PC Power and Cooling. I have four of them. One as backup.
I don't dink around when it comes to power supplies. Nothing more frustrating than debugging a mediocre power supply. Nothing more likely to fry you and your system.
Get a Mac.
I just built a system a couple of months ago and I used that Corsair 450VX and I really like it! It has a longer than most motherboard power cord and the rest of the cords are realatively long too.
The first one I got made some funny squealing sounds (not very loud, but apparently very common with newer psu's) but I did an RMA with newegg and all was good, the new one is very, very quiet.
=)
Delta, as far as OEMs go, has always been known as a good one. You've got a decent power supply, considering the crap installed in most computers from the factory.
All I can really say is be careful with directions of fans and vent clearances. You wanna make sure it's got decent airflow, even if it does fit properly.
However, all being said, you may consider looking at building your own completely new box. It may be more cost effective when all is said and done, if you can sell the existing system (consider net cost in the end).
My OCZ lasted two years. 6 years for my oldest PP&C.
Get a Mac.
I already was using iMacs all day at school (I use macs in other places too, not just school), they were pissing me off sooo much, mine kept freezing, logout kept timing out, safari wouldn't start and gave me an error message, couldn't run anything USEFUL on it, GAH! And those stupid chiclet keyboards, I love to smash them out of rage.
I wouldn't concern yourself too much with the bandwidth difference with PCIe 1.x and 2.x. You're not going to be saturating the x16 PCIe link with a card like that anyhow. As for the PSU / heat sinks / fans, I recommend checking out SPCR (http://www.silentpcreview.com/). Since you seem to be noise conscious, they're a great resource.
Hook, line, sinker...
Not subtle enough. I saw that one from a mile away.
Hook, line, sinker...
I know. Typical closeted Mac user. ;)
Ah, so because I use macs and don't like them, that makes me closeted? Obviously not everyone who uses them will like them.
Deny deny deny! You are closeted! Wow. I was only kidding, but you really are.
So now that I percieved that you said I am closeted makes me closeted? That really doesn't make much sense...
And you think calling someone closeted because they don't like macs is a joke? That's certainly the strangest humour I've seen.
So I ordered 2 more GB of RAM, it was just shipped today. $64 was the total... half of that was for shipping -_-
Not bad for 2 GB of ECC I guess.
Wait, you paid $32 for shipping? Why was it so much?
but windows 7 is 64-bit,
There's 32-bit Windows 7. I have it myself. To be honest, unless you have more than 4GB RAM, I don't see a point in having 64-bit Windows. I noticed no difference whatsoever between the performance of Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit. The only thing different I noticed was that there is now two Program Files folders. One labeled "Program Files" and one labeled "Program Files (x86)".
Windows XP 32 bit vs XP 64 bit, on same machine:
Athlon64 3200 2.2 (754)
1GB DDR400
GeForce 7600GS 512MB AGP8x
160GB WD1600 7200RPM ATA100 HDD
For general processing tasks, 64 bit was perceived as being at least 1.5 times faster. Game performance also increased slightly (Source engine games).
The improvements in that case could be because XP64 was in fact a TOTALLY different OS, basically Server '03, but regardless...even with less than 4GB of RAM, 64 bit processing does help.
Worth noting: nVidia write crappy drivers. I don't care how unpopular the platform was...they claim compatibility so they'd better get their asses in gear with writing decent drivers from day 1. Not once in the history of the OS or 7 series cards did a decent driver package exist for that mix.
Nah, the Nvidia driver thing was just for XP x64. Rather, XP x64 was a driver hell for just about every piece of hardware you could stick into a machine. Companies just didn't put any effort into supporting it. Nvidia drivers work mostly fine in Vista / 7 these days. The first incarnations for Vista sucked, but they're pretty stable now. At least when they're not introducing bugs that can fry a card...
From my experience, ATI isn't any better. In Windows I'd rate them about the same, but for Linux, Nvidia is superior thanks to official support (albeit closed source). They're both better than Creative on the driver front though!
