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Old 07-27-2006, 06:49 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Bulding new PC, ~$4000, component questions, etc

Ok, well, it's new computer time once again. In the past I have had Dells or other brand name pc's, and previously had an Alienware. I'll admit that I was dissapointed with the Alienware; it did not seem as polished as should be expected for the price. So this time I have decided to build my own. This is the first time that I've build my own pc, but I have changed out and replaced most of the components of various pc's, so I don't think I'll have any particular problems.

The main concern I have is getting the right parts. It is one thing to assemble components, but a whole different story to make sure I have the right components to begin with.

My price range is roughly $4000, although lower is always better. That said, $4000 is about the cost of a top of the line system without entering the range of being more powerful than most applications can take advantage of.

I made a list of components a few months ago, but with the whole Conroe, Opteron Italy's I'll be more or less making a new list.

By the way, this system is more or less purely for efficient, fast gaming.

Here is a list of what would seem like an applicable, well performing system:

Case: $220
Lian Li V COOL PC-V1200B plus Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112090
Seems to be a nice, roomy, well made case with good air flow. It's a bit hard to tell it's actual size from pictures, how do mid towers like this compare to full towers?

Power Supply: $160
GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply 100 - 240V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341002
I hear good things about this one, and plenty of power.

Processor: $600-1000
I was going to get an Athlon duel core, etc deal, but that was months ago. It seems that the intel conroe chips are coming out now and are reportively very good.
Am I correct in thinking that this:
Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor X6800 is the cream of the crop?
I notice that the X6800, rated at 2.93 ghz is going for about $1000, while the X6700 at 2.67 ghz for $600. I really want to make a killer system, and I'd really hate to skimp on the processor, but I have to wonder if this is a raw deal. Can I get any input on this from those following it more closely?

Motherboard: $200
ASUS P5N32-SLI Deluxe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131564
This seems to be the appropriate motherboard for a future Conroe rig. This one also has SLI support, which is handy since I'm planning on an Nvidia card.
It seems that there is not much choice when picking an SLI conroe ready motherboard. Should I stick with this one? Or do I have other options? Should I just settle on a better performing, non SLI board considering that I may never even set up an sli system?

Memory: $470
Chttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145035ORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
Ok ok, this is a lot to spend on ram, more than I was planning on, but... but cas3, ohh. Would this be appropriate for my motherboard though?

Optical Drive: $106
PLEXTOR PX-755SA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827249006
I'll pretty much be shelling out an extra $50 for an optical drive that connects via SATA, but I don't really want to bother with IDE or the such if I don't need to. Plus this comes with a very nice software bundle.

Hard Drives: $520
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD x2 in Raid 0
Yeah, that'll be fast. But, with plenty of sata2 slots in the motherboard, it almost seems a shame to be using sata1 drives, but seeing as there are no 10k rpm sata2 drives there is not much choice. It seems everybody agrees that 10k rpm sata1s in raid will beat 7200 rpm sata2 drives in raid. I could also go for the 74 gig raptors to save some cash. Is there any real dissadvantages in not using the slower rpm sata2 drives? Oh... and I have never done a RAID setup, so... that'll be fun.

Sound Card: $200
Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi Fatal1ty
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102189
Good audio is always appreciated.

Video Cards: $600
Geforce 7950GX2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150160
Excellent card, performance tests have put it roughly equal to sli 7900's. While quad sli isn't coming together quite so well, I've read of many doing it already with the beta drivers. One will do quite well for now, but it's nice to have the option in the future. What I don't know is what manufacturer to go with. XFX has one overclocked a tiny bit right out of the box, but from what I hear they can be overclocked quite well, so any that I buy will probably be boosted eventually. I also hear that eVGA is a good brand.

Speakers: $86
Creative Inspire P7800 90 Watts 7.1 Speaker
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16836116153
I happen to see that these inexpensive 7.1 speakers have gotten excellent reviews on newegg.

Monitor: $640
NEC 20WMGX2-BK
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824002320
Higher end lcd display. Native 1680x1050 resolution, 6ms response time, and unbeatable brightness and contrast. This will be my first lcd, so I'd like it to work well.

