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Author Topic: Getting a new Gaming Rig (Yey!!!)  (Read 6304 times)

jabns

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Getting a new Gaming Rig (Yey!!!)
« on: November 27, 2007, 07:07:06 AM »

I am ordering myself a new PC today(well set of components) ;D and can't make my mind what to get fully. Here is the 2 configs:

Coolermaster Stacker 830 Evolution
Asus Striker Extreme
Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR
2x Arctic Silver 5
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme
2GB Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator - 1066Mhz
2x  512MB BFG Technology 8800GT OC2
720W Enermax Infinity
24" Samsung SM-245B
Zalman ZM-MFC2 Multi Fan Controller
7x 120mm Coolermaster Internal Case Fan with GREEN LED
120mm Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F Fan 1600 RPM
2x Sata DVD+- Drives
2x WD Rapters 10000RPM (RAID 0)
2x Samsung Spinpoints 500GB (RAID 0)
Few other cables, Heat shrink wraps ect....


OR


Coolermaster Stacker 830 Evolution
Asus Maximus Formula
Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR
2x Arctic Silver 5
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme
2GB Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator - 1066Mhz
768MB EVGA 8800 Ultra, Superclocked
720W Enermax Infinity
24" Samsung SM-245B
Zalman ZM-MFC2 Multi Fan Controller
7x 120mm Coolermaster Internal Case Fan with GREEN LED
120mm Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F Fan 1600 RPM
2x Sata DVD+- Drives
2x WD Rapters 10000RPM (RAID 0)
2x Samsung Spinpoints 500GB (RAID 0)
Few other cables, Heat shrink wraps ect....


This is a hard choice because there is conflicting information on how well 8800GT actually perform in SLI. Also i just found out that the 680i chipset does not support 45nm processors which limit upgradability. Basically i need another PC to be able to play Crysis at MAX settings on the res of 1900x1600 without AA and AF. I need this so i can play LAN battles with my mates on crysis and UT3. Any nudges either way welcome.

PS*    Crysis is amazing and i recommend it to anyone. It looks like real life:



and another(link instead as it it in a higher res):

http://ve3dmedia.ign.com/ve3d/image/article/745/745255/new-crysis-dx10-screenshot-20061110001316019.jpg


thanks,
James
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mr_chris

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Re: Getting a new Gaming Rig (Yey!!!)
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2007, 11:41:48 AM »

Hi James

Nice looking rig!

I'm not up to speed on the new fast stuff at the moment because I've not built a PC for a while, but there's a couple of questions surrounding your hard drive config...

Samsung Spinpoints weren't the fastest drives out there last time I looked. So any performance gains you'll get from RAID 0 will be reduced by the drives themselves. I imagine you are aware you're doubling the risk of failure by using RAID 0, so I won't labour that point, except to ask you to think about whether the performance vs risk is worth it!

Have you thought about a hardware RAID 5 config with 3 drives? That way, ok you lose the capacity of 1 drive, but read performance is enhanced similar to RAID 0, with the bonus that you're fully protected in the event of one drive failure, rather than losing the lot! Obviously write performance is degraded slightly, but with fast drives and a hardware-based RAID solution you probably won't notice that much difference for a personal PC.

As you can probably tell, I'm a bit sensitive about hard drives failing - and it does happen!

Anyway, it's up to you, I won't go on about it any more ;)
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Chris

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Re: Getting a new Gaming Rig (Yey!!!)
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2007, 03:03:19 PM »

Is the quad-core cpu at all useful in gaming right now? ie are there any games which can use 4 cores? If you are like I was as a gamer then you have services pared to the bone anyway so background tasks aren't likely to impact gaming.

Given that the Q6600 is just two E6600s bolted together, with the resultant bottleneck being cores fighting to get to main memory, then I'd be inclined to get a "fast enough" dual core cpu and either spend the cash on faster drives (Chris is right) or keep it in my pocket for now.

Edit - I assume you're doing RAID0+1 with four drives?
« Last Edit: November 27, 2007, 03:06:30 PM by rizla »
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jabns

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Re: Getting a new Gaming Rig (Yey!!!)
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2007, 06:33:47 PM »

The main reason why i want the q6600 GO SLACR is because it is basically a qx6800 because intel have got so good at refining the process that they had to keep up with demand at the middle of the range. I also do alot of graphics editing as i make maps in Unreal Editor 3 and crysis's Sandbox Editor and some of the textures are huge(i would say that the Editors are more demanding on the CPU than the game is). I also do alot of work with VMware and also do alot of video encoding. Plus at £130 you can't go wrong (I get it EX VAT through my dads business because he is having my old one  :lol:) .

