# Hello, I need help with building a computer!



## XoX_Paty_XoX (Nov 11, 2008)

Hello there,  My boyfriend installed Adobe Photoshop CS4 extended for me yesterday. Unfortunantly, It works so slowly for me that I cannot use it properly . My boyfriend then asked me to see if I could find the correct parts to a build a computer from scratch. So  here's what i came up with: 

Please help me improve it  

AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HD985ZXAGHBOX - Retail
(By the way, What's the whole deal with the black edition stuff? it sounds sort of racist :confused) 

ECS NF650iSLIT-A (V1.0) LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Patriot Viper 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model PVS28G6400ELK - Retail

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 100243-1GL Video Card - Retail


Will these work? I want a fast CPU and and a good quantity of memory so that I can use photoshop and play Team Fortress 2 in high resolution. 

Thanks for all your help!


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## andrewsmc (Nov 11, 2008)

If going quad get an intel :\ I have a Q6600
2x4 may be a bit overkill unless using vista
Good pick with the HD4870
Operating system? Hard drive?

Also i dont think your motherboard and CPU are compatable


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## spearman914 (Nov 11, 2008)

You might suggest switching intel. You'll get much better performance out if the box. You don't need 8 GB, 6 GB is probably max for a gaming system.

Mobo:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299
CPU: For a lot of GFX editing get a Q6600, for immense gaming E8500
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209


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## Kreij (Nov 11, 2008)

Remember that you will need a 64 bit OS to use all that RAM (If you don't have one already).


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## andrewsmc (Nov 11, 2008)

Awesome suggestions Spearman


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## spearman914 (Nov 11, 2008)

andrewsmc said:


> Awesome suggestions Spearman



Not that awesome. I post the same suggestions in almost any system builder thread i viewed.


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## panchoman (Nov 11, 2008)

Sorry babe, but





 

but besides the mismatched motherboard/cpu combo and picking a crappy phenom and not realizing that you need a 64 bit os(don't worry i'll install it one day when i hang out at your house) , you weren't that far off 

now lets see if you can fix it up


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## Kreij (Nov 11, 2008)

spearman914 said:


> You don't need 8 GB, 6 GB is probably max for a gaming system.



I heartily disagree 

Anyway, it depends on what else is being done with the computer.


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## andrewsmc (Nov 11, 2008)

spearman914 said:


> Not that awesome. I post the same suggestions in almost any system builder thread i viewed.



I just liked it because that mobo is one HOT seller. Everyone has one, Including their mom!


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## spearman914 (Nov 11, 2008)

panchoman said:


> Sorry babe, but
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Solution is to trim the CPU!


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## XoX_Paty_XoX (Nov 12, 2008)

Holy crap baby, over 6000 posts! How the hell did you find time to do that?  

Also guys, how about
 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
for the cpu?

Oh by the way, why in the world would they call it core 2 quad when it should be core 4 quad?


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## spearman914 (Nov 12, 2008)

XoX_Paty_XoX said:


> Holy crap baby, over 6000 posts! How the hell did you find time to do that?
> 
> Also guys, how about
> Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
> ...



Cuz it's series not core count. Like tri-core phenom. Core 3 sounds stupid. 6K posts is easy in 2 years. Someone here got 14K. Wile E??

Edit: just noticed ur pancho's gf.


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## panchoman (Nov 12, 2008)

don't forget the psu  can't wait to see what you do for that one hahahaha. 

and spearman is right, core 2 is the series, not the core count.. however don't they call tri-cores phenom x3's?


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## Kreij (Nov 12, 2008)

Is Pancho paying for this system?
If so that changes everything


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## panchoman (Nov 12, 2008)

i'm paying partial. her parents are gonna be paying ~500-700 and i'll be paying the rest.. depending on what her parents pay me, it'll be around 1-1.2k budget.


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## sneekypeet (Nov 12, 2008)

Couldnt you possibly just add more ram to the existing system and get the app to run a bit better. Seems alot of cash to throw at a rig just to get one app running right!


