BF2S Forums New gaming PC - inputs please

Looks like you took good care to figure out what hardware you wanted.  For gaming, the 4000+ CPU will do you good.  Dual-core is intended for those who do more than just simple gaming such as multi-tasking or running multi-threaded applications.  For instance, my system can be used for BF2 and when I do video encoding or processing, it can handle that.  It's not an absolute requirement to get a dual-core if you feel you're not going to do much multi-tasking.  But it is something for you to consider as an option.  People will suggest to you to go with dual-core in future-proofing your system.  That part will heavily depend on what future your hardware holds in the long run.  I suggest evaluating your upgrade plan -- how often you upgrade may help determine whether or not you need a dual-core now or later.  Factor in the possible multi-threaded 3D engines in development, and it may change your mind somewhat.  For now, a single-core will definitely be the best thing for a simple (yet powerful) gaming rig.  I've no strong suggestion in regards to processor.  So for the moment, this one looks good.

I've no comment for the video card.  But it is a good idea on buying a good card now with possible plans/hopes to get a second card for SLI.  It's good that you considered Crossfire as an option.  But I'll note that Crossfire do need a master card in order to work.  A single ATi card is not a bad idea for those who go with that route.  I personally do not believe Crossfire is a financially sound option.

I do have one forewarning since you planned well enough to inquire on comments and suggestions.  If you do plan on getting a second card for SLI, I strongly recommend something along the line of 600W for your power supply.  I do not have an exact power consumption amount that can help you out fully but to be on the safe side, you'll need something of that caliber in order to ensure that your SLI system will run w/o any problem.

That's about as much as I can say for now.

i would take an hdd with an 16mb cache and i like seagate's more they are quite good but take 1 with a bigger cache....

It looks as if this is somewhat of a spare no expense system, but i'll put in my input.

First off, i have to reiterate the fact sixshot made in buying a very good power supply.  FOR THIS TYPE OF SYSTEM, THE POWER SUPPLY IS PROBABLY THE MOST OVERLOOKED ITEM.  You must get a SLI certified power supply regardless if your going to overclock or not.  This fact is multiplied to some degree if you do choose to get Dual Core.

AMD is obviously the better choice and although the single core AMD is a fine purchase, you might want to look at Dual Core if you don't necessarily plan to upgrade anytime soon.  You will probably lose a couple of percentage points in the frames per second segment, but not by much.  Also, newer games might become multithreaded applications as well so that MIGHT factor into your decision.  If you do plan to upgrade relatively soon however, then just get the single core and be over with it.

The Nvidia 7800 GTX is a fine choice, but i MUST SAY, that every high end card that has come out with SLI compatability, the SLI function becomes nill when the next generation comes out.  If you look at the product cycles of SLI, they do not make any monetary sense to the consumer unless they intially buy both video cards outright.  Case in point the 6800 series and the introduction of the 7800 series.  Even if you used two 6800 GT's they were trumped by a single 7800 series.  True that this might not be so the next product cycle, but i wouldn't count against it.  Crossfire i somewhat advise against it because of its price and relatively young product cycle.  Although, All-In-Wonder cards have always been a favorite of mine, i would just wait for cable card supported TV Tuners from ATI if you would choose to go that route and if you do so, windows media center is also an option.

Memory...pretty much a standard affair; OCZ, Micron, Corsair is the most likely way to go and 2 gigs is fine.  Just remember good latency timings and you should be fine.  HOWEVER, if your gonna build this system build it relatively soon or else YOU WILL BE KICKING yourself in the ass when Socket M2 comes out most likely over the summer.  Just in case you didn't know, Socket M2 is AMD's new chipset that uses DDR2 RAM...drool.

As for the hard drive i suggest two, not to to be put in any fancy raid configuration.  What i do is have one drive for applications (i.e. windows, games, program files) and another storage drive (music, video clips, photoshop files, documents)  This way i can reformat the program hard drive at whim, because no matter what your computer will bog down from surfing the internet also making it somewhat easier to backup data.

And for god sakes please remember to use a case that has ample cooling and room for all these components.  The 7800gtx is a pretty damn big card, and having it touch stuff isn't the best thing in cable management.

Wow, thanks for the insightful and informative feedback guys! Glad to see people can actually say some sane stuff here instead of flaming each other. Also nice to see capital letters and punctuation used once in a while, hehe.

