pio

Just remember, if the data doesn't exist in 3 separate places at one time it doesn't exist. I forget who said that originally, but good words to live by. I'm guilty of not doing it myself, but meh. It's not like I can't recover things off a RAID array. Anything on my PC isn't really THAT important anyway. I'd be crushed, absolutely. But I'd still get up the next morning.

Got one of those tricks handy for Brave? At the article - Sigh. This is just getting tiresome at this point.

Hey, if you want somebody to review laptops..... hint hint, nudge nudge. (j/k, I just like playing with shiny things) Nah, seriously though its an absolute shame they went under. This is a pretty big hit for enthusiast forums in general. Yeah, it was about laptops, but a LOT more people use laptops than desktops honestly. I can't imagine it was for lack of traffic, shoot I visited them pretty frequently myself. They were regularly linked back to on other places too. You know they had traffic. I'm not HUGE into laptops myself either, but I'm sure we've all been on their site. *shrugs Sucks to be them, EHW is where its at anyway. Nobody else does the like E's sites do.

So that new case I bought from newegg, shipped and sold by newegg, arrived broken. I can't comment on their customer service as I'm just going to glue the stupid thing and be done with it. I've tried RMA'ing cases before with them and they've claimed user error even though you just opened the dang box. Soooooo yeah, seems like they really haven't gotten much better lately. But again, I cannot comment for sure as a busted bit of plastic on a $40 case really isn't worth my hassle when I can just superglue the thing. Still upset with them though that at LEAST 50% of my orders the last few years have arrived broken. Ugh. Guess its back to ebay. I swear ebay'ing is a disease though for me.

@Storm-Chaser if you're actually wanting a sound card, the Xonar DX, DSX, or Essence would all be fantastic options for an actual sound card (PCIe). Looks like on ebay anyway, the Essence is about $95, DSX is about $70, and the DX is about $30. The DSX and DX are both a little bit older but should still function fantastically. The Essence I believe is a little bit newer? You really can't go wrong with a Xonar sound card. You'll have to compare the differences yourself, but for JUST getting good sound out of 5.1 channels, even the cheaper DX will do a great job. It's more a matter of extra features from what I've noticed. If you're looking for an external DAC, Schiit and SMSL both make really good DAC's. I'm happy with my SMSL AD18 but its also got a speaker amp in it too though, and headphones amp. You don't really need the speaker amp part of that, so I couldn't recommend it for your setup. But they do make other DAC's that would work with digital or analogue outputs. The thing that a DAC would have over a sound card in this instance would be a headphones amp in a lot of them. That really would be a useful addition if you use cans regularly. Sound cards SOMETIMES have a headphones amp, but if you want better you still have to buy a new sound card or an external DAC anyway. You can of course use both a sound card and a DAC. Sound card IS a DAC on its own since DAC = digital to analogue converter, but usually external DAC's have better amps built in for headphones (and / or speakers). Knowing ONLY about your z5500 set, I'd say sound card (Xonar is my favorite obviously here). However if you DO use headphones regularly, an external DAC / amp with digital outputs (to hook the speakers up) might be a better option. I do think a Xonar would help the speakers more though. So really, it depends on your usages. You CAN also just hook those z5500's up via optical or coax digital off the onboard audio and get the same sound as you would a DAC since the z5500's become the DAC using a digital input to them. So you CAN just run a coax or optical cable to the z5500's and get "best sound". A sound card would simply offer more customization to the sound since the sound card would be what's converting the signal to analogue. TLDR: Sound card = analogue outputs (since onboard has digital already you wouldn't use SC's digital outs). Can color the sound (good thing). DAC = Digital out from PC, usually has headphones amps, can output 5.1 analogue out on some. Probably will not color the sound much. Sound card gets my vote since the speakers themselves COULD use a tad bit of coloring / EQ'ing which a DAC will not do for you. Or you can just run them digitally and see how they sound as is. If they're underwhelming THEN add a sound card. If you want headphones amping for game sessions, go for a DAC with a headphones amp built in....you'd still want to use digital to the speakers so the speakers will sound the same. Sorry for long post

Dude, just because I have extra old junk from my little projects, I've decided to build a whole second Socket 939 rig just for music with my Xonar DG in it. That's how much I loved the sound from the Xonar.

Cool, looks like my 14TB WDC drives aren't too terribly bad for that usage according to their charts. Good to know!

