jawatrader

Hi and welcome to the club. I just got my first DFI board a few weeks ago(Expert) and love it. I have used Abit, Asus, Soyo and MSI and none have worked as well or gone together as painlessly as this one. Good luck with your build.

I wish I could help, but I havent played oblivion yet and dont know what the requirements are for it. I just dont see you being able to build a good rig for anywhere near that budget. My vid card alone costs more than that. Would it be possible for him to wait a little while so he can save up some $$$. I would hate for him to go out and get the bare minimum required just to have to upgrade again in 6 months. Just a thought.

(Monarch Computers) It depends on how long you are willing to wait. They have great prices and run some real good rebates, but be sure to call before you order just to make sure that the items are in stock. There seems to be a problem with their website updating real time inventory. I just placed a large order with them and ran into several problems, but in the end all worked out real well. Sterling (Customer Service Manager) went above and beyond to make things right...even went so far as to upgrade me from a $489.00 video card to a $699.00 card because they were out of stock. They will take care of you, but dont expect to get your order in 3 days like from the bigger guys. Also, be aware of the fact that you must have someone at home to sign for the package. Signature is required on all orders from them. Also, as a side note: Tony Lou from Thermaltake was one of the greatest guys I have ever dealt with. I received a damaged Armor case from Monarch and after Sterling notified him of this, he sent out a replacement same day and issued a call tag for the bad one...no questions asked. Hope that helps.

Im also one of the lucky ones. My expert board was rock solid from day 1. This forum is a great source of information and I wish I had found it prior to buying the expert(my first DFI). I would have chosen a different PSU and would have bought a 2GB kit instead of the 1GB. I guess thats what overtime is for...gonna start changing out piece by piece. You guys have been a big help and alot of fun. Hope to be here for a long time to come.

Is the light on the floppy always on? If so, you put the cable on backwards. Take the end you plugged onto the floppy and turn it 180 degrees. That should take care of it.

Thanks for the reply. The Epsilon 700w sounds like it might be the ticket. The others are a little out of my budget. The 680w I have is the earlier model like yours. Up till now no problems, but I dont want to risk it when I go SLI. I guess I gotta start working some overtime...

Thanks and sorry about your PSU experience. I am actually using the same one and am now worried about going SLI. Do you know of any good modular power supplies that can handle the load? I know that most people on this forum dont recommend going modular, but after routing all those long pain in the arse cables on the purepower, I thought modular would be easier. I already checked the PSU sticky on this site, but it seems to be a little dated and doesnt have some of the newer PSU's listed. I had thought of going with the Enermax Liberty series, but after reading about there current quality issues, I think I should look elsewhere. Any thoughts?

Hey Sorrento...if you noticed...I edited my post before you posted. I typed in anger and after reading what I typed I felt like an butt. Sorry that it ever hit the forum. I thank you for your reply here and on the watercooling issue. Please except my apology for my actions. Its tuff dealing with scum all day(Police Officer) and then trying to be civil with you guys in my off time. Sometimes it carries over and I endup typing crap I regret later. Again, sorry and thanks for your help.

Hey Sorrento...any chance you could tell us about your Thermaltake PSU experience? I have heard of some people having problems with the earlier models,but had the impretion that the newer ones are being made by a different company and are top notch. Just wanted to see which one you had used so I can avoid it or if its the one I use...so I can know what to expect.I use the newer Purepower 680w and it seems to work great. Thanks

First off...I am not trying to start a war. A member of the forum had a question about a specific product and having used it I decided to post a reply. When you offered your help...I just wanted to clarify the information given. I was not trying to argue the point with you. I just wanted to make sure that he had all of the facts. As for Killing_Halo...Im not a TT fanboy. If I had the extra $$$ I would have gone with a Danger Den setup, but money is tight at this time so I went with something that would work and work well. As for the Heater core/radiator debate. A heater core is by defenition a radiator. It may be true that a heater core designed for a car has a higher flowrate than a radiator designed for a computer. I dont argue the point. And as for your piece of crap...you are entitled to your opinion. Thats whats great about this country.

I used Enermax in the past and they worked very well. Sorry to hear that they are going down hill in quality.

Could you explain how you come to this conclusion? From my experience working on cars for Mitsubishi as a Class A tech for 4 years prior to entering the law enforcement field...I could swear that a heater core was just a little radiator used to transfer heat from the coolant into the cabin of the vehicle by way of a blower fan and ducting. The reason why it was called a heater core is because that was its function. Wouldnt call it Radiator...might get confusing to the not so bright techs. Now...just wanted to see how you come to your conclusion that the Thermaltake is a radiator and the Swiftech is a heater core. They are one and the same. Have you ever even seen the Thermaltake?

So if the parts cost $1500.00 than I should charge $1500.00 to install? Somethings a little wrong with that formula. :eek2:

im looking at the radiator as i type this and its the same size as the swiftech (thick). as for the pump. you might be right. the new one is much better than the old and has much higher flo rate. the tem. in my computer room is about 55F-60F so the temp of about 15c at idle is about right.

You should have no problem. One thing I need to explain to you. Dont always listen to peoples opinions on these boards. If its Angry or Rgone , etc. than you can rest assured that they have first hand knowledge about the item in question and will give you accurate information. On the other hand...if johnnynoob using his parents puter responds take it for what its worth. Some people spend all day reading the forums and just regurgitate crap that they read somewhere else. Its usually wrong or missing facts and was most likely posted by johnny's brother. My brother has the Bigwater 745 on his Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe with a BFG 7900GTX, AMD X2 4800+, etc. and loves it. I am now setting one up on my DFI expert. Its a great bang for your buck.