This is true, but even with lowend systems it's only on the order of about 2% CPU usage over a separate soundcard.
Yeah, it's not necessarily significant, just a factoid I thought I'd throw into the mix.
The exception is Battlefield 2, which doesn't play nice with onboard sound cards. I've experienced everything from lockups, stuttering sound, echo, poor framerates and crashes until I got an Audigy 2. It gave me an extra 10 fps too.
I don't know if this is the rule or the exception with EA PC games because I don't buy that many from them.
As was pointed out to me in the H/A computer advice thread, the Antec Smartpower PSU's have a very high failure rate.
A cursory search on google will tell you the same thing.
If you're referring to what I think you are, the article had no source other than "a major French e-commerce" that went unnamed in the article. Hardly a credible source if you ask me. While I believe it's possible the Smartpower PSUs have a relatively high rate of failure (~20% according to the article), I could just as easily make up some statistics myself and not provide any source and they'd be just as believable.
As was pointed out to me in the H/A computer advice thread, the Antec Smartpower PSU's have a very high failure rate.
A cursory search on google will tell you the same thing.
If you're referring to what I think you are, the article had no source other than "a major French e-commerce" that went unnamed in the article. Hardly a credible source if you ask me. While I believe it's possible the Smartpower PSUs have a relatively high rate of failure (~20% according to the article), I could just as easily make up some statistics myself and not provide any source and they'd be just as believable.
The newegg reviews are also extremely negative. Why take any chances?
I don't even know if the Smartpower PSUs score well in reviews. But if their NewEgg score says they're crap, I suppose they probably are.
Personally, I don't see any reason not to buy only Seasonic power supplies. They're not expensive, they've got unbelievably stable rails and they're at the technological forefront of PC power supplies. They're also among the quietest power supplies manufactured. I suppose you could get a Fortron brand power supply (not repackaged by another company because they can fuck it up by "customizing" it to the own design) for half the cost and it would be just as reliable but Seasonic PSUs are a step above in terms of features and performance.
This puts me up to $1,776.63 w/ tax. Critique my build, and remind me of some important item(s) that I have missed that makes a pc work.
A Core 2 Duo in the same price range as that Athlon X2 will have much better performance.
That seems a bit expensive for a DVD burner, is this in Canadian money or something?
You have a microATX motherboard. Why? Get something full-sized: you can use the extra slots and it's not like you need onboard graphics. Or switch to a microATX case to save some space. But don't pair a mATX board with an ATX case, that's just retarded.
Oh, and if you're patient, you might want to wait for the GeForce 8600. But only if you're patient.
Yes its in Canadian dollars. If i buy anything from the states customs will jam me. Tax on the item(s), handling fee, tax on the handling fee, couple more fee's, and tax on them too. Last time I had something worth $190 come across the boarder, my custom charges were $104. Everything comes from within Canada now.
I heard that AMD had their shit wired tight when it came to dual core, and was prefered over intel.
To be honest I know very little when it comes to mobo's, so it was sort of a blind pick. Had all the slots that I needed, and was in the right price range.
This puts me up to $1,776.63 w/ tax. Critique my build, and remind me of some important item(s) that I have missed that makes a pc work.
A Core 2 Duo in the same price range as that Athlon X2 will have much better performance.
That seems a bit expensive for a DVD burner, is this in Canadian money or something?
You have a microATX motherboard. Why? Get something full-sized: you can use the extra slots and it's not like you need onboard graphics. Or switch to a microATX case to save some space. But don't pair a mATX board with an ATX case, that's just retarded.
Oh, and if you're patient, you might want to wait for the GeForce 8600. But only if you're patient.
It seems that this is Canandian dollars. Anyway, I agree with the above, and would add that:
these seem to be faster and cheaper than what you have picked out for memory.
Your hard drive seem to be fairly small as well.
I would bet you would be better off ditching the sound card and going with an 8800GTS card like this one.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
It seems that this is Canandian dollars. Anyway, I agree with the above, and would add that:
these seem to be faster and cheaper than what you have picked out for memory.
Your hard drive seem to be fairly small as well.
I would bet you would be better off ditching the sound card and going with an 8800GTS card like this one.
