[bysmitty]

Wow, looks like you are going for a balls out upgrade SoccerDude! I'm drooling already. Yup, 750w will be sufficient for your needs and still give you a little extra for breathing room. It more depends on the brand since each brand rates their wattage differently. Some measure peak, some min, some in the middle. For power supplies, my preferences are Seasonic, Enermax, and Antec (in that order) but there are plenty of other decent brands out there. Just make sure you don't get some no name brand; which it doesn't look like you are. With a beast system like that, the only other thing I would recommend is get a nice case with it. I always hate to see high end rigs packing into el-cheapo tin can cases. I'm interested in seeing the full specs when you have them finalized and don't forget to post some benchmarks. Post back with any questions.

...bysmitty

[Panthera]

My bf's graphics card gave up some time ago, and he's quite a gamer, so he's had some problems adjusting to not being able to play 3d games and not being able to loan my pc all the time.
At the same time he's very cheap; he wants a good graphics card, but he doesn't want to pay much for it..

We've discussed this a bit to and forth (he doesn't do anything with it if I don't force him, it was the same when his power supply gave up, he went 8(!) months before he did anything with it)

And decided that
1. He doesn't want to pay anything near 1000kr (about 150$)
2. There isn't any use in buying a card that has less than 256mb
3. He's not interested in upgrading the rest of his comp.

So, we need some help to find a rather good AGP card, that doesn't cost a lot of money.

We've looked at this auction, featuring the HIS X800 Pro IceQ bla bla card, but we can't seem to find any info about how good this card really is, and what other cards you can compare it too..

Help?

[bysmitty]

^ Sounds like you kids have already done some homework and are well on the right track. Personally, I see the sweet spot for AGP being the Nvidia 7600gs which should be right in his price range. The ATI x800 pro in the auction is a tad slower but is a very close contender. Really, either one should get him by comfortably for another year or so until he is ready to overhaul the machine entirely.

Less notable AGP options: The 6800xt and x1600 pro are both in his price range but don't quite pack the same power as the above cards. The 7600gt is now starting to crop up in AGP flavor and is an excellent performer for the cost but these cards are still pretty rare and are retailing closer to $200. The 7800gs is still way overpriced for its performance. The x1650 pro isn't too shabby but can't compete with the similarly priced 7600gt. Lastly, the x1950 pro should be released soon but I have yet to see any final benchmarks or price point.

Post back if you have any more questions.

...bysmitty

[Giligan]

Bysmitty:

What are the chances of finding a replacement fan for a five-year-old emachines T1090? Is this part readily available?

It's a pretty boneheaded question, but I'm really not sure.

[bysmitty]

@ Giligan: Case fans generally come in standardized sizes such as 80mm, 92mm, 120mm, etc. so your chances are pretty good. Alas, A quick Google search for that model didn't return any info relating to fan configuration. If you take a picture of the fan in question I can tell you the size and help you track down a replacement. Without a picture or fan measurements, I'd just be guessing.

...bysmitty

[Giligan]

Bysmitty: Unfortunately, I'm asking in regards for someone else, so I'm not going to be able to get measurements. I have seen the fan, though, and I'm almost certain it's about 90mm. Terribly sorry that I can't measure it to make certain.

[bysmitty]

@ Giligan: No problem. The most common case fan size is 80mm so that would be my first guess. Something like this is cheap, quiet, and moves plenty of air. If you think it might be 92mm, I would go with one of these. If you are not in the US or would rather choose a different fan or retailer, just about any fan, as long as it is the right size, should work fine.

...bysmitty

[samIamsad]

Smittyyyyy,

I've noticed voltage drops for a while, at least they seem to occur. But read on. Ocassionally the system would boot up and display an error, after which I go to the Bios screen to find out that there seems to be trouble with two values. As of today, the 3.3V and 5V lines are meanwhile only running at 3.0V and 4.5V each, at least according to my Bios. Both values are certainly way below tolerance threshold. I don't know how serious that could be, it could explain the bluescreens I get every once in a while (though not that often), maybe even my hard disk crash a while ago? Can such voltage drops be caused by a faulty RAM stick as well, for instance, and not only the power supply alone? Or maybe it's just a Bios displaying wrong values at fault here?

