• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Good machine for Photography/Image processing

If it's not too late don't go with an ATI based card as you might want to use icc monitor profiles which would be discarded by the ATI CCC drivers, forcing you to use the basic 2D driver only (limiting the cards settings).
Nvidia works fine.
 
'Tis a done deal, in fact the first box arrived the day you posted. :)

The one thing I couldn't decide on what to do with was the CPU cooler, not so much for added cooling, but for quieter operation. I'll assemble everything and see what the noise level is, and go from there. I did notice that they can get quite heavy, some ~double the weight of the stock fan.

FWIW, my orders were made on Monday at ~3:00, and the case from Provantage.com arrived here in SFO Wednesday from Ohio (!!), whereas the ClubIT from southern CA arrived the next afternoon. The Newegg order is due today.

This is exciting! Any particular pitfalls to avoid, thing to do? Grounding myself to my car is something I do while swapping chips, so I presume the same should be done when working with the CPU (to the case, not my car :) ), and when subsequently handling the Mobo once the CPU is mounted? I see there are "wrist straps" available, but I presume this is something that is more for production work, correct? I'll be standing on a ceramic tile floor and working on a P-Lam counter for assembly.

Any preferred tutorials I should look at? I found this one among the many hits from a search, though I have only scanned through the pages: http://www.mysuperpc.com/
 
 
Great, thanks.

Last box got here, and I realized I forgot a 3.5" floppy. No hurry for that as it is for getting car stuff files to and from my old laptop. I guess I'll put one in later.
 
How old is your laptop? no USB ports? You can also transfer it over the network, if it has a LAN port.

Which parts did you end up getting?
 
Antec P182 case
Corsair HX520W PSU
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R and Intel Q6600
4GB Patriot Extreme Performance DDR2 800 (2 x 2GB)
MSI NX8500GT-TD256EH GeForce 8500GT 256MB 128-bit video card
2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB HDs
LG GSA-H55NK DVD burner

The laptop is ~7 years old (W98 O/S) does have one USB, and I'll presume it is functioning. Why?

Aw cripes. Flash drive, right?
 
Just now getting kinda started. A bit nerve racking putting the CPU cooling fan on the Mobo. Took quite a bit more pressure the vid showed.

Anyhoot, there are no marking on the modular outputs of the Corsair PSU. Does that mean it doesn't matter? Seems odd, what with the seven precise specifications giving exact volt and amp limits, and seven outputs. Here's a PDF ( http://www.corsairmicro.com/_productbriefs/Corsair_HX_PSU_Product_Sheet_English.pdf ) where near the bottom there is a pic showing the seven outputs and the spec's.
 
Doesn't matter. Just plug them where ever you need them.
 
It is built, between NFL playoff games, but not fired up yet. I'll wait until tomorrow and read through the Mobo manual BIOS stuff first so I'll hopefully be prepared to grind right through it.
 
I got overwhelmed and was ready to give up, due to mass confusion trying to understand the manuals. I was ready to give in and take it somewhere to be setup, but instead I just took a break. Now I'm giving it a shot, but can't get to step one.

Upon startup, the Gigabyte Logo Screen (or the POST Screen) should come up and stay, as I understand, but instead the Logo Screen flashes for a moment and then the machine immediately goes looking at the disk drives for a boot disk. I don't want to do that. I'm setting the the HDs as RAID1, and according to the Gigabyte manual there are setting I need to change in BIOS first.

How do I make it stop looking for a boot disk?

Edit: BTW, I tried hitting TAB and DEL when the Gigabyte Logo Screen was present, with no change.
 
As soon as you power on, start hitting the delete key. It will search for drives then enter the BIOS.
 
dang it...

So "press the delete key" in the manual really means, "press it many, many, many times as soon as the screen even flickers!" Why don't they just print that?!?! :)

Thanks, I'm back at it.
 
Some displays and video cards init earlier than others, so the amount of flickering you're describing varies a lot machine to machine. They probably should at a line like "if it doesn't work start pressing "DEL" as soon as you turn on the power" or similar though.

Also, easiest way to keep from being overwhelmed by manuals is to ignore them until there's a problem. ;)
 
XP is up and running (yeah!) on the C drive / Disk 0 (shows 29.2GB; I allocated 30GB for that partition), however, D is not accessible and apparently needs to be formatted. Problem is, when I clicked the OK button to format D, it showed the capacity as 29.2GB, whereas I expected it to show ~470GB.

I found my way to Disk Management, and it appears the D drive is actually Disk 1, partitioned the same as Disk 0 (29.2GB), but it is empty. I guess the RAID1 setup didn't work, or it would match the C drive/Disk 0. Looks like I might have to start over, but I don't know what I would do differently. Or maybe the RAIDing starts now? And how can I tell if the RAID1 is working correctly? If it is working, can the second HD be seen and accessed via Windows Explorer? Can I just copy over the contents now and go from here??

