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Rebuilding the Beast

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
2FA
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
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Rebuilding the Beast - A quick write-up outlining my personal system upgrade that has been a long time coming. Stepping up to a Core 2 Duo and an 8800 just in time for STALKER!

So there you have it, my new system build. I am excited about it even if it turned out not to be all that exciting. The ASUS Commando and Intel Core 2 Duo overclocked to 3GHz will provide me with more than enough gaming and video encoding horsepower till I feel like taking the quad-core leap.
Click to expand...
 
How does the Nautilus handle an 8800 and a C2D?

I was thinking of getting one to cool my cpu and gpu but was worried about its ability to handle both.
 
Nobi125 said:
How does the Nautilus handle an 8800 and a C2D?

I was thinking of getting one to cool my cpu and gpu but was worried about its ability to handle both.
Click to expand...

Did you read the article? I quoted load and idle temps. :) But it works just fine. I think it is a hella unit for the cash. Hard to beat.
 
A simple, cheap, and worthwhile upgrade for your watercooling might be the addition of a secondary radiator. As you said, it is most likely the radiator that is being stressed. I also have a stacker 830 and the back 120mm fan port looks like it should hold a single 120mm radiator just fine. Both Koolance and Dangerden both sell 120mm radiators at the 30-40 dollar range, and I'm sure you could find a spare 120mm fan lying around somewhere ;)
 
I am a little suprised that your system draws that much from the wall for power. I also just built a new system for some more gaming and video encoding, I have two less hard drives though.

What is the raid card you are currently using?
 
cHaOserveR said:
A simple, cheap, and worthwhile upgrade for your watercooling might be the addition of a secondary radiator. As you said, it is most likely the radiator that is being stressed. I also have a stacker 830 and the back 120mm fan port looks like it should hold a single 120mm radiator just fine. Both Koolance and Dangerden both sell 120mm radiators at the 30-40 dollar range, and I'm sure you could find a spare 120mm fan lying around somewhere ;)
Click to expand...

I would consider that a great suggestion! QFT baby.
 
Rawr said:
I am a little suprised that your system draws that much from the wall for power. I also just built a new system for some more gaming and video encoding, I have two less hard drives though.

What is the raid card you are currently using?
Click to expand...


Highpoint Rocket RAID 1640. I am not surprised at all. Video is 150-175 + Another 70 for the CPU...
 
Only thing I saw that really caught my eye was the floppy drive. Guess I really just don't like them.

Anyway with that many drives in the system have you considered just building a media server for home or something?
 
How is the GF6 and GF8 series cards working out for you in the same system? I had a problem a while back with an older driver with a GF7 and GF8 series in at the same time since the GF8 series uses a different driver than the GF6/7 series. I had a driver control panel conflict since different drivers were installed for both GPUs. I had issues selecting options in the control panel and having them stick as well with that combination. I haven't tried it with newer drivers though.
 
How does S.T.A.L.K.E.R. run on your new system, and what do you think of the game?
 
I have a pretty identical system (for the most part). The n500 is a great WC monster that is MORE than enough to cool a cpu alone. It's rated at 500w so I suppose when I do feel like OCing more VCs, I will.

STALKER plays very smooth on my machine so I bet it will on his. Supcom too plays great at 19*10 so I see no reason, as did Kyle, to go Q4 right now. However, I'm with stoopid lol and I'll be going q4 when the price drops because I can, not because I need to.
 
What kind of difference have you noticed with the new PC? I have a similar comp to your old setup and have been considering an upgrade to C2Duo for a long while now.
 
What are you doing with your x2 4800? I'm accepting donations :D

SupCom is proving difficult to play on my 3500+...
 
So which one of us lucky members gets to root through your old stuff and build a system?

That is a very nice setup. I have questions about video and audio editing requiring so many hard drives. Is this purely for IO or is it mainly for easily moving folders around in storage?
 
M1ster_R0gers said:
I have questions about video and audio editing requiring so many hard drives. Is this purely for IO or is it mainly for easily moving folders around in storage?
Click to expand...

