Any custom computer builders out there?

[daredog4]

Just wanting to know if I have any "go to" guys on here that have also built there own PC. I just finished replacing an Antec power supply in mine that crashed. Looking to the future I put in a Corsair 850 watt that is working flawlessly. Has anyone upgraded to the new Intel i7 chipset, and if so do you think it is a good investment? I am currently running a Pentium D that still works great but the 800mhz frontside bus and 667 mhz memory are really my limiting factors at this point. I really noticed how outdated it was when i tried to play Crysis. I cringe when i have to start putting my graphics settings on med-low and turn off anti-aliasing......grr. So im thinking a new mobo, cpu, and memory are going to be my next upgrades....and possibly add another graphics card to run in crossfire. Current rig is:

Case: Coolermaster Praetorian ATX Mid Tower
PSU: Corsair TX850W 850 watt (single 12v rail)
Mobo: Intel D955XBK LGA775 chipset
CPU: Pentium D 3Ghz (coolermaster cpu cooler with 120mm fan)
Mem: 2GB Kingston DDR2 667Mhz
GPU: Sapphire HD3870 Toxic edition
Sound Card: Creative X-Fi Pro
Hard Drive: 2 Western Digital 500GB (1TB total)
DVD Drive: 2 LightScribe DVD+R drives

[CatalystOfChaos]

Just wanting to know if I have any "go to" guys on here that have also built there own PC. I just finished replacing an Antec power supply in mine that crashed. Looking to the future I put in a Corsair 850 watt that is working flawlessly. Has anyone upgraded to the new Intel i7 chipset, and if so do you think it is a good investment? I am currently running a Pentium D that still works great but the 800mhz frontside bus and 667 mhz memory are really my limiting factors at this point. I really noticed how outdated it was when i tried to play Crysis. I cringe when i have to start putting my graphics settings on med-low and turn off anti-aliasing......grr. So im thinking a new mobo, cpu, and memory are going to be my next upgrades....and possibly add another graphics card to run in crossfire. Current rig is:

Case: Coolermaster Praetorian ATX Mid Tower
PSU: Corsair TX850W 850 watt (single 12v rail)
Mobo: Intel D955XBK LGA775 chipset
CPU: Pentium D 3Ghz (coolermaster cpu cooler with 120mm fan)
Mem: 2GB Kingston DDR2 667Mhz
GPU: Sapphire HD3870 Toxic edition
Sound Card: Creative X-Fi Pro
Hard Drive: 2 Western Digital 500GB (1TB total)
DVD Drive: 2 LightScribe DVD+R drives

Sounds to me like your logic is sound.

I assume you're running XP so you're bottlenecked at 2gb of ram, otherwise that'd be an upgrade.

What speed PCI-X are you running? I assume 16x? Many times, the speed and spec's of your video card make a huge difference, too. I'm also not a fan of stock mobo's, they tend to not overclock well.

I didn't look up your board/card specs cuz I'm a little lazy and haven't been in the computer rig game for like 2 years, but FSB is definitely a HUGE factor when you're streaming such massive amounts of data.

[Silencei2]

Crysis is an unrealistic game to benchmark most computers on. If that is your favorite game and one of the only ones you play then by all means, upgrade your computer to run it better. But for the most part you need a real super computer to be able to play Crysis smoothly.

The i7 offers a lot of great perks but I don't think it justifies the amount of $$$ you will be throwing into revamping your whole computer if you are running a Centrino processor. Most Centrinos would be a Core 2 Duo/Quad with DDR2/3 RAM.

The Pentium D on the other hand is a black sheep processor IMHO. I think you're better off getting a new processor, some RAM and maybe crossfiring that 3870 of yours with a twin. I think you got the right idea going and I would say go for it. If you want an extra kick I would recommend running a Velociraptor from Western Digital. It'll cut your load times in half, if not more.

If you want to get crazy, you can watercool your system. I've had a watercooled system for 6 years now and its a lot better than having your GPU fan going nuts.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions.

