Poasters

Computers and Technology => System Builds & Upgrades => Topic started by: pat on January 05, 2012, 18:31 hrs

Title: Some changes
Post by: pat on January 05, 2012, 18:31 hrs
So, I have some new goodies to start off the new year with. Had a little trouble with my old system (fixed now) but I gave away my oldest system and what was my every-day system is now my backup. Check my sig for latest and greatest. Most of that was in my HTPC, which has also changed somewhat.

I ended up with one of those  Kingston HyperX 120G 120GB Solid State  (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139601) as my boot drive. Got that back on black Friday for 224$ with a 65$ rebate. Came with an external enclosure that I'll most likely never use and a cool screwdriver. Using a WD 1 TB for storage drive. Moved my  Sapphire 6850 and  motherborad and cpu form HTPC system and that's about it.

In my HTPC I put an  Aspock 970 extreme3 motherboard. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157280) Nice board, my first with the newer BIOS that you can use a mouse in, still playing around with this but so far, thumbs up. Bought an OEM Phenom 2 x4 925 2.8 Denab 2.8 GHz with a  HIS 6750  (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161379) and  8 gigs Gskill (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231422).

Other than those new parts I reused all my old parts. I did pick up one of these,  Rosewill Hard drive enclosure (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182155) I put a WD Green 500 gb drive in that for back up and sharing. It works well and is seems to be as quick as any other drive in the computer.

That's about it, everything has a fresh OS install and I'm good to go for the new year.
Title: Re: Some changes
Post by: scuzzy on March 24, 2012, 17:49 hrs
How has this worked out for you, Pat? Are the systems fast? How's the noise level? Are you liking Radeon cards?

I'm thinking I might build one last system for myself in the next 1+ year. I'll probably look for the latest/greatest at the time and sink a few bucks into a powerhouse that hopefully won't sound like a jet.

I'm thinking a Samsung 128GB or 256GB SSD (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=samsung+ssd), backed with an internal HDD and one external HDD. I'm also liking this Samsung Blu-Ray player DVD burner (http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-12XReadable-DVD-Writable-SH-B123L-BSBP/dp/B003XIM3QK/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1332627987&sr=1-2).

I'm not impressed with Win8. Unless I see a drastic change for the better, I'll stick with Win7.

I see you have a SeaSonic PSU. I'm considering one of their platinum editions, which will likely set me back much more than I'm used to paying for a PSU.

Scuzzy; I'm used to paying too much. I just filled my car with gasoline. Ouch.
Title: Re: Some changes
Post by: pat on March 25, 2012, 12:15 hrs
Actually working out well.

Not sure how to answer to how fast they are. They are fast enough for me as they do everything I need to do in a reasonable amount of time.

Here's what the windows index has to say for primary system.
Processor, 7.2
Ram, 7.5
Graphics, 7.7
Graphics Gaming, 7.7
Primary Hard Disk, 7.3

Main system is very quiet, that is the one with the Seasonic power supply, the Radeon 6850 and the Noctua heatsink and fans, which are some of the quietest, best performing fans I've ever had.

HTPC is somewhat louder, I think it's more to do with the case, which is thin Aluminum and very vented and also quite out in the open. It's certainly not loud and once a show is playing you can't hear it.

At this point I have no desire to move to Windows 8, just doesn't do anything for me. I think MS is making a mistake trying to make an OS that works the same for a tablet as a desktop. Sure make one for a tablet, but I don't see how they couldn't make one tailored to each format.

 
Title: Re: Some changes
Post by: scuzzy on March 25, 2012, 23:57 hrs
Those numbers look pretty good. What are you using for RAM?
Title: Re: Some changes
Post by: scuzzy on March 26, 2012, 01:01 hrs
Duh. Never mind. I just looked at your signature for the answer.
Title: Re: Some changes
Post by: Bill on March 26, 2012, 07:45 hrs
Scuzzy,

IMO you don't need to spend all that for the 256G SSD.  After more than 2 years, my 80G SSD is a little less than half full.  I use the Veloci Raptor as backup and for data storage and place Windows backups on my third drive.  I'm just sayin'.....

Bill
Title: Re: Some changes
Post by: scuzzy on March 26, 2012, 19:17 hrs
Good point, Bill. Since I store all my files to secondary hard drives and Dropbox, there's no sense in wasting money on storage that I won't need.