Dell and thier 8800GTX...are they taking me for a ride?

[crusader4192]

I had too many Dell PSU fail on me after 1-2 years of 24-7 non-stop service. Again, this is primarily because the PCs in my lab never go to sleep..

..

so you're telling me that you've had bad luck with Dell PSUs yet you recommend i go with them? i fully intend on running my PC 24-7, also. that's the underlying problem with dell: thier cheap prices mean low quality. the computer i am on currently has a bad PSU...it's a dell that i bought from CompUSA. whenever i try to play games it crashes. piece of ****. i'm not eager to buy a PC that will do the same, unless Dell can guarentee they're putting in a GOOD power supply.

P.S. what kind of RAM would you suggest?

[sawyen]

Well, I was under the impression most PCs wont be stressed as much as ours.. given ours were never turned off, almost always under load.. (thanks to our own distributed computing script)..

I think if we were at least a little nicer to the systems, it should at least last a longer distance.. (Dell's rep better give me something for this.. )

No, I'm not recommending it because I had bad luck with it and I want you to have them too.. but it was going just on the grounds that it is on most cases a 'sufficient' solution.. Only when you know you will be doing alot, and wanting alot, then you'll ask more. That is why we asked for a beefier PSU for our dual quad core workstation.. as we know its going to be in almost >80% load 99% of its life..

All in all, its good news you're ditching Dell.. we have to contract Dell as unless we get it from them, we have to buy from Viglen, which is even miles worse.. We can only contract HP on larger servers.. i.e. my all time fav dual Opteron database server..

[crusader4192]

i will be gaming heavily which puts the system under heavy load. i want this machine to last for several years.

i'm sorry, but i didn't understand your last paragraph there...

[Thorsson]

MEMORY 2GB Corsair PC2-4200 DDR2 533MHz Memory (2 X 1024MB)

You want 5300 for C2D and 6400 if you are going to OC. 4200 is just too slow. I suspect that the mobo isn't the best choice either. MSIs have had some issues.

Build it yourself. It's fairly easy if you RTMs and take your time, and then next time you can just upgrade instead of buying a whole new system.

[crusader4192]

building it myself is not an option.

what's wrong with MSI motherboards?

[sawyen]

My last paragraph was referring to our university's policy to only buy from 'trusted' vendors..

I had to buy from Dell, because if I don't, the only other choice is Viglen...

The University only contracts HP servers, and we are obliged only to buy either from Dell or Viglen for the usual PCs..

[Sprite]

building it myself is not an option.

what's wrong with MSI motherboards?

Its the older 945 chipset

[this_is_gav]

Which makes no real difference other than the PC won't be able to overclock, and being a Dell would be highly unlikely to have the BIOS options anyway for an overclock, regardless of the chipset. 945 is fine for C2D so long as it's intended to be run at or near stock speed.

[rox0r]

Skipping back to the Shuttle comments, Shuttle PSUs are rated at 400W but are noted in their documentation to be equivalent to a 600W. I run a 400W in an overclocked Shuttle P series with three hard drives and an 8800GTS and it doesn't phase it in the slightest.

[crusader4192]

i just checked shuttle's website, and it doesnt appear that you can customize your PC. can anyone help me out?

[Agent]

Shuttles are mainly 'self-build' systems. If building a system still isnt an option, then a Shuttle isnt for you

[b0redom]

It's much easier than other builds I've done though, as the cables are all pre-routed for you, it really is a case of drop in the cpu, ram, graphics cards, click in the HDDs + cooler and you're away.

@ roxor, the shuttle PSUs depend on the model, I know that at least the SN25P and SN26P are rated at 350W, although I'm pretty sure the more modern C2D ones are rated @ 400W.

[rox0r]

Absolutely correct, the SD37P2 and SD39P2 use the 400w model.

The disadvantage to Shuttles is that for most newer models the PSU is very difficult to source as a replacement. I myself need a 400W unit but can only find one place in the UK that sells it and it'll cost me nearly £100 delivered. Shuttle claim they don't sell them separately....

[crusader4192]

is there anything functionally wrong with the MSI motherboard? i don't care if i can't overclock.

of necessary i could go with the Asus P5L-VM 1394 INTEL 945G w/1066MHz FSB for about 60 more readies but i'd perfer not to.

[b0redom]

Roxor - is it this place?

http://www.theglowlounge.com/catalog...hp/cPath/63_97

[rox0r]

Yep, that's the place