The total is a little higher than I'd like it to be (14% tax...) but I do want this to last me a while and be quiet. Wow, 14% tax. I'm guessing you're in Canada. Overall pretty good. The one thing I would change would be the Cooler Master UV 120mm fan. Generally speaking, translucent fans are more ...

If your friend is willing to spend just slightly more on a GPU then he can get the 7900GT. In the US it is about the same price as the 7800GT from about 2 months ago, but it is faster than the 7800GTX.

Since we're not going to see Conroe for at least six months why get too excited about it now? Lets just wait and see what AMD has available in comparison when Conroe is released. AMD will not really have anything to compete with Conroe. They are basically doing a die shrink, new socket, DDR2 and a ...

i dont see the point in using any resolution higher than 1280x1024. on CRT's i never use anything except 1024x768. and only use the latter when using an LCD display so that its running at its native resolution.(as almost all gamming lcd's are 19"). i also dont see the point in FSAA or Anistropic Fi...

AMD refined the 90nm process for their CPUs. Now there is less electron leakage which means that less heat is created as a result of inefficiency. That's basically it. It don't think there is a huge price premium between the 110w and 89w versions of the same CPU. Consider this a small product refres...

OK, so a Turion uses roughly half the power of a non-Turion venice. Hmm.. I wonder if a Turion is better at undervolting than a desktop processor? I believe I read somewhere that the minimum voltage necessary to bootup any Athlon is 1.1v. Therefore, to undervolt the CPU further would have to been d...

I am assuming the PCI Express x16 slot will accept any PCI Express x16 card...am I wrong in this assumption? I was planning on using the tri-cool included with the case until I could get another nexxus on the ninja if the passive cooling is not sufficient, but I would like to try it passively first...

If the only games you will be playing will be Civ3/4 then the graphics card you've chosen is an overkill. I think you can get by with an integrated solution and then add on a video later when and if you play more demanding games. There I think a MB based on the GeForce 6150 should suffice such as th...

I've been working on the specs for a new computer that will serve primarily as a media center PC (as well as some moderate gaming and perhaps some eventual light overclocking). My goal is to have a system with a good balance of both power and of course quietness. Absolute silence isn't what I'm aft...

Mats wrote:Here's the tread.

Wow. That's hardcore.

Erssa wrote:What dissapointing about the media encoding performance? Conroe beats AMD in it too with clear numbers. For example in Divx 6.1 31 seconds vs 44 seconds with fx-60 overclocked to 2.8ghz.

Oops. I guess I was scanning it too quickly, I was thinking in terms of FPS, not time to finish.

I don't feel that people should be responsible about the power consumation, when it is the industry that can make the biggest savings here. Not entirely true. People and companies should both be responsible if you are into energy conservation/savings. They also go hand in hand. When I leave the off...

I kinda disappointed about the media benchmarks though. Conroe seems to beat the Athlon in games, but I'm more interested in media encoding performance formy HTPC. I don't plan on upgrading my HTPC until next year so I'll just have to wait and see what the playing field will be like.

I would actually opt for X1300. It is a newer design, has video acceleration, and once their AVIVO technology has been polished off your video encoding performance will increase (well it's only a plus if you intend to encode your DVDs and video captures to DivX, XviD, WMV, etc.) While the SAPPHIRE 1...

The Zalman CNPS7700 has been reported to be "loud" because of the ball bearings that they use. You may want to try the Zalman CNPS7000 Cu instead. It's an older design, but it's quieter than the 7700. I would go for the Thermalright option either ther XP-120 or XP-90 since you can select your own fa...

The amount of power a high-end video card uses insane to say the least. Before it was the CPU, no it's the GPU. The X1900XTX is no slouch, but at around 110w (I don't remember precisely) under peak load it's a virtually an electric heater. Suffice it say that I will for a more "lightweight" video ca...

As someone who intends to build a powerful, yet energy efficient HTPC next year, I look forward to news, previews, and reviews like this.

I don't care if it AMD or Intel as long as it can come close to my expectations.

Flying Dutchman wrote: Which reminds me, has anyone tried these Sharkoon fans?

Is there a store that sells them in the US? I'm kinda interested them myself 'cause what you say about those dimples in golfballs seems to be true. Though I may just go ahead and buy Nexus.

Thanks everyone for all of your input... I don't know how to use the quote buttons...lol Trunks wrote On your sound card. Why not the X-Fi. And why do you need the platinum? Do you like that front midi ports for something? Thanks Trunks, I have no idea what you just said...i'm that clueless but I'l...

No, I don't keep either of my 2 PCs on 24/7. My electricity bill is already high enough at around $90 per month and around $110 during the summer months. Then again, I have 2 Athlon XP machines. But upgrading to newer PCs won't change much since they will both be dual core PCs. So after upgrade, my ...

AMD does have a S754 Athlon64 3000+ in 90nm that has a TDP of only 51W...that's lower than any other non-mobile processor including the Sempron series (which are rated at 62W). -Derek Can you post a link to someplace that sells it? I've Googled it, but no store front seems to have it. If it is not ...

the newer Venice core uses more power than the older Winchester core Hmm, I could have sworn it was the other way around. So the Winchester was the coolest A64 ever made? (apart from the mobile versions obviously) Yep, at least according to Xbitlabs' graph. Go me scratching my head too. But it does...

Have you thought about gettin' the silent 7800 GTX from Asus. It is larger though and will take up two PCI slots or somethin' like that...check out newegg for reviews. It also generates heat but I mean with no fan, it should be real quiet. It's also 400 dollars. I have a question though, I've seen ...

Xbitlabs.com has this review about power consumption and heat. Note that the newer Venice core uses more power than the older Winchester core. In terms of functionality, Winchester lacks SSE3 extensions. Unlike the Pentium M, the Turion will remain in the notebook arena because there are too many u...

What would you guys recommend for an htpc. It's gonna be a an amd 3200 754 with zalman nvidia 6800 with arctic cooler 250gb sata dvd burner I have a dvine 4 case I was thinking of a s12 380 . but before i make the jump, anyone have any suggestions? Unless you already own the S754 3200+ I would buy ...

For a HTPC I prefer going with the Radeon X1xxx series over anything with nVidia. The Radeon generally beats nVidia when it comes to video quality and acceleration. Also, Radeon works perfectly well right out of the box. nVidia has PureVideo software that improves video performance a little bit so t...

sebja wrote: But "stupid" WOW 40% cuttings? Hmmm damn... But I will start my new job in two weeks, so have the perfect time NOW to build etc... Is there any "proof" somewhere?!

This is the article I was refering to.

But it only applies to the Pentium D 9xx series.

I think eVGA motherboards are rebranded Jetways.

Jetway's focus is on budget motherboards rather than performance. And I believe they are better known outside of the US where "budget PCs" have a bigger presence.

Erssa wrote:

sebja wrote:The Pentium I agree is to expensive and my AGP doesn't fit to most mobo's. The pentium D 805 is no option due to the 533 Mhz. (my memory is PC3200).

Too expensive? It's much much cheaper then x2 or Dual core opteron.

I believe he was referring to the Pentium M & motherboard combo.

I would go for the A64 X2 3800+ if you are willing to spend that amount of money. It can overclock well; I've read posts where some people were able bumped it up to the speed of the X2 4600+. Your experience may vary. If most of the programs you are using do not take advantage of more than 1 core, t...