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saul good

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About saul good

  • Birthday 02/14/1957

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Over the hill.
  • Interests
    Family, strays, anything high perf., drawing (but I'm no Arteest), guitar, hawgs and learning about computers-- trying to take the Voodoo out of the box. Fold as CreasedEvo. Name's David. saul good's a state of mind.

    I can tolerate anything but a bigot. Hero's Rosa Parks.

OCC

  • Computer Specs
    Nexus RX8500 Tranq. 850W mod, [email protected], Corsair H50, ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3, 2x 4GB Sector5, MSI GTX570 @ 786, 9800GT 1GB PhysX, Seagate Momentus XT 500GB Solid State Hybrid SATA, Caviar Black 500GB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 32MB Cache 3.5" Dual Processor, Fractal Define R3 added 140mm side fan. W7Pro64

    Vintage Racer: Corsair GS700, 4400+,Titan Vanessa, DFI UT nF3 Ultra-d, 2x 512 Hyper-X, X1950 Pro, XP SP3

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  1. Thanks Spike! Appreciate your time. He's got a real budget challenge & he's going to have to live with his choice for awhile. Absolutely don't want to steer him wrong. Really hoping there's a bit of a flood, of appropriate new/used cards, in the first quarter of 2012. I'll caution him again on the psu upgrade. It's almost my mantra on the sim forum. Have a great day sir!
  2. A young man, on a sim racing forum, asked for assistance picking out a PC to run Nascar2003. As the name suggests, it is an older game. Sim racers prefer it over new releases because of the great physics engine, and the mods the community have been made over the years. I enjoy it -- almost exclusively. The chap has a very limiting budget -- $300. He is in a rural location, and feels he can really only purchase from Best Buy. I have found the game requires about 3GHz multi-core, and a gpu that scores about 1000 or better on the Passmark Chart to max the ap. Ram? Four gigs is overkill. When he posted on the game/design forum he got the following advice: "...hard to go wrong with a $400 Asus laptop..., ...a 2004 Dell laptop will play it superbly, ...get at least 12gigs of ram... "(et. al.). My favorites were the posters who endorsed rigs sans gpu, and no expansion slot. I'm considered "rude" because I posted a link. To me: not so much about opinion as hardware capabilities, and ap requirements. Given his stated limitations: I am endorsing this rig. $319 with no gpu. Would still beat the lappy he has now, and after Christmas there should be a variety of suitable gpu's for about $25 to $50 used. Best Buy has a 6570, 5670 & 6670 cards that score 1200+, but that puts him completely over-budget. $400 area, instead of $300. He doesn't mind used, but given his rural location/mobility issues -- I'm thinking the new rig is the way to go. Hard to do new, with gpu, for under $400. I had no success. Best Buy rigs, with discrete gpu, start at $760. With a Phenom x6 oc'd to 3.25GHz I have used a Geforce 9800 GT and max'd the old game. No difference switching to, and from, my GTX 570. The short: for $319 the HP rig, and patiently wait for a suitable gpu for around $25 to $50 used (something like 9800, 8800, 4850 or a GTS 250 etc) sound like good advice? Additionally. He doesn't want to build. I have told him that I recommend he start looking for a Corsair CX430 Builders Series at a promo price. Not sure what the HP has in it, but I'm betting it should be replaced asap -- especially if he adds a gpu. Not sure anyone, on the racing forum, believes the psu is important. There's also this Asus rig. but the processor is a 2.4GHz, and I think HP would be the better of the two support wise. I'm no expert, so I thought I would ask some. Thanks for the read, and the benefit of your advice.
  3. noob but... When I consider what I spend on cable, internet, & cell phone charges (or one nite on the town) -- $329 for a 2600K seems pretty reasonable. Treating myself for quitting smoking (chain) too. Factor in the amount of hours I spend researching/building/modding/experimenting/talking/enjoying the rig over the next two, or three years? I don't need the performance parts I have on my other toys either. Sure would be nice to get them for $329.
  4. Yeti! Well done Black6464! Looks great! Proof: budget doesn't mean boring.
  5. Spending about $1,000 on PSU (Seasonic Platinum 1000W or Corsair AX1200) CPU (SB i7-2600) & MB (thinking UD-5 but $/promo's are a consideration). Question: Do you think it is worth waiting for promo's, either at Christmas/Boxing Day, or early in 2012? Thank you for your opinions and experience.
  6. I thought it a Flextronics design, and both have a seven year warranty. The Seasonic is $40 cheaper/ Historically; the Corsair gives me a chubby excites me. Thank you LuckyDeath, Muchoman1, MJCRO & boinker! Looks like the Corsair is the frontrunner.
  7. Thanks for the replies, Krieg1337, & IVIYTHOS I think either would be excessive for my current profile machine. It's a new build. Nothing exotic, but sli & oc's will be part of the mix. It's not really a cost/excess question. I would expect either unit to perform well. Just on the fence, and thought I would query the forum for preferences. Just an opinion question. Thermaltake calculator says 850 to 950 watts, depending how hard I hit it. I know the calculator (excuse my tinfoil hat) might just estimate to the high side. But I wouldn't mind the headroom, and not having to replace the psu with the very next upgrade would be nice. Initial cost is not important. EDIT: And thanks too Tj266_Angel! .
