Computer Input

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:38 pm

I am looking to build a new Gaming PC in the coming months and was wanting to get input on my specs. I have been told that water cooling is unnecessary for this layout. Any thoughts on this? Also, I haven't included a Lightscribe DVD, but it will be a part of this layout also.

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Computer Case:

Antec Performance One P180 Black cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail - BOUGHT on Feb. 27, 2007

Price: $129.99 (NewEgg)

MotherBoard:

EVGA nForce 680i SLI NVIDIA Socket 775 ATX Motherboard - BOUGHT on Feb. 21, 2007

Price: $249.99 (NewEgg)

Video Card:

EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX - BOUGHT on March 9, 2007

Price: $539.99 (Buy.Com) (After $50 Rebate)

Processor:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz / 4MB Cache / 1066MHz FSB / Dual-Core / OEM / Socket 775 / Processor - BOUGHT on March 3, 2007

Price: $313.00 (NewEgg)

Memory:

OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail - BOUGHT on Feb. 21, 2007

Price: $229.99 (NewEgg)

Sound Card:

Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty PCI Sound Card

Price: $182.99 (NewEgg)

(2) Hard Drive:

Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM - BOUGHT on March 9, 2007

Price: $419.98

Floppy Drive:

MITSUMI Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal USB 2.0 digital card reader with Floppy Drive Model FA404M BLK - OEM - BOUGHT on March 9, 2007

Price: $18.99 (NewEgg)

Speakers:

Logitech Z-5300e THX Certified 5.1 280-watt Speaker System

Price: $134.99 (NewEgg)

DVD Burner:

LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 8X DVD-R DL 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM IDE Burner with LightScribe Technology - Retail - BOUGHT on March 9, 2007

Price: $37.99 (NewEgg)

LCD Monitor:

Acer AL2223WD / 22" Wide / 5ms - BOUGHT on Dec. 26, 2006

Price: $299.99 (TigerDirect)

Power Supply:

SILVERSTONE ST85ZF ATX12V / EPS12V 850W SLI Certified Power Supply 90V ~ 264V (Auto Range) - Retail - BOUGHT on March 9, 2007

Price: $239.99 (NewEgg)

UPS:

Ultra / ULT31502 / 1000 VA / 600 Watt / AVR Backup System / UPS - BOUGHT on Dec. 26, 2006

Price: $49.99 (TigerDirect)

Izzo · Post by **Izzo** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:47 pm

I think you should buy my GTS's instead

I wouldn't think you'd need water....but who knows....perhaps beefing up the RAM a bit to 6400 or >....and a floppy?

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:52 pm

Izzo wrote:and a floppy?

Still like the comfort of having a floppy drive just to be safe which is why I got it on there.

Jin · Post by **Jin** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 1:00 pm

Are you doing SLi with the 8800GTX's? If so, then better up that power supply.

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_b ... ersupplies

According to that, you need at least a 750W PS if you're doing SLi with the 8800GTX's.

Nice computer!

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 1:03 pm

Jin wrote:Are you doing SLi with the 8800GTX's? If so, then better up that power supply.

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_b ... ersupplies

According to that, you need at least a 750W PS if you're doing SLi with the 8800GTX's.

Nice computer!

Ok, thanks for that suggestion Jin. I will look into other power supplies.

Shagster · Post by **Shagster** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 1:39 pm

My single 8800gts is complete overkill for everything out right now. I'd wait for the r600 series to hit. Buy yourself a placeholder card.

Rivas · Post by **Rivas** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 1:40 pm

Roody wrote:Ok, thanks for that suggestion Jin. I will look into other power supplies.

This one should keep ya safe.
Using same one.

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 1:41 pm

rivas wrote:This one should keep ya safe.
Using same one.

Dear God...at $599.99 it had better. They should also send Denise Richards over to my house in a bra and thong to install it at that price.

Rivas · Post by **Rivas** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 1:44 pm

Roody wrote:Dear God...at $599.99 it had better. They should also send Denise Richards over to my house in a bra and thong to install it at that price.

It's canadian price.
Propably $450 USD.

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 1:49 pm

rivas wrote:It's canadian price.
Propably $450 USD.

Wonder why it's that much. I have seen ones around 1000W that aren't that high.

Guess I need to look closer at it.

Comtrad · Post by **Comtrad** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:03 pm

Why do people spend ridiculous amounts of money so they can play a game?

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:05 pm

Comtrad wrote:Why do people spend ridiculous amounts of money so they can play a game?