Before I do anything else, should I go ahead and finish formatting both HDs?

Lastly on this post, should I be asking about this stuff on this thread when it is all software related, or some other sub-forum here? I continued here since it was very related. I just want to avoid stepping on toes, protocol and all.
 
I honestly know jack about RAID, so hopefully DannyBui or enginurd can help out there. I know the software varies depending on the RAID controller. I'm assuming you'd be using something from Intel, with a P35.
 
So I want to get this straight. You created a 30GB partition on each drive for RAID 1 correct? Or did you set up both drives in RAID 1 and then created a 30GB partition on the now single drive?

But remove the second drive from your PC and see if it still boots up into Windows. Then, set see if Disk 1 or D: show up again.

Also, please post a screen shot of your Disk Management Window to help us visualize the setup.
 
Thanks, Danny, and sorry for the delay getting back on. I tried, but the site was down.

The problem was user error. Call it the NooB factor, but i DID figure it out!! :)

I *thought* I had set up RAID 1, and then created partitions to load the OS, but it turns out I missed a step in the RAID setup. I went back in to BIOS and did a complete job that time, and reloaded XP. Now it looks correct:

Disk Management:
Disk 0
Basic - 465.75 GB - Online
(C) - 29.29 GB NTFS - Healthy (system)
436.47 GB Unallocated
CD ROM 0
DVD D:
No Media


BIOS Disk/Volume Information:
Raid Volumes:
ID - 0
Name - RAID1Volume0
Level - RAID1(Mirror)
Strip - N/A
Size - 465.8GB
Status - Normal
Bootable - Yes

Physical Disks:
Port - 0
Drive Model - ST3500320AS
Seria # - 9QM04L8f
Size - 465.8GB
Type/Status(VolumeID) - Member Disk (0)

Port - 1
Drive Model - ST3500320AS
Seria # - 9QM02BGB
Size - 465.8GB
Type/Status(VolumeID) - Member Disk (0)

Now, how can I see that Disk 1 is actually mirroring Disk 0, or does one just have to trust that it is?
 
Final Update

It was a bit painful, but it is done!

After getting it running, one of the HDs failed, the one in Port1. Didn't matter what cables I used or which port it was on, it just wouldn't be seen. Once the replacement arrived, I decided to reload the O/S so that I could allocate a bit more to the O/S & apps partition due to Vista needing so much room (I hadn't checked into that). Even though I am currently running XP, I wanted to have have the space available now so I wouldn't have to deal with it AFTER all my s/w was loaded.

Unfortunately, that started a two day downward spiral. Among other things, loading he O/S again I was asked for the XP Product key, which failed to work. I'm using the XP disk that came with my Dell 4 years ago. Contacting Microsoft, I was told to get a new Key from Dell, which they refused, saying the disk they provided would only work on the original machine. I argued telling that I had already had it up and running once, and that I was simply doing the same thing again to repartition. I was told that i do not own a license to put it on another machine and that they would not help; I would have to go to Microsoft. Back and forth, I was ticked and I still want Dell to pay up!

After starting over a couple times, for some reason it skipped the Product Key part and it took. MS provided a new Activation number the first time I loaded it, and it worked again, so I was off and running. Between chores, it took a several days to get the rest of the s/w loaded, and move all the profiles and data. Anyhoot, to shorten this up, it is working great and the RAID1 already proved itself (even though I still reloaded), which I thought was pretty cool. Programs come up real fast, and the bit of photo rendering testing I have done is blazingly faster than my old machine - ~3 seconds vs. 45 seconds when doing a side-by-side. Friggin' amazing.

Thanks for the help and for giving me the confidence to do this.

Dean
 
Feels good to know you did it yourself, right?

Just wish we'd known your copy of XP was Dell OEM -- could've told you all that was going to come up. They're pretty hardcore about licensing.

Glad to hear it all worked out in the end. Stay [H]ard. ;)
 
Good to know everything worked out for you in the end.

Though for someone whose does photography, we haven't seen any pictures of the PC yet.......:)
 
silent-circuit, yep, feels GREAT! I know I'm still closer to the stupid end of the scale with computers, but at least I have a bit of a clue, now.

