[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by raj_5004

Asus M2N68-AM PLUS

That is exactly what I got - I think they charged me 2.6 or 2.7 - I simply was so tensed with life that I did not ask for a splitup. THe cabinet and everything that went inside it, except the hard disk and DVD - R/W.

Please note that i bought this a year back.

Ah. That explains things a bit.

Originally Posted by Prowler

This tip is useful for all kinds of electronic gadgets. Buy a Belkin Surge Protector and connect your expensive gadgets through this power strip. It will trip if the voltage rises beyond 275 V. It can block surge currents of high magnitude. Before the arrival of Belkin in India, we used to fix a 275 V MOV to the wall socket.

Now, that is an interesting piece of information.

Will this work if the voltage is 275 continuous? (That is, not a sudden surge). Guess I will have to connect to the output of my UPS.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Now, that is an interesting piece of information.

Will this work if the voltage is 275 continuous? (That is, not a sudden surge). Guess I will have to connect to the output of my UPS.

A surge arrester uses a component called as Metal Oxide Varistor which acts like a Zener diode ie when the voltage across it exceeds a certain threshold value, it simply shorts out. You will have a fuse or a MCB before the Surge arrester. Belkin uses a quick blow fuse to protect both your UPS as well your computer/gadget.

Some of Belkin power strips costing about Rs.2500/- come with components capable of quenching upto 500 A peak or more. It is a life time protector.

BTW I don't work for Belkin or connected with the company in any way.

[RedOne]

I noticed a lot of you pick and choose the components and have it assembled at your local IT shop. I was looking at the DELL site and they have PC with i5, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, 512 video card, Windows 7, 20" HD LCD etc for about 40-43K, which is around what similar spec assembled ones cost.

So what is better? I use it primarily for gaming and movies.

TIA,
Red-One.

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by RedOne

I noticed a lot of you pick and choose the components and have it assembled at your local IT shop. I was looking at the DELL site and they have PC with i5, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, 512 video card, Windows 7, 20" HD LCD etc for about 40-43K, which is around what similar spec assembled ones cost.

So what is better? I use it primarily for gaming and movies.

TIA,
Red-One.

one drawback with Dell machines or for that matter any branded machine is that if you're planning for hardware upgrade, if in warranty period and buying from the same brand, it will turn our expensive (personal experience with Dell). if you intend to upgrade yourself during warranty period, the warranty becomes null and void (i think). this holds good even when you install pirated OS/application software on the branded PCs.

also, in some of the branded PCs (like the Dell/HP small form factor PCs) the components are so tightly arranged, there is no room for upgrade. hence, for mainstream users, buying a branded PC might work, but not for folks who upgrade their hardware as the technology changes. sometimes, one ends up changing the whole CPU - when i had the Athlon X2 64 3800+, i had the Antec 1080B file server cabinet, the PSU (550w) that came along with it and NVIDIA 7300GTx2 in SLi. now i've a Antec 900 + Antec TPQ100 + ATi HD 4870 1GB and running AMD Phenom X4. so you see, for people like me, buying off the shelf may not exactly fit the bill!

my take is - DIY!

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by RedOne

I noticed a lot of you pick and choose the components and have it assembled at your local IT shop. I was looking at the DELL site and they have PC with i5, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, 512 video card, Windows 7, 20" HD LCD etc for about 40-43K, which is around what similar spec assembled ones cost.

So what is better? I use it primarily for gaming and movies.

TIA,
Red-One.

Depends on what you are looking forward to. Does the 40K spec include Windows 7?

For any enthusiast, its assembled as he has freedom to choose mobo, processor, graphic card apart from other things. This is a great boon to them.

[anku94]

Originally Posted by RedOne

I noticed a lot of you pick and choose the components and have it assembled at your local IT shop. I was looking at the DELL site and they have PC with i5, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, 512 video card, Windows 7, 20" HD LCD etc for about 40-43K, which is around what similar spec assembled ones cost.

So what is better? I use it primarily for gaming and movies.

ASSEMBLED !!!!

I bought my first and only long-term PC (There was a 10k P2/P3 with 16MB/32MB RAM and 1.5GB HDD that got blown up real quick so it doesn't count) in 2004. I was just 10 then and didn't know a lot, still the branded one we got had a lot of modifications. Doubled RAM, doubled HDD, Optical Disk upgrade to CD Writer etc. etc.

Nothing beats the flexibility of an assembled rig. And it'll always work out cheaper. You need to have the skill to do basic troubleshooting if you go for one, since there isn't a customer care, and the component manufacturers are responsible only for their component.

If you think you can handle that, assembled is the way to go. If you feel you will be needing the customer care for minor niggles, go for branded.

[prateekm]

Originally Posted by RedOne

I noticed a lot of you pick and choose the components and have it assembled at your local IT shop. I was looking at the DELL site and they have PC with i5, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, 512 video card, Windows 7, 20" HD LCD etc for about 40-43K, which is around what similar spec assembled ones cost.

So what is better? I use it primarily for gaming and movies.

TIA,
Red-One.

You can purchase the config mentioned here.

