My new Gaming Rig

[defektes]

Thermaltake Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133087

Intel I7 930 2.8 CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225

EVGA, Nvidia GForce GTX 465 Superclocked
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130557

ASUS P6X58D-E Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131641

Mushkin Ram, 4GB DDR3 (I plan on adding a aditional 4gb when I switch to Windows 7.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226103

Antec 750 Watt PSU
Seagate 500gb HD

This computer is replacing my ancient beast I built in 2004. I have been deciding on a new PC for about 2 years now. I bit the bullit and gave my self a bday gift. I plan on going to windows 7 later, and adding more ram when I do so. Also, I plan on getting a PCI-E soundcard and possibly adding another VGA unit or a additional HD.

 

[Colt45ws]

Why go dual channel with a 1366 setup? 3x2GB will do almost anything.

Happy Birthday, btw.

 

[defektes]

I've been out of the custom PC loop for a while.

The PC it is replacing is a:

2.8 Prescott P4
Asus P4P800-E Deluxe
2 gigs of ram
started with a 5700GT Nvidia, upped to a 6600GS, then RMAd that one due to capacitors and got a 6800GS from EVGA
Maxtor diamondmax 12 80 gig IDE, and added another later,
Sound blaster Audigy 4 SE

for its time it was a good PC, have a awsome CPU fan on it for its day, it has served me well.

 

[saberz]

I had a beast of a gaming rig around the same period as you. Funny thing is, i parted it out to buy a laptop and have been using my laptop(upgraded of course) to play games with its built in 8600M GT with no issues.

My wife wanted a gaming rig and I basically build the same PC I had years ago for a tenth of what it cost(thanks to the wtb/wts forums on EOCF forums).

Running 1 less GPU than I had but plays games at full res with no qualms. I'm still waiting for the day I can build another gaming rig but money doesn't come as easy as it once did.

I give you props for speccing out and building a wicked machine, I'd definitely give water cooling a go, probably the best investment I made on my rig. Noise was non existent, price was fair as it was cheaper the second time around buying the Thermal Take case with it included instead of my custom DangerDen setup. Reliability was great, just do a coolant flush every 6months-a year pending on how hot your room/environment is.

Lastly, you did right going with Mushkin. Their customer service and RMA return/Cross Shipping is one of the best in the biz.

 

[MrHorspwer]

All that and you're gimping yourself with Vista or *gasp* XP?

 

[defektes]

I wont let Vista near 10 feet of my PC.

 

[Nick R]

Looking good. But I agree 100%, get a 3x 2GB setup, there is a large performance gap with dual vs triple channel in some applications. The graphics card looks good but personally I'd got with an ATi 5870/90 but that's just my personal preference. Also, STAY FAR AWAY FROM SEAGATE. I've had nothing but problems from their drives. I have had to RMA 3 of their drives, one of them 5 (FIVE!) times. I switched to Western Digital and haven't had any more issues. And just got with a cheap PCI sound card. The Sound Blaster Audigy SE does a great job at a great price. Vista isn't nearly as bad as people say it is, anymore now that drivers are released for it. But I agree, you should go with Windows 7 so you don't have to worry about wiping it in a few months.

Also, ick at the old computer. A p4 2.8 was NEVER considered fast. I had a Pres-hot 2M 3.0 that was a complete dog.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Quote:
But I agree 100%, get a 3x 2GB setup, there is a large performance gap with dual vs triple channel in some applications.


Don't confuse bandwidth with end level performance. You can expect about a 25% bandwidth hit in synthetic benchmarks like SiS Sandra and 15% in real world applications when comparing doube and triple channel memory. Much of this extra bandwidth is lost on the end user experience though, with actual performance metrics (time to encode, Photoshop filter apply times, etc.) being affected less than 5%.

Also, every benchmark I've seen on double vs. triple channel memory use a 64-bit OS that can actually utilize all 6GB. How will performance be affected on 32-bit OS that can only use 3 of those 6 GB? I don't know, I've never seen it done. I'd make a bet that it certainly doesn't help the performance numbers though. Is it worth the extra $50 to find out?

A new shiny GTX 465 and all it's DX11 glory... gimped by an OS that only supports DX9. Ick.

 

[saberz]

Originally Posted By: Nick R
Looking good. But I agree 100%, get a 3x 2GB setup, there is a large performance gap with dual vs triple channel in some applications. The graphics card looks good but personally I'd got with an ATi 5870/90 but that's just my personal preference. Also, STAY FAR AWAY FROM SEAGATE. I've had nothing but problems from their drives. I have had to RMA 3 of their drives, one of them 5 (FIVE!) times. I switched to Western Digital and haven't had any more issues. And just got with a cheap PCI sound card. The Sound Blaster Audigy SE does a great job at a great price. Vista isn't nearly as bad as people say it is, anymore now that drivers are released for it. But I agree, you should go with Windows 7 so you don't have to worry about wiping it in a few months.