As for the HDDs i should have taken them of the list really as they are just for my NAS box. But the Rapters are for the rig. I already have two in RAID 0 in another machine and they are fast(very very fast). I was tempted to get some SSD's in RAID 0 but they are just far too expensive at the mo (and they still have poor write speeds).

My bank denied to process it because they thought it was fraud LOL. So i have got another day probs.

Its mainly whether SLI works well or not(Some reports say 10-20% performance gain where as some say 50%)

Thanks,
James
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guest

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Re: Getting a new Gaming Rig (Yey!!!)
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2007, 10:05:50 PM »

If it's only £130 for the cpu then there's no point in waiting for a price drop on that.

SLI. Dear gods I remember the first time I heard that - 1997/98. I used to build PCs back then and SLI was dependent on drivers all the way back then too with the Voodoo2 cards :)  Heh this laptop probably has better 3d performance than that  :lol: They were awesome cards at the time though.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2007, 10:08:04 PM by rizla »
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jabns

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Re: Getting a new Gaming Rig (Yey!!!)
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2007, 05:22:30 AM »

Heh i don't remember  those cards as i was about 6 years old and was more interested in power rangers at the time  :lol: .

PS: I forgot to mention that i will be running AutoCad quite a bit( i did want a 30inch monitor with a res of 25xx by 19xx (i can't remember exactly as it i 5 in the morning LOL)

James
« Last Edit: November 29, 2007, 01:55:25 PM by jabns »
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guest

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Re: Getting a new Gaming Rig (Yey!!!)
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2007, 05:19:17 PM »

I can assure you that your old power ranger toys are more useful than a Voodoo2 card now :D
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jabns

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Re: Getting a new Gaming Rig (Yey!!!)
« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2007, 08:11:13 AM »

Oh yeah it could kick if you pushed a button on its back  :lol:  i would like to see a voodoo do that  :lol: .

Its going to be a another couple of days before i can order i think as the guys credit card got block by his bank  :( . They thought it had been copied and that it was unusual activity. It was his first online purchase thats why.


I love the way that intel are dominating the market but at the same time no one wants a monopoly as then intel could set what ever prices they wanted.

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tracer

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Re: Getting a new Gaming Rig (Yey!!!)
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2008, 04:15:05 PM »

ok that pics of crysis just got me wondering if its worth spending a bit of cash on a new graphics card.

at the moment i have a shuttle barebones and i am using the onboard vga.  have been toying with the idea of a cheap pci-e card just to improve the display a bit.  for now its great for browsing etc but movies are choppy at full screen and games are a no-no.  course thats not bothering me just now as i have xbox with xbmc for movies and games but maybe i can pick something up in the sales.

rough idea of spec;

shuttle xpc
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core (2.0GHz) Socket AM2
2 gig ram
500 gig ide drive
20" widescreen samsung tft

so whats the recommendations for a new card?  it would have to be something from http://www.cclonline.com/ as they are my preferred store. 

doesn't have to be the latest and greatest just something thats gonna let me run some nice games / hd video. oh and must be compatible with linux too.

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roseway

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Re: Getting a new Gaming Rig (Yey!!!)
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2008, 04:41:34 PM »

For Linux compatibility nVidia is the best choice, and my preference is for one which uses passive cooling (i.e. no fan) like This one
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  Eric

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Re: Getting a new Gaming Rig (Yey!!!)
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2008, 08:01:34 AM »

hi tracer

i got pretty much the same setup as you but have a nv 8600gt vid card which cost about £65 now (and its fanless eric!) which plays all the current games faultlessly.

with crysis being such a hardware intensive game i had to run in on 'medium' settings to avoid and jerkyness but its renown for that ...... when it was being tested there wasnt any harware which would run it on the highest graphics mode, but it is stunning.  but then i played COD4 - best graphics and gameplay ive seen so far.

now on solidier of fortune - payback   ;D
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Paul
 

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