THE COMPUTER THREAD

[RVR II]

I always check Price Watch first, http://www.pricewatch.com/hard_removable_drives/

then check other sites like New Egg for a price comparison..

I usually do my comparison shopping at Pricegrabber.

Ah.. Do you have a website link??

[gbeenie]

I built Laurie's computer with a 64-bit OS from the ground up; so far, there haven't been any compatibility problems.

p.s. It's above 3 gigs RAM that 32-bit systems can't handle; that's why I went Vista instead of XP Home.

[RVR II]

p.s. It's above 3 gigs RAM that 32-bit systems can't handle; that's why I went Vista instead of XP Home.

Keep us aprised with your Vista experience..

[jewishcarpenter]

I always check Price Watch first, http://www.pricewatch.com/hard_removable_drives/

then check other sites like New Egg for a price comparison..

I usually do my comparison shopping at Pricegrabber.

Ah.. Do you have a website link??

www.pricegrabber.com  

[RVR II]

Cool! Thanks!

[Piobman]

Incidentially, suppose I wanted to throw Windows and Program Files all on one partition and leave the rest of my data on another.  How big do you think I should go on the Windows partition?  And can I change my mind later without reformatting the drive and zapping everything?

I currently have 23 gigs on my OS partition of 200 gigs, and have the other 300 gigs for additional storage (500 gig Western Digital SATA)

Not 100% sure about reformatting a particular partition only, but I think it should b fine..

For the average user one partition is usually the best... since it is far too easy to undersize your system (windows) partition. Once you do that there is no gaurantee you can resize it later (partition magic-like programs can do this... but I have had experiences trying this which were not always successful). And an unsucessful partition means... goodbye all files! If you do partition... make sure to give your windows partition WAY more room that you thought you would ever need. Everybody uses computers differently so its really tough to say what size you need. Programs, cache files, temporary files and even some programs will cause this to bloat to extreme proportions. And not all programs will allow you to specify which partitions you want them to use. Games are kind of notorious for this. As you give your system partition a ton of space... you are in a way limiting yourself in what you can actually use since its mostly buffer for temp/windows stuff.

One partition will save you some possible program/vitual memory headaches later... and windows tends to perform better on one partition anyways. You will lose some slack (unusable hard drive space)... but it shouldn't be all that big a deal. If you partition and change your mind... there's no turning back. You can't easily combine two partitions together. You need some fancy program (partition magic) that will probably fail in the process.

If you use one partition, just do a 'system state' backup so that you can easily restore your windows system back to normal easier later and you can stick with one partition. This is actually easier than formatting a partition and reinstalling windows by scratch. As always you should be backing up your important files on a regular basis... so partitioning is not really essential for that reason alone.

Hope this helps a bit.

[Thrifty]

Yay.  My case and power supply came in today.  The mother board and RAM came around yesterday.  Now to figure out how to get these pieces together.

The power supply doesn't really fit totally snugly into the case. 

[Thrifty]

Oof.  That was an effort.  Not much more than I expected, but still tough.  Good thing I read the manual!  I didn't realize at first that you had to screw the standoffs in to the chassis first, then screw the mother board into the chassis.  First pass I had immense trouble screwing in the motherboard; the screws just weren't long enough.  Then I managed to sort of force them in, but the motherboard was sorta bent at the corners.  Then I found out about the standoffs and started over.  I guess it's a good thing that I noticed this before screwing the side casing back on to the chassis.

The edge of the case, near the back top corner, is a little dented.  Consequently, the power supply screw holes didn't line up perfectly with the case holes.  But with a little effort, I managed to screw them all in, and the power supply lines up nicely.

The case had a bunch of little cables, like 1 or 2 wires wide, that plugged in to spaces on the motherboard.  The cables had a rectangular connection at the end, sorta like a bunch of jumpers.  What I didn't fully understand was the orientation of these wires.  They'd go on either way, and neither the motherboard nor case documentation indicated which way was up.  So I hope I attached them correctly.

Now I just have to wait for my hard drive to get here.

[RVR II]

The case had a bunch of little cables, like 1 or 2 wires wide, that plugged in to spaces on the motherboard.  The cables had a rectangular connection at the end, sorta like a bunch of jumpers.  What I didn't fully understand was the orientation of these wires.  They'd go on either way, and neither the motherboard nor case documentation indicated which way was up.  So I hope I attached them correctly.

Oh yeah,, the Power switch, Power LED, Hard drive LED, speaker, etc.. Those connections are a Pain In The Ass!!
All these years you'd think they'd Redesign them for easier/simplistic connections..

Double Check the connections with the Manual otherwise, you'll be spending a Lot of time unplugging/ replugging, etc

Sounds like your on your way..

[jewishcarpenter]

All these years you'd think they'd Redesign them for easier/simplistic connections..

ASUS did with their newer motherboards. They've got an easy-to-use connector piece.

[RVR II]

All these years you'd think they'd Redesign them for easier/simplistic connections..

ASUS did with their newer motherboards. They've got an easy-to-use connector piece.

Oh Yeah! I've got 2 ASUS Motherboards, and Yes! Those Connections are Da Bomb!!

[Thrifty]

 

My hard drive arrived yesterday

So the power supply only has one SATA power connector, which is connected in series to one of the Molex power connectors for the DVD drive.  What this means is that I have to put the DVD drive way at the bottom of the optical drive bay.  I guess that's not a HUGE deal, but I think it looks funny.

More seriously, I decided it would be cute to install a floppy drive that I wasn't going to use anyway.  To do this I had to disconnect the hard drive after I'd already installed it.  Well, in the process I somehow managed to snap some clip that was supposed to hold the SATA power connector into the drive.  So now I can't, you know, power up the hard drive.

So I'm gonna return it to Amazon for a new one.

What I just realized is that this mother board has 4 SATA connectors, so I COULD connect 4 SATA drives in there (for 6 Tb is storage o_O), but there's only one SATA power connector.  If I later somehow decide that 1.5 Tb isn't enough, would there be a way to add more drives without buying a new power supply?

[RVR II]

What I just realized is that this mother board has 4 SATA connectors, so I COULD connect 4 SATA drives in there (for 6 Tb is storage o_O), but there's only one SATA power connector.  If I later somehow decide that 1.5 Tb isn't enough, would there be a way to add more drives without buying a new power supply?

Honestly.. I would consider upgrading your Power Supply cause it sounds like you don't have enough power cable legs available, and they're pretty cheap cost wise.. http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=58&name=Power-Supplies

If you power too many items off of 1 power leg, you'll burn it up (and run the risk of damaging 1 or more of your hard drives)..
Most newer power supplys have 2 - 3 SATA connectors, and many 4-pin Molex connectors which can be turned into SATA power connections with those adapter cables http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=4%20pin%20to%20sata%20adapters&bop=And&Order=PRICE

[iv3rdawG]

Sorry, didn't really look through the whole thread to find a site, but does anyone know a good, reliable customizable gaming desktop site?

[RVR II]

Sorry, didn't really look through the whole thread to find a site, but does anyone know a good, reliable customizable gaming desktop site?

Only thing I think that comes close is FrozenCPU..
http://www.frozencpu.com/