Re: Anyone Here Build Their Own Computers
- From: ScratchMonkey <ScratchMonkey.blacklist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2009 10:11:30 +0000 (UTC)
Nomen Nescio <nobody@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:8b94f400710344e86da68fbb085f7260@xxxxxxxxx:
what's the deal with the warning beep speaker that used to be a
$1 item mounted to the motherboard?
Several boards I looked at now have a 4 pin plug to connect a
speaker that's attached to the chassis. But I can't seem to find
someone selling the speaker and it doesn't seem to be included with
the board or the box. So..........WTF?
I'm using the Raidmax Sirius in a package I bought at Frys that included
a 500W supply for $90. It's got a speaker buried somewhere in the front
panel, as I can hear it beep on power up.
I'm going to be running Win XP. Is there any real value in going with
the i7 processor?
I went with Vista 64 Ultimate. With SP1 out, I see no reason to avoid
Vista now. (And I'm a Linux advocate!)
For CPU, I went with the 3.3 GHz dual-core Intel E8500. It lets me play
WoW and compile code at the same time. I initially went with only 2 GB
of DDR2 but that's too little to handle both OS and game, and just
recently maxed it out to 8 GB in 4 DIMMs of PC6400. The mobo is an ASUS
P5Q Pro.
RAID 5:
My understanding is that the array will give me a 2 HD data dump and
all the data is available on any 2 of the 3 drives. And if one HD
bites the dust, I stay functional on the other 2 and when I replace
the dead HD I can get an auto rebuild of the data on the dead HD. Yes?
No?
Note that RAID 5 is intended for high availability (HA), not backup. It
lets you keep running with one drive down. But you still need to back
things up, as you could still have catastrophic loss from things like
power spikes burning out the whole system. I suggest having at least two
backups. That way if one backup system blows up while connected to your
system as it gets fried, you still have another backup that's in the
drawer (or even better, offsite).
Is there any real value to NOT using the OEM chip cooler (Unless I'm
overclocking).? And are those 4 pins really such a PITA when securing
the fan to the board?
I was worried about the stock Intel cooler, as well, but it ended up not
being too bad. I installed the CPU and cooler to the mobo while it was
fresh out of the package, before attaching the mobo to the chassis. I
used a soft static mat at the office to support the mobo. The pins are
indeed resistant to pushing in, at least when you get to the 4th one.
The next generation of socket is supposed to provide better support
below the mobo for this kind of thing.
And:
Where have YOU screwed up during the build?
(Be honest, I promise not to tell anyone :) )
The PSU has two PCIE connectors. One is 2x3, the other 2x2, and the
12vdc wiring is backwards on one from the other. The 2x2 is for the
mobo. My mobo came with a 2x4 connector and a blackout plug over half
the sockets. The 2x3 is for the video card. I'd pulled the blackout
plug, plugged in the 2x3, then noticed the 2x2 as I was installing my
video card and realized I had them backwards. Could have been an
expensive mistake.
The ASUS mobo comes with a nifty little connector block to make the
wiring of all those little chassis cables easy. You plug them into the
little block (where it's easy to read the label), them plug the block
into the mobo (which is down in the dark chassis and hard to read). It's
a little thing and yet incredibly clever and useful for those of us with
aging eyes and not-so-nimble fingers.
.
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