160g hard drive is considered small these days? Man I'm so out of the loop.
Why would I ditch a sound card and get a $100 more expensive vid card? This is sort of a budget build, trying to keep the performance up without the price skyrocketing.
It seems that this is Canandian dollars. Anyway, I agree with the above, and would add that:
these seem to be faster and cheaper than what you have picked out for memory.
Your hard drive seem to be fairly small as well.
I would bet you would be better off ditching the sound card and going with an 8800GTS card like this one.
160g hard drive is considered small these days? Man I'm so out of the loop.
Why would I ditch a sound card and get a $100 more expensive vid card? This is sort of a budget build, trying to keep the performance up without the price skyrocketing.
Well, if it's budget, then ditch the sound card, full stop. Pretty much any motherboard these days has 5.1 surround onboard, and most have 7.1.
And again, go with a Core 2 Duo for that price range. Even an E6300 would outperform that Athlon.
I'm still getting a sound card. The new one on my list (since the old one doesnt seem to be available anymore) is $44. I am quite sick of running my audio off my mobo tbh.
I would go with a different power supply. I've had nothing but bad luck with Ultra's, and their X2's modular cable is thick, large, and too hard to bend. After a few other Ultra's that did nothing but crap out on me, I went with an Enermax Liberty. It's modular, but the cables are slim enough and easy to bend. I only needed one to plug everything in. It's been quiet and so far no issues. Seriously, anything but Ultra.
Edit: As for the motherboard, I recommend an ASUS P5B. It comes in three versions: P5B, P5B-E, and P5B Deluxe.
I don't even know if the Smartpower PSUs score well in reviews. But if their NewEgg score says they're crap, I suppose they probably are.
Personally, I don't see any reason not to buy only Seasonic power supplies. They're not expensive, they've got unbelievably stable rails and they're at the technological forefront of PC power supplies. They're also among the quietest power supplies manufactured. I suppose you could get a Fortron brand power supply (not repackaged by another company because they can fuck it up by "customizing" it to the own design) for half the cost and it would be just as reliable but Seasonic PSUs are a step above in terms of features and performance.
Honestly, I feel the same way. I find myself recommending Antec a lot because most people are looking to build on the cheap. But to be honest, Seasonic is just the best, and they're really not that expensive.
Personally, I have one of these:
It's an Arctic Cooling Silentium T1. I paid about $225 for the case and the PSU. The newer model - the T1 Pro - is only $149, so I'm a bit dubious of recommending it. Mine came with a 350 watt Seasonic PSU. Sure, the wattage sounds low, but the thing provides cleaner, more stable and consistent power than just about any higher-wattage unit from someone else. Add to the fact that it's quiet, and... well, the loudest fan in my PC is the north bridge fan.
It looks like their pro series comes with a 500 watt model, now, but I can't seem to find any information on the manufacturer. They're claiming ~80% efficiency, and Arctic Cooling really doesn't mess around when it comes to PSUs, but I don't know who made it. May be worth emailing them to see.
I jsut want to say that although I download a lot of music and upload a bunch of my digital pictures to my HD, I can't see myself going past 100gigs on my 160gig hd, period.*
*Unless UT2k7 and about 2 or 3 other games end up being 10 gigabyte files, then yeah, I guess I can see that happening.
I jsut want to say that although I download a lot of music and upload a bunch of my digital pictures to my HD, I can't see myself going past 100gigs on my 160gig hd, period.*
*Unless UT2k7 and about 2 or 3 other games end up being 10 gigabyte files, then yeah, I guess I can see that happening.
Well, considering a lot of game installs are starting to push 20 GB, I don't think that a 100 GB drive is all that viable, anymore. At least not for gamers.
I would go with a different power supply. I've had nothing but bad luck with Ultra's, and their X2's modular cable is thick, large, and too hard to bend. After a few other Ultra's that did nothing but crap out on me, I went with an Enermax Liberty. It's modular, but the cables are slim enough and easy to bend. I only needed one to plug everything in. It's been quiet and so far no issues. Seriously, anything but Ultra.
