Scott P Posted March 21, 2006 Posted March 21, 2006 My six month old Seagate 300 GB drive took a dump on me last week. It's undergoaing Data Recovery now as I have some important data that I really need. The system was an Asus A7N8X with a 2500+ Barton oc'd to about 3200+ specs. The system wouldn't see a new SATA drive, so I'm working under tha assumption the SATA controller is no longer working. In a fit of spontaneous purchasing, I bought a AMD Athlon 3700+ San Diego and ECS mobo for $219. I usually buy well behind the tech curve. This is probably the most current cpu I've ever purchased. I've decided to rebuild my system and make it fast, quiet and reliable. I will be running RAID1 when Seagate sends me my replacement drive. I bought another drive of the same model, size, etc. when I bought the CPU/mobo. I mostly use the coputer for work stuff (Office, Quickbooks, Paint Shop Pro, etc) and I'd like to get back into some gaming. I mostly play RTS type games. Here is my current shopping cart. DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813136152 eVGA GeForce 6800 GS CO SE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814130271 OCZ Gold Edition DDR 500 (3-4-3-8) 2x1GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820227219 Antec Sonata II Case Now, I know the case comes with a 450W Smart Power and that is below the DFI specs. I just hate to spend another $80 on a PSU if I don't have to. If that is the case, I would go with an Antec P180 for the case. How does it look? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
THunDA Posted March 21, 2006 Posted March 21, 2006 You made a good choice going with 2gig's of ram since most newer games really benifit from it.. Plus the fact you when straight to pc4000 that means you are guarranteed at least 250mhz.. As for the psu.. Well I would really suggest getting one that is listed in the PSU guide.. In the long run it will pay off.. Most of the psu's that come with a case are crappy and not of very good quality.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott P Posted March 22, 2006 Posted March 22, 2006 After some thought, I've decided to change out the Sonata II for an Antec P180 and a Smart Power 500W PSU. It may not be the biggest and baddest, but I'm only powering one graphics card and a small one at that. Any other thoughts? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted March 22, 2006 Posted March 22, 2006 hehe im guessing u picked up ur combo from frys.. rite? thats where i got mine. ur psu is the one i have, it works just fine. itll power through lots of things.. and if you decide to sli all you have to do is replace the psu (although strangely antec provided me 2 pci-e cables--?? the smartpowers dont support sli) because you can just mod the ultra-d to sli (and sataII for that matter) decent gfx card too, should power u at moderate settings thru current games. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shredman Posted March 22, 2006 Posted March 22, 2006 I have this same PSU on order (antec smart power 2.0 500w) because it was on David Hammocks list under best bang for the buck. But also on that listing it says to "be especially careful to make sure that the +12V rail(s) offer a Minimum of +12V@26A for Single Video Card Systems & +12V@34A for Dual Video Card (SLI) Systems." But I'm looking at the specs for the smart power 500 and it only has: 17a and 19a on the 12v1 and 12v2 rails? I don't plan on SLI, but I do plan on overclocking and using 2 HDs and 2 optical drives....can you guys elaborate on this? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blooz1 Posted March 22, 2006 Posted March 22, 2006 On that SP 500W you're talking about, the combined total of the 12V rails is 36A - you should be okay. BTW- on your Asus board, did you set the jumper near the SATA ports to "enable" when you tried them? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Games Posted March 22, 2006 Posted March 22, 2006 personally I would prefer an X850XT 16-pipe vid card over a 12-pipe vid card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814102688 here's a couple of good psu's (I wouldn't trust an Antec psu on my Lanparty NF4 for any amount of money) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817103457 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817104934 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817256001 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817709004 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817103512 (excellent psu!) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817104155 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shredman Posted March 22, 2006 Posted March 22, 2006 Well, angry got me worried and I found This Review of the Antec SP 2.0 500W and they basically said the 12v rail wasn't very stable at all. Also, the modular design means you can only have 4 cables hooked up to the PSU....so I will need 1 PCE, 1 SATA, 1 FDD, 1 MOLEX w/ 3 connectors which will have to run - 1 IDE HD, 2 Optical Drives and my case fans! Dagnabit! Foiled again. Well, all my parts arrive tomorrow and I'm anxious to put it all together.... I got the Antec PSU at COMPUSSR local here...so I can return it, but they don't sell anything better (they do have BFG T550Watt ATX 12V 2.01 Part #: BFGR550PSU for $99 but I don't know about it) There is a fry's about 20 miles away in Arlington TX and on thier website, they have This Enermax 535Watt EG565P-VE FMA 2.0 for $89.99. I think this is the one AG quoted above - i need to confirm though. Problem is, I don't know if they carry it locally or just online...anyone know? Any suggs? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blooz1 Posted March 22, 2006 Posted March 22, 2006 Can't you call 'em? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shredman Posted March 22, 2006 Posted March 22, 2006 Yes, I will call tomorrow from work. I hope they have it - I went to the enermax site and checked AG's newegg link and it looks like it is the one AG recommended. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott P Posted March 22, 2006 Posted March 22, 2006 BTW- on your Asus board, did you set the jumper near the SATA ports to "enable" when you tried them? The computer was working just fine with the SATA drive as the only drive. It just up and quit on me. I got the "Unable to find systwm32hal.dll" error and that was it. I tried putting it into another machine I just finished, but all I could see was the root directory of two of the three partitions. The local computer place couldn't pull any data off, so now I'm looking at spending at least $1,000 to have a Data Recovery place pull off the stuff. The dirve contains the files for my business, so I pretty much have to spend it. I tried plugging the new drive into that computer. I was able to have it formatted by booting from the install disc, but when I tried to install windows, it said I had no hard drive attached to the computer. I hade no other hardware changes to that machine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott P Posted March 22, 2006 Posted March 22, 2006 personally I would prefer an X850XT 16-pipe vid card over a 12-pipe vid card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814102688 here's a couple of good psu's (I wouldn't trust an Antec psu on my Lanparty NF4 for any amount of money) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817103457 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817104934 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817256001 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817709004 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817103512 (excellent psu!) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817104155 I kept that cart ative for three days and finally hit submit last night. I had the X850XT in there, but chose the 6800GS instead. I think it was becasue of something from another board. In regards to the PSU, I saw the SmartPower on the "Generally Recommended" area of the PSU thread, so I figured it would be fine. Plus, the Amps looked good ont he +12V rail. It's too late to change my order, but maybe I'll have to order a different one and return the Antec. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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