jcarle

What "Happy Bunny" phrase are you? My Results: hi, loser You are a very outgoing and fun person. Everyone loves to be around you because your personality is so out there!

You're obviously using a computer somewhere if you're posting on this forum, so what I have for a suggestion for you is this. If you don't want to buy a floppy, which I don't blame you, I don't want one in my next PC either, then you can do this. Make the boot floppy on another computer with a CD-RW, then once the floppy is bootable and contains all of the files you need to update the BIOS, then simply make a bootable CD using the floppy as an image. Then, all you have to do is boot with the CD to update the BIOS.

I have no doubt everything will be just fine. One thing you can do to make sure everything goes smoothly is once you have everything and have it all put together, update the motherboard's BIOS to the latest version. As for the stock heatsink, it's just fine to keep the processor within original specs. If you find it too noisy, you can enable Q-Fan in the motherboard's BIOS to dynamically adjust the fan speed as per the cpu temperature. Or, you can change the cooler to an aftermarket watercooling solution that's much quieter, such as the CoolerMaster AquaGate R-120. The pipe which you're referring too is does not need to fit exactly over the stock heatsink, it's only there as an aid to give fresh cool air to the cpu fan. Since the fan pulls air from the top and blows it over the heatsink, the pipe helps the fan suck fresh cool air from outside of the case, instead of using warm air that's floating around the inside. Sure, the closer you can get the pipe to fit over the heatsink, the nicer the cooling, but it's not crucial. I wanted to mention also, Arctic Silver is good if it used as the only thermal paste. The stock heatsink has to be cleaned of the original "pad" of thermal paste before you apply Artic Silver. The two together can be counter productive. Cleaning the thermal pad, as well as the Arctic Silver can be cleaned with Rubbing Alcohol and a scott towel.

I see the discussion ended up here... lol. Sorry I haven't been around much, just been loaded at work. I'm glad you decided to go for the Raptor drives... even with NCQ, the performance increase from a drive that's not NCQ to a drive that is, is just not large enough to compare with the difference between a drive that runs at 7,200rpm and one that runs at 10,000rpm. The cream of the crop will be when Western releases their rumored to be in development 10,000rpm hard drives WITH NCQ. But who knows when that will actually happen. If you want some good reading, take a look over at this article: Tom's Hardware - Round-Up: Comparison Testing of 22 Hard Disk Drives You'll see that both 10,000rpm drives (the Raptors) are far above in performance then any other drive from any other company, with or without NCQ. RPM just plain out beats any other features such as cache and command queueing. Hence why SCSI drives where the king for the longest of times, because the high end drives have been running at 10,000rpm for years. Remember when drives went from 4,200rpm to 5,400rpm, then from 5,400rpm to 7,200rpm. Each time, the increase in performance was imense. The same applies when going from 7,200rpm to 10,000rpm. Point said.

Everything almost went well, turns out 350W is borderline for his configuration, had to upgrade the power supply to a 460W. Other then that, the machine ran beautifully.

I hear ya, things that happen to all of us. I'm having my first hands-on experiences with the P5WD2 motherboard. I'm putting together a computer for a customer using the following: Antec SLK1650B Asus P5WD2 Premium Intel Pentium 630 3.0GHz 2MB 2 x 1024MB Kingston DDR2 533MHz Leadtek PX6600 TD 250GB Western Digital SATA Pioneer DVR-110DBK I have to throw a copy of Doom 3 on that to test it out... it's going to be smokin'.

Update?

Most of the time, you can reduce the timings past the memory's default timings. I've run a lot of memory with the minimum timings offered by the motherboard if the timings specified were much higher. You will see more of a difference in a timing reduction then a MHz increase simply because the end result in memory throughput is roughly calculated in the sense of TIMING multiplied by MHz It obviously is more complicated then that, but all the timings have to do with how long it takes to do a certain operation and the MHz is the frequency per second of transmissions.

When it comes to those kinds of differences, go with what your wallet will let you.

I think you received a fraud.

Anyone figure that out? I tried the same with my OEM copy of XP Pro. I added the wpa.dbl file from my machine to $OEM$\$$\system32, upon install I was still prompted to activate windows even though OEMPreInstall="Yes" was set in my winnt.sif.

Corsair is very good memory, it may very well be the best on the market, but it can be quite a bit more expensive depending on the type of memory you get (XMS Pro, TwinX). Artic 5 is definately premium stuff. I personally use it myself whenever I need to use thermic paste that doesn't have a thermic pad on the heatsink. The stock heatsink that comes Retail with the processor is sufficient to keep it within spec. An aftermarket quality performance heatsink/fan can keep the processor cooler but they're often much louder then the stock fan. However, if you really want to keep the processor really cool with a low noise level, you can look into watercooling. Something like the CoolerMaster Aquagate R-120 is simple to install yet very effective.

I'm hoping to get the time soon to rebuild a new version of the compression bin completely from scratch.

Memory size will not change performance (unless you don't have enough). What will change performance is the speed of the memory (400/533/667) and the timings (4-4-4, 5-5-5). I'm not all too surprised that people complain. People are never satisfied no matter how good a certain product may be. Any issues that the Pioneer may have upon release will be fixed with firmware releases. I've heard good things about the NEC burners. Still loyal to Pioneer though.

