Renzonoob (It's true) Needs help.... Anyone handy?

[Renzouken]

Right... I've been saving up for a healthy amount of time now for a new computer, getting sick of this one to be honest. With it's half-cut graphics, choppy framerate and slow internet connection. I know something has to be done if I'm gonna keep playing online games to any enjoyable standard, but to be honest I can tell you what RAM is, I know the more the better, and that's it.... So I come to you lot, oh wonderous people of Causality who've allways had the great talents to be able to flood a forum thread with techno-stuff and make me walk right out of it without understanding what the hell is going on in there....

Ok so here's the choice, I either buy a better computer that has better RAM, storage etc.. etc... for a price I wil still have money left over to upgrade it with. Or I buy a comp that costs alot closer to the high-end of my budget, but is made to play games, being apparently flawless to play games on...

To be honest I wouldn't want to JUST play online games on this new machine, I watch alot of movies, have file upon file of artwork and music on my comp and use it for jus' about anything I can, so the second option seems to me to be a little worrying...

Anyways, if I was to go with the first option, bying a decent comp to upgrade, then I'd be stuck with another issue... What to do to upgrade my comp?! See I'm admitting it now, I'm the biggest newbie on the planet when It comes to understanding a computer. So I'd need a new Graphics Card, right? Well I'd want a decent one, but I've been told you pay for what you get and some can cost in the regions of £600! I don't have that kinda money, was looking to spend at most £300. Is that enough to be spending to get a decent card? If so what are the best ones for that sort of price and where can I get one?

Also, on this computer I've been having trouble with my Graphics Drivers (That's what the system messages keep telling me anyway) now I've heard they're downloadable etc etc... But have no clue what they do or what ones to get... Again, any chance of some help for a nub please?

Last but not least my Internet connection, I'm running on some BT Broadband modem and connection... Am going to have two computers in the house sharing the same connection and it isn't Speedy-Gonzales by all means. Can anyone suggest a decent but affordable alternative?

Anything that I've missed out that would help my dilemma and such, would be appreciated if you could let me know... I know you're all gonna tell me to go and do a course on computer-engineering instead of spunging off the knowledge of you lot but... You're too nice for that right? :P
Seriously I gotta pull my finger out soon before I end up skint for christmas and am In need of some help please! Thanks. :D
_________________________
Renzouken - The Child Of Rage

[Dragonstorm]

Ok so here's the choice, I either buy a better computer that has better RAM, storage etc.. etc... for a price I wil still have money left over to upgrade it with. Or I buy a comp that costs alot closer to the high-end of my budget, but is made to play games, being apparently flawless to play games on...

To be honest I wouldn't want to JUST play online games on this new machine, I watch alot of movies, have file upon file of artwork and music on my comp and use it for jus' about anything I can, so the second option seems to me to be a little worrying...

Well you do want a nice gfx card, lots of memory, fast processor, blah blah, blah. Basically, the higher the numbers, the better :P I wouldnt worry about getting a really good gaming comp though and then think you wouldnt be able to do anything else on it, cause tbh what seperates most "office" comps from gamers is just the gfx card nowadays.
You can usually find quite a nice basic comp, and not too badly priced in somewhere like Tesco tbh, they always seem to get some okay deals in (presuming you arent willing to buy all the parts and build it yaself!), and then just go and buy a decent gfx card and whack it in there.

My comp atm is only AMD 2Ghz, 768MB mem, and a 256MB Geforce 6200. My sound card is a shitty old creative labs monstrosity, but gets the job done. And thats it, pretty much all there is to my comp! :P And I can play the majority of games that are coming out today on medium to high options. And for me, thats jsut fine.
I do alot of music, pic, and video editting on my comp (cubase, photoshop, movie makers, etc) and my comp doesnt have any probs with any of it. Tbh, if you can run a game, you can have about 20 of the above applications open at once with no probs imo.

Oh and with the gfx, I tend to stick with NVidia, they have good cards and I've never really had any problems with them, yet when I've tried ATI, I nearly cried and wouldnt go back. But then again, some people wouldnt touch NVid with a 10ft pole and swear by ATI!! So both good tbh! :P

I can't really help too much on prices, cause I get all my parts from a wholesale retailer all very nice and cheap, so I cant really say what you should or shouldnt be aiming to spend. But I'l warn yu that even if you buy the highest spec computer out there today, it will be out-dated by something new tomorrow, so just don't worry about it.



I hope any of this helps, although I'm not the most knowledgable person on these matters, I know enough to get around, hehe. Hopefully V (seems to know alot!) and some others will reply to help you out.

Oh, and about the net speed, I'm only on 1mb atm, and that works fine. Used to be on 2mb shared which worked fine with me and my bro both on games, but anything less than 1mb and I tend to get upset now, hehe!

[Renzouken]

Nice... Very nice Drags! A reply allready! *Gets out the pen, paper and scribbles down what was just wrote.*

Thanks mate! Right, who's next? :D
_________________________
Renzouken - The Child Of Rage

[3rebus]

Well when i upgrade next year i will most likley get a Dell XPS system.

The basic XPS system should be powerfull enough to allow me to take over the world :D


As i will be going from AGP to PCI-E (as you would if you were upgrading now) you can't do it any cheaper buying the bits and building yourself.

[Dragonstorm]

As i will be going from AGP to PCI-E (as you would if you were upgrading now) you can't do it any cheaper buying the bits and building yourself.

That's a good point too, if you are getting a good gfx card, go for a PCI-Express, that top of the range atm, but if you do buy a pre-built system and then plan opn just buying the card, make sure it has PCIX support/slots! Or get an AGP card if it doesnt (be suprised if it didnt have an AGP slot! :P)

[savity]

Basically what Drag said.

Importantness when limited by a budget is

GFX card
Ram

I would try to get 768M-1G RAM

I have a really base level gfx card ATI X300 128M and 1GB RAM
I run MxO fine with no errors - I generally run on highest frame rate - it can get a bit of slowdown when I run Highest Detail - but it is liveable with.

I will probably upgrade to a X700 when I have a surplus of cash and I can get a 256M X700 for about £80. I imagine this will do me just fine.

I would get a cheap as chips comp with a PCI Express capability. You will already have a monitor so you can avoid that cost and just get the base system.

Obviously building it yerself is a lot more value for a high end system - for a "decent" system though it may be false economy.

I probably didn't help much - I am not much of an expert myself - being a lazy bugger to do all the research. Don't try to compete with any of the uber systems on here - try to avoid looking at V's specs for instance. -

And those XPS systems require you to offer your first born to the devil.

:twisted:

[Veube]

OK Renz. You really don't wanna buy a 'badged' PC, be it Dell, Tiny, Mesh, etc. etc. because then you really don't know what you're getting. Each component needs to be of a decent specification for the system to work well as a whole. You could have a bees knees motherboard but stick crappy memory on it and the whole things falls down.

