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hi just wondering i fi was doing damage to my computer. basically my second hard drive has ALL my files like media etc. it gets pretty hot, just wondering if this was normal. will it fry or anything?

Reply 1361

sufiankane

2

its normal, cooling the hard drive will extend life. It is best to get a program like.....cant remember but there is a program that reads the SMARTGART on a hard drive, it is like a set of tests that tell you how healthy your hard drive is. if it is too unhealthy replace it and back up files.

Reply 1362

sr4470

15

Speedfan can read hard drive temperatures.

Reply 1363

TheConfuddledOne

10

I am looking at getting a new desktop at home that can play some of the latest games, so quite frankly i need a top of the range computer as my old one no longer has the specs to be able to play these games. Any advice on what company i should buy from or particular computer deals you have seen that look really worthwhile checking out?

Reply 1364

cutcopy

I told the company I wanted it primarily for sound recording.

"Mini Tower Case
Socket 775 800FSB System Board
Intel P4 2.8Gb Dual Core Processor
Floppy Drive
1Gb Memory
Creative Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit External - sound card
160 Gb SATA Hard Disk Drive
DVD Re-Writer
PCI-E 256Mb Graphics card
Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2

£649 which can be made cheaper if you want lower specifications of anything
(i.e. DVD writer)"

Reply 1365

theArchitect

I'd be tempted to double the RAM to 2GB and increase the size of the drive (or add in an additional drive).

Also, the Sound Blaster Live! cards are quite old now, there might be a more up to date one - have a look at the Creative website.

Reply 1366

cutcopy

I've had a 40gig drive for the past few years and not had too many issues. I'd be recording mainly songs, guitar songs. I have a drum machine etc. Nothing too proffessional, but I do want low latency..

I turned my nose up at the live! card too. The XFI is the lastest one I think.

Reply 1367

nepali_babu

hey guys also, just wondering, why is my internet connection really limited? im on wanadoo 2.2mb, and after recently formatting my computer its been really slow. for example i used to get speeds of upto 90kb for a download, not its hovering at about 2kb, also on limewire it always says fair connection.
i have disabled the windows firewall and opted for ZoneAlarm and i now use AVG could this be the reason?

Reply 1368

AT82

OP

What power supply are you getting? This is very important, cheap ones a just bombs.

Reply 1369

cutcopy

I'm not sure. I'm also looking at this PC.

Tower
Core 2 Duo (which I've been told is much more advanced than P4)
XFI Sound Card (£52 off overclockers.co.uk and are more recent/powerful than soundblasters, although I'm not 100% sure on whether it's the best for recording music or not)
nVIDIA 7900GS Gfx Card
1gb DDR2 RAM
160GB HDD
DVD RW
Microsoft Windows XP PRO SP2

Also for £650

Reply 1370

AT82

OP

Make sure you know what PSU you're getting otherwise your entire house may burn down or at the very least you may loose your PC in 6 months time.

I repair a lot of PCs and I have seen the damage cheap PSUs can do and also suffered tempory hearing loss as a result.

Reply 1371

Talon

18

A good psu doesnt take everything else with it when it goes...good old thermaltake...not that I want to touch a tt psu again.

Reply 1372

sr4470

15

Dr Shrestha - I'd recommend Sygate firewall over zonealarm. As for downloads being slow, there could be a whole number of reasons..you'll have to give more detail for me to suggest a solution.

TheConfuddledOne - Are you able to build your own or know someone who can assemble parts to build a PC?

Reply 1373

Talon

18

What would be the best sub £150 mobo for overclocking a certain E6600 that I intend to get?

Reply 1374

Jaffaholic

Talon

What would be the best sub £150 mobo for overclocking a certain E6600 that I intend to get?

£150 its pretty much take your pick. Do you want crossfire? If so youll have to go for a 975x board. Otherwise id recommend a p5b deluxe.

Reply 1375

Talon

18

ghost101

£150 its pretty much take your pick. Do you want crossfire? If so youll have to go for a 975x board. Otherwise id recommend a p5b deluxe.

I doubt I will want crossfire. Reason being by the time I want a second card there will be DX10 cards out, so pretty pointless buying another DX9 card if I want to run DX10 games. 1 ATI card has always done just fine in the past. I see no reason why an x1950xt will be any different :smile:

.

Reply 1376

Jaffaholic

Before you make a terrible mistake. Do not whatever you do buy an nforce4 motherboard for the core 2 duo.

Reply 1377

Jaffaholic

Talon

I doubt I will want crossfire. Reason being by the time I want a second card there will be DX10 cards out, so pretty pointless buying another DX9 card if I want to run DX10 games. 1 ATI card has always done just fine in the past. I see no reason why an x1950xt will be any different :smile:

.

In which case you should choose a 965p motherboard. Heres a nice list

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=5&subid=565

However, do not buy a motherboard from overclockers.co.uk , they are very overpriced. Out of those id recommend the p5b deluxe as before. Also, some actually say crossfire supported, however its only one pcie16 channel witha nother pcie4 channel. The 975x motherboards support it properly.

The 965p motherboards actually overclock better (higher FSBs) but 975x can overclock with better timings. IMO it isnt worth spending the extra money for a 975x board.