Good place for techie computer hardware (in Canada?)

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 07 May 2006, 16:18

Does anyone know of a store, preferably a physical one but an online one is fine too, for advanced computer gadetry? It must be located in Canada, as them foreign devils kill us with tax and duty at the border.

Specifically, I need some specialized hardware for my big upgrade this fall/winter. I made an excel spreadsheet with prices and all that... here's my list: (the cooling hardware is what I'm most interested in)

Basics:
Case (this might be tricky since I don't think all cases would let me fit my giant cooling equipment)
Power Supply (local stores probably haven't got 550-watt ones)
Extra Fans (easy. ignore this one)

Motherboard:
Gigabyte / Asus High-Q Mobo (anyone have any recommendations as to what manufacturer I should go with for my mobo? Gigabyte seems to be a good name, from what I've read. Asus is slowly losing its AAA reputation)

CPU:
Athlon 64 4000+ or similar AMD (no problem)

RAM:
DDR2 PC2-8000 512mb x4 (local store's only got like PC2-5300 at the fastest. I want uberfast Corsair 500 mhz PC2-10000/8000 RAM, and you can't buy that just anywhere)

Video Card:
DirectX10 Nvidia (when DX10 cards start coming out, I won't have any trouble picking one up)

Physics Card:
Ageia Physics (might be tricky to find, hard to say. ATi's been going on about how their GPUs can do the physics, but with so much more of the processing load going to the GPU in DX10 specification, I doubt they'll live up to this)

OS Storage:
Western Digital WD740GD (74 gigabyte WD Raptor 10,000 RPM drive for operating system and games. Partitioned 12/60, for OS and "everything else" respectively. It's SATA150... with SATA300 slowly coming into its own, I might opt for one of those instead if I can get a 10000 RPM one)

Secondary Storage:
Western Digital WD4000KD (400 gigabyte WD for common storage and unimportant stuff, probably a lot of it will be partitioned for use with other OSs. SATA150, and same as above)

Removable Storage:
CD/DVD Burner (easy)
3 1/2 Floppy Drive (easy. will probably come with the case)

Cooling:
Zalman CNPS9500 (here's the tricky stuff. This is one bigassed cooler. It's like the size of Dib's head. Holy crap is it huge. You can't just run down to the local computer dealer to get one of these, but I REALLY want one!!!)
KuFormula VF1 Plus (for my GPU. Again, not just corner-store stuff)

Minimum Cost: $2,100 if I can get good deals
Maximum Cost: $3,000 if I have to order from those evul evul evul southern tax-gods

Ideas? Surely there's a high-tech distributor SOMEWHERE in Canada!

SinbadEV · Post by **SinbadEV** » 07 May 2006, 16:43

http://www.dealsdirect.ca/

unpossible · Post by **unpossible** » 07 May 2006, 16:47

hey i managed to fit my akasa evo120 into my microatx case without too much trouble...i still haven't bent the heatpipes so i can fully close the case yet though, even 6 months down the line!.

and there was the small matter of adding some 'ventilation' in the back to accomodate the huge fan. i wouldn't have thought normal sized cases would have much trouble housing the big colers. it's the layout of the mobo/pci-e cards that nearly got me. just make sure the cooler clears all the mosfets and stuff on the mobo and that the graphics card/cooler isn't too close to the cpu to fit.

why don't you wait a year or two and see if physx actually takes off or not before buying one? even if it does there might be better models/cheaper models out by then.

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 07 May 2006, 17:27

You don't seem to comprehend what I mean by "big cooler", Unpossible

Thanks for the link, Sinbad.

unpossible · Post by **unpossible** » 07 May 2006, 18:35

i'm well aware of how big it is thankyou. you're getting the LED version? save your eyesight/sores and go for the plain one

http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/akasa_evo120/index.shtml
admittedly it doesn't have the length of the zalman beastie but height-wise it's a near match (one corner is higher than the others as the whole thing comes twisted at a strange angle :S)

it's mainly the side to side space i had trouble with (relative to the board). the whjole evo120 is offset so it's nearer the psu than the pci-e slot.

