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Seinken

Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2006
Location
London, England
Ok heres the story, I'm an 18 year old kid getting ready for college right now.

I have a job that pays 8$ an hour, I pay absolutely no bills, no insurance, no loans anything right now.

I have about 1000$ left to spend on whatever I want, but I'm alotting about 500$ for this final project I think...

I've already chosen that I want a new PSU. I *THINK* I'm going to go with an OCZ GameXTream but I'm really wary of the whole dual/quad 12v rail deal. I will be overclocking so a stable overclock and the ability to power all my peripherals is all I want here.

After I buy that, I'm left with about 350$ or so. Something like that.

Anyway, my system is in my sig but I'll re-outline it to show what I have anyway.

DFI Ultra-D
Opteron 165 (stock hs)
1x eVGA GeForce 7900 co (600/something, forgot my memory timing lol.)
2x1gb G.Skill PC4000
2x WD 74gig Raptors.
1 cd/rw dvd rom combo rdive
1 cd/rw drive
Air conditioner cooling entire system.
Chenming Full Tower Case (don't know exact model, it's under a thread called Abominable Chenming)

Temps are about 17 Idle, and 39-40 Load.

The video card is prety much the same except the idle is the exact same as the load.

I've got about 350$ to spend as I said above, and I can probably allot a little bit more if absolutely needed. I like modding. I own a dremel and a hundred other small tools that i probably don't even know the purpose of. If your idea involves modding I might even give that a shot.

My first idea was get another 7900 co omg! Then again, I can't really complain about 200fps in CS:S when my monitor can only support a 100hz refresh rate lol. Can't tell my oblivion fps atm because well, it's not installed lol.

My second idea was to start a new watercooling setup, and frankenstien my awesome AC unit to make a wicked cooler, and find a way to mount the thing to my system. Only downfall to that is it would take quite a bit of time, which I'm kinda hard pressed to find nowadays. Either way I figure this would be pretty fun.

Those were my two ideas, does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? I've got about 7 hours to play with since I'm doing an audit at my hotel atm and well, it's not exactly the hardest of jobs.
 
Temps are about 17 Idle, and 39-40 Load.
WTF? That AC is working its arse off.

I wouldn't worry about split rails. A good PSU has one good strong 12V rail. However, if you still want one, I suggest the Silverstone ST-60. Can be had for ~$150.

As for what else? I say try the WC plunge. It's fun and will bring those load temps way down.
 
Yeah lol, the AC i have is massive. it weighs at least 120pounds.

It also sucks a crapload of electricity, if i plug in even the smallest appliance (alarm clock) there goes the circuit breaker. =P

I'll take a look at the silverstone here in a bit.
 
I went and looked up that powersupply, seems to fit everything I want, although it's modular. I hear bad things about modular psus, such as shaky lines etc, I also heard someone refer to the electronic interference being equal to that of like 10 feet of cabling? Although that makes sense that's like telling me my vacuum cleaner will work better if it has 1ft of cord rather than 10ft.
 
I wouldn't say it's that bad. You're just putting another connector between the wall socket and your mobo. If by shakey lines you mean dirty power, that's just not true.

I really can't recommend other PSUs cause I haven't really used the big ones other than the ST-60. I can say that Silverstone makes excellent PSUs, some that aren't modular.
 
My advice, Your going to school, Money will be at a premium when that happens, Save your $$, You have a very nice rig right now. That way if something unexpected comes up you have some rainy day money stashed away. I know, My suggestion is boring, However I also know how tight money gets with school, No matter how much you plan ahead and think you have plenty of cash, It runs out!!!
 
I save 2k every summer for college and I blow it rather fast at school, you don't realize how much you drain your parents when you are at home compared to school, if that totally isn't an issue, and you don't have a sick lcd monitor thats where I'd spend my money. Or buy some klipsch pro media's 5.1 surrond sound computer speakers they will blow you away.
 
updawg said:
I save 2k every summer for college and I blow it rather fast at school, you don't realize how much you drain your parents when you are at home compared to school, if that totally isn't an issue, and you don't have a sick lcd monitor thats where I'd spend my money. Or buy some klipsch pro media's 5.1 surrond sound computer speakers they will blow you away.

I 2nd the LCD monitor. If you're using a CRT, chances are it will take up way too much desk space if you live in a dorm. Or a good set of headphones would be nice if you're going to have roommates.
 
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