[daredog4]

I would like to stick with XP for a little longer because according to my sources they havn't worked all the kinks out yet and I have a few programs and older games that i want to be able to use on Vista that won't currently work. Plus I am very good at navigating XP and Vista is a whole new ball game. About the Mobo and overclocking....I have not done much before now because I havn't really ever experimented much with it. I was scared that my power supply wouldn't handle it for one, plus the Pentium D already runs hot so i didn't want to push it. But any help or suggestions would be appreciated. As you said I have a plain Intel board and the bios doesn't let me do much so if i got a more overclocking friendly board i might try it. I play many different games and most of them i don't have trouble with, but besides Crysis I can tell that many of the other newer games demand a lot more. Dead Space, Fallout 3, and Gears of War 2 are some of my latest favorites and i can't run them on really high settings. I think one factor is my screen. I have a 24" Samsung that I can run at 1920x1200. Most of these newer games I can't set that high because it bogs down, but that is another reason i want to upgrade because the detail and realism and that high of resolution is awesome. I have heard a lot of great things about the WD raptors and i am really considering on of those also. Seems like they keep making them bigger too. I think now they make a 500GB model. 300 used to the be the biggest. However with all the other storage i have i might not need such a big one....just to run games. Thanks for the input guys. Do you have a Mobo's to reccomend. I have heard that Asus has some great boards to overclock....but that the customer support is crappy. I was also thinking about a Gigabyte.

[daredog4]

Oh yeah, about watercooling. I don't know if i want to go there. Some of the premade/sealed units look alright but if that sucker were to ever spring a leak........you would be SOL. I guess im just scared. My case is vented very well and although its not completely quiet, i don't notice it at all when playing games.

[Silencei2]

I used to like ASUS a lot but for my latest computer build I used eVGA just because it had what I was looking for. The new i7 Asus boards are supposed to be pretty good. I usually check reviews on HardOCP and AnandTech before I make a major electronics purchase. They usually have good reviews and comparisons you can use for reference.

As far as overclocking goes, I would rather not hassle with it. It takes a lot of time and patience to find where your computer is stable at. Another thing to consider is that Intel mobos are not to friendly towards overclocking either. A great overclocking mobo manufacturer to look at is DFI but if you were to go with a new mobo and cpu there would be no need.

Just checked in on Western Digitals website and they only have the 300gb model. I know on certain sites you can find OEM 150gb Velociraptors but I'd probably stick with the retail for the 5 year warranty.

If you like XP and you plan on getting more than 2gb of RAM go with the x64 version. I've been running it for a couple of years and haven't had too many troubles with it. Before that I was running Vista Ultimate x64 and had some problems here and there. There are pros and cons to both but overall I still like XP Pro x64 more.

[Silencei2]

Oh yeah, about watercooling. I don't know if i want to go there. Some of the premade/sealed units look alright but if that sucker were to ever spring a leak........you would be SOL. I guess im just scared. My case is vented very well and although its not completely quiet, i don't notice it at all when playing games.

Thats why I use non-conductive fluid. I've spilled fluid on the motherboard several times and never shorted anything. I think I started getting into the watercooling after I got bored building normal computers. Its something to look into if you ever walk down the same path.

I posted pics of my latest build on the "pictures of desk/pc" thread if you want to check em out.

[daredog4]

That is a very nice rig you got there. Im just wondering but what do your temps run under load.

Im thinking about sticking with air cooling at least for now. If i decide to get a new case there are now several manufacturers that make cases that come with bigger fans (120mm) and some of them come with 4 and can have more added (like the CM Stacker and Antec 900/1200 series). But if i ever decide to water cool.....I will know who to talk to first.

Oh and also, what are the main differences between the 32bit and 64 bit besides the ram allocation? Will all 32 bit programs run on 64?

[MarineOne]

I'm an avid gamer and I build all my own systems. I guess after being in Information Technology for 18 years I'm picky about my computers.

The new Intel i7 is a really high end chip made for gaming, multi-tasking, etc., I can't see spending what Intel wants for it. When I build a system I look at two things: 1.) Can it be upgraded easily?, and 2.) How long will I be using it for?