How will my proposed system do in terms of heat? It seems to be a roomy case with plenty of fans, but if necessary I can add additional cooling components. That's about it for components as far as I can think. I'm putting a lot of money into my first build, so while I've done a lot of research, I'm still counting on the more experienced community to give me a confirmation. Thanks much in advanced for all the help, I'll be checking in occasionally.
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Old 07-27-2006, 09:53 AM   #2 (permalink)
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Ok i dont really have time to go into everything you have listed there but.... spending $200 on a case is just nuts unless you plan on taking it to lan parties. And for $470 you can get 4 gigs of ram instead of 2 and you wouldnt ever notice the diffrence in it unless you planned to overclock it. and if this is your first build you shouldnt be overclocking. For the hard drives... just get one raptor install games you need to load fast on that then get one or two huge but slower hard drives and save yourself alot of cash to spend somewhere else. you wont ever notice the diffrence. that soundcard is overkill and putting a $200 soundcard to $80 speakers isnt the best idea. While i love creative speakers and have a set myself you wont notice the diffrence from that sound card to one of the less expensive soundcards Save yourself $50 and find a cheaper one unless that one has some feature your just dying for. the Asus mb is great btw but picking what one they make is all up to what features you think you will use. Basicly dont pay for anything you dont plan to use and you will be happy with it.
Im not a fan of lcd moniters The quality isnt any better then a crt and they cost alot more with less performance so unless you need to save room i would go crt. At the very least go to a store that has them on display and look at the lcd screens see if you can get someone at the store to run a game or something threw it so you can see what the performance is like. I have seen some lcd moniters get all sorts of praise then i go to look at them and find out they are just ugly as hell compaired to most crt screens. As a alterinitive idea for about the same amount of money why not get 4 crt screens side by side curved around you. Seen a few game rigs set up like that and its pretty damn wild. if your getting 2 video cards most of the better cards can handle 2 moniters each. Just an idea to look into. I wouldnt bother with the sata dvd drive Just no point really and if you have the ide slots you might as well use them. Theres no advantage in using sata over ide for dvd drives. At least not yet. Its not always a good idea to get the newest most fancy stuff out just because alot of the time its totaly pointless and way overpriced. For stuff like dvd drives hard drives ram and power source you should stick with stuff thats well tested and prooven. Newegg.com has customer reviews right on the site for each item. you should read those for anything you plan to buy. alot of the time they will tell you stuff about the hardware that you wouldnt ever read about in a online review from a prosite or whatever.

Ok thats my thoughts on the hardware.

Dont forget the little details. Might want to get a round ide cable for your dvd drive just makes things in the case a bit cleaner and has better airflow. You will also need thermal paste to put between the processor and heatsink for it. Might just want to get a keyboard and a really nice mouse. Cant have a good gaming rig without a hell of a nice mouse. logitech has some real nice ones out. Buy a few fans while your ordering your stuff. even if your case comes with fans. Most of the time the fans they come with suck. would be useful to have a couple 120mm and a couple 80mm fans. They are cheap enough so even if you dont use them all you will at least have a backup if a fan ever goes out.

As far as heat goes thats all up to you and how you have the cables routed in the case what fans you use and where you have the fans and what way they are pointed. Personaly i like having a 80mm intake fan in the front lower part of the case. Then a 120mm intake fan on the side of the case blowing fresh cool air right at the processors fan and heatsink along with the motherboard. Then a 120mm exhaust fan near the top of the case in the back. then of corse the fans flowing air from inside the case threw the power sorce and out the back.
I have a amd 3700+ geforce 7800 vid card and a couple gig of ram being cooled by this setup and my processor temp never goes over 35C and the motherboard never goes over 32C Both well below the Max temp they can handle of about 80C And the fans are almost silent. And thats in a $50 coolermaster case that i absolutely love. very easy to work in all tooless and good airflow.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119068 Thats the case i use.
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Old 07-27-2006, 10:10 AM   #3 (permalink)
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Why so much power? You can spend about a $1200 on a midrange system that will do everything well, and save your self $2800.

