Halo 1 & 2 for PC
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Subject: $3600 Gaming rig - Worth it?

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I will probably have 1440x900 (What Im on now on my 19''), thats nice to hear :)

But the GS doesnt work as well as the GTX? I saw some benchmarks, and the GTX looked to be 33% better than the GTX in lots of stuff...Im sure it could play something like Halo 2 Vista in max....but howbout Crysis on a GTS?

[Edited on 1/19/2007]

  • 01.19.2007 11:20 PM PDT
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Posted by: MLG Cheehwawa
Got any good tuts for putting the PC together, and connecting the cables and such? I never built one before...


Google it. I'll make one sometime next week.

  • 01.19.2007 11:24 PM PDT
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Case: Apevia X-Pleasure ATX Midtower w/ Window and LCDs
Power Supply: OCZ GameXStream 850-Watt
Motherboard: EVGA nForce 680i SLI NVIDIA Socket 775
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz
Video Card: XFX GeForce 8800GTX w/ Free gaming Headset
Disk Drive: Sony 16x DVD-ROM / 40x CD-ROM / Black
DVD Burner: Sony DRU-120C Multi-Drive
Harddrives: Seagate / 500GB / 7200 / 16MB / ATA-100
Memory: Corsair Dual Channel TWINX 2048 Gb PC6400 800MHz
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Monitor: AOC 19'' LCD
Keyboard: Gear Head PS/2 119-Key Internet/Multimedia Keyboard
Gaming Mouse: Already have a Wireless one for this.


O.M.G. I. just. orgasmed. at. the. mightyness...

[Edited on 1/20/2007]

  • 01.20.2007 6:00 AM PDT
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aka lino4

Most of the PC issues posted here are the result of PEBKAC.

Maybe you should wait a few months for the latest ATI card. Who knows what they're planning.

As for building, make sure the RAM and motherboard slot voltages match up, also watch for the LED connectors. Switching them up will suck.

  • 01.20.2007 8:10 AM PDT
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Posted by: staticx57
Posted by: darekster2ongame
Just don't get an Athlon. I just watched a video on how if the heating falls off, the board melts in less than a second, with the chance of fire...

That video has freaked me out, I'm afraid to budge my own computer in case my heatsink comes off....

...

Heatsinks dont just come off number one.
number 2, how old is that video?


Old enough to be testing my exact processor....

But, heatsinks can come off. Those little screws only work for so long...

[Edited on 1/20/2007]

  • 01.20.2007 9:04 AM PDT
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I can't believe that you people are actually arguing about AMD vs Intel.

Core 2 is where it is at, if you think that AMD is better in ANY WAY then you are living in the year 2005.

The benchmarks tell it all.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2014650,00.asp

As you can see, my processor (the E6600) is consideralby faster than ANY AMD processor, and costs FAR FAR less than the FX-62.

Intel > AMD.

AMD X2 FX-62 2.80GHz

My Processor, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz

From the benchmarks you can see that the Core 2 at 2.4GHz is better at EVERYTHING and costs less than half the amount (In most cases).

Quadro Owns All

But the Slight increase in performance is not worth the price

[Edited on 1/20/2007]

  • 01.20.2007 9:05 AM PDT
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Chill, Nessy. Nobody was arguing about AMD v. Intel; I think you just assumed it since people were looking for more up to date information.

[Edited on 1/20/2007]

  • 01.20.2007 10:06 AM PDT
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I'm not quite sure how that's $3600, as I just configured one with my friend very similar to yours, only without the monitor, os, and an 8800GTS instead. It's probably using a cheaper mobo and ran, but It came out to be $1500...

  • 01.20.2007 10:22 AM PDT
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Posted by: darekster2ongame
Posted by: staticx57
Posted by: darekster2ongame
Just don't get an Athlon. I just watched a video on how if the heating falls off, the board melts in less than a second, with the chance of fire...

