My new computer!

[plan_D]

I've just ordered this mighty rig...



CPU
AMD® ATHLON® 64BIT FX62 @ 2.8GHZ 2 x 1MB L2 Cache (AM2 pin)

Memory
2048 MB CORSAIR DDR2-800 PC6400 - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)

Motherboard
ASUS® M2N32-SLI DELUXE: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA, 2 x x16 VGA, 3 PCI

USB Options
SIX USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT)

Hard Drive 1
SATA II 250 GB HARD DISK @ 7200rpm 8mb cache

Hard Drive 2
NONE

Raid
NONE

CD Writer/Combi Drive
16x +/- DVD WRITER (8x +/- Dual Lyr) (5x DVD-RAM) (40x CD-RW) (£19)

DVD ROM
NONE

CD/DVD Writer
52X 32X 52X CD WRITER

Graphics Card 1
1024MB GEFORCE 7950GX2 (DUAL GPU) PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

Graphics Card 2
1024MB GEFORCE 7950GX2 (DUAL GPU) PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

Sound
SoundBlaster X-FI Extreme Music 7.1: £52

Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Network Facilities
2 x 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORTS ONBOARD

Floppy Disk Drive
1.44MB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE

Memory Card Reader
NONE

Case
Stylish Silver/Black Sigma case + 2 front USB

Power Supply Cooling
500W (Peak) Super Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm fan CPU Cooler (£39)

OS Required
MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® XP HOME (inc. Genuine CD licence) (£59)

Firewire
2 x FIREWIRE PORTS ONBOARD

Monitor
Widescreen 20.1 Inch TFT Sil/Blk 1440 X 900 RES: 8MS (£249)

Keyboard
Black Logitech® Internet Keyboard + Hotkeys (£6)

Mouse
Black Logitech® Premium Optical Mouse (£5)

Speakers
CREATIVE ITRIGUE 2.0 250 SILVER/BLK SPEAKER SYSTEM (£35)

Printer
NONE

Anti Virus
NORTON ANTI-VIRUS 2006 (£19)

Oh...how I'm looking forward to no longer wasting time waiting. I am very impatient.

 

[evangilder]

That will serve you well. ASUS makes good motherboards. I have one that has been running for close to 10 years! (Backup system). You are going to love the speed of the SATA drives too.

Floppy Disk Drive
1.44MB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE

ROFL! Trust me, if you ever use it, it will seem even slower on this machine. I haven't had a floppy in my machine for 3 years.

 

[cheddar cheese]

I know nothing about computers but it sounds good, lots of numbers and letters Floppy Disks...ha!

 

[plan_D]

I won't use the Floppy Drive, Eric. It's just there, it just comes free - basically. It better serve me more than just "well" though, it's costin' me two grand ! But I can pay that interest free over the next nine months

 

[Erich]

may I suggest adding another anti-virus to Norton, as it will not cover all the bases. I actually have three at this moment and find the Czech AVG the best overall plus it's free ........

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i think someone's boasting

 

[k9kiwi]

I agree with Erich.

We use AVG including commercial versions on our internet servers.

Nortons is a bucket of carp. Too many people I know who have had major problems have all been solved by one reccomendation.

Un-install Nortons, install AVG.

 

[plan_D]

I will update the system, or more precisely my brother will. He goes in there and adds firewalls, ad-aware, anti-virus ... etc. etc. Give him a day and the computer is protected.

 

[Gnomey]

I won't use the Floppy Drive, Eric. It's just there, it just comes free - basically. It better serve me more than just "well" though, it's costin' me two grand ! But I can pay that interest free over the next nine months

Unless Windows is pre-installed then you will need to use it. One more things you should of gone with Intel, the new Core2Duo chips destroy the AMD's in tests. For the same price as the FX-62 you could of had

FX-62 (Overclockers UK Socket AM2) £500
Conroe (Overclockers UK Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo) Bottom 2 - £350/£650 - both beat the FX-62 in trails but anyway still a nice rig (that would of cost a lot)...

 

[evangilder]

Depends on the OS. 2000 will boot and load from the CD, so no floppy is needed.

 

[Gnomey]

True, I just know that when I installed my PC, I needed the floppy drive, not sure what it was for though, pretty sure it was one of the drivers though.

 

[evangilder]

There are times when a floppy is needed, but I haven't needed one yet for the last few years. Now that I have said that....

 

[Henk]

Cool I wish I had one of those.

 

[Matt308]

Floppy Disk Drive
1.44MB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE


Good for you PlanD. I know how that feels to be working substandard. You've got better than me now. But a floppy? Do you really use a floppy anymore? Hell, I haven't used a floppy since Windows 95? Maybe 98?

Congrats.

 

[plan_D]

Better safe than sorry.

 

[Maestro]

Congratulations, Plan_D. However I have a question... What the hell will you do with two (identical) 3D video cards ?

Other than that, it looks like you made a good purchase.

2 GB of RAM ? Are you doing some kind of 3D animation ?

 

[plan_D]

The graphics cards will be linked, so both cards will generate the power. Meaning I will of 2 GB for graphics.

 

[Parmigiano]

- Floppy : Ok with PD, 'better safe than sorry' at least in 2 cases : disaster recovery and need to read data from old FD
- Good the HD @ 7200 rpm
- 2 gig Ram are ok, but if you'll have some spare bick I would add some more, specially if you play games.
- Antivirus : i add my 2 cents on the bad experience with Norton. Good hint for the Czech AV, I will give it a try. For the moment I have McAfee installed and can't complain, at least is not invasive and have no virus on PC.
- AdAware is good stuff, reccomended
- Be careful with firewalls and protections: it's easy to 'overkill' on protection and impact on performances...

Good investment choice PD!

 

[plan_D]

Yes, there's spare for possible future upgrades. And 2 GB is a bit more than okay, since my current computer is still running 512 MB!

 

[Crippen]

woohoo! swanking are we Plan. nice!

I prefer Flash pens to floppy discs, much better invention.
I post a flash pen to my friend full of music and he takes off my music, puts it on his puter or MP3 and then posts it back to me full of new music. well its one way to use um lol.

My McAfee has just run out for the year, its good though. I prefer the one I down loaded free, seems to work ok.
But I wondered which protection people generally use? and which we would recommend to others?
I agree Norton is useless.