Ballpoint's Upgraded Gaming Rig

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ballpoint

Gawd
Joined
Mar 30, 2006
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Intended use is 50% gaming, 50% fairly undemanding web production.That's why I'm sticking with dual core for now. Sometime in the new year, depending on perormance reports and prices, I might add a second 4870X2, get Vista, a new PSU, and a Cosmos case, and also another 4GB of RAM if the DIMMs will fit.

I'm pretty excited to get this system going as I am definitely CPU bound right now in newer games.

New parts are in italics:

XP32 (for now)
Cooler Master Wavemaster*
Enermax Libery 500W**
ASUS P5Q Deluxe
Core2Duo E8600
2x2GB OCZ PC2 8500 DDR2 1066
160GB WD Raptor 10K
500GB Seagate Barracuda 7.11
Sapphire Radeon HD4870X2
Creative X-fi platinum
Zalman CNPS9500AT cpu cooler***
NEC DVD multi-burner
LG Blu-ray multi-drive
Logitech diNovo RF edition (fuck bluetooth)
Logitech G7
Dell 3007
Logitech Z5500

* Wavemaster has notoriously bad airflow, but I modded mine to have a few extra cold air intakes and great cable management, so temps are competitive with newer cases.

** Many smart-asses will tell me the Liberty PSU is woefully underpowered for this system at "only" 500W, but I beg to differ. I'm already using this PSU with the 4870X2 in my current box. X24400+ and Core2 take about the same power draw. A 4870X2 takes less power than the X1950XTXCF in Crossfire with the X1900XTX. Finally DDR2 takes less power than DDR. So I should be fine until I add any more parts.

*** Parts being replaced include ASUS A8R-MVP, X2 4400+ on stock cooling, 4X1GB OCZ PC3200 DDR 6400
 
- Get a bigger PSU, I thought the reports where that a x2 draws 400w alone.... Corsair 750
-WHats ur budget?
-WHat parts do you already have?
-What resolution?
 
Rydawg5143 said:
- Get a bigger PSU, I thought the reports where that a x2 draws 400w alone.... Corsair 750
-WHats ur budget?
-WHat parts do you already have?
-What resolution?
Click to expand...

New PSU not necessary until I add a second 4870X2. I'm already running the 4870X2 off the Liberty in my current system, rock stable, using CPU and RAM that draw more power the parts I'll be replacing them with...

Budget is about $1K at this time.

Parts I already have are everything not in italics.

Resolution is 2560X1600.
 
The only new parts I'm adding at this time are CPU/MOBO/RAM + CPU cooler. The 4870X2 is only a couple weeks old but I'm still not couting it as part of the new parts budget. Everything else is a holdover until the second upgrade sometime in the new year.

Somnambulator said:
not really CPU limited unless yer monitor is a 19" LCD or less
Click to expand...

Not true. See this article about CPU scaling with 4870X2:
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=770
 
Maybe u should get a Quad then, since that review finds them better than C2D in games.
 
It shows the Quad as Better than the E8400 at stock speed. I'm getting the E8600 and will be overclocking. I wish they benched at 2560x1600. I realize the difference will probably be marginal in gaming, but the higher clock speed will help me mainly with Photoshop CS2, Flash 8, and my old version of 3DSMAX none of which are optimized for four cores and benefit mainly from CPU speed. I also don't really multitask enough to benefit from it.

Also important, this system is only supposed to last me until the beginning of 2010. At which time I'll definitely be upgrading to quad core.
 
ballpoint said:
It shows the Quad as Better than the E8400 at stock speed. I'm getting the E8600 and will be overclocking. I wish they benched at 2560x1600. I realize the difference will probably be marginal in gaming, but the higher clock speed will help me mainly with Photoshop CS2, Flash 8, and my old version of 3DSMAX none of which are optimized for four cores and benefit mainly from CPU speed. I also don't really multitask enough to benefit from it.

Also important, this system is only supposed to last me until the beginning of 2010. At which time I'll definitely be upgrading to quad core.
Click to expand...

-Huh?? 8400 is a C2D.....
-If you got the money and dont care about cost vs preformance, get the 8600...... but if you are like most people, Go to a Microcenter and get EO stepping 8400 for much much cheaper.
- I still have no idea what you need. List the parts you need. please
 
Rydawg5143 said:
-Huh?? 8400 is a C2D.....
-If you got the money and dont care about cost vs preformance, get the 8600...... but if you are like most people, Go to a Microcenter and get EO stepping 8400 for much much cheaper.
- I still have no idea what you need. List the parts you need. please
Click to expand...

I meant to type "Quad" not "C2D". Fixed in edit.

