If sound is important to you, I can`t recommend a Creative X-fi sound card enough. If you try this card with it`s sound crystalizer enabled you`ll never be able to go back to onboard audio again. I was suprised at how dramatic an improvement it is.

do you think that looks like a poor heatsink?



i've got an X-Fi on my wishlist, and i'll be buying it very soon. i'm definately an audiophile. plus, i've got really nice speakers, and from what i understand, if i want to do them justice, i really do need to get something better than onboard sound.

Yes. It's not dramatically better than the stock cooler, maybe in the same league as the Arctic Freezer 7. The one coherent review I could find gave it a 68% score. And at $40 it's not that cheap, you could get a Thermalright Ultra 90 (with a fan), a Tuniq Tower or a Scythe Ninja for about that price.

I have an AeroCool Xfire on my Athlon 64 X2 5200+. The only reason I did this, is that the stock HS/fan's screws that mount the fan to the HS are plastic, and eventually soften and come loose. It comes with Arctic Silver 5.

well then, i'm glad i posted something about it first 

$40 for a Tuniq tower? oh snap, it went on sale since i last browsed. i dunno though, HSFs that're that heavy kind of scare me.

well, i'm taking a gaming break, so i might as well do some more browsing.

the Enzotech Ultra-X seems to perform the best, based on what i can find (of course, i haven't searched every last review site i could find). drawbacks? it's $60, and it's kind of ugly IMO.

on looks alone, i really like this AeroCool SilverWind (or SilverWing, depending on what site you look at). but it doesn't seem to do much better than a stock cooler. plus, the stock LEDs are white--definately not something i need to deal with (i leave my PC on overnight from time to time.

honestly... the tuniq tower seems like a pretty good all-around compromise, if potentially a bit of overkill for me. it's relatively affordable. it comes with a back-side mounting plate for an LGA 775, which is better than not having one at that weight (though, i'm still a bit curious about whether there some realistic way to also mount it to the motherboard tray... maybe the same kind of female/male screw things you use to mount the MB itself?). the only other disadvantage i see is that it's a more involved installation. oh, wait. a couple of the reviews mention that the finish on the copper footing is, well, non-existant. that's probably easy enough to fix with some buffing, though.

actually it sounds like a good deal of effort, almost as much as water cooling (of course i'm a little leery of that).

on a humourous note, this is why it's a good thing i don't have a car. if i did, i'd be doing this same thing with it--and that'd be a lot more expensive. i was the same way as a kid. my lego collection filled two 3 by 3.5 foot crates. when i wanted to play with them, i dumped them into a plastic children's swimming pool to keep the mess from expanding into three rooms. i paid for about two thirds of it myself by mowing lawns, tutoring neighborhood kids, etc. i would have probably kept collecting if i hadn't hit that awkward, self-conscious stage around high school. i'm still kind of irked that my mom gave it all away after i went to college

The Enzo is a very good cooler, the only drawback I see is that it's pretty loud when the fan's cranked up enough to match Ultra 120 Extreme performance. You're into audio so that might be an issue for you. OTOH, Newegg has the Tuniq currently on sale for $45.

They way I look at it even an expensive heatsink is a very small expenditure compared to the rest of a new system, so it doesn't make sense to me to spend $35 or $40 on crap when you can spend only a little more and get one of the best. Especially since unlike the cpu itself or the video card the heatsink should last through at least a couple upgrade cycles, maybe even more now that processors aren't getting significantly hotter with each generation anymore. I tend to go high-end with hardware that doesn't get rapidly obsolete, while settling for good value at a lower price point for stuff that'll be outdated soon.

Thus explaining why I've got the IFX heatsink and an MX Revolution mouse, but only a 8800GTS 320 video card. The first 2 items I expect to last for at least 3-5 years, the video will probably be replaced by this time next year.

