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Bought My New Desktop!!

post #1 of 22
6/6/04 at 12:42pm
Thread Starter 
Well I finally went and bought it yesterday after about 4 months of decisions... First it was a Sager laptop then I realized I didnt need mobility with my computer so I decided on a desktop about a month or so ago. Heres the specs!!

Prices in Canadian Dollars.

MOBO: DFI LANPARTY PRO875B Rev.A w/ DualDDR400, Audio, Gigabit Lan, SATA RAID, IDE RAID, Carrying Strap... $269

Processor: Pentium 4 3.00E GHz 800FSB w/ 1MB Cache, Hyper-Threading (Limited Quantites!!!!)... $349

Arctic Silver... Free

Network: D-Link AirPlus Xtreme G 108Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter (DWL-G520)... $79

Router: D-Link AirPlus Xtreme G Wireless Router w/ 4-Port Switch (DI-624)... $119 (My brother bought this)

Video Card: Powercolor Radeon 9600XT 128MB w/ TV-Out, DVI... $249

Memory: Kingston 512MB PC3200 DDR CAS 3 (X2)... $144
each.

Hard Drive: Seagate 80GB Barracuda 7200.7 Serial ATA 8MB Cache... $119

Optical Drive: LG 52x24x52x/16x CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive, Black (oem) w/ Nero... $89

Case: Aspire X-Dreamer II (Black) w/ 350W P/S, Clear Side Panel... $109


Speakers: Logitech Z-640 5.1 Speaker System... $79
Keyboard: Logitech Elite Keyboard... $49
Mouse: Logitech MX500 Optical Mouse... $39 on sale @ Future Shop
(I dont think I missed anything...)

And all for under $1850 CAD


Finally I get to smash some bananas


Okay but now for my problem.... I cant seem to get my motherboard to recognize my Serial ATA Hard drive. If anyone has had any experience with these SATA drives please help me out here, because Im stuck.
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post #2 of 22
6/6/04 at 2:16pm
Did you have a driver for the SATA in yout floppy while installing XP? I have been told you have to do this for you hard driver to be reconized.
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post #3 of 22
6/6/04 at 2:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tiwaz
Did you have a driver for the SATA in yout floppy while installing XP? I have been told you have to do this for you hard driver to be reconized.

tiwaz, that is correct, win xp does not provide native support for sata hard drives, so when installing xp, you will need to hit the f8 key (i think it is f8) to install third party drivers, and then when prompted you put the disc that should come with the motherboard containing the SATA drivers into the computer, and install it. If you don't do this, the bios and xp will not see the hard drive, and you will not be able to proceed with the win xp installation, cause it will not have a hard drive to install the operating system on
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post #4 of 22
6/6/04 at 2:48pm
Maybe you should have saved some money and gotten a slower processor, and instead, bought a better video card. I think games are more limited by that, than by the processor speed.

But it looks like a real nice set-up.



Congrats.
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post #5 of 22
6/6/04 at 2:59pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks guys Ill try this when I get home from work... sounds about right - Although I never bought a floppy drive with my comp (Yet) I was gonna get a 7in1 card reader but i dont know yet.... I can just swap one in from my old comp to do this.

And as for the video card to step-up to the 9800Pro was an extra $220 which at the time I dont think is too neccessary. And to get a slower CPU it would only have saved me about $100 so maybe in a year or so when they are priced more reasonably I will upgrade to it - but until then this system suits my needs. It should be able to play HL2 flawlessly should it not??!?! thats all i really care about
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post #6 of 22
6/6/04 at 3:09pm
Depends on what your definition of "flawlessly" is. For me flawlessly would be playing it at 1600 x 1200, with AA on, and with everything at its maximum. At about 50-60fps But that is just me. Oh, and I dont think that the 9600xt would be able to do that. I dont want to sound as if I am bashing your system, but you were the one that asked.
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post #7 of 22
6/6/04 at 3:14pm
gruesome, the 9800 pro only costs around 200 bucks. same price range as the 9600 xt that you picked up. 9800 pro is the way to go.