and raptors are way overpriced, go with 4, 80 gig Seagate’s 7200.10 in a RAID 0, it will twice as fast, and cost less, but the random seek time will be slightly longer, at $50 a pop, you can get 4 for $200, with much higher performance with out the price. Or you could get 160's for $65 a piece, still beat the price, space, and speed.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148107
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148105

For the video card, do you really need that much power? don’t blow that much money on a card, especially with DX10 around the corner, get a mid range card for $250, like a 7800gt, wait a year for DX10 to be out and about and then get a nice DX10 card.

for the sound, fatality branded products are over priced, find the non fatality branded card and save some money, also, 7.1 is not really worth it, 5.1 is all you really need, any direction of sound can be accurately simulated with 5.1, imho 7.1 is just a gimmick.

one quick note to Plaid13, there are a lot of idiots on the newegg review pages, i'd say take each with a grain of salt, but eating spoonfulls of salt is nasty.
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Last edited by Dilbert1234567; 07-27-2006 at 10:13 AM.. Reason: Automerged Doublepost
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Old 07-27-2006, 11:06 AM   #4 (permalink)
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That monitor looks sexy as hell. Hi-Def TV? I'd go for that monitor from the looks of it.

If you're going to spend a lot on a sound card it's worth not skimping on the speakers. So if you're getting a cheap set of speakers, don't buy that sound card, but if you have to have that sound card, expect to drop a few hundred dollars on great speakers. I bought the Logitech Z-5500 and it was the best money I've ever spent. They're a bit expensive, though.
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Old 07-27-2006, 02:16 PM   #5 (permalink)
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yeah the reviews on new egg are full of morons but if you get 3 or 4 morons that had the same problem normaly you can trust its a real problem.
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Old 07-27-2006, 08:24 PM   #6 (permalink)
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my initial thought was if ur gettin a 200 dollar sound card u should get better speakers
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Old 07-27-2006, 10:04 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Case: Lian Li makes some great cases and that one sure is pretty, but $220 pretty? I guess if you make the rounds with it, but even then, that seems like a lot to me to spend on a case.

Power Supply: I have no idea what kind of power this system is going to pull so, better to be safe than sorry, no?

Processor: Ooooo, I am very, very jealous. I'm a big AMD fan, but if I had the money to put together a dream system, I would definitely get myself an x6700. Sure the x6800 is the flagship processor, but--and this is just from what I've read, the difference in performance really doesn't justify the jump in price.

Motherboard: I don't know near enough to offer advice here. It seems to me that if you don't plan to go SLI, then don't get a board that offers SLI as it might save a little cash to spend elsewhere. However, since money doesn't seem to be an issue and you're not sure, then...go for it. I'll only add my generic bit on choosing a mobo--- Just make sure that the board you choose is going to be able to handle everything you want to attach to it. Since this is a first build...check and double check.

Memory: I'm with plaid on this one. It seems more for less--even with the slight performance difference that you may or may not notice-- would be the way to go.

Hard Drives: I'm going to echo Dilbert. Again, more for less seems the way to go.

Sound Card: Again, I'm going to agree with Dilbert. A nice sound card is a nice sound card, but in this instance it seems you're paying the premium for the brand.

Video Cards: Nice. That's a monster of a video card. If you have doubts, maybe you should visit the video card thread or drop Lasereth a PM. He seems to be the 'go to' guy when it comes to video cards. I've bought two based on his recommendations and both were winners.

Monitor: I have no problem with LCD monitors and that one looks very....very nice, but I'm not a big gaming freak. I spend most of my gaming time in the Civilization series or the Sims 2 with an occasional foray into an MMORPG or FPS. I should say that a number of my friends who are into hardcore gaming swear by CRT monitors. If there's a local place you can visit to see for yourself the differences, then it's a trip well worth taking in my opinion.

As for cooling...I imagine it's going to generate a lot of heat and strategically (did I spell that right?) placed fans should keep you running fairly cool. I'd probably invest a bit in a quality aftermarket heatsink/fan for the cpu. It's going to take a bit of experimenting to find the right combination to keep everything cooled properly. And you'd do well to invest in few fans of various sizes--if only to have them on hand just in case. Just remember, more isn't always better in this case.

