What hardware are you going to buy in 2007?

[GUNWOUNDS]

I'm looking to buy a new graphics card  Nvidia (8800) that is is more powerful than my current dual 7800 gtx SLI setup.  Plus the 8800 has the dual DVI hook ups needed for the 30" monitor.

Also i am thinking about upgrading the the AMD AM2 socket motherboard. (from Asus with the copper heatsink pipe)  to replace my 939 sockt mobo

Wanna get the quad core cpus coming out to replace my AMD +4000 cpu.

And i am getting the Dell 30 inch cinematic widescreen flatpanel monitor to replace my 24" sony CAD monitor (the 24inch weighs like 100 pounds).

This i will do slowly as my parts are still very nice.  However I'm gonna sell them on E-bay so it shouldn't cost me too much.  Thats the nice thing about staying state of the art.... when you want to upgrade you can get lots of money by cashing in your older nice parts.

[Megashrap]

Yea, what is old to you is always new to someone else.  ;)

[Cybopache]

with your prizes over there I can understand you upgrade all the time ::)

take a look at this gunny.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/11/29/geforce_8800_needs_the_fastest_cpu/

are you upgrading to AM2  or to something else(did`nt understand what you wrote)hehe.

check this one out :

http://uk.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=101&l3=300&model=1283&modelmenu=1

http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=101&l3=300&model=1283&modelmenu=2

If I wanted I couldnt afford the 30" monitor.Too expensive here. 8)

I`m hoping to upgrade my machine sometime in 007. ::)

cybo

[GUNWOUNDS]

with your prizes over there I can understand you upgrade all the time ::)

take a look at this gunny.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/11/29/geforce_8800_needs_the_fastest_cpu/

are you upgrading to AM2  or to something else(did`nt understand what you wrote)hehe.

check this one out :

http://uk.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=101&l3=300&model=1283&modelmenu=1

http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=101&l3=300&model=1283&modelmenu=2

If I wanted I couldnt afford the 30" monitor.Too expensive here. 8)

I`m hoping to upgrade my machine sometime in 007. ::)

cybo

yes that is interesting cybo.... but the reason that i am going for AM2 CPU instead of a Conroe CPU is because:

AM2 = 300 bucks

Conroe = 1000 bucks

And 300ish bucks is about the most i will pay for a CPU ..... 1000 bucks is just out of the question.  So thats why i made the selections i did.

[Cybopache]

ok Gun !

I  am  Sneaking around the Crosshair  ::)

AM2 5200 cost about $346 here in Denmark.

Core2x X6800  = $1212 aprox.

So I do follow you on that one.

What kind of motherboard have you in mind ?

[GUNWOUNDS]

ok Gun !

I  am  Sneaking around the Crosshair   ::)

AM2 5200 cost about $346 here in Denmark.

Core2x X6800  = $1212 aprox.

So I do follow you on that one.

What kind of motherboard have you in mind ?

[veK]

I just ordered 3x Samsung T166 500GB HDDs.

I will sell 4x Samsung SP2504 250GB HDDs then...

[Andrew]

I don't think this is off topic (it is afterall hardware :P)

I'm seriously thinking of getting this combo here

From what I'm told the only bad thing about tower is the video card which is intel gma. So this means no new games for me, and pretty hard to upgrade it in future (I'll just buy a new computer then).

But if I only want to watch dvd/downloaded video, listen to music, work with large spreadsheets, browse internet (possibly all at the same time), will this tower do the job?

The monitor I'm told (I did research) is a good one.

Good video card is only needed for games right? I probably will do some image editing, but if I was able to do some on my current tnt2 32mb vid card, I presume this towers video card is more than enough to do it faster.

[gryphon]

The Aspire ASE700-ED630M Media Center Computer is equipped with Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 processor, 1GB RAM, 320GB Hard drive, DVD dual drive, 9-in-1 card reader, Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition and more.

Sound right to do the tasks you want it to do. :) To be hounest if you just do office, Internet browsing and watch an occasional DVD on your computer anything you buy is good enough. :)

Graphics Card: Intel G965 Express Chipset with Intel GMA X3000 Integrated Graphics Solution Up to 256MB Shared Memory

My guess is you have an on-board video card. Which is no problem to upgrade in the future if you have AGP PCI-E slots free in the computer itself. :)

[Andrew]

Yes it is onboard video card. Problem with upgrading is I don't think it comes with pci-e (maybe it does, the guy said it has a spot for it), and the wattage probably cannot handle a new (high end) video card. So upgrading that probably wont happen.

Wait how can I have agp and pci-e slots? Unless you meant agp or pci-e

Most interesting article I found on video card is Contemporary Platforms with Integrated Graphics which showed the vid card can play HL:2 good, and FEAR on minimal settings.

It's not going to be a gaming rig, but knowing it can play some games (2005 and before) is good news.

And the driver update for it that is going to be released in first quarter 2007 is supposed to make it use all hardware (Intel crippled the video card with shitty drivers in the past).

