New Computer

[frogopus]

Well my new computer has arrived, tomorrow the building process begins.

Intel Q6600 processor
ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
8800GTX
Western Digital 150GB Raptor X (and a 400gb drive for storage)
OCZ 700W PSU
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU Heatsink
Cooler Master Centurion 5 Case
Saitek PZ30AU

[D_Smid4499]

With that heatsink you can get the 6600 up to 2.8-3.0 Ghz, same thing I did, way better then getting the 6700, which is overpriced. It looks pretty good, it will run crysis on max on Dx9 but around medium high to high on dx10, to max it out on dx10 you'll need a quadcore and a 9 series when it comes out. It's pretty good, price?

[frogopus]

I'm hoping to get things clocked to 3.2 Ghz (I have the G0 stepping which should help).

I forgot, all together the price came to $1850, including some more boring things such as dvd drives and fans and what have you. I have about $100 in rebates to hope to get back as well.

[gorgoth]

Well, albeit the fact my computer cost only $500 and is low-med gaming comp, I have

a) bigger hard drive

b) better case

Let us compare :S!

AMD 3500+ processor
TForce 6100-939 ATX Motherboard
Kingston 1GB 240-pin PC3200 (With crazy ram cooler thing)
ATI Radeon X1300 Pro PCI-E
Refurb'd Seagate SATA 250GB plus my sweet 180 GB external
Crazy German 450W PSU
Standard out of the box AMD fan
XION II Case
The Amazing Dell Keyboard!
MX 610 Cordless Laser Mouse

Thats all, but in the near future, I shall acquire another GB of RAM, a new PSU (Stronger), a dual core AMD X2 4200+, and probably an nVidia 8600 GT. That would be nice. Then I shall play everything on high. Not that I'm not now, but hey! I'll play games like Rainbow Six Vegas on high!

[D_Smid4499]

Did you get in from newegg? Because that's stuff seams a bit overpriced, it should be around 1600 altogether, but that's just an estimate.

[gorgoth]

I have about $100 in rebates to hope to get back as well.
My listed computer was supposed to cost $300. Back before all this DX10 hype! Bah. I was supposed to get like $200 in rebates, but it cost $500 instead. I just realized computers cost way too damn much.


EDIT: Whats the best site? I used tigerdirect and pricewatch, but supposedly newegg is best.

[D_Smid4499]

AMD 3500+ processor
TForce 6100-939 ATX Motherboard
Kingston 1GB 240-pin PC3200 (With crazy ram cooler thing)
ATI Radeon X1300 Pro PCI-E
Refurb'd Seagate SATA 250GB plus my sweet 180 GB external
Crazy German 450W PSU
Standard out of the box AMD fan
XION II Case
The Amazing Dell Keyboard!
MX 610 Cordless Laser Mouse


Ram is horrible, plus you have a stock graphics card and cpu which are the muscles of the computer, in only take 200 dollars to have a better case and hard drive, jesus people these days.

[gorgoth]

Hey, I stupidly built this thing before everything new came out. Like a week after, RAM prices were cut in half and vista/GeForce 8 series came out. It sucked. But now upgrading! Define stock... and actually I'm not sure what my RAM is and I don't want to find out because that would involve opening it up and I'm too tired. It does have a RAM cooler though, although I'm not sure it does anything lol.

[gorgoth]

in only take 200 dollars to have a better case and hard drive
Sorry for the double post, but wtf? Rephrase that, I have no idea what you are saying.

[D_Smid4499]

Stock is when you get things factory made by the manufacturer, so the items they put in your comp.

[D_Smid4499]

With 200 bucks you can get a good case and big hardrive, the only thing good about your comp is supposedly your amazing hardrive and case, thats 200 bucks max.

[gorgoth]

Uhh, they aren't stock as I built this thing, bought all the parts... are we clear now :)?


EDIT: I think I spent $160 on the case/hard drive. And it's not the only good, thing, it's the only thing that almost compares to frog's comp.

[D_Smid4499]

Well why don't you include your graphics card in your specs...

[D_Smid4499]

Lol I didn't see it, bad card however.
ATI Radeon X1300 Pro PCI-E

[frogopus]

I did order from newegg and none of the prices seemed too much for me.

As far as hard drives, I opted to get a faster 10,000 rpm hard drive, instead of having a lot of storage. The combined 550gbs should suffice. (note that I said I had an additional storage drive).

The high end ram and the faster hard drive bumped the price up a little more than it needed to be, I suppose. Hopefully, I'll see it in performance.

[gorgoth]

For the amount I paid pre DX10 ($90), I think the X1300 is a fine card. Granted I can get an 8600GT for like $130, but thats now. That was then.

[A DUCK]

Nice, wish i had that much money to spend on a computer :(.

Why are you/does everyone else get multible hard drives instead of just 1?

[dontleave]

More space.

[A DUCK]

Why not just get one really big one then? Lol :D

[dontleave]

... The biggest one maybe 100000000000000000GB for all that matters having 2x that is still more.

