[Nuke]

now that i got this new quad core rig i thought id fix up my old c2d rig. i was able to get the mobo/cpu/ram combination to boot by hooking up the new psu to it, it booted and allowed me to run diagnostics. everything tested ok. the bios complained that it had a bad checksum so was obviously fried. i did manage to boot the thing once on the auxiliary bios that asus boards tend to have. i mounted the mobo in a case and cant get it to boot again. it was like a $200 mobo but i might just replace it. the tests revealed that my c2d e6700 processor was good as was the 4gb memory (4*1gb @ 800 or 667). the mobo passed but i know the bios is shot to some degree. the mobo is iffy and the power supply questionable.

so i want to fix that computer while spending as little money as possible. so i need a good cheap mobo thats less than $60. il also need a not too beefy psu, id say something in the 500 watt range. psus i usually buy by ratings and expect to spend at least 80 bucks there. window for this build is about a month or too so i can wait for sales if theyre not to far out.

also dont bother posting links to newegg, im already scouring every mobo on that site looking for one that will work. i found this one but i dont like its rating.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186102

and this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135022

this one too

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186101

though ive never used one of those brands before.

[Bob-san]

The Foxconn P965 would probably be best choice. Avoid ECS like the plague. And The Foxconn X975 isn't the best choice, period.

[Mars]

Hey, this is probably a stupid question, but it is somewhat related.

How much does Hypertransport speed affect performance?

[Bob-san]

Hey, this is probably a stupid question, but it is somewhat related.

How much does Hypertransport speed affect performance?

Not that related--two different breeds of machines. HT is AMD's IC tech. But just to answer your question, it's an interconnect technology. Basically it tries to provide more bandwidth and less latency to a processor--actually ideal for multi-core designs and more-so for multi-processor designs, where two or more processors need a faster way to communicate to each other.

For that reason, AMD has seen such great success with dual-Socket 1207 and quad-Socket 1207 systems--they have processors that communicate faster and more effectively.

By extension, Intel is making the next upgrade to be a HyperTransport-esque QPI, which will be more to boost the performance of dual-processor designs as well as, by using an IMC, boost the performance of single-socket systems further.

[Nuke]

ordered the p965 and this psu

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182030

its got a good rating good price and i own one so i know it works.

[Bob-san]

ordered the p965 and this psu

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182030

its got a good rating good price and i own one so i know it works.

...

you fail.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104037
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151040

Rosewill = crap power supplies.

I always direct people to three manufacturers--PC Power & Cooling, Seasonic, and Fortron Supply. There are links to two better power supplies within a few dollars of the piece of **** you bought already.

[Nuke]

psus are a big grey area. they all lie about the true specs of their psus. the only real useful data are the user ratings. when an item has 5 starts.  85% of the 233 people who bought that psu didnt have a problem with it. considering most people on newegg are kids building their own rigs, i find that rating very good. also i know its a good one because i bought the same model for a replacement of one of my old computers a few years ago. its been chugging along at least 3 years without a glitch. from that data id say i picked the right psu. as they say, the evil you know.

[Bob-san]

A word of advice then... make sure it's in the best-ventilated case you can possible find/put together! The Fuhjyyu caps tend to die of heat--if they're cooled effectively enough they should last a while. The unit as a whole isn't HORRIBLE, but there are many better choices for the price. If you were going for a new PSU and it had to be Rosewill.... RP500-2.

Anyways--there are a few good manufacturers of power supplies, not just branders. My favorite for overall quality on everything are Seasonic units. They make and brand their own units and supply to Corsair for their HX series, as well as Antec's 80 PLUS offerings.

[Mars]

Cooler master makes excellent cases... and who else would use newegg exactly Nuke?

[CP5670]

All Rosewill products are rebadges of other things. They're Newegg's house brand. Some things are good and others are not.

The units Bob-san posted would have been better choices as they're proven performers, but that Rosewill one is probably not that bad and has a high percentage of 5s given the number of reviews.

Hey, this is probably a stupid question, but it is somewhat related.

How much does Hypertransport speed affect performance?

It's been a while since I looked at AMD processors, but increasing that did basically nothing for two cores a few years ago.

[Bob-san]

Cooler master makes excellent cases... and who else would use newegg exactly Nuke?