Edit: As for the motherboard, I recommend an ASUS P5B. It comes in three versions: P5B, P5B-E, and P5B Deluxe.
It seems that this is Canandian dollars. Anyway, I agree with the above, and would add that:
these seem to be faster and cheaper than what you have picked out for memory.
Your hard drive seem to be fairly small as well.
I would bet you would be better off ditching the sound card and going with an 8800GTS card like this one.
160g hard drive is considered small these days? Man I'm so out of the loop.
Why would I ditch a sound card and get a $100 more expensive vid card? This is sort of a budget build, trying to keep the performance up without the price skyrocketing.
Hmmmm, you are free to do what you want but I would go either cheaper or more expensive on the video card. Paying 300+ for a dx9 card seems a bit much at this point. I suggested the switch involving the sound card because, unless you are really into audio, the card is not worth it and that way upgrading to dx10 would still fit your budget.
As for hard drives this seems bigger and cheaper and is a seagate as well. Maybe I'm missing something.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Go with the Asus board, it's quite good and try to get a Core 2 Duo E4300 if you can. They're still in high demand, but they're about 25% less expensive than an E6400 and they have a higher multiplier which makes it easier to increase the clockspeed.
As for the power supply, it's been determined that even an SLI setup barely draws 300W, so I'd say you're fine with a 500W PSU for the next few years.
But isn't there any other online PC hardware retailer in Canada? Tiger Direct is one of the last places you ever want to order anything from. They're terrible.
Also, that soundcard is probably inferior to what's current modern motherboards.
I would go with a different power supply. I've had nothing but bad luck with Ultra's, and their X2's modular cable is thick, large, and too hard to bend. After a few other Ultra's that did nothing but crap out on me, I went with an Enermax Liberty. It's modular, but the cables are slim enough and easy to bend. I only needed one to plug everything in. It's been quiet and so far no issues. Seriously, anything but Ultra.
Edit: As for the motherboard, I recommend an ASUS P5B. It comes in three versions: P5B, P5B-E, and P5B Deluxe.
Go with the Asus board, it's quite good and try to get a Core 2 Duo E4300 if you can. They're still in high demand, but they're about 25% less expensive than an E6400 and they have a higher multiplier which makes it easier to increase the clockspeed.
As for the power supply, it's been determined that even an SLI setup barely draws 300W, so I'd say you're fine with a 500W PSU for the next few years.
But isn't there any other online PC hardware retailer in Canada? Tiger Direct is one of the last places you ever want to order anything from. They're terrible.
Also, that sound card is probably inferior to what's current modern motherboards.
The only reason I was going to go with a sound card is because with my current, slightly old mobo I cant get my surround sound speakers to work. Lately the front right speaker, or right headphone isn't working anymore so its either on board sound problem or a wiring problem, which of course I cant figure out right now. It worked fine two weeks ago.
Alright so I decided to go with that DX10 monster card and bite the bullet on the price tag.
This puts me at $1,907.53. Not bad, $200 over where I was when I started.
Why do you hate Tigerdirect so much JWFokker? The warehouse is a thirty minute drive from me so I will probably just take a list with me and buy it in store. I dont trust Canada Post with two grand worth of PC parts.
:roll: The downside is you have to beat people back with a steel baton, they get get a cut of the sale, not hourly so they are ravenous beasts who will try to sell you snow and tell you its the new fad in PC cooling.
I've never had a problem with them before anyways. I've bought a bunch of items, including my 19" lcd from them without problem. Then again, I just drove to the warehouse. :roll:
Oddjob: The reason for spending more on the card is that you can spend money on a DX9 card right now, but it'll be falling behind pretty rapidly in a couple of months when DX10 starts to take the limelight.
But you've already decided to go with it, so ignore me :P
I've never had a problem with TigerDirect, either. The warehouse is only a few hours from me, so I get everything on the next day, even ground shipping.
Dashui on
Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
Long story short, it's not a viable upgrade path, and within the generation that it's new, you can usually find single card setups that'll run the games with all the bells and whistles.
Slightly more detailed, you'll be lucky to see even a 15% increase in overall performance with SLI, despite the fact that it costs more than double what a single card setup would. Crossfire's a little more more viable, since the two cards don't need to be the same, but it's still just a waste of money.
