Guest steggyD Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Whenever I buy computer or any electronic items, I read as many reviews as possible on the internet. Some reviews show things differently than others, so how do we know which ones to trust. So, in order to help out my fellow Bengals fans, I'm going to review some items, and any of you others can put some reviews on here. I'm going to start this thread with the [url="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-185-114&depa=0"]Freezer 4[/url], which I obviously bought at Newegg.com. I did tons of research to find a low cost solution to quiet and effective CPU cooling. This is the product I chose. It costs less than just about all the other CPU coolers on the market right now, and according to reviews, performs almost as well, if not as well. Here's my results: Upon arrival of the first Freezer, I was so excited. I just love to add things to my PC, sorry, this is the geek zone, however. Installation only requires putting on the thermal grease and clipping it down in the original heat sink spot that is on the motherboard, oh and plugging the fan in. Good news, no taking mobo off of the case to install any special hardware. However, due to the size of my hands, size of the cooler, and the room in my PC case, I found it easier to temporarily remove the power supply and the video card. Then just push down on the clips. No problem. I put the PC back together, then booted it up. I went straight to my hardware doctor to see the temps. Whoa, alarm, says the CPU fan is not recording any rotation. Yet the CPU stayed cool. What happened? I took the PC apart to find out that the fan blade on the cooler was broken off. I assumed that it came like that, either due to shipping or manufacturing, I'm not sure. So, I RMA'ed it back to newegg. I had high hopes though, since the CPU did not overheat, even without the fan going. Ahh, now the new one has a fan blade intact. I wouldn't worry too much about this detail, because newegg has a great return policy and Arctic-Cooling provides a 6 year warranty for the part. Start it up, everything works fine. I love it. Just as advertised, no sound. Now for testing performance, I used my PC which is a P4 2.8 ghz, hyper-threaded. 1.5 ghz Corsair Twinmx ram with platinum heat spreaders, dual channel. Abit IS-7E motherboard. All in my Aspire aluminum case with 2 intake fans and 3 exhaust fans. Plus the other unimportant items for this test, such as vid card, etc. I tested it up against the original P4 CPU cooler in the same system. I used idle temperatures and load temperatures. But for load, I did not use any program, I just simply played about an hour of some intense Half-Life 2. Results: Original Idle Temps: System: 30 CPU: 31-32 (bounced back and forth) Original Gaming Temps: System: 32 CPU: 45 AC4 Idle Temps: System: 30 CPU: 31 AC4 Gaming Temps: System: 33 CPU: 38 So, upon seeing that in gaming, I saved about 7 degrees celsius on the processor, I decided to overclock a little to see what I can get. I bumped up the processor to 220 mhz * 16, which brought it up only to 3.08. I used a 5:4 ratio with the RAM. Good RAM can be run at a different fsb. Latency timings of the RAM at 2.3.3.7. So, here are the results of the P4 2.8 OC'ed to 3.08: AC4 OC'ed to 3.08 Idle Temps: System: 32 CPU: 31-32 AC4 OC'ed to 3.08 Gaming Temps: System: 34 CPU: 38.5 Wow, the CPU barely took a hit, even though the system temp seemed to be rising. I will overclock again in the future, but the thermal grease takes 200 hours to solidify and get the coolest results. So, I shall come back here in a week or so, and see if my temps get any cooler, or see if I can bump the CPU up a little more, then post more results. Conclusion: Uhh, buy it if you want an inexpensive CPU cooler that is very quiet, yet cools the CPU well. First day temps are nice, and I expect more when the thermal grease sets in right. Hey, I just added .2 ghz to my computer for $33, not bad at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-GoBengals- Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 awesome. i have about $2,000 headed my way in a week or two, im going tp spend about $900-1200 of that on a new computer, i will never store buy another PC, custom built online seems to be far better and your not stuck with a lame monitor or some jank printer combo that allows them to raise the price, since you may know what the hell your talking about, (finaly, this is what i made the forum for) i have a dell (got online, i normall hate dell) poweredge400SC P42.8 it came with 2x 256 pc3200 ram... i took out one and added a pc2100 512 stick i had around.. im going to get a 1gig stick here in the next few weeks (this is my old ladies computer by the way, building mine with that $1200) does it REALLY matter if i get the pc3200 or pc2100 ddr? i will most likely keep the 512 stick on there for 1.5, probably put 2 gig in mine, if i get pc3200 isnt it just going to run at the pc2100 speed since i have a 2100 stick in there? suggestions? advice? ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 I just vacuumed the crumbs and jiz off my keyboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steggyD Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 [quote name='GoBengals' date='Feb 28 2005, 11:51 PM']awesome. i have about $2,000 headed my way in a week or two, im going tp spend about $900-1200 of that on a new computer, i will never store buy another PC, custom built online seems to be far better and your not stuck with a lame monitor or some jank printer combo that allows them to raise the price, since you may know what the hell your talking about, (finaly, this is what i made the forum for) i have a dell (got online, i normall hate dell) poweredge400SC P42.8 it came with 2x 256 pc3200 ram... i took out one and added a pc2100 512 stick i had around.. im going to get a 1gig stick here in the next few weeks (this is my old ladies computer by the way, building mine with that $1200) does it REALLY matter if i get the pc3200 or pc2100 ddr? i will most likely keep the 512 stick on there for 1.5, probably put 2 gig in mine, if i get pc3200 isnt it just going to run at the pc2100 speed since i have a 2100 stick in there? suggestions? advice? ideas? [right][post="53265"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote] I'm in game right now, but I'm a little confused about your situation, will read it again later. RAM will run at the lowest speed RAM that you have in there. Oh yeah, and 9 to 1200 will build a very nice PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mongoloido Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Go with an AMD cpu in your next computer GB. Grab something in the socket 939 department and get serious bang for the buck. The 939s scream and don't required registered ram. Also, they don't need the really expensive ram to perform well that Intels are needing right now. That means, you can slut out your system with a gig of Corsair value select pc3200 ram for a whopping $125 from Newegg right now. To add to the mix, the dual core processors that amd is coming out with are supposed to be socket 939. That means you'll be able to upgrade your cpu for a real performance hike without needing to sink the dough into a new mobo, ram, etc... Right now, amd is really giving great performance and saving people money to boot. Don't waste your time canibalizing that 2100 ram when the much better performer is so cheap. I'd suggest getting a good mobo, the 939 3500 athlon 64 cpu (top of the heap before price stops equally performance increase), an antec 500watt power supply (never go cheap with the psu. frying your system cuz the psu went bad is no fun), the cheap corsair ram, and a 6600gt video card (the $200 range). For the rest, canibalize the cd/dvd/floppy drives from your old comp. If you're feeling frisky, invest in a fun case or reuse your last case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-GoBengals- Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 hmm... i went .. MAC AMD P3 AMD P4 i was always more fond of the AMD. but my latest P4 purcahse has been great too, i was thinking of getting a system from these guys, and beefing it up from there.. [url="http://search.ebay.com/_AMD-Athlon-XP_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ52475QQsassZsuntechpc"]http://search.ebay.com/_AMD-Athlon-XP_W0QQ...QsassZsuntechpc[/url] i dont have the attention span to built another from scratch. although its not out of the question Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-GoBengals- Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 also.. i play ZERO computer games, i browse. do graphic design... web design.. regular office crap.. so beefed video cards, etc, do me no good, i just need spped and performance, and storange. i fill up a 40 gig HD in no time, im working on this 80 gig now, i have an external 120 gig thats about half full too.... so im looking to get 160 gig drive.. i cant stand a slow computer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mongoloido Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 [url="http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=M&Category_Code=COM"]http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/m...tegory_Code=COM[/url] they do a bang up job and seem well priced. barebones, cpu/mobo combo, full system, whatever... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steggyD Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Well, the AMD 64's are a better CPU when the software takes advantage of the 64 bits. If the software, which most isn't, is not made to take advantage of the 64 bits, then the P4 usually runs it better. P4's work better for programs such as photoshop. They are also known to do 3d renderings much faster. You could get an AMD 64 if you want to plan for the future, assuming that software is going to be made to take advantage of the chip, but I'm not so sure right now. There is a new cell chip, like the one that's going to be in the new Playstation. That is the future of the processor. Also, about the hard drives. Sometimes it is better to run more than one small hard drive than to run one big one. And as for the video card. Are you sure you will never play a video game? Sometimes people change their mind. Oh, I forgot to add. It sounds like you like to use more than one program at a time? I'm only guessing that because of the programs you use. If so, you might actually benefit most from the P4 hyper-threaded with dual channel ram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mongoloido Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 [quote name='steggyD' date='Mar 1 2005, 01:43 AM']...P4's work better for programs such as photoshop. They are also known to do 3d renderings much faster....