I mean I've used a tnt2 32mb vid card for the past 4 years, I hope this one will last 4 years (yes I know it wont play new games but I don't care).

Gonna pick up this deal on Monday.

[gryphon]

I ment to say AGP or PCI-e. :)

And TNT2 and Voodoo's, . . men those where the days. First time 2 graphics cards made sence :)

[Andrew]

ok, I bought the package. Looks really nice. But one problem.

It was advertised as here

Graphics Card: Intel G965 Express Chipset with Intel GMA X3000 Integrated Graphics Solution Up to 256MB Shared Memory

But according to system info

It is only a Intel GMA 3000. It is advertised as a x3000

!!

Attached is video card info

Am I correct that it was advertised as x3000, but according to system info it is only 3000?

There is a major difference with x3000 and 3000

Wikipedia Comparison

Guess I'm gonna have to ask them about this.

EDIT

Talked to guy at futureshop over phone and he says it is an x3000 and that 3000 doesn't exist (he checked intel website and some other things adn asked where I got teh info from and I told him pc wizard 2007+sys info). Think they are bullshitting? he said it's probably teh program not recognizing it. which could be true.

Hmm, according to some stuff such as pixel shader 3, this means it is an x3000 video card.

But open gl support is not 2.0 which it should be.

Maybe I need latest drivers.

EDIT:

Updated drivers. Same thing. Even dxdiag says 3000 not x3000

Also, why is my harddrive split into 2?

150gbof fat32? why is that? I don't even see the restore part for when I format. Although it keeps asking me to insert dvd so i can create recovery dvds. Guess I'll have to do that soon, as itprobably take it from  my current setup since I don't see any backup restore (which should be ~5gb)

Nevermind, PC wizard found the 7gb partition that was hidden. Still doesn't explain the reason for 150gb fat32 partition.

hardware.TXT

[Andrew]

I updated to latest video driver that was released a couple days ago. I am supposed to be able to have 384mb memory available, but in the BIOS I can only select 128 and 256 mb ram. :(

EDIT: Also would there be a reason why I only have 416mb ram available (rest is used up)? Would this be because 256mb is constantly used by video card?

[gryphon]

if your graphics card uses shared video memory the amount of RAM for your graphics card in reduced from your systems RAM.

[Andrew]

Ok, that is most likely the case.

Any idea why one of my partitions is fat32 (see screenshot above)? Is that somehow better for data storage? I thought it would be ntfs.

[erjin999]

Not better or anything, just easier to get to using dos sometimes (otherwise you got to use something like NTFS pro, but then how often do you need to access ntfs partitions from dos ? ::))

NTFS has several advantages. You can convert it with Microsoft proggys that come with windows. Check in start>all progs>accessories>system...I think..

If not, there will be freeware ones about.

[gryphon]

DOS and NTFS are different. Not better per see. although NTFS does have more advantages thes DOS.

(just give me Zeta FS ;) )

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS use DOS :P

convert d: /fs:ntfs

If you want to convert your Windows OS partition use it at your own risk.

[erjin999]

Have done that many times (my collegue put it in a batch that does loads of other stuff, so I didnt know the command in my head) so I figure there is no risk.

Its pretty damn reliable.

[gryphon]

Its pretty damn reliable.

can I quote you on that if an anti-Microsoft topic comes up again ?

[erjin999]

Please do. Its converting between their own formats, and it does a pretty good job of it, hasnt failed once. Yet. ;)

Shame everything else isnt as reliable  :P

[veK]

my new 500GB hdds arrived today... 3 of them - I'm formating right now and will transfer the data from my 4x250gb hdds to the 3x500gb hdds then and sell the 250gb hdds... I already found someone who wants 3 of them  :)

[erjin999]

Ebay or privately ?

[Andrew]

DOS and NTFS are different. Not better per see. although NTFS does have more advantages thes DOS.

(just give me Zeta FS ;) )

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS use DOS :P

If you want to convert your Windows OS partition use it at your own risk.

Thanks that worked (gparted live cd would not boot for some reason, I told it to in bios, but seemed to hang before loading it)

Guess I'll use d: partition for files and c: for programs. Don't want to risk merging them.

[veK]

Ebay or privately ?

privately... somebody @ work  :)

[Cybopache]

I have purcased this little thingy

http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Liguid/DIY/cl-w0076/cl-w0076.asp

I just wanted to try something diffrent than heatsink+fan.

I have started it to check for leaks, none so far.

O by the way, I will come back with some temperature measurements: Liquid VS Heatsink.

I also got me a pair of 5.1 headphones :

http://www.bluetinum.net/ViewProducts.asp

go to produkter/hjemmet/hovedtelefoner/5.1 surround headset.

well the site is in Danish but you can see the pic anyway.

They were kinda cheap, not on top shelves but a great improvement from the one I had.

The sound in DOOM 3 was awsome.

cybo