Let me adress some of the issues you bring up. I only posted my "core" system w/o PSU, tower etc, so here is what else I'm planning on:

Tower
Antec Perf One ATX MidiT P180. This should be a good start. An indepth review can be read over at Silentpcreview: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article254-page1.html


PSU
Good pointing this one out sixshot. Opting for the Seasonic S12 600W. You can read a review at Tom's Hardware here: http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/11/ … age30.html  (this is the conclusion based on a 6 week test of 19 PSU's). The PSU got the Editor's Choice in the 600W class.


As for the other things you guys mention...

Dual core CPU
Like I wrote I won't be doing much but play so multitasking isn't necessary. However, I've been considering it just to stay ahead of any future upgrades. BF2 now supports dual core CPU's for instance, but I doubt there will be much different in gameplay. Unless a multi-core CPU can help me be a better pilot   Anyway, I will probably be going for a single core.

Extra disks
I totally get your point theoflow. One system disk and one data disk is definately the way to go. Only reason I put one disk in there is because I'm not going to store any music, pics etc. on there. I have 3 external drives for music, pictures, midget-porn, backup and such. But thanks for pointing it out! I should also mention that I have a laptop as well and I hook it up to my sound system to play music (and watch midget-porn) from time to time.

Graphic
I see what you mean here theoflow, but when it comes to hardware it's sometimes smart to stay "behind (or is it in front?)" of the next curve. Reason being price and that there will ALWAYS be something new. If I waited for the next ATI RD580 mobo for example, you can bet there would be a better graphiccard, CPU etc. when the mobo was ready to be shipped. Also, there are always issues with young products; compatibility, drivers etc.


Thanks again for the feedback! Keep 'em coming.

Last edited by Tor77 (2006-02-23 10:11:42)

I don't even keep important data on my main PC.  That stuff gets dumped elsewhere (RAID5 Terastation).  When I get mad or just get the urge to rebuild my PC, I don't want to worry about forgetting anything.  IM lists, docs, work, mp3s, pics....everything is backed up to the RAID box, followed by archiving really important stuff to DVD (which then goes in a safety deposit box).

It would be a nice idea to take your old PC and make a fileserver out of it...if you're into that sort of thing.

That's a great case, btw.  I know two folks that have it, and after looking it over, I'd definitely consider it if I was in the market for a case.  I'm a lover of clean lines, so that case just rocks IMO :-)

I still can't justify the price of a Raptor.  When I start thinking of it in the sense of X amount of dollars for Y number of seconds faster load times, I just can't do it.

I would say get the dual core AMD, why? it may not help you now but it is up to par with the +4000, but in the future it will be taken advantage of by the games that are being developed now

My only input -

I use a real TV card, not the video card. 

Instead of geting a VIVO - I'd just get one with video-out.

----

For sound, I wouldn't even bother with creative.  I've given up on them long ago ... ever since the "Live" sucked so bad.  I've got about 4 creative cards in the cellar collecting dust - and 4 systems running soundstorm.

With soundstorm being as good as (hell, even a little better) their previous "best" offering - I'll stick with a new card with the new board.

Anyways, nothing that a good set of speakers with a Dolby decoder can't fix.   Not to mention, a standalone dolby decoder > any (consumer) computer sound card.  SS already has the outputs for digital - and you can send the dolby signal right to the decoder --> way better sound than the Creative could ever give ( that is, without forking over their extra $100.00 to get a normal coax digital output on the retarded platinum version.   I'd rather have an extra DVD-ROM instead of their retarded "SPDIF jack drive".)

Take the $200+ for a well equipped X-Fi, and put that into good speaker package with a dolby decoder.

get a x-fi soundcard and 7.1 speakers as well
if a noob misses i know what gun it was
and where it came from in case of snipers

Looks like it will be a damn good gaming system.

Much like mine other than I run Dual 80GB Seagate 7200RPM HD's in Raid 0 (definately sped up my system overall) with an additional 40GB Seagate 7200RPM HD with just Op system on it (incase Raid 0 crashes)

Definately get an X-fi sound card, you won't believe the clarity.

Combined with a fast cable connection and you may even beat me into a few maps, lol...

DEfinatly dont go cheap on power, i blew up my old one with this system, thank god it didnt dammage anything(except the power supply).

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon64 FX-53
2x EVGA 256Mb 7800GT OCs in SLI
2x Corsair 1028Mb Value Ram
2x Maxtor 160Gb PATA 16Mb HDDs
Enermax 535W SLI Power supply

You need identical cards for SLI, dont wait or your cards may be discontinued. SLI is about superior performance now, not an upgrade down the road.