Here's my systems specs and what I'm playing:

Asus M3A79-T Deluxe
(Note: this is a CrossFire board; SLI cards can't be supported due to limited power here in Iraq and I wasn't concerned about it.)
AMD Athlon X2 6400+ Windsor 3.2 GHz dual core with stock heatsink and fan
EVGA GTX-285 1GB PCI-Express x16 video card
2x 2GB Corsair Dominator DDR2-1066 (4GB total running at DDR2-800 due to CPU limitation)
2x Hitachi DeskStar 750GB 7K1000 SATA HDD
2x Samsung 20x DVD+/-R SATA DVD drive
SoundBlaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1
XP Pro 64-bit
PC Power and Cooling 750 watt Active PFC PSU
CoolerMaster Centurion 5 case


Currently I'm playing Crysis, COD4, COD:World At War, and STALKER all at max game settings on a Samsung 206BW 20 inch widescreen. I haven't tweaked the nVidia drivers yet for better frame rates because I haven't needed to ..... I haven't seen anything below 40 FPS and the game play is really smooth.

I can't run SLI here because I would need at least a 1200 watt PSU for running two of the GTX-285 cards and I would melt the power distribution block in my living quarters. This single card is insane with a 1GB buffer and I highly recommend it.

I noticed you're running a single Sapphire (ATI) HD3870 video card. For Crysis, COD4, or any other new release you should be running something with more power, or running two of them. This is more of a entry level to mid-range card so you're gonna have some issues with game play. You really should look at the 4870 or switch to an nVidia card.


Kris

[Silencei2]

That is a very nice rig you got there. Im just wondering but what do your temps run under load.

Im thinking about sticking with air cooling at least for now. If i decide to get a new case there are now several manufacturers that make cases that come with bigger fans (120mm) and some of them come with 4 and can have more added (like the CM Stacker and Antec 900/1200 series). But if i ever decide to water cool.....I will know who to talk to first.

Oh and also, what are the main differences between the 32bit and 64 bit besides the ram allocation? Will all 32 bit programs run on 64?

Thanks!

Once you start getting into the newer processor/graphics card/motherboards you'll start seeing certain components hit 60+ degrees celsius. For example, my friend built the exact same computer with a QX6850, 4gb of RAM, same motherboard and a 4870 for graphics. On load, his graphics card would hit close to 90 degrees celsius. The mobo and CPU all end up around 60+. On load in my computer I rarely see it hit more than 50 degrees celsius. I also keep my graphics cards overclocked and they run stable whenever I play any 3d intensive games. You'll notice when you're playing a game on a newer graphics card that the fan will usually kick in and you'll start getting a wind tunnel noise in your computer. Same thing goes for the chipset fan and CPU fan.

As far as differences between 32bit and 64bit, there are a huge amount of changes under the skin. If you take a close look you'll see you have a 32bit and a 64bit Program Files folder, the registry has different paths and the way the OS works is a little different. I can't guarantee that all your 32bit programs will work, especially really old programs, but there is more and more support for 64bit processing since it is what's up and coming.

[daredog4]

I got my HD3870 about six months ago and at the time it was the highest end card ATI had to offer. I really liked the Toxic because it was already overclocked to 800 GPU Mhz and 1150 Memory Mhz, and with the vapor chamber i have no issues with heat. I have always thought about Nvidia cards but their newer high powered cards run hot and suck the power. I do have one question though. If I upgraded cards, would it be better to buy another 3870 and crossfire or should i just go with the 4870? I know they have have a 4870x2 but the price is really high and the card is huge.

[MarineOne]

Honestly, I'd dump the 3870 for the 1GB GTX-285, and I'll give you two reasons why. The first is because this is the first single solution card that I've seen run Crysis on a widescreen and do it well. It probably helps having a 64 bit OS and 4GB of RAM, too, but you can always upgrade that later. The second reason is Windows 7 will not be a 32 bit OS, so planning for a future upgrade should definately be on your to-do list. This will be Microsoft's first OS release that DOES NOT support 32 bit CPU's so what you have right now will not run future operating systems and gives you a fantastic reason to abort the abomination .... uh, I mean delete your Windows Vista install .... LOL!!


For the video cards, ATI has always been about visual quality at the expense of frame rates while nVidia on the other hand has always been about performance at the expense of a high quality picture. I tell everyone this: if you're going to be watching alot of movies (DVD or Blu-Ray) then get an ATI card, but if you're going to be using it primarily for gaming then get the nVidia.




