RWaldau
08-30-2010, 09:14 PM
Another Success Story
The plan was a summer project for a father and a 16-year-old son to build a computer. Neither of us had ever attempted to do anything like this before. We had no qualifications. I was little more confident in the hardware area and he was more confident with the software. The Super PC website provided the prefect opportunity for us to build a personal computer from scratch. I had tracked the Super PC website and when I saw the specs and configuration on July 17, 2010, I decided it was time to build a personal computer. I am pleased to report that the project was a huge success. We are extremely pleased with the results. My son is a more satisfied than I am because the computer is now his. However, I am left with the memories.
We ran into two minor issues. They are worth reporting to assist others who may encounter the same problems. The first issue, I wanted to upgrade the motherboard fan, which turned out to be more of a problem of our own doing. The Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P motherboard is not user friendly to CPU fan upgrades. The capacitors are to close to allow support/attachments for the after market fans. After discussing the fan issue with a few people it was decided that as long as we were not going to over-clock the computer the stock fan was just fine. Over clocking was never an option. The diagnostics so far prove the temperatures are well within a safe range. The second issue, which was a little more problematic, however it was easy to overcome with a little research. In fact, I found the answer on the Super PC boards. With the BIOS settings set for AHCI the computer would not boot up. By changing the setting from AHCI to IDE wherever it called for AHCI the system booted just fine. The BIOS setting was changed to IDE for the following settings:
PCH SATA Control Mode AHCI changed to IDE
eSATA Ctrl Mode AHCI changed to IDE
GSATA Ctrl Mode AHCI changed to IDE
The performance of the computer is phenomenal and beyond expectations. My son uses the computer for 3D design and computer games. He uses 3DS MAX for game designing and plays high-end graphics games that are resource intensive.
My son’s comments:
The programs I use are 3DS Max 8 and 9, and some of the more resource intensive games are Crysis (I can run Crysis with every setting set to "Very High") as well as Singularity and Splinter Cell: Conviction.
I had a few problems with compatibility because of the 64-bit operating system (mainly with Crysis) but they were easily overcome with a little researching. The computer is great in all other aspects though, it's been able to cut the time it takes to do certain tasks that used to require 4 days (these tasks use almost, if not, all of the CPU's power and so doing anything else on the computer is absolutely out of the question until it finishes), down to just about 10 hours (I leave it on overnight) which obviously makes everything else go much, much faster.
Look for a donation in the near future.
Sincerely,
Rick and Daniel
The plan was a summer project for a father and a 16-year-old son to build a computer. Neither of us had ever attempted to do anything like this before. We had no qualifications. I was little more confident in the hardware area and he was more confident with the software. The Super PC website provided the prefect opportunity for us to build a personal computer from scratch. I had tracked the Super PC website and when I saw the specs and configuration on July 17, 2010, I decided it was time to build a personal computer. I am pleased to report that the project was a huge success. We are extremely pleased with the results. My son is a more satisfied than I am because the computer is now his. However, I am left with the memories.
We ran into two minor issues. They are worth reporting to assist others who may encounter the same problems. The first issue, I wanted to upgrade the motherboard fan, which turned out to be more of a problem of our own doing. The Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P motherboard is not user friendly to CPU fan upgrades. The capacitors are to close to allow support/attachments for the after market fans. After discussing the fan issue with a few people it was decided that as long as we were not going to over-clock the computer the stock fan was just fine. Over clocking was never an option. The diagnostics so far prove the temperatures are well within a safe range. The second issue, which was a little more problematic, however it was easy to overcome with a little research. In fact, I found the answer on the Super PC boards. With the BIOS settings set for AHCI the computer would not boot up. By changing the setting from AHCI to IDE wherever it called for AHCI the system booted just fine. The BIOS setting was changed to IDE for the following settings:
PCH SATA Control Mode AHCI changed to IDE
eSATA Ctrl Mode AHCI changed to IDE
GSATA Ctrl Mode AHCI changed to IDE
The performance of the computer is phenomenal and beyond expectations. My son uses the computer for 3D design and computer games. He uses 3DS MAX for game designing and plays high-end graphics games that are resource intensive.
My son’s comments:
The programs I use are 3DS Max 8 and 9, and some of the more resource intensive games are Crysis (I can run Crysis with every setting set to "Very High") as well as Singularity and Splinter Cell: Conviction.
I had a few problems with compatibility because of the 64-bit operating system (mainly with Crysis) but they were easily overcome with a little researching. The computer is great in all other aspects though, it's been able to cut the time it takes to do certain tasks that used to require 4 days (these tasks use almost, if not, all of the CPU's power and so doing anything else on the computer is absolutely out of the question until it finishes), down to just about 10 hours (I leave it on overnight) which obviously makes everything else go much, much faster.
Look for a donation in the near future.
Sincerely,
Rick and Daniel