element11 Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 I DID IT. IT'S DONE! I got the parts. Here's list of what I settled on: Athlon 3700+ Asus A8R32-MVP ATI saphire x1900xt 512mb (should arrive on tuesday) 2gb of pc3200 RAM Audigy 2 ZS Thermaltake 550W ps. Silverstone TJ04 case Also, I got two 160 gig hard drives. I want to put them into a RAID configuration. Striped I think. But i've got no idea how to do it. I know my motherboard supports it. Anybody got any tips/how to's? It's pretty much my dream pc. I couldn't have wished for anything better. I've never had a high-end PC before, so this is pretty darn sweet. @Kamakazi: tell me about it. It is sad to think that in a few months this pc will be middle of the road. Meh, it's just one of those facts of life. Thanks to all you guys who helped me go from technotard to pc-literate. Good for you, thats going to be a nice build! As for RAID, I dont know if I would do it. I was thinking about it but I ended up not doing it. The thing about a striped array is that if one disk fails, all the data on both disks is lost. RAID is generally used with servers or other large amounts of data. Also, the rate of disk failure is higher when RAID 0 is used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTF-2 Posted June 13, 2006 Author Share Posted June 13, 2006 thanks for the heads up Ledanek. As for the RAID. I've been wondering if I should do it too. I've never had a hard drive fail on me. And Western Digital are supposed to be pretty good. I've had a look at the instructions for RAID that came with the motherboard and it looks doable. I'll see how it goes, if it's too hard, i'll I can always go back to a regular set up. If it works, well, i'll be carefull to make DVD backups of important stuff. I've also got my iBook that I can put important stuff on. So putting all the bits together was relatively easy. The manual that came with my motherboard is really good. It was a little like connect the dots. But I'm sure that was the easy part, turning it on is going to be the real test, it may all go up in smoke. I'm hopefully picking up my vid card tommorow and then I can finish the setup. I've already picked up a copy of GRAW.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamakazi Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 Ya, its easy once you get started, and the manual that came with my mother board was amazing also, basically went through step by step, really had to use it to get all those small wires in the right places. It may just be an ASUS thing as my motherboard was ASUS also. The one thing I am missing is a copy of GRAW, just waiting to see if that patch everyone is raving about is going to fulfill all the hopes and dreams that everybody thinks it will. But that is for another (coughlessmaturecough) forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpl Ledanek Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 thanks for the heads up Ledanek. NP, remember to share your experiences, so others may learn from it. Keep those manuals and CD-ROMs in one binder and keep it handy. Save those receipts, serial number, if it looks expensive GET RECORDS of it. Your dad could possibly add that to the insurance, just in case of theft or fire. I've already picked up a copy of GRAW.... I got a copy too, but I'm waiting for the June Patch (see sig ) this way there no snags or save mission(s) not being able to load after you patch it. Just download the GRAW mods and GR1 mods and burn them on disc for later play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTF-2 Posted June 17, 2006 Author Share Posted June 17, 2006 (edited) well, it's done. She's a bueaty. I managed to set up RAID 0 with two 160gb drives. It's wasn't so hard, the mobo manual told me everything i needed to know. I'll be sure to back up all my important stuff. It runs really fast. GRAW with everything on high works without any lag or fps drops that I can make out. I'm curious to find out if the comp will run games ok on a 21" widescreen.... I had a few scares along the way: #1 - nowhere in the step-by-steps does it tell you to connect the 12V ATX plug to your motherboard. So when I turned it on the first time, the fans came on, but no display on the monitor! no BIOS, nothing. Nightmare! so messed with some stuff, checked the plugs. eventually just plugged this 12V one in by fluke. Worked fine. #2 - After installing the drivers for the Audigy 2 ZS, the comp wouldn't get past the blue Win XP screen. Just froze there everytime. After trying a bunch of progressively more desperate sollutions I gave up and started again. This time I had my wits about me and I disabled the onboard sound before I installed the Audigy drivers. Then it worked just fine. #3 - Flashing the BIOS is tense. Really tense. I never want to do it again. #4 - no matter what I do, the DVD player won't work. The Writer works fine. I think the hardware is broken. Gonna get a replacement. that's about it. I can post some pictures later. (I never understood why people post pictures of their computers until now). Thanks for all the help/encouragment guys. I never would have done with without your suggestion. Edited June 17, 2006 by JTF-2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamakazi Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Are the DVD drivers installed, because mine wouldnt play until I installed something like a DVD player for some reason, I just downloaded and installed WinDVD then after that it worked fine, but until I did that it wouldnt work. It is amazing how they leave out simple things like plugging in the main mobo power supply, yet in my manual they have like half of it on altering BIOS, but nothing about power cords (checked, it doesnt mention anything about power and such). When I started to do wiring I was so confused, never having done it before, I just saw alot of connections and lots of things that needed plugging in, somebody needs to do a tutorial strictly on wiring. Ya, I always laughed at computer pictures, until I got my massive death case with 7 Blue LED fans, but I dont have a digi camera, sad I know, I own a 2000$ computer, and nothing to input pictures onto it with. But anyway, good job, hopefully it does you well, just dont let your sister use it, I let my sister use mine, ended up having to format about 2 weeks after build due to bloody spyware from hell. Heres to computer nerds who have fun building computers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