If you're feeling feeling particularly frisky, maybe water cooling is the way to go. I've don't water cool myself and probably won't until my next big upgrade, but it seems the way to go if you want to keep things cool and, more importantly, quiet.

Since this is your first build, I'd suggest you double check and make sure that you have all the cable you need. For the most part it's not a problem as most will include the necessary cables and connectors, but it doesn't hurt to double check. After all, the one time you don't bother to check will be the one time you won't get it.
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Old 07-28-2006, 12:00 AM   #8 (permalink)
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My points of advice:
Downgrade the sound card ($200 is quite a large amount, if you buy a $70 Creative card you won't notice any difference. Spend the difference on the Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speakers. They have 505watts RMS and 1010 watts peak power, are digital (no hissing when silent like the creative speakers have), and have multiple DIGITAL inputs (coaxial AND optical) i.e. you can plug a 360, XBOX, PS2 into as well as your computer.

The case price is a bit ridiculous. You could buy a $40 case and just buy a nice CPU cooler from Arctic-Cooling and be set. They are quiet and cool better than the stock heatsinks.

Other than that, it is a pretty nice system. You did thought basically select the most expensive option for every component so I would spend a couple days researching to find out what is really a better component for the price instead of relying on a $400 x part is better than a $350 y part.
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Old 07-28-2006, 08:31 AM   #9 (permalink)
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Location: Central Coast CA
Quote:
Originally Posted by soccerchamp76
My points of advice:
Downgrade the sound card ($200 is quite a large amount, if you buy a $70 Creative card you won't notice any difference. Spend the difference on the Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speakers. They have 505watts RMS and 1010 watts peak power, are digital (no hissing when silent like the creative speakers have), and have multiple DIGITAL inputs (coaxial AND optical) i.e. you can plug a 360, XBOX, PS2 into as well as your computer.

The case price is a bit ridiculous. You could buy a $40 case and just buy a nice CPU cooler from Arctic-Cooling and be set. They are quiet and cool better than the stock heatsinks.

Other than that, it is a pretty nice system. You did thought basically select the most expensive option for every component so I would spend a couple days researching to find out what is really a better component for the price instead of relying on a $400 x part is better than a $350 y part.
i totaly agree on the soundcard and the speakers, but i disagree with the case, i work on computers for a living and i HATE cheep cases. i've goten more infections from sharp edges than i can count, give me a nice $100-$200 case any day. $40 is asking for trouble.
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Old 07-28-2006, 10:20 AM   #10 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by soccerchamp76
The case price is a bit ridiculous. You could buy a $40 case and just buy a nice CPU cooler from Arctic-Cooling and be set. They are quiet and cool better than the stock heatsinks.
I disagree about buying a cheap case too. It's definitely worth spending at least $100 on a quality case. I've used Lian Li cases for the past two computers I've built. The case you've chosen is a higher end one. If you want to save some money, Lian Li has some cases in the $100 range that are really high quality too.
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Old 07-29-2006, 05:59 AM   #11 (permalink)
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I'm looking to build a rig for myself so here's my input.

The Conroe chips from Intel are awesome and the reason I'm going after one is the reduced heat/power compared to the comparable AMD solution. The problem is they are hard to find right now...I've been looking at the AMD FX2 5000 or the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 and can't find either now for love or money. Of the 3 reviews I read doing a head to head AMD v Intel the Intel won on all counts although one review had the Intel/AMD chips pretty much even when used for gaming. Still...the reduced heat & power on these Conroe chips make them an excellent choice.

I think the prices on the E6700 and 6800 are still too high compared to the 6600. The 6600 should come in at about $350 once they start coming back in stock. I hear sometime in August but the date range is everything from 8/4 to 8/31! Pretty much the same thing for the AMD FX2 5000...

I love the power supply, I'm getting one myself.

You are spending too much on RAM...

