The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

With SSDs it's important to stick with simple, proven technology and not worry about buzzwords.

 

Totally would agree with that, hands down.

 

Steveo,

Looking through all of those old cars brought back a lot of pretty good memories. Back in the day I had a real sleeper with a Dodge Dart Swinger that had a blown 440/Six Pack engine. I don't know what the guy did to it, but it blew the crankshaft completely out of it. It looked like "entrails" under the motor. I replaced it with a 426 Hemi I had recently rebuilt. Turned out 447HP on the dyno. Man, could that thing sing bass, with 2 Carter AFBs on it! We always thought AFB stood for Awful F-ing Big! LOL!! It would pass anything but a gas station. I never lost in it!

I think the main thing with SSD's and not getting carried away with the specs, is if you're happy with it, it's all good!

BTW, here's a pretty good deal on an Adata 32GB C003 flash drive.

http://www.supermediastore.com/prod...c003-32gb-usb-flash-drive-blue-retail-package

Tough to beat for just under $20! Copy's from the hard drive at better than 1 GBPM.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

That Dart was a great car, I had a Jr High buddy that had the six pack setup and it was very fast with all of that BHP on such a lite body. The down side was in MN they would rust out real quick. I would have loved to play with a 426 Hemi and those Carter's were great carb's however they really drained the fuel. But so did my Holley and actually the Rochester Spread bores were much better for efficiency.

I had a really nice mint 65 Impala SS 327 but unfortunately in poor weather I wrapped it up in a sound barrier wall on a freeway. My cousin had the 68 SS and I really liked that, very nice car.


Another nice but newer car I had was a 1987 Fiero GT. This is what it looked like but mine was much nicer.


I belong to Super Media Store as well and saw the great deal on that ADATA SSD, you're right you can't beat the deal.

Fun stuff,
Stevo

 

Ugh reminding me of the millions worth of cars my dad has had and sold over the years. Still has pictures of several very rare ones. As he tells it, he was simply a dumb kid who didn't know or care what he had. Now I look back at pictures of his '67 Firebird with the rare interior options and experimental(produced for one year only in limited numbers) straight six racing engine. His was in A1 show car condition and one just like it recently sold for $110,000. He sold his some 20 years ago for $5000. We saw it in a car show last year all rotted out and poorly maintained, still sporting my dad's original paint job. Just about knocked him out

 

I owned 3 of them, an 87 4 cyl SE, an 88 V6 Formula, and an 88 GT. Most people don't know, but it was probably the best handling American car ever built, and an absolute blast to drive, if you had the balls! You darn well better know what you are doing behind the wheel though. Believe it or not, it also had a 5 Star crash rating! Both the Formula and the GT could go over 150 mph in fifth gear. Even the 4 cyl with the 4 speed automatic w/lockup converter would do a wink over 120 on flat ground. I drove one that had an Olds Quad 4 in it, and it was impressive. Noisy though!

SuperMediaStore just came through for me again. I have 2 Brother printers, an HL-1240 and an HL-5140. I bought a pair of toner cartridges and a drum unit for each, and it cost me $105 delivered. Outstanding!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

My 6 cycl. 87 GT could easily do 150mph the only issues with that was the large tires and light weight which made it easy to spin around if you were not careful. But you're right it was an extreme performer I was going to add a dual waste gate nitro system to it, unfortunately I sold it before doing so.

I love SuperMediaStore too, they have almost always been good for me and when things were not right I could easily work with them to straighten any issues I've had with them. I've been using them for close to a decade now.

Stevo

 

Never was much for compact sports cars but the Fiero will not be denied. I had an '88 V6 Formula with an automatic for a short while and it was a blast. Started burning oil and other such horrible problems. Later found out the previous owner had put the wrong torque convertor in it, and it had been revved well over the redline several times. It had the right torque convertor by the time I got it, but it was too late to save the engine. Only regret it wasn't manual.