Wouldn't an IBM iPadistation be cool, 50 lbs,noisy and no actual function. Still better than an iPad though.
I want a real Intellistation, like a 285...
I'd think twice about those high RPM fans. You'd find them to sound a lot more like vacuum cleaners than you'd think.
That's a server. Mine's a real workstation.
...And I'm having an issue with this RAM. For some reason, the computer detects 4096 (even the BIOS; which tests it), but windows (x64) is only using 3 GBs...Are you really sure you are running a 64 bit OS? Same for the memtest.
Even weirder, it's still running in dual channel, and, nothing really makes sense. I tried memtest but I think it ignored the other stick as well (and it got the timings wrong and also said it was DDR1 when it's actually DDR2).
Whatever, I'm just going to ignore whatever is up and be content with my "3" GB....
ISTR something about a "Physical Address Extension" being necessary, particularly for earlier 64 bit systems, to allow proper addressing and so forth. The text "Physical Address Extension" would be displayed in System Properties near your processor info if present."Physical Address Extension" (hereafter named PAE) is a term launched by Intel in 1995 when they expanded the physical address register from 32 bits to 54 and added a "PAE mode" to the virtual memory map.
I really forget the details so if anyone can expand on this, go for it.
Deltas will cut your fingers off.Show Image(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_aHvxYRV8UdI/Rq2NpV_UeDI/AAAAAAAAAC8/pWXH12f7r_w/s320/cut+finger.jpg)
Are you really sure you are running a 64 bit OS? Same for the memtest.
If you do, check that it is compatible with your motherboard, make sure the RAM slot has no dust in it and check if the BIOS runs the stick at the right voltage and clock settings. Maybe you need to update the BIOS or change some settings - just don't overclock it.
"Physical Address Extension" (hereafter named PAE) is a term launched by Intel in 1995 when they expanded the physical address register from 32 bits to 54 and added a "PAE mode" to the virtual memory map.
Basically, it means that you can have more than 4 GB of memory in a PC with a 32 bit OS, as long as the OS supports the PAE mode.
Of course, it didn't resolve everything as programs can still only access up to 4 GB of virtual memory, which is where the whole "32 bit is limited myth" comes from.
If you have a 64 bit processor and a 64 bit OS, it basically works the same as PAE but without the drawbacks of limited processor registers.
Just check Wikipedia's article on PAE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension) for more info.
Delta fans on motherboard headers usually end in tears, the higher end ones in fires and releasing Magic Smoke. The ones I have pull 3A (Yes, 3 frigging Amps for a fan) from the supply. I guarantee you that your motherboard, even by your beloved IBM, will **** itself should the fan attempt that.
Stick it on a molex, 3-4 pin adaptors are cheap enough.
Even if it wasn't, I'm only getting 3072MB, 32-bit would accept something like 3400MB.
Not necessarily, it varies from machine to machine. It can range anywhere from 2.5GB to 3.5GB depending on the motherboard and what sort of hardware is attached.
It's supporting 4GB just fine...if it didn't, the machine wouldn't POST.
Supporting and addressing as usable memory in this case are not the same thing.
The IBM manual says it is supposed to support 4GB of RAM.)
This.
4GB is the Total Addressable RAM. This includes your Main RAM, I/O, VGA etc... as said, it will vary from machine to machine. The best case, if your RAM was not supported would be to see half of it if that is related to chip density, but usually, again this has been said, it won't complete POST.
If you are indeed using a 64bit OS, then something must be reserving memory before your OS kicks in. This is hardware, so playing around in the BIOS may reveal something (Or brick your board... *shrug*).
Nothing was reserving a GB to itself when I only had 2GB of RAM.
The addressing space only has room for "so much". When you only had 2GB, the part of the addressing space used by that other crap wasn't eating up your usable RAM.Ehr, that just isn't an issue on a 64 bit architecture where you can address up to 256TiB.
Since the other stuff takes precedence for the system to operate, if you install 4GB but the system can't give addressing space to everything, you notice a chunk of your 4GB is missing.
Software can only see what can be (and has been) addressed.