In any case, I don't really want to buy anything expensive for my system, it's getting rather old now, and with new rigs becoming ridiculously cheap*, I've thought about buying a new one next year or so, maybe for a game that would make an upgrade actually worthwhile. Let's say... Bioshock!

(*4400+ AMD systems for less than 500 bucks!)


update: My system crashed a few times yesterday evening (every time the CD drive accessed a CD) and didn't start again. Since it made a smiliar kind of noise as if its powered up again and again like my crashed hard drive did a while ago, I'm assuming that this caused my hard disk to fuck up, too.

Anyway, I got the Bios error every time I booted anew, had to press the F1 key to bypass the warning and got a bluescreen upon loading Windows after two or three of these crashes. Yet, strangely, after I fiddled around with the system a bit this morning (plugged and unplugged the power supply from the board, disconnected and connected the drives), I seem to be getting normal values again (4,8-4,9V and 3,2V respectively). Of course, I still had to initiate chkdsk via the inbuilt repair console that comes on the WinXP CD, 'cause that bluescreen prevented me from ever getting to anywhere, but after that..., well I'm here.

[samIamsad]

Oh, maybe a coincidence: There were five devices plugged into the multiway connector I'm using. Before I got normal values for the first time in.. a while, I disconnected two of them (the cable modem and the router). They're both plugged in again meanwhile, though, and the values are still okay. Embarassing, I went to a specialized secondary school (electrical engineering) and look what good it has done to me. Another thing that could be at fault: A power switch of a 7 years old tower?

[bysmitty]

Wow Sam, you seem to be having some terrible luck with that computer. First your DVD drive, then hard drive, now this. Anyway, it sounds like power issue to me. My best guesses are either that your power supply is going bad or the draw is too great and over-taxing the power supply. Power issues can cause just about everything that you mentioned, blue screens of death, problems with the system shutting off/turning on, flakey hardware, etc.

If you haven’t done so already, I would first take a can of compressed air to the power supply unit (PSU from here on) to make sure it isn’t choking on dust and also check that the fan is functioning properly in there dissipating heat.

If that checks out, I would next try booting the computer with the bare minimum devices plugged in. Unplug all unneeded USB devices, optical drives, sound card, extra hard drives, etc. We want to test it with only the devices that are 100% needed to run the computer. We want to rule out the power is being over-dawn or one of these devices is faulty and causing instability.

If there are still issues with the machine, I would look towards to power supply being the culprit. The best test would be try a known working PSU in the machine and see if that helps though I know that is not always a simple task. If it comes to it, PSUs are not overly expensive and are relatively simply to replace. Peg me back with your findings.

...bysmitty

[samIamsad]

Yeah, well, the bad (errrr...bad!?) thing in this case is, it's gone. For now. I cleaned the interior of the supply a couple of times in the last two years, though. But you're right, everything's not well at all. Suicide pact - you first?

Thanks for your kind support, as always! One more question for now, just for kicks: *Could* a memory stick be the cause as well?

[bysmitty]

Yup, that is another possibility.

...bysmitty

[akane_t]

bysmitty,

I'm looking to get a low-price laptop with a DVD burner. After some searching, I think I've found one that I like. It's a Dell Inspiron B130. I think it has descent specs for the price, $ 499 with free shipping.

Intel® Celeron® M Processor 380 (1.60GHz/1MB Cache/400MHz FSB)
Integrated Intel® Media Accelerator 900 Graphics
15.4in WXGA Display
1GB DDR2 SDRAM 2 Dimm
60GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
FREE Dell Color Ink Jet Printer 725
4-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (29 WHr)
Dell 1370 Internal Wireless (802.11b/g, 54Mbps)
Internal 56K Modem and Integrated Network Card

I'm going to use it primarily as an entertainment system when I'm on the road, some gaming, watching DIVX and DVD movies etc. Do you have any opinions on the system? I know some people hate Dell PCs but I personally haven't had problems with Dell products so far.

