Aura

Turns out my friend has an extra 640GB Black, so I'm gonna pick that one up for $50. He benched the single drive vs. his Samsung Spinpoint 2x 320GB Raid 0 array, and the Black was better in most of the numbers. I was considering setting up a Raid 0 for my OS and games, but I'm just not sure it will be necessary. I guess I could just buy another one later on down the road and mess with it.

Thanks Todd and Fungi . Atm going to sit around for a deal on either the 4870 or the 4890, whichever shows up first will be the one I get. I'll think about the WD Greens, though the Blacks are still ideal. Can't OC the CPU unfortunately, Intel proprietary locks the FSB with no proper way of getting around it iirc. Whenever I get a new CPU, I'll be getting a new mobo and case as well, which is going to amount to a big overhaul. Core i7 and DDR3 are probably in my future, but not anytime soon.

Alrighty, here are the spec's of my Dell that I've had together since the start of college: Mobo - Intel P965 (Dell proprietary bullshit) CPU - C2D E6600 RAM - 2GB G.Skill HK GPU - EVGA 8800GTS 320MB PSU - Corsair HX520 HDD's - 1x WD Caviar 250GB, 1x WD Caviar 500GB ~~~ I'm considering: 1) New GPU. This is complicated for me as I haven't been following either Nvidia nor ATi for at least a year. I know of both the GTX and 4-series, but I don't know where the best value is in either lineup. GTX275 looks good but might just be a bit more than I'm looking for. GTX260 perhaps? $160 is very attractive. Both 4890 and 4870 looked interesting on the red side of things as well. My main use is for Oblivion, which getting a little dated but with my texture mod's has always given my GTS a lot of trouble because of lacking memory. Resolution will be 1680 x 1050 on a 20" wide. No second monitor for now. No need for SLI or XFire, not possible with my board. Also, I bought my HX520 when they were just released, so I never received an 8 pin (6+2) cable for my GPU. Will Corsair still be willing to send me one or two even after a year and a half? If not, where should I look for one? Lastly, I am getting to the point where the E6600 is going to greatly bottleneck me with the GPU? It never seemed to hold back the GTS much, but GPU's just keep getting better and better and have outpaced CPU's by a large margin. 2) Additional HDD's. Probably gonna go with WD Caviar Black 750GB's or 1TB's. If you've got suggestions that go beyond brand loyalty I'd appreciate it. I will say that WD has worked for me 100% thus far. ~~~ Thanks for any/all help .

I'd be in for it; black-anodized cups would make me drool.

If possible, would someone be willing to send me a copy of the schematic for the 1100? I hope to make use of it sometime in the fall .

Here's a belated bday wish to one of the good guys in the hobby. Hope your day was most bestest .

And no one else is better at using it . I threw my shot in a few days ago, so I'll sit back on this .

Beyond being a decent buyer/seller (yeah I've done a transaction with him), he's generally a douche-nozzle in the discussion forums who loves to stir up controversy whenever possible. Sometimes it is justified *cough amphora cough*, other times, not so much.

Have a good one Birgir .

Fully agree Vicki. I am now somewhat glad that I delayed my order and am sitting at the back of the line, so I can see how Grado resolves this issue long before my pair ever sees the light of day (well, hopefully long before). That being said, it would take some really poor action on Grado's part to make me consider cancelling my order based on impressions that have been posted thus far. Grado never was the best for appearance, but being special edition and all, you'd think these would receive average or better attention for mistakes compared to standard production.

Fix'd. Now where is that ?

Happy birfday .

Happy birfday CJones .

Rock on Justin .

Happy birfday .

Well, as soon as Todd can meet the current # of orders (which won't be for a while I reckon), I think I'll join in on the party and order a pair. Ryan's comparison the the PS1 pretty much does me in.

It's surreal. I think that, generally, people my age (20 and under) never really got to know Michael Jackson as the "king". I have heard his most well-known work, I conceptually understand how large of a scale his popularity was, but in one large respect he is comparable to Elvis for me. The Jackson that my age group knows is the one that faced trial, money issues, a complete drop-off in professional success, etc. Essentially, we spent time making fun of MJ rather than appreciating his impact on culture. It is quite a shame.

Happy birfday Julian, my fellow OCN brother. Hope you have a wonderful day .

For shizzle. And I thought my cat looked big when sprawled out...

Thanks for sharing Al, some day I will get out there. Btw dig the new avatar. Team Cicada?

Did Craig bring a ZDT? Any impressions on it? Thanks much for the comments guys, I really wanted to be there but ultimately my money is just too tied up in other places to be able to afford the weekend trip. I can assure myself I will be there next year...

FTGDMFW. Regarding cables, all I can say is I bought my Heartland Cables RCA's ($30) over a year ago for my first amp, and they've yet to leave my rig. The only reason I'm considering getting a new pair of speaker cables is because I want/need bananas on both ends.

Happy bday Brent .

Happy belated Jin sir .

Happy birthday Chris .