*chuckles*
I run a few myself. With me, it's to eliminate 'clutter' and juggling data.
Instead, ATM I juggle a few drives :/

The idea that I've always followed "don't transfer as much = less risk of loss/corruption"
with regard to file structure/directories, etc.

I also found out the hard way a few years back, that windows is limited pretty substantially [IMO] in its folder/character depth (lost quite a few subdirectories upon reboot one night due to a massive "reorganizing session" that windows just wouldn't handle). And the way I think, I think "subfolders", as opposed to "lateral folders"...which sucks [at least in windows abilities]. So I had to somewhat adapt, due to sheer volume and categories in many aspects. It's also extremely convenient for me.

HDD list (in no particular order):
1 - OS drive (surfing/net) [sata]
2 - OS drive (gaming only) [sata II]
3 - OS drive (music creation) [sata II]
4 - personal data [ide]
5 - video (editing/storage [htpc card temp file]) [sata II]
6 - music [sata II]
7 - music [sata II] -not redundant, just a continuation :D
8 - misc/catch all...(swap bay)
...among a few others laying nearby.

Will be considering the highpoint as a possible next addition. Had been considering sidestepping into a DFI DR series (just due to the 8 native sata ports) until now. Still kinda wanting full SATA II compatibility (*EDIT* read as: throughput) though. Also been hoping for a similar card (for 4 sata ports) on PCIe though. *sigh*

decisions decisions...
 
TehQuick said:
TBH, I think load temps are little too high... I would venture to guess that Thermalright Ultra 120 or Tuniq Tower 120 would beat Nautilus 500 in terms of load temperature for lower price... You can also get a very good HSF for the videocard, as well ;)
Click to expand...


The load temps are WAY inside of spec and not causing any problems at all, so I see no issue with it. If the parts fail in the next 6 months, you can call me out on this.

Also, I just noticed I did not mention ambient temps in the article, which is of course important. The ambient temp was 84F/27C when I took the temps for CPU and GPU. The office was 13 degrees cooler this morning. (No test systems running and a cold front came through last night) And the temps were down by over 10 degrees. Obviously this will impact load temps as well. So maybe those temps sound a bit better to you. :)
 
swatbat said:
Only thing I saw that really caught my eye was the floppy drive. Guess I really just don't like them.

Anyway with that many drives in the system have you considered just building a media server for home or something?
Click to expand...


Yeah, sadly I NEED a floppy drive. We will continue to do our testing on Windows XP till Vista gets solid so that means I need a floppy drive to built RAID install drivers. Still find some boards that will not boot off of a USB stick as well.
 
Brent_Justice said:
How is the GF6 and GF8 series cards working out for you in the same system? I had a problem a while back with an older driver with a GF7 and GF8 series in at the same time since the GF8 series uses a different driver than the GF6/7 series. I had a driver control panel conflict since different drivers were installed for both GPUs. I had issues selecting options in the control panel and having them stick as well with that combination. I haven't tried it with newer drivers though.
Click to expand...


I had an issue at first as I loaded the GF8 driver first, and of course it did not load the driver for the GF6, so when I loaded the GF6 driver, apparently that driver loaded for the GF8 too. BSODed the system at boot. Going into safe mode, reinstalled the GF8 driver, now all works fine.

Lesson is load the older card's driver first.
 
Rawr said:
How does S.T.A.L.K.E.R. run on your new system, and what do you think of the game?
Click to expand...

Still have not booted it up. :( My presence was required at an event last night so it ate up all my STALKER time. Hopefully today...
 
NoSoup4You said:
What kind of difference have you noticed with the new PC? I have a similar comp to your old setup and have been considering an upgrade to C2Duo for a long while now.
Click to expand...


I have noticed so far that this one boots into Windows and that's about it. ;) I seriously doubt I will see much difference on the CPU front till I start rendering video. A 3GHz C2D should eat up my older 2.4GHz K8 dually. I think most of my gaming differences noted will be due to the 8800.
 
M1ster_R0gers said:
So which one of us lucky members gets to root through your old stuff and build a system?