That video card is on the top of my list too...I haven't decided on that or an SLI config, but I do recommend the eVGA brand line. They had a problem with a few of their earlier 7900 models but this has been rectified and the ppl who purchased the older 7900 got replacement cards with the newer model. The newest version is called the "reload" and comes with a copy of Hitman Blood Money for free.

I don't buy cheap cases but yours is way too pricey. My current rig has a Antec Sonata case and I love it...I spent about $80-90 on it and it was well worth the money.

Others have said you need better speakers, I agree. That sound card is nice I guess but I don't want to pay for a front panel audio connectors/faceplate. I just wouldn't use it. So I think it's a little pricey but certainly well reviewed.

I'm a fan of the Dell 20" widescreen monitors and I've seen them recently at about $375. I own last year's model (which I believe is better than the current model) for which I paid $343 and I haven't seen any (include Apple) that is better.
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Old 07-29-2006, 08:02 AM   #12 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by portwineboy
I'm a fan of the Dell 20" widescreen monitors and I've seen them recently at about $375. I own last year's model (which I believe is better than the current model) for which I paid $343 and I haven't seen any (include Apple) that is better.
I have a smaller Dell LCD monitor (15") and I get ooohs and aaahs whenever I go to LAN parties with it, mostly because I can set up almost anywhere compared to everyone else with their giant CRTs. As long as you have a good graphics card, everything looks good, no matter what you play, and you'll realize just how much space that CRT monitor took up (and how heavy it was).
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Old 07-29-2006, 05:42 PM   #13 (permalink)
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I don't have much to add to the previous comments, except to say that it's funny how many responses this thread has gotten. I think everyone's drooling over the prospect of a $4000 machine. I know I am.


Basically, to sum up my thoughts (most of which are agreement with other posts):

Case - good choice. You'll be happy that you bought a good case. It makes things much easier on you.

Power Supply - I don't know much about the specifics of different brands, I just know that I've had bad experiences with cheap/off name PSUs. The one you chose should do alright. You may want to read some reviews on which ones are quietest and coolest, though, if those are concerns.

Processor - Generally, I prefer AMD, because you usually get better bang for your buck, especially when it comes to games. Since you're looking to go high end, however, the ones you've chosen seem a pretty safe bet. I'd go lower end, personally, because most of your gaming power isn't in the processor. Not to mention the difference in performance probably isn't worth the jump in price.

Motherboard - I'll say what most everyone else said: get a motherboard that has the features YOU want in it. (Example: do you need firewire? If you're not going to edit movies on this machine, probably not.) Getting a high end board just because it's high end is a waste of money. Much of what you pay for is features.

Memory - More memory > faster memory, most of the time. If you can stay away from the bleeding edge Corsair XMS stuff, but get twice as much for the same cash, do so. You'll notice a big performance boost, especially in newer games that run multiple threads simultaneously.

Optical drive - Sure. Basically irellevant to your gaming performance, so whatever.

Hard drives - Do you need TWO 150 GBs in RAID-0? That's just a larger probability of failure, in my eyes. If you want RAID-0, do it with smaller Raptors and use it as your boot drive and the drive where games are installed. Like others have said, get some 7200 RPM storage drives to buff up your space. That way you get the best in performance, reliability, and storage space. From what I hear, the Samsung Spinpoint 7200 RPM drives are outstanding in terms of speed, heat characteristics, volume, and reliability.

Sound card - What they all said. Why do you need a $200 sound card? You playing a lot of symphonies on your computer? Doing lots of THX editing? No? Then save your money. The Xi-Fi won't increase your performance enough to justify the cost. Get a sub $100 Sound Blaster and you'll be fine. Seriously.

Video card - Yes, yes, and yes. Please rub it all over my body. The only way I could enjoy that card more is if one could somehow bottle the performance for consumption.

Speakers - You use speakers when gaming? Most serious gamers I know (and looking to spend 4 Gs on a gaming machine probably qualifies you as "serious") use headsets. Just a thought. But I would definitely get better speakers. I don't have any particular recommendations - I defer that to people who know more about them.

