Is this system good?

  • Thread starter Thread starter happymac.support
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happymac.support

Hi,

I got a PC custom built at a computer shop around 7-8 months ago. Are
these hardware specs good?:

Motherboard: ASUS P5ND2-SLI
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=227&model=558&modelmenu=1

Processor: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0GHz
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-detailsInactive.asp?Sku=CP2-P4-830 C

Hard Drive: 250GB SATA (SAMSUNG SP2504C)
http://www.samsung.com/Products/Har...es/HardDiskDrive_SpinPointPSeries_SP2504C.asp

RAM: 2x 512MB DDR 667MHz
http://www.atech.co.nz/p.aspx?102050

Video Card: ATI Radeon X1300 PRO (MSI Card)
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/vga/vga/pro_vga_detail.php?UID=699

Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-110D DVD-RW
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=14845

USB: 4x USB 2.0 ports

Sound Card: 7.1 Channel (Asus stock)

Ethernet Adapter: Intel 10/100/100 Gigabit
http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/pro1000mt_server_adapter.htm

Is this good?

Thanks
P.S. By the way I am having a CPU overheat problem. Visit
http://groups.google.ca/group/alt.c...5302d/2851c934e2dfcdaa?hl=en#2851c934e2dfcdaa
if you want to help.
 
Hi,

I got a PC custom built at a computer shop around 7-8 months ago. Are
these hardware specs good?:

Motherboard: ASUS P5ND2-SLI
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=227&model=558&modelmenu=1

Processor: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0GHz
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-detailsInactive.asp?Sku=CP2-P4-830 C

Hard Drive: 250GB SATA (SAMSUNG SP2504C)
http://www.samsung.com/Products/Har...es/HardDiskDrive_SpinPointPSeries_SP2504C.asp

RAM: 2x 512MB DDR 667MHz
http://www.atech.co.nz/p.aspx?102050

Video Card: ATI Radeon X1300 PRO (MSI Card)
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/vga/vga/pro_vga_detail.php?UID=699

Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-110D DVD-RW
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=14845

USB: 4x USB 2.0 ports

Sound Card: 7.1 Channel (Asus stock)

Ethernet Adapter: Intel 10/100/100 Gigabit
http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/pro1000mt_server_adapter.htm
Click to expand...

That motherboard apparently has an onboard Gigabit controller, making
this card superfluous.
 
That motherboard apparently has an onboard Gigabit controller, making
this card superfluous.
Click to expand...


Oh and about the ethernet card, I was mistaken. I dont have another
card, I just have the built-in Gigabit LAN.
 
Hi,

I got a PC custom built at a computer shop around 7-8 months ago. Are
these hardware specs good?:
Click to expand...

WTF???????


Is there any useful purpose to this post?

Are you entitled to a refund if not?
Are you senseless enough to think that 8 months later, any
system will look like it's inferior by modern standards?

Did you consider that ALL systems are built to a particular
price-point, and that price-point has to, to a certain
extent, factor for asshats that try to be asshats (since
it's in their nature) and demend support for their own
mistakes?

Is this good?
Click to expand...

Bit too late to ask now.
 
You were ill advised to get any Pentium "D" CPU. They were built with an
inferior design and they ALL run HOT! By the way, the thermal LIMIT of that
CPU is 70 C. You say you are running it over that limit, and will
eventually fry it.
 
You were ill advised to get any Pentium "D" CPU. They were built with an
inferior design and they ALL run HOT! By the way, the thermal LIMIT of that
CPU is 70 C. You say you are running it over that limit, and will
eventually fry it.
Click to expand...



Just to make sure Pentium D wasn't too bad of a choice, is the
temperature the only problem with these CPUs or are there any other
problems? The speed seems pretty good to me.
 
happymac wrote in message
I got a PC custom built at a computer shop around 7-8 months ago. Are
these hardware specs good?:
Click to expand...

If you are "happyMAC", why are you buying a Wintel box?
Motherboard: ASUS P5ND2-SLI
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=227&model=558&modelmenu=1
Click to expand...

Two PCIe 16X sounds nice until you realize that SLI using both slots
means they degrade to 8X. But then you only mention a single video card
so SLI is a throwaway feature, anyway.

I was looking at the mobo pic and was wondering where was the PSU
connector. Oh, there it is, way over on the front edge of the mobo.
Wouldn't that make it a tight stretch or too far away if mounted in a
full tower case?

You never mentioned what power supply got put in. It's the lifeblood of
your computer. Anemic PSUs aren't conducive to stable hosts.
Processor: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0GHz
Click to expand...

I prefer AMD for my personal/home computer but Intel for business hosts.
You never mentioned HOW this computer is going to be used.

So it is overheating. Why haven't you taken it back to the shop that
fabbed it up for you? Didn't you get a warranty (which is probably 1
year)? Make them fix their screwup, like forgetting the thermal paste
or gooping it on like it was window putty, or check the heatsink wasn't
properly clamped down. Did you even check the cabling inside to make
sure it was out of the way or parallel to the airflow? A spinning fan
can do no cooling if it can't move air. Maybe the shop put the rear
case fan in backwards so it blows in instead of out. What happens when
you pull out a blank covering one of the external 5.25" drive bays? If
you are using ASUS' monitor program, what readings do you get when you
use Speedfan?
Hard Drive: 250GB SATA (SAMSUNG SP2504C)
Click to expand...