That video has freaked me out, I'm afraid to budge my own computer in case my heatsink comes off....

...

Heatsinks dont just come off number one.
number 2, how old is that video?


Old enough to be testing my exact processor....

But, heatsinks can come off. Those little screws only work for so long...


Proccessor heatsinks havent used screws in a while, unless they are the big ones in which case you wouldnt be asking this question because you know what you would be doing.

Show me the video.

  • 01.20.2007 10:50 AM PDT
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haha, thats what im building almost (I think you saw my post in the Flood)

also, if you plan to go SLI, get a better power source and if you go SLI check out monitor requirements cause I dont think what you have meets it

Then again you can always upgrade power supply and monitor later

Corsair is real nice, most people who have the 680i chipset are using those

also, id check out western digital for hard drives - also, id go with SATA

check out http://www.ocforums.com
they are a great help


also, im assuming your are gonna overclock cause u got the e6600. I highly recommend reading those forums then

I went for the e6700 cause it had good speed and i dont need to overclock it just yet


[Edited on 1/20/2007]

  • 01.20.2007 10:52 AM PDT

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Posted by: Pet0sh
I'm not quite sure how that's $3600, as I just configured one with my friend very similar to yours, only without the monitor, os, and an 8800GTS instead. It's probably using a cheaper mobo and ran, but It came out to be $1500...
I actually think that one I did was $2400, but I will have $3600 to spend...if there's not really anything worth it (no current games taking advantage of the hardware), I probabbly will save the rest of the money for paintball, and buying games for my PC.

  • 01.20.2007 12:13 PM PDT
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Posted by: MLG Cheehwawa
Here's a list.

Case: Apevia X-Pleasure ATX Midtower w/ Window and LCDs
Power Supply: OCZ GameXStream 850-Watt
Motherboard: EVGA nForce 680i SLI NVIDIA Socket 775
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz
Video Card: XFX GeForce 8800GTX w/ Free gaming Headset
Disk Drive: Sony 16x DVD-ROM / 40x CD-ROM / Black
DVD Burner: Sony DRU-120C Multi-Drive
Harddrives: Seagate / 500GB / 7200 / 16MB / ATA-100
Memory: Corsair Dual Channel TWINX 2048 Gb PC6400 800MHz
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Monitor: AOC 19'' LCD
Keyboard: Gear Head PS/2 119-Key Internet/Multimedia Keyboard
Gaming Mouse: Already have a Wireless one for this.



Seems a little, how do you say unessesary . If you want to just throw a ton of money into a PC, I guess that's all right, but I also am building a PC soon. I'm on a very limited budget, and I'm doing it for about $700. That's not including the video card, which I'll buy later. Also I'm taking stuff from my old PC. Here are my only problems with your choices.

-Why are you getting 2 disc drives? That's totally unecessary.

-That's a ridiculouslly huge hard drive. No one needs that much space, and I know you're a film maker, as with me, but you can always add more with your 4 sata ports. 500 gigs is a TON! Besides that, 2 smaller hard drives are faster then 1 big one. Especcially if you RAID 0 strip them. If I were you, I would downgrade on that.

Besides that, everything else is a great investment. Please though, for the love of god, DO NOT CHOOSE AMD. The facts are there, tests have been done, and Intel core 2 duo PWNS the compitition.

This is just my opinion on how you can save a descent buck or two. Good luck!

  • 01.20.2007 12:55 PM PDT

PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME GROUP INVITATIONS

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Yeah, well I will have a lot of money, so I think I can do this...let's just hope Im one of the ones who gets to go to actually make that money.

One of them doesnt burn disks (Well, I dont think it does) and I want to copy my DVDs to my computer, and put them on my iPod.

I think I may actually need all that space. Even if I dont, I would rather have it all now instead of needing to upgrade in the future. Im going to start with 3D Modelling and building a bunch of maps for Crysis' multiplayer and campaign (based around stuff from my novel), so I think I will need the space. Vista takes up 12Gb alone, I believe.

