System dead

Ref: http://slackfiles.blogspot.com/2007_02_18_archive.html

OK. Apparently when the Ultra PS died, it may have taken the motherboard with it. The machine has been blue-screening ever since the PS replacement, just not as frequently as before.

I also noticed that the HSF on the Northbridge isn't working. When searching Google for issues with the Northbridge, I found that this is happening to others and that it actually signifies a motherboard failure. The Northbridge gets HOT and I'm assuming that over time, the heat has killed the motherboard.

This is the time to upgrade, I guess. I'll more than likely buy a new motherboard/CPU combo and it'll more than likely be a quad-core CPU that I'll be getting (Phenom):

(Intel) http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.152153

or

(AMD) http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.150323

EDIT - I ended up purchasing a

Foxconn A79A-S AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard

and a

Retail AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache CPU

and basically rebuilt this system...it is SMOKING. I was gaming and installing game patches for another game AND XP updates, and only two cores were being used while two were idle!! I put 3GB of RAM into the system (I almost put 4GB but then realized that XP 32-bit would only see 3GB of it...time for a 64-bit Windows OS install, I think). I really should install some high-grade RAM, though, as I think I only have 667mhz installed.

I also bought a

BIOSTAR TForce TP43D2A7 LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard

for to replace the motherboard in the Pentium-D system...I'll use this motherboard and CPU to rebuild my old Sempron 3000+ system (I'm starting to stack up 'older' motherboards and CPUs).

AMD vs. Intel Comparison

About the new AMD system I recently bought...

The AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ rocks when compared to my Intel system, which uses a Pentium D830. The AMD CPU is running on an Abit NF-M2SV board with 1GB of RAM. The Intel system is running on an ECS nForce 570 SLIT-A v5.1 mainboard and 2GB of RAM. While the Intel system outguns the AMD system, spec-wise, the AMD system is quite a bit more responsive...the whole system seems and responds like it is extremely lightweight. Both are running XP Pro. The AMD CPU runs 104F temps on the average, while the Intel CPU is in the 120F range...and this system has the beefier CPU fan/heatsink too! The AMD CPU cooler is here. It is an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 LP. The Intel CPU cooler is here and is apparently a standard issue HSF (Intel Socket 775 Cooling Fan, although it is badged as an Ultra unit).

I'm very impressed!

No, I don't have any benchmark specs (you can probably find these online via Google), but this is really a seat-of-the-pants comparison. That I noticed such a difference in this manner should speak for itself.

Now, I've split the 250GB drive on the AMD system in half, to test Slamd64, an unofficial 64-bit port of Slackware (which is a 32-bit OS). I've run into issues booting up Slamd64, though...I've been getting SATA-specific errors that hint that the hard drive is going bad (which I seriously doubt). I think I've seen these errors before when I last installed Slackware on a SATA drive...I think I selected the wrong kernel. I need to select a kernel specific to SATA support. I'll work on this during the next 7 days and report my findings here.

I'm seriously thinking on swapping the Intel machine for the AMD one, since the AMD machine appears more robust.

System Components

Three system components are shipped so far:

Ultra XBlaster Clear Side Blk Mid-Tower Case
Ultra 500W X-Finity Power Supply 120mm Fan
Ultra 1024MB PC4200 DDR2 533MHz

The real worry was the RAM, as it was listed as out-of-stock after I made the purchase. Hopefully, the 6 other components will be shipped on Monday.

I've about $120 in rebate paperwork to complete and one of them must be postmarked by tomorrow at midnight...dunno how that's gonna happen on a Sunday.

Anyways, I'm very excited about this computer's potential and can't wait to get everything assembled and working.

I'll keep you all informed as the days go by.