element11 Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 I dont know if kamakazi is thinking the same thing as me, but you need a dvd decoder. I use the Nvidia one. Does everyghing else work except dvd movies? (ie. cd roms, ripping dvds, music cds etc) Also, why did you haveto flash the bios? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa6 Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 why buy 939 when AMD M2 is on th emarket? or is this a budget yet quality system that is being built? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamakazi Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 I know that I went 939 even with AM2 on the market just because of the fact that there are alot of cheaper yet quality hardware options that still use it. And when they really start phasing out 939 hopefully I can get that FX-60 super cheap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTF-2 Posted June 18, 2006 Author Share Posted June 18, 2006 @Kama & Element: thanks for the tips guys. The DVD player didn't come with any drivers (OEM). and the LG website is useless. It won't even read CDs, so i'm not sure what's up. It's recognized in the BIOS and plugged in correctly. I'll try installing a dvd player, but I think i'll just return it and get another one. Of course I would have liked to get the latest greatest, but money is always the limiting factor. Hence 939 over AM2. Also, there's many more options for 939 currently. And like Kama said, when the prices come down on the FX chips, well, I might be at the store again in a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
element11 Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 (edited) @Kama & Element: thanks for the tips guys. The DVD player didn't come with any drivers (OEM). and the LG website is useless. It won't even read CDs, so i'm not sure what's up. It's recognized in the BIOS and plugged in correctly. I'll try installing a dvd player, but I think i'll just return it and get another one. Of course I would have liked to get the latest greatest, but money is always the limiting factor. Hence 939 over AM2. Also, there's many more options for 939 currently. And like Kama said, when the prices come down on the FX chips, well, I might be at the store again in a few years. You might not need to return it, you will have the same problem with every dvd player. Sounds like you need the driver. What type of drive is it? The 16x DVD RAM? Also, What you need is a dvd decoder. This is a 3rd party application, and most dvd drives come with driver cds, but they do not include a decoder. A dvd decoder is necessary for the computer to read the "Video_ts" folders on the dvd movie disc. You can buy a dvd decoder for cheap, just do a google for dvd decoder. I am currently using the decoder by Nvidia, and it works okay. If you dont have one installed, the drive should play anything except dvd movies. you can even rip dvds without one. But when you want to play a dvd, you should hear nothing but sound in windows media payer, sometimes nothing. Also, if you want to rip dvds, youll need DVD 43 running in the tray while you use ripping software. Edited June 19, 2006 by element11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTF-2 Posted June 20, 2006 Author Share Posted June 20, 2006 It's a DVD-ROM that's not working. It's set up as master on the secondary IDE. The "RAM", writer, is working just fine as the slave. The "ROM", reader, is only reading DVDs now. It still does nothing but spin CDs for a little while. I'm really confused as to what is going on now. It can't (I don't think) be a hardware thing because it works with DVDs. On the LG site it confirms that the drive should run CDs. When I put a CD in it doesn't even recognize there is anything in the tray... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
element11 Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 Thats odd, I would take it back, and see if you can get a driver cd for it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruusher_AS Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 What about ABIT Motherboards. Any ABIT users out there? What would be top-of-the-line in an ABIT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTF-2 Posted June 26, 2006 Author Share Posted June 26, 2006 (edited) not sure exactly, but check out sites like Newegg, tigerdirect, zipzoomfly etc.. Then do a search for ABIT motherboards and sort them by price: the ones with the highest prices will be the top-of-the-line. I've been extremely happy with my ASUS board though... Edited June 26, 2006 by JTF-2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruusher_AS Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 My next build will most likely be ABIT or ASUS. Looks like a toss up between the two. I'll stay tuned in to every review I can find...thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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