Confirm before I buy please

[ozzfreak]

I posted this around 3 months ago, made a few changes, and will be ordering in about a week - week and a half. I was hoping ya'll would let me know if this is good, and if any other changes should be made now, seeing how it's been probably 3 months since I talked about it.


ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $129


VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 $284.99


Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor $187.99


CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply $129.99


G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $39.99


2 X Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $239.98


NZXT Guardian 921 CS-NT-GD921-B Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $89.99



I'm open to a different case also. I'll be using this system for heavy photoshop work, and lots of storage of pictures. Also, my kids will be using it for gaming. I'll more than likely use on board sound. CD-ROM really isn't that important, I'll just get a Lite-on or something. I'm still debating on keeping my current keyboard and mouse or not. Also, my monitor, it's good, a NEC 90GX2, but I can't seem to get it calibrated right. Works great if I don't calibrate it for work with my photos. I get these odd artifacts on bright spots, unless I turn the contrast all the way up. Anwyay, that's a dif issue. I'm open to a new monitor also, that would be great for photo ediiting. I think I'll go widescreen this time. Thanks for the help.

[shadowpr]

Looks like a good build.

[ozzfreak]

Anyone else wanna comment?

[glc]

My silence indicates approval.

[not important]

Looks good to me.

[DSCHIEF]

Be aware that the P5Q Pro has a different Lan Chip than many of the other Asus MB's.
It has an Atheros L1 e Gigabit ethernet { AR8121 }

It does not Play well with others ; If your running Linux you'll need a Kernel 2.6.27
or higher. And vista will have problems also. Vista will install ok, but You will have to
install the lan Driver from the CD that comes with the MB.

[ozzfreak]

thanks everyone, I guess it's a keeper.

[phigdon]

you can get 1.5T Seagate HDD with the same cache for the same money.

[ozzfreak]

but if it's the same money, why lose 500 GB?

[jdeb]

very nice, I prefer the Lian Li cases for what it is worth

[liambl]

To be honest I would rather have the WD drives, recent Seagates have been very unreliable and that 1.5TB one looks no diferent.

Originally Posted by ozzfreak but if it's the same money, why lose 500 GB?

They mean that the 1.5TB drive costs the same as the 1TB WD, but do consider my above statement.

[Masaki 7-11]

That Visiontek Card is pretty expensive, the sapphire HD4870 with double the ram (1GB) costs about $40 less: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16835185125

[liambl]

Originally Posted by Masaki 7-11 That Visiontek Card is pretty expensive, the sapphire HD4870 with double the ram (1GB) costs about $40 less: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16835185125

Thats a CPU heatsink...

[glc]

It's also the Canadian site............

[ozzfreak]

I understand about the HD's now, I'll have to decide on that, but I'll more than likely go with the WD's, I've used them along with other brands, and always had the best of luck with WD's.

the sapphire is 239 on the US site. Is there really a big difference in these brands, or should I just save the money and get the Sapphire?

[glc]

To me, Sapphire has always been as good as any.

[Masaki 7-11]

Sorry about the bad link, was working on multiple posts and got my links messed up. Here is the proper link to the video card:

SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102801

[ozzfreak]

The visiontek has the Memory Clock at 1800, but the sapphire is at 900. What is this, and will there be a big noticeable difference? That's the only thing different between the two that I can tell besides the double ram in the sapphire.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by ozzfreak The visiontek has the Memory Clock at 1800, but the sapphire is at 900. What is this, and will there be a big noticeable difference? That's the only thing different between the two that I can tell besides the double ram in the sapphire.

The memory speed is actually the same for both, Visiontek reports the memory speed after taking into account dual channel (which is incorrect as GDDR5 uses quad channel ram). Both video cards have the ram running at 900MHz before taking into consideration quad channel and 3600MHz after taking into account quad channel.

[ozzfreak]

hmm, newegg needs to fix their info then

[glc]

It's not Newegg, they just copy/paste manufacturer's info.

[ozzfreak]

Ok, so I go to order my stuff. And someone at work was telling me, it won't go smooth, it never does. I'm like oh hush. I goto newegg, and my hard drives are out of stock! NOOOO! Amazon doesn't sell the ones I was getting, so is there another reputable, fast shipping site, that would have it? I've only ordered from newegg and amazon in the past for computer parts. Help? lol

[ozzfreak]

well nevermind, i found it on amazon. I had to search for it instead of looking in the categories. Oops.

[glc]

The Blacks are probably a bit hard to get right now due to all the Seagate issues.

[ozzfreak]

I just got an email saying newegg had them back in stock. But already ordered from Amazon. All is good though.

[ozzfreak]

I got it all up and going, on it now. It mostly went smooth, except I went ahead and ordered a new heatsink, because I couldn't get the OEM one to snap in, and stay to where I was comfortable. It snapped out once when I moved the motherboard, and that was enough to make me order a different one. I ended up with this Zalman..... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118003 It's the screw in kind with the back plate. No chance of this one popping off!

My processor is idling between 18-20C, and under load hasn't made it above 30 yet. Not too shabby! My sapphire 1GB 4870 is idling at about 45C, which seems to be good for this card. So far I'm happy with it, except Catalyst keeps changing my monitor calibration when I open it, and i have to restart to get my screen looking right again. Not sure why it's doing it. I'll figure it out though. I just put everything to defaults right now, and see what happens on the next restart.

One other problem i had was my XP disc was prior to any service packs, so I was only recognizing 127GB of my 1TB drives. I made a new install disc by slipstreaming sp3 into it, and all is good now. It had me worried at first, hehe.

Thanks for the help everyone, looks like I made a good choice.

[glc]

You know, you don't HAVE to install Catalyst.

[ozzfreak]

Didnt' know that, but how would I adjust fan speed and monitor temps then?

[glc]

Do you need to?

[ozzfreak]

since the 4870's are known for running at higher temps, yeah, it would be really nice. I found Rivatuner, it monitors temps, but can't adjust fan speed.