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## panchoman (Nov 12, 2008)

sneekypeet said:


> Couldnt you possibly just add more ram to the existing system and get the app to run a bit better. Seems alot of cash to throw at a rig just to get one app running right!



ehhh its a lappy, i don't think there are any open dimm slots and if there are, the cpu would slow it down anyway. 

she plays tf2 cnc3 and warcraft3 with me sometimes so it'd be nice if she could play at a good res too(imma give her my bioshock later on). photoshop really needs a lot of ram and cpu power, and gpu acceleration really really helps.


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## Kreij (Nov 12, 2008)

@Paty : I'm thinking that if Pancho is only willing to basically match what your parents are kicking in, he really doesn't love you as much as he's telling you


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## sneekypeet (Nov 12, 2008)

no problem , I was just making sure she really needed to lay out the loot to go all new1!!1!!1!!111


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## XoX_Paty_XoX (Nov 12, 2008)

Hey guys, what about PC Power & Cooling T12W 1200W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail? Pancho's PSU guide link says that PC Power & Cooling makes good PSU's and I found this one on newegg as well. I'm not sure if it has enough power though, this is a very powerful system that we're building .


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## Kreij (Nov 12, 2008)

1200W is way overkill. You can easily get by on a 650 for what you are looking at.
My system (in specs) runs fine on a 750.


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## XoX_Paty_XoX (Nov 12, 2008)

Kreij said:


> @Paty : I'm thinking that if Pancho is only willing to basically match what your parents are kicking in, he really doesn't love you as much as he's telling you



What? That's a little wrong don't you think? I mean he's paying quite a lot for me, and it's not like we're evening like fiance's or anything..... 
I think he loves me a lot and I think I'll stand by it for the time being.
Kreij, sorry but


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## panchoman (Nov 12, 2008)

XoX_Paty_XoX said:


> Hey guys, what about PC Power & Cooling T12W 1200W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail? Pancho's PSU guide link says that PC Power & Cooling makes good PSU's and I found this one on newegg as well. I'm not sure if it has enough power though, this is a very powerful system that we're building .



DAMN. that's actually a really good brand that you picked, my favorite actually, though 1200 is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy overkill.. i would go for something around 600-700w as kreij suggested.


@ kreij,  how could you say that? -_-


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## XoX_Paty_XoX (Nov 12, 2008)

panchoman said:


> DAMN. that's actually a really good brand that you picked, my favorite actually, though 1200 is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy overkill.. i would go for something around 600-700w as kreij suggested.



And I bet you thought I was going to pick some horrible PSU didn't you? Well thanks for the PSU guide link convientently at the bottom of each of your posts . Oh by the way, how do you add the R.I.P-Megan thing at the bottom?  I miss her


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## Kreij (Nov 12, 2008)

XoX_Paty_XoX said:


> What? That's a little wrong don't you think? I mean he's paying quite a lot for me, and it's not like we're evening like fiance's or anything.....
> I think he loves me a lot and I think I'll stand by it for the time being.
> Kreij, sorry but



LOL ... I'm just picking on Pancho. He should know that, and you will too in time.
We don't take things that serious here, except our hardware/software advice. 

Yes, the 1200 is way overkill. I would look for a modular PSU also. Much nicer for cable management.


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## panchoman (Nov 12, 2008)

Kreij said:


> LOL ... I'm just picking on Pancho. He should know that, and you will too in time.
> We don't take things that serious here, except our hardware/software advice.
> 
> Yes, the 1200 is way overkill. I would look for a modular PSU also. Much nicer for cable management.



It's all good man .


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## Kreij (Nov 12, 2008)

Sheesh, Panch, your on my friends list for cryin' out loud. LOL
If I didn't like you I would ignore you.

Now, get her set up with a decent quad. It will perform better for GA.
Get her at least 4MB of RAM. The more the merrier, but you can always add more later if you want to get other components at the moment.
The 4870 will work fine until you can buy her one of those new-fangled nVidia CAD cards for $4000.


