Any PC Gamers or PC Builders out there?

[Nords]

AMD based ones...

Come to think of it, a lot of the interior wires looked like they'd been chewed on...

 

[NinjaPigeon]

Ah, a topic near and dear to my heart. I've been trying to convince myself to upgrade too. My rig is 4.5 years old, and while it's done an admirable job, it's showing it's age. Normally I wouldn't wait this long to upgrade, but it was a beast when I built it (1.5GB of ram in '02), it can no longer handle the work.

I was going to buy it in May but then Dell had that monitor sale and I finally picked up the 24inch wide screen that I've had my eye on for the last year. BTW, if anyone is interested, I have a $75 off coupon for Dell that I'm not going to use.

Anyway, here's the specs on what I'm considering (Apologies for long winded descriptions copied from newegg):
-Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply
-ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
-Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor
-CORSAIR XMS2 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
-Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
-LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA
-EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card

The Raptor would be my boot drive and at some point in the future I would consider picking up a couple data drives in Raid0 (probably have to get a stronger power supply if I do).

I would also run Vista 64 on this, since I can get a copy free through our MSDN at work.

I probably have another month of psyching myself up to spend this much money, but I think I'll cave soon. Only took me 6 months to psych myself into buying the video ipod

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

You might get by with a little less processor, unless you've got a specific need. Excepting video format conversion, I dont stress out the 1.8ghz core2duo I've got. And on that app even a doubling in processor speed would still produce a 15-30 minute run time, so i'm STILL going to walk away for a while.

Another area to defer some costs might be the video card. The integrated x3000 graphics on the 965 board is decent from a h/w specs perspective although intel has been ridiculously late in producing good drivers for it. Allegedly the newer drivers that (finally) turn on all of the hardware goodies is in alpha test now and to be released in the next few months.

So unless you're a heavy duty gamer that wants 250fps rates from the latest games, you might limp along with the x3000 for a while and when the "good" driver comes out you might find it to be adequate until that 8800gts is selling for $99

Drivers for vista 64 might also be a bit challenging...the 8800 drivers and the x3000 drivers are both producing a lot of interesting problems last time I heard anything.

Sonata II is a nice case, decent power supply.

Not sure which will be the louder item...the video card or the 10k raptor. My p5b system (x3000 only) is completely silent until the 7200 rpm drive seeks.

 

[Andy R]

^ CFB - I can't believe cards render at 250 fps, that's amazing.

Do you all watch Slickdeals.net for computer deals (you all sound like you would have already known that site. it's a great resource for computer deals).

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Aint it? Some cards are exceeding 300fps in quake 3 and HL2, admittedly in low quality.

Its all just bragging rights over 40 though.

What I cant believe is that there are video cards that cost more than an entire decent computer...

 

[NinjaPigeon]

I will never do integrated video, even if I just wanted a machine that browsed the web

I do a lot of programming inside VMs, which tends to tax systems pretty hard. I can easily bring my Dell XPS 1710 laptop to its knees and it isn't even a year old

Yah, the vista drivers concern me, but if you have any desire to go over 4GB of ram, you don't really have much choice. Unless you just don't wanna run vista, which is another debate altogether

 

[Andy R]

I do a lot of programming inside VMs, which tends to tax systems pretty hard. I can easily bring my Dell XPS 1710 laptop to its knees and it isn't even a year old.

I take you are talking about Virtual Machines when you say VMs? If so, what software are you running to set them up (VMWare)? What languages are you programming in?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yep, integrated graphics wont ever get any respect.

This one oughta run around the range of a 7600gt once they get those drivers spiffed up a bit.

VMs definitely need the extra juice.

 

[NinjaPigeon]

I take you are talking about Virtual Machines when you say VMs? If so, what software are you running to set them up (VMWare)? What languages are you programming in?

I am mostly in VMWare lately, though I will use Virtual PC sometimes as well. I do mostly .Net development, so I tend to have a VM running that has VS 2k5 and SQL Management Studio* open at the minimum. And if I'm working with several clients that day, I may have another VM open and several Office apps running in the host machine. RAM is hit the hardest, of course, since VS is a crazy memory hog, so if you don't give your VMs at least a gig each, you'll hit the page file like crazy, grinding all of them to a halt.

I do a little PHP (I'm competent, but not senior in it), and whatever else gets thrown my way for task-oriented languages like XSLT. Given that my core is .Net though, I tend to use VS to do all coding in, which is a little overkill I suppose.