Some ppl get lucky with badged PCs and swear by them, but if something odd goes wrong, some intermittant fault and you could be going backwards and forwards with the damn thing for months. If you use a reputable components company, you can return the faulty components rather than the whole system. Saves a lot of messing around.

DS is correct too. If you have a PC that will play games well then it'll do anything well.

So, some recommendations. It's easy to plug stuff in, don't get scared about it. You didn't specify total budget so here's some options:

Firstly, get one of these:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/barebones.html

The one that stands out as good value / somewhat future proof is the AMD X2 4200 Dual Core. It has the required 1GB RAM and a crackin' ASUS A8N-E motherboard - the nForce4 chipset rules atm. And of course a Dual Core 64bit processor, which makes the system ultra responsive. Current games don't support Dual Core as yet, but if like me you're running other stuff in the background whilst playing then it make a hell of a difference.
£580

Then all you need is a DVD drive, hard disk, and graphics card. Depending on what you have atm you could transfer your existing DVD drive and hard disk...just backup the stuff you want to keep and format it ready for the new system. If you want new stuff then:

HDD:

Depending on budget again but I would go for 3 drives:

This one for your system installation:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MAX-PS80
£40

And 2 of these to put into a RAID0 for game installations. RAIDing 2 drives together will increase overall speed therefore decreasing loading times (ever wondered how some ppl recon in under 7 seconds ?)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MAX-PSL16
2x = £106

DVD Writer:

No contest:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?PIO-110BOE
£30

Graphics card:

I'm biased towards nVidia just because thats what I've always used. To go with the ASUS motherboard, its gonna be PCI-E. The 6 and 7 series both support the Shader Model 3.0 so if you're not looking to spend uber amounts on a 7800 then a higher end 6 series is gonna be plenty.

This one looks good.
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?ASU-66GT
£120

There you go....£876 for a rocking machine. And you have plenty of scope for upgrading it when the time comes. There's slots for extra memory, you could upgrade to a 4800+ processor, add HDD space, a 7800.....

Lemmie know if you have any worries about putting such a thing together. It's not hard, just plugging stuff in to the right holes really.

Anyway, peruse.

[BakuraRyou]

Your new graphics card. (http://www.pc-development.co.uk/sku/1146823.htm) Puts nVidia to shame :>

[Dragonstorm]

Your new graphics card. (http://www.pc-development.co.uk/sku/1146823.htm) Puts nVidia to shame :>

Check out this then :P http://www.alienware.com/intro_pages/nvidia7800gtx512.aspx

Now THATS what I call a gfx card! Especially when you have a PAIR of them!! Which my bro will be getting in Jan :wink: suck on that ATI! :P
Oh and one 512mb has approx 1/3 more power than than dual linked 256's! (of the 7800's) So get a SLI set o them and you're all set! (only £400 each :P)

Oh and quoting from that same site Bakura --

Games available now (i.e. FarCry) and those on the horizon will undoubtedly be using this new advanced capability of Direct-X. With ATI's (current) lack of support for this and Nvidia Series 6 GPU's and the 7800 supporting SM 3.0, the choice at the present time is fairly straight forward if you are looking for the latest, greatest graphics card.

In short, the GeForce 7800 GTX is simply the best overall choice (at this point in time) for hardcore gamers who will settle for nothing less than the fastest, most feature-rich video card available.


And that was written before this new 512mb version was released! :P

[BakuraRyou]

Chhhhhhht! Nvidia = evil, unstable, jagtastic and er, crappy motto :P

Every Nvidia card I've ever tried (all 2 of em ^^ ) did a piss poor job at dynamic lighting and shading, but a supposedly inferior ATI card did it better. Seeing is believing, and I don't mean seeing some quote from some bribed hardware reviewer :> Oh and Alienware is just for spoilt little fat rich kids who wouldn't be able to put in so much as a stick of RAM because their hands are stuck in the bag of cheesy doodles. Plus, Nvidia = XBox 360, my most hated of all consoles ^^ The bias is strong in this one, Obi Wan.

So Renz are you going to be building this rig yourself or customizing a prebuilt one? I'd advise you to wait until next year, as AMD are bringing out quad core processors. Very very pricy, but when you're overclocking 10GhZ it's hard to complain :D

[Dragonstorm]

Hehe, yes Xbox 360 is the devil! :P But these new Nvid cards are great! Only used the alienware link cause it came up first on my goggle list :P I'd NEVER buy alienware, cause as much as they are good comps, you can make everything they sell for, at most, 2/3's of the cost in my experience!

And that's a good point Renz, are you thinking about building it yourself? It's really easy once you get in there :wink: And very satisfying when you make your first comp! :D

[Renzouken]

Wow, thanks for all the replies people, much appreciated. :D

Well I was going to build myself a comp, but truthfully I know one thing about the mechanics of a computer (Higher the numbers the better) and this just doesn't seem like enough knowledge when It's considering a large sum of money. Remember I'm only 18 years old, and lemme tell you £800 is a hellava lot of beer money to spend on something where you haven't got a clue what you're doing.... :? Before I started this thread a while ago I had a look around, you may remember I posted that I was either going to buy a bog-standard PC and upgrade it, or buy a gaming machine. Then some of you start to talk of a certian "Dell XPS" system... The computer I had spotted before all of this.

So, Christmas is over, I have a shitload of money left, (Suprisingly) and call me a chicken but I'm starting to consider taking the safe / easy option and going for the mid-range XPS system. I think it hits the wallet at about $1,289 Inc. V.A.T. That, I can afford, especially seing as there's £100 off atm and you have various financial options available... Plus they seem to be doing a double GFX card option for free?!

Anyways I'd appreciate it if someone could help me out (Again) please, take a look at this: http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/dimen_xps600?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs and tell me is it worth going for? Or should I jus' stick to following Veube's instructions while I havent got a clue what I'm doing?

EDIT: Better Mr.Ryugen? (Link works now btw) :P
_________________________
Renzouken - The Child Of Rage

[rYugen]

The page you requested may no longer exist on Dell.com

* There may be a misspelling in the URL you have entered
* The page or file you are looking for has been moved, retired or is no longer available

Veube's instructions :>

[blackhawk]

ok one thing if follow motherboard book...building a pc is very easy as long you can use screw driver and plug things in....basically mate most things can only plugin one way..

[Renzouken]

Yeh... But what's teh stuff I'm plugging in? I dunno wat it doez... :x

Basically I jus' want the best PC for the cheapest amount of cash and least amount of effort.... I mean I'm after something top. Have about £1,600 to spend.