Monitor - That one looks pretty good - for an LCD, that is. As good as LCDs are getting, I still don't think they perform as well as CRTs in a gaming situation. It's getting pretty durn close, though, and with a good LCD, you won't notice the difference unless you're really looking for it. It would probably be worth it just to save the headache of using a CRT.


Other thoughts:

How about a Phys-X card? Some new games are using dedicated physics processors now, and in games that support them, it can really improve performance, as well as make them look much prettier. Most games don't use them yet, but if you're looking for a top end system, that would probably be part of it.

And do you have a good mouse? I recommend a laser or high resolution optical. The mouse I use is a Logitech MX-518, and I love it, but I've heard good things about the Razer mice as well.

Get a good keyboard as well. A slow space bar reaction time can mean the difference between a perfectly executed jumping-knife-headshot and being totally shot in the face.

And if you don't have one already, a good headset. I've heard mixed reviews about the 5.1 surround headsets, so I probably wouldn't get one of those, but some of the Logitech and Sennheiser sets have emulated surround that apparently works really well. A good headset will both make the game more immersive (fuck background noise, man) and make you better at the game. Can we say footsteps, anyone?


Huh.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MooseMan3000
I don't have much to add to the previous comments
For not having much to say, I sure did type a lot.
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Old 07-29-2006, 08:42 PM   #14 (permalink)
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If you really want fast HDs, get SCSI (you can afford it on a budget like that). Or if you insist on SATA, at least get a real RAID card, like a 3ware. Something that does RAID in hardware. Don't bother with RAID-0. It's completely pointless. If I'm doing RAID, it's RAID-1 or RAID-5.

I agree with not cheaping out on cases. My new $100 Lian Li case kicks ass. It's quieter, does a much better job of cooling, and it's easier to manage too.

I also agree that Dell LCDs kick ass. Relatively cheap and extremely high quality. I swear by my 2001FP and the 2405FPW I had at work. Beautiful monitors. Nothing else I've ever used compares. And there's nothing more important than your eyes when you're using a computer (well, except perhaps your body).
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Old 07-30-2006, 12:08 AM   #15 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oberon
If you really want fast HDs, get SCSI (you can afford it on a budget like that). Or if you insist on SATA, at least get a real RAID card, like a 3ware. Something that does RAID in hardware. Don't bother with RAID-0. It's completely pointless. If I'm doing RAID, it's RAID-1 or RAID-5.
yes scsi will get you faster performance, but at a very high price, raiding several SATA drives will beat SCSI dollar for dollar with ease. And 4 in a RAID 0 are incredibly fast, more than he will use. He is looking for speed, so RAID 1 is not there, RAID 5 is nice but not all chipsets support it. he does not need to get a raid card to do raid either, onboard RAID from his nforce 4 chipset is solid, plus, to get any real performance boost beyond the onboard raid, a very expensive card is needed, $500-$1000, and blowing that much of his budget is not worth it, especially with a nice onboard raid such as the nforve4. RAID 0 is a bit risky if one fails everything is hosed, but keeping a good backup routine eliminates this threat. Maybe a raid 1+0 would be a good balance, 1 wasted drive, but no extra raid card needed.
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Old 07-30-2006, 09:26 AM   #16 (permalink)
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Hey, I was going to edit, but thought a new post would be appropriate.

I don't think that is the correct RAM for your motherboard. You are getting DDR2 800 PC2 6400 when I think the mobo supports:4x 240pin DDR2 667 PC2 5400...unless it can be overclocked.
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Old 07-30-2006, 06:03 PM   #17 (permalink)
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The concept that RAID 1 isn't fast is incorrect. I'm not sure where people got that from. Obviously, f you care about write speed, then RAID 1 is not for you. But RAID 1 is much faster than a single disk at reads. I believe most PC users (gamers included) don't do much writing. RAID 0 isn't an option under any circumstances, in my opinion. Backups shouldn't be an only resort.

There's a big difference between a $50 (or onboard) RAID card and a $300 RAID card, as far as performance is concerned.
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Old 08-06-2006, 11:03 PM   #18 (permalink)
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Thoughts:

First off, grats on your ambitions for the 6800 Extreme! It outperforms the FX2 by 30% (tomshardware.com), you'll definitely be a happy camper.