In my case I haven't done so in just short of 7 years. I figure spending 3 grand on a gaming computer once every 6 and a half years is pretty cheap.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:10 pm

I would suggest going BFG with the 8800GTX.. they are just now comming out with a Overclocked version of their cards vs eVGA.. and IMO better warrantys.

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:12 pm

Sava700 wrote:I would suggest going BFG with the 8800GTX.. they are just now comming out with a Overclocked version of their cards vs eVGA.. and IMO better warrantys.

BFG? Got any examples?

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:17 pm

Roody wrote:BFG? Got any examples?

http://www.bfgtech.com/8800GTXOC_768_PCIe.html

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:23 pm

Sava700 wrote:http://www.bfgtech.com/8800GTXOC_768_PCIe.html

Whoa..

A water cooled video card. Man, that thing is impressive looking. Price is up there though. Guess that offsets the price I might save if I don't need to water cool the whole PC.

Zilog B · Post by **Zilog B** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:24 pm

a $500 case, wtf!

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:27 pm

Zilog B wrote:a $500 case, wtf!

That's the thing. I am trying to see if people think it's necessary to water cool an entire PC with the components listed above. If not then I can save quite a bit of cash.

Izzo · Post by **Izzo** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:35 pm

Roody wrote:That's the thing. I am trying to see if people think it's necessary to water cool an entire PC with the components listed above. If not then I can save quite a bit of cash.

I run basically what you got inside this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811112116

my temps are fine ....I ditched my Scythe and got a Zalman 9700

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:37 pm

Izzo wrote:I run basically what you got inside this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811112116

my temps are fine ....I ditched my Scythe and got a Zalman 9700

Ok thanks man. Any ideas exactly what your temps usually are?

Izzo · Post by **Izzo** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:42 pm

Roody wrote:Ok thanks man. Any ideas exactly what your temps usually are?

Ya, CPU under load maxes at 40c

Graphics 50-60c max.....it's got that side 120mm fan blowing right on them but that was both in SLI and the top one ran hotter than the bottom....single card runs slightly cooler..

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:42 pm

Izzo wrote:Ya, CPU under load maxes at 40c

Graphics 50-60c max.....it's got that side 120mm fan blowing right on them

Okee dokee. Thanks for the info.

Izzo · Post by **Izzo** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:44 pm

Roody wrote:Okee dokee. Thanks for the info.

I'm a very heavy gamer also so it gets a workout and I'm fine with my temps...

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:47 pm

Izzo wrote:I'm a very heavy gamer also so it gets a workout and I'm fine with my temps...

So would you agree with Sava's suggestion for a videocard or do you think the one I currently have listed is the way to go?

Izzo · Post by **Izzo** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:58 pm

Roody wrote:So would you agree with Sava's suggestion for a videocard or do you think the one I currently have listed is the way to go?

Meh....each manufacturer will be coming out with an overclocked version ..it's really all up to you as a garden variety GTX will suffice....to me it's not worth the extra 50mhz

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:59 pm

Izzo wrote:Meh....each manufacturer will be coming out with an overclocked version ..it's really all up to you as a garden variety GTX will suffice....to me it's not worth the extra 50mhz

Guess it depends on the funds once I get to that point. Thanks again for the suggestion.

Rivas · Post by **Rivas** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 4:11 pm

You are willing to spend $500 bucks for case, I would spend it on Vapochill where you are going to get negative temperatures for your cpu and insane OC.But if that's the case you need a little bit better memory, try Corsair XMS2 or OCZ.

Or Insane idea would be A/C your whole case but the price is around $2800.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 4:25 pm

I think you only need 1 8800GTX.

If your gonna go with dual 8800GTXs, this looks nice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817703008

EDIT: Oh and I think air cooling is fine enough lol

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 4:29 pm

Do you need that fatality audio card bay and remote, cuz you can get 7.1 channels from the non fatality version for 100 bucks less.

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:23 pm

rivas wrote:You are willing to spend $500 bucks for case, I would spend it on Vapochill where you are going to get negative temperatures for your cpu and insane OC.But if that's the case you need a little bit better memory, try Corsair XMS2 or OCZ.

Or Insane idea would be A/C your whole case but the price is around $2800.

Not really familiar with Vapochill.

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:25 pm

YARDofSTUF wrote:Do you need that fatality audio card bay and remote, cuz you can get 7.1 channels from the non fatality version for 100 bucks less.

In all honesty this is another thing I am not real knowledgeable with. I know sound cards for the most part, but I'm not sure what the difference is in the two other then the guys name attached to the one?

