Building a new system!

[tk102]

Kind of pushing the limit on the 450W PSU there. According to Newegg's calculator, they recommend 440W for that system as-is with the caveat :

The PSU Wattage we recommend only gives you a general idea on what to consider while selecting a power supply. PCI cards, External devices, USB and Firewire devices, Cooling fans and other components may need more power.

[Thrik]

You're also pushing it with the processor. I'm not sure how much that can be overclocked, but I can tell you from personal experience that an E6600 (2.4GHz) bottlenecks an 8800 GTX in a lot of games because they don't use both cores.

 

The E6600 has historically been highly recommended because it overclocks to 3GHz easily, which is enough to take your frame rate from 'jittery' to 'smooth' in a game like Command & Conquer 3 when a lot of action is going on (again, something I can personally attest to).

 

By the way, I mentioned the 8800 GT earlier. The 8800 GT has much better performance than the 8800 GTS you've listed and costs significantly less. This is because the 8800 GTS came out over a year ago, while the 8800 GT came out just a couple of weeks ago. It could be thought of as a new generation as it's built on a new architecture that allows them to make them much more cheaply, hence the lower price but superior performance.

 

NVIDIA chose to release this new card where you get much more bang for your buck rather than push ahead with the GeForce 9s (as they would ordinarily have done at this time of year, like they have since 1999). This is because they have such a lead on ATI right now they don't need to (ATI has only just struggled to get cards out that compete with what NVIDIA had out last November).

 

Indeed, the 8800 GT very nearly matches up with the 8800 GTX in many scenarios.

[Darth333]

Careful about that cheap PSU RN. The wattage isn't all. Some brands are more reliable than others and it is very important to also check the amperage (or how much power it can deliver) on the 12v rail.

[Rogue Nine]

Yeah, I'm starting to lean towards this case. Hopefully the mail-in-rebate will work for me (they never have in the past :'() and I won't end up spending that much.

 

And gah, I don't know what to do now for the CPU and GPU! I didn't want to spend that much but now it looks like I'll have to drop $250 at least for each of them :S

[Darth333]

Well it all depends on what you want. The e6750 is less than $200 and the radeon 3850 too. Of course that's a midrange card but depending on which games you intend to play it may also be sufficient for your needs (for certain games, it is not far behind the 8800gts you were looking at).

 

Btw, there is no point in buying a 8800gts: the 8800gt and the radeon 3870 outperform it for less $.

[Astrotoy7]

I've used every version of Vista since the first beta and I test drove an alpha of Longhorn. And clearly your vast amount of experience as an IT EXPERT explains away the fact that a majority of businesses aren't even willing to switch to Vista until SP1 if at all and a large number of OEMs and customers are reverting back to XP....

 

lolz....I'd like to announce that the entity known as Rogue Nine has been officially declared a business and is currently in a bitter legal dispute for usage rights of Merril Lynches associate Return Note "RNI" index on the stock exchange.

 

If thats the case, then maybe Niner should stick with server 2003 or Novell like most business run. Not sure how its going to help with his guild wars 2 plans !!

 

Due to the massive costs of an organsiation wide turnover, business is the last place you will see 'early adoption' of a new OS, by MS or anyone else for that matter. I work in a large public health organisation and they are still going through their 5 year upgrade cycles from win 2000 to xp or server 2003 on some workstations Using the business sector adoption rate as a basis to make recommendation to a home user is seriously flawed.

 

*recalls stingers xp incapable avvie* ....

 

How vastly amusing to have jmac poking stinger of all people about the virtues of staying with xp

 

@Niner, you didnt mention what rez you game at. The 3850 and 8800GT are both great choices either way. At this stage I personally wont be upgrading anytime soon as there seems to be no card that can wallop a high end game at 1600p..

 

Carting over your OS is possible as long as you have an actual OS disk(not a ''recovery disc'' with other propietary junk on it). You may have to ring MS to get a new activation code as home/oem licenses are usually single pc only. (just tell them your hdd fried and you are reinstalling it on your original system). >>thats what is done if you want to do it the legit way of course

 

@jmac, stinger and everyone else, I suggest the focus remain on recommendations based on performance benchmarks, power consumption etc rather than just brand preference and personal ego. The tech forum is an erudite place dangit....keep your condescending SHOUTS and rat turds to yourselves !!

 

There is a relative scarcity of vista x64 benchmarks specific for a gaming context. There are a few reports, such as this one which point out that 64 but has the edge operations wise, but from an app/game specific point of view - there isnt as much.

 

From my x64 experience, there isnt one game that ive had an 'x64' specific compatibility issue with. Ive had one bit of hardware(a usb capture device) that doesnt have x64 drivers ... many rival brands do - this one just doesnt Purely for the short term purpose of using this device I am using a virtualised xp pro x86 via vmware 6.2 which deploys beautifully on an x64 platform.