Kris

[daredog4]

Here are the latest and greatest. Personally, I like the ATI but you be the decider.

Sapphire HD4870 2GB GDDR5 Memory with Vapor-X Cooling
Core: 750mhz
Mem: 900mhz, 3 Gbps

And by the way, the 4890 is now for sale......



EVGA GeForce GTX-295 1792Mb GDDR3 Memory
Core: 576mhz
Mem: 1998mhz



Both cards and many many more on www.Newegg.com And by the way BFG-Tech just came out with a killer custom water cooled GTX-295. Check out this link. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143182

[Silencei2]

I'd probably say you get most bang for your buck with the ATI. Thats what a lot of popular tech sites usually say when comparing performance to price point. My roomie has the 4870 and it performs well but I'd have to say my two 8800s keep up with it just fine. From what MarineOne said, it's pretty true ATI has always been more about picture quality than performance. They also set themselves aside from Nvidia by providing more multimedia related features which not everyone necessarily needs or wants.

If it were my choice, I'd pick ATI if I was looking for the best deal and if I had the money for the Nvidia I'd go with them. Personally I think Nvidia racks up the prices on their cards just because they have a slight edge over the competition. ATI was smart for seeing this weakness and provided a competitively priced product.

As far as the 32/64bit issue goes, I don't think either of those cards would have an issue. As long as your running a card that offers 64 bit drivers, you'll be fine.

The watercooled BFG cards are beautiful. I don't know if they still do but some of their older watercooled cards used a Danger Den waterblock. Once you get into watercooling you'll probably find it more fun to install the waterblock yourself rather than getting a card with it pre-installed. Not to mention there are other waterblocks you can get from other companies that offer a more custom look with a clear acrylic top.

[ggiese]

Can you light cigars on that puppy? Unless you're able to, trash it...

[daredog4]

Just wondering, what do you have for a computer Ggiese?

[ggiese]

Just wondering, what do you have for a computer Ggiese?

Which computer?

I would be pleasantly surprised if you knew anything about where all of this comes from - things like what a Z80 processor was, ARPANET, Mosaic... The good ol' days of 300 baud modems....

Man - I would just LOVE to discuss my lineage of computers, all the money I've spent on this pursuit over the years, my past work repairing and building systems and such - maybe if we meet up on a computer board somewhere down the road. Though forgive me for being a bit rusty - I've given much of that up in favor of other more fulfilling pursuits.

Seriously, though. Me: Personally? I joined CS to share stories about cigars.

You like Okienoodling??

[ggiese]

Good stuff for you, dreadog;

http://www.computersoc.com/viewforum.php?f=35

http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/17/

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/forums.html

http://www.motherboards.org/forums/

http://forums.mysuperpc.com/

http://forums.guru3d.com/

[daredog4]

Sounds like you know your stuff. I personally subscribe to www.techsupportforum.com and have been helped out of some pretty big pickles. I try to help others out with their issues when i can but some stuff is over my head. Many hardware issues i have dealt with, but when it comes to programming and software issues i tend to get lost.

I didn't mean to make it all about computers, but they are a nice tool to have. I really just stared this thread to see if there were any cigar/computer lovers out there that i could relate to. And i would love to hear your stories about the good ol days, and what it took to get us to where we are today. I think computers are one of our civilizations biggest achievements and it seems that the technology is advancing faster than anything else out there.

I know i pissed off a bunch of people with my other thread and all i can do is move on and try to get along. If i don't get kicked off of here i will do my best to make it up to ya.

Edit: I was just remembering that when i was younger we had an old Apple computer with the green/black screen. I remember playing lots of games where i had to boot to DOS and manually type in the EXE file name in order to play. Thats about as far back as I go.

[daredog4]

If you meant hand fishing....heck ya i have. With all the flooding we have had lately its been hard to find them and they aren't very big. A couple of years ago my brother and I fished out some holes on the rattlesnake and ended up with a couple 20 pound flatheads, a 36 pounder, and a 42 pounder. And boy were they some good eating.