Also, ick at the old computer. A p4 2.8 was NEVER considered fast. I had a Pres-hot 2M 3.0 that was a complete dog.



Seagate used to be a very good brand, probably the best of all 3 HDD manufacturers(WD, Maxtor). I've always owned Western Digital's and only had 2 failure's out of countless drives. Their RMA process was perfect and I even received a 20% discount code over 10 years ago that is still active(no expiration).

Maxtor drives has always been poor, very high failure rates, always the first to come out with bigger storage but it came with a price. Seagate buying Maxtor made Seagate worse as their quality went downhill.


As far as bandwidth, yes Bandwidth was king during the P4/Prescott era and still kind of is. At this juncture having more memory at DDR3 speeds offsets less memory in a dual channel configuration as there have been great strides with increasing the speed in which the CPU and Memory communicate along with cache advancements. I tend to go with the biggest amount of memory I can buy paired as the old school in me still over powers my reasoning. As for the Prescott and Northwood processors, they never flexed their muscle until you overclocked them to at least 3.4Ghz which was easily attainable on Air with proper ventilation. My 2.6c(Northy) hit 3.3ghz on air and 3.8ghz on water cooling. Was a good chip, but my Opteron 165 @ 2.8ghz Oc'd trounced it

I also like to buy on the edge of a phase out on graphics cards. EVGA has a step up program(or had, not sure if its still in effect). I bought 2 x 7800 GT's knowing the 7900 was coming out in a few short weeks and used the 7800's as a step up to the 7900 while still getting my gaming fix in. I paid zero difference and they were cross shipped. Sold the 7900's, got a good deal on an 8600, traded up to a 8800 GT 640 at no cost as well. Good way to cut down on costs

 

[SLCraig]

Looks good. I love my i7.

Also, Windows 7 is awesome. Do it now!

 

[defektes]

My presscot was OC'd to 3.4 from day 1.

Hot, but did its job, plus you could fry eggs on it in the morning during summer.

 

[occupant]

I would also go for an ATI card, only because the 4890 in my wife's i7-920 desktop is awesome in GTA IV. And I agree that the Seagate drive is garbage. Spend a little more and get a Western Digital. The Caviar Black 2GB model is very speedy for not being an SSD. And finally, GET 7 ASAP. In fact, I wouldn't even build your box without having the package for Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium sitting on your desk ready to go.

 

[defektes]

I have always had problems with WD hard drives, I had multiple crash on me back in the day. I always used maxtor in all my PC's and never one problem. Shame Seagate killed them, seagate was always my second choice anyways.

I have used ATI cards in the past, and can only say that I have never seen worse drivers on this planet.

I will have W7 next paycheck probably and a extra 2g stick.

 

[Colt45ws]

ATi drivers are much improved.
Its more like Maxtor killed Seagate. Seagate was all I even bought until I got five 7200.11 series drives and have RMA'd three so far.

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: defektes
I have always had problems with WD hard drives, I had multiple crash on me back in the day. I always used maxtor in all my PC's and never one problem. Shame Seagate killed them, seagate was always my second choice anyways.

I have used ATI cards in the past, and can only say that I have never seen worse drivers on this planet.

I will have W7 next paycheck probably and a extra 2g stick.


As colt said, ATi drivers are wayyyy better than NVIDIA these days. NVIDIA drivers caused over half of all vista BSODs after it came out, because the drivers were [censored]. And Also like colt said, Maxtor killed seagate.

 

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted By: defektes
I have always had problems with WD hard drives, I had multiple crash on me back in the day. I always used maxtor in all my PC's and never one problem. Shame Seagate killed them, seagate was always my second choice anyways.


All I have to say is, you are one of the lucky ones.
I'm glad Maxtor is gone, because there is no bigger junk company on earth except maybe Bose or Apple.

The failure rate was so absurdly high with those drives I called my parts supplier multiple times and threatened to move my business elsewhere if they didn't stop buying that garbage.

The failure rate was probably upwards of 50% for the place I worked, with the Maxtor drives. They caused nothing but grief and once they had all died off and were replaced with Seagates life was good again.

Good riddance!!!!

 

[Nick R]

I agree. My parents have only ever bought one maxtor harddrive, and that was because there were no WD drives available nearby, for whatever reason. Well, it didn't last a month. Click and beep of death, by then WD were in stock, and that drive was still working last that computer was on.