mofo gaming machine
- Thread starter Pingu
- Start date
I'm looking at building a new one atm, probably won't deviate much from my housemate's recent spec:
AMD Athlon 64 (ADA4400CDBOX) X2 4400+ socket 939 Dual Core 2.2Ghz 1Mb and 1Mb Cache
Asus A8N-E SKT 939 NFORCE 4 AUDIO LAN PCI-Express ATX
2x Crucial 1GB 184 Pin DIMM Unbuffered DDR PC3200 128Mx64
XFX GEFORCE 7800GTX 256MB DDR3 TV + DUAL DVI PCI-E
2x Western Digital WD740GD 74GB "Raptor" 10,000RPM SATA/150 8MB Cache
Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Midi Tower - With 450W SmartPower2.0 PSU
Just over £1100 from Ebuyer. I've already got a couple of Sonatas about, so I may well find another case, and I'll probably get a seperate sound card, and I'm not looking for bleeding edge, which saves me about £100 on the graphics card to spend on a MacBook Pro, which will be following soon afterwards.
AMD Athlon 64 (ADA4400CDBOX) X2 4400+ socket 939 Dual Core 2.2Ghz 1Mb and 1Mb Cache
Asus A8N-E SKT 939 NFORCE 4 AUDIO LAN PCI-Express ATX
2x Crucial 1GB 184 Pin DIMM Unbuffered DDR PC3200 128Mx64
XFX GEFORCE 7800GTX 256MB DDR3 TV + DUAL DVI PCI-E
2x Western Digital WD740GD 74GB "Raptor" 10,000RPM SATA/150 8MB Cache
Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Midi Tower - With 450W SmartPower2.0 PSU
Just over £1100 from Ebuyer. I've already got a couple of Sonatas about, so I may well find another case, and I'll probably get a seperate sound card, and I'm not looking for bleeding edge, which saves me about £100 on the graphics card to spend on a MacBook Pro, which will be following soon afterwards.
Bob_the_lost
Elsewhere
Shiny indeed, but you got twice the PSU you need. You could run two machines off that one.
IAM: A few things;
1) 7800GTX < 7900GT. The old 7800GTX is crap, don't do it. For that money you should be looking at a X1900XT, if ATI isn't your cup of tea then buying a 7800GTX is still a very bad idea.
2) The extra cache isn't really worth the money, look at benchmarks comparing the 4200 and 4400, most show no difference at all.
You know my policy on RAID0
Raptor 150.
IAM: A few things;
1) 7800GTX < 7900GT. The old 7800GTX is crap, don't do it. For that money you should be looking at a X1900XT, if ATI isn't your cup of tea then buying a 7800GTX is still a very bad idea.
2) The extra cache isn't really worth the money, look at benchmarks comparing the 4200 and 4400, most show no difference at all.
You know my policy on RAID0
Raptor 150.When all's said and done, there's a machine upstairs of that spec and I'm perfectly happy with it for what I'll be doing... Hence going for the same proc/GPU/RAM combo... because I already know it works well.
But, fwiw, the cheapest x1900xt I can see is £310, £60 more than the Nvidia and I don't want an ATi card anyway (because the machine will be a dual boot and their linux drivers are fucking attrocious, ime).
As for the 7800GTX/7900GT thing, I suspect either will be nicer than the FX5200 I have currently. I'll have a look at the newer cards, but I'm yet to see anyone remotely disappointed by any of the 7800 GTXs which I've fitted for them.
The raptors are non-negotiable. I'm surrounded by massive network storage, so disc space isn't remotely an issue and the operation of the performance striped raptors is impressive.
It should be noted that the idea of spending this much ££ on a PC galls me somewhat, so invitations to further spend on better kit may be scowled at...
But, fwiw, the cheapest x1900xt I can see is £310, £60 more than the Nvidia and I don't want an ATi card anyway (because the machine will be a dual boot and their linux drivers are fucking attrocious, ime).
