Recent content by sparky57

Wow! Thanks for the exhaustive list of recommended parts! And especially for sobering up before mentioning them! ;) I can just imagine what my system might turn out like otherwise, lol. I looked up the parts, and have a few questions: 1. Will the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 Rev 2.0 be able to...

I?d like to hear from you security experts out there if you think it?s safe to buy Vista x64 from an Ebay auction, or from an affiliate vendor on Amazon (the vendors that you see when you click ?used & new?... so the product isn't actually coming from Amazon itself). Is there a risk that...

Would you mind letting me know where you found this promotion? I don't see it on Amazon. I was about to buy Anti-Virus 7.0 from Frys for a $65 rebate (2 rebates, one competitive)... but if I could get their internet security package for the same (free) price, that'd be even better.

The $1600 would just include the case (no monitor, no OS) and everything that goes inside of it (CPU, heat sink, mobo, ram, video card, 1 optical drive, 1 HD, psu, card reader, and no sound card for now). My plan was to wait for Penryn to come out in mid-Jan, run that for a couple years or so...

Thanks for the heads up. Before I looked it up, I thought OEM was the same as retail, only that I couldn't ever install it on another computer... but apparently if I upgrade my motherboard, Vista will consider that a "new" computer? And I'd then be required to buy a new copy, or lie to...

I'll probably end up spending around $1600 for the box, excluding an OEM copy of Vista x64. The reason I didn't state my budget before is because I primarily wanted to know if people would recommend that someone with my limited experience attempt to assemble a rig... although I guess the...

Unfortunately my friends around here are as clueless as I am. As far as parts go, I will be using a Penryn CPU when they come out in a month or so. I hope to stick it in an Nvidia board if the 7 series has come down in price a little, but if not, I'll likely use a P35. I probably will use...

New to system building I?m in need of a new gaming rig, and would like to build it myself from scratch, rather than pay some company $150 to do it (and I?d also find it more enjoyable and satisfying). However, I?m a complete noob when it comes to building from scratch. All I?ve done...

Thank you all for your responses. One more question... If I were to use USB speakers, would the issue of sound card vs. integrated sound be a moot point, since I've been told that USB speakers effectively have their own "sound card" that would bypass both integrated sound and a dedicated sound...

I?m going to build a gaming rig in about a month and would like to know if there?s any need for me to get a sound card, or if I should just stick with integrated sound. I?ll likely spend ~$150 USD on the motherboard. How would the sound quality of this compare to an inexpensive (~$35) sound...

I have an older pair of USB (1.1 I think) Sound Sticks w/ sub. I am going to be building a new system, and want to know if I'll be able to use these speakers with a sound card. I don't know of any sound cards that have a USB output, and I also haven't come across any 3.5mm to USB adapters...

My computer (will primarily be used for gaming) only has one hard drive. I want to partition the drive for optimal speed. My understanding of hard drives: Hard drives are written from the outside in, and are fastest when dealing with data on the outermost rings. Given this, I am thinking...