Computer Search

[Humming Bird]

unless its MSI or gigabyte it was a waste, well not entirely there are a few other companies who know how to make video cards.

Don't forget XFX, because XFX rules!

and EVGA, cuz they make quality cards too

 

[Blasto121]

EVGA != good
EVGA = ok

XFX = good

sorry mikkel but dells are made with cheaply manufactured parts. It would be different if Dell built its computers from asus parts or msi parts, hell any part besides dell priority parts.

 

[Mikkel]

EVGA != good
EVGA = ok

XFX = good

sorry mikkel but dells are made with cheaply manufactured parts. It would be different if Dell built its computers from asus parts or msi parts, hell any part besides dell priority parts.

 

[Humming Bird]

To target exactly what you want just say "Like" or "Dislike" to the following computer (Labeled as GPC1), other people can comment on this too, which might also affect my next "build plan" for P (I put my reasons in for each part):


"Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail" - Good case with really nice cooling with a good price

Two "Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM " - For gamers, two of them in Raid 0

"EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail" - Future proofing (DX10, speedy, SLI-able), also a $30.00 mail-in rebate for this video card

"CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply - Retail" - One of the BEST PSUs i've ever come across (very stable and modular, $20.00 mail-in rebate)

"Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM" - Well, thermal paste better than the stock one that is w/ the core 2 duo

"Kingston HyperX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1200 (PC2 9600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KHX9600D2K2/2G - Retail" - 2 Gigs is good for almost everything now. Since the motherboard takes this, why not take advantage of it for a lil more speed? Pretty good DDR2 1200 (above the standard ddr2 800). Be sure to set the timings and voltage right for this (I'll help you on this if you don't know how)

"EVGA 122-CK-NF63-TR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail" - Nice motherboard, takes DDR2 1200, has full speed SLI (x16, x16), has RAID features, onboard LAN and audio and usb and firewire (ieee 1394). Also has a $10.00 mail-in rebate

"Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6420 - Retail" - Overclockable (You probably don't need to, its fast enough on its stock speed... And you'll need to probably get a better fan). But you like Intel (and so do I) and this I think is their best budget/top-of-the-line chip (ain't a core 2 duo extreme though)


Price: $1,611.92 (Without counting in the mail-in rebates listed) <- I know thats a lil high

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

May I suggest a Thermaltake Armor VA8003SWA case?

 

[Blasto121]

I would drop the extra HDD, no real need for it. Unless of course you don't understand the concept of backups.

as for everything else... well not much to say, the case seems a bit pricey but its more for visuals than anything, as long as the case has 7+ fan spots it will always be able to push enough air around. Although I would suggest a full case vs a mid tower, huge help when getting a monster of a video card like the 8800GTX.

If P is really worried about overheating the case J-M pointed out would be some of the best of the best.

In the end that rig is way out of my league, I personally wouldn't spend that much on a computer that will only last maybe a year or two well this one could last 3 maybe 4.



Oh hey and P what are you going to do with your old video card? I like computer parts that have issues.

 

[Humming Bird]

Hm... Do i smell eBay?

Well, as I said, the HD is for RAID 0, which boosts performance a bit. (And provides the extra space). Personally, I use a raptor to hold the OS/Proggies and then for my new rig (which i'm building in about a week or two), i'm putting in one of those new 1k hitachi HDs for storage (and my video editing needs).

Well yeah, I checked out the case J-M posted, and went WOW! I'm getting that for my new rig, which sadly, only will probably have one 640 mb GTS (due to my money constraints)


And my computers don't last me long... The one i'm on rihgt now is a Compaq w/ Atholon 64 +3500. Only costed about $300, and I hate it cuz it takes forever to do video encoding and 3d rendering.

 

[Blasto121]

Raid is useful for somethings, but what is P going to use the computer for? If its not for large files no need for fast Hard drives, performance impact would be negligible if he had enough ram.

I can understand needing faster HDD for say large file editing because lets face it unless you have like 8 gigs of ram your always going to run out of ram when editing, even then there isn't that much of a performance gain.

Sata can transfer fast but still its the slowest part in your computer no matter what you do... unless of course you get something like this

I find that its one thing to build a computer with impressive specs its another to build a computer that you know will run great. Been using the same system now for about 3 years, gone through some minor upgrades. When it comes to buying the parts I always make sure that the part I get will perform to a level greater than that of its value. Thus giving me the power but also saving me some money

and again like I always say... Thats just me.

 

[PBarnum]

Again, I will be using this computer mainly for gaming purposes, and editing. So I need every game to run perfectly and be able to use the computer for another 3 years or so.