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## panchoman (Nov 12, 2008)

Kreij said:


> Sheesh, Panch, your on my friends list for cryin' out loud. LOL
> If I didn't like you I would ignore you.
> 
> Now, get her set up with a decent quad. It will perform better for GA.
> ...



i'll pm you what i'm planning lol, i want to see how close to my idea she hits


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## spearman914 (Nov 12, 2008)

panchoman said:


> DAMN. that's actually a really good brand that you picked, my favorite actually, though 1200 is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy overkill.. i would go for something around 600-700w as kreij suggested.
> 
> 
> @ kreij,  how could you say that? -_-



Well 1.2 W can futureproof u for 10 years. I think.....


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## Kreij (Nov 12, 2008)

spearman914 said:


> Well 1.2 W can futureproof u for 10 years. I think.....



True, Spear, but the trend is to reduce power consumption in all the components.
You can see this happening with the new Intel CPUs and the next gen VCs.

That is unless you want to run quad-fire or Tri-SLI.


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## spearman914 (Nov 12, 2008)

Kreij said:


> Ture, Spear, but the trend is to reduce power consumption in all the components.
> You can see this happening with the new Intel CPUs and the next gen VCs.
> 
> That is unless you want to run quad-fire or Tri-SLI.



I think the psu only uses what it sux or i misread what u mean.


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## Kreij (Nov 12, 2008)

Yes, but what's the point of spending a lot of money on a huge psu if you are never even going to come close to using its potential?


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## spearman914 (Nov 12, 2008)

Kreij said:


> Yes, but what's the point of spending a lot of money on a huge psu if you are never even going to come close to using its potential?



I never suggested to buy a 1.2 KW psu but I get the point,


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## Kreij (Nov 12, 2008)

Yeah, that's what I meant. If in 2D apps you are only pulling maybe 300W and in gaming maybe 500W, a 750 will do just fine and you can use the savings to pick a better component somewhere else in your build.


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## panchoman (Nov 12, 2008)

chances are that we won't be upgrading the rig for a long time so i think a nice solid psu just a tad above the actual usage should do fine.


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## Kreij (Nov 12, 2008)

panchoman said:


> chances are that we won't be upgrading the rig for a long time so i think a nice solid psu just a tad above the actual usage should do fine.



What?!?!  I thought you were ready to place an order on the 'egg.

Crap, if it's more than a couple of months just PM me and I'll probably have spare parts you can have for free. 

I'm getting that upgrade itch again and the cream the doctor gave me ain't helping.


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## OzzmanFloyd120 (Nov 12, 2008)

panchoman said:


> Sorry babe, but
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Pancho obviously has no girlfriend.

Honestly don't bother going quad, AMD, Intel, or what have you. You'll be wasting power if all you're going to do is play TF2 and Photoshop.
If you plan to overclock it (which I doubt) go with a 2.8GHZ+ Core 2 Duo CPU.
If you don't plan to overclock go with an Athlon 6000 or 6400.
You won't need 8gb of ram for anything, just get a good 4gb kit
Also, DO NOT USE AN ECS MOTHERBOARD. I can't stress enough how crappy their motherboards are. I've had two fail and destroy my CPU and RAM.
Also if you buy a Core 2 Duo CPU get a motherboard with a LGA 775 socket, if you get an Athlon x2 get a Socket AM2 motherboard.
If you're not going to bother going Crossfire or SLi, then don't bother getting a motherboard with multiple PCI-e slots, save the money and put it into your cpu because that's going to be the point that will make or break your system if you're going to be heavily using photoshop.

And my last rant is don't listen to the fan boys around here who are urging you to go intel so badly, if you're not overclocking there's really no difference between the two companies.


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## DaMulta (Nov 12, 2008)

So you want to speed up photoshop then you need fast hard drives and a ton of ram....

My sort if cheap system I would build for you.


Ok first you want a fast o/s for photoshop....this takes ram, and a fast hard drive running the o/s

So
2 of these installed in raid-0 for your o/s
G.SKILL FM-25S2S-64GB 2.5" 64GB SATA II Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail 
    $304.00
    ($152.00 each) 

Of course you want more space to store things so you install this as a 2ed drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM 
$113.99

Now as far as I know photoshop only uses two cores, but you want 1 free core to be running your o/s so you don't slow down.

