What to upgrade to?

[ripken204]

is there a reason for not getting an e6300?

and how about a little cheaper of a mobo

the gigabye s3, afaik the only major difference is its capacitors, they are the normal ones, the ds3 has solid ones

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813128017

[jcarle]

the gigabye s3, afaik the only major difference is its capacitors, they are the normal ones, the ds3 has solid ones

I have NEVER seen an Asus motherboard with a blown or leaking capacitor. Never.

[ripken204]

okay? im talking about gigabyte. ive never personally had a mobo with a leaked capacitor, the ds3 cant leak at all with its new type of capacitor, the s3 is the normal one. thats why i would suggest getting the s3 and save some money.

[jcarle]

okay? im talking about gigabyte. ive never personally had a mobo with a leaked capacitor, the ds3 cant leak at all with its new type of capacitor, the s3 is the normal one. thats why i would suggest getting the s3 and save some money.

Sorry, I misunderstood you. My bad. I thought you meant the difference between Asus and Gigabyte boards.

Edited November 9, 2006 by jcarle

[kutster]

Good thought Ripken. But I really didn't want a E6300. See I wanted to get a laptop with a Core 2 Duo and what not, but my parents really didn't want me to do that. So basically I upgraded my computer to what I wanted in a laptop. So ya.

I think my dad's computer motherboard capacitor leaked. It still runs but it looks like something had leaked in the bottom of the case. Who knows. lol

[Zxian]

Regarding the power supply - I'd go with a better name than CoolMax. Antec or SeaSonic make excellent quality power supplies.

I tested a SeaSonic PSU yesterday, and voltages and ripple were nothing but excellent. Voltages were less than 1% off nominal values, even at 500W load!

Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP400

SeaSonic S12-380

The SeaSonic is a little more pricey, but it's also more efficient, meaning that you might get the money back in power savings.

And yes, 380W will be plenty for your system. People who say you'd need more should take a power meter and plug it into their system.

[ripken204]

zxian is so right. most new comps take around 250-300 watts, but overclocking is another situtation. the seasonic is a very good one btw.

[Zxian]

Even with overclocking, the power draws on a high end gaming system will rarely go over 450W. Usually, the only systems that require more are dual CPU systems (i.e. a server).

[jcarle]

Wattage is also a very very poor way to judge a power supply since Watt = Voltage * Amperage.

Let's compare some examples of how this can translate into problems.

Sample 1 - 350W

3.3V @ 19A = 62.7W
	5V @ 21A = 105W
   12V @ 15A = 180W 
	   Total = 347.7W

Sample 2 - 450W

3.3V @ 16A = 52.8W
	5V @ 18A = 90W
   12V @ 25A = 300W 
	   Total = 442.8W

The 450W power supply, even if it has a higher Wattage, has weaker 3.3V and 5V rails. More juice on the 12V rail, but CPUs and motherboard components all rely on more then just 12V, they rely also on 3.3V and 5V. A more powerful system, CPU, Memory and Video Card wise would be more stable on the 350W then the 450W.

That's looking at only one part of the importance of choosing a good power supply. There are many others, such as the quality of the parts inside the power supply, the accuracy of the voltages, the stability under load, the noise, surge protection, overheat protection and numerous other factors.

Only companies that I feel you can buy from without worrying about those factors is Antec and SeaSonic. Other brands should be scrutinized, verified, reviewed and analyzed before purchased.

Edited November 10, 2006 by jcarle

[kutster]

I have always thought the more power your have the better. But i guess it depends on what a person is doing. I will definatly have to keep that in mind. I would have never thought that there was such a difference between power supplies.

[ripken204]

well u can buy a 500w psu for 20$ and one for 120$, so there must be a difference.

[jcarle]

I have always thought the more power your have the better. But i guess it depends on what a person is doing. I will definatly have to keep that in mind. I would have never thought that there was such a difference between power supplies.

Hence why I recommend Antec power supplies to most people since they're reliable and well balanced.

[Zxian]

I have always thought the more power your have the better. But i guess it depends on what a person is doing. I will definatly have to keep that in mind. I would have never thought that there was such a difference between power supplies.

Nope - not the case at all. When you start looking at well made power supply reviews, you'll start to understand the problems of underloading your power supply.

For example - I was testing a particlar power supply (rated at ~500W) this past Wednesday, and when I had applied 90W of load, there was the distinct sound of coil whine. This might not be a performance issue, but it'll drive you mad really fast! I took the measurements as quickly as possible to make that bloody ringing go away.

Secondly - efficiency curves tend to max out in the middle of the loading range of the PSU. For example, if your system requires 150W, and you've got a 500W PSU, chances are you're not going to have as high of an efficiency as a PSU that is rated for 300W or 350W.

I'll tell you right off the bat - CoolMax is not a good name brand when it comes to PSUs.

[kutster]

I thought I might tell you guys haw it all went.

Well I got my stuff the other day. I had to do a few tweaking to my case. Never thought about new hardware and old case may not work. The problem was that the power botton cord and reset and all that is one plug well it didn't match the prongs on the motherboard, so when I went to turn it on nothing happened. So eventually I got it figured out. So I reinstalled Windows Xp Pro and it's running like a beast. But the boot time isn't as fast as I would have expected. The Windows Xp boot screen seems to take its time loading Windows. But as soon as that part is done it logs it withing a second or so.

Also I haven't tried any higher, but I have so far overclocked it to 2.30Ghz.

Thanks Everyone for your help this thing is awesome!

[Zxian]

Running a defragger will help your boot times. Diskeeper 2007 is a good choice.

Slow boot times might also be the effect of a lack of drivers. Make sure that you've installed the latest drivers for all your hardware, even if it's recognized with the default drivers that come with Windows.