Ehr, that just isn't an issue on a 64 bit architecture where you can address up to 256TiB.
Maybe the BIOS simply won't announce more to the OS whereas Memtest and CPU-Z query the hardware directly.
16EiB good sir, not 256TiB.Oops, forgot to add that 256TiB is the current implementation limit.
I wonder if you ran a 64-bit Ubuntu live CD whether it would pick up 4GB or 3GB...Seconded. When you are booting anyway, there might be some kernel logging explaining what hardware it found. I'll take look at my own log directory to see where it can be found.
[ 0.000000] BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009fc00 (usable)
[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 000000000009fc00 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 00000000000e6000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 00000000cfe90000 (usable)
[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 00000000cfe90000 - 00000000cfea8000 (ACPI data)
[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 00000000cfea8000 - 00000000cfed0000 (ACPI NVS)
[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 00000000cfed0000 - 00000000cff00000 (reserved)
[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 00000000fff00000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 0000000100000000 - 0000000230000000 (usable)
[ 0.000000] DMI present.
[ 0.000000] AMI BIOS detected: BIOS may corrupt low RAM, working around it.
[ 0.000000] e820 update range: 0000000000000000 - 0000000000010000 (usable) ==> (reserved)
Currently got 8GB RAM in this sucker (testing some of my brother's RAM sticks) and it seems to be in there somewhere. Mind that this includes device data, but the "(usable)" parts are probably RAM.
I wonder if you ran a 64-bit Ubuntu live CD whether it would pick up 4GB or 3GB...
I seriously want to know how an old Pentium 4 based system has a higher Windows Experience Index than my 3 month old laptop. My laptop rates at 3.9 in Windows 7 64-bit.
I seriously want to know how an old Pentium 4 based system has a higher Windows Experience Index than my 3 month old laptop. My laptop rates at 3.9 in Windows 7 64-bit.
That score reflects the lowest subset score. In your laptop, this is likely your hard drive. If that scores a 3.3, and everything else is a 5, then you still score 3.3. What it probably means, without looking at the subset score, is that his HD is faster [strike]then[/strike] THAN your HD.
it is 3.4 Ghz.
Gasps! That's like... a 2.2GHz Athlon 64?
That score reflects the lowest subset score. In your laptop, this is likely your hard drive. If that scores a 3.3, and everything else is a 5, then you still score 3.3. What it probably means, without looking at the subset score, is that his HD is faster then your HD.
Incorrect, everything on my intellistation scores 5 and above, the processor is rated 4.2. The only reason WHY it scores 4.2 is lack of multi-cores.
Emphasis is mine. Reading comprehension 101, you might want to enrol kiddo.
Late model P4s...in fact virtually any P4 for that socket...are actually pretty kickass chips, and very competent still.Yeah, my P4 630 (3GHz with SSE3 & 2MB of cache) kept up just fine with the SL-42 Sempron in my brand new laptop... (2.21ghz)
I think they're missing an instruction set or two, and they're VERY inefficient heat/energy wise, but for raw performance they've got what it takes to keep up...
Early P4s, forget it. They're like dogs, but not just dogs...dogs without legs.
How goes the overhaul, IBM?
It doesn't work like that.
A computer has a memory map to which every piece of memory is given an address. This includes your RAM, but it also includes any cache memory any device on your system has, the memory of your graphics card, and a certain portion of the top segment of memory is reserved by the system. (this amounts to a few hundred megabytes in a 32-bit system, and was the same reason why you could only access 640K out of 1MB in DOS, which was designed for chips with a 20-bit address bus)
RAM is generally given the lowest priority, so if there's any overlap, the system will give the addresses to other things before RAM. That ~1GB was always mapped, but it never would have eaten away at your RAM when you only had 2GB installed as there was enough space for both the 2GB of RAM and the ~1GB of system resources on a 4GB table. Same story if you have 3GB in, but once you get into 4GB, there's conflicts, and the system recognizes that it has 4GB, but only makes ~3GB or so available.
EDIT: Damn you Kishy... =P