[BakuraRyou]

Actually, what's the specs of your current computer? In case we accidentally recommend a downgrade :P

[Kizomii]

my pc runs the game pretty well
P4 3.0 overclocked to a 3.5
2 gig ram
GeForce 6200
280 gig hard drive
Audigy 2 5.1 sound card
DVD burner blah blah blah...

[savity]

Basically I jus' want the best PC for the cheapest amount of cash and least amount of effort.... I mean I'm after something top. Have about £1,600 to spend.

If you want the best for cheapest amount then build it yourself. If you want to compromise on performance for someone else building it for you then get a prepackaged one.

I would take the option to build my own if I had the time and cash and wanted a high spec PC. I got a Dell 8400 through work on a tax free scheme so I got a high(ish) spec machine that works and looks OK for a very low before tax monthly payment. It plays MxO good enough for me although I will probably swap out the ATI X300SE 128MB Gfx card when I feel the need.

From some of your other posts - one of the drivers behind this is so you can leave your old computer in the hands of your sis and MSN - so this means she will need all the old kit off there - that includes the monitor.

The XPS system you linked to does not include a monitor and if you want a high spec system with high spec graphics cards then buying a cheap arse monitor at the end of the process is gonna bring the whole effect of the system down.

I would follow V's instructions - or ask around locally for someone to build you a custom PC - they will charge a little - but not too much. Spend close to a grand getting a machine that will wipe the floor with the XPS and then spend what you like on a nice monitor. If purely for games and space is no object go for the CRT that gives better response and size for the cash - If you want the looks or space is a problem - then go for the more expensive flat screen option.

Hell take the plunge and build it. It will all be good for you too - once you have cut your teeth building your own PC - you can then start doing for mates and charging for your time - then as your experience grows you can get your name out there in the pub - where there is always someone looking for a PC expert to help them build their own. It could turn into a nice little earner - just make sure you don't spend all your time building - when you could be playing.

Don't take everything I say as gospel - I have never built my own - mainly due to preferring Macs anyway - and the only reason I got a PC was cos it was cheap as chips to do so. But as a qualified microelectronics engineer I know a bit about building stuff and once you get the right components plugging them together is a piece of piss nowadays.

Getting the right components is the hard bit if you don't know what you are doing - but V gave you everything you need.

Now go and make that list of things to buy - clear a big old space to lay everything out neatly and print off instructions from various websites about building PC's

:D

[Renzouken]

Time to revive the old thread... (Again) Ok I've been spending some time recently browsing the web trying to get my feet on the ground when it comes to what all these numbers and such mean... I'm still a noob but I think I'm starting to get a little more of an understanding...

Right first off, many thaughts go out to you all, especially Veube for helping me out. I've decided to go for it, buy the Barebone system and basically follow Ve's instructions... I've got a little extra to spend and I've jus' been told a mate may be able to get his hands on a 7800 GTX 256mb card with 60% off, so you can bet I'll be going for the best one I can... :wink:

Other things to upgrade... Now this is where I come to you for help, I obviously know as the stats for components increase so does the price and performance, but what I'm worried about is are the components I'm going to buy going to be compatable? Are the plugs going to fit into one-another etc etc.... I'm talking about upgrading things such as storage etc etc.. You know the drill... I was thinking of upgrading to 2gb RAM any chips you reccomend? Will this make much of a difference, will it cost me alot and will it be hard to put in?

Also someone pointed out to me that the power supply that comes with the barebones system was a bit small... Is it? And can I upgrade it if it is? Anyways... I'm waiting on you clever people before start emptying the wallet... Would appreciate it if you could help me out... Sorry to keep reviving an old thread and spunging knowledge... Thanks peeps.

EDIT: Forgot about this, modems too... I know I'll need a router to have both this and my old comp connected at once, but this one currently uses a USB one... Anyone know of any good ones?
_________________________
Renzouken - The Child Of Rage

[Jekht]

and will it be hard to put in?

www.the-causality.com/hosted/Ram_56K.mov

As for the rest of "what to buy" I have the same problem.
I currently have 2 x SAMSUNG 512MB DDR PC3200 in my system, and Im very worried that I might order the wrong thing to go with it, as there seems to be a ECC or CL3 choice of 184pin ram. Basically... Im extremely confused.

Whilst someones helping ren, anyone mind linking me to a good (preferably amazing) piece of 1gb ram to couple with my 2x512? :)

[savity]

Best thing you can do to get the analysis juices going from all the experienced builders out there is post what you have decided on for now and price. Then stick down what extra cost you can run to and see what people come up with to improve it based on what you've got left to spend.

Also factor in a good toolkit to make sure you are not trying to undo screws with knifes stolen from the kitchen drawer

Although I have no real expertise in choosing any of the components required in a modern day gaming machine - I am sitting with expectation as to what people come up with....

[savity]

and will it be hard to put in?

www.the-causality.com/hosted/Ram_56K.mov



I was expecting some hard-core porn there Jek..... :oops:

[Veube]

Memory 1st. It depends on which barebones you're going for and hence the motherboard. For instance, if you're going for this one:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?BB-X2DB

which was the ASUS A8N-E motherboard (an excellent non-SLI choice) then you wouldn't go far wrong putting another of the Hynix sticks you get with the bundle. (You'd have to check whether it comes with 2 x 512 sticks or just the 1 x 1GB). However, if you want to start overclocking stuff then you're gonna need to trash the Hynix and get something extreme, like:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?CSR-MP501S

But then to get the 2GB you want you'll have to order 2 of them....ie 4 sticks.

Same with you J...lemmie know what MB you're using then I can point you to the sticks....oh and its best to have em all the same....or at least the same latency / speed or you'll be running at the slowest of the mix. If you already have 2 sticks and don't want to trash em...you need to match them, idealy.

The CL number is the latency. Usually 2 or 2.5 or 3. Pro ram goes further than this and is described using 3 numbers ie 2-3-3-5. The first number is again the latency and for the purposes of sanity they just show how many clock cycles it takes to get various things flowing...so the smaller, the better. The lower the latency ie 2, the more expensive it becomes to get sticks that run at a fast clock speed. So a stick rated as 2-2-2-5 running at 533MHz is gonna be like £500 !

Power supply. Hmm 350W is gonna run your barebones + a couple of drives without too much stress. It's a thermaltake case so I expect it'll be a thermaltake PSU so it should be OK. Look to replace it with a higher rated PSU when you come to upgrade the motherboard further down the line. You should always have a spare handy anyway....I find I'm replacing PSUs more often than not.

Router + ADSL:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NGR-871159

or if you want a Wifi one:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NGR-108156


That graphics card is the same as I've got...there is a 512MB version now with faster clock speeds but it's pricey.