As others have stated, you really can't go wrong going digital. A digital signal is a digital signal afterall. Schiit products are absolutely fantastic, SMSL makes some great stuff too. A DAC absolutely would work as that's what you'd be using the sound card for. Sound cards CAN be nice themselves, it really depends on what you're trying to accomplish. I've noticed on my setup, when I use pure digital outs to my SMSL, it sounds great. I've noticed however too, that if I use my Xonar DG (old PCI card), that it really colors the sound and brightens everything up very nicely, and makes my speakers not sound quite so boring anymore. However, that's not how its "supposed" to sound either. I've noticed with my Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music that it colors the sound in a different way, really brings out the midrange of my speakers, and it adds in some fake surround effects on its own by default. So, just from my own personal experience, the sound card of choice will also color your sound to a certain degree as well. So, to properly answer your question, there really is no proper answer. Digital audio is digital audio and you won't get much better than that. However using analogue inputs WILL sound different, and it might actually be easier for games and other applications to use all 6 channels you have there if you use a sound card. Personally, if I was going for a sound card again in a modern rig, I'd buy a Xonar of some flavor. I really REALLY like my Xonar DG, like a lot, even though I normally use all digital. Xonar sound cards DO offer you proper crossover controls using the analogue outputs, so you'd use "6ch direct" mode on the back of the speakers and run the 3.5mm analogue cables to it. I'm not sure about other cards, my Creative cards don't seem to come with crossover options or functional EQ's. I thought that was a pretty nice feature on the Xonar, and proper crossovers could allow you to fine tune that z5500 set to sound even better.

Good news today, and I guess an update kinda sorta. The first Socket 939 rig is now 100% complete! Specs: Asus A8N SLI Opteron 180 @ 3.0GHz / 1.0GHz HT Link, 1.52v 4x1GB Corsair XMS DDR400 @ 200MHz, 2.5-3-3-6-2T, 2.85v *(939 controller only allows 333 and lower dividers with 4 sticks)* Sapphire HD5870 eVGA 600BQ Zalman CNPS 9500 Lamptron 6ch fan controller (new addition) Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music (new addition) TP Link Archer T4 Wifi Card ZIP 250 drive Floppy drive DVDRW + Lightscribe (SATA) 64GB HP SSD 2TB Seagate 2.5" Custom painted and windowed Rosewill Challenger case Generic RGB LED strips set to green Yate Loon DS12H intakes, DS12L exhausts Thermaltake 12v cig lighter / ashtray (or cup holder) Made a couple new additions. Swore at it a lot because of the stupid molex pins falling out causing a short. Went through 3 sound cards trying to find one that worked. Finally, I'm happy with this build! Biggest difference between last time I said it was done and now is the sound card and fan controller. Due to the extensions problems I've been facing, next build is going to be the second 939 build with G92 SLI and 8GB RAM in it. Part of why I changed fan controllers in this one, these Lamptron controllers stick out too far to fit behind the door in the G7 case I have for the second build. So I had to use this "slider" style fan controller there. I might, MIGHT attempt to build it tonight after kiddo goes to bed, we'll see how I'm feeling. I'm just glad this one's 100% now. So now it can be added to my shelf with the Phenom, Thuban, and FX rigs. I still want to add sound cards to those rigs, but meh.....the older rigs REALLY needed sound cards because onboard sucks. At least with the later ones the onboard sound is tolerable. Anyway, onto finished pictures!

I can't count how many times I've gotten the run around, not only with newegg but manufacturers too, and other sellers like Amazon. Seller says to go to the manufacturer. The manufacturer says to go to the seller. Nobody wants to actually warranty their dang products anymore. It sucks. I've been doing MOST of my buying on ebay as of lately. Usually you can find the manufacturers selling their own gear there too. That's been going over relatively well for me, moreso than newegg luck of the draw. Will definitely be more weary buying anything from NE anymore. I too have been buying from them since the early early 2000's, definitely have spent 10's of thousands with them. Just ordered an open box case last week from them, let's see how that goes. EDIT: I don't even really know what a proper answer would be to this kind of a problem either. We probably need consumer protection laws in place, and a way for the consumer to be able to follow through with a lawsuit if it were required, without needing thousands of dollars lawyers. Something like that would help. We already have that in place kind of with the BBB, but businesses usually just ignore it anyway. There's laws already on the books, but nobody can afford lawyers and you lose if you represent yourself most of the time. I mean really, as is, there is no recourse for the consumer if a company decides to scam you....even if its a legitimate company. What we really need are companies that actually care about their customers. That right there would help. Newegg USED to be one of those companies. It's a shame how they've turned out.