I won't upgrade this computer (mobo and cpu). I will however build a quad core in due time.

are you familiar with magnetic barometric fans? the fan blade floats on a magnetic field, drastically reducing noise (17dBA at 1000RPM, 38dBA at 2400RPM), and supposedly doubling the life of the fan. newegg has them for only $7 each. i'm strongly considering replacing my stock case fans with these. not sure about using one as a heatsink fan - do you think the magnetic field could pose a threat to the CPU itself? i mean, any electric motor creates a magnetic field, so i don't see that it'd necessarily be any worse.

while they don't have the highest airflow available, my case is very well ventilated. no LEDs, and i'm okay with that. i think i'm going to do entirely custom case lighting, so that i can wire any lighting i have to an external rocker switch, and turn it off separately from the rest of the system.



i agree with that philosophy completely. when i bought my Dell, i purposely spent more money on the monitor and speakers than the system itself. both should last through at least another build (hopefully longer, especially for the speakers).

i really like my new case and plan to keep it for a long time. i'm also hoping my PSU will last for some time, especially considering that 700W is considerably more than i need right now (and since i don't plan on doing SLi or CrossFire, i'm hoping it'll remain above my needs for some time).

my only big regret with my last purchase is that i got XP home rather than pro. it does the trick for now, and it won't kill me to have an extra copy of windows.

next month i'm going to get a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer. the X-Fi processor is all i really care about -- i don't need or want an external controller, let alone "X-RAM" (which is used in games about about as frequently as a physics card... i.e., almost never). i might get it from Amazon, though, because i have a $75 gift certificate... still not sure. some of amazon's sellers have it for cheaper than newegg, but i'd need to evaluate shipping costs to get the lowest price. and if i get it from newegg, i'll probably spend my gift certificate on DVDs (Futurama). i also need a DVD decoder on this computer. anyone know of any that happen to be free (and worth using)?

i'll have this system paid off by march (to avoid finance charges). after that, i'm not sure if i'll put more money into new components immeidately. i'll be keeping an eye on VGAs. if i decide to get one, i'll probably be looking for PCIe 2.0 (thankfully the specs are both upward and downward compatible, but you don't get the double signal rate unless both are 2.0). so if i do go that route, i'll probably upgrade my MoBo shortly after -- that's the biggest reason i'm hesistating on getting a nice HSF; i'm not thrilled by the idea of an elaborate installation if there's a chance i'll be replacing the MB in a few months anyway. it's not a huge chance; the boards that support is are still very expensive -- but at least i could get a VGA and it'd be downward compatable.

to be sure, i'm not dissatisfied with my current MB in the least, and i'd recommend it to anyone if it's what they're looking for. but in addition to PCIe 2.0, i could also get on-board RAID support in an upgrade. i'd like to put my media files into a RAID 1 array. i'm not keen on using my external USB drive for regular backup - the connection is too slow for some of the things i do. maybe i'll look into a half TB internal drive soon (i've got about 400GB of media now).

though, i do have a general question about PCIe 2.0 that maybe someone can answer. let's say i did get a MB and a VGA that were both PCIe 2.0. if i plugged in another card that was PCIe 1.0 into the second 2.0 port, would it cause the VGA's signalling rate to drop? i'm just kind of curious.

That Enermax fan sounds interesting. Until now Noctua has been the last word in quiet fans. The Enermax is 17db at low speed and 34 on high; the Noctua 120mm is 17db on high and 6db on low. However one test showed the Enermax to have lower friction and lower power consumption than any other fan, and perform very well when undervolted.

I think your $7 would be well spent Noctuas are not cheap.

Thanks for the link on those fans. That looks like the ticket to quiet things down. Right now, I'm using ball fans that are a bit loud. I'd lose some CFM, but I think it would be okay. I'm always looking to reduce fan noise. With so many in computers these days, they can get pretty loud. The GPU fan is always a problem.

PCIe versions are backward compatible. You can stick an older PCIe card in a slot that supports the 2.0 spec and the slot will fall back. You can stick a newer card in an older slot and the card falls back. The x16 slot is always on its own channel so it wouldn't be affected by any other PCIe slot. Your question would be irrelevant with SLI/Crossfire because the cards have to be identical anyway.

Happy new year, BTW

you're welcome for the link (you've all helped me so much, i'm glad i could offer something back), and yes, happy new year!  i'm very hungover, and i wasn't even planning to do anything. apperantly i started making pasta last night and never finished ...ugh, laughing hurts



i wasn't asking for SLi/Crossfire, i was just curious. i could see getting a cheap second VGA, to run additional monitors w/o taxing my main VGA, or possibly a RAID controller (though after researching more, i realized "real" hardware RAID cards start at about $300, so it's a very remote possibility at best).