[A DUCK]

I see.. do you think 2x 160 would be enough? (Im planning on building my own computer soon too)

[frogopus]

Why are you/does everyone else get multible hard drives instead of just 1?

Well for me, I wanted the faster hard drive, so I picked up the Raptor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16822136011 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136011)

They don't make huge hard drives at 10k rpm. I probably would have been content with the 150gb but it was just $80 or so for the second 400gb drive that I can use for storage space.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16822152085 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822152085)

I've been working with a grand total of 37gb for years, so to me anything over 100 is quite a bit.

[seekdestroy]

to max it out on dx10 you'll need a quadcore and a 9 series when it comes out. It's pretty good, price?

No offense but thats a loada crap. Quadcore's are useless, especially when it comes to gaming. Ok it will be good at handling multiple programs. but 1 game cant be ran off 4 different processors. Multi threading technology is rarely used nowadays, just being used properly (L4D). This will mainly support dual cores, not quad cores. It will completely useless. But i agree the 8 series are crap cards at playing dx 10 games. Quadcores are just over priced. people think more is better (very american tbh, no offense) but its not always true.

[gorgoth]

Duck, 2x 160 is plenty. I have 250, and I only use 140 of it, but .iso's take up a good 5gb ea, so mostly that. I'd get 1 big one opposed to two smallers.

[A DUCK]

Ahh thanks for pointing all that out ;).

Well now that i see there is a 400GB for almost the same price as a 160GB from WD... im gonna get that 400GB too lol thanks for the link Frogopus :D.

[Deek]

Seekdestroy is right. Unless you are needing multi-core processing for some big fat apps running side by side, like Photoshop, etc or video editing software or something, core duo is plenty powerful in terms of gaming. That will obviously change in the future. I wouldn't blame the 8-series for lacking the horsepower to run DX10 games. Vista vid drivers are suck atm. Vista and DX10, as a gaming platform, require serious optimization before they can be taken seriously. The hardware is only part of the equation.

[D_Smid4499]

No offense but thats a loada crap. Quadcore's are useless, especially when it comes to gaming. Ok it will be good at handling multiple programs. but 1 game cant be ran off 4 different processors. Multi threading technology is rarely used nowadays, just being used properly (L4D). This will mainly support dual cores, not quad cores. It will completely useless. But i agree the 8 series are crap cards at playing dx 10 games. Quadcores are just over priced. people think more is better (very american tbh, no offense) but its not always true.
if you read what i said dumbass you would have seen that Crysis has been made for a quad core, the main reason in viewdistance and stream loading on one core and physics on another with the other 2 for the main parts of the game....

[dontleave]

No offense but thats a loada crap. Quadcore's are useless, especially when it comes to gaming. Ok it will be good at handling multiple programs. but 1 game cant be ran off 4 different processors. Multi threading technology is rarely used nowadays, just being used properly (L4D). This will mainly support dual cores, not quad cores. It will completely useless. But i agree the 8 series are crap cards at playing dx 10 games. Quadcores are just over priced. people think more is better (very american tbh, no offense) but its not always true.

Awesome, now if only you could get your head out of yesterdays ass.

[gorgoth]

Well, quadcores are pointless until Crysis becomes like the most amazing game ever and then you need a quadcore and all of the sudden they aren't so stupid.

[D_Smid4499]

No the point of the quad core is to optimize view distance and extreme physics. With a quadcore you most likely won't use one of the cores, which will help you with fixing locks and skips in frames.. plus crysis will enable quad cores able to render extra frames and triple to quadruple your frame rates.

[Deek]

Basically, if you're building your rig for Crysis, Supreme Commander or UT3, get a quad core. Otherwise, don't expect to see much of a performance gain - in fact, expect to see some loss with certain games.

Bottom line is, quad cores have come down a lot in price, and really aren't that costly when compared to high end duo cores (though the price/performance ratio is slightly off atm, because so few titles actually take advantage of multi-threading). If you're interested in "future proofing", or preparing for Crysis, then quad core should be a no brainer.

It'll be awhile before multi-threated games become the standard, but it'll happen eventually ... so you might as well be ready for it, I suppose. My next processor will be a quad, though likely a 45nm Yorksfield, as opposed to the current crop of Kentsfield.

[frogopus]

So yah, everything is all up and running. Hurrah for my first build being successful.

[Deek]

So yah, everything is all up and running. Hurrah for my first build being successful.
NINJA EDIT!

Congrats. Play some BioShock.

[gorgoth]

You runnin' Vista right frog? "gratz on the build. It's easier than expected right? :D

[frogopus]

No vista for a year or so

[Deek]

No vista for a year or so
Good call.

[globalenjoi]

Good call.

I really regret buying Vista. Wish I had spent that $100 on beefing up my video card...

Oh, and maxing out Rainbow Six Vegas on a 22" widescreen is a pain... I was dropping down to 12 fps in loaded outdoor areas... Quite depressing.

But grats Frog, on the new computer! Hopefully it will serve you well.