also, if you burn the sata drivers to a cd, and if you change boot order to go to a cd drive, i think you might still be able to install the sata drivers during the win xp install. but i'm not sure. i built a floppy drive into my desktop so never had to go the cd install route

also if you got a internal 7-1 card reader (like i have in my home built rig) you might need to NOT connect it to your motherboard prior to installing win xp since some of these internal card readers which mostly connect to the motherboard via the usb 2.0 headers may be detected during the win xp process as additional disk drives and assign it disk drive lettering that may screw up your normal hard drive/disk drive lettering. For example, A: should be floppy drive, C: hard drive, D: cd rom drive, but if you connect the internal card reader before installilng win xp, win xp may begin to assign each slot in the card reader A:, B:, C:, D:, etc. and screw up the normal lettering of drives

after you install xp, and it's up and running, then go back into the case, and attach the internal card reader to the motherboard
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post #8 of 22
6/6/04 at 3:17pm
Yeah, I havent heard of a 9800 pro costing 460 since ... mmm... well I cant think of a time when they ever cost that much. Are you sure you got the price right? You said your 9600xt cost you 240, and that the 9800 pro would be 220 more.
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post #9 of 22
6/6/04 at 3:20pm
Thread Starter 
canadian dollars
$489 CAD

www.memoryexpress.com - this is where I bought my system and they are the best place in Alberta to buy computers and they only have two GPUs of the 9800 series, one is the 9800PRO and the other is the XT and they are both twice the price as mine... the XT is almost triple the price. So maybe we kinda get screwed over here in Canada a bit, i dont know. (THEY ARE ALL-IN-WONDERS, that probably makes a difference)

Im going to see if they will let me return my 9600XT and if I can I'll order the 9800PRO from newegg.com - Sound like a good idea?????
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post #10 of 22
6/6/04 at 3:35pm
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...roperty&DEPA=1

I found a 9800 pro for 232 CAD. Brand new from new egg. Look at the link above, it has a lot of them that are nowhere near 489 CAD.
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post #11 of 22
6/6/04 at 3:42pm
gruesome, go with newegg, the 9800 pro at 400 plus US dollars is a rip off, let alone in Canandian dollars. get the 9800 pro from newegg
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post #12 of 22
6/6/04 at 3:47pm
Thread Starter 
okay, thanks guys... guess I should have consulted the mighty forums beforehand. Hopefully they will let me return the 9600XT.

What brand should I go with from newegg? Is Powercolor decent, or Sapphire??

How is the rest of my system though? Look Good?
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post #13 of 22
6/6/04 at 3:50pm
The rest of your system looks great. But it was that video card that had me a little worried. Hopefuly they will let you return it. In regards to which one is good, I really cant say, and your best bet would be to look around the net for reviews, so you can see what they have to say about the quality of those video cards.
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post #14 of 22
6/6/04 at 3:52pm
Thread Starter 
son of a ***** newegg doesnt ship to Canada
anywhere else?
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post #15 of 22
6/6/04 at 3:52pm
go with the one from ati radeon
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post #16 of 22
6/6/04 at 4:03pm
I think www.outpost.com does international shipping. You might want to check them out.
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post #17 of 22
6/6/04 at 4:10pm
I found a place where they ship to canada. It is a very reputable place to buy online... called www.ecost.com

http://www.ecost.com/ecost/ecsplash/...sp?dpno=151522

That is a link to a 9800 pro. I recommend that one, as it is a real ATI card. While it might not have the fancy stuff that the other brands have, it is a reliable card nontheless, and you wont have to worry about quality issues.
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post #18 of 22
6/6/04 at 4:13pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks that looks great
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post #19 of 22
6/6/04 at 4:15pm
Glad I could help. If you have any other questions let us know and keep us posted on what they tell you regarding the return of the 9600xt.
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post #20 of 22
6/6/04 at 4:19pm
i have to also say that i think that paying 144 for a stick of 512 ram is a rip off as well. I would rather get 2 sticks of 512 ram, individually maybe not as fast as the one you got, but you can get 2 sticks of crucial 3200 ram for maybe around $220 US, and if your motherboard/bios supports hyperthreading, then even better
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