Have the same 2.8L V6 in my Camaro. Good little engines but not much power. Seemed a LOT more fun in the Fiero. Currently seeing what I can do without forced air induction. New cam, heads, headers, aluminum intake, etc ie the works. Plus a 2 barrel Weber carb from an '87 Fiat X9 Bertone. Seems Fiat took a few things from GM's book in their time together ;P Cbf'd to find the CFM raing ATM but it's a substantial upgrade from the bogged down crap the General fitted her with.

There was even an intake heater sandwiched between the carb and intake, and that was just horrible. Clogging up the intake and basically heating any intake air, even after the engine was up to temp. I guess GM had the idea that since fuel burns cleaner once the engine is up to temp, heating the intake air would help cut down emissions. Well, I've had an exhaust sensor on the car, and without the emissions crap, it gets better ratings than the car did stock...

 

Not a surprise on the emissions issue as that was a learning period and forced cleanup by the gov. There were definitely some hokey things about the Fiero but like Russ said it was a joy to drive and one other thing I didn't mention is at high speeds you didn't feel like you were going fast, you could be at 100mph and still think you were only going 50mph.

The 2.8L was a good engine but was really under powered for its rating unless you upped it to a 3.2L with other performance upgrades like you touch on. Stock in a Camaro it wouldn't perform as well as you have a heavier car and loose in the drive train as compared to the mid engine design of the Fiero. At least you didn't put it in a Firebird as they were extremely heavy.

 

This is an '82 Camaro Berlinetta.

 

I had a '85 in 1987, red of course.

 

Estuansis,

Fiat X9, now that is one twitchy car to drive, and loses the back end way too easily. You get almost no warning that you are about to spin, and if you touch the brakes at all if it starts to go, it doubles as a top! LOL!!

I want a Genesis Coupe, built the way a fast, good handling car ought to be built. Front engine rear wheel drive. Americans still don't know how to build good front wheel drive cars, which makes it even worse. The Japanese cars aren't much better either! About 8 months ago I raced a guy I know in his brand new 370Z from San Bernardino to Perris, via Reche Canyon. I hadn't driven more than a dozen times since Christmas 05, and I still beat him by 12 minutes and change, in a then new Genesis Coupe. I saw all the shrubbery sticking out of the grille and air dam of his Z and just laughed. Seems he had a few off road excursions. LOL!!

With the Fiero, I warn people all the time that if you hear tires squealing, slow down, because you are getting perilously close to the edge of grip. If you know what you are doing, you can drive very aggressively, and never squeal the tires. I got rid of the stock low Profile tires and rims on my Formula, and replaced them with 70 series radials of the same circumference. Made a much better handling car out of it! Almost perfect!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I would have thought the 370Z would have done better? Maybe it was the driver??

 

Steveo,

When I moved out here in 2000, I went to get the emissions certified. CA has this crazy deal where they can only charge so much, and it's almost always the top figure. The guy gives me an estimate for all the extras he said I needed to pass, and I said forget it, it passes right now. He says that I needed a new Cat Converter, that I didn't have one. Even when I showed it to him he said it wasn't a Cat. I had to get all the paperwork out and show him it was a Walker Platinum wire type that breathed far better than the stock GM piece of junk. I finally wound up telling the guy to put it on the machine, that it will pass. He asked me how I knew that, and I told him that I had already run CA's test on it before I left Nevada, and it passed with flying colors. He finally conceded and hooked it up, and got some of the lowest numbers he had ever seen in a GM 2.8 liter V6. I paid for the certificate. No extras! LOL!! Bunch of crooks!

BTW, How's your 955BE doing. I'm still thinking about the FX-8150 for mine. Hey, I have to do something before I die, right! LOL!!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

You got to love that about emissions especially in CA, LOL.... They were very anal here in MN but have now lax'd back off thankfully. Your right that aftermarket quality parts are much better then the OEM stuff especially with converters.

I still love the 955BE one of the best deals I've ever got but I would like to get the FX-8150 next as I think it is better than some give it credit for around here and certainly cheaper than an old Intel 2600 which still goes for $280-$300, plus other over priced necessities.

Say if you still want to send your Sceptre monitor out feel free, shipping might be costly so it's up to you.

