Oh yeah, I pulled the trigger!

[Schlup]

Well it was finally time once again to pull the trigger on another upgrade to the Schlup Model 5000.  I mean once Covelle and Destro had quad core I felt like I was using a typewritter.  So I did it up right!

New motherboard (didn't need it but figured what the heck)...
ASUS M3N72-D AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131323

New processor...
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HDZ940XCGIBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471

New CPU Cooler (got the best money can buy because I plan on really overclocking this bad boy)...
Thermaltake V1 Max-Performance CPU Cooler with Massive 110mm Blue LED Full-Range Variable Speed Fan CL-P0401 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106102

New Thermal Compound (did my research on this and once again got the best money can buy)...
OCZ OCZTFRZTC Freeze Extreme Thermal Conductivity Compound - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835202006

For those of you wondering this also means I'll be upgrading my old, old computer. 
Current Specs:
AMD T-bird single core 900Mhz
1 GB DDR RAM
75 GB IDE HDD
ATI AGP Video Card of some kind???
Iwill KD-266 motherboard (very low end)

Upgraded Specs:
AMD X2 64 5600+ 3Ghz dual core
4 GB of High performance DDR2 RAM
Same HDD
Will buy a new low end video card
New motherboard (Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe)

That's all for now...I gotta go search for a new video card for my old old computer...I'm thinking the NVIDIA GTX 295...what do you all think?

[Destro]

Nice!  How's it running?

Sounds like the "old old computer" is really a new computer that is using an old case and HDD.

[Schlup]

Bought more stuff for the old, old rig.  Decided that I wanted to run Windows 7 on that computer so I needed to get a couple more things for it.

New Video Card...
ZOTAC ZT-84SEH2P-FSR GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500093

New DVD Writer...
Sony Optiarc 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model AD-7220A - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118022

Now I'll be able to give Windows 7 it's rightful review.

[Schlup]

Nice!  How's it running?

Sounds like the "old old computer" is really a new computer that is using an old case and HDD.

Oh, like I literally JUST ordered it...should have it up and running by the end the next week for sure.  The ideal scenario is to be able to run 4-5 different games at once all cranked up to the highest settings while running a full and deep virus scan and not exceed 25% of CPU usage.

[Schlup]

I'm a little concerned about my current RAID 0 configuration...I hope that since my old board and new board are both ASUS that I can just plug in my HDD's and it will work.  I know that RAID configurations cause the data to be striped across the hard drives a certain way...from what I hear if I do a hardware RAID then it is specific and I would have to wipe the drives and lose all the date to get the RAID configuation working properly...luckly I have been running a software RAID so hopefully this will not be the case for me.  Although I'm not to sure on it, I guess we'll just wait and see.  I know that a few of the products will come in tomorrow on 1-28-09 but not sure about when the new CPU and motherboard are getting here.  Hopefully they come in tomorrow as well.

[Monkey_Grill]

Question:

How did you find a SLi Asus Mobo on Newegg. All the Asus mobos are 1, 3, or 4 way Sli.

[Schlup]

For motherboards, I click on motherboards, then use the guided search for AMD motherboards, then choose that I need (2) PCIe slots and those are the motherboards I have to choose from that support SLI.

[Destro]

I'm a little concerned about my current RAID 0 configuration...I hope that since my old board and new board are both ASUS that I can just plug in my HDD's and it will work.  I know that RAID configurations cause the data to be striped across the hard drives a certain way...from what I hear if I do a hardware RAID then it is specific and I would have to wipe the drives and lose all the date to get the RAID configuation working properly...luckly I have been running a software RAID so hopefully this will not be the case for me.  Although I'm not to sure on it, I guess we'll just wait and see.  I know that a few of the products will come in tomorrow on 1-28-09 but not sure about when the new CPU and motherboard are getting here.  Hopefully they come in tomorrow as well.

I hadn't heard of that difference before.  Perhaps it has something to do with the size of each stripe being different for HW vs SW RAID?  Although I planned on running RAID this time, I opted not to do it.  I have had that burn me more than once when a drive fails.  The slight (if any) gain a user like me would see is not worth what I could lose. 

[Schlup]

I saw a speed improvement of 2x with the RAID 0 based on the read and write of the the drives are supposed to do independently.  Granted I keep it fragment free with Diskkeeper Pro Premier running in the background 24/7.  I'm getting 155MB/s on my drives which are Seagate barracuda 7200.10's.  On my next build I am going to utilize a RAID 5 across 5 or so SSD drives...that ought to be smoking fast and safe at the same time in case one of the SSD's go down.