And finally...I would highly recommend purchasing 3 x HDD. Get a modest one (120GB http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MAX-PSL12) to install the OS to. Then get a pair of fast ones to put together as a RAID0. Get the biggest you can afford, cause you ALWAYS fill up whatever you've got...it's just a matter of time. The pair will work together to give you really fast loading times.

If you wanna go MAD then get a couple of Raptors....http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?WD-740GD......they are the fastest SATA drives but are limited spacewise.

Prolly a couple of these will do the trick: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MAX-PSL25

Whatever you do they should be SATA drives.

Have I covered everything ? If not....shout.

[rYugen]

hey ren you can practise your PC building skills in makin one for me too since my pockets are quite empty since x-mas xD

[Jekht]

oke well like I say Im using 2 of "SAMSUNG 512MB DDR PC3200"

So do I need to the exact same (another 2, as I have 2 slots left)

Or can I buy 2 1gb sticks, to go along side my 2x512?

and if I did that, any idea what I should go for?

I have an ASUS A8V deluxe motherboard. Money is no problem. But I only want to upgrade to 2gb max. :)

:S

[rYugen]

well depends if you've got dual channel ram on your first two slots...if so you need the same amount of mhz and mb for the first 2 ones so they work perfectly synchronized...

if not you can stuff in whatever you have...i've got 256MB with 512MB so that makes 768MB in total and they're not even same brand wewt i'm unique ^^

[BakuraRyou]

Make sure whether your originals are parity/non-parity, buffered etc. Match that up with your new RAM and all will be well.

[Renzouken]

Ve you are a goddess, I adore you now you know. :D

So, jus' check out what the current RAM sticks are on your comp and buy some that're the same model to put in the other slots because if you don't they're all gonna be running at the spec of the smallest one right? Ok think I gotcha, jus' find out what RAM the Barebones pack allready comes with and buy some more, and "insert" as shown in the dissapointingly non-sexual video in the link above, now that I can do...
_________________________
Renzouken - The Child Of Rage

[Veube]

Jekht, two options:

Either get 2 more of these:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?RAM-40512S

to go with the ones you've got. That motherboard supports dual channel memory so it would be wise to match all the sticks to keep the boost.

OR

Scrap the Samsung sticks and get a couple of these:

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3PCY&CategorySelectedId=11150&NavigationKey=11150,4294957152,4294959900,50113

The problem with the Samsung sticks is they have a high latency (CL3) and you have the added problem of finding out if the current ones are registered / buffered etc. etc. As least if you get the Corsair ones you'll know the exact spec and can add another 2 of them in the future for a massive 4GB.

If you do go for the Corsair sticks, don't be tempted to add them in with the Samsung because you may then have problems. :?

[Jekht]

*worries*

I upgraded with 2 more of the samsung...

However my older samsung are 2 sided, where the new 1s arent...

They were listed as exactly the same (SAMSUNG 512MB DDR PC3200)... but now im worried il actually be slowing my ram down with the new 1s :/

I can always return, and go for the corsair, but wat do u think?

(sorry for highjac ren, il stop after this :S)

[Twaggy]

Jekht, get the DDR not the DDR2. That's the right one for you.

Keep an eye out for that lol.

[Veube]

I wouldn't worry about the Samsungs being different. Both sets are speced for the same speed (400Mhz) and they'll both have a CL3, so the only difference may be whether one or the other is buffered / ECC, but I doubt it.

Whether or not you want to return 'em and get the Corsair is entirely up to you. It's arguable whether you'll notice any difference in gaming with the lower latency memory. It would certainly make a difference if you were doing things like encoding long pieces of video.

The only other issue is whether you're gonna need 4GB at any time before your next major upgrade.

[Jekht]

its just odd that the original ram i had, has double the nodes (dont know wat theyre called), so i presume are better.

In anycase, already i can tell mxo is smoother, now on max graphics, at least when the matrix code appears, there isnt much, if any slow down.

I think il hold out for the corsair when i do my next BIG upgrade. I'l probably sell this rig next xmas, and go for the biggest and best i can afford.

anyways cheers for the help v! ur a mastermind! :D

[Renzouken]

Ok so here's the score... All my gear's on the way, was expecting it on friday but I guess I'll be waiting 'till sometime next week now... Hopefully tomorrow, anyways I've got a 14" LCD TV that can be used as a monitor in my room but me doez lovez a high-res... So, I've been looking around for a decent flat TV /Monitor that's bigger than weiner size... I was wondering if you guys could give me any pointers as to what to look for, Is it worth paying extra money for a branded TV or jus' get a cheaper, yet bigger one that is made by someone I've never heard of before? If you're really nice you could allways point me in the right direction.. I'm looking to spend about £200-£300. :D

Sorry to keep bringing these questions up, but I'm learning as I go and I jus' want to make sure I get things right for once... I made the mistake when I was 16 of "Tinkering" under the bonnet of my first motor... The Vauxhall Nova 1.2 of beauty, let's jus say she didn't last long, god rest her soul and I don't wanna make the same mistake again... Cheers, Renz.

PS: I'll say it again... New comp finally on the way! Fookin' wooterz!
_________________________
Renzouken - The Child Of Rage

[Veube]

Renz...don't scrimp on your display. First you need one with DVI input for uber crispness. Second you want the lowest response time you can afford. Third you WILL want it's native resolution to be 1600x1200 since with that graphics card you're gonna want to run games in that res.

So....go a little further than the £300 budget...you won't regret it:

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3N0R&CategorySelectedId=11109&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11109,41034,4294959716,40514,7

You can make a saving by heading over to eBay...this is a Dell but as I said before their flat panels are super (I've got a 2000FP and it's awesome):

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dell-Ultrasharp-2001FP-20-TFT-Flat-Panel-Monitor_W0QQitemZ8754417314QQcategoryZ174QQrdZ1QQc mdZViewItem

Or do a search for Dell TFT....there's loads of 'em on there....most with warrantees. And if you go completely bonkers and splash out on one of those 24" widescreen jobbies, don't tell me cause I'll be EXTREMELY JEALOUS !!!!

I'm not even gonna link to monitors less than 20" because I think you'll regret it.

BTW. Steer clear of LCD TVs, because they have a much lower native resolution than their Computer LCD counterparts.



EDIT: Dell 2001FP review:

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=1918&p=1

[0bitus]

:( people in this faction have FAR too much money.

[Renzouken]

Oh don't worry 0b... Gimme a week and I'll be back on the street again with a plastic botle of cider wrapped in a paper bag, and a skaghead girlfriend with no teeth screaming at me because I spent the money to pay for our babies nappies on a copy of Razzle.

