Future Shop is not specifically a computer store, it is an electronics store like BestBuy in case you didn't know. Future Shop has a tendancy of having employees with limited knowledge in computers...

I just ended up taking 2x 512 mb of DDR-2 533mhz at pc cyber for 157$ canadian. It is now 117$ so I could upgrade to 2 gigs for cheap if i wanted.

BTW, the prices i posted on the first post,...

I've posted this 6 months back guys. Thanks for trying to help tho :)

I suppose it is a new system you are building. It happened to me when building my system. I also had a message like "system failed due to cpu overclocking" but never OCed it. I tried to boot from my...

you can find an answer on DDR2 here (http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1573). It is basically RAM capable of higher bandwidths with higher speeds.

Check here...

If you want two video cards setup in SLI, you need your cards to be SLI ready and yes they need to be the same. The exact same actually; same brand same model so if in a year you want to add a second...

And just in case the specs I gave dont mean nothing to you, the 6600GT would be worth the extra money. The 6600GT is almost twice as good as the 6600.

Actually there are some noticeable differences between the two.

These specs may differ a little on different brand models

------------- core --------- memory ------ mem. bandwidth ------...

try doom 3, and far cry, it wont run very well. ut2003 should run fairly well on a system like u have its normal. half life 2 isnt the most demanding recent game so i think its normal for it to run...

nizzy is heading in the right path to help you. You should tell us if everything else seems to be fine. If you hear one single beep after pressing the power switch, it means the computer starts fine...

And with a pre-built system he might get plenty of extra software he might not want like windows.

I think this software that comes with the computers is crap. Some people though will base their...

lol I think its the second time you post about the find drivers for old lady thing. Anyway doesnt matter.

If you built your computer yourself and really know your stuff, you dont really need to do...

In my opinion, most packaged deals arent so good, especially the low-end ones. Maybe you could convince him to build one for him.

If you check the specifications of you laptop, the original ram should be PC2100 http://reviews.cnet.com/Compaq_Presario_X1000/4507-3121_7-30422516.html

You can convert currencies here http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=GBP&to=CAD&submit=Convert

The high end cards in Canada are around 600$ to 800$ so it's about the same as in UK....

Its true there are still some of those cards on the maket. They make a very good choice for low-end systems for people that dont need too much video power. If there were only high-end cards, people...

He probably would have to set the graphics at low with that system, especially if the cpu isnt a recent one, so 256mb would be useless. 128mb would be enough if you dont do any drastic changes.

...

Yup, thats the way to go if you can. You know 100% what you have, you cant get screwed and you save money on assembly.

Therefore, the centrino is more practical for people on the road. They are also very capable processors.

hes from the USA. ive checked his profile :p

There should be an instruction sheet in the cpu box you will buy.

wow, 80 is really hot. I had a 3ghz s478 running over 60°C. The thermal paste under the heatsink was somewhat dry and had a little bit of dust on so the heat wasnt transferring very well to the...

You're right Mike. They actually realeased it this sometime this year.

The fans came with the case I wanted, the stack cool is not optional on the mobo. The only things I decided to add in are the aluminum memory coolers which werent expensive at all.

You consider this ridiculous cooling solutions?

I should try to find some stats for temperatures. I know my system doesn't run too hot. My CPU temp is usually in the 25ºC to 35ºC range but gets a little higher when running games. This is, in my...

Is that a fact? It is quite interesting.

I also prefer Intel. I can't find a good reason for switching to AMD and nobody has given me a convincing reason yet. The only reasons someone gave me was...

What advantages a quad-core cpu would give to you???

There is plenty of choices there http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Lprice=200&Hprice=499.99&CatId=6

I would rather have double cache than a couple more mhz. I chose a P4 3.4 2mb cache over P4 3.6 1mb cache.

Uhhh.. PC2700 is 333mhz not 266mhz, that is PC2100.

Hey I was looking at some RAM at some reliable local store web sites, there is something kind of weird. I found out that their 2x1024MB of PC4200 had a whopping 100$ of difference.
...

If you havent bought a motherboard yet you should go with s939 if its ok with you.

It is AMD most recent technology. Just like Intel With their newer 775 socket. Intel's 478 isnt used much in new PCs now.

Youre not going with the newer 939 socket?

There isnt much difference between them. There is more L2 cache on most Clawhammers (1mb instead of 512kb) and I believe the Clawhammer dissipates less heat. To decide which CPU to take, compare the...

Anything in the department of encoding for video, music... Intel is the way to go.

Not worth it for now. 3.2ghz is a very capable cpu for now so upgrading for 400mhz more wont make much difference. And yes AMD is better than Intel for gaming but if you have a high end PC, 5 to 10...

No, a PCI Express card will not fit in a PCI slot. They are both totally different. You would need another motherboard to get PCI-e.

You should just buy an AGP card for now and like you said, go...

Two 6800 in SLI wouldnt be so useful for now. One 6800 is very capable for today's games. It could be an option for sometime next year though. Something that isnt good about SLI is that not all games...