Yeah, I think I'll go with Intel this time. I have AMD (X2 4200) now, but it doesnt seem too bad....I really want to know what kind of RAM I have. I dont know if the Mobo supports 991MHz, though. But I have 2Gb in this PC....

  • 01.20.2007 1:07 PM PDT
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Posted by: MLG Cheehwawa
Yeah, well I will have a lot of money, so I think I can do this...let's just hope Im one of the ones who gets to go to actually make that money.

One of them doesnt burn disks (Well, I dont think it does) and I want to copy my DVDs to my computer, and put them on my iPod.

I think I may actually need all that space. Even if I dont, I would rather have it all now instead of needing to upgrade in the future. Im going to start with 3D Modelling and building a bunch of maps for Crysis' multiplayer and campaign (based around stuff from my novel), so I think I will need the space. Vista takes up 12Gb alone, I believe.

Yeah, I think I'll go with Intel this time. I have AMD (X2 4200) now, but it doesnt seem too bad....I really want to know what kind of RAM I have. I dont know if the Mobo supports 991MHz, though. But I have 2Gb in this PC....


Yeah, one of them dosn't burn discs, so what's the point in getting it? Unless you need to burn and read discs at the same time, it's unecessary. The DVD burner also serves as a DVD rom drive.

As for the hard drive, it's over-kill. The description says it holds 424 hours of DVD quality video. That might be a slight exageration, but you will never need that much. It's you money though, so if you want all that space, that's your choice.

yeah, I was thinking about trying to use my old ram for my new PC, but i decided against it. It's not worth the risk of it not fitting, and RAM technology has improved anyways.
Good luck!

  • 01.20.2007 1:22 PM PDT
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I was just wondering...do you actually have the money in your hand to build this setup? If you don't, it might be a bit premature to start talking about all this stuff...you mentioned the Festival would be in March, after all.

Say you get your paychecks in April or May sometime. The costs may drop, newer, better tech will come to bear...you're better off re-making the thread when you have the money, at which time you'll have more up-to-date comparisons about the tech and schtuff. Also, not to be a wet blanket, but suppose you don't get selected to be stage crew. You'll have gotten all pumped up for nothing. Or you might have already purchased a 2000+ computer with no way to pay it back to your creditors.

Oh, any chance you can hook me up with tickets to that gig? I've always wanted to see Tiesto and Paul Van Dyk...(/wishfulthinking)

  • 01.20.2007 1:25 PM PDT
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It's not like he already charged it. H's just planning ahead. I am too, and I'm not getting the money for another month.
Posted by: me15ter
I was just wondering...do you actually have the money in your hand to build this setup? If you don't, it might be a bit premature to start talking about all this stuff...you mentioned the Festival would be in March, after all.

Say you get your paychecks in April or May sometime. The costs may drop, newer, better tech will come to bear...you're better off re-making the thread when you have the money, at which time you'll have more up-to-date comparisons about the tech and schtuff. Also, not to be a wet blanket, but suppose you don't get selected to be stage crew. You'll have gotten all pumped up for nothing. Or you might have already purchased a 2000+ computer with no way to pay it back to your creditors.

Oh, any chance you can hook me up with tickets to that gig? I've always wanted to see Tiesto and Paul Van Dyk...(/wishfulthinking)

  • 01.20.2007 1:27 PM PDT
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Posted by: Motile Target
It's not like he already charged it. H's just planning ahead. I am too, and I'm not getting the money for another month.


Right, but you probably already got the job and did your time, and in one month you won't be chancing too much. However, if you're looking about a half a year into the future, I would honestly expect to see some changes (or at least a price reduction) in technology as opposed to now. That, and I don't think he even has the job secured yet. (Again, not trying to be a dampener, but a realist. I've had this sort of situation before and the job passed me up.)