Better to have 2 drives, even if they were only 120GB each for nearly
the same capacity as you have now with 1 drive. What happens when that
1 drive goes bad? With 2 drives:

- You can save backups or partition images of one drive onto the other
drive. You'll probably want to have offline image backups (i.e., on
DVDs) but using a hard drive is faster and okay for short-term backups.
If one drive fails, you can use backups from the other drive to restore
to a new replacement drive.
- You can put part of the swap (paging) file on the hard drive that does
NOT have the OS partition. Windows will first use pagefile space on the
other drive. This allows pagefile access while the OS can get
concurrent access to its own drive.
- You can reconfigure My Documents, Favorites, and other common folders
so they are on the other drive. Then when you have to do a reinstall of
Windows, and you will, then you don't wipe out your data because it's on
the other drive. Same for when you want to resize partitions.
RAM: 2x 512MB DDR 667MHz
http://www.atech.co.nz/p.aspx?102050

Video Card: ATI Radeon X1300 PRO (MSI Card)
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/vga/vga/pro_vga_detail.php?UID=699
Click to expand...

I bet he got suckered into thinking the X1K models were better than the
lower numbered models. The X1300 is the bottom model for their R500
series (i.e., think "MX"). The X700 at the bottom of their R400 series
is better. For some specs, go read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ATI_GPUs
Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-110D DVD-RW
Click to expand...

No comment. No knowledge of this unit.
USB: 4x USB 2.0 ports
Click to expand...

Well, with a USB keyboard and USB mouse, you only have 2 left. Add a
USB printer and you're down to 1 left. Add a UPS with USB for the
monitoring cable and no USB ports are left. 6 is probably the minimum
to have a decent number to start with so you have a couple left after
actually hooking up the computer.

Since the mobo supports up to 10 USB ports, looks like there are 3 more
headers on the mobo for USB to which you could connect front-panel or
card slot adapters. The backpanel has the 4 USB ports that you mention,
so the shop really didn't do a full customize job to use the USB headers
on the mobo to give you front-panel USB ports and fill up the empty PCI
card slots with USB adapters.
Sound Card: 7.1 Channel (Asus stock)
Click to expand...

We have no clue what are you demands for audio.
Ethernet Adapter: Intel 10/100/100 Gigabit
http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/pro1000mt_server_adapter.htm
Click to expand...

You sure that wasn't 10/100/1000? Unless you run your own intranet
between your own computers, you won't even tax the lowest rate (10Mbps)
for Internet access.

So why did they have you spend money to put in a NIC when the mobo
already had one?
Is this good?
Click to expand...

We don't know. You gave absolutely no details as to how you will use
that computer. For example, for word processing or email, it is way,
way overkill.
 
happymac wrote in message





If you are "happyMAC", why are you buying a Wintel box?


Two PCIe 16X sounds nice until you realize that SLI using both slots
means they degrade to 8X. But then you only mention a single video card
so SLI is a throwaway feature, anyway.

I was looking at the mobo pic and was wondering where was the PSU
connector. Oh, there it is, way over on the front edge of the mobo.
Wouldn't that make it a tight stretch or too far away if mounted in a
full tower case?

You never mentioned what power supply got put in. It's the lifeblood of
your computer. Anemic PSUs aren't conducive to stable hosts.


I prefer AMD for my personal/home computer but Intel for business hosts.
You never mentioned HOW this computer is going to be used.

So it is overheating. Why haven't you taken it back to the shop that
fabbed it up for you? Didn't you get a warranty (which is probably 1
year)? Make them fix their screwup, like forgetting the thermal paste
or gooping it on like it was window putty, or check the heatsink wasn't
properly clamped down. Did you even check the cabling inside to make
sure it was out of the way or parallel to the airflow? A spinning fan
can do no cooling if it can't move air. Maybe the shop put the rear
case fan in backwards so it blows in instead of out. What happens when
you pull out a blank covering one of the external 5.25" drive bays? If
you are using ASUS' monitor program, what readings do you get when you
use Speedfan?


Better to have 2 drives, even if they were only 120GB each for nearly
the same capacity as you have now with 1 drive. What happens when that
1 drive goes bad? With 2 drives:

- You can save backups or partition images of one drive onto the other
drive. You'll probably want to have offline image backups (i.e., on
DVDs) but using a hard drive is faster and okay for short-term backups.
If one drive fails, you can use backups from the other drive to restore
to a new replacement drive.
- You can put part of the swap (paging) file on the hard drive that does
NOT have the OS partition. Windows will first use pagefile space on the
other drive. This allows pagefile access while the OS can get
concurrent access to its own drive.
- You can reconfigure My Documents, Favorites, and other common folders
so they are on the other drive. Then when you have to do a reinstall of
Windows, and you will, then you don't wipe out your data because it's on
the other drive. Same for when you want to resize partitions.



