New Rig

[matt_21484]

So I'm thinking about going away from the rig in my signature to something smaller and hopefully a little more powerful.
Everything would be purchased from Microcenter since they are running a promo now where if you spend 70 or more on an AMD processor get 50 off any MOBO. So here goes

Processor:
Phenom II X2 550 - 90

MOBO:
Asus M4A785-M - 80 but subtract 50 from this price b/c of promo

Case, Optical, Monitor, Hard Drive, Keybaord/mouse 2GB RAM, would all be re-purposed. This rig is used for internet browsing, HD video playback and editing of my DSLR photos in Adobe Photoshop Elements.
What does everyone think?

[Dave in Houston]

Why not buy the triple core Phenom for $10 more?

AMD Phenom II X3 Triple-Core Processor 720 Black Edition Boxed
http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0316182

They say that the 4th core on these can sometimes be unlocked, but I had no luck at that.

I bought from Microcenter just before Easter, and at that time they gave me a free mother board with the processor. I got the M4A77TD Asus board.

[blake2616]

Originally Posted by Dave in Houston Why not buy the triple core Phenom for $10 more? AMD Phenom II X3 Triple-Core Processor 720 Black Edition Boxed http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0316182 They say that the 4th core on these can sometimes be unlocked, but I had no luck at that. I bought from Microcenter just before Easter, and at that time they gave me a free mother board with the processor. I got the M4A77TD Asus board.

Would be a good investment since the OP plans to use it for cpu intensive purposes. And as long as you have ddr2 ram and want a micro mobo, I don't see a problem.

[matt_21484]

Thanks for the replies. I was on a "tight" budget as my wife and I just had our first child. My reasoning behind micro center is b/c of the promotion they were running. Buy an $70+ AMD CPU and get $50 off any AMD motherboard. I ended up going with the X2 550BE and the Asus M4a785-M, which should be able to unlock the other 2 cores. I also picked up a cooler master mATX case for 30, so out the door was $172.xx. I'll be re-purposing a PSU, RAM, and DVD drive so I'm happy with what I got. I think it'll be an improvement over the C2D 4500 & video card in my sig, I was using before.

[Khalil]

I think you made a good purchase, congrats and hope it all works well for you!

[Dave in Houston]

Congratulations on the new baby as well! They change your life in more ways than you can imagine... it's more of a hassle than you ever would have dreamed, and more fulfilling than your highest hopes. I have one in grad school and one just graduating high school, and I can't imagine my life without them.

Getting off of those mushy subjects and back to computer building, I think anyone whio has a Microcenter store near them should keep an eye on the deals they offer. I've gotten some great prices there. Fry's too, for that matter.

Good luck with the new build!

Dave

[matt_21484]

Spent all last night moving parts from my existing build to the new Asus motherboard and in a total bonehead move, forgot to uninstall all my old chipset/video drivers. Needless to say Windows did not boot. I"m in the process of repairing windows xp now so hopefully this will fix everything. If not, we'll I'll just take it to the Geek Squad....



Just kidding

[David M]

Whew....I was just about to say Nooooooo!

[matt_21484]

Turns out the repair feature didn't work. I had to re-install the OS. I'm fairly newbish when it comes to that stuff so my method may not have been the most efficient. But basically, I created a new profile and moved everything windows allowed me to move from my old profile to my new one. Also had to install for the first time the Asus and AMD drivers. I re-installed some others as well. It was time consuming, but works pretty well. The only thing that leaves me scratching my head is that I have a lot of programs installed in C:\Program Files, but none of them show up in Start->Programs nor in the Add/Remove programs list. Anyone care to explain why/how things work that way? Or should I post somewhere else?

All in All, like the new setup. It's smaller, more efficient and runs well. I was due for a fresh install anyway. Nothing gets a computer running faster then re-installing the OS and only the programs I need.

[glc]

That's because you created a new profile. You need to reinstall everything in the new profile.

The BEST thing to do is back up your data, wipe the drive, and get a fresh start. You did not do a fresh install.

[matt_21484]

Originally Posted by glc That's because you created a new profile. You need to reinstall everything in the new profile. The BEST thing to do is back up your data, wipe the drive, and get a fresh start. You did not do a fresh install.

I understand this. I forgot to perform a backup before I swapped hardware and I didn't feel like backtracking, perform the backup, move hardware again and then restore. Now that I've got Windows working again, is there any "method" to cleaning up the old install programs/profiles? Or should I just suck it up, backup what I have and do a clean wipe/re-install?

[glc]

I'd suck it up. Get all your install media and keys for your programs ready. In the long run, this will be much better.