 

In apps such as video editing and encoding, being able to properly chew on 4gb RAM gives me a little edge on a comparable x86 installation - though im sure the differences wouldnt be staggering

 

The 64 bit revolution is still some time away. With MS tentatively announcing that their next OS wont have a x86 variant, it may be the nudge app and game developers need to start optimising for x64. Who knows - way too early to tell at this stage

 

mtfbwya

[Rogue Nine]

Well it all depends on what you want. The e6750 is less than $200 and the radeon 3850 too. Of course that's a midrange card but depending on which games you intend to play it may also be sufficient for your needs (for certain games, it is not far behind the 8800gts you were looking at).

 

Btw, there is no point in buying a 8800gts: the 8800gt and the radeon 3870 outperform it for less $.

I am looking into a 8800GT; so far the prices I've found have been encouraging ($250-$280). Not surprisingly, most stores that carry it have it on back order. xD The Radeon 3870 is also similarly priced so it might come down to a coin flip. :S

 

And the E6750 would probably work for me as well, though I am still sorely tempted by the Q6600 (Darn you again, Thrik!). Would probably have to shell out more cash for a more powerful PSU, though. :x

 

I game currently at 1680x1050, which is more than enough for me.

[Astrotoy7]

I game currently at 1680x1050, which is more than enough for me.

 

that isnt a low-def rez so I'd definitely stand alongside everyones recommendation of the 3850 or 8800GT Gaming at that rez, with those cards you are future proofing yourself a bit more than with an lesser card

 

good luck!!

 

mtfbwya

[MJ-W4]

I just wanted to be ahead of the curve.

Perhaps you might be well-advised to wait until early next year, since hardware prices tend to drop shortly after christmas.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

on the other hand, an identical hardware setup running XP will run much smoother.

Thanks for saying I was right. That means a lot to me.

 

and, jmac, try not to take everything so serious. this isn't a life or death situation you know.

LOL INTERNET

 

lolz....I'd like to announce that the entity known as Rogue Nine has been officially declared a business and is currently in a bitter legal dispute for usage rights of Merril Lynches associate Return Note "RNI" index on the stock exchange.

osnap i just got tl;dr'd

[Astrotoy7]

searches above post for useful information for the OP/OT

 

*bzzt*

 

jmac, keep it on topic please.

 

3. Spamming

 

Spamming is strictly prohibited. Your post needs to contribute to the discussion or the topic.

 

3.1 Spam details

 

Do not post messages that are irrelevant to the topic. This is spamming and is prohibited. Your posts should contribute to the thread.

 

 

* * *

 

@Niner, HERE's a great read, looking at the 38xx series and it competition. If you want to jump straight to the game specific benchies comparing it to the 8800GT, clickity HERE

 

mtfbwya

 

edit - darn these name changes >> who is this thrik character T7?

[El Sitherino]

With nothing to add but a comment on HD picking up, you're going to need that 4GB of RAM. 64-bit OS is the way to go, even if only considering entertainment. As for GPU, bust as much as you can. 8800 may not be what you absolutely need, but it definitely wouldn't hurt, however you can always upgrade to the next pretty card at a future date. Video itself is coming a long way, without having to bring up gaming.

 

Not to mention pornographic multi-tasking is a must for Niner.

[Astrotoy7]

With nothing to add but a comment on HD picking up, you're going to need that 4GB of RAM. 64-bit OS is the way to go, even if only considering entertainment. As for GPU, bust as much as you can. 8800 may not be what you absolutely need, but it definitely wouldn't hurt, however you can always upgrade to the next pretty card at a future date. Video itself is coming a long way, without having to bring up gaming.

 

Not to mention pornographic multi-tasking is a must for Niner.

 

well said sithy. Given that the transition away from DVD format to HiDef formats, a 64 bit OS coupled with >3gb RAM will have let you play and encode your 1920x1080 vids whilst allowing that multitasking sithy refers to

 

since BR-ROM drives have dropped to sub $200, nearly everyone in the hometheater pc game has ditched their dvd drives. I'm only going near BR when GL releases the saga in glorious 1080 mmmmmm

 

mtfbwya

[Thrik]

edit - darn these name changes >> who is this thrik character T7?

Heh.

 

No, I've always been Thrik. I just spend most of my time in the 'Original Titles' forums.

[Astrotoy7]

Heh.

 

No, I've always been Thrik. I just spend most of my time in the 'Original Titles' forums.

 

wow...you must spend most of your time there indeed !! Ive been here over 5 years and I havent seen you ! I thought you were T7, where has he gone btw !

 

* * *

 

OT: @Niner et al

Here's a nice recent article about vga cards and power consumption.

clickity-snap!