Long story short, it's not a viable upgrade path, and within the generation that it's new, you can usually find single card setups that'll run the games with all the bells and whistles.
Slightly more detailed, you'll be lucky to see even a 15% increase in overall performance with SLI, despite the fact that it costs more than double what a single card setup would. Crossfire's a little more more viable, since the two cards don't need to be the same, but it's still just a waste of money.
That and it uses much more power and it still unstable. As he just said, the performance gains are minimal, and there are always cards that come out that are more powerful than an SLI/Crossfire setup. The 8800 GTX is twice as fast, consistently in all benchmarks, as a Crossire X1950XT setup. Oh, and it's a waste of money, as it costs too much against all the things said above. Stick with single cards.
Dashui on
Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
Now, I realize you guys can't use NewEgg in Canada, but there has to be something better than Tiger Direct up there. I'm not saying everyone will have a problem with them, but you better hope you never do because their customer service is truly the worst. DOAs, warrantys, forget about ever getting a properly working replacement.
Your system looks very solid as it stands. The 8800 should last you quite a while and will likely be the only thing you might want to replace in the next 18-24 months (I presume we'll be seeing the 9900 series launch late spring/summer 08) You'll be able to go quadcore with the LGA775 socket whenever you want which is a plus. They'll be relatively cheap in 12-18 months too so you definitely have a good upgrade path without having to overhaul your system for at least a more couple years.
Now, I realize you guys can't use NewEgg in Canada, but there has to be something better than Tiger Direct up there. I'm not saying everyone will have a problem with them, but you better hope you never do because their customer service is truly the worst. DOAs, warrantys, forget about ever getting a properly working replacement.
That's pretty disheartening, but I can't use Newegg. They ask for a 1-800 number on the back of the credit card to "verify," but mine doesn't have a 1-800. It's a local bank with a local number. Newegg doesn't like this and denies me EVERY SINGLE TIME. I've never had any problems with Tigerdirect, but maybe I've been lucky. I did have to return two items, and they gave me an RMA authorization number without any hassle, and a few days after shipping I received an e-mail that the returns arrived and I would be credited my money back. Hopefully, they do.
Dashui on
Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
I jsut want to say that although I download a lot of music and upload a bunch of my digital pictures to my HD, I can't see myself going past 100gigs on my 160gig hd, period.*
*Unless UT2k7 and about 2 or 3 other games end up being 10 gigabyte files, then yeah, I guess I can see that happening.
Well, considering a lot of game installs are starting to push 20 GB, I don't think that a 100 GB drive is all that viable, anymore. At least not for gamers.
Can I get a few examples, because even Oblivion isnt that big...
Well I've never had a problem with TigerDirect. My LCD and a few pc parts I've bought all work fine. If they don't I go for a drive. My rebates all went through just fine and dandy.
Maybe they know I live close and have a history of violence against poor customer service people.
I jsut want to say that although I download a lot of music and upload a bunch of my digital pictures to my HD, I can't see myself going past 100gigs on my 160gig hd, period.*
*Unless UT2k7 and about 2 or 3 other games end up being 10 gigabyte files, then yeah, I guess I can see that happening.
Well, considering a lot of game installs are starting to push 20 GB, I don't think that a 100 GB drive is all that viable, anymore. At least not for gamers.
Can I get a few examples, because even Oblivion isnt that big...
Not sure what he's talking about either
biggest game installs I've seen on my PC are WoW if you install an early version and then see the patch files get all added up into the directory, and UT2k4 with the ECE bonus back and both community Bonus Packs
I don't think we'll see 20GB installs for at least another two years. Most games aren't even 10GB yet. You'd need multiple DVD install discs and you just don't see that anywhere.
However, if you download a lot of video files and such things from various sources, you will run out of space quickly. I know I'm very close to 1.1 terabytes and I'm eyeing up an SATA hotswap 5 1/4" drive bay thing so I can use my drives like floppies because I just don't have any more room in my tower and it fits seven HDDs.