Cheers again Ve, runnin' off to check the monitors when I actually wake up.
_________________________
Renzouken - The Child Of Rage

[0bitus]

whats your opinions on this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6843343319&fromMakeTrack=true

[Jekht]

Listings been removed mate

[0bitus]

Is SLI worth the cost? Im gonna have to sell my soul :(

[BakuraRyou]

ATI Crossfire cards are far superior, they support supertiling and super AA, and unlike SLI you're not constrained to buying two cards the exact same. You'll need a new motherboard, natch. Actually, the new x1900xtx surpasses the XBox 360's GPU (take that nVidia, you fucks). Although it's a stupid amount of power (48 pixel pipelines for one o0) that won't be needed for maybe the next 2 years in high end PC gaming, but it's great for bragging rights ;)

http://www.aacdirect.com/mmaac/Images/ATI_CF_LIMITED.JPG
Soooo pretty :<

[rYugen]

when you keep lookin into the UV lights you get eye cancer :>

[0bitus]

Hush. Stop making things complicated and more expensive >.<

[Dragonstorm]

...unlike SLI you're not constrained to buying two cards the exact same...

Havent been paying attention t this thread at all recently, but just to point out that is bullshit Bakura :P It's a stupid rumour that started and hasnt died down yet, but every official test and review ive read has said that its true, so I wouldnt worry!

[BakuraRyou]

Silence, nVidia heathen :evil:

Like it or not there's a drop in performance (albeit minor, but I'm pedantic) if you use two cards with different clock rates, memory etc. Every benchmark I've seen has shown it, so stfu royally, danke :>

[Renzouken]

Methinks I started a good thread.

[0bitus]

Right since ive a sister (ala renz) who uses the computer for stupid things (even though i pay for the broadband/extra memory/graphic card etc etc) ive decided a laptop will do for now, with the excuse that ill need one for uni come october the super satan pc can wait for two months. Anyone know any good cheap nice laptops?

im gonna get teh http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NGR-108156 .

Be warned tho i might change my mind and go back to the pc thing.. but the modem will do both.

**actually i just noticed the price of that :| ill get a different one.

//edit 2** http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx?Quicklinx=2VCD&v=2#infoarea

[Veube]

I've had a couple of laptops from Novatech for people....yeah no seriously, I DON'T work for 'em. Anyway, they've been solid no problems no hassles etc etc.

You could also look @ www.rockdirect.com. Wide range and good customer service.

[0bitus]

anyone had any dealings with alienware?

[M0ZE]

Jekht owns/owned one of the ludicrously overpriced systems.

[0bitus]

LOL :| veube just saved me some money, you can get a far better laptop from www.rockdirect.com. for cheaper money too. Only thing id get a alien ware one for is the nice looking shell..

Might i also add http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk <--- can get a very nice system for around 1200 or so.

[Renzouken]

Be warned, don't know if they're like this to everybody but Novatech are really, really, REALLY pissing about with my orders now.... Starting to get
#%@*£?>!! off with them now... Been on the blower countless times too... :rawr!:

At the moment I've got a GFX card, mouse and a keyboard, nothin' else...

[savity]

Lend me your GFX card til you get the rest Ren :wink:

**Runs away from :bang: **

[Renzouken]

Sigh... After hours on the phone yesterday I was promised that at least some of the components'd be delivered today, the Bare Bones package has to be built so it's coming friday, even though I was previously told they were in stock... I was expecting the Hard Drives, Extra RAM, Router and that today at least, what do I do?

I get out of bed at 12:00....

Ren, you muppet.... :?

[savity]

Sigh... After hours on the phone yesterday I was promised that at least some of the components'd be delivered today, the Bare Bones package has to be built so it's coming friday, even though I was previously told they were in stock... I was expecting the Hard Drives, Extra RAM, Router and that today at least, what do I do?

I get out of bed at 12:00....

Ren, you muppet.... :?

12:00?????? - Ren, you lazy twat....

I was up at 6:15 cos my son had forgotten how to turn his tele on - then made brekkie, got him ready for school for 8:50. Drove the 30 miles to work and by 12:00 had installed UNIX and Oracle on a server.

Although I did get disconnected rudely last night at 12:30am so had to go to bed early :(

You wanna be careful getting in the habit of sleeping in or you'll end up like this Ren

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/savitysav/cartoons/ksmn580l.jpg

[Renzouken]

Aye, but I'm 18... I'm allowed to sleep all day on special occasions such as hangovers, workdays, days when I have to do some work around the house, when I'm supposed to meet mates, when I'm suposed to be helping a mate do work on his feckin' car, when I've been up all night either - gaming, drinking, getting stoned, clubbin'/ravin', downloading porn or being kept awake by my nutcase sister and her mates or my mates when my mom's away, when I'm meant to be going into town, medical appointments, when I'm supposed to go to a job interview, important annual events, On the somwhat rare occasion nowdays that I'm sharing my bed with a female (I blame the constant getting stoned with mates and too much gaming, but meh) when I'm supposed to be going to colledge and now it seems that when I'm supposed to be signing for a delivery has been added to the list...

Oh and Sav I don't eat worms btw...

[Veube]

A couple of tips Renz...

1) When the stuff finally arrives...chilli out for a bit...you don't wanna be putting stuff together in a manic frenzy.

2) Set aside plenty of time. No rushing.

3) Don't force anything. If it ain't going together...leave it....chill...think...try again. Bent pins are NOT what you want.

4) Don't put the case together until you've got things up and running. That's a sure-fire way to ensure it won't work when you press the big ON button.

5) Don't expect it to work 1st time. You'll inevitably forget something.

6) Don't panic when it doesn't go 1st time. There's a million things you can do to diagnose problems. Often, it's something really simple.

[Renzouken]

Thanks Ve, you've really been a star throughout all this.. Helpin' me out and such, I'm sure I'll be bugging you lot like mad when the stuff finally gets here, and yeah I'm not gonna force anything, If I get pissed off with it I'll jus' get a sledgehammer out and give it a gentle tap, that should sort it out a little eh?... :wink:

[BakuraRyou]

7) A bottle of Jameson & some shrooms are ideal bedfellows for the delicate art of PC construction. I swear.

[rYugen]

ll ren you can't bug her when you dont have a workin PC :D

good luck mate...always keep the right skrewdivers etc. with you

[Renzouken]

Cheaa! Got my gear, the whole she-bang! The Barebones bundle appeared today, and the case is an even better one than the Thermaltake one, which was a bit of a shock... But meh, It's sweet! I'm not complaining, and all of the shit inside's the right stuff so I'm laughing... But here's the first predicament...

The RAM... I asked over the phone, like Veube said I should wether I'd end up with two sticks of RAM to make up the 1Gb. Or jus' a 1Gb stick. The bird over the phone said one stick... So I'm like, "Cool, I'll jus' get another of those then"

It turns up and there's 2x 510 Hynix sticks in there and I've got one stick of 1010 sitting in a bubblewrap bag.. I guess it's gotta be sent back eh? Should I jus' live with 1Gb for now, send it back and wait an age for one of these punk comp delivery services to deliver some different sticks? Or is there a way round this?