*I know I got the name of this wrong, but how many fricking words do we need to describe this tool? MS has gone crazy lately with their ridiculously long and meaningless names.

 

[Webzter]

*I know I got the name of this wrong, but how many fricking words do we need to describe this tool? MS has gone crazy lately with their ridiculously long and meaningless names.

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio... awful long name for a text editor.

The thing that I've always wondered about, though, is why does each Visual Studio instance feel obliged to take up 200-300 megs of memory?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Because modern programmers dont think much about footprint, link everything on the planet into their images, and never had the pleasure of having to try and stuff an entire program into 8k of memory. While walking in six feet of snow to programming school, uphill, both ways. Lugging a 35lb "portable" computer.

I'm often heard grumbling "1.2GB for a PRINTER DRIVER? WTF!?!" when updating one of the systems...

 

[NinjaPigeon]

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio... awful long name for a text editor.

The thing that I've always wondered about, though, is why does each Visual Studio instance feel obliged to take up 200-300 megs of memory?

If that was the worst thing it did, I'd be in heaven. How about if you delete a file inside of VS instead of through explorer and your hard drive light goes solid for 30 seconds. Or creating a new solution... WTF is it doing during those commands?

Faults aside though, it's one of the best IDEs made, hands down. It really helps productivity. (Except when it hurts it!)

 

[laurence]

I know it will chafe CFB to say it, but I almost went with a top of the line Athlon, it's performance is almost as good as my lower end Core 2 Duo. But my decision turned on the fact that the Athlon would be fully topped out, where in a couple years I can spend $100 and significantly boost my system with a uber-quad core intel chip.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

You made the right choice grasshopper...otherwise Clif and I would have to come to your house, mess up your living room and eat all your food.

 

[laurence]

And that would be different than all my other friends how??

 

[NinjaPigeon]

You made the right choice grasshopper...otherwise Clif and I would have to come to your house, mess up your living room and eat all your food.

Hey, I want in on this raid!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

And that would be different than all my other friends how??

We can smell worse.

It wouldnt be advisable to challenge me on this matter.

 

[riskadverse]

I just built a desktop using suggestions from this forum, and couldn't be happier. I watched slickdeals and fry's ad's for about 2 weeks and put together a system(using my old monitor) for less than $250 (provided the rebates come through). The core2 duo 4300 CPU is super - allowing me to run batch jobs on one CPU pegged and a game on the other pegged, but with good response on both.

 

[clifp]

I feel so left out. Before ERing I'd be so into this thread. Now after 1 Gateway and 1 Dell (with minor upgrades video card 2nd hard drive), I have no desire to build my own rig. Part of it Hawaii sucks for building your on PC, part of it 8 years is 4 or 5 generations in PC land, so I read the tech specs and feel like I am I am reading an poem written by Chaucer.

But just to support my buddy CFB...

death to any AMD infidels, welcome Mac converts.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I know, the new stuff is coming at us pretty quick, aint it?

Intel even has a processor out that Dell and a couple of others are using, and it appears Intel doesnt even know about it... :

Google "intel T5470" and then go to the intel.com site and look for it on the cpu charts or spec pages. Not there.

It does however make for a nice $599 laptop, the new "dell vostro", which seems to be a replacement for the Inspiron line in the small business area.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

And your rig aint complete unless you've got one of these on it!

FRYS.com | Cables Unlimited

 

[Nords]

And your rig aint complete unless you've got one of these on it!

Looks like Laurence is going to want a bigger, er, power supply after all...

 

[laurence]

Considering my wife just had a baby and the office is in the bedroom, that will go over reaaaaly well!

I hope to complete the build tomorrow, I'll post some pics then.

My MOBO is supposed to be great for overclocking, but that's not something that's really interested me. However, things have gotten so slick with this, my BIOS now allows me to choose a level and it does all the work for me. I can choose private (1% overclock) seargant (3%) all the way up to general (10%) and commander (15%). It's tempting, but is it really worth it? Sure, I bought high end components (kingston RAM etc.) but what does a man profit if he moves his core 2 duo from 2.13 Mhz to 2.35 Mhz and risks shortening the lifespan?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Honestly, you wont see much difference. The memory will probably crap out before the processor will, or you'll get weird little timing problems.

 

[Bigritchie]

I think the true question here..........When will the Sith Lords Restoration Project Team, finish the mods to restore all the lost content to Knights of the Old Republic II!