Pulled the trigger on yet another set of extensions. These ones are ugly sphagetti colored, but according to the listing and pictures they'll work. Only ones I can seem to find that are actually 20pin or 20+4. Soooooo oh well. Also, curiosity got the better of me and I purchased a full K6-II 500MHz build from ebay. Of course I'm not going to be happy with it as is, but it should be a functional rig according to the listing. Has 64MB RAM, a 9GB HDD, unknown video (TNT2 I think it was?). Of course I'm going to want a different GPU in there, possibly sound card, it lacks a LAN card so it'll need one of those, and it has zero USB so I'll need to add that too. I have optical drives for it, so I'll need another small first gen SSD for it. I'll also need a ZIP 250 drive for it. But.....I can at least inspect it and make sure its solid before buying the rest of the stuff.....it MIGHT need caps. PSU might need done too, as its an old AT style unit. So, now I should just need whatever to fix the K6 build, and I still need to get that Chieftec Dragon case fixed up for the Athlon 1100. And then I should be done with all of these. Hopefully I'll have these all done just before or after my birthday in April.

I'm about to pull my hair out (what's left of it). Grrrrrr. Raidmax sent me 24 pin extensions, when I ordered 20+4 pin extensions. So I STILL can't get the Socket A rigs running. -_-

Small update: Got the Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic installed in the finished 939 rig. Yeah, I definitely like the Xonar DG much better, this Sound Blaster just sounds flat and bleh. Honestly my regular USB audio out on my main rig sounds better. But......this means that 939 rig is now complete and I can start on another. The Socket A Athlon-XP is next on my list, or the other 939 rig. I already have the Socket A rig mostly built so I'll probably finish that one first. Stay tuned everyone, they're being finished as quickly as I can. My kiddo has 5 hours of school to do at home everyday too which is obviously taking a lot of my time. EDIT: And Raidmax apparently can't read an order form correctly. Ordered 20+4 pin extensions from them on ebay, and they sent me regular 24pin extensions. -_- Sooooooo still can't start on the Socket A rigs.

More collaboration and less companies overall. Yay? Definitely a bold move by Sony......

Youch. Looking like I should be able to get these done in the next few days finally. I just need to get off my butt and build them.

I was going to finish the build regardless. However I probably wouldn't bother running a CPUz bench on it if I didn't figure it'd get added to the leaderboards. This competition was kinda getting me going on it moreso than my personal want of finishing the builds lol. I have my AthlonXP 2500+M build nearly done, its just waiting on the 20pin adapter and molex lines for the PSU. The Athlon 1100MHz T-Bird I'll have to run on the bench as I haven't gotten the case repaired yet.....but I'll be happy to do so once the right cables arrive. Just didn't want to bother running them for no reason at all, since they're so old. The older my machines get, the more I cherish the fact that they still work lol.

It's looking like most of the parts on order should arrive early this week. I'm missing molex cables for the PSU (because one run isn't enough), and the 20 pin adapters. I should be able to get at least one of the Socket A rigs run by next weekend.

Yeah see, I need as many cores and as much RAM as possible as is with my 2011 setup. Would be neat to try that out, I do have a spare dual socket board that no longer works with 2 CPU's......

I'm still sitting here waiting for a 24pin to 20pin adapter from ebay so I can bench my old Socket A rigs. Not looking like I'm going to meet the deadline. -_-

Yawn. After Crysis Remastered I could care less about anything Crytek makes anymore. Let's hope I'm wrong. Loved the OG Crysis, its still difficult to run on my sig rig. Warhead was a lot of fun too. Crysis 2 and 3 were borderline "meh" to me, too much emphasis on consoles and not where their roots came from. Then Crysis Remastered was like a slap in the face. -_-

My dual socket SuperMicro boards with the C602 chipset don't allow overclocking. It'd be nice, but I mean with 32 cores with HT you kind of don't need to. I cannot comment on that board linked above though.

Looking at this article here: Intel Core i9-12900K review: Intel. Is. Back. | PCWorld WWW.PCWORLD.COM Intel achieves a stunning come back for the ages with Alder Lake and the Core i9-12900K. It would appear that the 12900k does a little better in multi-threaded scenarios, so that'd get my vote. If its more of a personal opinion, I like the Ryzen CPU's better. Either should do a really good job, but it does look like the Intel is slightly faster again. EDIT: Actually I read the graphs wrong, the 5950x does better but just slightly. Can't change my vote in the poll now.

Guess I don't need to do the work around for my kid anymore, of him having his own Plex account email. This is going to be SUPER useful on my living room setup! Yay! Wonder when this was released, I haven't updated my servers in a few weeks so I think its been available for a while. Very neat update!

Gamers don't know what they want huh?

I ended up with tictoc's card he's talking about here in the thread. Still loving it, best GPU I've had to date. I do think you made the right choice going for the Gaming X card there Storm-Chaser, the reference blower card does get quite loud. Doesn't bother me a bit, I love reference blower cards. But its definitely something to be aware of. Mine tends to top out around 72*C or so at full load at 2050 / 900 with a custom fan profile at 100% fan speed around 75-80*C or so in the AMD CP (which puts the fan around 75% or so at full load). I have started noticing some artifcating at times with the memory overclocked, but that could just mean I need to reseat the cooler.