SkaarjMaster's computer update thread

[SkaarjMaster]

OK, I'm going to start looking other places now. Here's my list so far (of all places to check prices):

newegg.com
zipzoomfly.com
directron.com
proadvantage.com
xoxide.com
tigerdirect.com
jab-tech.com
heatsinkfactory.com
frozencpu.com
svc.com
eXcaliberPC
Mwave
Performance-PCs
Sidewinder Computers
Allstarshop.com

Any of these I need to stay away from? Thanks.

 

[rAt.8^].bAg]

Any of these I need to stay away from?

Not that I know of. I've purchased from almost all of them and they're all generally OK dealers. It just comes down to availability and price then I suppose.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

by the way, what's proadvantage.com? I only find it as a financial group or sorts.

Also, even though their lifetime ratings are fine, the 6-month reseller ratings for zipzoomfly.com (6.41/10), svc.com (5.28/10) and performance-pcs.com (5.33/10) kinda scare me a little. A few other ones I might consider are:

callcct.com
c-source.com
sybercom.com

(obviously, all these places don't sell everything)

 

[rAt.8^].bAg]

I thought it was provantage.com?

 

[SkaarjMaster]

better change your post on page 3 then.

hehe, just noticed Sidewinder is the only one to beat Newegg's lifetime rating.

 

[rAt.8^].bAg]

Yep, I musta got that one mixed up.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

I've decided to go for the Silverstone mid-tower case....WTF! I'm sure this will last a long time and not be a PITA sometimes like I'm sure a cheap a$$ one would be.

Also getting a new Pioneer DVD burner and Asus DVD-ROM (both SATA) as well as a 1TB external HD backup and, yes, probably my last floppy drive. So my price will go up a bit, but I'm not going to bother posting that in this thread anymore. It's looking more like I won't be ordering until next week though.

EDIT: also, forget eXcaliberPC.....they don't have sh*t for new parts and their selection sucks!

 

[rAt.8^].bAg]

Well, you've been 3 months deciding on this rig. You'd better hurry up and buy it or all the parts will be changing again.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

Bear in mind that the FT-01 has no floppy sized bays - you will need an adaptor bracket for permanent mounting.

You would think for that price, they would include an adaptor bracket. I guess that's a bracket to convert a large bay to small bay. Thanks for the info.

Wait, I just thought of something. I found the inside brackets, but what about the outside drive bay?

 

[SkaarjMaster]

this place is pretty worthless as well:
http://www.sybercom.com


I did find that adapter bracket at Performance-PCs, FrozenCPU and Directron though. Thanks for the info.

EDIT: um, I was about to order the case and someone stole the Performance-PCs web site.......it figures.

 

[rAt.8^].bAg]

^ Bastids! lol

Yeah, some of those shops seem to have gone downhill lately.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

hehe, maybe their server went down. That's the beauty of being a computer shop, they get to use their own parts to fix it. ....oh, wait, it looks like they're up again, bye.....

 

[SkaarjMaster]

OK, so what Nvidia driver do I want to use for the GTX 280? Is the latest non-beta one good?

 

[SkaarjMaster]

Is that UT3 or UT, you're having problems with? I know in UT I'll have to set something to tell it to only run from one chip.

I've checked around a little and it seems some people are happy with the 182.06 drivers (beta version may have been 182.05) no matter what OS their using and others went back to 181.22 or even 180.20 (for WoW). I'll just download 3-4 different ones tonight and decide later which ones to try.

EDIT: um, it looks like the 182.06 drivers are the ones to get for UT3 now. It seemed to have crashing issues (at least for XP) between 178.13 and 182.05. The 178.13s and 182.05s are fine also. I'll start with the 182.06s and maybe that's all I need. Hopefully, they work fine with UT, UT2003/4, Q3, Q4, D3, Painkiller, etc. (because I will be installing these games again on my new system).

Looked around a little more and this may not be the magic bullet for everyone (maybe for XP though), but I'm still going to try it first.

Another question (may have been asked before): can I install the same CD key on a new computer with the same name and still run UT3? I doubt I'll run the old install ever, but I might and not both at the same time. This is what I found in another thread at Epic that got me worried:
"Note: Using a key that is already in use by other player will result in 'Connection Failed'."

 

[SkaarjMaster]

I'll keep the UT discussion to the other thread. Thanks for the info.

Just remembered why I came back to check this thread in the first place tonight. I got the Silverstone case today and it is undamaged and in one piece, which is always a good thing for cases. What's the CFM ratings on the fans inside the case? I can't seem to find the info anywhere.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

Just trying to get an idea of air in and air out with and without the PSU before I build like I always do.

By the way, I'm not too impressed with Provantage (I'll talk about this in a day or two).

 

[SkaarjMaster]

Anything special I need to know about SATA connectors/cords? I'm trying to figure out if the ones that come with the MB are usable or if I need to buy some special shielded ones or something like that. Also, are there ones for SATA, SATA2 or whatever (I know ATA has ATA100, ATA133, etc.) and what about the eSATA I'm using for my external hard drive. SATA is all new to me.

EDIT: just saw that, yes, eSATA will require a different cable so I'll have to get one of those for my external HD. Also, there are SATA2 cables, so I'll just get that for everything else and it should work even though one or more other things (not the internal HDs) might be only SATA1. Some say "shielded" and others say "shielded at both end".....not sure what the heck that means though as I thought the whole cable should be shielded and not just the ends (XION says this on their web site). I'm also trying to find some in different colors if possible. I guess all that leaves is what kind of SATA cables are coming with the MB....hmmmmmmmm..........

 

[SkaarjMaster]

Are they properly shielded like we always had to make sure about with ATA cables? The MB will be Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

The external drive I'm getting needs a power plug, so the power will be from a power strip (or whatever). Also, if I'm plugging it into that bracket, wouldn't I need an e-sata to e-sata? The bracket looks like it shows two e-sata slots and if the drive says e-sata for one of the options, then I would think the plug in the back would be e-sata. I could be wrong though and here's the drive I'm getting:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148352

The back connections from the top down in one of those pictures looks like firewire, firewire, USB, e-sata, and then I can't really tell after that. So, theoretically, with that back connector you could have one e-sata device powered from the power strip and another powered from the computer.

As far as the stock SATA2 cables (looks like either 2 or 4 come with the board), I'll use them if they're long enough. They should be for the hard drives, but probably not for the optical devices. I'll be ordering the rest of my major parts tonight and then figuring out the connectors, etc. I also need to look at what other parts I have in the closet before I order more.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

I agree, it's crazy! Anyway, I e-mailed Silverstone and got the CFM ratings on those fans for the SST-FTO1B case and here they are:

120mm fan >> 53.2 CFM
180mm fan >> 100 CFM

That's means without the PSU figured it yet, you have 200 CFM coming in and 53.2 CFM going out. I forget what I figured going out from my present PSU, but I have it written down somewhere. No matter what, it will definitely be positive pressure inside the case keeping out the dust.