CM is on the up-swing for cases. I personally like tanks of cases--I'm eying a Chenbro eATX case because it's not going to fall apart. Still, Lian-Li and Silverstone, as well as rebadges such as those Rocketfish cases from BestBuy. Other than that, I've had particularly good success with XClio, as they are solid cases with unique features, such as 25-36CM fans that you stick on low an forget, though electrical tape has solved the LED crisis...

All Rosewill products are rebadges of other things. They're Newegg's house brand. Some things are good and others are not.

The units Bob-san posted would have been better choices as they're proven performers, but that Rosewill one is probably not that bad and has a high percentage of 5s given the number of reviews.

Hey, this is probably a stupid question, but it is somewhat related.

How much does Hypertransport speed affect performance?

It's been a while since I looked at AMD processors, but increasing that did basically nothing for two cores a few years ago.

Rosewill doesn't manufacture anything of their own. Their power supplies are particularly spotty--one unit is a good one from a good manufacturer, another is a bad unit from a spotty manufacturer. While computer power supplies are particularly "dirty" all things considered, high-end power supplies (Seasonic, better Channel Well, &c) last longer, deliver their promises, and will probably not kill anything. My favorite review thus far?
http://jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=71
That article is particularly funny. It also exhibits the point that cheap PSU != workable.

And for the AMD processors, I've heard that the quad-core Phenoms are doing better with HT3.0 v. HT2.0, but the entire idea is still relegated to DP and QP systems... it's not really for SP systems.

I've not seen a review of 95% of the shoddy PSUs out there, though there are a few particularly bad. On the other hand, you could have got the Antec Trio 650 ($130) from NewEgg for $60 after using the code 'EMCAHBFCH'.

[Nuke]

heh, that was a good review, very comical but since the computer my rosewill will be going into is not ever gonna play crisis, and will have at most a midrange geforce 7 in it. what can i say, i suck at buying power supplies. i wish there were more reviews like that one on the net. i personally think someone needs to call shenanigans on the whole psu industry. ive had good luck buying psus in the past. cept for maybe the xion that fried my $240 asus bored from last year (and that took a catastrophic failure in the weather, and april blizzard that became unstable when the sun came up and shined on the snow, thus causing an avalanche and took out the high tension lines to the hydro plant, and a bad startup of several backup deisel generators AND THE GOD DAMN LACK OF GROUND WIRING IN THE HOUSE WHICH RENDERED MY SURGE PROTECTOR USELESS ). i did get it to boot on the new toughpower unit im running in the new rig, but its already doing stuff and i cant afford another one.

[Bob-san]

heh, that was a good review, very comical but since the computer my rosewill will be going into is not ever gonna play crisis, and will have at most a midrange geforce 7 in it. what can i say, i suck at buying power supplies. i wish there were more reviews like that one on the net. i personally think someone needs to call shenanigans on the whole psu industry. ive had good luck buying psus in the past. cept for maybe the xion that fried my $240 asus bored from last year (and that took a catastrophic failure in the weather, and april blizzard that became unstable when the sun came up and shined on the snow, thus causing an avalanche and took out the high tension lines to the hydro plant, and a bad startup of several backup deisel generators AND THE GOD DAMN LACK OF GROUND WIRING IN THE HOUSE WHICH RENDERED MY SURGE PROTECTOR USELESS ). i did get it to boot on the new toughpower unit im running in the new rig, but its already doing stuff and i cant afford another one.

If you don't know what you're doing, there are only two brands to buy from. PC Power & Cooling and Seasonic. PCP&C is probably out of your price range, though Seasonic has a few OEM supplies of their higher-end models. The only differences are generally 8cm fan v. 12cm fan, a few less connectors, and no black paint. The SS-500ES for $66 is a particularly sweet deal.

[CP5670]

If you don't know what you're doing, there are only two brands to buy from. PC Power & Cooling and Seasonic.

There are many other brands that offer good power supplies.

It's always best to go with one of the reputable brands, but at the same time that doesn't mean that everything else is crap and will explode right away. There are some units that go under the radar but are relatively decent and will run a typical system fine, even if they aren't as good as the well known units. Although on further examination, I think that Rosewill one is not in that category; just skimming through a few pages reveals a rather high number of DOA stories despite the overall score.

