A friend wants to blow $300us to improve his PC...I need advice.

digitalwanderer · Feb 18, 2003, 07:57 PM

The check cleared, it's being shipped out today. Me friend has tentatively set up March 8th or 9th to pick it up.

I think I'll start a new thread when it gets here to get some opinions on what to load it up with. (Assume you could put any game/software on it...what would it be? )

~~JAV~~ · Feb 18, 2003, 08:26 PM

I'd hoped you had it by now. Oh well, good things come to he who waits ... so it is said.

Not knowing how it will come (OS'wise), I always start w/utilities: CPUCool for temp & CPU usage monoriting, Riva for the card, WCPUID for the hell of it, Fresh Diagnose & Si Sandra to get the skinny on it, AVG (Grisoft) AV & Sygate personal firewall for protection.

Games? I'm into racing sims. F1-2002, NASCAR2003, Total Immersion, NFSHP2, Rally Sport (all have great IQ) etc. & my fav is Evo2 4x4 on-line.

Of course UT2K3, RTCW, BF1942, WC3, NWN, etc. are good fun too.

What is he/family into? For challenging fun (w/o speed &/or gore) there are the sims: Monoply, Rollercoaster, Train ... Tycoon & such. Kids & I still like the 'Caeser3' type building games to while away 2-3hours. They've actually learned a lot about organizing, planning & some civics lessons too from C3.

Sometime Friday, eh?

digitalwanderer · Feb 27, 2003, 06:21 PM

OMFG!

It came today, and it's NICE! I mean, it's clean as a whistle and the case is actually pretty slick looking.

All the heatsink/fans are like new and it has that wonderful new computer smell inside.

I just got done opening it up and making sure it survived the trip intact, (it did, it was very excellently packed up

), and was just getting ready to shut down Bubbles for a bit and see how it looks when it's on.

Thanks again Jav for pointing this one out to me, I am just soooo jealous of me friend's good fortune!

BWX · Feb 27, 2003, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JAV
I'd hoped you had it by now. Oh well, good things come to he who waits ... so it is said.

Not knowing how it will come (OS'wise), I always start w/utilities: CPUCool for temp & CPU usage monoriting, Riva for the card, WCPUID for the hell of it, Fresh Diagnose & Si Sandra to get the skinny on it, AVG (Grisoft) AV & Sygate personal firewall for protection.

Games? I'm into racing sims. F1-2002, NASCAR2003, Total Immersion, NFSHP2, Rally Sport (all have great IQ) etc. & my fav is Evo2 4x4 on-line.

Of course UT2K3, RTCW, BF1942, WC3, NWN, etc. are good fun too.

What is he/family into? For challenging fun (w/o speed &/or gore) there are the sims: Monoply, Rollercoaster, Train ... Tycoon & such. Kids & I still like the 'Caeser3' type building games to while away 2-3hours. They've actually learned a lot about organizing, planning & some civics lessons too from C3.

Sometime Friday, eh?

You forgot SOF2 Gold Edition for some great online fragging fun!- Go to Quakeshit.com for a good server (3 of them in east and 3 of them in west) that gets rid of the riff-raff--- Tk'rs don't last 5 minutes on those servers and you get perma-banned for cheating. That rig should run that game online with AA maxed AF maxed and Image Quality maxed at 12x10 or 10x7. Your buddy won't believe his eyes.

~~JAV~~ · Feb 27, 2003, 08:07 PM

My pleasure Dig!

I'm glad it finally came, I was getting anxious for ya.

Plug that puppy in & give us some impressions of what it can do.

Happy to do what I could & the next one is for you > just lemme know what ya got to spend & I'll keep my eyes open.

ENJOY!

PS: Can ya pic us?

digitalwanderer · Feb 27, 2003, 08:33 PM

This thing is SLICK! It's me first taste of win2k Pro, so that might be a part of it too; but it's NICE!

I'm downloading some partitioning software now to see about setting up some dual-bootage, but this puppy scored 10K cold pre-tweaked at default speeds.