JWFokker on
0
Blake TDo you have enemies then?Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered Userregular
edited January 2007
Could anyone point me in the right direction on how to spec up a computer. I've never really understood how one could look a motherboard and tell what processor it could take and what ram would be best for it and I'd would like to know how.
Requirements:
1.0 GHz CPU, 256 MB RAM (for Windows XP) or 512 MB RAM (for Windows Vista), 14 GB hard drive space (15 GB for Deluxe Version),
DVD drive,
32 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card
Hardware recommendation for good performance: > 3 GHz CPU, 2 GB RAM,
fast video card with min. 256 MB RAM
I jsut want to say that although I download a lot of music and upload a bunch of my digital pictures to my HD, I can't see myself going past 100gigs on my 160gig hd, period.*
*Unless UT2k7 and about 2 or 3 other games end up being 10 gigabyte files, then yeah, I guess I can see that happening.
Well, considering a lot of game installs are starting to push 20 GB, I don't think that a 100 GB drive is all that viable, anymore. At least not for gamers.
Can I get a few examples, because even Oblivion isnt that big...
Not sure what he's talking about either
biggest game installs I've seen on my PC are WoW if you install an early version and then see the patch files get all added up into the directory, and UT2k4 with the ECE bonus back and both community Bonus Packs
Posts
Yeah, it's not necessarily significant, just a factoid I thought I'd throw into the mix.
I don't know if this is the rule or the exception with EA PC games because I don't buy that many from them.
If you're referring to what I think you are, the article had no source other than "a major French e-commerce" that went unnamed in the article. Hardly a credible source if you ask me. While I believe it's possible the Smartpower PSUs have a relatively high rate of failure (~20% according to the article), I could just as easily make up some statistics myself and not provide any source and they'd be just as believable.
The TruePower series fares a lot better.
Personally, I don't see any reason not to buy only Seasonic power supplies. They're not expensive, they've got unbelievably stable rails and they're at the technological forefront of PC power supplies. They're also among the quietest power supplies manufactured. I suppose you could get a Fortron brand power supply (not repackaged by another company because they can fuck it up by "customizing" it to the own design) for half the cost and it would be just as reliable but Seasonic PSUs are a step above in terms of features and performance.
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.20GHz $247.99
Ultra Blue Aluminus ATX Mid-Tower Case $88.99
Ultra Black/Titanium 120mm Ball Bearing Fan x2 $13.98
Ultra / X2 / 550-Watt / ATX / 120mm Fan / UV Sides / SLI Ready / SATA-Ready / 20/24-Pin / Modular Power Supply $88.99
BFG GeForce 7950 GT / 512MB GDDR3 $336.99
Asus M2NPV-VM NVIDIA Socket AM2 MicroATX Motherboard / Video / Audio / PCI Express / Gigabit LAN / USB 2.0 & Firewire / Serial ATA / RAID $118.99
Kingston 2048MB PC4200 533MHz Dual Channel DDR2 Memory (2 x 1024MB) $317.99
Its kind of more then I wanted to spend on ram, but it leaves open the option to slap another 2gigs of dual channel lovin'. (It scares me that I am spending almost as much on ram that I am on a video card...)
Seagate / 160GB / 7200 / 8MB / ATA-100 / Retail / Hard Drive $107.99
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 4 $88.99
Lite-on SHM-160P6S / 16x DVD±R Read / 16x DVD±R Burn / 8x DVD-RW / 6x DVD-RW / 8x DVD+R DL / 4x DVD-R DL / 48x24x CD-R/RW / Black/Beige / Internal / DVD Burner $57.99
This puts me up to $1,776.63 w/ tax. Critique my build, and remind me of some important item(s) that I have missed that makes a pc work.
A Core 2 Duo in the same price range as that Athlon X2 will have much better performance.
That seems a bit expensive for a DVD burner, is this in Canadian money or something?
You have a microATX motherboard. Why? Get something full-sized: you can use the extra slots and it's not like you need onboard graphics. Or switch to a microATX case to save some space. But don't pair a mATX board with an ATX case, that's just retarded.
Oh, and if you're patient, you might want to wait for the GeForce 8600. But only if you're patient.