Bugging stage numero uno - Complete. Hey I'm jus' happy all my stuff's finally here after all the shit I've had getting it!

[savity]

I bow to V's better knowledge in this - but my gut instinct would be rip out the preloaded RAM - stick in your new spangly 1GB one and send the 512's back for a replacement. It is what you ordered so ring them up and tell them this is what you are doing. 1GB of RAM is liveable with and chances are you will get the replacement back before you have had chance to build and configure everything anyway.....

Good luck in the build Ren - I expect regular updates/rants......

:)

[Veube]

If you can...convince em to take back the 2x512MB sticks and get another 1GB...That way you're clear for a 4GB upgrade whenever.

[BakuraRyou]

Whenever XP stops being inefficient with anything over 2gb :roll:

Unnless you're planning on using *shudder* Linux Renz :>

[Renzouken]

No, no Linux here lol, sorted the Memory prob, I'm jus' gonna settle for the one 1Gig Hynix stick in there for now and see if I can send the other two back/exchange them for another 1Gig stick or whatever...

Another thing that's confusing me though is I've installed all my stuff, GFX card, Memory, three HDD but you mentioned setting up two of the drives to act as one didn't you Veube? Do I have to physically connect the two drives that are being RAID together with wires or something like that or is it part of on-screen setup etc etc... Must seem like a proper noob question I know... :?

[Veube]

Lemmie know the motherboard make / number and I can check but...

Look in the motherboard manual. There will be SATA connections on the motherboard that are controlled through a RAID controller. They are usually SATA3 and SATA4 (might be SATA_RAID1 etc). The two drives need to be plugged into these connections. One drive on SATA3, one on SATA4.

The drive to go on its own needs to plug into one of the regular SATA connnectors (prolly SATA1).

Now, when you install Windows it will probably only see the drive thats on its own because the RAID controller drivers are needed to get to the other 2 drives. Not a problem at this point as you want to install Windows on the 1st drive.

Do that...get Windows up and running and then we'll worry about the RAID drives later. Might need BIOS tweaks. :shock:

[Renzouken]

Jus' looked, It just says SATA 1, SATA 2, SATA 3 and SATA 4 on the motherboard, and I can find hardly anything about RAIDing two HDD together in the manual, jus' things about setting IDE drives as Master or Slave...

Oh and don't mention BIOS to me for fuck's sake lol. :?

EDIT: Actually I've jus' found where it says SATA_RAID 1, 2, 3 and 4, but there's no actual slots below where it says that, should I just make a note of what HDD is in what normal slot?

Oh and it's an ASUS 8AN-E. Like what you recomended.

[Veube]

Put the lone drive onto SATA1 and the other 2 onto SATA3 and SATA4. We'll use the NVRAID function on the 2 drives. Just install Windows on the lone drive for now.

[Renzouken]

Nice one, I've put it all together, going through the Motherboard manual bit by bit at the miniute, looks like all systems go! The chassis is sweet, they've given me a ThermalTake Shark rather than the Tsunami for some reason, but I prefer it over the Tsunami anyway, it's not a cheaper version, actually more expensive and the blue neons rock. Only thing is it's fookin' HUGE lol, weird that...

Drives are in like you said, and I haven't even got a blank screen... (Pwnzorz)
Anyways, I'll have XP installed tomorrow... :D

[savity]

blue neons


:drool:

[Veube]

A Shark case eh ?

Take a look at my setup:

http://www.acidapple.com/veube/SharkCases.jpg

SHARKS 4TW !!

[rYugen]

do they...do they all?...like? ...you know...are all of them yours?... O_O

that's how mine looks like:

http://www.miordenador.com/info/aerocool/img/aeroengine2negra.jpg

and a crappy one taken with my webcam...:

omgwtf...dont look at the white CD Rom port :> (http://mitglied.lycos.de/rmcas/Bild%202.jpg)

[BakuraRyou]

lol @ rYu and his inability to colour co-ordinate.

And Ve that's more power than anyone needs, ever! Surely you could've spent your money on something relaxing like a truckload of e's or something.

[rYugen]

ye i know...i dont have the white cd rom drive anymore :P...i took the pic before... ;_;

[savity]

A Shark case eh ?

Take a look at my setup:

http://www.acidapple.com/veube/SharkCases.jpg

SHARKS 4TW !!

The middle ones broken - no blue light :(

[rYugen]

lol that's the one she kicked against when the matrix servers crashed :P

[Renzouken]

Oh... My... Feckin'.... God....

Ve, what's up with the multiple comps?! Heh, I bet all but one are empty cases.. =P

Anyway, I'm going through the process of trying to set shite up, manuals at hand, all feckin' 1000-Odd of 'em. Thing is though, I'm having a shiteload of trouble trying to RAID these two HDD together, and the comps as slow as #@:^&!! at the miniute (Because of that I guess) now I know it's late but if anyone's out there and can gimme a hand I'm beggin' you! Please do! I've set the two 250Gb disks as RAID enabled in the BIOS setup screen and installed Windows as well as a couple of drivers on the 120 Gig one.

So, I read through the NVRAID manual and it's doin' my nut in... I reboot the comp, Press F10 to go to the NVRAID setup menu and it's askin' me wether I want to mirror, spanning (Eh? Thaught that was a sex thing?) etc.. etc.. And allthough I've been through the instructions soo many times I still can't get the hang of it, please I'm beggin you guys before my new PC gets thrown out of the window lol! I'm sure it's real simple what you have to do, and I'm gonna look like a proper n00b and end up slapping myself but I'm under the impression I can't install any programs untill I've got those big disks working... Problem numero dos.... :?

[Renzouken]

Right, I've either sorted it, or made a big fuck up here... Ve, you said that, the two combined drives were to make your comp ultra-responsive right? Well, I've had a read up, and apparently if you set them up to Strip eachother it increases write / read speed but has no data-protection benefit if something goes wrong, however if you set them to Mirror eachother they don't increase performance but have extra capacity or some shite like that? Well, I've set 'em to Stripped. Have I done the right thing there?

[savity]

Hoping you mean striped - not stripped - basically yes Ren - mirrored halves your capacity and writes to each mirror set to create a copy for a failed disk.

by striping them you are basically allowing the two disks to act as one and write to them both concurrently thus speeding the write process up. So you were correct to Stripe them.