Hehe, ugh, alchohol and hang overs. I don't need no booze man...cuz I'm hooked on pain killers...just kidding

Finally got my new parts ordered. C2D e6750, 4GB DDR2-800, 8800GT. The fun begins next week

Ugh, Lian Li. The Alienware of cases. Overpriced horribly.

And the sound cards by Auzentech are dramatically better than any of the crap Creative tries to make you believe they offer. Cheaper, better.

Maybe, if you have room for a full tower (Antec had some that otherwise fit the bill) or can tolerate a case that's ugly as all get-out or with more lights than the UFO in close encounters. I don't and can't, and it's got various amenities (Removable mobo tray, HDD vibration dampening that actually works, etc) that are hard to find in anything cheaper.

I had initially planned to go with a B20 which met all of my (perhaps overly picky) requirements for $30-40 less than the B25, but egg's since discontinued them, and the only other reputable store that has them in stock anymore only has the silver ones (preferred black) and wanted $30 for the slowest shipping anyway (Egg shipped *everything* 3-day for less than that).

I like that case. It's totally my style. I'd be willing to pay a little more for it. I use Lian-Li mobile hard drive racks. The quality is pretty good.

Hope things go well building your new system. I've been very happy with mine so far.

have fun! the e6750 is a great processor.

i think lian-li cases are solid. that is they seem versatile. you can mod them. you can go for a quiet case. they've got enough airflow. little too boxey for my tastes, but not bad.

I use a Lian Li fulltower server case, with 15 drive bays. Other than more square holes in the motherboard mounting plane and NO labels there, it is well engineered.

their media support looked a little thin IIRC

Well, my final upgrade to this computer arrived: the second G.Skill 4 GB kit of 2 x 2 GB DDR2 667. Now all I have to do, is shut the system down, pull the box and swap out the Kingston for this, and I have 8 GB.

The hard part is getting to the back of the computer case to disconnect and re-connect things. The rest is easy.

First things first: a 20 fl. oz. cup of coffee!

Christmas is over and I got what I asked for ...

gift cards for BestBuy ..

I just got most of my new hardware in for my new system.

MSI K9A2 Platinum MB

AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition

4 GB DDR2 800mhz OCZ modules ..

2 Asus HD 3870 cards

2 WD 500GB sata2 HDs

1 floppy drive

1 DVD drive

1 Ultra X3 1000w PSU

1 Mid-Tower Case



The only thing I'm thinking about getting is a Blu-Ray/HD-dvd Drive for this
setup. Also, need a copy of Windows XP OEM for my new system ..

I have most of the pieces for my new system, but work and stuff that needs
to be around the house needs to be done first ... Hopefully by the end of
this month is over I'll have my new system up and running ..

Looks nice, GenBlood. Do let us know how that Phenom works out.

My final hardware upgrade on this one is done. I only consider mobo, cpu, and ram as upgrades. I am considering either the Q6600 or a Phenom for my next system.

i've been checking them out myself. i know LG makes a combo blu-ray/HD-DVD drive, and samsung has one on the way. make sure their compatable with newer blu-ray discs, or get the right software.

no write capability, but honestly, i've never even burned a DVD. i only burn CDs for compatability with CD players in cars. whenever i need to move a lot of data, i either FTP it or use magnetic storage (4GB thumb drive or 500 GB external HDD for really large volumes... kinda wish i had an eSATA though).



please, let us know how you like the AMD platform! we've been chatting regularly about how the new AMD stuff looks promising.

I have all-in-one DVD/CD burners in both of my computers. No High Definition though. Never had good luck with DVDROM drives. Had 2, and both died an early death.

So I finally decided to pick up a new video card. I bought this one. I've been buying eVGA cards, but this Gigabyte card looks really nice. I'm really happy with the Gigabyte motherboard I have, so I figure the quality should be there on the video cards as well. I like that it's not as long as the reference cards all the other makers offer and it has a Zalmann cooler that looks pretty nice. Video card coolers are always a big source of noise so I'm hoping this one is farily quiet. Also, it's advertised with a 700 MHz core clock which is about the highest I've seen for this GPU.

I was looking at the Radeon HD3000 series cards and they look look a pretty good value. I like this one with the fanless cooler. I was tempted, but I decided to stick with the nVidia GPU because they still have the best performance from what I've read.