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 Re: KFC
Posted by Dark Tree on Wed Sep 7th at 9:49pm 2005

As the description suggests, my computer (main computer) is fried. I think my power supply had been bad for about a month, but I didn't do anything about it because I'm a tool. The comp is at a techie friend of mines' house and he is doing a bunch of testing to see if it is just the motherboard or the motherboard + processor. So anyway, I have a few questions...because I 100% trust the validity of his answers:

1. When a power supply is going out, can that fry your system? and if so.....

2. Can it fry your processor, too? And if so.....I am probably going to have to get a new motherboard and possibly a new processor. So,

3. What motherboards/processors should I consider?

I am PRETTY heavy duty hard on my computer, do a LOT of processing stuff. I HAD a Soyo Dragon computer, AMD Athlon XP 3000+ processor, 1 gig of ram, GeForce 5700LE 256 MB vid card.

Anyway....main question is.....what motherboard should I get for mid-high performance for AMD?




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 Re: KFC
Posted by Crono on Wed Sep 7th at 10:40pm 2005

Well, yeah. If a power supply is "going" that means it could supply too much power or whatever else. It can fry anything in your computer. It's all connected and one big ass circuit.

I'd suggest looking at the 64-bit front for a new system. But there's a good chance the motherboard is fine, since it isn't the end of the line for power. Usually the processor, or cards hooked to the board get the final blow ... and short. Chances are just the processor would need to be changed.

But, I wouldn't say anything for sure, since I haven't seen it ... it's just a guess.

But, yeah, 64-bit, pipelined processing, and lots of ram is the way to go right now.

I wont bother suggesting actual hardware, since you'll get ten people suggesting ASUS and ATI combinations only.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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 Re: KFC
Posted by Dark Tree on Wed Sep 7th at 10:56pm 2005

Thanks. I also just got off the phone with him.....he now (after some prelimanary testing) thinks my motherboard might be fine, as you suggested. It may be just the processor.

I'm sure my Soyo Dragon motherboard is 64-bit chip COMPATIBLE but if it will really make a difference is something I am interested in knowing.....

In other news I wish I had a million dollars to make a computer that could actually handle my tasks...in ten years I haven't had one yet that was as hardcore as I needed it to be (high performance gaming, huge video editing processes, video converting, mapping etc). I ALWAYS end up killing my computer because I push the s**t out of it. PS, I don't even know how to overclock, so that isn't the issue.

I don't think I will be satisfied until a Cray is plopped in front of me.

Anyway...thanks for checkin out this thread, Crono. I'm just so freaking bummed about my computer being out of commision right now....it pisses me off...haven't had it in over a week.




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 Re: KFC
Posted by Crono on Wed Sep 7th at 11:09pm 2005

Yeah. Faulty power supplies suck. I suggest, when you buy another (make sure he actually checks if the power supply is good ... it might not have been the power supply at all, the CPU could have fried on its own. It's happened before.)

Well, see, that's the thing, Video Editing is weird. It doesn't take normal requirements, kind of like 3d modelling computers. They don't really need a high cpu speed, just large reservoirs of memory and GPU memory.

If you want, give an amount, and I'll suggest something, based on what you use it for.

Also, I really doubt your board supports AMD XP AND 64. They're different socket types ...

Such as if this is the board you have: it doesn't support 64.

The MSI Neo8 ... whatever ... is a pretty good deal, it's well under $200, supports 64, all FX and even X2. SLi ready (which limits you to Nvidia cards, sorry. ATi has no equivalent being heavily used yet) Supports 4GB 400 Mhz ram (unless using dual channel) ... SATA and PATA (new name for ATA 133 [IDE]) Gigabyte lan, which is useless unless you have CAT6 cables ... 8channel audio (I think ... )

In any case it's the board I'd buy. The only problem with it is that it requires a different CPU then I've got (irrelevant to you, since your's is probably gone) and it's PCI-E, so that means I don't have a Video Card to work in the thing ... which is the main reason why I don't have one yet ... which I can only assume, is the reason a lot of people haven't gotten better boards yet. Video cards are expensive.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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 Re: KFC
Posted by Dark Tree on Wed Sep 7th at 11:25pm 2005

Well, I also got a new power suply in there. I DID have a PowMax 400 watt (which was probably running at like 370) and I installed a few days a go a new power supply. It is an Antec TruePower 2.0 430 watt.

