HazzzMatMan

I was just going to use the on board audio. I'm not an audio freak, and the built in audio components should be adequate.

Thanks for the replies, they got me doing more research. I'm really not comfortable with the problems everyone is having with overclocking nvidia 680i, 780i, and 790i boards. I like the X38 (or x48) chipset, and it seems to get better reviews, and overclock better. I dont know what to do for a video card. I was loving the idea of SLi, but I cant do that with an Intel chipset board. Does Crossfire work with all x38 boards (with 2 PCIe slots of course). I might hold out for a 4870x2, buy one, then get another a few months later (then run them together). Would this work with this board? Thoughts? Any X38/X48 boards recomended? Is DDR3 somthing to invest in? Like I said, I want to "future proof" this thing as much as possible. Thanks!

So my current PC is a P4 2.4 OC to 3.0, 1gig of ram, 6800GT (AGP), and a DFI LanParty 875 board. Yeah, its old. It ran Bioshock, but at the lowest settings. I want to get a new PC this summer, and I'm loving shopping for it on newegg. I wont have enough money to buy this PC for another month or so, but I can still start to plan it, right? Here are the parts that I've selected thus far. -Intel Q9450 CPU ($330) -eVGA 790i Ultra motherboard ($350) -2 250gb 7200RPM Seagate SATA drives (RAID 0) ($120) -2 9800GTX video cards ($412) -Antec 900 case ($120) -Antec TPQ 850w PSU ($150) -Super Talent 2gb (2x 1gb) DDR3 1600 RAM ($200) (has really good reviews on newegg.com) I plan to overclock the Q9450, but only after I get a good quality air cooler, or water cooler (have H20 in my current PC, so I have a little experience with it). I want to have a nice set of RAM which will be able to keep up to a 400fsb (3.2GHZ for CPU). I'm not really set on any of the parts and am open to suggestions. I want the 790i, because I want this PC to last as long as possible. I feel that with a good quality mobo, CPU and RAM, it will last a bit longer (hence my reason for going with DDR3 as opposed to DDR2). I also want to add that I'm trying to build this PC with money in mind. I have a budget of ~$1700. The way I have it set up right now costs $1680. Any ways I can cut costs without compromising quality components. What should I do about the video cards? I cant decide if I should get two 9800GTXs (maybe add a third in a few months), or one GTX 260, and add another one (or two) later. Is 2GB of RAM enough for games like Crysis, and Bioshock? Is 4GB overkill for some of these applications? Should I get 2GB now, then get another 2GB in 6 months or so? I have a spare IDE CD-RW/DVD-ROM that I can use. Thanks for your help! :thumbs-up:

yes marty, any modchip can run linux. all that the chip does is store the bios for linux to run. the xenium is a good choice, it has everything u want. i would get that if i were you.

awesome man. I was thinking of ditching the koolance and going with an XP-120, its nice to know that temps might/can get below the system/chipset temperature.

i have a MCE 2005 theme. its really cool and dosent need windoblinds. shoot me an email at [email protected] u want it.

so im here on my computer, on a cool night and i look at my temps. i realize that my cpu is 2 degrees C under my case temp. am i wrong in thinking that the case temp is the ambient temp? i think i might have misinterpreted the meaning of ambient temperature, but if i didnt this is pretty cool. These temps are with a P4 2.4C (northwood) @ 3.0ghz. the cooling is a Koolance Exos with distilled water and antifreeze. granted that these are idle temps, with light usage, ie (ie as in that is...not internet explorer ) web browsing and iTunes open with music, but its still pretty interesting. tell me if im being a retard and messing up again, or if this is actually pretty good.

you prob know, but be sure the hard drive is IDE, not SATA.

all you have to do is DL gentoox home or pro, and it comes with a BIOS. you flash that to the chip and then you are good to go with the install. you can use any chip, the xenium ice and the smartxx, its just up to you which ever one you like. i have heard great things about the xenium ice and the smartxx, so its totaly up to you. you also might want to look into a new hard drive, the linux is about 3 gigs, and space might be tight. a 20, or 40 gig should slove that. ive seen people fo up to 400gigs in an xbox so thats up to you too.

i have this one, but its not the LE, im not sure what the LE is. but it is the SmartXXv2. and i absolutely love it. if u look at the bottom there are add on options, and there is an option for a solderless adaptor. the SmartXX allows for FTP using the software on the chip and it is really easy to install linux that way. im glad i didnt chose a different chip over this one. o and i bought from bmmods.com. VERY good place, people rave about how good they are. if u can get it from there or www.system-mods.com. ive ordered from them and i trust them both

no they are not. they only reason they are not, is because they can jiggle out of place requireing you to open up the xbox frequently and reseating them. i dont know if they still make them but the X2.3 plus was solderless. and for the other X2.3's there was an adaptor. the newer ones like the X3, SmartXX and the Xchip i am not sure about, but i think you could get a solderless adaptor. here is one

well..i have a 1.0 xbox also. unfourtunately there is solder inthe LPC points that make it hard to not use a soldering iron. these are the newest modchips that can do anything you want. the older ones here are easy and dont do alot of the cool things that the new ones do. i have linux on my 1.0 xbox and it works great. ive used it 1 or 2 times but it was fun. there is a way to find out the versions which is here. for linux there are many different choices. i decided to go with www.gentoox.com . the installation was a snap and it was easy to get running. you can buy USB adaptors so you can run a mouse and a keyboard through the coltroller ports, or you can just wire in USB ports with solder. i have 2 xboxes, 1.0 and 1.4. the 1.0 has an Xecuter 2.3a modchip and the 1.4 has a SmartXX. i love both so i think there isnt really a wrong choice. you can use google to llook for reviews and look at www.xbox-scene also, they are SUPER helpful over there.

ive noticed that it crashes even playing CS or HL2 when its clocked at 3.2. whats OCCT? i googled it and got the "Orange County Childrents Theatre" thanks.

i had geil pc3200 value ram. i tried it at 5:4 and at 3:2 3-4-4-8 both times, and same results. the ram i have now can boot at 260fsb with 3-4-4-8. the system is unstable beyond 250. infact thats the reason i have new ram, cause i thought that it was slow because of the ram. but with the PDP 3200XBL with TCCD chips it gets the same results.

yeah i know, ive tried it but it gets choppy that way. id rather play with tearing then choppyness from vsync