Just got done with 3dm2k3, got 1291.

I have no clue if that's good or not, it just is.

It's a beauty of a rig, it even looks nice and it's quiet too! The leadtek GF4 ti4200 with it's custom Zalmon-like wrap-around heatsink thingy is just gorgeous and I can't wait to get an OS I'm a bit more comfortable with on it so I can crank her up and see what she can REALLY do!

Quick question: What kind of VIA drivers should I have? Or what should I know about AMD 2200+ CPU's before I go mucking around in the bios? It's running at 1803Ghz at 133FSB.

~~JAV~~ · Feb 27, 2003, 08:45 PM

I'm not familiar w/VIA drivers except to know some are not that good (compatibility issues). I'd suggest that whatever is on there appears to be working well & don't change it.

XP2200+ can take an oc (T-Bred). They aren't as good as the 2100+, but you should get 150FSB, IMO. I'd start @ 143FSB & raise it 'til you have problems. If around 147-148 (or wherever) it won't load Windows > raise the vcore (if you can) just a taste (1.65 to 1.68) & try again. I *think* it'll handle 1.725 OK, but I'm NOT positive on that.

If you're working on the FSB 1st, set the ram to 7-4-4-4 & 'normal' timings (or so) & once you get the FSB up where you think it'll go, then tighten the ram timings (5-3-3-3 etc.) so you aren't fighting both at once.

HTH,

DriveEuro · Feb 28, 2003, 03:52 AM

Download the hypeirions (spelling). That score is really nice for that rig.... 10K on a Ti4200 is nice.

digitalwanderer · Feb 28, 2003, 05:38 AM

Downloaded the newest hyperions, got 98se loaded up and the hard-drive partitioned right, just got done installing a few games and am gonna play around with some mild overclocking before passing out. No problems, nothing but freaking sweet.

DriveEuro · Feb 28, 2003, 05:52 AM

You won't let him take the PC. Will you? This PC has the balls that you want. Too powerful for DIGI to give away.

~~JAV~~ · Feb 28, 2003, 10:09 AM

Dig,

So you're likin' an AMD rig, eh? For gaming they do devliver. Got a week to set it up & play, that's the deal? I'm a little surprised it came w/an OS installed (the 2-3 other rigs he sold he specifically said no OS) & that it was 2K Pro . That's a $200+ OS still today.

Have fun, know ya are.

DE,

I just noticed you have a NF2 mobo & a 2100+. Schweet! I'm looking @ an 8RDA & a 2100+ (April or so) & ~200FSB myself. I take it you are liking your combo quite well? Looks to be the system to have for a long future.

Excellent 3DM03 score for a 4200!!

Enjoy guys ... I am

digitalwanderer · Feb 28, 2003, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JAV
Dig,

So you're likin' an AMD rig, eh? For gaming they do devliver. Got a week to set it up & play, that's the deal? I'm a little surprised it came w/an OS installed (the 2-3 other rigs he sold he specifically said no OS) & that it was 2K Pro . That's a $200+ OS still today.

Have fun, know ya are.

Yeah, getting win2K Pro to play with is a definate plus...it's the one M$ OS that I didn't have a copy of. I took it off of this one though, I don't think me friend would like it. 98se & XP Corp should do him better, he's using 95 now so 98se won't be too much of a jump for him and he can work his way into XP at his own pace. (Plus if one gets hosed he can use the other 'til I can fix it.

)

I'm DEFINATELY liking the AMD rig...but it just seems like an intel one to me with different names for the inf update and app accelerator (hyperion & highpoint now.

)

Quote:

Originally posted by DriveEuro
You won't let him take the PC. Will you? This PC has the balls that you want. Too powerful for DIGI to give away.

Yeah, it does have a whole lot of quick to it...more than any of my rigs, but it ain't my PC. I got it for me bud and intend to give it to him after I've done as much as I can to it in a week without "trading" any parts.