I'm after sheer highest potential performance across the board for under $400. That means E8600 from what I've gathered. I'm getting the E8600 for Can$300 through my system builder, which seems to be quite a lot cheaper than most any other place. BTW I'm building this one myself.

Slow down and read! After you said you couldn't see the italics I listed the parts I need: CPU, MOBO, RAM, CPU Cooler.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
I don't have the pocket :(

Can I ask why that recommendation? Seemed to me the consensus was the P45 chipset is better for O\C?
 
crossfire x16 @ 2.0 w/ x48 board
crossfire x8 @2.0 w/ p45 board

Though i dont see exact specs on the p5q d....
 
Everything I've read tells me that even CFX16X1 is already overkill, and CFX8X2 is the same speed.
 
Slight re-spec, which will allow me to keep my current system intact as a fallback box.

New parts are in bold italics.

XP32 (for now)
Cooler Master Cosmos 1000
OCZ Powerstream 750W (ATI Red)
ASUS P5Q Deluxe
Core2Duo E8600
2x2GB OCZ PC2 8500 DDR2 1066
160GB WD Raptor 10K (brand new warranty replacement.. kicked off the whole upgrade)
500GB Seagate Barracuda 7.11
Sapphire Radeon HD4870X2
Creative X-fi platinum
Zalman CNPS9500AT cpu cooler
NEC DVD multi-burner
LG Blu-ray multi-drive
Logitech diNovo RF edition (fuck bluetooth)
Logitech G7
Dell 3007
Logitech Z5500

Now I don't have to sweat space or airflow. I just have to get comfortable with the idea of giving up my beautiful Wave Master, although I guess I could keep the Wave Master up top and put the Cosmos on the floor, lol.
 
i never get why people pay 200 bucks+ for a case. dont get me wrong that case looks pretty cool. But not worth the price. IMO that is
 
I recommend ditching the Zalman HSF. There are much better HSF for the money out there. I recommend these:
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle HSF - $35 & Retention Bracket - $7
ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm HSF - $50

Also, do you have a link to this "PowerStream 750W PSU" you have listed? I find the lack of info on the net about it a bit weird. In fact, there's no mention of any current Powerstream PSU on the OCZ's website.
 
I'm mainly going with the Zalman for the intersection of silence and performance, and what's more I already changed my order 3 times on my system builder this week. I feel too neurotic about it to change the order again, even though I really want the Cooler Master Z600 cooler...
 
ballpoint said:
I'm mainly going with the Zalman for the intersection of silence and performance, and what's more I already changed my order 3 times on my system builder this week. I feel too neurotic about it to change the order again, even though I really want the Cooler Master Z600 cooler...
Click to expand...

Still, that Zalman HSF isn't that quiet. If you check here, it ranks lower than the Xigamtek HSF that I recommended

Also, judging from the list of the PSUs available, I recommend getting the PC Power & Cooling 750W PSU.
 
Danny Bui said:
Also, judging from the list of the PSUs available, I recommend getting the PC Power & Cooling 750W PSU.
Click to expand...

You mean the one I'm getting, right? I'm getting the OCZ 750W Power and Cooling Silencer.

I will try and work up the nerve to not buy the Zalman when I pick up the rest of the parts. I suppose it's my right to change my mind a few times when I'm spending thousands on computer parts.
 
ballpoint said:
You mean the one I'm getting, right? I'm getting the OCZ 750W Power and Cooling Silencer.
Click to expand...
You listed a "OCZ Powerstream 750W (ATI Red)". As far as I can tell, there's never been a Powerstream 750W PSU made by PC Power & Cooling.

Anyway, yeah definitely ditch the Zalman. You're spending thousands of dollars on this. So you do have to the right to change parts for the better.
 
Yeah I listed it wrong. Definitely getting the one you recommend.

About the CPU cooler: because I am determined to be playing games on this thing TONIGHT, I'm restricted to items I can get today from either my system builder (Extreme PC although I'm just buying the parts and self-building) or TigerDirect (there is an outlet store within sight of my apartment haha).

What do you guys think of the ZEROTherm Nirvana NV120? It's in stock at Tigerdirect, and a brief survey of reviews show it as among the top performing air coolers at the time of its release last fall. At this point the plan is to ditch the Zalman and go for the ZEROTherm Nirvana.
 
ballpoint said:
What do you guys think of the ZEROTherm Nirvana NV120? It's in stock at Tigerdirect, and a brief survey of reviews show it as among the top performing air coolers at the time of its release last fall.
Click to expand...
Well I did list it as part of my HSF recommendations. What does that tell you about what I think of it?
 
Picked up my parts. There was a screw-up with my PSU so I got $100 off the Thermaltake Toughpower 1000W. Not a bad upgrade!
 
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