I did it again and built a new PC
Written: Dec 21 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fast-stable-Vista Premium ready
Cons: Nothbridge heatsink in fromt of PCI-e x1 slot-too big to fit TV tuner card in
The Bottom Line: I recomend buy-easy to install all hardware
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| dragon1's Full Review: MSI K9N NEO-F V3 Motherboard |
Here I go again
I had built a new PC in May of this year. I thought it would last at least a year. The problem was that I enjoyed building a new PC and getting it to work with Vista too much. Thing is I only buy Vista Certified parts so I really have no problems getting Vista to work. I had been Beta Testing Vista since July of 2005 dual booting Vista/XP, dual booting because Vista did not have drivers for the chipset yet. Since February of 2006, all of my hardware has been installed and working with Vista. I was still dual-booting with XP but I very rarely went to XP because I thought and liked way better the way Vista worked. The only time I used XP when beta testing things for MS or having to fix my granddaughters PC.
Intel or AMD???
I could choose Intel which would give me higher performance than AMD has at this time. But I choose to use AMD as I get more for my money. Which by the way I don't have much of as I live on Social Security and only have about $100 to $150 a month to spend on my toys. Which means it usually takes anywhere from 6 to 9 months to buy all the hardware, that I don't already have. I have used AMD CPU's since the late 80's, plus I've had very good experience with them.
Why?
Why build a fairly Hi Mid Range PC, When I'm not a Gamer? As I have said before, I'm retired so I'm on my PC for 10+hours a day. Watching TV or recording TV movies plus surfing the web, writing reviews like now or even recording 2 TV shows at the same time or beta testing for MS. I have also recorded 2 shows at once and watched a DVD movie with no lost frames on any of them. By using Premium parts I build a PC that will handle everything I throw at it.
My System
AMD Athlon 64 X2 AM2 5200+ (2.6gHz)
MSI K9N NEO V3 motherboard
2 GB Dual Channel DDR2 6400 800 MHz memory(Ultra Products)
Biostar GeForce® 7600GS, (512 MB) PCI Express Graphic Card
AverMedia UltraTV 1500
AverMedia Combo TV tuner (Analog/HD TV)
Media Center Remote
Seagate 320 gb 7200 rpm S ATA v3 harddrive
2 Lite On LH-20A1H DVD±RW Dual Layer Burner
Ultra V-series 500watt PSU
Ultra Media Reader
Power Up Computer Case
This Thing is HUGE(Update on DVD movies)
Acer AL1717BBM LCD 17"monitor
What is in Ultimate for you? You decide.(Partition Magic not needed)
Is Vista better than XP?(Partition Magic not needed.)
I chose this motherboard as my last build for this was V1 of the same motherboard. It worked very well with Vista Ultimate that was on that PC. Which now runs Vista Home Premium Upgrade and I use it as my secondary computer(works very nicely also). So I now have 2 PC's,one with AMD AM2 64 X2 3800(2ghz) running Vista Home Premium and one with AMD AM2 64 X2 5200(2.6ghz). Both of my computers would not be certified as Vista compatible but would be certified Vista Premium Ready computers. Vista Performance Index for this setup is CPU 5.2, Memory 5.9, Graphics 4.9, Gaming Graphics 4.8 and Primary Harddrive 5.6, as can be seen here performance is fairly nice and the total cost for building this was about $700 not counting the cost of Vista Ultimate. For about $120 more I could buy Vista Home Premium OEM to put on this PC.
Building a PC is actually easy. One of the main things I do, is when I get a new(to me anyway)Motherboard. Is to read the manual usually, taking the whole day just to familiarize myself with all the connections and cautions. By buying the best premium parts I can afford, I have found gives you the best experiance with either XP or Vista.
A few of my other reviews
I wrote a review on another computer I built back in June of 2005, this included the way I chose and build my PC, which by the way no matter what CPU you use be it Intel or AMD, it may help. This review took me 4 weeks to write as I wanted to help anyone(esp someone who has never done it before) who wants to build one of their own with as much information as I could provide.
How I built my AMDx64 computer(Updated Motherboard/Vista/CPU/Power Supply info)
I can not guarantee that you will not have trouble assembling a PC, I have assembled more than a few PC's and I have made mistakes assembling them plus I have spent more than a few hours finding where I made the mistake. First time I built a PC it sat on my bench for over 2 hours before I got the courage to turn it on. My wife would have made my life hell if it had burned up(Her 5'4" less than 100- lbs Me 5'11" 200+ lbs-plus she scares me) hehe.
Now here I list how to install Windows XP on a computer with Vista installed. You like Vista but you need XP to run some programs that does not run on Vista(why not Dual Boot.) How to install XP on Vista PC without re-installing Vista .
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 90
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Epinions.com ID:
dragon1
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 in Computer Hardware, Software |
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Member: Michael L Hereid Sr
Location: Clinton, Iowa
Reviews written: 71
Trusted by: 70 members
About Me:
I'm back-was without for 2 1/2 weeks -will catch up rating asap
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