[Renzouken]

FOR FUCK'S SAKE HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH REN?! *Twitch*

Right, now's where I get fucked off with this shit, after I'd been a mug and messed about with that RAID BS without knowing what I'm doing... Every time the system tries to start up, I get to the Windows loading screen with the blue bar at the bottom and it jus' dies after about a miniute when running it in normal mode, I can run safe mode Ok, but I don't know what the problem is to fix the damn thing... So... I think to myself....

What would my uncle's brother's twice devorced wife's mom's postman's cat's sister's golf buddie's nan's underwear sniffer's cousin's son's drug dealer's cell mate's ex-girlfriend's greengrocer's dog's tripe chew manafacturer's mafrodite mistress' dildo do?

Nah, I don't wanna do that... System restore back to basic Windows installation will do me jus' thine thankyou very much... I'm going again now, at least I can log in to Windows, and you can bet your ass I ain't gonna play around untill I get some feedback... Nuh uh... Noo way... Shit myself there... It's too late at nite anyway... And I'm starting to go *Twitch* funny... *Twitch*

EDIT: Oh and thanks for the reply Sav, though I think I'm gonna need a little more, after what I jus' did... I'm doing something wrong here....
"Moma I nearleh done brokeided ma flashin' box thangay hyuk hyuk"

EDIT2: Hehe I tried again, because of what sav said and it seems I forgot to enable the "Boot" option on the array, Windows has no problem launching now, do you think that would be the problem? Anyways, I'm not gonna start installing drivers n stuff untill you lot say it's Ok to do so, jus' in case I've missed something... Comp does seem alot quicker now, but I'm off my nut on coffie because I been nackered all day and trying to stay alert to get this comp running... (Hence the somewhat surreal posts) So it could jus' all be in my head. Peace, Renz. :)

[savity]

I don't build PC's I build servers and they have completely different requirements (uptime and redundancy are generally more important)

I think V was saying that you should set your single disk to the boot disk - and then set the other disks up as a striped Raid set for application/games data and storing porn.....

You shouldn't really need to worry about the striped array until after the OS is installed and you have all your peripherals running with latest drivers etc...

Then configure the stripe set and set it up as an extra drive and install all your games and applications onto that drive.....

I would check out this site too Ren

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/

As you know I'm not an expert but there seems to be a few good articles on there and a forum you can search for anyone having similar problems.

[Veube]

Short on time atm. I'll come back and edit this post later with NVRAID details. But basically you setup the drives as a RAID0/striped in the NVRAID boot thingy and you have to install the NVRAID drivers to WindowsXP for it to see the drive.

Details later.....

[Renzouken]

Ok thanks Ve and no problem I'll wait on you before I start fucking things up. :wink: An' cheers for clearing that up Sav my poor little mind was getting confused there... I can install the drivers but in the manual(s) they're going on about needing to create a bootable floppy NVRAID disk, which is going to be a problem seeing as there's not one single floppy drive in the flat and all the shops are shut...

Anyway I'll sit tight, look up that link you gave me Sav and do a little research 'till you lot can help, It's gonna be jus' my luck if I need to create a boot disk on a floppy, Heh, knew I should've baught one... :|

[Veube]

EDIT: You don't need to create a NVRAID driver disk. This is only if you were installing Windows to the RAID volume from scratch.

So....

Boot up and enter the BIOS by pressing <Del> as usual.

Firstly enable SATA3 and SATA4 to be used in a RAID. This in done in the BIOS and is covered on page 3-23 of the motherboard manual. Basically in that list everything should be disabled except SATA3 and SATA4.

Exit the BIOS to reboot.

Instead of <Del> press F10 to get to the NVRAID utility.

Then follow the instructions on page 3-24 for "Creating a RAID volume". Use the Striping option and 128K Striping Block.

One the RAID is successfully created all thats left is to install the drivers to Windows.

So, reboot to Windows and put in the motherboard CD. When the menu comes up click on the 'NVidia Chipset driver program' and install all the chipset drivers, this should include the ethernet drivers, SATA drivers, RAID drivers, etc. After this is done you may need to reboot (might be an idea to delay rebooting and install the audio drivers too if you haven't already).

Once rebooted, you need to create a partition, format and assign a driver letter to the RAID volume. Right click on 'My Computer' and click 'Manage'. From the 'Storage' tree click 'Disk Management'. You'll now have listed all your drives including (hopefully) the RAID volume. Right click it. Create a Primary partition @ maximum size. Right click the new partition and Format. Right click again and assign a drive letter.

All done. You should now see the new drive present when you double click 'My Computer'

Fingers crossed eh. :)

[Renzouken]

Trying now... Thanks Ve, I'ma cheer spam your RSI if this works. :wink:

EDIT: Well I've installed the chipset drivers etc etc... But Windows still doesn't pick up on the RAID'ed drives in the disk partion management screen thingy. However for the first time I did get a message ballon in the bottom right saying "Windows has detected new hardware" and naming the HDD... Argh! 'Elp! lol.

Clicking on the "Install nVidia chipset drivers" option, looks like it doesn't install any RAID drivers... This is what it installs...

NVIDIA SMbus Driver.
NVIDIA Ethernet Driver.
NVIDIA IDE Driver. <-------- This one's the big #&@*£(%!! up the arse!!

Then it gives me some bull about installing the IDE drivers will enable the NVRAID capability but will disable any previous SATA drives that Windows had, also says that I will have to have a NVRAID bootable floppy disk if wanting to RAID disks on a NEW (It empasises the new) operating system. What the? It should be so simple but it's still not picking it up...

EDIT AGAIN: WOOTERZ UNKNOWN 233.7 GB DEVICE IN THE MANAGE DISK WINDOW!! :D

EDIT AGAIN VERS.2: Damn, jus' rebooted my comp and it's gone again.... I'm getting sick of this, what the hell is going on... :cry:

I give up, I seriously give up, seems I'm out of my depth, really makes you wanna cry, like the kid that can't get his toy out of the box...[/b]

[rYugen]

poor ren i think we all know that problem...it just never works on the first try.. =( my thoughts r with ya mate ^^

[Veube]

I give up, I seriously give up, seems I'm out of my depth, really makes you wanna cry, like the kid that can't get his toy out of the box...

Yeah...it happens...and it's a real demoralizer. You're doing exceptionally well for a 1st build. I lost count how many times I installed the OS when I 1st did it.

I've been looking @ the nVidia forums it would seem that NVRAID is a bugger to setup. :/ The SLI version of that motherboard has a different RAID controller which is easier but nvm.

What I suggest is you setup a software RAID using Disk Management for the moment. So, go back to the BIOS and disable the RAID on all the drives.

Now go back to Windows Disk Management. You should see two identical drives now. Right click each drive on the info box to the left and convert them both to Dynamic Disks. Now right click in the unpartitioned space of one of the disks and click 'Create Volume'. Follow the wizard creating a Striped volume, adding both disks and formatting it as NTFS / quick format.

