Dave,
What do you think of Systemax's build to order? I have seen them but have not read any reviews?
Do you have a link?
When I build a system my priorities are 1) quiet and 2) cool. I don't overclock, but I did build a water cooled machine once to get rid of the fans.
Does Systemax have anything along those lines?
Feel free to take this off-list. I would hate to bore all the HP3k-L readers with all this boring computer stuff. :-)
-Craig
--- On Mon, 3/21/11, Dave Powell, MMfab <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Dave Powell, MMfab <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Motherboards & hardware diagnostics
To: "Craig Lalley" <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
Date: Monday, March 21, 2011, 5:16 PM
Most of the hardware problems I've seen get past the POST ok, then Windows crashes. Then boot-from-CD w/o Windows diags trundle along for a half hour or so (after I find the CD) and proclaim that the cause is such-and-so.
I have lists of beep-codes somewhere. But when my PC was crashing a few weeks ago, nothing beeped (well, except maybe the censors beeping me out :)
Sigh, someone here wants a fast new PC now (the owner, so...). I really would have liked to wait for Sandy Bridge to infiltrate Systemax's build-to-order line, but it wasn't there as of Friday. I'd actually have preferred to wait for Bulldozer and/or Llano to come out and get lots of reviews. Oh well.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Craig Lalley" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2011 16:28
Subject: [HP3000-L] OT: Motherboards & hardware diagnostics
Dave,
It's been awhile since you built a PC? :-)
The new motherboards have built in error code LEDs, similar to the LED on the old HP3000. During the boot processes, codes flash, i.e 1F, FF, etc
If the issue is memory a specific code will flash, indicating the DIMM (sorry, I don't remember all the codes). Granted these are on the higher end mother boards.
If you are shopping now. Watch out for the Sandy Bridge chipset issue. Most of those boards have been pulled from the market, best to keep your eye out.
Also, right now would be a good time to wait for Intels z68 chipset, due in May.
What type of system are you trying to build? Inexpensive, mid-level or workstation?
-Craig
--- On Mon, 3/21/11, Dave Powell, MMfab <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Dave Powell, MMfab <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: OT: Motherboards & hardware diagnostics
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Monday, March 21, 2011, 4:20 PM
Looks like I might be putting together a new PC by buying components from NewEgg instead of my normal build-to-order routine.
Does anybody know if there are any significant differences in hardware diagnostics that come with motherboards from different manufacturers? (Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, etc).
I'm thinking mostly about boot-from-CD diagnostics. (Don't care about Windows troubleshooting and wouldn't expect that from a mobo company anyway).
Good diags can save a lot of hassle, for example when a PC crashes and one support person says it looks like Windows corruption, but memtest86 (downloaded it because that box came with only lousy diags) says memory errors and the new memory they send fixes it. Or when replacement memory doesn't fix a problem but good Dell-specific diags say "DMA error" and replacement mobo fixes it.
That's the kind of diagnostics I want. But I'd rather they come with the hardware if possible, partly because I've had bad results with diags older than the machine, or diags intended for other machines, partly to save the hassle of downloading new diags, and partly because the only diags I have seen that could tell the difference between bad memory and bad DMA were machine-specific ones that came with the boxes.
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