He's really that good of a friend and I want him to get the best rig he can, it's that important to him too. I'm not keeping this one, it isn't mine.

But damn, I sure wouldn't mind it! SCHWEET rig! Most of the PCs that come thru are a bit of a chore to work on since they're older and can't do much...this one can do everything mine can but quicker AND it has that really nice, all-around solid feel to it with no tentativeness or quirks.

Top-notch, I'm disgustingly impressed.

DriveEuro · Feb 28, 2003, 03:02 PM

Hell yeah I love nForce 2 and this CPU.

Feb 18, 2003, 07:57 PM	Thread Starter #31
digitalwanderer Colour Commentator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Highland, IN USA Posts: 5,619 Rep Power: 0	Shipping today! The check cleared, it's being shipped out today. Me friend has tentatively set up March 8th or 9th to pick it up. I think I'll start a new thread when it gets here to get some opinions on what to load it up with. (Assume you could put any game/software on it...what would it be? ) __________________ WTF is up with the sigs?

Feb 27, 2003, 06:21 PM	Thread Starter #33
digitalwanderer Colour Commentator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Highland, IN USA Posts: 5,619 Rep Power: 0	THANK YOU JAV!!!!!!! OMFG! It came today, and it's NICE! I mean, it's clean as a whistle and the case is actually pretty slick looking. All the heatsink/fans are like new and it has that wonderful new computer smell inside. I just got done opening it up and making sure it survived the trip intact, (it did, it was very excellently packed up ), and was just getting ready to shut down Bubbles for a bit and see how it looks when it's on. Thanks again Jav for pointing this one out to me, I am just soooo jealous of me friend's good fortune! __________________ WTF is up with the sigs?

Feb 27, 2003, 08:33 PM	Thread Starter #36
digitalwanderer Colour Commentator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Highland, IN USA Posts: 5,619 Rep Power: 0	Wow. This thing is SLICK! It's me first taste of win2k Pro, so that might be a part of it too; but it's NICE! I'm downloading some partitioning software now to see about setting up some dual-bootage, but this puppy scored 10K cold pre-tweaked at default speeds. Just got done with 3dm2k3, got 1291. I have no clue if that's good or not, it just is. It's a beauty of a rig, it even looks nice and it's quiet too! The leadtek GF4 ti4200 with it's custom Zalmon-like wrap-around heatsink thingy is just gorgeous and I can't wait to get an OS I'm a bit more comfortable with on it so I can crank her up and see what she can REALLY do! Quick question: What kind of VIA drivers should I have? Or what should I know about AMD 2200+ CPU's before I go mucking around in the bios? It's running at 1803Ghz at 133FSB. __________________ WTF is up with the sigs?

Feb 28, 2003, 03:52 AM	#38
DriveEuro HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Gurnee Illinois Posts: 4,677 Rep Power: 0	Download the hypeirions (spelling). That score is really nice for that rig.... 10K on a Ti4200 is nice. __________________ [color=orange]ASUS P4P800 Deluxe [color=black]-[/color] 2.4C --> 3300mhz [color=black]-[/color] Mushkin PC3200 at 220 5-2-2-2 (cpu limited) [color=black]-[/color] BBAti 9800Pro at 430/375 [/color] [color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]01[/color] [color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]03[/color] 16001200 12801024

Feb 28, 2003, 05:38 AM	Thread Starter #39
digitalwanderer Colour Commentator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Highland, IN USA Posts: 5,619 Rep Power: 0	Downloaded the newest hyperions, got 98se loaded up and the hard-drive partitioned right, just got done installing a few games and am gonna play around with some mild overclocking before passing out. No problems, nothing but freaking sweet. __________________ WTF is up with the sigs?

