What do you all think?

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 5:08 am

- Motherboard: NVidia nForce 4 SLI X16 Motherboard

- CPU: AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 with HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology

- Case: Alienware Aurora ALX Full Tower Chassis (Silver)

- Power Supply: 850 Watt Turbo Cool Power Supply

- Cooling System: Acoustic Dampening with AlienIce 2.0 Video Cooling (Fusion Red) & ALX Active Liquid Cooling System

- Video: Dual 512MB PCI-Express x16 NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX - SLI Enabled

- Memory: 4GB Low Latency Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 333MHz - 4 x 1024MB

- System Drive: 300GB RAID0 (2 x 150GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 10,000 RPM w/ NCQ & 16MB Cache

- Storage Drive: 150GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 10,000 RPM w/ NCQ & 16MB Cache

- Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x DVD / 52x36x52x CD-RW Drive

- Secondary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive w/LightScribe Technology

- Monitor: 24" Wide Screen 6ms LCD (Silver)

- Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi High Definition 7.1 Audio with XRAM Technology

- Speakers: 5.1 Home Theater System by Klipsch

- Headphones: Ozma 7 Headphones with S-Logic Technology

- Removable Storage: 28-in-1 Digital Media Reader / Writer

- Gaming Keyboard: Ideazon Zboard™ Battlefield 2 Keyset

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 5:29 am

I'd drop down to 2GB, OCZ or Gskill, anything with low timings at DDR400 if your not OCing

4x512 for 2GB and you can do TCCD chips, really low latency!

PSU there is questionable, unless it split the the 12v lines for the video, and the SLI cables are not sharing power with anything else.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817194004 I like this guy.

I'd probably Also switch that storage drive with a 7k500, other than that, I say its bad ass!

Case si kinda ugly too

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 5:33 am

And thinking about it, if you're gonna do 3x raptors, why not RAID 5? you dont lose much and you get some data protection that way.

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 5:47 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:And thinking about it, if you're gonna do 3x raptors, why not RAID 5? you dont lose much and you get some data protection that way.

What about utilizing Raid0+1?

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 5:49 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:I'd drop down to 2GB, OCZ or Gskill, anything with low timings at DDR400 if your not OCing

4x512 for 2GB and you can do TCCD chips, really low latency!

PSU there is questionable, unless it split the the 12v lines for the video, and the SLI cables are not sharing power with anything else.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817194004 I like this guy.

I'd probably Also switch that storage drive with a 7k500, other than that, I say its bad ass!

Case si kinda ugly too

I won't be oc'ing. The fact that I don't have the knowledge or the balls to do it is why. lol

TCCD? Do explain

The PSU is +350 bucks over the 650w. I just figured I would save on upgrading in the future.

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 5:54 am

This design was put together on Alienware's site. The only reason I like Alienware is because of the water cooling system. If I could order below $7303 minus 1 grand for the LCD which I can get here in Q8 for a 1/4 of the cost although with a higher latency of 12ms versas 6ms, not mention a custom water cooled system/case, I would.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:05 am

Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote:I won't be oc'ing. The fact that I don't have the knowledge or the balls to do it is why. lol

TCCD? Do explain

The PSU is +350 bucks over the 650w. I just figured I would save on upgrading in the future.

TCCD are samsung RAM chips that go as high as 512 megs and can run VERY low latency settings. OCZ and Gskill use them alot.

The PSU wont save you on future upgrades because new connectors and new rails will ruin it

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:14 am

Okay explain why when I say I want 4 x 1 gig of ram do people always say....You only need 2 gigs. I mean should I follow the norm or just max the bitch out?

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:19 am

Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote:Okay explain why when I say I want 4 x 1 gig of ram do people always say....You only need 2 gigs. I mean should I follow the norm or just max the bitch out?

Some people have problems with the board supporting 4GB as 4GB, it shows up as 3.something. Windows also has some problem with this maybe? Dunno about that.

But heres teh big thing. You mentioned 4GB DDR333, at 2GB you can run DDR400, now how often are you gonna need 4GB? I'd rather have 2GB running faster.

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:22 am

YARDofSTUF wrote: But heres teh big thing. You mentioned 4GB DDR333, at 2GB you can run DDR400, now how often are you gonna need 4GB? I'd rather have 2GB running faster.

You would make a good lawyer. I see your point now.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:23 am

Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote:You would make a good lawyer. I see your point now.

With the 2GB running faster you may be able to escape the police, and not need a lawyer

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:25 am

How does this look now?