However, he said he tested my power supply (the old PowMax one) and he said it was relatively quite and running just fine...which flips me for a loop. However , the problem still remains...when the comp gets turned on, Windows won't load....just freezes on the motherboard information. I took the HD out and put the HD into my old computer and it loaded it, so I dunno what's up......at least my 160 gb drive isn't wasted....

The power supply may not have been the issue, but it was making a little racket for about a month....and then it was making a LOT of freaking racket....loud and disturbing one day when I turned on the computer (about a week ago).

I don't think I can upgrae to PCI-E as I dont have the mulah to get a new card.

? quote:
Video Editing is weird. It doesn't take normal requirements, kind of like 3d modelling computers. They don't really need a high cpu speed, just large reservoirs of memory and GPU memory.


how much memory do you think I need? What is GPU mem? I have two 512 MB DDR sticks....and when I try to edit video (in Adobe Premiere 6.5) it takes SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GODAMN long to process just the simplest of tasks....




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 Re: KFC
Posted by Crono on Thu Sep 8th at 12:47am 2005

GPU memory is the memory on your video card. Since a Video Card is just a miniaturized version of your motherboard-memory set up, except the GPU is like a chipset and CPU all put together.

Yeah, premiere is just ... slow. I've never had it running smoothly. But, I do know it's a memory hog. If you're serious about video editing, I'd recommend getting some gig sticks and just maxing out your ram. Not to mention, you'll notice large increases in speed doing everything else too.
Another problem could be the virtual memory allocation, you may not have enough. I recently noticed that Windows seems to prefer using VM as to physical memory ... which sufficiently pissed me off. I got a message saying that "Virtual Memory was full" and that the page file was being made larger ... I looked at the amount of physical ram I had available: 256Mb/512Mb.

I mean ... it's really not suppose to use physical ram for swap so, I really don't know why that much ram was being unused.

Anyway, It sounds like you may have a HDD problem. I wonder, does it detect the drive? If it doesn't, there's a good chance the logic board is being anal ... or is simply "gone". An easy way to check is to make sure the drive spins, if there's no physical blockage, it's the logic board (the place that the power and IDE cable hooks to it at the end of the logic board).

But ... I can tell you right now, if the computer boots ... at all ... it isn't the CPU. If the CPU was fried the most common thing you'd hear are fans roaring up for half a second then silence.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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 Re: KFC
Posted by rs6 on Thu Sep 8th at 1:59am 2005

There are alot of programs that will test your hard drive for functionality. I'll post some when I find them.

edit*
It shoudl work on all brand drives, if you have problem try looking for a diag tool for your brand of drives.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/IBM-Hitachi-Drive-Fitness-Test.shtml
If you have a maxtor HD try this one:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/Powermax.shtml



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 Re: KFC
Posted by Crono on Thu Sep 8th at 2:34am 2005

What a useful link, since SMART doesn't really account for logic board problems.

Most testers I found (before) require Windows to run ... which , obviously, is ridiculous, since that's the entire problem.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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 Re: KFC
Posted by Nickelplate on Thu Sep 8th at 3:29am 2005

Actually, crono. You can use Gigabit network with CAT5e cable, which has replaced regular CAT5 long ago.


I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com



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 Re: KFC
Posted by Crono on Thu Sep 8th at 3:51am 2005

Yeah, but that's as fast as it goes. Also ... if you goto the store there is still a difference between a Cat5 and Cat5E cable.

Such as, if you get your house "networked", they use Cat5, since Cat5E diminishes after about 100Ft. (Or you use Cat6 for long stretches, but that costs more).

But, they didn't replace it, it's just more common. But, yes, they both work. It's harder to find Cat6 cabling though.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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 Re: KFC
Posted by Nickelplate on Thu Sep 8th at 4:07am 2005

heck, we've stretched CAT5e up to 300ft and never had an error or anything. We don't use CAT6 except for our patches between out gigabit backbone.


I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com



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 Re: KFC
Posted by Crono on Thu Sep 8th at 5:02am 2005

The point is: your network goes as fast as the slowest part ... usually that's the physical cable(s).

In any case, they both work for a home environment. I'd just suggest faster cable at the points that would receive more stress (the cable going from your modem to the router/hub/switch, whatever)

As for signal loss, it's just what I've heard, that's all. I do know that my house is connected with CAT5 though. It really sucks, it only goes 10Mbps upstairs image I do have a 100Ft CAT5E cable though ... but I only use it during LANs to go to the garage.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.




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