  8. I'm sure there's no going wrong with either. Always been a big Corsair fan. Both score 9.8 with OklahomaWolf at jonnyguru. The Seasonic is the more recent review. The Seasonic is $40 less expensive, but it's currently out of stock @ NC|IX where I will be buying. The wattage is not excessive, and I've never regretted money spent on psu. I was leaning towards the Seasonic. No real rush, but who needs to wait for an extra 4 - 8 business days? Usually... Be patient, or go with Corsair? Thanks.
  9. Hey thanks for the reply boinker. I just tried powering up with the Corsair GS700 from my secondary rig. I only hooked up the main 24 pin connector. I got a spinning fan for the H50. (Double-checked -- no spinning fan when I re-attached the main rig's Nexus 850.) Came back to the forum to refresh sticknstone's directions. I've been busy, and extra short tempered lately. Figured I should keep my noob fingers out of my rig until I was more relaxed. (Addiitionally: I would have picked up a cpu, mobo, and psu at the local Computer Centre, but they would not answer my email. I wanted to know if they had anything more advanced than the Phenom x4 265 BE listed on their site. I can use the hardware on upgrades to my secondary system if they are not needed for the main rig. Now I'm getting ready to order a 1090T, a Corsair 1200, and a UD5 from NCIX. Screw supporting local business that won't support 'locals'. They make being a novice enthusiast much more difficult than need be.) I was actually a little encouraged that the psu is looking like the problem. I might be able to keep a straight face when I inform my wife I need a 1200AX. The system didn't boot though. So I am pondering that, Can't remember distinctly that the drives power from the psu, rather than board. The power light (on the Fractal R3 case) stayed on tho -- doesn't with the Nexus. I'm thinking I may have starved the Nexus (for cool air) when I placed an object (the new APC ups sits on) too close. EDIT: I had removed the gpu's, but left the ram alone because the led says the ram's all good. I'm googling "on board power switch" -- so that's a "No." so far.
  10. Thanks sticknstone. The UPS hasn't got a red led, and it's only a 780W if I remember correctly. Discount the 170 minutes I reported earlier. I was in a rush. I think the display usually said 113, and the fancy readout is a little flaky. APC Model 1300VA. I'll take a look at their site for more info. Everything is hitting at once here. (PC, work, blizzard...) Probably won't get the time I need until Saturday. Made sure the UPS wasn't keeping me down. Plugged main rig into alternate wall circuit, and plugged alternate rig into UPS. Main rig still dead & alternate rig works fine. There's a new Antec PSU for sale here for a good price. (...Kijiji site down...) I'll head to see what JonnyG has to say about them. I might move rigs together and see if the Corsair will bring life to main rig. Doubt it but, only time I've had a rig go down without warning it was the PSU. Brought my toolbox home. (...meter mia...). I had just decided my system was 'done' & to forgo making additional upgrades -- so I gue$$ I had this coming. Truly appreciate your help, & this Forum as a great resource. 's all good! .
  11. System died in the wee hours. The system was folding 24/7 -- all six cores & both gpus. No noticed temp increases or errors. Recently changed: monitor from 1024 x 768 to 1920 x 1080, added Logitech G510 keyboard (and software), and added APC 1300VA. When I tried to turn system back on, mobo lites up but, nothing is spinning -- no PSU, gpu and case fans. Tried searching for "trouble shooting" threads but, not finding what I'm looking for. Figure the symptoms might suggest a recommended initial course of action. Headed to work now. But you know what I'll be doing when I get home. (Maybe noticed a plastic smell -- blamed new APC smell, possibly decreasing ppd (10%) -- thought possibly points restructure, & APC readout always showed 170 minutes at full load of 80% is now showing 33 min at 20% load.) Thanks for your consideration. Oh! The sig is accurate except for OC dropped to 3.25GHz for folding 24/7.)
  12. I really enjoy my R3. Thinking very seriously of buying another.
  13. Cool thread. Dig your designing process. Good luck with grad. school... ...and keeping your son's inquisitive attentions away from this puppy,
  14. Thanks for the posts wormy & ShallowBay. And sword_fish it's my pleasure to have you, and your righteous rig, along. I've been waiting to post until I ran across a tool I use for making cuts. Can't find it. I haven't found a Dremel much help for cutting side windows. (Disks are expensive and I don't find the control articulate enough,) The tool below is relatively inexpensive, similar to mine, and takes a standard hacksaw blade. I keep the exposed area of the blade shorter than most pic's show -- three inches or so. You have to be patient, and using a notched piece of hardwood helps keep you from deforming the metal. (something roughly the size of a laptop, with a pie shaped cutout, to back/support the pc metal but allow the blade to pass thru -- I use a long piece so I can sit on it on the back porch) If you have a friend into auto-body work, they might have a tool that's perfect. You might be able to rent electric shears at a tool rental store too. We have one at work that will cut stainless steel sinks like paper. They're about $250 bucks so, rental should be cheap. Probably as cheap as the hacksaw handle deal and and a couple (everyone kinks the first one) of blades. Water-jet shops are springing up here -- but still a tad spendy -- $100 to $200 but they can do very intricate cutouts. My project languishes. Been too tired after work. Too lazy on the weekends.
  15. Life sometimes sucks. But, considering the alternative...
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