New PC finally done w/ pics
 

I just wanted to thank everyone who replied to my earlier thread. I finally got my new system put together and mostly stuck with what I had originally planned, but I did make a few changes. Here's what I wound up getting...

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
MSI K8T800 "K8T NEO-FSR"
Corsair XMS Xtreme PC3200-C2PT DDR400 ..1 gig..
Sapphire RADEON 9800PRO 128M (Thanks Lasereth.. great card/great price!)
Sony CRX230E-B2 52x32x52 CDRW
Samsung SFD-321B Floppy
ANTEC True430 Power Supply
22" NEC/Mitsubishi SuperBright Diamondtron MultiSync FE2111SB

I had originally ordered the same ram, just the ECC version, which would not work with the MSI Motherboard. Now I have to pay the damn restocking fee. I also changed my mind about getting the nForce based board because I heard they hinder the 64's performance a bit.

The HDD's I took out of my old PC, so I did save a few bucks there. I'm probably going to have to take that extra cash an get a new power supply. I had all three of my HDD's powered up and my system would get to the welcome to windows screen and shut itself off.. so I unplugged one, and she fired up just fine. That Athlon must really suck up some juice. No biggie. :D

Thanks again everyone and here's some pics to enjoy...

http://members.cox.net/smontegut/pc1.jpg

http://members.cox.net/smontegut/pc2.jpg
***the flash from my camera makes the monitor look B-R-I-G-H-T***

http://members.cox.net/smontegut/pc3.jpg

Thanks again for everyones input.

Damn nice computer, messy!! I'm glad you got it together, and I'm even happier than the videocard came through alright. I want one really bad.

How about downloading 3d Mark 2001 and 2003 and posting some scores? :)

-Lasereth

Not sure which i envy more, the tv/screen or how you can actually see your desk... I've almost forgotten what one looks like.

no floppy? :o

looks like a really nice system, enjoy!

Nice, a UT2k fan.

Well, I ran 3d Mark 2003 and got a score of 4935. I think it should be a little higher, so I'm going to see if there's any tweaking I can do. Does it automatically test it at a resolution of 1024x768, or should it be set at 800x600? This was the first time I've used it, so I may have screwed something up.

I also ran 3d Mark 2001 and it gave me an error message that I need to have directX 8.1 (I think that's what it was). So no score there, unless someone knows the problem. I'm running dx9 currently.

And hell yeah I have a floppy! See it in the top bay? I had to cut one of my extra bay covers and rig it up in the large slot because my HDD's took up all the 3.5 room :D That's my first floppy drive since '98. I forgot how slow and loud they are.

Yes 1024x768 is the default, and theres a patch you can get for 3dmark2k1 i beleive that lets you run it in Dx9 environment.

Decent setup. You should of gotten a black case to match your monitor. Also you might want to clean your cases i.e. fingerprints o plenty.

Very sweet, but one question: What's that blueish looking thing in the front, it looks kinda like a radio/equalizer?

that's awesome! I hope it performs to expectations. Let's see some benchmarks on 3dmark2001 and 3dmark2003 :)

I really like the front inputs and the floppy in the 5 1/4 bay. awesome

Damn man, my PC gets about 1,200 on 2003. :) My old PC got about 5,900, but it was an OC'ed Barton and 5900 Ultra (256 MB).

I've been looking for a fix for that, can you give any more info or a possible link? I hate having to fuck up my system just to get 2001 to run. Thanks!

-Lasereth

advice for ya: Turn the brightness on your monitor down a bit. They come from the factory set artificially bright to impress you, but the colors aren't as natural AND you'll wear the monitor out faster.

Now that I actually looked into it, turns out the 3dMark2001 SE pro has the patch built into it. IF you still have an older version, you can use this: http://www.futuremark.com/download/?...001patch.shtml

I finally got 3dMark2001 to run with the dx9. Looks like you need build 330 for it to run with dx9. My 3dMark2001 score is <b>14794</b> with 1024x768x32 (all defaults)

oh, and..

That's a <a href="http://www.newq.com/product/e-PLATINUM.asp?menu1=04">NewQ Platinum</a>. It's exactly what you thought it was, an EQ with an FM tuner. It's doesn't have much functionality, except looking cool and having a nifty remote to control volume (but mine somehow fell off my desk into the garbage can :( )

The brightness is down. It just looks like that because of the angle that I took the picture from. Only complaint that I have with this monitor is that the corners are a <i>little</i> blurry. But it seems almost all 21" or 22"s have that problem.

I used the same case from my old 'puter in order to save some cash. And I'm not too concerned about fingerprints ;)