What do you think of my so-called "Ultimate PC"?

[pc_guy]

Why does this ultimate PC have WinXP Home? Doesn't the upgrade from WINXP Pro get you Vista Business for Free + shipping, while from home you get some basic edition + have to add $50.

And the monitor is only 19"???, thats so 2006.
At least 20"-21" running at 1600x1200+

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Hitman

I disagree with you here. I am lucky to have an optical drive last longer then a year. It doesn't matter what brand it is they all die on me within the first year. I have so many dead optical drives I use them as book ends. I bought a Plextor PX-708 DVD burner, and a Plextor Premium CD burner about 3 years ago for my main system. Both Drives are still running strong and burn perfect discs every time. They will even read extremely damaged discs. I have had 3 optical drives die in my other system since I bought those two. With what I spent on replacement drives I could have bought a Plextor.

A few years ago (2001/2002 I believe) Plextor had a batch of bad drives, but since then they have been pretty good. I don't normally recommend Plextor drives because they are so much more expensive then other similar drives on the market, but If you can afford them I would suggest them.

I RMA'ed tons, but literally tons of PX-706A. Whether it be just a problem with this model or a generalized problem it disgusted me enough not to buy a *DVD bruner* that is worth around $150.00 canadian. So far my NEC burners have been the most reliable, and you wouldn't know how much stuff I burn. I had a Pioneer before and I made over 1000 copies in no time. I had to change it because it wouldn't read CD/DVD anymore, but the NEC isn't dying at all and i've had it over a year already. =D

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by pc_guy

And the monitor is only 19"???, thats so 2006.
At least 20"-21" running at 1600x1200+

HAHA, I agree. If you are spending so much on a sweet video card, at least give it enough pixels to render to make it work a little! I would suggest a 24" widescreen for some 1920x1200 gaming beauty

[jph1589]

Let's talk about the power supply. Doesn't it completely defeat the purpose of having a modular PSU when the motherboard connector and the two 6 pins are hard wired?

I love my modular power supply, but if all the connections weren't modular, it would be worthless.

IMO of course

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by jph1589

Let's talk about the power supply. Doesn't it completely defeat the purpose of having a modular PSU when the motherboard connector and the two 6 pins are hard wired?

I love my modular power supply, but if all the connections weren't modular, it would be worthless.

IMO of course

Hummmm no, why would you need to remove the mobo connector?

[Jokerswild]

I've been happy with my Plextor drive but my NEC drive works just as well and costs less. DDR2-800 would be better also.

[RangerXLT8]

From my experience, Plextor are professional grade drives. I run the PX-716SA and it is the fastest optical drive I have ever used bar none, SATA interface is very efficient. This is not to say that there are not other great optical drives out there. No one else seems to be biting onto the SATA optical drives except Plextor, please enlighten me if there is one.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by RangerXLT8

From my experience, Plextor are professional grade drives. I run the PX-716SA and it is the fastest optical drive I have ever used bar none, SATA interface is very efficient. This is not to say that there are not other great optical drives out there. No one else seems to be biting onto the SATA optical drives except Plextor, please enlighten me if there is one.

No you're right, I remember talking about it with Capper a bit ago. I don't see why we're not ditching the IDE bruners already... I mean, it's been a while.

[pc_guy]

I am also puzzled why most DVD drives are still PATA, even the new $700 blu-ray drives use PATA.

[Hitman]

Originally Posted by polobunny

I RMA'ed tons, but literally tons of PX-706A. Whether it be just a problem with this model or a generalized problem it disgusted me enough not to buy a *DVD bruner* that is worth around $150.00 canadian. So far my NEC burners have been the most reliable, and you wouldn't know how much stuff I burn. I had a Pioneer before and I made over 1000 copies in no time. I had to change it because it wouldn't read CD/DVD anymore, but the NEC isn't dying at all and i've had it over a year already. =D

Your personal experience with a product carries the most weight when forming an opinion about a company. I have had good luck with Plextor, and consider them excellent drives. The main thing I don't like about Plextor, and most Optical Drive Companies for that matter, is they only offer a 1 year warranty on their DVD burners.

I have never owned a NEC drive but I have heard great things about them. You can't beat their price. They seem to be the best bang for the buck right now.

Originally Posted by pc_guy

I am also puzzled why most DVD drives are still PATA, even the new $700 blu-ray drives use PATA.

The biggest reason is that SATA offers no performance gain to Optical Drives. I also think it's probably cheaper to keep Optical Drives as PATA. It also frees up your SATA ports for Hard Drives.