New Computer Build

**gopherpuckfan** · 02-05-10, 04:56 AM

Here's my newegg.com wish list. Opinions?

I've already dropped the Intel i7 920 processor and the nVidia 285 video card for the i7 860 and the ATI 5870 based on feedback on another forum and benchmarks.

Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg

**Odd** · 02-05-10, 07:31 AM

Quick and quiet are in full effect here.

What do you have planned for your system drive?

**gopherpuckfan** · 02-05-10, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by Odd

Quick and quiet are in full effect here.

What do you have planned for your system drive?

I wanted to go SSD, but not gonna pay for that technology yet. I have an unopened WD 1TB drive and an extra unused 200GB drive that I'm gonna toss in here. Also might toss the Raptor I have in my current system in there as my primary drive. Need to keep the other TB drive in this system so I have a good file server for my network.

Placed my order about 30 minutes ago. Should be getting the stuff on Tuesday

**gopherpuckfan** · 02-12-10, 01:35 AM

Got my new parts yesterday and have been able to get it up and running since I've been sick the last two days. I realized the major bottleneck in my system is my hard drive. It dragged my Windows Experience score to a 5.8 (out of 7.9 total). All the other scores for my system were between 7.5 and 7.8 I swapped my WD Raptor hard drive in there and got the same scores. Guess it's time to invest in SSD.

Sweet system otherwise though!

**MacLean** · 02-12-10, 01:42 AM

Originally Posted by gopherpuckfan

Got my new parts yesterday and have been able to get it up and running since I've been sick the last two days. I realized the major bottleneck in my system is my hard drive. It dragged my Windows Experience score to a 5.8 (out of 7.9 total). All the other scores for my system were between 7.5 and 7.8 I swapped my WD Raptor hard drive in there and got the same scores. Guess it's time to invest in SSD.

Sweet system otherwise though!

The BIOS is configured for the drives?

**gopherpuckfan** · 02-12-10, 01:44 AM

Originally Posted by maclean

The BIOS is configured for the drives?

Yep. Not running RAID and BIOS is set to IDE (even though it's SATA), per the motherboard manual.

**MacLean** · 02-12-10, 01:46 AM

Originally Posted by gopherpuckfan

Yep. Not running RAID and BIOS is set to IDE (even though it's SATA), per the motherboard manual.

Hrm. Motherboard manuals are usually translated by drunk monkeys.

Try SATA.

I'm surprised it recognized a SATA drive without enabling it that way, but drunk monkeys do weird stuff.

**MacLean** · 02-12-10, 01:56 AM

. o O (Hopefully I didn't kill his computer, he got quiet)

**gopherpuckfan** · 02-12-10, 02:04 AM

No, had to reboot to get into my BIOS

The only options for the hard drives are IDE, RAID, AHCI, or Disabled...even though they show SATA, SATAII, and eSATA selections in other submenus

Oh well. I'll run an SSD setup sometime soon

**MacLean** · 02-12-10, 02:17 AM

Originally Posted by gopherpuckfan

No, had to reboot to get into my BIOS

The only options for the hard drives are IDE, RAID, AHCI, or Disabled...even though they show SATA, SATAII, and eSATA selections in other submenus

Oh well. I'll run an SSD setup sometime soon

Nono, this is common... the SATA option has to be enabled, and to do that you have to disable the IDE channel.

I'd have to RTFM to remember the sequence, but it should be in there.

**gopherpuckfan** · 02-12-10, 02:20 AM

I'll give it a try. If my computer breaks, I'll turn to my laptop and post from there

**121Traffic** · 02-12-10, 02:26 AM

If it breaks, you'd need your laptop to motherf&%*($ Maclean.

**MacLean** · 02-12-10, 02:27 AM

LOL

**gopherpuckfan** · 02-12-10, 03:00 AM

Well, changing it to AHCI resulted in my computer not booting. Switched it back to IDE and it popped right back up again. I also updated the BIOS, but there were no new options for the HDD's.

**MacLean** · 02-12-10, 03:03 AM

OK, I know there is a procedure here for this, but I am way too tired to recall it.

I'll see what I can do tomorrow.

**gopherpuckfan** · 02-12-10, 03:10 AM

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

**Odd** · 02-12-10, 07:40 AM

I have new rig envy.

Can you even hear that it's turned on?

Curious what SSD you have in mind. I, having blown my budget well in advance, am considering getting a few USB drives to see how W7 does with parallel reading with Readyboost in the real world. Anyone given that a try, and if so, did it amount to much more than knowing where you could get a flash drive in a hurry?