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New PC 2009

Update:
Ordered:

Case ( Nzxt Apollo Gaming Tower Case Black )
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( 750 Watt — Corsair CMPSU-750TX Power Supply Quad SLI Ready )
Processor ( [New !!] Intel. Core. i7 920 Processor (4x 2.66GHz/8MB L3 Cache) )
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )
Motherboard ( Asus P6T Intel X58 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/7.1
Memory ( 6 GB [2 GB X3] DDR3-1600 Triple Memory Module Corsair or Major Brand )
Video Card ( ATI Radeon HD 4770 512MB PCI-Express x16 )
Hard Drive ( 500 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( None )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD1R/1RW + CD-R/RW )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
Speaker System ( iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
USB 2.0 Accessories ( Built-in USB 2.0 Ports )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer)
Operating System ( None- Pre-formatted Hard Drive Only )
Warranty ( Warranty Service Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support )
Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) No Rush Service, Estimate Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )

Update:
New Machine

Thank you whomever posted extremetech.com, that’s the analysis (nearly
spot on) I was looking for. i7 it is.

Cooling

Standard fan/heatsink enough? I don’t plan on overclocking (but I might
be tempted later).

PS

HOw much power do I need for this thing? 650, 700, 850? Trying not to
go too crazy (conserve energy and all that) but I don’t want to suffer
any stablity issues. I don’t plan on putting a crap of stuff inside
of this box: i7 920, CPUFan/Heatsink, mobo, RAM, ATI 4770, 1 HD (to start,
maybe 1 more later), DVD/CD recorder/rewriter, maybe a second one,
onboard sound, 2.1 speakers (hrm, assume those are their own power),
onboard nic, USB Keyboard/Mouse, Flashcard reader.

Mobo

Buying from ibuypower, the i7 mobo options are:

Asus P6T SE Intel X58
Asus P6T Intel X58 [+ $29]
Asus P6T Deluxe V2 Intel X58 [+ $121]
MSI X58-PRO Intel X58 [- $20]
MSI Eclipse SLI Intel X58 [+ $184]
EVGA X58 SLI Intel X58 [+ $139]

I’m confused by the Asus options. Newegg has the SE more expensive
than the plain P6T. The plain P6T only has 1 nic (i really only need
1), but says it supports a max of 24GB, where the SE only supports 12GB
(Hrm, will i keep it long enough to get to the 24GB max?).
Can’t OC the RAM on the SE? I’m not liking the Deluxe/Ecipse and EVGA
options because of the price. THe MSI seems fine. Opinions?
So, which would you get P6T SE, P6T, MSI X58-PRO and why?

Here’s my config at ibuypower.com so far:

#Case: iBUYPOWER Vantage Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply w/ Halo 2
Side Window
#Power Supply: 850 Watt — Corsair CMPSU-850TX Power Supply Quad SLI Ready
#Processor: Intel® Core™ i7 920 Processor (4x 2.66GHz/8MB L3 Cache)
#Processor Cooling: Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink
#Motherboard: Asus P6T SE Intel X58 Chipset CrossFire Supported w/7.1 Sound,
Triple-Channel DDR3, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Triple PCI-E MB
#Memory: 6 GB [2 GB X3] DDR3-1333 Triple Memory Module Corsair Value
or Major Brand
#Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 4770 512MB PCI-Express x16
#Hard Drive: 500 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache]
#CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive: LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW
Drive Black
#Sound Card: 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
#Speaker System: iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer
Speaker System
#Network Card: Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
#Flash Media Reader/Writer: 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card
Reader/Writer Black
#Operating System: None- Pre-formatted Hard Drive Only
#Warranty: Warranty Service Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty +
Lifetime Technical Support
#Rush Service: Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) No Rush Service,
Estimate Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days
$1012

Trying to decide on a new PC.
I don’t want to get a Dell because I like to customize more than that.
I don’t want to build it myself (like I did my previous one) because its a pain and time consuming.
So I think I’ve narrowed it down to ibuypower.com or cyberpowerpc.com
Very slight difference between similar configured systems:

ibuypower.com
Case: /420W Power Supply w/ Halo 2 Side Window Case Lighting
Power Supply: 650 Watt — Corsair CMPSU-650TX Power Supply SLI Ready
Processor: [== Quad Core ==] AMD Phenomâ„¢ II X4 925 Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology AM3 & AM2+ support
Processor Cooling: Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink
Motherboard: [CrossFire] MSI DKA790GX AMD 790GX CrossFire Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E MB
Memory: 8 GB [2 GB X4] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 4770 512MB PCI-Express x16
Hard Drive: 1.5 TB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 32M Cache]
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive: [** Special !!! ***] LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black
Sound Card: 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
Speaker System: iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System
Network Card: Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
Flash Media Reader/Writer: 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Black
Warranty: Warranty Service Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support
$921

