Building my first PC.. Compatability ?'s

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by BluesShuffle I've only really seen one lcd screen going, a friend of mine who plays warcraft 3 24/7.. I wasn't particularly impressed with it, but then again he has a generic 5200 or so gfx card too.. If I don't get this ram now, I probably won't be able to get another stick for at least a year.. Would 1 gig still be enough to play the latest games at the highest settings a year from now? My current system has 1 stick of 512mb "whatever comes in e-machines" ram pc2700, and just running windows xp seems to use 100 of that.. I tend to go overboard with high memory using programs, and my current system lags to useless much of the time.. I hate lag.. I hate lag with a bitter passion. My questions are, would 2 chips in dual mode seriously be that much better than 3, and although I understand that there's no point in buying all the hardware to produce a perfect display without a similar monitor to view it on, would I really need to go with a flatscreen lcd etc.. space is no object.. neither is weight.. graphics tho I can appreciate..

I personally have found that 1 GB is enough. I've heard that with some MMORPGs, you need 1.5 GB, but I've experienced all of three times when Windows has had to increase my paging file from 256 MB to 512 MB because I ran out of RAM. I think that in most cases if you have 1 GB of RAM, you are either CPU or graphics-card limited performance-wise, and if you're CPU-limited, that can sometimes be fixed by higher memory bandwidth. And that's why dual-channel is important.

If you want to save money and don't really care if you have an LCD or a CRT, you could look for a used or refurbished 19" or 21" Trinitron CRT at a computer show. I got a 20" Dell Trinitron at one three and a half years ago for $169, and it served me well until I got my flat panel. But personally, I love my LCD.

Thank you for the input

I'll look around and see what I can find.. I'm hoping my TV can handle it, but if not I'll definatly need a second monitor..

edit: any suggestions as to brands to look at (particularly for crt)?

[glc]

With what you are doing, I think you will notice quantity over speed on your memory. Fill up the slots with Kingston or Corsair PC3200 value ram - go for 2 gigs. You dont need low latency expensive ram. I do high end NOT overclocked builds with CL3 value ram all the time. The expensive stuff is for the overclockers, the value ram runs just fine at stock timings, and 4 sticks WILL run in dual channel.

O.k., np there

Should I go for a cas latency of 2.5 or 3? There's no difference in price..

edit: seeing as the other low latency was more expensive, I'm guessing the 2.5 lol

[glc]

If you can get 2.5 at the same price as 3, go for it, definitely. Just make sure it's a reputable brand. Lower CL is better. 2.5 at stock timings running in dual channel will perform plenty good, I doubt you would notice the real world difference with more expensive ram unless you overclock or manually tweak the bios - which may impact stability.

I'd like to learn to overclock, but yea I have too much at stake to play with this one lol. The Corsair value ram, 4 sticks at 2.5 is only $272, dropping the price to $1,632.86.

Thank you for the advice

[Moose on the Loose]

If you're interested, you can see here what the difference is between valueram and low timings RAM.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y

Not really worth it getting hyperx if you're not overclocking.

[bell_kicks]

In answer to your question is dual channel better...
My answer is HELL YEAH!! Dual channel provides a 20% increase in speed and if you have dual channel Kingston High end memory your system will fly! the Asus board won't run 3 sticks of memory, it runs either 1, 2, or 4 but NOT 3! Trust me i have the board! Lol!

[Moose on the Loose]

I think bell is right about 3 sticks of RAM not working in the motherboard. However, Dual Channel offers a very marginal performance increase on AMD64 systems.

lol so definatly no 3 then.

Also decided to go with this smaller, more portable, and cheaper case to clear up some $ for a new monitor. It has 3 main drive bays, which (i think) would leave room for another 200 gig hd in the future.. and the portability is definately a bigger advantage for me than all the pretty lights of the aspire:

Antec Aluminum Series Super Lan Boy Mini Tower Case

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...factory=BROWSE

edit: I read the ram link.. won't be doing much with winrar lol so yep looks like cheap and more would be the way for me to go

[glc]

That's a nice case, and you won't have to replace the PSU, Antec power supplies are quality units.

Actually, it doesn't come with one.. the 480w they make (note: I don't know if that power is overkill or not) was around $90.. I was going to get this one for a little cheaper:

Thermaltake Silent Purepower 480W with Black housing - Purepower Butterfly ATX 2-Fan Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...factory=BROWSE

Would it make a difference? Or do I even need the 480w in the first place?

The more I look at the case, and the more I think about an LCD screen, the more I like them.. I don't really do much that doesn't involve my pc in some way, and my current system is a pain to lug around.. I'm not interested in a laptop right now, but seeing as I don't travel much, except to go visit friends or family (where space and power outlets are avail.), this would be a perfect psuedo-lappie.. I canceled the wireless keyboard/mouse as well, can always grab one later.. Gonna grab an LCD so I can take it with me, and if it happens to be compatible with my tv, great.. if not, np

[glc]

480 is overkill, but that's an excellent power supply for the price.

A question about LCD screens.. On newegg (at least for the model I plan on grabbing),

Princeton Synergy 714 17" Dual Input Flat Panel Display w/ Stereo Speakers -RETAIL

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...factory=BROWSE

Newegg says it needs to have 8 dead pixels to be returnable.. Anyone's opinion as to how durable lcd screens are? I have an old Xbox soft case that should fit one, but I don't want to spend a couple hundred bucks on something that can't be transported easily without damaging it..

[Hi Ho]

It's not that they can be damaged easily rather they can come from the factory with dead pixels. An LCD panel has millions of transistors. It's a slim chance that every single one will work. Bad transistors translate into dead pixels. The dead pixel rate is much lower than it was a year ago. It's very unlikely that you will have more than one or two dead pixels. They aren't noticable either.

lol I was a night vision/small missile systems tech (mos - 2171) in the Marine Corps, what you describe with the transistors is exactly the same as tweaking a set of NVG's. As long as the lcd is realativly stable when treated with care, I'll have no problem with it..

Thank you for the quick response btw

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by BluesShuffle Newegg says it needs to have 8 dead pixels to be returnable.. Anyone's opinion as to how durable lcd screens are? I have an old Xbox soft case that should fit one, but I don't want to spend a couple hundred bucks on something that can't be transported easily without damaging it..

First of all, as has been said, dead pixels are not a huge problem. Secondly, that policy is probably flexible... Newegg is generally pretty good about customer service, and so if you complain to them they'll probably break down and ship you a new monitor. And third, you might want to also check Princeton's policy. I'm not sure about them, but I know that, for example, Samsung has a zero-dead-pixel policy now.

Will do, thanks