2GB Low Latency Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz - 2 x 1024MB

or

2GB Extreme Low Latency Dual Channel DDR SDRAM up to 533MHz - 4 x 512MB

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:26 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:With the 2GB running faster you may be able to escape the police, and not need a lawyer

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:28 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:Some people have problems with the board supporting 4GB as 4GB, it shows up as 3.something. Windows also has some problem with this maybe? Dunno about that.

If that is the case I would think the new generation boards would have remedied that problem.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:28 am

Unless they tell you the timing #s I'd say they are both the same, you wont get anything extra out of the 533 stuff unless you overclock, so I'd go with the 2x1GB sticks at 400mhz. Accessing 2 sticks is better than accessing 4 if they are the same speed.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:29 am

Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote:If that is the case I would think the new generation boards would have remedied that problem.

I dunno if they can, the memory controller is built into the processors on teh 939s

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:29 am

I'd go with 2 gigs. Windows desktop OS sees 4 gigs TOTAL of RAM..meaning, combined system RAM, plus virtual memory. So...if you have 4 gigs...it will show 4 gigs minus pagefile size.

You can get Windows to show all 4 gigs if you turn off the virtual memory...but then some programs that insist on virtual memory won't work correctly.

Or...run Windows 2003 server.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:30 am

YeOldeStonecat wrote:I'd go with 2 gigs. Windows desktop OS sees 4 gigs TOTAL of RAM..meaning, combined system RAM, plus virtual memory. So...if you have 4 gigs...it will show 4 gigs minus pagefile size.

You can get Windows to show all 4 gigs if you turn off the virtual memory...but then some programs that insist on virtual memory won't work correctly.

And when you turn off virtual memory, it doesnt really turn off.

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:30 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:Unless they tell you the timing #s I'd say they are both the same, you wont get anything extra out of the 533 stuff unless you overclock, so I'd go with the 2x1GB sticks at 400mhz. Accessing 2 sticks is better than accessing 4 if they are the same speed.

Roger that. On another note what programs or games would utilize over 2GB of ram? The only thing I can think of is multitasking but personally if I'm gaming that's all I have open....just the game. Maybe video encoding etc.? //shrug//

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:32 am

YeOldeStonecat wrote:I'd go with 2 gigs. Windows desktop OS sees 4 gigs TOTAL of RAM..meaning, combined system RAM, plus virtual memory. So...if you have 4 gigs...it will show 4 gigs minus pagefile size.

You can get Windows to show all 4 gigs if you turn off the virtual memory...but then some programs that insist on virtual memory won't work correctly.

Or...run Windows 2003 server.

Thanks for the input. So to put it in a nutshell throwing 4GB of ram into a system is a waste of money. Okay, then why give you the option then?

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:32 am

Running bf1942 on core 1 and BF2 on core 2 would kill off 2+GBs real quick, gaming really wont, have BF2, NFS Most Wanted, they cant eat it all up.

I'd say video encoding and AOL are the only ways to use 4GB.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:33 am

Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote:Okay, then why give you the option then?

More money you waste, more money they make.

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:33 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:Running bf1942 on core 1 and BF2 on core 2 would kill off 2+GBs real quick, gaming really wont, have BF2, NFS Most Wanted, they cant eat it all up.

I'd say video encoding and AOL are the only ways to use 4GB.

AOL

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:35 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:More money you waste, more money they make.

Now that you put it that way. I guess it pays off to ask questions before making a purchase of this nature. Is there anything else you can see that could be changed or upgraded? Mind you a few sites only provide limited options on builds.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:39 am

Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote:Now that you put it that way. I guess it pays off to ask questions before making a purchase of this nature. Is there anything else you can see that could be changed or upgraded? Mind you a few sites only provide limited options on builds.

Nah.

I'm running an X2 at 2.65ghz, just a tad above the FX60
2GB DDR530(not low timings - 3 4 4 8)
2x74 gig raptors in RAID 0
And a 7800GTX

So comparing it to what you're looking at, I think you'll be very happy!

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:51 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:Nah.

I'm running an X2 at 2.65ghz, just a tad above the FX60
2GB DDR530(not low timings - 3 4 4 8)
2x74 gig raptors in RAID 0
And a 7800GTX

So comparing it to what you're looking at, I think you'll be very happy!

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:08 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:I'd say video encoding and AOL are the only ways to use 4GB.

And Symantec or McAfee antivirus.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:20 am

Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote:Thanks for the input. So to put it in a nutshell throwing 4GB of ram into a system is a waste of money. Okay, then why give you the option then?

Well...hardware is always (well..usually) foreward thinking.

Actually let me backpeddle a bit...I didn't see if you were planning on Windows XP 64 edition....as that supports quite a bit more RAM. However, I've read many cases where gamers are uninstalling Windows 64 and putting 32 back on, because of compatibility issues.

