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For the computer types around here.. - Page 3

post #31 of 44
4/5/07 at 4:31am
I know vid cards are built for the future and all, but my friends with 8800's have had nothing but trouble with them. DOnt know anyone with a ATi x1950 though to compare though. I'd get the 7900, really good bang for your buck. Runs most games incredibly well.. with a core2 duo and 2gb ram you'll be bangin..
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post #32 of 44
4/5/07 at 12:28pm
For case and power supply, I'd recommend the Antec P150 (or Solo, if you want an independent power supply) and either a Seasonic or Antec NeoHE power supply. That will give you all the power and cooling potential you need for your rig, and it will do it quietly. If quiet computing ever becomes a goal down the road (and you'd be surprised at how seductive it is) that'll give you a good place to start.
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post #33 of 44
4/5/07 at 12:48pm
Thread Starter 
So I'm sitting putting parts together last night.. RAM - OCZ Flex XLC 2GB PC2 9200 $329 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227184 CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 $310 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003 CPU Cooling - Coolit Freezone $285 http://www.shentech.com/freezonedh.html GPU - EVGA 8800GTS 640MB $370 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130071 PSU - Corsair HX520W $130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139001 Case - HDD x 2 - WD Raptor X 150GB $440 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136011 Burner - Mobo - EVA 680i SLI LGA 775 $240 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188013 Looking at about 2500 bucks there. SLIGHTLY overbudget. (It would be a badass machine though.) Brian, I may have to go the 7* route, honestly.
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post #34 of 44
4/6/07 at 1:26am
Quote:
Brian, I may have to go the 7* route, honestly.
What games do you play that you need the 8800 for? IMO there aren't any games out right now that demand it, and there doesn't loook to be anything exciting in that regards for the future that will demand a card that powerful. Like I said, I have friends with 8800s. One guy bought one for Vanguard, a newish MMORPG that is very intensive, graphically.. Crashes all the time for him, unfortunately. My friend with a 7900 gets near the same performance (5fps difference, maybe, and they're in the 35-40 range), and its stable as hell. Also, Im not sure what your opinion on crossfire/SLI is, but in my experience it's not worth the extra investment. Not many games support it directly, and the half-assed indirect support is worse performance-wise than a lesser priced, more powerful single video card. You sound knowledgeable just throwing in some 2c because three of my buddies built new rigs recently so I've got lots of experience with current compy gear.
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post #35 of 44
4/7/07 at 7:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kronik View Post
So I'm sitting putting parts together last night..

RAM - OCZ Flex XLC 2GB PC2 9200 $329
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227184
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 $310
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003
CPU Cooling - Coolit Freezone $285
http://www.shentech.com/freezonedh.html
GPU - EVGA 8800GTS 640MB $370
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130071
PSU - Corsair HX520W $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139001
Case -
HDD x 2 - WD Raptor X 150GB $440
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136011
Burner -
Mobo - EVA 680i SLI LGA 775 $240
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188013


Looking at about 2500 bucks there. SLIGHTLY overbudget.

(It would be a badass machine though.)

Brian, I may have to go the 7* route, honestly.

Do you think the Raptors would be worth that price tag though? IIRC there was somewhere some testing that suggested their real performance advantage was not really that great...
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post #36 of 44
4/8/07 at 1:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by skalogre View Post
Do you think the Raptors would be worth that price tag though? IIRC there was somewhere some testing that suggested their real performance advantage was not really that great...
Their performance advantage is really only apparent in a batch reading/writing session. IE real time video editing or importing, loading extremely large game levels and etc. There is practically no benefit with other everyday use over a barracuda NQC drive. And the differences in times are really not that exciting. You can load up Farcry about 2.5 seconds faster than with a SATAII NQC barracuda. Is it really worth over $2.00 a GB for a couple second increase? Especially in a "budget" system... The 8800 is also way overpriced for a card with so many reliability and performance issues. The EVGA Mobos have (in my experience) very poor quality control and are REALLY not worth that much money.
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post #37 of 44
4/8/07 at 8:53pm
I'm looking to build/buy something now as a replacement for my home theater setup. Wonder what kind of sound card I'd have to get to put my tower speakers and sub into.
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post #38 of 44
4/9/07 at 12:33am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by javyn View Post
I'm looking to build/buy something now as a replacement for my home theater setup. Wonder what kind of sound card I'd have to get to put my tower speakers and sub into.

You're looking to build a HTPC to replace a receiver? Am I missing something?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim
Their performance advantage is really only apparent in a batch reading/writing session. IE real time video editing or importing, loading extremely large game levels and etc. There is practically no benefit with other everyday use over a barracuda NQC drive. And the differences in times are really not that exciting. You can load up Farcry about 2.5 seconds faster than with a SATAII NQC barracuda. Is it really worth over $2.00 a GB for a couple second increase? Especially in a "budget" system...


The 8800 is also way overpriced for a card with so many reliability and performance issues.