[Sir-diealot]

I have a rad calculator.

[Schlup]

It is a TI-83?

[Schlup]

Ok, so the new computer is all setup and running nicely.  More on that later.

The old old computer I finally got Windows 7 Ultimate x64 installed on it but I keep getting BSOD on it after a while.  So the only think I can think, because it only does it when I start running stuff, is that my power supply in there isn't big enough.  Currently I have a 300watt power supply in there.  So I went to the old trusty PSU calculator and calculated how much PSU I should have in there.  At minimum I should have 350watt PSU in there, I'm guessing that as long as I'm not using much resouces the CPU isn't working very hard and I am staying under 300watt but when I start doing stuff and the CPU starts working then it goes over the limit and BSOD's.  So I started looking for some 400watt power supplies and then thought, well I wonder how much power I am supposed to have for my new upgraded system.  Calculator says 697watt which is alright since I currently have 700watt PSU.  However, when I go to overclock my chip (if I get it to where I want to be) I'll be sitting at a litte under 850watts needed.  So I decided to look at what a larger PSU for my upgraded computer would be.  Found a great deal on a 950watt PSU and went ahead and pulled the trigger on it.

COOLMAX CUG-950B 950W ATX12V V.2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159072

So I'll move my current 700watt power supply over to my old system and put the new one in my upgraded system which I am renaming from the Schlup Model 5000 to "The Money Pit" 

Should have it in a couple days and hopefully I can kill two birds with one stone.  Although I now have enough old computer parts to build my old old old system.  I don't think I will right now but I might throw it together and give it to my nieces or something.

[zigzag]

If ya like having fast drives, then why not run scsi or if sata then use the new WD Sata II raptors

-Zig

[Schlup]

If I was going to upgrade to SCSI or Raptors I might as well go with an SSD drive solution for about the same price.

[zigzag]

Ah, same price maybe for a 16gb SSD, but raptor is 320gb

[Schlup]

Ah, same price maybe for a 16gb SSD, but raptor is 320gb

Well that's not entirely correct...the SSD's have come way down in price lately as they continue to increase performance levels in them.  Plus the fact that an SSD drive will wipe the floor with a Raptor any day of the week.  In fact a RAID 0 will beat a single Raptor drive by more than 30%.  Thus why I chose to run the RAID 0 in terms of cost and performance it was the best option hands down.  For my next build I will be running a RAID 0 out of SSD and I'm sure will see performance levels of 500+MB/s read and 400+MB/s write which is heads and shoulders better than the current 155MB/s read and 100MB/s write that I am currently getting from my RAID 0 with my Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 drives.

Just so you know the Raptors get about 87MB/s of read and 86MB/s or write in benchmark reviews on them.

[zigzag]

Hmmm.. Maximum PC marked the Veli-Raptors as fastest Sata II HD's in benchmarks.. Barricuda came in second

[Schlup]

Oh, that's correct...independently they are but when you stick two of the barracuda's together and set them up in a RAID 0 array they spank the pants off of the Raptors.

[zigzag]

Cool, nice to know.. i already have 1 500gb barricuda - just need another .. never used raid before..

[Schlup]

Well just so you know if you are wanting to switch to RAID after the fact you will have to wipe your hard drives clean before doing so.

[Schlup]

Well I setup my warm up overclock which is 3.3Ghz so I'll let that run for a month or so before I start working toward my goal of 4Ghz on this chip.  I am having mighty warm case temps though so that is limiting me a bit.  Need to get that figured out which probably means I'll have to get a full size case...I don't know, maybe I should just build my computer in a mini fridge! 

[zigzag]

I have thought of that, but condensation would kill ya

I like my new case, not as fancy looking as some, but can bolt up 4 120mm fans on it.. thats good air flow

-Zig

[Schlup]

I've got (4) 120mm high performance fans running on my current case and yes it's moving alot of air but it seems that I have so much jam packed in there that it isn't doing the trick for me anymore, plus it sounds like a turbine jet.  That is why I want a bigger case with larger fans that don't have to spin as fast to move the same amount of air which equals a quieter computer.

[zigzag]

haha, you should hear my other case running 6 80mm fans.. talking about noise :

-Zig

[Schlup]

You ever been in a server data center with a rack full of blades running full out?  Yeah, that's what my computer sounds like...I can hardly hear the game I'm playing which is why I haven't been playing lately.  Will be back pwning before I know it!