In that config, instead of going for a Dell monitor, take a Benq 22" which costs about 7.5k. You could go for a bit cheaper graphic card if you are not too much into gaming.

[abhayshanu]

Processor - AMD Phenom II X4 925, Quad Core, 2.8 GHz - AMD Phenom? II Processor Model Number and Feature Comparisons
Motherboard - Biostar DDR3 - BIOSTAR :: MCP6P3 :: Specification
HDD - Seagate 1 TB
Grafic Card - XFX Nvidia GT 240, 1 GB - NVIDIA GeForce GT 240
Ram - Kingston 2 GB x 2 = 4 GB of RAM
Cabinate - Old I Ball
Mouse - Old I Ball
Keyboard - Very old Logitech
Monitor - Samsung 20" LCD - Myst Eco B2030 ? Desktop Monitor ? Monitor-.. - B2030 - Desktop Monitior - Monitor | SAMSUNG

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by abhayshanu

Processor - AMD Phenom II X4 925, Quad Core, 2.8 GHz - AMD Phenom? II Processor Model Number and Feature Comparisons
Motherboard - Biostar DDR3 - BIOSTAR :: MCP6P3 :: Specification
HDD - Seagate 1 TB
Grafic Card - XFX Nvidia GT 240, 1 GB - NVIDIA GeForce GT 240
Ram - Kingston 2 GB x 2 = 4 GB of RAM
Cabinate - Old I Ball
Mouse - Old I Ball
Keyboard - Very old Logitech
Monitor - Samsung 20" LCD - Myst Eco B2030 ? Desktop Monitor ? Monitor-.. - B2030 - Desktop Monitior - Monitor | SAMSUNG

nice rig

why don't you switch to 64-bit Windows 7? memory management beyond 4GB is better in x64. before you do so, consider compatibility issues with the applications/games you use.

[abhayshanu]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

nice rig

why don't you switch to 64-bit Windows 7? memory management beyond 4GB is better in x64. before you do so, consider compatibility issues with the applications/games you use.

I was using the 64-bit, but there were bugs, also my old NFS games didnt quite work, so shifted to 32-bit, did not understand the difference though

[navin]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

nice rig

why don't you switch to 64-bit Windows 7? memory management beyond 4GB is better in x64. before you do so, consider compatibility issues with the applications/games you use.

Can 32bit Windows manage RAM beyond 3GB?

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but I know absolutely nothing about computers.

BTW my wife just had her PC upgraded. Specs from my supplier.
Asus P7P55D-Premium Motherboard with 4 front USB ports (Rs. 11K)
Intel i7-870 Processor (Rs. 16K)
2 x 4GB 1066 DDR3 RAM from HYNIX (Rs. 14K)
iBall cabinet and 450W power supply (Rs. 3K)
Windows 7 64bit Home Premium (8K)

salvaged from her old PC
GeForce 6600 512MB Video card
Logitech Mouse and Keyboard
Plextor DVD/CD drive
1 x 1TB Hard disk (we will add a second Sata 3 hard disk later)

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by abhayshanu

I was using the 64-bit, but there were bugs, also my old NFS games didnt quite work, so shifted to 32-bit, did not understand the difference though

did you have the RC1 or the RTM version? which version of NFS didn't work on the x64? did you try installing in compatibility mode? i've almost all the NFS titles and all work on the x64 version of Windows 7.

Originally Posted by navin

Can 32bit Windows manage RAM beyond 3GB?

theoretically, yes it should. however, in real world scenario it doesn't happen. hope this article explains it better

[neoonwheels]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

Another thing that comes to my mind is the CPU may be getting over heated or perhaps the entire system may be getting over heated. Does it just switch off? Or does it reboot in some cases?
In the BIOS there would be temperature indicators. See if this is a heating issue.

The issue was with the SMPS. I got it changed under warranty and the system is now pretty stable. No auto restart/turn offs now.

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by navin

BTW my wife just had her PC upgraded. Specs from my supplier.
Asus P7P55D-Premium Motherboard with 4 front USB ports (Rs. 11K)
Intel i7-870 Processor (Rs. 16K)
2 x 4GB 1066 DDR3 RAM from HYNIX (Rs. 14K)
iBall cabinet and 450W power supply (Rs. 3K)
Windows 7 64bit Home Premium (8K)

salvaged from her old PC
GeForce 6600 512MB Video card
Logitech Mouse and Keyboard
Plextor DVD/CD drive
1 x 1TB Hard disk (we will add a second Sata 3 hard disk later)

chief, with a 450W PSU, i think your wife's system is seriously underpowered. although the 6600GT (i presume thats what the card is) doesn't pull much power (it doesn't require a separate 6/8-pin power cable - it takes power from the PCI-E slot), when running processor/memory intensive programs, there is a good chance that the the PC will crash.

one of our clan members built a PC with 450W PSU and it keeps crashing when playing games like BF:BC2. upgraded it to 600W and now it works like a dream!

[mav2000]

That PSU is going to blow your system...be careful. The good thing to do here would be to get a nice decent priced power supply. the only one I can think of is the GX 550 from Coolermaster. Worth the 4.5k that you will need to spend on that.