 

[Humming Bird]

Again, I will be using this computer mainly for gaming purposes, and editing. So I need every game to run perfectly and be able to use the computer for another 3 years or so.

Meh, should be fine w/ J-M's recommended case. But if you wanna run games in the next 2-3 years, consider adding another 8800 GTX (SLI) when the price goes down.

 

[PBarnum]

Humming Bird, your selection looks good, but that is all I need or is there other things I *must* have.

Also, Can you link up some near future items that I should wait for. Like the DDR3 you speak of, and such.

 

[Blasto121]

here is an article related to AMD's quad cores

The quad cores are supposed to be out around summer, so I am looking out for them. As for DDR3 well you can already get some, be it way expensive right now.

I say in a month or two whatever hardware you get now will be obsolete, then again that normally happens although typically its not this big a leap.

If you have the ability I say wait it out. The next generation in CPU, motherboards, and memory are right around the corner, do expect to pay a touch more but expect it to last a lot longer. That and DDR3 memory is going to be freaking awesome on all levels. Not only does it run 2x faster (20 Gbps) than DDR2 it eats only 1.5v compared to the 1.8 for DDR2. Very important stuff for laptops and people who don't want a power supply that consumes the same number of watts as a dryer.

hope this info helps you out.


*edit*
almost forgot to mention, Vista was designed to run with DDR3. The big memory hog that it is.

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

Well yeah, I checked out the case J-M posted, and went WOW!

I have a slightly different version of that case

I have the Thermaltake Armor VA8000SWA which looks like this.
I'm suggesting the Thermaltake Armor VA8003SWA which looks like this.

There is only one difference between these two cases, but it should be an obvious one; the VA8003SWA model has a huge 250 mm intake fan mounted in the transparent side panel and the VA8000SWA model doesn't have that. I can order the side panel with 250 mm fan as an upgrade, but that would cost me about € 40,00. Anyway, that's not really important right now.

What is important is the airflow of this case, which happens to be quite good. With this awesome case you'll get the following fans:

1) Front, intake, 120 mm fan mounted to a special 'cage' that can fit three 3.5" hard drives. The hard drive cage with the mounted fan looks like this, minus the grill because the cage is built in the case and you can't touch the fan unless you remove the dust filters in front of it, making the grill obsolete. You can move the cage wherever you want in the front of your case to change the airflow. The reason you're seeing a grill in front of the fan in all the pictures on the page I just linked to is because you're looking at the loose component upgrade (which would cost about € 30,00). But as I said, you are getting one of those hard drive cages with a 120 mm fan attached to it standard if you buy this case. Purchase of a second one, or maybe even a third one, is optional. The fan has three nice blue LEDs. If you want to, you can remove the entire cage with the fan. There's still plenty of room for three more hard drives elsewhere in the case.

2) Back, outtake, 120 mm fan that can be removed. This fan will probably be right next to your CPU cooler, removing hot air. This fan also has three blue LEDs.

3) Back, outtake, 90 mm fan that can be removed. This fan will sit next to your PSU, and maybe behind one, two or three hard drives that can be placed next to the PSU.

4) Top, outtake, 90 mm fan that can be removed. Do note that this fan isn't installed by default when you buy the case, you have to install it manually. Don't worry though, it's very easy.

5) Side, intake, 250 mm fan (comes with the VA8003SWA model only) that should provide alot of cool air for your motherboard and all important components on it.

Also, the top of the case has tons of ventilation holes so hot air can get out. All of the available 5.25" drive bays in the front of the case have dust filters. And as I said before, you can relocate the hard drive cage with the 120 mm fan as (somewhat) illustrated in this picture.

And last but not least: the case looks amazing
I'm very happy with mine, and I bet you'd like it even more with the 250 mm fan in the side panel.

 

[Humming Bird]

Well, as of right now, DDR3 is outta normal-person range, but DDR2 can still perform better than DDR3, due to the ability of DDR2's tighter timings.

 

[Humming Bird]

And i researched the Thermaltake's cases a bit more, and for me (not for you P), the "Thermaltake Armor Extreme Edition VA8004SWA" is more for me because its mid-tower sized. My computer lives underneath my desk, and there's not much more room there

 

[Evaan]

My case looks like this.

Really unobtrusive *as unobtrusive as a 24" screen can be...).
The thing inside is dead silent too, and fans never run. Ever (apart from the utter silent, constant 1000RPM), regardless of how much is going on on the screen.