The best of,
Stevo

 

Steveo,

No. I know him for about 10 years and he can drive. I've driven his car, and to me it lacks balance. It feels nose heavy when you drive it and loses front grip quite easily. It's actually slightly lighter than the Genesis Coupe. It just doesn't have great balance The big difference is the rpm it develops maximum torque. The Z develops 327 HP with 270 ft lbs torque @5400 rpm, the genesis delivers 333 HP with 291 ft lbs @4500 rpm. It should have better acceleration out of the curves and turns without having to resort to a lower gear, to keep the torque up. He also went off the road a number of times trying to catch me, and had to pull all the shrubbery out of the grille and air dam, as the car sits very low. The road is very twisty, with a lot of up and down hills. The Course is about 45 miles long. If he had the optional roll bar kit, which is an expensive option, he would have done better. It isn't a part of the sport suspension package like it is on the Genesis, and the genesis is slightly lower geared. Top speed for both cars is about 150.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Ha Russ, that sounds about right for CA. Bunch of crazies! lol

Know this wasn't aimed at me specifically but it applies

Fantastically well, and I'm a gamer with fairly decent video cards so that's saying something. Have tweaked my OC a bit, but otherwise as nice as the day she was new. Turns out my video cards are still the bottleneck for my favorite games, so it even has some un-tapped power to spare for future upgrades

Would have long ago replaced it, but because gaming has such peculiar power requirements, it simply hasn't been necessary yet. On the fence between Sandybridge/Ivybridge and waiting for a better revision of Bulldozer. It has tons of promise and good value, but simply isn't what I'm looking for. A Phenom I -> Phenom II-esque refresh would have me extremely interested.

 

Video cards are always a bottle neck with the latest games, it costs a lot of money to stay up to date for gaming.

I'm waiting for the Itchybridge Intel's.... LOL

 

Stevo,

I would have sent the Sceptre sooner, but having to move twice in less than a month took a lot out of me, and we are still not completely done, although everything is here. I have one speed left! Dead slow! LOL!! We just today finally got most of the shed we built for garden tools and such done. We just have to tar-paper the roof and shingle it and it will be finished. Then we can breath a little bit.

From all I've read about the FX-8150, it's quickly become a very big seller. The i5 2500K, and the i7 2600k are just about the only Sandy bridge chips that big Blue has, selling these days. None of the Ivy Bridge chips are doing very well at all. I was stunned that Ivy Bridge didn't have a bigger turnout on AD when it launched, what with all the hype. Certainly nothing like when the C2D and the 6600 Quad launched. There was hardly anyone one on the building and overclocking threads, for weeks! One thing is for certain, no one is rushing right out to buy them.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Estuansis,

At the rate things are going, I would wait for the fire sale! LOL!! Intel's cheapest 6 core is the Core i7-3930K, at $590, almost 3 times more expensive than the FZ-8150 Zambezi. The other two 6 cores are over $1000. Unless you need 4 way SLI/Crossfire for heavy duty gaming, I couldn't see spending almost $600 for the CPU. Add a medium priced MB (which you will need) and you are looking at around $750 for the MB and CPU alone. If you want it for 4 way SLI/Crossfire, you are looking at $340 for an ASUS P8Z77 WS LGA 1155 Intel Z77 motherboard, unless you can run 4 way with two dual video cards? Biostar and MSI had motherboards with 4 PCIe 16x slots, but both were flawed, as some of the slots were too close together to use with two port video cards. Like Steve says, it get's expensive to game at that level.

What get's me the most is all the Smack from the Intel fans on various sites and in reviews. Another thing I don't understand is why there is 22 Dual Cores in Intel's lineup, 14 of which are Sandy Bridge? Dual Cores are dead except for entry level and upgrades for older tech, so why so many, especially the six that aren't selling? AMD has 6 Dual Cores, and 2 of those are last chance Regors that are being phased out. No box, 30 day warranty, The remaining 4 are 2 Llanos and two Phenom II x2 Callistos, which make perfect sense to keep in the lineup. 2 entry level's with On Chip Graphics and 2 upgrades for any AM2+ motherboard. The Llano's have better graphics than the Sandy Bridge to boot! Like I said, wait for the fire sale!

Best Regards,
Russ