI or Crossfire from what I have read. I can pickup a D975XBX2 Intel Chipset board for a little under $100 The question then is what C2D chip - Anyone have good experience? I can get the E6300, E6600 and the E6700 for close to the same price...$85, $100, $150. I would prefer to stay with the E6600 but is the 6700 that much better? Also - The 8800 series cards are better but they are also a bit more expensive. Would an 8800 GTS 640mb be better than 2 7900GT with Crossfire or SLI? I am looking to be able to run the newer games at a decent resolution along with installing a hacked version of OSX for the C2D chips so I can do some video work as well. Or should I just stick with my plan to get a 24" IMAC and not play the newer games?

Alright - It is that time, my AMD3700 and 6800GT card are almost outdated haha. I am looking at the following for my basics: DFI Inifinity 975 x/g Intel Q6600 Quad processor 7900gt Video Card Anyone know if that is a decent board? I have read various reviews but all seem to think it is a good board. I can get all 3 items for right under $300 - trying to understand if that is a decent price and would be a good upgrade from my 3700/6800 setup. Thanks for any help!! Soul

Can you post a pic of the DS Lite? Or email me one please? haggy@voyager.net

That's pretty good Preacher. A few things I sent to Linch and Whiplash back in the day I addressed as Online Sex. I am going to remember the Puberty Acceleration one though.

PvE or PvP?

Any admin thoughts on this?