Bastid · Post by **Bastid** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:46 pm

Comtrad wrote:Why do people spend ridiculous amounts of money so they can play a game?

ask all of the new PS3 owners that very same question... at least with a pc, it can be used for other things ...

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 10:23 pm

Any other case suggestions?

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 10:26 pm

Roody wrote:In all honesty this is another thing I am not real knowledgeable with. I know sound cards for the most part, but I'm not sure what the difference is in the two other then the guys name attached to the one?

Do you want a remote, will you use it?

Do you want a front bay port?

If you just want and need a sound card the 73 dollar X-Fi is the way to go, The X-Fi line will use creatives OpenAL as well so they can ghettoly allow hardware audio support that non X-Fi users wont have.

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 10:32 pm

YARDofSTUF wrote:Do you want a remote, will you use it?

Do you want a front bay port?

If you just want and need a sound card the 73 dollar X-Fi is the way to go, The X-Fi line will use creatives OpenAL as well so they can ghettoly allow hardware audio support that non X-Fi users wont have.

Neither a remote or a front bay port are necessary. I do however want a very, very good sound card. This will be a gaming pc.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 10:38 pm

Roody wrote:Neither a remote or a front bay port are necessary. I do however want a very, very good sound card. This will be a gaming pc.

Looks at the 73 dollar one its still an X-Fi, Xtreme Gamer, and 7.1

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829102006

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 10:47 pm

Okee dokee. I will give it a look.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:05 am

Comtrad wrote:Why do people spend ridiculous amounts of money so they can play a game?

Around in the Windows 95 days? When a good gaming system cost about 8- 10 grand? That was say...Pentium 166 - 200, 64 or 128 megs of RAM, a pair of 2-ish gig SCSI drives, Obsidian graphics (based on 3Dfx Voodoo) on top of Matrox Millenium 4 meg VRAM graphics, 17" crt monitor.

Heck yeah...some of the high end gaming systems were up towards 10 big ones. The system I had was about 5 grand-ish.

Roody · Post by **Roody** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:08 am

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Around in the Windows 95 days? When a good gaming system cost about 8- 10 grand? That was say...Pentium 166 - 200, 64 or 128 megs of RAM, a pair of 2-ish gig SCSI drives, Obsidian graphics (based on 3Dfx Voodoo) on top of Matrox Millenium 4 meg VRAM graphics, 17" crt monitor.

Heck yeah...some of the high end gaming systems were up towards 10 big ones. The system I had was about 5 grand-ish.

So what are your thoughts YOSC. Any suggestions on the PC I am going to build?

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:38 am

Roody wrote:So what are your thoughts YOSC. Any suggestions on the PC I am going to build?

CPU...I'd consider 6700...start a few notches higher.

Water cooling 'n stuff...bah....way back years ago when CPUs slowly emerged at higher speeds, it was worth it. These days...they're so cheap and soon as you get one a faster one comes out...not worth it...plus they run so cool anyways, you can get high overclocks on regular air cooling...even with stock Intel HSFs.

As for the case...that's preference of the style. I'm personally not into the side view cases with lights 'n stuff, I prefer minimal, sleek, etc. But those are personal preferences. Antecs and LianLi are nice. Hard drive cages with rubber grommet mounts, etc. Not only are they (rubber grommet drive mounts) quieter, but contribute to longer life spans and less problems with your drives.

2 gigs of RAM..good, people will argue all day about RAM brands, I prefer Crucial, always overclocked well for me, Yard has gotten me into GSkill also. I'll never touch OCZ because of their scam years ago that was exposed when they were starting up, no matter how much they claim they've gone fully legit, changed management, and are sorry. I know they're legit now, and a big company..it's just something with me..."strike 1 and you're out!" kinda thing.

Raptor drive...good...can't get better unless you go SCSI

PowerSupply...I prefer Antec, Enermax, and my new fave...Seasonic

Graphics...brands don't matter much here..they're all quite the same, reference designs, the slight differences being the software bundle. To go SLI or not...eh...personally I don't, but it depends on the game you're spending the majority of your time playing, combined with your monitor. Is the monitor large enough to warrant high resolutions..and most importantly..does the game you play support playing at those high resolutions? If the answer is "no" to either of those...then SLI is a waste of money IMO.

Sound...many years ago, onboard sound was a joke. These days..the onboard sound can rival most add-on sound cards. Dunno what your sound needs are, or if you're doing mixing/editing, etc. But if just for game playing and using the PC as a stereo..might reconsider the onboards.