As an owner of the X-Fi, there are a few things you'll want to ask yourself: Do you plan on watching movies? Do you enjoy supreme gaming sound? Have you thought of recording/transferring sound from/to your PC?

The X-Fi has a lot of features, each model DOES perform differently, with the Fatatlity line being geared directly for gaming. However, part of the price you'll be paying is for technology that has yet to be fully embraced by the game development community. (The onboard RAM). Furthermore, some games require additional patches to work correctly with the X-Fi cards. Finally, I'd highly suggest increasing your speaker quality. You're getting a card that can decode many high quality formats, so please, get speakers that can play them! To those suggesting something along the lines of an Audigy 2, that is what I upgraded from, there is quite a large difference between the two products.

Memory: If you're not overclocking, you don't need super top-of-the-line, however, quality does make a difference. (i didn't copy and paste your link, sorry!)

Heat: Overclocking tends to bring the heat up, however, benchmarking tests revealed that you can push the x6800 pretty far without altering the stock coolers. What the heat situation will come down to is how well you're ventilated. However, if you find yourself burning up, aftermarket cooling products are all over the place. I really don't feel you'll have a problem unless you're fiddling with voltages, etc.

Phys-x Card: I would hold off on purchasing one of these, both Nvidia and ATI are working on new physics related number crunchers.

If you're looking to spend a large sum of money on a new rig, your intentions should always be towards longevity. This means aiming for the solid performers in the upper echelon of components. However, this does not mean buy the most expensive thing you can find, as we all know that price != quality, it just seems that way at times.

In closing, keep in mind that high end gear is mostly marketed towards gamers, who really don't care about the sound their case is making, as long as its fast. Sure, there are those who do care, the majority however, do not. You may run into a situation where your great product makes your computer sound like a turbine engine. Especially if you have multiple fans on the PSU! Research, research, research!

Here are a two websites that I frequent for research:

anandtech.com
tomshardware.com

Tom's Hardware has a very extensive database of benchmarking tests ranging from DivX encoding times, 3Dmark scores, to actual in game FPS, along with temperature data. They also have a damn fine breakdown of why the new Conroe chipsets pounce AMD.

Good luck, can't wait to see pics!
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Old 08-06-2006, 11:22 PM   #19 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oberon
The concept that RAID 1 isn't fast is incorrect. I'm not sure where people got that from. Obviously, f you care about write speed, then RAID 1 is not for you. But RAID 1 is much faster than a single disk at reads.
your half right (or write ) some RAID 1 cards allow for simultations reads from difrent disk, however, not all RAID controllers support this.
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Old 08-08-2006, 09:23 AM   #20 (permalink)
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ARSTechnica's God Box comes out to about US$13,000.00

ARSTechnica's Hot Rod comes out to about $1,600.00

I suggest looking at their specs and going somewhere in between. ;-)
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Old 08-08-2006, 07:20 PM   #21 (permalink)
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Location: Southern California
Coming from someone who just "blew" $200 on a LIANLI case: It is worth every penny. You cannot understand how much better these things are until you get your hands on one. That being said, if it is not everything you ever wanted and more, Newegg will let you send it back. Like getting a puppy here, bring it home and see how you like it. Then go from there. Don't listen to those haters who can't see $200+ for a case. They don't have one.

As for the other stuff: simple rule with power - most people skimp on it and then are sorry. Spend your money here. This is a hardworking piece of euipment that is prone to breaking. Don't let it take the rest of your system with it.
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Old 08-08-2006, 11:29 PM   #22 (permalink)
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Location: Central Coast CA
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mondak
As for the other stuff: simple rule with power - most people skimp on it and then are sorry. Spend your money here. This is a hardworking piece of euipment that is prone to breaking. Don't let it take the rest of your system with it.
and generaly the quieter it is, i have an old 480 watt i payed $50 for, it literaly screams, my current 560, payed $130 for, is wisper quiet, no joke, i cant hear it.
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