Medium quality graphics card, though. I have to set Oblivion to 1680x1050 in order to make it go at least a little decent. No antialiasing, naturally

 

[Blasto121]

Well, as of right now, DDR3 is outta normal-person range, but DDR2 can still perform better than DDR3, due to the ability of DDR2's tighter timings.

DDR3 still will outperform DDR2. Yes DDR3 price is hight, but thats only because it doesn't have many manufactures behind it, its the standard supply and demand. Once demand goes up supply goes up and price goes down, ever heard of RDRAM the stuff was and will always be expensive just for the sole reason not many motherboards support the stuff, I happen to have a computer that still runs it and been wanting to upgrade its memory but don't want to pay the price it would take.

DDR3 is the next logical step in memory and in a few months when AMD quad core releases demand for the super fast memory is going to sky rocket, just for the sole fact that DDR2 will not be able to keep up with the demands of 4 cores calling to it all the time. The additional bonuses of the high speed is really going to make your computer fly.

Its all about the waiting game, sure one can get a computer now, or one could wait just a little bit longer and get something even better! Heck once the stuff releases the price on all the dual cores, dual core motherboards, and DDR2 memory will drop.

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

I still just can't understand how ATi's Radeon 1950 XTX has DDR4 RAM while memory for computers is still mostly DDR2.

 

[Blasto121]

there is something with how a graphics card handles memory vs a standard memory module.

For whatever reason the move from any of the other DDR's just seems to be really slow... by the time a desktop can use DDR4 chances are video cards will be using DDR5 or 6, or even possibly some other crazy way thats faster than by any other conventional means.

 

[Humming Bird]

Maybe its just the difficulty of manufacturing a memory controller constantly for the newer memory? Well, maybe there is a reason its called GDDR

 

[Evaan]

I wouldn't be using quad core for a gaming machine if I were you.

The only games that are written for quad core I think is Quake 4 and perhaps DooM 3.

More cores/CPUs is a bad idea if the programs aren't written for it. It'll actually be slower, seeing as it'll take longer time to fragment the task on four cores, do the parts for each core, then combine the results.

On software built for quad cores, the cores do different tasks separately, then combine the result.

Most software will probably just use the cores designated for them instead of taking "advantage" of all the cores.

I'd look up the documents if I remember where I got them.

Just don't get too hooked up on cores and megahertz. What's theoretically faster necessarily isn't.

Faster memory bus speed is more important than faster CPUs (ie. going from 400Mhz to 800Mhz while retaining the 2Ghz CPU speed is much more beneficial than going from 2Ghz CPU to 2.8Ghz).

 

[Humming Bird]

I wouldn't be using quad core for a gaming machine if I were you.

The only games that are written for quad core I think is Quake 4 and perhaps DooM 3.

More cores/CPUs is a bad idea if the programs aren't written for it. It'll actually be slower, seeing as it'll take longer time to fragment the task on four cores, do the parts for each core, then combine the results.

On software built for quad cores, the cores do different tasks separately, then combine the result.

Most software will probably just use the cores designated for them instead of taking "advantage" of all the cores.

I'd look up the documents if I remember where I got them.

Just don't get too hooked up on cores and megahertz. What's theoretically faster necessarily isn't.

Faster memory bus speed is more important than faster CPUs (ie. going from 400Mhz to 800Mhz while retaining the 2Ghz CPU speed is much more beneficial than going from 2Ghz CPU to 2.8Ghz).

Wrong... If its quad core, and the application is single-threaded, it only executes it on 1 core for 3 extra cores to do something else. Yes I know quad core doesn't have the fastest processors, it is the best multitasker though.

 

[PBarnum]

Wrong...

Zing!

 

[Blasto121]

I would like to also add, that AMD quad cores are built differently than the Intel variant, AMD has it setup so that you have 4 cores however 1 core out of that 4 actually controls load balancing, what does this mean? well any program that requires one core can but has the benefit of being turned into a multi core program because of the one core directing traffic.

and like humming bird said, you can always set the affinity for the program to use just one core.

 

[Humming Bird]

I would like to also add, that AMD quad cores are built differently than the Intel variant, AMD has it setup so that you have 4 cores however 1 core out of that 4 actually controls load balancing, what does this mean? well any program that requires one core can but has the benefit of being turned into a multi core program because of the one core directing traffic.

and like humming bird said, you can always set the affinity for the program to use just one core.

Never knew that, all I knew is Intels is two dual-core dies put together to make a quad-core. But what I DO know is that AMD's quad cores have a nice shared L3 cache