Drone_Fragger · Post by **Drone_Fragger** » 07 May 2006, 18:39

http://www.dealsdirect.ca/systems/intel-over1000.htm

If you will settle for Intel, Far right hand side. Pwn.

Or, Amd equivilant:

http://www.dealsdirect.ca/systems/amd-over1000.htm

Far right. Pwn.

Pxtl · Post by **Pxtl** » 07 May 2006, 20:33

Well, if you're willing to go to TO, there's Canada Computers. The store is infamous for poor support, nasty service, and the best prices ever. My RAM and 9600AIW are from there. Go with a shopping list beforehand, and don't buy anything you haven't researched. Really, the whole area around the store is shoulder-to-shoulder with dirt-cheap computer shops.

Zenka · Post by **Zenka** » 07 May 2006, 21:34

Pxtl wrote:Well, if you're willing to go to TO, there's Canada Computers. The store is infamous for poor support, nasty service, and the best prices ever. My RAM and 9600AIW are from there. Go with a shopping list beforehand, and don't buy anything you haven't researched. Really, the whole area around the store is shoulder-to-shoulder with dirt-cheap computer shops.

heaven on earth.

With an amound of money you have in mind, you could even consider buying a system of alienware. (http://www.alienware.com/)

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 08 May 2006, 03:01

Don't care about the LEDs, in fact I think they look pretty stupid. Just as long as I get the model that's copper and AMD-compatible.

Wow, those AMD setups look pretty nice.

Alienware might be an option if not for the foreign devils and their evil, evil taxes of doom.

SwiftSpear · Post by **SwiftSpear** » 08 May 2006, 15:00

Drive around the biggest city near you and pick browse computer shops. If you price the little shops you're gaurenteed to find better pricing.

BigSteve · Post by **BigSteve** » 08 May 2006, 16:51

Am i right in thinking amd is the way to go for gamers? Ive been a staunch intl buyer for... well sice they arrived on the scene, but everyone is talking bout AMD now... anyone care to enlighten me? Ive been outta the loop for a while ^^

Zenka · Post by **Zenka** » 08 May 2006, 17:11

an AMD vd Intell fight is long and neverending.
I'm a fan of AMD, so here is my side of the tale.

AMD and Intel both perform almost equal. Dependable who just launched a new CPU.
AMD scores better in most games, while Intel scores better at sound and video processing.

AMd runs at slower clock speeds, and uses less power. Thus requires a smaller cooling system then Intel. (AMD can also be better overclocked, if you want to). And AMD is slightly cheaper.
AMD is generally the first with new things like 64-bit and Dual Core*.

*Note, that with this I ment good supported for both technologies. Intell had 64-bit some time before, but no OS supported it, and required a special motherboard etc, etc. and wasn't affordable for the common people. Also, mutliple core processors exists for a long time, but amd was the first who made it possible for us.

Drone_Fragger · Post by **Drone_Fragger** » 08 May 2006, 19:29

BigSteve wrote:Am i right in thinking amd is the way to go for gamers? Ive been a staunch intl buyer for... well sice they arrived on the scene, but everyone is talking bout AMD now... anyone care to enlighten me? Ive been outta the loop for a while ^^

They did some tests. Amd give 4 FPs better with a kickass rig, on Ultra high settings on Quake 4.

Howwever, AMD use less power, and are aparantly more heat effieciant. But INtel are better all rounders, ie, Work and suchlike.

Edit:

I really have to read al the posatsd before I quote someone. This is the second time i've repeated someones exact words this week.

unpossible · Post by **unpossible** » 08 May 2006, 20:28

aren't the new coreduos supposed to be setting the new benchmark for perf/watt?

Spring RTS Engine

Good place for techie computer hardware (in Canada?)

Good place for techie computer hardware (in Canada?)

Dude

Re: Dude