As for the 7800GTX/7900GT thing, I suspect either will be nicer than the FX5200 I have currently. I'll have a look at the newer cards, but I'm yet to see anyone remotely disappointed by any of the 7800 GTXs which I've fitted for them.
The raptors are non-negotiable. I'm surrounded by massive network storage, so disc space isn't remotely an issue and the operation of the performance striped raptors is impressive.
It should be noted that the idea of spending this much ££ on a PC galls me somewhat, so invitations to further spend on better kit may be scowled at...
I have four questions:
1. Can anyone suggest some *cheap* ways of sexing up this machine:
Athlon XP 2800+ (with 'flower' cooler) 2.083GHz (standard settings)
ASUS A7N8X2.0 motherboard (AGP)
1Gb (2 x 512 PC2700) RAM
9700 pro (stock settings) (with passive cooler) graphics 128Mb
Audigy 2 soundcard
200Gb maxtor HDD
22" mitsubishi crt + old 17"crt monitors
2. What kind of stuff is on the horizon in the next year or so?
I'd like to avoid having to upgrade and rebuild when I finally get a new system. I don't really have the money right now, but I might get hold of or save up some over the next 9 to 12 months. What will the gaming systems look like by then and will stuff bought now be compatible or require a whole new set of stuff? I haven't been paying much attention for a while.
3. One thing I would love is a *completely* silent system
Any suggestions? (But bearing in mind I like gaming and don't want to spend a fortune)
4. Re. Wide screen and large LCDs
What kind of graphics cards do you need to run some of these large widescreen LCDS (19"-30" = 1440x900 up to 2560x1600). Are they fully compatible with HDTV? What is the best kind of screen to get if I want to use it for watching TV as well as as a PC, and if I am in a fairly bright room (eg reflections etc? What kind of response times are acceptable?
1. Can anyone suggest some *cheap* ways of sexing up this machine:
Athlon XP 2800+ (with 'flower' cooler) 2.083GHz (standard settings)
ASUS A7N8X2.0 motherboard (AGP)
1Gb (2 x 512 PC2700) RAM
9700 pro (stock settings) (with passive cooler) graphics 128Mb
Audigy 2 soundcard
200Gb maxtor HDD
22" mitsubishi crt + old 17"crt monitors
2. What kind of stuff is on the horizon in the next year or so?
I'd like to avoid having to upgrade and rebuild when I finally get a new system. I don't really have the money right now, but I might get hold of or save up some over the next 9 to 12 months. What will the gaming systems look like by then and will stuff bought now be compatible or require a whole new set of stuff? I haven't been paying much attention for a while.
3. One thing I would love is a *completely* silent system
Any suggestions? (But bearing in mind I like gaming and don't want to spend a fortune)
4. Re. Wide screen and large LCDs
What kind of graphics cards do you need to run some of these large widescreen LCDS (19"-30" = 1440x900 up to 2560x1600). Are they fully compatible with HDTV? What is the best kind of screen to get if I want to use it for watching TV as well as as a PC, and if I am in a fairly bright room (eg reflections etc? What kind of response times are acceptable?
Bob_the_lost
Elsewhere
But, fwiw, the cheapest x1900xt I can see is £310, £60 more than the Nvidia and I don't want an ATi card anyway (because the machine will be a dual boot and their linux drivers are fucking attrocious, ime).
7800GTX = £259
7900GT = £220
Performance is equal if not then slightly favours the 7900GT. The 7800GTX draws more power and runs hotter. Only people who don't know what they are doing or those buying a second card are getting these now. When they were out they were ok, but now they are just old, slow and expensive.
7800GTX = £259
7900GT = £220
Performance is equal if not then slightly favours the 7900GT. The 7800GTX draws more power and runs hotter. Only people who don't know what they are doing or those buying a second card are getting these now. When they were out they were ok, but now they are just old, slow and expensive.