Case fans are standard in their respective sizes, 80mm, 120mm, and so on. What changes is the quality and accordingly, their noise levels. Papst makes the quietest of all case fans on the market. The case you chose is just grand. It's one of my favorites. May very well be my next choice when I built up my next desktop. The performance gain is most achieved up to 1GB of total system memory. After 1GB, the performance gains are less and less. Today's current standards opt for a 1GB minimum for optimal performance, though past 2GB, performance gains are negligable for personal use. And yes, even if you do have two sticks of 512MB running in dual channel, nothing stops you from adding another two sticks of 512MB that will also work in dual channel. In terms of IDE burners, the cream of the crop is the Pioneer DVR-110DBK. Black, sleek, fast and an all around incredible Dual Layer DVD+/-RW. We just received our shipment here at the store, and at $74.99 CAD, they're really not expensive. I could even ship one to you if you wanted. I had a Pioneer DVR-107BK, then a DVR-108BK, and a DVR-109BK. They're all great burners. Now I can't wait to take this new generation out for a spin. Pioneer just keeps getting better.

You know, the Celeron is the exact SAME core as the Pentium, the only difference is the cache. You'll see more performance from a much faster Hz ratio, then a larger cache. Tit for tat, if processor speeds are the same, the Pentium is a better choice. However, a Celeron 3GHz will out perform a Pentium 2GHz, even if the Pentium has more cache.

Make sure you get yourself some PAPST fans, they're the quietest case fans on the market.

Linksys! Linksys! Linksys! Linksys! Linksys! Linksys is god!

Sorry, I haven't been around much, I've been flooded with work this past week. What fans come with a case is dependent on the case. Some don't even come with a single case fan. Which case did you end up getting? As for the switch on your power supply, that's the voltage selector. Unless you live outside of the United States or Canada, then the 115 selection is the correct choice. There's actually a variance tollerance on the power supply to accept 115 +/- a certain amount. So 110 or 120 will both function fine for the 115 setting. 230 is used in foreign countries such as New Zealand which run on 240 volts in homes. Unless the I/O shield is screwed into place (some cases do, most don't), you simply just tap it out of it's spot. A small punch from the outside of the case towards the inside directly in the center of the I/O shield is usually enough to dislodge it out. By the way, curious if you have a digital camera? If you did, would be interesting to see some pictures of your development and construction of your system.

@Andromeda43: I think you seem to perhaps be taking this topic way too seriously.

Well, the processor fan will come with the Retail boxed package of the processor itself (do not buy an OEM processor, not worth it). Case fans will come with the case and anything thing of the like will come either with the motherboard or the case itself. What you could buy that could cost less for now would be things like your keyboard, mouse, speakers and such accessories. I'd recommend you invest in purchasing yourself a high-quality power bar by APC, this will protect your computer from power spikes. As for dual-channel, all that happens is that your processor can talk to both sticks of ram simulteanously, therefore increasing memory bandwidth. For a more in-depth explanation, check out this wiki. ADDED: I suggest you wait for your processor before you install your motherboard in the case. The reason for this is that installing the stock heatsink on the processor require a fair amount of force. Doing so with the motherboard already installed can cause unnecessary strain to the motherboard and possibly (very low chance, but still) damage. You will see that once you install the heatsink on the processor that there is so much force pulling on the motherboard that your motherboard will actually curve slightly upwards. The best way to mount the heatsink onto the motherboard is to rest the motherboard on a non-conductive material (plastic anti-static bag that the motherboard comes in is usually an excellent and convenient choice), then to lay the motherboard with the non-conductive material under it on a flat, solid surface (table or such). Then you install the processor by opening the locking mechanism, then placing it gently in it position (you will see two notches that must be aligned in the socket) and then gently close the locking mechanism. Once the processor is properly locked, then you can place the heatsink in position and with a firm grip, clip each of the four sides of the heatsink by going in an X pattern. Once the heatsink is firmly attached, then make sure that the mounting screws in your case line up with the holes in your motherboard, attach the I/O shield to the back of the case and then gently position the motherboard in place. Start treading each screw into their case mounts, but do not tighten yet. Only start tightening all the motherboard mounting screw AFTER you have threaded ALL the screws into their mounts first.

The P5WD2 is definately the better of the two, even if you get it without WiFi built in. The P5AD2 uses the Intel 925X northbridge and the Intel ICH6R southbridge, whilst the P5WD2 uses the newer Intel 955X northbridge and the Intel ICH7R southbridge. Regarding the L2 cache, what they mean is that it ALSO supports 1MB cache as well. Both motherboards will support 2MB caches and the processors your are looking at. Do keep in mind though, at this moment, the Intel 955X, 945P and 945G are the only northbridges that support dual-core processors. Older chipsets will NEVER support dual-core processors (even with a BIOS update) and only those current chipsets or newer yet to be released chipsets will support dual-core processors. So choosing the P5WD2 over the P5AD2 will open up the option of one day installing a dual-core processor without changing your motherboard, whilst the choosing the P5AD2 will not give you that option.

Honestly, that's one of those "you have to try it" things. Overclocking varies part by part, even within the same company, even within the same model. Two identical parts can overclock differently. Personally, I don't really see the benefit of overclocking said the cost of the parts used. The primary reason why I choose Kingston is because their memory is always error free, stable and garanteed for life. Things for sure, anything is possible. Who knows how far you could overclock kingston memory?

Are you trying to remove an account password in windows 2000/xp?

Anytime.