Feb 18, 2003, 08:26 PM	#32
~~JAV~~ Banned Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: California, USA Posts: 283 Rep Power: 0	I'd hoped you had it by now. Oh well, good things come to he who waits ... so it is said. Not knowing how it will come (OS'wise), I always start w/utilities: CPUCool for temp & CPU usage monoriting, Riva for the card, WCPUID for the hell of it, Fresh Diagnose & Si Sandra to get the skinny on it, AVG (Grisoft) AV & Sygate personal firewall for protection. Games? I'm into racing sims. F1-2002, NASCAR2003, Total Immersion, NFSHP2, Rally Sport (all have great IQ) etc. & my fav is Evo2 4x4 on-line. Of course UT2K3, RTCW, BF1942, WC3, NWN, etc. are good fun too. What is he/family into? For challenging fun (w/o speed &/or gore) there are the sims: Monoply, Rollercoaster, Train ... Tycoon & such. Kids & I still like the 'Caeser3' type building games to while away 2-3hours. They've actually learned a lot about organizing, planning & some civics lessons too from C3. Sometime Friday, eh?

Feb 27, 2003, 08:07 PM	#35
~~JAV~~ Banned Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: California, USA Posts: 283 Rep Power: 0	My pleasure Dig! I'm glad it finally came, I was getting anxious for ya. Plug that puppy in & give us some impressions of what it can do. Happy to do what I could & the next one is for you > just lemme know what ya got to spend & I'll keep my eyes open. ENJOY! PS: Can ya pic us?

Feb 27, 2003, 08:45 PM	#37
~~JAV~~ Banned Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: California, USA Posts: 283 Rep Power: 0	I'm not familiar w/VIA drivers except to know some are not that good (compatibility issues). I'd suggest that whatever is on there appears to be working well & don't change it. XP2200+ can take an oc (T-Bred). They aren't as good as the 2100+, but you should get 150FSB, IMO. I'd start @ 143FSB & raise it 'til you have problems. If around 147-148 (or wherever) it won't load Windows > raise the vcore (if you can) just a taste (1.65 to 1.68) & try again. I think it'll handle 1.725 OK, but I'm NOT positive on that. If you're working on the FSB 1st, set the ram to 7-4-4-4 & 'normal' timings (or so) & once you get the FSB up where you think it'll go, then tighten the ram timings (5-3-3-3 etc.) so you aren't fighting both at once. HTH,

Feb 28, 2003, 05:52 AM	#40
DriveEuro HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Gurnee Illinois Posts: 4,677 Rep Power: 0	You won't let him take the PC. Will you? This PC has the balls that you want. Too powerful for DIGI to give away. __________________ [color=orange]ASUS P4P800 Deluxe [color=black]-[/color] 2.4C --> 3300mhz [color=black]-[/color] Mushkin PC3200 at 220 5-2-2-2 (cpu limited) [color=black]-[/color] BBAti 9800Pro at 430/375 [/color] [color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]01[/color] [color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]03[/color] 16001200 12801024

Feb 28, 2003, 10:09 AM	#41
~~JAV~~ Banned Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: California, USA Posts: 283 Rep Power: 0	Dig, So you're likin' an AMD rig, eh? For gaming they do devliver. Got a week to set it up & play, that's the deal? I'm a little surprised it came w/an OS installed (the 2-3 other rigs he sold he specifically said no OS) & that it was 2K Pro . That's a $200+ OS still today. Have fun, know ya are. DE, I just noticed you have a NF2 mobo & a 2100+. Schweet! I'm looking @ an 8RDA & a 2100+ (April or so) & ~200FSB myself. I take it you are liking your combo quite well? Looks to be the system to have for a long future. Excellent 3DM03 score for a 4200!! Enjoy guys ... I am

Feb 28, 2003, 03:02 PM	#43
DriveEuro HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Gurnee Illinois Posts: 4,677 Rep Power: 0	Hell yeah I love nForce 2 and this CPU. __________________ [color=orange]ASUS P4P800 Deluxe [color=black]-[/color] 2.4C --> 3300mhz [color=black]-[/color] Mushkin PC3200 at 220 5-2-2-2 (cpu limited) [color=black]-[/color] BBAti 9800Pro at 430/375 [/color] [color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]01[/color] [color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]03[/color] 16001200 12801024