College Gaming PC - Need advice

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Mushroom Prince

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Feb 20, 2004
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If all things go how I want them to ( and so far they are ) I will be moving into a dormitory at georgia southern university. Eventually I will be majoring in EE.


My current pc is a soyo kt600 with a 2500 barton, gig of ram, msi 9800 pro and what ever ide devices I have plugged in at the moment. I would like to be able to play games like oblivion and the half life 2 expansions coming out in the future.


What I've concluded is that for LAN parties and sharing a small dorm a SFF based pc would be a horrifically awesome thing to have. I've seen shuttle pc's offered in places like bestbuy and have been enthralled with the tiny little monsters ever since I first touched one.


I don't have a lot of experience with the cooling in most small form factor computers and I'm a little nervous about how much I might just not know about putting potentially demanding hardware inside a space not very big.


So here is latest configuration. Keep in mind that I'm poor ( $800 is a lot of money :/ ) but I still manage to allocate money when I need it. Right now I'm mostly worried about the best price/performance for running a game like elder scrolls 4. Idealistic WOULD be idealistic but I CAN settle for near idealistic.


3200+ venice
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535
eVGA 7900gt
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130281
Corsair 1GB 400mhz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145505
WesternDigital 200gb Sata
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144153
NEC dvd/rw cd/rw
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058


And finally ... the sff kit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16856101002




So if anything by now you should at least have an idea of what I "want". But if you happen to know anything of much better quality/performance for not much more money I would appreciate the advice.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827129001
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811144162
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822152020
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813138264
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814102697
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820231021
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103598

That's what I would do :) Runs you about $900 shipped if you use the current ati coupon code for $50 off (ends 5/3, so order soon if you want to do this). If you want to conserve some more money, drop the CPU down to an Opty 144, the memory to 1GB (I would get a 2x512MB kit for dual channel) and/or drop the video card down to a x1800GTO.

my 2 cents... :)
 
WC Annihilus said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827129001
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811144162
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822152020
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813138264
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814102697
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820231021
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103598

That's what I would do :) Runs you about $900 shipped if you use the current ati coupon code for $50 off (ends 5/3, so order soon if you want to do this). If you want to conserve some more money, drop the CPU down to an Opty 144, the memory to 1GB (I would get a 2x512MB kit for dual channel) and/or drop the video card down to a x1800GTO.

my 2 cents... :)
Click to expand...



I really like the looks of that pioneer drive and to be honest I hadn't really considered getting an opteron for my computer. I haven't been up to date on the benchmarks for those kinds of processors.


I have looked at the qpacks before but only on newegg. I've actually fondled and studied a shuttle in bestbuy before and I really really really like the exact size and way they feel. So I can't say that I will go with your advice on the qpack though I can certainly see how someone could justify it with price difference.
 
i'd actually go with a lite-on drive. their burners tend to be the best out there, plus they're as short as it can get. (not that you'll run into any clearance issue, but the more space the better in an sff)
 
o0akoni0o said:
i'd actually go with a lite-on drive. their burners tend to be the best out there, plus they're as short as it can get. (not that you'll run into any clearance issue, but the more space the better in an sff)
Click to expand...
Actually, I've heard that Lite-on recently have had lifetime issues (of the drives themselves I mean) <shrugs>
 
I prob would get a qpack and a 6150mb, it would come out cheaper than that sff combo that you listed. But it world prob be better for cooling, oc, etc....
 
darktiger said:
I prob would get a qpack and a 6150mb, it would come out cheaper than that sff combo that you listed. But it world prob be better for cooling, oc, etc....
Click to expand...


Are you saying that the qpack would be cheaper BUT the sff I have listed would be better for cooling and overclocking? I don't really like the looks and shape of the qpack. Does anyone know how good the sound insulation is on either the shuttle or the qpacks? I would be more interested in having a quiet sff would the qpack be quiter then the shuttle ?
 
I'd take a look at this WD HD. 16MB cache will do a body good - + more space for almost the same price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701

I'd also bump that RAM to 2GB. I'd look at corsair XPS RAM, but either way get 2GB. Vista, which I'll bet you'll have before you get out of college is going to be a memory hog and even more importantly game performance increases with 2GB is pretty significant.

If money is getting tight I'd bump the RAM to 2 GB before going for the 7900gt. I'd drop to the 7600 and and get the RAM.

Mushroom Prince said:
Eventually I will be majoring in EE.
Click to expand...
:D ahhh another Pre-Business major.
 
u can get a better mobo for the qpack, upgrad easier and fit more things into one.....Also that Biostar T-Force mobo should clock nicely ;) If ur shuttle mobo dies ur pretty much outta luck because shuttle's rma service isn't the best and if it outa warranty it costs alot to replace the parts....I had 2 nForce 2 shuttles back in the day and both of them were great and stable as a rock but these newer models arent as great as the older ones used to be...

But it your money and your pc so do whatever is better for u :)
 
I would suggest dropping some HD space and increasing RAM to 2gb. Managing your HD space a little doesn't cost anything.
 
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