See how that goes.

[BakuraRyou]

I've been looking @ the nVidia forums it would seem that NVRAID is a bugger to setup. :/

Another notch in my "Death to nVidia" belt then.

Keep at it Renz, we don't want your system to be obsolete by the time you get up to the login screen ;)

[Renzouken]

I think I've done it, but now Windows is like an on-edge paranoid schizofrenic suicidal nutcase hooked on LSD. I've installed something here... And Windows doesn't like booting up at the miniute... I'll Restore to basic AGAIN and go step by step on a trial and error system... When I install something and windows starts fucking up, I figure I'll know what's the problem.... Sorry for the rants people but to be one-hundred percent truthful I'm relying on you guys, eh... As well as bullshit manuals and Google...

[savity]

Take it slow installing stuff Ren - Make sure things work correctly before going onto the next thing. Get all your peripherals working before any of the big apps. Create a Restore point at regular intervals where you are sure things are working......

Slowly slowly catchy monkey.....

[Renzouken]

Well I definiteley know where the problem lies now... I'll do my best to explain it, sorry if it seems a little gibberish...

Right, I open up the BIOS setup screen, and set the NVRAID option to [enabled] with SATA disks three and four in the sub-menu underneath set to [enabled] also.

Then, I enter the RAID setup menu before Windows boot by pressing F10 when prompted, I set up an Array with these properties - Striping, Striping Block 126k, and select the two SATA discs that I had previously RAID enabled. After saving the Array, I have an option to select the disks as Boot by pressing 'B' seeing as you said nothing of this, I do not set the boot option. However if I exit the RAID menu after saving, restart and return to the menu this option allways seems to have enabled it's self. (Just something I noticed, don't know what it means of if it's the cause of the problemo)

Ok now I enter Windows XP, go straight to Device Management and see that Windows 'knows' there is two 250G HDD installed...

Now to installing the Drivers off of the ASUS Motherboard Support Disk. Now. The drivers I need to install to enable the NVRAID feature display a warning before you install them stating that installation of these drivers replaces the previous SATA drivers that Windows comes with, I click Ok.

Now I'm prompted to restart the computer for the drivers to take effect, exactly what I do, get to the Windows XP loading screen and nothing happens, Windows jus' seems to be loading infiniteley and never actually booting, so I reset the comp and enter windows in safe mode.

Once in safe mode I return to the System Device Management screen, Click the new NVIDIA RAID controllers and activate them, one of which has a yellow exclamation beside it untill I search for drivers for it taken from the ASUS CD. Windows can now see the NVIDIA RAID 460G disk, kushty I think, Windows should boot now... Right?

Wrong, I can only enter Windows in safe mode, and the only option I can seem to do to sort it is Restore the system to a time before I installed the new drivers and replaced the old Windows ones.

Could this be the problem? The fact that I've removed (Non intentionally) the drivers that recognise the HDD that windows is installed on? That and the RAID'ed disk that automatically sets itself to a 'Boot' disk... If so... Can anyone think of a way around it?

I've scaled forums and manuals and support sites etc etc... But as you'd expect I can't find anything in detail yet simple enough for me to understand. I'll restore again and try the new setup that you posted Ve, though will it be as effective an option? I thaught the whole point of me buging two disks was to use this setup, but if it's going to be impossible that way then I'm definiteley open to new ideas, jus' seems a shame to give up... I'm curious also, to why this'd happen...

Can't say I expected things to go smoothly, but after waiting nearly three weeks for delivery, two days to grab a copy of Windows then another three bloody days to set up this Hardware, plus the added #@"£ up the ass that I'm heavy-duty working this week... Seem's I must have pissed off the guy upstairs... :?

Anyway, thanks again for the support and sorry for bein' a forum hogger.

And to Bakura, yes... Slowly but sureley I'm starting to hate Nvidia, with the complete and upmost hate I or anyone else could ever muster, however I do have one of the 'apparent' most, and I quote off the guy I got it from, "Shit hot fucking unreal" Nvidia GFX cards out atm, so it'll take that to work perfectly before my faith is restored.

[Veube]

Ditch NVRAID. Problematic.

Do the striping within Windows. Only drawback is slight processor usage which you won't notice. Loading times are what you're after.

Also, ignore Bak with his ATI lurrrvin... You'd be doing FAR more fiddling with an ATI card than with the 7800.

[Renzouken]

Okayez, hope this goes well and doesn't take another three days to set up. Thanks Ve.

[Dragonstorm]

Just look at it this way Ren - You're learning alot of random crap you didn't know, so next time you upgrade, you'll be much quicker at setting up and rooting out any problems. So at least that's something nice to think about! :D

[Renzouken]

Well Ve, it looks like using Windows to set up a RAID disk is out of the question for me... I right clicked like you said, simple enough, I thaught... But no, there's no, "Make Dynamic Disk" option... Just "Properties" or "Initialize" if the disk is inactive. After a night of trying to sort this out again I stumble across a nice little help page on Dynamic Disks.

"Windows XP SP2 Home Edition does not support the usage of Dynamic disks"

Yeh, thanks for that Microsoft, And I've jus' baught Home Edition, couldn't afford Professional... *Sigh* Another sutiation where the little guy shits out, thanks for the help Ve, but I guess Im' jus' beyond help...

Demoraliser? Heh, that ain't the word for it... After nites on end sitting at a plain Windows and BIOS screen untill 4-5am because you're determined to sort this, then getting up at 6am to go to work on a 30ft high scaffold in the freezing cold, I'm becoming a little, erm... What's the word?... Ah screw it, I haven't got the energy, I need a bit of kip... lol...

[Veube]

Meh, damn Home Edition BS.

You've still got some uber storage there. As separate drives you should just maybe use em for different things. Drive 1 for games and Drive 2 for erm...porn or something :/

Anyway, I hope you've learned something about building your own kit and you've now caught the bug to keep doing it. :D


Mebbie the next lesson should be on how to find and d/l that Microsoft software without having to reach for the bank card 8)

[Veube]

Renz....just checkin....did you get a system with an AMD X2 processor ?

If so...did you install the drivers for it ?

If not..... http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/utilities/amdcpu.exe

:wink:

[Renzouken]

I'm pretty sure I installed all the drivers and such, well all the ones that come with the motherboard support CD. They should've been on that right? Anyways I'ma take a shower and have a look, nearly done installing everything on my comp and it's getting kinda slow to be honest... Time for a Defrag and clean methinks! Get back to you in ten. :wink:

[Veube]

Defrag ?? Shouldn't need one yet.

Do a CTRL/ALT/DEL to bring up the Task Manager. Go to the performance tab.....have you got 2 CPU graphs ??

If not...you need those drivers.