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Upgrade or Dell PC?

W

Wag

Diamond Member
It seems like these days every time I put together a machine something just doesn't work right. I pay for the best parts, etc, but there's almost always a problem.

My latest nForce2 setup locks up, especially in games. The onboard IDE controllers suck. I've tried virtually everything to no avail.

I want to go nForce4/SLI (maybe), now. But I really don't want to risk investing the time and money to build just to find it doesn't work right.

Any suggestions? How much does a prefab nForce4 setup (SLI capable) cost. I have the harddrives, memory, etc. already.
 
Alienware is such a ripoff... You'd be much better off with something else. Velocity Micro, Voodoo, and Overdrive make really powerful gaming PC's, but they're really expensive... SLI really isn't needed, as next-gen cards are just around the corner and will probably be able to outperform a current SLI system for less money.
 
Well, I don't want neccessarily the best/best, I want something more intermidiate, more at least with PCI-Express, or does that not even matter?

You say SLI doesn't matter? How so?
 
Monarch looks interesting. Pre-tested barebones is probably what I want, or with PS. AMD64, doesn't even really have to be in the case.

I'm just tired of going through all this nonsense and having it not work.
 
Originally posted by: Wag
Monarch looks interesting. Pre-tested barebones is probably what I want, or with PS. AMD64, doesn't even really have to be in the case.

I'm just tired of going through all this nonsense and having it not work.
Click to expand...
I was going to say, why is the only alternative to self-built always Dell, and not a company that actually offers both AMD and Intel.

If you are having lockups on your nF2 rig, there is probably a reason, an avoidable/fixable reason. Likely culprits include memory that is not being given its rated voltage because the owner did not set it that way, or chipset-IRQ conflicts due to a PCI card in a slot that is wrestling for an IRQ with ________ (AGP card, SATA controller, whatever). Did you post a help request anywhere?
 
Originally posted by: mechBgon
If you are having lockups on your nF2 rig, there is probably a reason, an avoidable/fixable reason. Likely culprits include memory that is not being given its rated voltage because the owner did not set it that way, or chipset-IRQ conflicts due to a PCI card in a slot that is wrestling for an IRQ with ________ (AGP card, SATA controller, whatever). Did you post a help request anywhere?
Click to expand...
Yes, I posted help all over and I'll be damned to figure out just what the problem is.

No conflicts as far as I can tell. Besides the lock ups, this stupid motherboard (my 2nd nForce2 in this machine, new PS and all) will not boot properly with 2 PATA devices hooked up to the onboard IDE controller.

I just don't want to deal with it anymore.

 
Well if you get to wanting some help in dealing with it, hit Quote, fill out this sample template below with your own info, and PM it to me for a lookie, or post it here.

Shot in the dark: if one PATA device is a Western Digital hard drive and it is on its own cable, it should be jumpered for Single Drive and not for Master or Slave. Single Drive is easy, just take the jumper cap off and leave it off (for WD's).

Here's that template:
  • CORE HARDWARE
    • Power supply Antec TruePower 430
    • Motherboard Asus K8N-E Deluxe
      • Revision 1.03
      • BIOS 1005
    • CPU Athlon64 3000+
      • Core 130nm Clawhammer
    • Memory (2) 512MB Corsair XMS 3200C2 modules
      • Voltage Manually set to 2.7 volts
      • Timings AUTO, results in 2-3-2-6 @ 200MHz
  • CARDS
    • Primary video card ATI Radeon 9800Pro AGP 8x
    • PCI slot #1 (top) empty
    • PCI slot #2 empty
    • PCI slot #3 LeadTek Winfast TV/FM tuner card
    • PCI slot #4 Creative Audigy 2 ZS
    • PCI slot #5 LSI Logic Ultra160 SCSI
    • PCI slot #6 (board only has five PCI slots)
  • DRIVES
    • Boot drive 160GB Seagate 7200.7
      • Interface Serial ATA
      • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 SATA controller
      • Jumper setting not applicable (SATA)
    • Additional hard drive 40GB Seagate 7200.7
      • Interface Parallel ATA
      • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, primary channel
      • Jumper setting Master
    • Additional hard drive 18GB Seagate Cheetah 15k.3
      • Interface SCSI
      • Controller hosting this drive LSI Logic U160 card
      • Jumper setting SCSI ID 01
    • Optical drive #1 NEC 3500A DVD burner
      • Interface Parallel ATA
      • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, secondary channel
      • Jumper setting Master
    • Optical drive #2 Lite-On combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW
      • Interface Parallel ATA
      • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, secondary channel
      • Jumper setting Slave
  • OS AND SECURITY
    • Operating System WindowsXP Professional
    • Service Pack SP2
    • Internet connection Cable
    • Hardware firewall Netgear RP614 router
    • Software firewall WindowsXP firewall
    • Antivirus Norton Antivirus 2004

 
If I was going to buy a rig for myself instead of build one I'd probably get the Dell Dimension 8400. It's the same computer as their XPS gaming system with a slightly smaller PSU and without the fancy case.

Costs a lot less than the XPS. They're nice systems.
 
Originally posted by: FlyingPenguin
If I was going to buy a rig for myself instead of build one I'd probably get the Dell Dimension 8400. It's the same computer as their XPS gaming system with a slightly smaller PSU and without the fancy case.

Costs a lot less than the XPS. They're nice systems.
Click to expand...
Can I buy one without Hard drives and CD-Roms? Lol.

Thanks mech, believe me, I've tried all that stuff and know about the WD harddrives as or with other drive. My systems just are usually unstable for some reason, and it's frustrating as hell. I don't have enough components to work with because I'm on a limited budget, so I only purchase 1 of everything and pray, and in the computer world that seems to be where the problem lies.

I do have a stable SIS system sitting here that I built for my parents, but it's only a 2500+ on a 266bus. I am tempted just to take my 2600+ out of this machine and go backwards until I can afford a newer nForce4 setup.
 
Replacing motherboard with new one fixed it.

Last time I buy a refurb from Newegg. So far every single refurb product I've purchased from them has been bad.
 
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