Dell is pretty tough to deal with, but I figure I have it running now and more than likely we will be moving to Vista eventually, so feg 'em. :D

Danny, next time it is shut down I'll disconnect everything and pull it out of the cabinet and snap some shots. The cabling isn't as pretty as others I have seen, but the thing works, so I'm happy. Goodness, the amount of space in there compared to old Dell case! One thing I did fail to notice was the depth of the case, though. Friggin' deep, so we may need to consider other placement options. We really don't want it up on the work surface, but options are limited. For now it just sticks out the front and back. :)
 
What?!?! no pics?!?! no evidence that you put it all together and not some shop?!? :p jus messin around... but yah, pics when u get a chance will be much appreciated. ;) I actually meant to reply about the RAID thing earlier, but the board went down for me as well, lol. Anyhow, I, too, am glad you got it all worked out.
 
CD/DVD drive/writer: LG GSA-H55NK (~$34 shipped)

I'm starting to use the computer more, and ran into an issue with the DVD burner. I loaded a bunch of home movies onto the HD via the above drive from DVD-R disks. It seems to have no problem reading these DVD-Rs, or any of my old burned data CD-Rs, but when it comes to loading blanks to burn onto, the burner only recognizes DVD RAMs. I have also tried CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD-R (which I intend to burn most of my stuff on, I have ~ 75 left).

The burner typically shows up as "DVD-RAM Drive (F: )".

When I insert a CD-RW it changes to "CD Drive (F: )", and when I click on it a window pops up: "Disk is not formatted. Windows can not read from this disk. The disk may be corrupted, or it could be using a format that is not compatible with Windows."

Inserting a CD-R (my usual data disk), DVD+R or DVD-R (my usual DVD disk) it changes to "CD-Drive (F: )", and when I click on it or try to drag files to it, a window pops up: "F:\ is not accessible. Incorrect Function."

Any suggestions on what to do? Bad drive or is there something I'm not aware of?

Thanks,

Dean
 
You should try updating the firmware. Check LG's site if they have any new firmware revisions.
 
There apparently is a 1.05 that I'm looking into now. The procedure seems a bit complex (fingers crossed...) :)
 
Complex? If it works like LiteOn/Sony/most others I know, you just download one of two things:
1. a self-flashing app that has the firmware and the flasher in a single EXE. Take any discs out of the drive, run the flasher and point it at the drive, wait, pray the power doesn't go out
2. a flasher app and a firmware update (usually .bin) file. Take any discs out of the drive, run the flasher, point it at the drive and the firmware update file, click ok, wait, pray the power doesn't go out.

Praying to deity/deities of your choice. Either way not very complex, though in engrish it may seem so...
 
silent-circuit, complex, for me. :)

On http://club.cdfreaks.com/ there is talk of having to get WINRAR (now I have to buy something else??), and following certain extraction procedures including changing file extensions, shutting down Antivirus software, disconnecting from the web, etc. Seems kinda ridiculous to me. I much prefer you one-click solution, and that's kinda what I was expecting.


On LG's site I found this:

New firmware (ver. 1.05) for only GSA-H55N(Internal 20X Super multi DVD Writer) Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows Vista
GSA-H55N 1.05(EW).zip 898K

http://ca.lgservice.com/index_b2c.jsp (one has to select the "Device Driver" link, then "DVD-ROM(Writer)", and the file is the 7th down)

I downloaded this Firmware file from LG as well as the instructions, which includes, "Download the file GSA-H55N_1.05(EW).ZIP to a folder of your choice. This download includes this "Read me(ew)" text file, as well as the GSA-H55N_1.05.EXE program, which will auto-update your drive's firmware."

Well, it is not a zip file, or let me say, I wouldn't recognize it as such and neither does my computer. I checked some of the other downloads by clicking on them and they actually come up as a .zip file, but not this one.
 
You can just use an evaluation of WinRAR. Don't have to buy anything. Also, I <3 CDfreaks. Used to hang out there a good bit.
 
Sweet. Thanks.

Renaming "GSA-H55N" to "GSA-H55N.zip" worked. I guess sometimes one just has to take a swing at something and see if it hits, eh?

I needed nothing else. I simply turned off AVG, clicked on the executable file, and it was done. Rebooted and now the drive recognizes the other disk types, or at least the ones I'm concerned with. Kinda surprising that it didn't have the correct firmware to begin with, though.

Thanks,

Dean
 
Many drives ship with old firmware. And many companies improve the firmware, so even if it does work, it may work better with a firmware update.

most people say: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
engineers say: If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features.
 
About the XP OEM and Dell thing, they owe you nothing, when you bought the dell you bought the OS for that system only, OEM is a non transferable license, period.
 
Thanks. Yeah, I know about that now, but they never said anything about it when I bought it, and there is nothing in my documents saying so either. It is just one of those things a consumer might find out about later down the line. It is touted as a "pre-loaded O/S to save you time", yet they fail to mention that you don't actually own it? C'mon, there's something sorta deceitful there, wouldn't you say? Those in the know, know, but those not in the know, lose out.

It's the last time Dell sees any of my money, if I have some other choice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top