 

 

interesting stuff

 

I'd still like to throw in my recommendation of a smallform, if this issue is an important one to you(as it is me)

 

I had an asus vento case with the thermaltake 750W toughpower case and the 7950GX2... since going smallform, my electricity bills have noticeably dropped, and that was even during the winter when the bills are higher as a general rule. Money you save on bills is money you can put into a nice display, or a trip

 

mtfbwya

[Negative Sun]

I was gonna mention that too Astro, I'd watch the PSU even on that second case you posted Niner, a seperate one is almost always the way to go, especially if you're going to be using high-end components like that...(or you can go SFF like Astro and juggle your PC around while you use it )

 

I'd recommend something that has 80% or more efficiency (for mother nature's sake, and your household bills' sake ) and 500W or more...Browsing through Newegg, I'd recommend the one I've got ticked for my own build: Clicky

It's got very good reviews and would be sufficient for your components, and it comes with a 5 year warranty IIRC, which gives you peace of mind as this is the component you'd least want to upgrade in the future...

 

When buying components online, especially PSUs, people are usually nice enough to give feedback and say what system they've got running on it, so if you take this comment "No problems running with an Intel Q6600, 8800 GT graphics, 2 hard drives in a striped RAID, and a CD/DVD drive." I'd say it's safe to say your rig would suit it as well...I know it takes up the cost, but it'll be worth it in the end

[Rogue Nine]

Well kids, here's the final configuration I've got:

 

Case: NZXT Alpha Black Steel Tower - $55

PSU: XION SuperNova XON-600R14 - $115

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66Ghz - $190

CPU Fan: Thermaltake CL-P0257 Blue Orb - $46

Mobo: ASUS P5N-E SLI 650i - $115

RAM: Corsair 2GB DDR2 800 - $67

GPU: eVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB - $270

HDD: Seagate 320GB 7200RPM - $85

CD/DVD Drive: Sony 18X DVD+R - $26

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium x64 - $112

 

All in all, it's about $1081, which isn't really that bad at all, comparatively. I hope this rig'll last me for quite a long time.

 

Now I just have to wait for everything to get here. xD

[Astrotoy7]

great stuff Niner. Dont forget, you can always dual boot if you have some old school games you really want to play. You could just make an XP partition of 20GB or so and off you go

 

good luck

 

mtfbwya

[Rogue Nine]

Following a bit of a setback with a bum video card, I've finally gotten everything pieced together quite nicely. I overclocked the CPU to 3GHz and it runs beautifully. And omg, gaming is mind-blowing as the 8800GT chews up everything I throw at it. Installing a 120mm fan right next to it has managed to keep it's temperature manageable, though I am considering placing an aftermarket cooler on it.

 

Thanks for all the advice again, guys!

[Astrotoy7]

great stuff Niner...good to see you went with evga...their lifetime warranty is awesome

 

btw - what games are you running with your 8800GT, and what rez ??

 

mtfbwya

[Rogue Nine]

I'm throwing Hellgate London, Guild Wars, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, Civ IV and Empire at War at it and it handles all of them with ease, even at 1680x1050.

 

I also ended up throwing an aftermarket cooler on it, this one specifically. Now my 8800GT idles at a cool 38C and doesn't go over 48C at full load.

[stingerhs]

you needs to see how Crysis, Bioshock, or Unreal 3 runs on your system, too. still, its good to hear that you got everything running.

 

and it seems that our little discussion didn't go completely to waste. did you just overclock the CPU/FSB, or did you get the memory running faster, too?? and what about the CPU temps with the special cooler??

[Ray Jones]

I thought memory clock is dependent to FSB.

[Rogue Nine]

you needs to see how Crysis, Bioshock, or Unreal 3 runs on your system, too. still, its good to hear that you got everything running.

Sure, got an extra $150 you can wire me so I can get those games?

 

and it seems that our little discussion didn't go completely to waste. did you just overclock the CPU/FSB, or did you get the memory running faster, too?? and what about the CPU temps with the special cooler??

I raised the FSB to 375Mhz with a multiplier of 8, since Intel's CPUs are all locked. That cranked my RAM up to DDR2-900, each stick running at 450MHz. Tested it with Prime95 overnight and it ran straight and true for the entire duration. I might try and go higher, but I'm more than satisfied with the performance now.

 

And as for the CPU temps, it idles at 30-34C and doesn't push past 49C at full load.

[Astrotoy7]

Sure, got an extra $150 you can wire me so I can get those games?

 

yeah, while stingers at it, maybe he can chuck me a copy - cmon stinger man !!!

 

Im busy playing CoD4 when I get the time atm, my 8800GTS is happy with 1920 x 1200 with normal-medium quality. Looks purrty Of course, like crysis and bioshock(from playing demo and review benchies), it isnt too happy in 2560 x 1600, but what single card is with those games

 

mtfbwya