I heard that AMD had their shit wired tight when it came to dual core, and was prefered over intel.
To be honest I know very little when it comes to mobo's, so it was sort of a blind pick. Had all the slots that I needed, and was in the right price range.
It seems that this is Canandian dollars. Anyway, I agree with the above, and would add that:
these seem to be faster and cheaper than what you have picked out for memory.
Your hard drive seem to be fairly small as well.
I would bet you would be better off ditching the sound card and going with an 8800GTS card like this one.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
160g hard drive is considered small these days? Man I'm so out of the loop.
Why would I ditch a sound card and get a $100 more expensive vid card? This is sort of a budget build, trying to keep the performance up without the price skyrocketing.
Well, if it's budget, then ditch the sound card, full stop. Pretty much any motherboard these days has 5.1 surround onboard, and most have 7.1.
And again, go with a Core 2 Duo for that price range. Even an E6300 would outperform that Athlon.
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz $304.99
Ultra Blue Aluminus ATX Mid-Tower Case $88.99
Ultra Black/Titanium 120mm Ball Bearing Fan x2 $13.98
Ultra / X2 / 550-Watt / ATX / 120mm Fan / UV Sides / SLI Ready / SATA-Ready / 20/24-Pin / Modular Power Supply $88.99
BFG GeForce 7950 GT / 512MB GDDR3 $336.99
Corsair Value Select 1024MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Memory x 2
Seagate / 160GB / 7200 / 8MB / ATA-100 / Retail / Hard Drive $107.99
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE $44.99
Lite-on SHM-160P6S / 16x DVD±R Read / 16x DVD±R Burn / 8x DVD-RW / 6x DVD-RW / 8x DVD+R DL / 4x DVD-R DL / 48x24x CD-R/RW / Black/Beige / Internal / DVD Burner $57.99
The only thing I am missing now is a mobo, which again I just point my finger at and go, mobo gud, me buy because its pure gibberish.
So far I am looking at this mobo.
Edit: As for the motherboard, I recommend an ASUS P5B. It comes in three versions: P5B, P5B-E, and P5B Deluxe.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2366120&CatId=2432
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2768811&CatId=1533
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2768809&CatId=2432
It's worth it if only for the Q-Connector to save you all the hassle from those tiny, case connectors.
Personally, I have one of these:
It's an Arctic Cooling Silentium T1. I paid about $225 for the case and the PSU. The newer model - the T1 Pro - is only $149, so I'm a bit dubious of recommending it. Mine came with a 350 watt Seasonic PSU. Sure, the wattage sounds low, but the thing provides cleaner, more stable and consistent power than just about any higher-wattage unit from someone else. Add to the fact that it's quiet, and... well, the loudest fan in my PC is the north bridge fan.
It looks like their pro series comes with a 500 watt model, now, but I can't seem to find any information on the manufacturer. They're claiming ~80% efficiency, and Arctic Cooling really doesn't mess around when it comes to PSUs, but I don't know who made it. May be worth emailing them to see.
*Unless UT2k7 and about 2 or 3 other games end up being 10 gigabyte files, then yeah, I guess I can see that happening.
They upped the price then, my list is from aboot 4 weeks ago.
Out of that list of mobo's I like the Asus P5B-E Intel Socket 775 ATX Motherboard the most.
What suggestions do you have for a PSU? Should i stay around 500watt?
So far I am looking at Cooler Master / Extreme Power / 600-Watt
Hmmmm, you are free to do what you want but I would go either cheaper or more expensive on the video card. Paying 300+ for a dx9 card seems a bit much at this point. I suggested the switch involving the sound card because, unless you are really into audio, the card is not worth it and that way upgrading to dx10 would still fit your budget.
As for hard drives this seems bigger and cheaper and is a seagate as well. Maybe I'm missing something.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
As for the power supply, it's been determined that even an SLI setup barely draws 300W, so I'd say you're fine with a 500W PSU for the next few years.
But isn't there any other online PC hardware retailer in Canada? Tiger Direct is one of the last places you ever want to order anything from. They're terrible.
Also, that soundcard is probably inferior to what's current modern motherboards.