Now...in a nutshell, you can "try it"...I've read where some people have added the Datacenter edition switch of "/PAE" to their boot.ini and gotten Windows to work with it. But apparently you have to have the correct hardware which supports this. There's also some 3 gig switch you can add to it, gives 1 gig to the OS for core stuff, and 3 gigs to RAM for programs. Success of this technique is a mixed bag, as obviously it's not officially supported, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone going out to spend money on new hardware in the hopes that this will work.

RAM is so cheap these days...if you feel daring, you can try it. Or find a middle road, go for 3 gigs. (pair of 1 gig sticks and pair of 512 meg sticks)

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:26 am

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Well...hardware is always (well..usually) foreward thinking.

Actually let me backpeddle a bit...I didn't see if you were planning on Windows XP 64 edition....as that supports quite a bit more RAM. However, I've read many cases where gamers are uninstalling Windows 64 and putting 32 back on, because of compatibility issues.

Now...in a nutshell, you can "try it"...I've read where some people have added the Datacenter edition switch of "/PAE" to their boot.ini and gotten Windows to work with it. But apparently you have to have the correct hardware which supports this. There's also some 3 gig switch you can add to it, gives 1 gig to the OS for core stuff, and 3 gigs to RAM for programs. Success of this technique is a mixed bag, as obviously it's not officially supported, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone going out to spend money on new hardware in the hopes that this will work.

RAM is so cheap these days...if you feel daring, you can try it. Or find a middle road, go for 3 gigs. (pair of 1 gig sticks and pair of 512 meg sticks)

I have this craving to max out a system when I purchase one. Call it techie downfall if you will. Having 2GB of ram and two open available dimm slots is driving me crazy knowing I could have 4GB total. But if it's a waste of RAM and money then so be it.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:26 am

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Now...in a nutshell, you can "try it"...I've read where some people have added the Datacenter edition switch of "/PAE" to their boot.ini and gotten Windows to work with it. But apparently you have to have the correct hardware which supports this. There's also some 3 gig switch you can add to it, gives 1 gig to the OS for core stuff, and 3 gigs to RAM for programs. Success of this technique is a mixed bag, as obviously it's not officially supported, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone going out to spend money on new hardware in the hopes that this will work.

Explain this!

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:29 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:Explain this!

When he does let me know how it goes. lol

zooner · Post by **zooner** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:20 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:Running bf1942 on core 1 and BF2 on core 2 would kill off 2+GBs real quick, gaming really wont, have BF2, NFS Most Wanted, they cant eat it all up.

I'd say video encoding and AOL are the only ways to use 4GB.

I've never had a problem with video encoding chewing up ram?

what are you using that's eating up your ram like that?

oh yeah, kick arse setup jcos. I do like the agreed upon modified setup better then the original.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:31 am

Pretty kicking rig...two things I'd look at, but it's more a personal taste thing...the Alienware case...ever see one in real life? Kinda..well, personal taste thing. And the keyboard.

Izzo · Post by **Izzo** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 9:27 am

I'll still pwn you

David · Post by **David** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:11 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:Nah.

I'm running an X2 at 2.65ghz, just a tad above the FX60
2GB DDR530(not low timings - 3 4 4 8)
2x74 gig raptors in RAID 0
And a 7800GTX

So comparing it to what you're looking at, I think you'll be very happy!

The memory timings are not critical with A64. If you are running it in T-1, you are golden.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:20 am

Hell_Yes wrote:The memory timings are not critical with A64. If you are running it in T-1, you are golden.

Damn JCOS thats crazy, I'll build you teh same think for 10k, give ya 500 off for the 8200.

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:36 am

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Pretty kicking rig...two things I'd look at, but it's more a personal taste thing...the Alienware case...ever see one in real life? Kinda..well, personal taste thing. And the keyboard.

I dunno I kind of like the Silver look but in all honesty I like the Thermaltake ones better. The only reason I was swinging for the AW case was because of the custom water cooling job for the Alienware rigs. Man, you need to see some of those pics.

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:38 am

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Pretty kicking rig...two things I'd look at, but it's more a personal taste thing...the Alienware case...ever see one in real life? Kinda..well, personal taste thing. And the keyboard.

And what's wrong with my custom BF2 Keyboard?

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:40 am

Hell_Yes wrote:The memory timings are not critical with A64. If you are running it in T-1, you are golden.

Soooo, you're with me on the 4GB Ram-Ban Wagon are ya?

Joint Chiefs of Staff · Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:46 am

Izzo wrote:I'll still pwn you

In tic tac tow maybe.