I bet he got suckered into thinking the X1K models were better than the
lower numbered models. The X1300 is the bottom model for their R500
series (i.e., think "MX"). The X700 at the bottom of their R400 series
is better. For some specs, go read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ATI_GPUs


No comment. No knowledge of this unit.


Well, with a USB keyboard and USB mouse, you only have 2 left. Add a
USB printer and you're down to 1 left. Add a UPS with USB for the
monitoring cable and no USB ports are left. 6 is probably the minimum
to have a decent number to start with so you have a couple left after
actually hooking up the computer.

Since the mobo supports up to 10 USB ports, looks like there are 3 more
headers on the mobo for USB to which you could connect front-panel or
card slot adapters. The backpanel has the 4 USB ports that you mention,
so the shop really didn't do a full customize job to use the USB headers
on the mobo to give you front-panel USB ports and fill up the empty PCI
card slots with USB adapters.


We have no clue what are you demands for audio.


You sure that wasn't 10/100/1000? Unless you run your own intranet
between your own computers, you won't even tax the lowest rate (10Mbps)
for Internet access.

So why did they have you spend money to put in a NIC when the mobo
already had one?


We don't know. You gave absolutely no details as to how you will use
that computer. For example, for word processing or email, it is way,
way overkill.
Click to expand...

1) First of all, my mac is dead. For now, a PC is my best option.

2) The power supply was the one that came with the case. All I know is
that its a 400W supply (its probably cheap, but for now, I am not
having any problems linked to the power supply.

3) I didnt take it back to the shop because the shop I bough it from
is 350KM away.

4) I think I'll try to fix it myself (clean out dust, maybe add more
fans), because I didnt have a problem when the unit was first bought
(I think). I just started monitoring temps now, although I do think
that the system was a bit louder before and revved up and down. Now,
there is just a consistent noise.

5) I did notice that a clump of cables is in the way of the way. I'll
fix the clumped up cables by bundling them and taping the cables to
the side of the case so they don't interfere with the fans.

6) By the way, they did install the case fan on the side of the case
backwards, I think I'll fix that.

7) I dunno, maybe I'll take out one of the drive bays and see what
happens.

8) I used 4 things to check the temperatures. ASUS PC PROBE, SpeedFan,
and the BIOS had the same readings. EVEREST Home Edition however,
showed that the CPU was 30C less that the other utilities. I'm
guessing EVEREST is wrong.

9) I will be using the computer for word-processing, e-mail, web-
browsing, some animation, some photo and video editing, burning DVDs
and CDs, and some 3D games (not bleeding-edge), but average.

10) Is the video card good? When I bought the system, I wasnt looking
at advanced options. It had 256MB of video memory so I got it. Its
good for what I'm using it for right now

11) I might add a second drive later, I'm good with one drive right
now. I haven't had and HDD related problems yet and SMART checkups say
that my drive is running on top performance

12) I might just use a USB Hub


13) I just have onboard 10/100/1000 LAN. I was mistaken about the card

Thanks
 
Just to make sure Pentium D wasn't too bad of a choice, is the
temperature the only problem with these CPUs or are there any other
problems? The speed seems pretty good to me.
Click to expand...

The credibility of that poster is suspect. No Intel CPU - even the
first 1980 486s - are fired by heat. Why? That poster should have
known why and known that heat cannot fry that Intel processor. But
rumors routinely get promoted as fact.
 
The credibility of that poster is suspect. No Intel CPU - even the
first 1980 486s - are fired by heat. Why? That poster should have
known why and known that heat cannot fry that Intel processor. But
rumors routinely get promoted as fact.
Click to expand...

So...my pentium d wast a bad choice?
 
Oh another thing, I found out the brands of my power supply and power
supply fan:

Power Supply Fan: Globe Fan "Sleeve Bearing" Fan (probably cheap)
http://www.globefan.com/products_index02.php?Cid=1077 (its one of the
fans on the page, not sure which)

Power Supply 400W - DEER Power Supply
http://deerright.trustpass.alibaba.com/ (also cheap)
Click to expand...

That is a very poor power supply, you are likely to have
problems with at least the fan and capacitors. I would go
ahead and relube the fan now, instead of waiting until it is
making noise- at which point it will be chewing up the
bearing... or really, since it still runs you have a good
opportunity to keep an eye out for a deal on a better PSU.
 
Oh another thing, I found out the brands of my power supply and power
supply fan:
...

Power Supply 400W - DEER Power Supplyhttp://deerright.trustpass.alibaba.com/(also cheap)
Click to expand...

Another way to test the quality of a power supply: operate an AM
radio next to a system. Does power supply interfere with the radio?
Properly designed power supplies must include filters to make that
noise irrelevant. Another test for quality.
 
Another way to test the quality of a power supply: operate an AM
radio next to a system. Does power supply interfere with the radio?
Properly designed power supplies must include filters to make that
noise irrelevant. Another test for quality.
Click to expand...


Thanx, I'll try that soom, I'll bet it will interfere with the radio.
 
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