AMD Phenom 8750 Toliman 2.4GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Triple-Core Black Edition Processor Model HD875ZWCGHBOX - Retail 
$134.00

Next comes the motherboard, you want plenty of things on it just to do what you want to do. You don't have to go over kill on this.
ASUS M3A78-EM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail$75.99

Now ram will be the most inportant thing that you want to have for photoshop
that's why you should install a 64-bit o/s and install 8gigs of ram
Transcend 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit 

    $83.98
    $73.98
    ($36.99 each) 

While doing that you can also install what they call a ram drive, and your information will be moved into that when you boot. When you use a computer the slowest part always slows you down. 
That would be your hard drives. No matter how fast they are, they are not as fast as memory.

AKA install you scratch file on a RAMdisc for photoshop and watch it scream!

Last is the video card, you don't have to go over kill one 9800GT will run the game you want to play and handle the photoshop you are wanting to do.

Palit NE/9800TXT352 GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail $129.99

Last you need a good power supply that's not going to die over night. There are cheap ones that will work very well that no one looks at.
SILVERSTONE ST400 400W ATX 12V 2.2 Power Supply - Retail $49.99
+3.3V@28A,+5V@30A,+12V1@18A,
+12V2@18A,-12V@0.5A,+5VSB@2.5A






IMO what you need for what you want to do.


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## DaMulta (Nov 12, 2008)

Now at the end of the this month I am installing a killer photoshop machine'/video editing machine

It will be a 

x58 motherboard
The i7 core extreme
12gb of ram
4 SDD 64GB dirves for o/s in raid-0
1 maybe 2 1TB drives for storage
on Vista 64
As for videocard I will be using a 4870X2 because she plays a ton of games and she has cash to spend......

She never holds back when I get to build her a machine


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## fundayjinx (Nov 12, 2008)

Well first off all you have an AMD CPU and LGA 775 mobo which will not work at all.


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## OzzmanFloyd120 (Nov 12, 2008)

DaMulta said:


> Now at the end of the this month I am installing a killer photoshop machine'/video editing machine
> 
> It will be a
> 
> ...



What program are you going to be using for your video editing?


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## kid41212003 (Nov 12, 2008)

I suggest a gfx card with CUDA.
GeForce 8800, 9800, GTX200 series.
It will speed you Photoshop CS*4*.


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## DaMulta (Nov 12, 2008)

OzzmanFloyd120 said:


> What program are you going to be using for your video editing?



Not sure, but she is talking about doing it in VMware. I have not had to time to go into the things that totally need to be done to set that up 100%.


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## OzzmanFloyd120 (Nov 12, 2008)

DaMulta said:


> Not sure, but she is talking about doing it in VMware. I have not had to time to go into the things that totally need to be done to set that up 100%.



Hmm, never used it before. I'm a big fan of Sony Vegas 8.0.
I was going to warn you that in Vegas you can only render up to 1GB of video to your ram (regardless how much ram you have) Or at least I haven't figured out how to change it to go higher yet.


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## Gobbas (Nov 12, 2008)

Kreij said:


> Sheesh, Panch, your on my friends list for cryin' out loud. LOL
> If I didn't like you I would ignore you.
> 
> Now, get her set up with a decent quad. It will perform better for GA.
> ...



4MB? I am no expert but wouldn't that be abit on the lower end of things?