The EVGA Mobos have (in my experience) very poor quality control and are REALLY not worth that much money.

Yea, I kinda blew past that "budget" system once I started reading about hardware again.

I don't disagree in regards to the performance gains and you raise a cogent point. Way to convince me not to get a Raptor.

How much of that do you think is due to driver issues, making most of them somewhat reparable?

I find that, on average, they are some of the highest rated boards for OCing. More recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
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post #39 of 44
4/9/07 at 12:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by skalogre View Post
Do you think the Raptors would be worth that price tag though? IIRC there was somewhere some testing that suggested their real performance advantage was not really that great...

I changed my PC's boot drive from a Maxtor 200gb SATA to a Raptor and it is true-- the major difference is that my previously near-silent PC now has a very noisy drive. Real world feel running Photoshop, editors, and browsers hasn't changed. Not worth the upgrade money in my book.
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post #40 of 44
4/12/07 at 6:43pm
So Kronik, what are the final specs you have decided on? I'll use your experience as a testbed for my eventual upgrade
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post #41 of 44
4/13/07 at 8:06am
javyn, computer sound cards are not designed to drive big, high wattage speakers. My sound card of choice is the Terratec DMX 6, but still, it's better for pumping through headphones and computer speakers than through a home theatre system. IMO the only way to get good quality sound from a comp through a home theatre is to send it through a receiver.
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post #42 of 44
4/14/07 at 2:28am
I am eyeballing a Barebones system to start building on, MOTHERBOARD: \t ASUS M2NBP-VM CSM Socket AM2 Motherboard 4 DDR2 / 16X PCIe / 2 PCI / SATA2 / VIDEO PROCESSOR: \t AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ DUAL CORE CPU 3.0GHz / 2X 1MB Cache / 2000MHz FSB VIDEO: \t Integrated GeForce 6 GPU Graphics Controller onBoard Shared Video - 16X PCI Express Upgrade Slot AUDIO: \t ADI AD1986A 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio CODEC LAN: \t nVidia nForce 430B Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Cable / DSL / Network Ready) CASE: \t Black Neon Light & Side Window Case with Front USB Ports & 450W Power Supply I/O PORTS: \t 4 USB Rear / PS2 / 1 LPT / 1 Serial / 1 VGA / 1 DVI-D / 1 RJ45 DRIVERS: \t Motherboard Manual, Chipset, Video, Audio & Lan Drivers The processor is sex and the onboard graphics will get me by for a bit, Ill probably run XP Pro, 2gb ram, and a 300-500gb SATAII drive and be happy for all my DVD encoding/AVI TV recoding needs. Dont really play many games. oh and this BB system is going for $450 right now (the chip is like 300 alone!)
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post #43 of 44
4/14/07 at 3:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ratboycom View Post
I am eyeballing a Barebones system to start building on,

MOTHERBOARD: \t ASUS M2NBP-VM CSM Socket AM2 Motherboard
4 DDR2 / 16X PCIe / 2 PCI / SATA2 / VIDEO

PROCESSOR: \t AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ DUAL CORE CPU
3.0GHz / 2X 1MB Cache / 2000MHz FSB

VIDEO: \t Integrated GeForce 6 GPU Graphics Controller
onBoard Shared Video - 16X PCI Express Upgrade Slot

AUDIO: \t ADI AD1986A 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio CODEC

LAN: \t nVidia nForce 430B Gigabit Ethernet Controller
(Cable / DSL / Network Ready)

CASE: \t Black Neon Light & Side Window Case
with Front USB Ports & 450W Power Supply

I/O PORTS: \t 4 USB Rear / PS2 / 1 LPT / 1 Serial / 1 VGA / 1 DVI-D / 1 RJ45

DRIVERS: \t Motherboard Manual, Chipset, Video, Audio & Lan Drivers

The processor is sex and the onboard graphics will get me by for a bit, Ill probably run XP Pro, 2gb ram, and a 300-500gb SATAII drive and be happy for all my DVD encoding/AVI TV recoding needs. Dont really play many games.

oh and this BB system is going for $450 right now (the chip is like 300 alone!)

I'd get a Core Duo if I were you. Rumors has it the Core Duo series is dropping in price across the board at the end of April. I'm running the E4300 right now. It's rated 1.8Ghz stock and the overclocked speed right now is 3.15Ghz stable. That's 75% increase in performance with a couple of fans. You can get one for about $150, but if you can wait, it'll probably be down to about $120 in a week or two. Save the rest of the money for a kickass graphics card.
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post #44 of 44
4/14/07 at 3:40am
wow, thats pretty good! I was just starting to look seriously because my little bro wants to buy my old comp off my hands (huge upgrade for him as he has been using a 500mhz Celron w/ 192mb ram and 10gb hdd as his music dump computer to connect with his gigabeat). Currently I have a Athlon 64 2400, 1gb ram, 250gb hdd, dvdrw DL, blah blah blah. Pretty standard machine.
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