[/quote] [url="http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2261"]http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2261[/url] the test results from here seem to disagree. Intel tops out every now and then, but not often, and almost never in the photoshop or 3d rendering departments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Bunghole| Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 My Dad's about to donate his "older" P4 chipset CPU to me to replace my Win '98 PIII machine.... Life is good... Am happy... Reading this thread made my brain jump on the old proverbial mental trampoline... I don't care, let me have something other than a Windows 98 OS.... <<rich boy sigh>> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steggyD Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Well, if he's going to buy those, then well, that processor takes all his money. Look at this [url="http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon64-fx51.html"]link[/url]. What I like about these scores is that even the normal P4 3.2 does almost as well as the extreme addition. And the P4 3.2 is very affordable. Now, when you start getting high end CPU for both sides, the AMD will outperform and at a bit of a lower price, as in $800 compared to $950 or something like that. But, hey, I don't have stock in either company, so I'm just picking what I think would be best for his applications. But it's pretty easy to switch mobos and CPU's later on when they become obsolete, at least if you build your own. Once you buy from Dell and those companies, you go back to them and pay 3 times what you need to pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-GoBengals- Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 [quote name='steggyD' date='Mar 1 2005, 01:01 AM']Well, if he's going to buy those, then well, that processor takes all his money. Look at this [url="http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon64-fx51.html"]link[/url]. What I like about these scores is that even the normal P4 3.2 does almost as well as the extreme addition. And the P4 3.2 is very affordable. Now, when you start getting high end CPU for both sides, the AMD will outperform and at a bit of a lower price, as in $800 compared to $950 or something like that. But, hey, I don't have stock in either company, so I'm just picking what I think would be best for his applications. But it's pretty easy to switch mobos and CPU's later on when they become obsolete, at least if you build your own. Once you buy from Dell and those companies, you go back to them and pay 3 times what you need to pay. [right][post="53311"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote] thats why i try to stay away from the dell's and gateway's of the world, this poweredge server (converted to windows XP instead of server) is magnificent for upgrades, they are all hot bays, one thing that keeps getting me is most motherboards i see only have the two ram slots, whatever happened to 3-4 ram slots, you could always just tack on another stick back in the day, now you gotta double up everytime... bastards... i think for the extremeness of whopping photoshop and IE running at once, either shipset will be fine, and in 7-8 years ive never played computer video games, i leave that to the 46" tv and playstation in the other room, and my video game interest attention span is about 20-45 minutes, so gaming will probably never happen. basica question... whats the difference between PC 2100 and PC3200 and is it a noticible one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mongoloido Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 The difference between 2100 and 3200 is about 1.1Gb/s of bandwidth (2.1Gb/s for 2100 and 3.2Gb/s for the 3200). There's also a 133mhz clockspeed to 200mhz clockspeed increase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-GoBengals- Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 [quote name='mongoloido' date='Mar 1 2005, 12:21 PM']The difference between 2100 and 3200 is about 1.1Gb/s of bandwidth (2.1Gb/s for 2100 and 3.2Gb/s for the 3200). There's also a 133mhz clockspeed to 200mhz clockspeed increase. [right][post="53593"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote] how much of a difference will that make? 1.5 gig PC2700 VS 1 gig PC3200 basically i have a 512 stick of pc2100 but am getting a gig of 3200 or 2700 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mongoloido Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 That 2100 will slow down your system for almost no savings to you. I really think you should grab the gig of 3200 and feel good about the upgrade. I don't know all of what you do with your pc, but what's the point of a fast, new cpu that has to pump information through slow memory? You're talking a 50% increase in bandwidth with the 3200. Back when AMD FSBs were only 133mhz, that extra bandwidth didn't mean much to the performance of your machine. Now though, it makes a huge difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-GoBengals- Posted March 3, 2005 Report Share Posted March 3, 2005 i decided to go with the gig of 3200 and just sell my 2100 on ebay.. 3200 will cost me about $120, and can sell the 512 and 2x 256 for about 70 total.. so $50 is worth it. now i cant wait to get this cash so i can build myself a new PC here is what i do.. right now.. i have: 3 IE windows open OPENCUBE (animated menu creator) photoshop CS macromedia dreamweaver AIM and the basics like norton antivirus running, etc.. with the 768 ram i got now, when i type in letters sometimes or go to a new site, it pauded for like 3-4 seconds before it gets what i typed or starts loading the page...drives me nuts... thats what im looking to correct.. typically i have CUTE FTP open as well. and probably a file folder... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whodey319 Posted March 3, 2005 Report Share Posted March 3, 2005 [quote name='GoBengals' date='Mar 1 2005, 01:17 AM']hmm... i went .. MAC AMD P3 AMD P4 i was always more fond of the AMD. but my latest P4 purcahse has been great too, i was thinking of getting a system from these guys, and beefing it up from there.. [url="http://search.ebay.com/_AMD-Athlon-XP_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ52475QQsassZsuntechpc"]http://search.ebay.com/_AMD-Athlon-XP_W0QQ...QsassZsuntechpc[/url] i dont have the attention span to built another from scratch. although its not out of the question [right][post="53298"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote] these guys seem to have their shit together. Prices arent bad either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-GoBengals- Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 [quote name='whodey319' date='Mar 3 2005, 08:19 AM']these guys seem to have their shit together. Prices arent bad either [right][post="55242"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote] yea, they seem pretty straight forward, .. if you pay through yahoo paydirect, and order outside of ebay, you save $20 ($10 for not having to pay ebay fees for auction, and $10 for not wasting more money on paypal fees) other than that they dont budge a penny... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steggyD Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 Here we go again. As happy as I was with the CPU cooler, I decided to stick with Arctic-Cooling and try out their case fans. My Antec fans are just way too loud. I bought 5 of [url="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-186-121&depa=1"]these babies[/url] right here. About 4 bucks a piece, I can't go wrong. One thing, I wasn't paying attention, so I didn't realize that they were exhaust fans only. I have 2 intake and 3 exhaust. But that didn't stop me. I watched a lot of MacGyver when I was a younger lad. Wow, these things are so quiet, I can't hear any fans now. And system temps pretty much remain the same. One more problem. I got a bad fan again. So, Arctic-Cooling seems to provide some quiet, well performing coolants at a bargain price with a hit or miss in receiving working parts. Now I'm up in the air of what to do, go through the problem of sending in 1 bad fan for RMA, go with 4 fans, or wait until I order again and just throw a fan in with the order. Actually, the biggest problem I have now is that I can hear the hard drive and CD and DVD drives working. Hmmm, does Arctic-Cooling make those parts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mongoloido Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 talk to me about power supplies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steggyD Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 I don't have time to review right now, working on some sound effects, but as always Antec is the best, yet expensive. A less expensive, yet effective power supply would be the Coolmax brand. Check [url="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=17-159-031&DEPA=1"]this link[/url] out. Of course you can buy it somewhere else, but I just like to link the newegg sight. It's the easiest one for me to browse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steggyD Posted March 5, 2005 Report Share Posted March 5, 2005 Oh, wow. This [url="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-180&depa=1"]Leadtek video capture card[/url] is nice. It's only $51 and all the reviews are great. I got myself one and now I plan on being divorced within a year. I have now connected DirecTV and FM to my computer. Hell, I can play X-Box on my PC now. I have everything on my computer, I never have to leave. I can do the things I need to do on my computer and run a little picture of television. In all seriousness, I have not tried to do the video capture from television yet, but I have taken it from my camcorder. Great, homemade porn on my computer. Anyone want a copy? Just kidding. But I can get all the UK wins in the tourney coming up soon; I do have March Madness. Oh, and the football games coming up next fall; I also subscribe to Sunday Ticket. I can capture them and burn them on DVD, yay! Or just take snapshots and use the pictures for computer decorations. I am already in love with this device. Nothing bad to say about it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-GoBengals- Posted March 5, 2005 Report Share Posted March 5, 2005 [quote name='steggyD' date='Mar 4 2005, 10:00 PM']Oh, wow. This [url="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-180&depa=1"]Leadtek video capture card[/url] is nice. It's only $51 and all the reviews are great. I got myself one and now I plan on being divorced within a year. I have now connected DirecTV and FM to my computer. Hell, I can play X-Box on my PC now. I have everything on my computer, I never have to leave. I can do the things I need to do on my computer and run a little picture of television. In all seriousness, I have not tried to do the video capture from television yet, but I have taken it from my camcorder. Great, homemade porn on my computer. Anyone want a copy? Just kidding. But I can get all the UK wins in the tourney coming up soon; I do have March Madness. Oh, and the football games coming up next fall; I also subscribe to Sunday Ticket. I can capture them and burn them on DVD, yay! Or just take snapshots and use the pictures for computer decorations. I am already in love with this device. Nothing bad to say about it yet. [right][post="56818"][/post][/right][/quote] you work for newegg huh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-GoBengals- Posted March 5, 2005 Report Share Posted March 5, 2005 oh wait, i have that.. but my DVR is connected to big tv, in different room, and before i got this dell server to use as pc a month ago i didnt have enough HD space to record much from tv.. hmmmmmmm the plot thickens... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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