Bioshock

[IronBat]

Nice one hudders . I wish I had Nvidia

Memory:            Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX

Unfortunetly XP only makes use of up to 2GB of RAM, your need Vista or Linux or MacOS X for 4GB to be used properly, stupid Microsoft. Im sure I did mention this on the forum before.

Also does your current PSU work with the PCIE mobo you have chosen? They have increased the pins from 20 to 24. Some boards still support the old 20 pins (mine did but I got a new PSU anyway as my old one was crap), but you may need a converter. Power wise you should be ok, unless you decided to go SLI.

[Hudders]

Bizarrely, it was cheaper to buy the set of 4GB than the 2GB, (exact same manufacturer, timings, etc). I think it must have been on offer.

Yeah, my PSU has twenty four pins.

EDIT: Just looked it up and XP actually supports up to 4GB, (and can be forced to allow applications to make use of up to 3GB). I might investigate the 64 bit edition as apparently that can manage more, (and, if I understand the maths correctly, that makes some kind of sense).

EDIT2: AH I see now. 4GB is fine, but more would have been a waste of money. Phew.

Operating systems based on Microsoft Windows NT technologies have always provided applications with a flat 32-bit virtual address space that describes 4 gigabytes (GB) of virtual memory. The address space is usually split so that 2 GB of address space is directly accessible to the application and the other 2 GB is only accessible to the Windows executive software.

Here if you're vaguely interested.

EDIT3: Now I'm confused. Looks like IronBat is right, but if you have XP Professional you can use the /3GB switch to give yourself 3GB. However, you have to keep in mind that the actual machine is using some RAM for stuff like PCI buses, etc, and this isn't included in the "amount XP can utilise".

EDIT4: Further confusion. I don't think "/3GB" benefits the majority of people. The golden rule is that XP supports up to 4GB. Any more RAM than that and you're wasting your time. It's true that Windows only utilises up to 2GB for the kernel, but the other 2GB isn't wasted; it's just used for other things.

[IronBat]

Bizarrely, it was cheaper to buy the set of 4GB than the 2GB, (exact same manufacturer, timings, etc). I think it must have been on offer.

Its the ants I tell you!

Yeah, my PSU has twenty four pins.

Good good

Im thinking of getting a new mobo and graphics card at some point. Just so I dont have to have ATI! But I should just wait I suppose

[Hudders]

Just so I dont have to have ATI!

LOL

The Nvidia Geforce 8800GT is the mutts nuts at the moment. 

My motherboard was an expensive one, but I managed to pick up a warranty-repaired one for half price. Nicely.

[IronBat]

The Nvidia Geforce 8800GT is the mutts nuts at the moment. 

Yeah has been for a while now, the graphics card industry seems to have slowed down a bit, great card though

[Hudders]

Bah! 

The stuff arrived today, only with the wrong motherboard!!     

I did one of those online chat things with one of the customer service people, (because oddly they don't have  a phone number to call), and although he was a little bit slow on the uptake, he eventually understood my problem. He advised me that I should return the old motherboard and then reorder a new one. This was a bit of an issue for me since I originally bought a b-grade motherboard because it was half-price, (I expect that this was probably the reason for the mix-up), and the only other b-grade motherboard available was incomplete, (missing its accessories, its manual and its driver CDs). After whinging at him for a bit, he conceded that if I ordered an a-grade motherboard, they'd refund me the difference! AND they'd come and collect the return so I didn't have to pay postage to return it.

So, although I now have to wait at least until Monday for it to be delivered, it'll be a brand-spanking-new one instead of a b-grade.   

Trouble is, since everything else I bought needs to go into the missing motherboard, I'm a bit stuck. 

[IronBat]

Doh! That is rather annoying, still in the long run should be a better deal. Do you think someone conned them and sent back a diffrent motherboard?

[Hudders]

Doh! That is rather annoying, still in the long run should be a better deal. Do you think someone conned them and sent back a diffrent motherboard?

It's possible. But I think a more obvious explanation is that they just put the wrong motherboard in the box, due to the fact that the B-Grade reference numbers don't bear any relation to their A-Grade counterparts.

[Nodd]

agh! sorry to hear that     I'm terribly impatient and this sort of thing would really grind with me. I hope the one you get is a lot better, it sounds it!

[Hudders]

I've also noticed that my PSU only has 20-pins. 

Also does your current PSU work with the PCIE mobo you have chosen? They have increased the pins from 20 to 24. Some boards still support the old 20 pins (mine did but I got a new PSU anyway as my old one was crap), but you may need a converter. Power wise you should be ok, unless you decided to go SLI.

So I've ordered a new one. And then I notice on the comments page for the motherboard that a similar setup, (only + SLi), only draws 120W! Meaning that my current PSU that pumps out 192W on the 12V rail would be more than adequate. I guess it'll do as a spare.

[Hudders]

Motherboard, GET!

Woo. Arrived just now. Lovely stuff.

[Hudders]

I've put it all together and after one particular teething problem where it made an unholy high-pitched whine when I turned it on, (which was traced to the fact that the PSU I was using didn't have a PCI-E power connector... I switched it out for the one in the other computer and it was fine), it works brilliantly. 

I didn't expect it to be as quiet as it is, what with going from a fanless CPU heatsink to the stock AMD cooler but the only thing that makes any noise whatsoever is the PSU. I'm quite impressed.

Windows reports that it can see 3.5GB of my 4GB installed RAM so I don't appear to have wasted all my money!

[IronBat]

Windows reports that it can see 3.5GB of my 4GB installed RAM so I don't appear to have wasted all my money!

I never said you couldnt see it, it just cant make use of more than 2GB at a time, its a draw back to the windows 32 bit structure, sorry .

[Hudders]

Windows reports that it can see 3.5GB of my 4GB installed RAM so I don't appear to have wasted all my money!

I never said you couldnt see it, it just cant make use of more than 2GB at a time, its a draw back to the windows 32 bit structure, sorry .

Windows can't, but the rest gets allocated to other things.

[IronBat]

Windows reports that it can see 3.5GB of my 4GB installed RAM so I don't appear to have wasted all my money!

I never said you couldnt see it, it just cant make use of more than 2GB at a time, its a draw back to the windows 32 bit structure, sorry .

Windows can't, but the rest gets allocated to other things.

Such as? Toasted muffins?