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## DaMulta (Nov 12, 2008)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-memoright,1926-10.html

Keep in mind this review is the slower ones

G.SKILL above will do155mb-in the review I belive that it is only 115mb



> Although we found that the sequential throughput does not reach the interface bandwidth, the next SSD generation will certainly have to use SATA/300 instead of SATA/150 to avoid the interface becoming a bottleneck. When we compared four Memoright 32-GB flash SSDs to four Seagate Savvio 10K.2 2.5” SAS drives and four 3.5” WD1500 Raptor drives, we found the conventional drives don’t stand a chance against the four Memoright device. A 0.2-ms access time is amazing for a RAID 0 array (vs. 7.4 ms for the Seagate Savvio 10K.2 and 8.5 ms for WD’s Raptors). The Memoright flash SSDs also sustain a minimum write transfer rate of 323 MB/s in RAID 0, while the Savvios drop to 199 MB/s and the Raptors go down to 177 MB/s. The read throughput of 450 MB/s for the Mtron quartet is equally impressive.



WD VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS - hard drive - 300 GB - SATA-300

maximum internal data transfer rate of 120 MB/sec
Track-to-track seek time 0.7
Seek Time Write 4.7 ms


Fujitsu MBA3300RC 300GB 15000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Hard Drive - OEM ata

Maximum internal data-transfer rate of 179MB/sec 
Track-to-track Read: 0.2 ms (typ) / Write: 0.4 ms (typ)
Seek Time Seek Time Write 3.9 ms 


ST3450856SS
Transfer Rate Internal 1051Mb/s to 2225Mb/s
Sustained ( transfer rates are limited by mechanical hard drives themselves/Transfer Rate Internal another way to say it)171Mb/s 

Track-to-track seek 0.2/0.4ms
Seek Time Write  3.9 ms



G.SKILL FM-25S2S-64GB 2.5" 64GB SATA II Internal Solid state disk (SSD) 
Seek Time almost 0
155MB/s, and writing speed of 90MB/s.

Which would make the dive pulling from very fast for information.


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## Wozzer (Nov 12, 2008)

Stupid question time: Can an operating system even hold 8 GB ?!


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## DaMulta (Nov 12, 2008)

Yea should go for 8GB depends on what she wants to spend.



Wasley said:


> Stupid question time: Can an operating system even hold 8 GB ?!



if it's 64bit it can handle crazy amounts of ram.


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## Kreij (Nov 12, 2008)

I just suggested 4GB in my last post in the event he wanted to save money on RAM (and use it for other components) up front. I agreed that he should put all the memory he can in the rig.

Yeah, if all 64 bits of addressing are used a 64 bit system can access something like 18 Million Terabytes of RAM (2^64)


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## panchoman (Nov 12, 2008)

lol sorry kreij, but i think we're planning on ordering tommorow from the egg =/

i need a mobo suggestion for a q8600, which i think is what we'll use for the cpu. i want it to go in a good matx case(mid tower is too big) for which i also need a suggestion for. 

i think we'll be using patriot viper 2x2 gb in xp 64 bit along with a 8800gt ssc from evga and a xonar dx. im sort of debating about the hdd's though, depending on budget, im looking at/for a nice 8gb ssd for the os and i definently am considering 2 F1 1tb's in raid. probably wont have space/money for a raid card so i think we'll be sticking with onboard raid.

Paty says thanks a lot for the quick responses and help... i think she'll be on later in the evening.


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## spearman914 (Nov 12, 2008)

Wasley said:


> Stupid question time: Can an operating system even hold 8 GB ?!



Yea. Ultimate 64 can hold 128GB


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## spearman914 (Nov 12, 2008)

XoX_Paty_XoX said:


> And I bet you thought I was going to pick some horrible PSU didn't you? Well thanks for the PSU guide link convientently at the bottom of each of your posts . Oh by the way, how do you add the R.I.P-Megan thing at the bottom?  I miss her




Go to UserCP at homepage forums. Click user cp. Click edit sig. Then type RIP megan whatever u want in the white pane and click save changes or whatever (I forgot what it’s called) Sorry for my grammar. We abbreviate all the time.


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## panchoman (Nov 13, 2008)

so anyone going to help out at all with the mobo and case?


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## panchoman (Nov 14, 2008)

okay guys, thanks for all of your help, we'll be ordering next week so we'll finalize the parts with some of the experts here and finish the job there


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## DaMulta (Nov 14, 2008)

I'm glad that you were helped and feel good about moving forward panchoman.


BTW who setup her proxy?


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