[Bob-san]

If you don't know what you're doing, there are only two brands to buy from. PC Power & Cooling and Seasonic.

There are many other brands that offer good power supplies.

It's always best to go with one of the reputable brands, but at the same time that doesn't mean that everything else is crap and will explode right away. There are some units that go under the radar but are relatively decent and will run a typical system fine, even if they aren't as good as the well known units. Although on further examination, I think that Rosewill one is not in that category; just skimming through a few pages reveals a rather high number of DOA stories despite the overall score.

It's easier to just tell someone to buy a Seasonic or PCP&C, versus have them go to BestBuy or whatever their local brick&mortar and be sold store-brand power supplies, CoolMax power supplies, Powmax, or any number of others that may very well blow up. Rosewill has been pretty spotty for power supplies. CWT is usually pretty good as an OEM, as is Seasonic and a few others. Most others are just crappy designs for cheap power supplies--such as 300W max units that are advertised as a 550W unit--they trust that a person sees big number and hopefully they'll run a low-power rig with it, that'll be within the actual specs and won't fry.

[CP5670]

It's easier to just tell someone to buy a Seasonic or PCP&C

That can also be said about 10 or so other brands. Corsair, Enermax, OCZ, Silverstone, Enhance and some others all have very good offerings (some are just rebadges of others). That Seasonic you posted is a nice deal for the price though.

Most others are just crappy designs for cheap power supplies--such as 300W max units that are advertised as a 550W unit--they trust that a person sees big number and hopefully they'll run a low-power rig with it, that'll be within the actual specs and won't fry.

Well, that's the point. Most systems will in fact fit under such a limit, and a decent PSU (not one of the big brands but not bottom dollar either) will usually work fine with them. It's true that a high quality PSU is important to have, but at the same time I see a lot of people heavily overstating power requirements on these things. The only consumer systems that are likely to use over 330W or so for the actual components are ones with multi-GPU setups or a large number of hard drives.

[Bob-san]

It's easier to just tell someone to buy a Seasonic or PCP&C

That can also be said about 10 or so other brands. Corsair, Enermax, OCZ, Silverstone, Enhance and some others all have very good offerings (some are just rebadges of others). That Seasonic you posted is a nice deal for the price though.

Again, it's just easier to say PC P&C or Seasonic, though if I'm given a budget I usually look at FSP Supply as well, as they make good OEM units too.

Most others are just crappy designs for cheap power supplies--such as 300W max units that are advertised as a 550W unit--they trust that a person sees big number and hopefully they'll run a low-power rig with it, that'll be within the actual specs and won't fry.

Well, that's the point. Most systems will in fact fit under such a limit, and a decent PSU (not one of the big brands but not bottom dollar either) will usually work fine with them. It's true that a high quality PSU is important to have, but at the same time I see a lot of people heavily overstating power requirements on these things. The only consumer systems that are likely to use over 330W or so for the actual components are ones with multi-GPU setups or a large number of hard drives.

Yes, it is the point. Most of the time a person can just get the crappy 300W'er and be fine, but once they try upgrading they kill their systems. For the type of people I deal with online--I find them a quality unit because they're most likely to be gaming or doing heavier usage or upgrades.

[Nuke]

thats why i got 550. assuming the top 150 watts is unatainable. no plans to upgrade cept perhaps a new video card. one with stereo friendly drivers (sence i cant use my stereo glasses on my good rig because of the 64bit os and nvidia's lazyness in driver development).

[Bob-san]

thats why i got 550. assuming the top 150 watts is unatainable. no plans to upgrade cept perhaps a new video card. one with stereo friendly drivers (sence i cant use my stereo glasses on my good rig because of the 64bit os and nvidia's lazyness in driver development).

Even so, Seasonic SS-400ES is overall better. Oh well--just don't count on too much with the supply.

[CP5670]

Again, it's just easier to say PC P&C or Seasonic, though if I'm given a budget I usually look at FSP Supply as well, as they make good OEM units too.

Well, it's just misleading to say that "there are only two brands to buy from," especially since those two particular brands do not have the best deals in many price ranges. Except for that 500W one you mentioned, most of the Seasonic and PCP&C units are too expensive, with similar units (in some cases identical rebadges) often available cheaper.