Also, would I be able to run Dreamfall (or similar games) on it at the lowest setting. CPU sounds a bit weak and I don't like integrated graphics but at this price range (around $500), I couldn't come up with something better.

Thanks.

[bysmitty]

Well, for $500, that isn't a bad little laptop. That should be able to get you by for day to day use without hitting the wallet too hard. My only concern is your mention of gaming. Even at the lowest settings, 3d games like Dreamfall and BS4 are basically out. You will be able to run newer 2d games like scratches but the integrated video won't cut it for much more than that. If gaming is a big concern, you should look for one with a Geforce Go 7600, ATI x1600, or something in that range. Of course, bumping up the video power like that will also bump up the price a bit so it all depends on how much having that gaming ability is worth it to you. Everything else on it looks solid. Let me know if you have any more questions and good luck with the upgrade.

...bysmitty

[rlpw]

Oh great and powerful Bysmitty,

I was wondering about your thoughts on a logic card for graphics, are there any games out at this point that even support and benefit from having one or is it just overkill?

[Jelena]

bysmitty
I've got the game Sentinel installed (playes without the disc in) and was playing it when suddenly it crashed with a horrible squealing sound that definitly didn't sound healthy. The screen freezes at the same time and I have to push ctrl-alt-delete to get out of there and make that noise end. Should I uninstall it and forget about this really expensive game at the time I bought it. Or do you have any clues to what the problem is?
I'm going to brows the internet for info on patches now. Just thought I'd consult you as well.
Lena

[Jelena]

and it continues....
Now I notice that my computer won't run a couple of games: Need for speed Underground: The initial cut scene looks OK, but hen there are pixelated black "dots" where the text should be and once the actual game starts the screen seems to have too much black. This CD has some scrateches.
Psychonauts: I get a message that says: unable to authenticate original disc within time limit. Try again. When I do so I get a black screen and that Windows' sound that tells me something is wrong.

Both these games have worked just fine and they are original discs.

[bysmitty]

@ rlpw: I guess I'm a little confused by what you mean with 'logic card'. Are you referring to the physics card debuted this summer or is this something else? The physics cards, at this point in time, are fairly pointless as there just in no support from games yet. Maybe in the future, we'll see more software taking advantage of them but right now, there just in no gain from shelling out a few hundred for one of these beside bragging rights.

@ Jelena: Hmmm, that is a very interesting sounding problem. First off, could post some basic specs for your computer? Namely the video card and processor. Also, have you noticed any other symptoms or is it only games that are acting up? Are there any games that still work properly? Have you noticed any sound problems? A preliminary guess is that it is some kind of problem with the video card but I can't be sure yet. The above questions should help narrow it down a little bit more.

...bysmitty

[rlpw]

Originally Posted by bysmitty

@ rlpw: I guess I'm a little confused by what you mean with 'logic card'. Are you referring to the physics card debuted this summer or is this something else? The physics cards, at this point in time, are fairly pointless as there just in no support from games yet. Maybe in the future, we'll see more software taking advantage of them but right now, there just in no gain from shelling out a few hundred for one of these beside bragging rights.
...bysmitty

I'm sorry oh powerful Bysmitty I did mean physics card. TY for your time

[Flyboy]

I'm not sure if this is on topic or not, but...

My computer (actually my brother's 3 year old Dell Inspiron 1100, 2.2ghz Celeron, 640 MB Ram) is slow as hell at most things. I do a lot of photo work and it drives me mad at times. However I don't really have the money to do anything about it now (I just threw in 512MB of RAM a few months ago with little to no change). What irks me though is that it takes forever to upload stuff while downloading somehow goes at rocket speed. Since this is probably a software thing, I'm not so sure if you can really help me. I don't really know enough about firewalls and stuff to go snooping around to try and increase the upload speed, which is quite important for my work.

Any advice you can offer would be great. Thanks!