Bob_the_lost
Elsewhere
2. What kind of stuff is on the horizon in the next year or so?
I'd like to avoid having to upgrade and rebuild when I finally get a new system. I don't really have the money right now, but I might get hold of or save up some over the next 9 to 12 months. What will the gaming systems look like by then and will stuff bought now be compatible or require a whole new set of stuff? I haven't been paying much attention for a while.
[/quote]
Both Intel and AMD have new chip designs out this summer, AM2 and conroe. Conroe is the new intel design and it looks pretty good. AM2 is a reworking of the A64 design, there won't be any real benifit to it untill 2007 when they start shipping a new line of CPUs. Both will be using DDR2 RAM and have support for DDR2 800 RAM.
Graphics cards wise DX10 cards will be out around the end of this year, no one knows just how important it will be to have, but i'll lay money on it being non essential for the next two years or so.
I wouldn't worry about it myself, CPU power is increasingly irrelevant for middle/high end gaming machines and there is nothing changing in the graphics world in the near future. (PCIe is going to be the standard for quite a while).
Not going to happen, you can make it inaudible though. Passive graphics card (there are some passivly cooled 7600s), a quiet/passive CPU heatsink, some 120mm fans running @ 1000rpm and a samsung spinpoint hard drive will be inaudible unless you have your ear next to the machine.
If you want an upgrade to that system to tide you over for a year or so then a new graphics card would be a good bet. There are some pretty fast ones out on the AGP interface. Also buying 2GB of 3200 RAM (a 2x1GB set) may improve things a bit. The CPU is fast enough.
I'd like to avoid having to upgrade and rebuild when I finally get a new system. I don't really have the money right now, but I might get hold of or save up some over the next 9 to 12 months. What will the gaming systems look like by then and will stuff bought now be compatible or require a whole new set of stuff? I haven't been paying much attention for a while.
[/quote]
Both Intel and AMD have new chip designs out this summer, AM2 and conroe. Conroe is the new intel design and it looks pretty good. AM2 is a reworking of the A64 design, there won't be any real benifit to it untill 2007 when they start shipping a new line of CPUs. Both will be using DDR2 RAM and have support for DDR2 800 RAM.
Graphics cards wise DX10 cards will be out around the end of this year, no one knows just how important it will be to have, but i'll lay money on it being non essential for the next two years or so.
I wouldn't worry about it myself, CPU power is increasingly irrelevant for middle/high end gaming machines and there is nothing changing in the graphics world in the near future. (PCIe is going to be the standard for quite a while).
Not going to happen, you can make it inaudible though. Passive graphics card (there are some passivly cooled 7600s), a quiet/passive CPU heatsink, some 120mm fans running @ 1000rpm and a samsung spinpoint hard drive will be inaudible unless you have your ear next to the machine.
If you want an upgrade to that system to tide you over for a year or so then a new graphics card would be a good bet. There are some pretty fast ones out on the AGP interface. Also buying 2GB of 3200 RAM (a 2x1GB set) may improve things a bit. The CPU is fast enough.
Bob_the_lost
Elsewhere
Why? Do i need to own a card to read benchmarks and prices?Iam said:
Bob_the_lost
Elsewhere
You are taking the piss aren't you? You can't read tech sheets? The cards have the same piplines, same number of shaders, same (ish depends on models, most come factory OC'd) clockspeeds and the same performance in benchmarks.Iam said:So you are just parrotting what you've read, then, rather than speaking from experience?
I thought so.
I'll just stick to "not knowing what I'm doing", I think.
If you really want to waste £40 buying a card that's a generation out of date then go for it, it's not going to hurt me in any way. However if you want some proof of what i say then click on this simple to understand links from anandtech.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2717&p=50
Sunray
Its sunny somewhere.
Pingu said:
4Gb of ram is a waste of time. 3Gb is all that XP can handle (with the /3Gb switch in the boot.ini) unless you are running the 64bit version and as far as I am aware there is little software that will run on the 64bit version in native mode.
Monitor has blown, so will have to wait to install x64. Not sure if I can still run 32bit stuff like games and things well enough to make it worth while.