cyberpowerpc.com
# ASE: Xion Vulcan Steel Gaming Mid-Tower 420W Case with Side Window (Black Color)
# Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default case fans
# POWER SUPPLY Upgrade: 650 Watts Power Supplies (Corsair CMPSU-650TX – Quad SLI Ready)
# CPU: AMD Phenomâ„¢II X4 925 Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
# COOLING FAN : AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
# MOTHERBOARD: MSI K9A2 CF-F AMD 790X CrossFire Chipset DDR2/1066 Dual 16X PCIE SATA RAID MB w/GbLAN, USB2.0, & 7.1Audio
# MEMORY: 8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
# VIDEO CARD: ATI Radeon HD 4770 PCI-E 16X 512MB Video Card (Major Brand Powered by ATI)
# HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (1.5TB (1.5TBx1) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
# Optical Drive: (Special Price) LG 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (Black Color)
# SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
# SPEAKERS: 600Watts PMPO Subwoofer Stereo Speakers
# NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
# Flash Media Reader/Writer: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
# SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
$928

The mobo at ibuypower.com seems better, but the case is uglier (its under the desk so who cares).

Bang/buck analysis:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pj0MyjjvstbTTtfDoWIl_NQ

Another big delima: CPU. AMD Phenom II X4 vs Intel i7. Bang/Buck comparison is leaning me towards the i7 at the moment. The Intel version is ~$100 more (for the entire machine), but that’s not too much considering the benchmark difference.

Always a pain: GPU. Focused on ATI pretty much (though, not opposed to nvidia as that’s what I have now).

Superbowl Commercials

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22844081/

Holy crap a LOT of those SUCK!

Windows 7 Beta

Since my HD crashed, I figured I’d try out the Windows 7 Beta. Pretty cool. Kinda buggy (it is beta). Rather Vista-ish, but some improvements.

For the love of god, fix the damn copy problem.

I am the HD KILLER

Another dead drive.

Seagate 500GB, failed the Seatools test utility.
Submitted RMA, need to package and send off to them for a replacement. This is a refurb I got for the previous one that failed.

Original 123GB Hitachi died, but I think it was previously dead and I just mixed them up (had 2, one “good” and one “dead”).

New System

ibuypower.com seems like a good place.

I get a 7% discount at http://www.velocitymicro.com/
Edge Z5 is the cheapest, configured ok at $1195 (w/o discount).

Trying to decide what processor to get: AMD or Intel. Intel’s system (at ibuypower.com) is slightly more expensive ($150) but is the performance that much better?

Using Tom’s charts to compare:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desktop-cpu-charts-q3-2008/benchmarks,31.html

Video card: Glenn suggested the bang/buck is the 4850
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/benchmarks,30.html

How much power does the PS need? I might get a 850 just to be safe (possibly bad power is causing my HD’s to fail).

Guild Names

I’m going to make a guild just so I can get a Guild Bank (yeah, I keep a lot of crap, but at least a couple people have been thankful for all those low level mats). Trying to think of a good name. Ideas:

Celestial Knights
Antimatter
Azurra
Aurora Borealis
Blazar
Culmination
Coronal Mass
Critical Density
Dark Matter

Links with ideas:
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=glossary&id=93&term=a

WoW down, Development Location?

So WoW is down. Supposedly due to the mail problem. I think I might have found the real cause:

Realm-Location strange: Development

Notice the preferred location: Development.

I have WotLK installed (7-Eleven sold it early). I’m guessing Blizz didn’t anticipate that and people got onto the development servers.

Super Water Bills

I think ALL of my toilets are leaking. Our water bill is $400+/month (people in our area tell us they are paying closer to $100). I can hear them trickle a little… Then, periodically, they “refill” a little (REALLY damn annoying in the middle of the night). They all do it!! (not at the same time). What should I look at? Replace the entire internals? caulking something? Ideas?

Sep 18, 2008 21:03 from Wasted Youth

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/h2repairtoilet

The whole “flushing” assembly isn’t that expensive, might as well replace it
all, or you can just replace the flapper/ballcock. You might lift the lid and
see what kind of setup the toilets have, the flapper style or the flush ball
type. Scroll down to ‘fixing the flush valve’ on that page, and note if yours
have any build up or anything on them, that can prevent them from sealing, and
BTW the water in the tank will be clean so don’t freak out, hah.
[Handycraftsyperson> msg #24114 (20 remaining)] Read cmd ->

Sep 18, 2008 21:26 from Joker
400+ a month still seems like a lot even with leaking toilets. I would
definitely fix the toilets or if they are really old and you don’t like one or
more of them, maybe replacing the entire toilet with something a little more
efficient.

Around here, if a person waters their lawn at least once every two days, then
they have a 400+ water bill…
[Handycraftsyperson> msg #24115 (19 remaining)] Read cmd ->

Sep 18, 2008 23:52 from Collectonian
I can’t imagine the toliet alone is using that much water! How many gallons
does your bill show were used? Do you have a sprinkler on an automatic schedule
that’s running for a long time every day? My water bill went up to $100 when I
moved, because this house has a sprinkler that was set to run for 15 minutes
per station every day. I’ve decreased it to 5 minutes per station every other
day…hoping it helps.