Asus is a damn good brand. I just purchased the P5B Deluxe. Can't wait to see the thing in action
The only reason I was going to go with a sound card is because with my current, slightly old mobo I cant get my surround sound speakers to work. Lately the front right speaker, or right headphone isn't working anymore so its either on board sound problem or a wiring problem, which of course I cant figure out right now. It worked fine two weeks ago.
Alright so I decided to go with that DX10 monster card and bite the bullet on the price tag.
Ultra Blue Aluminus ATX Mid-Tower Case
Ultra Black/Titanium 120mm Ball Bearing Fan x 2
Sony DRU-120C Multi-Drive / 16x DVD±R Read / 16x DVD±R Burn
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz
Staying with the E6400 for now unless I find a E4300.
Corsair Value Select 1024MB PC5400 DDR2 x 2
Asus P5B-E Intel Socket 775 ATX Motherboard
Seems these mobo's are so good they are running low on stock.
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked / 640MB GDDR3
Coolmax / CX-500 / Black/ 500-Watt
Seagate / 250GB / 7200 / 8MB / ATA-100 / OEM / Hard Drive
This puts me at $1,907.53. Not bad, $200 over where I was when I started.
Why do you hate Tigerdirect so much JWFokker? The warehouse is a thirty minute drive from me so I will probably just take a list with me and buy it in store. I dont trust Canada Post with two grand worth of PC parts.
:roll: The downside is you have to beat people back with a steel baton, they get get a cut of the sale, not hourly so they are ravenous beasts who will try to sell you snow and tell you its the new fad in PC cooling.
I've never had a problem with them before anyways. I've bought a bunch of items, including my 19" lcd from them without problem. Then again, I just drove to the warehouse. :roll:
But you've already decided to go with it, so ignore me :P
Slightly more detailed, you'll be lucky to see even a 15% increase in overall performance with SLI, despite the fact that it costs more than double what a single card setup would. Crossfire's a little more more viable, since the two cards don't need to be the same, but it's still just a waste of money.
That and it uses much more power and it still unstable. As he just said, the performance gains are minimal, and there are always cards that come out that are more powerful than an SLI/Crossfire setup. The 8800 GTX is twice as fast, consistently in all benchmarks, as a Crossire X1950XT setup. Oh, and it's a waste of money, as it costs too much against all the things said above. Stick with single cards.
versus
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/NewEgg
Now, I realize you guys can't use NewEgg in Canada, but there has to be something better than Tiger Direct up there. I'm not saying everyone will have a problem with them, but you better hope you never do because their customer service is truly the worst. DOAs, warrantys, forget about ever getting a properly working replacement.
Your system looks very solid as it stands. The 8800 should last you quite a while and will likely be the only thing you might want to replace in the next 18-24 months (I presume we'll be seeing the 9900 series launch late spring/summer 08) You'll be able to go quadcore with the LGA775 socket whenever you want which is a plus. They'll be relatively cheap in 12-18 months too so you definitely have a good upgrade path without having to overhaul your system for at least a more couple years.
That's pretty disheartening, but I can't use Newegg. They ask for a 1-800 number on the back of the credit card to "verify," but mine doesn't have a 1-800. It's a local bank with a local number. Newegg doesn't like this and denies me EVERY SINGLE TIME. I've never had any problems with Tigerdirect, but maybe I've been lucky. I did have to return two items, and they gave me an RMA authorization number without any hassle, and a few days after shipping I received an e-mail that the returns arrived and I would be credited my money back. Hopefully, they do.
Can I get a few examples, because even Oblivion isnt that big...
Maybe they know I live close and have a history of violence against poor customer service people.
Not sure what he's talking about either
biggest game installs I've seen on my PC are WoW if you install an early version and then see the patch files get all added up into the directory, and UT2k4 with the ECE bonus back and both community Bonus Packs
However, if you download a lot of video files and such things from various sources, you will run out of space quickly. I know I'm very close to 1.1 terabytes and I'm eyeing up an SATA hotswap 5 1/4" drive bay thing so I can use my drives like floppies because I just don't have any more room in my tower and it fits seven HDDs.
Satans..... hints.....
20 Gig install my ass.