Bob_the_lost
Elsewhere
You got SLI 7900GTX in the end then? I hate you, but i love your computer.Pingu said:
Pingu
Credo
Bob_the_lost said:
yeah
i got a good deal on them and they were silent (as opposed to the xts tornado like noise)
sadly mofo machine still isnt going to turn me into a leet gamer but at least this way i will be shit much much faster than before
and yes I am aware that the spec will be obsolete by next thursday
Pingu - I frigging HATE you your system is brilliant
btw on the issue of memory, I would AVOID using 1gig sticks and go for 512 sticks. My set up is 4x 512 fast corsair PC3200 low latency memory, two 512 sticks are faster than one 1gig stick.
2 gig of memory is really sufficient for your gaming use IMHO
*chucks nade at Pingu*
your system is brilliantbtw on the issue of memory, I would AVOID using 1gig sticks and go for 512 sticks. My set up is 4x 512 fast corsair PC3200 low latency memory, two 512 sticks are faster than one 1gig stick.
2 gig of memory is really sufficient for your gaming use IMHO
*chucks nade at Pingu*
Pingu
Credo
sorearm said:Pingu - I frigging HATE you
btw on the issue of memory, I would AVOID using 1gig sticks and go for 512 sticks. My set up is 4x 512 fast corsair PC3200 low latency memory, two 512 sticks are faster than one 1gig stick.
2 gig of memory is really sufficient for your gaming use IMHO
*chucks nade at Pingu*
ducks at mach 3 ... throws a flash back to sore
2 gig is sufficient for the gaming I agree ... but why have 2 when you can have 4?
i also will be using the machine for photoshop and some database work so the memory will help here.
Bob_the_lost
Elsewhere
Thing is if you use 4 sticks of RAM the on chip memory controller can't handle them all at full speed. It slows down the comand rate to 2T. This isn't the end of the world by any means, but it does mean you lose a few % of performance if you have 4 sticks rather than 2.
The most RAM i managed to use was 1.6GB for BF2. That was running around 128 bots instead of the normal 16, where the RAM tends to max out at 1.1GB.
The most RAM i managed to use was 1.6GB for BF2. That was running around 128 bots instead of the normal 16, where the RAM tends to max out at 1.1GB.
Bob_the_lost
Elsewhere
That's for A64 chips, for the older ones it's worse (I don't know which designs this is true for i'm afraid) as the on chip controller dropped the speed down to 333mhz instead of 400mhz as well.
Intel use an off die controller, which is a less efficent system, but it does mean that they don't care if they use 4 sticks or 2. (the difference is only a few % or so, so odds are that you won't notice it but it's still there).
Intel use an off die controller, which is a less efficent system, but it does mean that they don't care if they use 4 sticks or 2. (the difference is only a few % or so, so odds are that you won't notice it but it's still there).
Bob_the_lost
Elsewhere
What have you been doing? My peak is a stunning 660mb.mauvais said:My peak so far for today is 1.2Gb, and I've not done anything of any significance
Bob_the_lost
Elsewhere
Photo editing programs eat RAM up, games tend to be rather economical in terms of RAM demand in comparison.
Pingu
Credo
fuck me this machine is fast
one smal but yet in a more real way annoying as fuck glitch though...
with some nvidea cards (including the 7900gtx) there is a bug due to a softwrae patch in a certain game...
namely the one fucking game i play a lot.
this causes random system lock ups.
even using the beta driver thats supposed to fix it it doesnt.
so cheers steam you bunch of fuckwits
got to wait another week before glitch free gaming can be enjoyed.
however...
when its working its blindingly fast
one smal but yet in a more real way annoying as fuck glitch though...
with some nvidea cards (including the 7900gtx) there is a bug due to a softwrae patch in a certain game...
namely the one fucking game i play a lot.
this causes random system lock ups.
even using the beta driver thats supposed to fix it it doesnt.
so cheers steam you bunch of fuckwits
got to wait another week before glitch free gaming can be enjoyed.
however...
when its working its blindingly fast