You may also want to get someone out to check your plumbing. We had a water
leak at my duplex that was in a pipe between the walls, and had been leaking
for nearly a month before it finally “broke through” by slowly leaking out of
the hole the toliet pipe came out of. When they checked broke through the wall,
it had a split in the pipe. Go along your walls and check for dampness. Check
under the house as well, if you can see under there, and see if there is any
water standing around under there.
[Handycraftsyperson> msg #24118 (16 remaining)] Read cmd ->

Sep 19, 2008 09:00 from L Michele

If you can access your water meter, you can narrow down the possible culprits
on your own by turning off all water sources in the house, and making sure no
toilets are running. Check the water meter. If it’s moving, you’ve got a leak
between the meter and the house. If it’s not, the culprit is IN the house.

[Handycraftsyperson> msg #24120 (14 remaining)] Read cmd ->

Sep 22, 2008 10:18 from The After Party
Water/Toilets

The house was built in 2005, so the toilets are “new”.
Inside they say 6 LPF/1.6 GPF (but that’s obviously changable).
Flapper type.

Hell, the 400+ bill was from when we were on vacation for 2 weeks (out
of the month), so its not using the toilets that causes the problem,
its leaking.

Yes, we have an auto sprinkler that was also leaking that is now fixed.
Hopefully that will help. Only allowed to run it 2x a week, though
it does run from ~3am till 6 or 7 am (lots of stations).

I hear the damn water heater running at odd times as well. Going to
call the home warranty about all of this crap.

Our bills were:
6/20 – 7/23, 43,300 gallons – $265.23
7/23 – 8/21, 55,200 gallons – $356.73 (we were out of town for 2 weeks here)
(so, $400+ also included waste water [$35] and trash [$11] and drainage
[$11]).

We had someone certify our house didn’t have mositure (so we could get
mold insurance), so I’m pretty confident we aren’t leaking water.

I think I know where the water meter is, I’ll have to try shutting everything
off.

[Handycraftsyperson> msg #24125 (9 remaining)] Read cmd ->

Sep 22, 2008 11:12 from Tom Brady
Water usage>Has it always been high, or did it spike?

I could certainly see a huge percentage of that utilization coming from the
sprinkler system, even without the leak. Think of it this way:
A shower is running the water at more or less full pressure for ~7 minutes at
5gpm. That’s 35 gallons/day. The average person uses 20 gallons of faucet
water (toothbrushing, drinking, hand washing, etc), and 25 gallons of toilet
water daily. That’s roughly 500 gallons/week per person. * 4 people that’s an
average of 8,000 gallons per month.

An average single sprinkler uses 200+gallons per hour. Running from 3am-7am
twice/week could be an extra 1600 gallons per week, or 7000 gallons per month.

Even adding those numbers, that’s less than 1/3 of what you’re reporting of 50K
gallons per month… Do you do a lot of laundry? Do you have a cat that likes
to sit on top of the toilet and flush it repeatedly when you’re not home?

Do you have a winter bill to compare when you’re not using the sprinkler
system?

BTW, the numbers I use are off a worksheet on saving water at:
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/publicat/wqwm/he251.html

I’ve used to to see how we can save water as well. I hate paying for something
that falls from the sky.
[Handycraftsyperson> msg #24128 (7 remaining)] Read cmd ->

Sep 23, 2008 00:06 from The After Party
Re: Leaky Toilets/Water Bill from hell

Usage history:
May (only half a month since we bought it May 15): 4400
June: 28700
July: 43300
Aug : 55200

Hell, we had in-laws AND my parents with us in June! Now its just a 1 yr
old, my wife and I.

We don’t do tons of laundry.
HA! I saw the video if the cat flushing the toilet. We have a cat, but
he doesn’t do that. We’re awake all hours of the night with our baby not
sleeping and all, so we’d catch him. Wife works at home.

Nope, sprinkler has always been used.

None of the faucets appear to be leaking.

I’ve called the water company about this, but I just asked them to check
the meter. I will call again and ask about the previous bills (might have
to call the former owner in case they won’t give out that info).

Got the blue tablets .. testing later tonight.

Float appears to be in the correct place (on one for sure, I’ll look at
the rest).

I thought it was weird that the water coming in is pointed right into the
overflow, but looking at the pictures at
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/h2repairtoilet
That appears to be normal.

I’ll test drain time too.

[Handycraftsyperson> msg #24137 (0 remaining)] Read cmd -> Next

Happy 6th Anniversary

You are orange, I am blue, they compliment each other.
You are oil, I am vinegar, they go together to make a great salad dressing.
You are south, I am north, without them we’d be lost.

I’m so glad I decided to work on my vacation and we met.

I can still remember when I knew I’d marry you. Maybe cliche, but we were eating at Piola, and I was looking at you, everything else stopped making noise and I just saw you. That’s when I knew we’d be married.

These have been the best 6 years (plus the time before we got married) in my life.

Te amo minha esposa.