That is a very nice setup. I have questions about video and audio editing requiring so many hard drives. Is this purely for IO or is it mainly for easily moving folders around in storage?
Click to expand...


The drives are just for storage for the most part. They are all 250GB drives. Two mirrored for OS. Two striped for reading from from encoding. The other four are in a RAID 0+1 configuration and are storage.
 
joemama said:
Adulthood and responsibility sucks don't it? Sometimes I long for the days when I had no money but could absolutely blow an entire rainy weekend gaming until my eyes glazed over.:cool: :(
Click to expand...

Actually I was out drinking Mexican beer and tequila with the neighbors, I can't really complain...but it was my wife's idea.

But yeah, those gaming days are gone. I remember the police came to my house one weekend because the neighbors called in gunshots. I was playing DOOM and had it hooked into a kicker box with an amp and 12" sub. The cops thought it was uber cool. :)

Anyways, here is my ePeen 06 requested above. Have not tweaked anything beyond the initial OC.

3dmark.gif
 
You will find STALKER to be a blast, I did anyway. It will take some time to complete, I'm on my second time through, first run was over a week in small chunks (work.....gets in the way:D )

Do those cooling fans on the RAM actually help anything???? Just curious.

Nice article, awaiting more write-ups on QUAD-Core before replacing my e6700.
 
magoo said:
You will find STALKER to be a blast, I did anyway. It will take some time to complete, I'm on my second time through, first run was over a week in small chunks (work.....gets in the way:D )

Do those cooling fans on the RAM actually help anything???? Just curious.

Nice article, awaiting more write-ups on QUAD-Core before replacing my e6700.
Click to expand...

Those fans on the ram actually do keep the ram cooler. Does it have an impact on the system in any way? Probably not, but we all know cooler electronics = happier electronics over time, so why not.....I had the fan already.
 
Have you seen the write up from your bud over at Legit Reviews and his personal Nautilus? http://forums.legitreviews.com/about6397.html

STALKER is/was fun. The first time I beat it I was really pissed off. Little did I know at the time there are seven endings. I can't wait for the mod community to get their hands on this game. Hopefully someone will make a Hummer with a .50. The walking all over the place gets old pretty quick. I was hoping after a few hours of play for a "Quick Travel" but no luck.

Enjoy the game and the new machine.
 
josh_1413 said:
Why is your office temps at 90 degrees in the summer? Don't you have AC?
Click to expand...

Well, first off I live in Texas where it is 100 outside, then you take an office and dump 3 to 4 running test systems with high end hardware and it is pretty hard to keep cool.
 
Major_A said:
Have you seen the write up from your bud over at Legit Reviews and his personal Nautilus? http://forums.legitreviews.com/about6397.html

STALKER is/was fun. The first time I beat it I was really pissed off. Little did I know at the time there are seven endings. I can't wait for the mod community to get their hands on this game. Hopefully someone will make a Hummer with a .50. The walking all over the place gets old pretty quick. I was hoping after a few hours of play for a "Quick Travel" but no luck.

Enjoy the game and the new machine.
Click to expand...

Nice Nautilus mod, but I dont think I am spending that money for 4C. Just getting through the first couple of quests now. Diggin it!
 
MrMike said:
This I can relate to. The best upgrade I ever did was a floor standing AC unit. It ran me about $400, and it doesn't matter how many computers I have on in the room, this thing keeps it cool even at 100 degrees F outside. Last summer was brutal here, with a number of 90-100 degree days. I was glad to have it.
Click to expand...

I have been thinking about this. You duct it out the window? Got a link to the product. Last summer was brutal.
 
Should you wish to chastise any of my hardware choices and tell me how stupid I am, please do so in this thread
Click to expand...

OMG UR DOOPID :p


What size of a monitor do you use? Seen all the other parts just not the main display.

Was gonna suggest you give vista a try over dual boot but its a pain in the ass to set up, doesn't seem to give the "Older os or vista" option on the bootup so i have to select different first boot drives in the bios depending on what os i want to run. :rolleyes:
 
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