Oh, and thirdly, have you considered what OS you're going to use? Unless you're planning on using freeware Linux, you'll need to shell out a couple hundred for your flavor of Vista.

  • 01.20.2007 1:35 PM PDT
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STOP THE PRESSES
whoever is giving this guy advice to go AMD is a fool. guys, as of one year ago YES AMD would have been the choice. which is why my uber rig has an AMD. (i love AMD their procs rock right now for medium-high to low end rigs)
Now Core 2 is out. simply put, that 2.4 can become 3.4 with a fifty dollar heatsink, check pcapex and anandtech for stuff about that. Core two runs faster and cooler than AMD, at least until K8. guys what im saying is, clocks are half of a proc. the architecture is the second half. and core two has superior architecture.
as for the GTS/GTX question check the benchmarks, measure percentage, and then compare it to the price. or, ATI's card is forecasted to be around 5-6percent faster, but that is a gamble and more time to wait for uber gaming ness.
Summary: get core tow, a beefy proc, at least two gigs of RAM, an aftermarket heatsink, and i suggest going nvidia at this point in time.

  • 01.20.2007 3:24 PM PDT
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I would highly suggest spending just a little bit more for this keyboard and mouse combo. Both are wireless, and function flawlessly, not to mention are black and look sleek. I've had mine (and I've been using mine for about a year) and nothing has gone wrong yet.


[Edited on 1/20/2007]

  • 01.20.2007 3:41 PM PDT

PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME GROUP INVITATIONS

The Halo REACH Script (post thoughts in thread)

Writing Lead of Whisper Studios. Check out Heron!

Look... I'm on bungiepedia!

I actually think I have that mouse :-o

But I dont really care about what sort of KB I have, as long as it works and wont break, Im okay...I dont play much PC games, but I will be playing a lot of Crysis and H2V...with a 360 controller probably, though.

[Edited on 1/20/2007]

  • 01.20.2007 5:21 PM PDT
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Newegg has some cheaper prices on a couple things you listed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681318801 0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681911500 3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1682014559 0

I've heard that Vista will not be worth getting unless you get Ultimate. Other than that, you're good to go.

That's going to be one great computer.

[Edited on 1/20/2007]

  • 01.20.2007 6:09 PM PDT
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Posted by: Ryanman7
STOP THE PRESSES
whoever is giving this guy advice to go AMD is a fool. guys, as of one year ago YES AMD would have been the choice. which is why my uber rig has an AMD. (i love AMD their procs rock right now for medium-high to low end rigs)
Now Core 2 is out. simply put, that 2.4 can become 3.4 with a fifty dollar heatsink, check pcapex and anandtech for stuff about that. Core two runs faster and cooler than AMD, at least until K8. guys what im saying is, clocks are half of a proc. the architecture is the second half. and core two has superior architecture.
as for the GTS/GTX question check the benchmarks, measure percentage, and then compare it to the price. or, ATI's card is forecasted to be around 5-6percent faster, but that is a gamble and more time to wait for uber gaming ness.
Summary: get core tow, a beefy proc, at least two gigs of RAM, an aftermarket heatsink, and i suggest going nvidia at this point in time.
Ignore this. AMD is bound to make a comeback with their next line of processors. Just because Intel got the lead for once doesn't mean it's going to stay on top forever.

  • 01.20.2007 6:51 PM PDT
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Posted by: staticx57
Posted by: darekster2ongame
Posted by: staticx57
Posted by: darekster2ongame
Just don't get an Athlon. I just watched a video on how if the heating falls off, the board melts in less than a second, with the chance of fire...

That video has freaked me out, I'm afraid to budge my own computer in case my heatsink comes off....

...

Heatsinks dont just come off number one.
number 2, how old is that video?


Old enough to be testing my exact processor....

But, heatsinks can come off. Those little screws only work for so long...


Proccessor heatsinks havent used screws in a while, unless they are the big ones in which case you wouldnt be asking this question because you know what you would be doing.

Show me the video.


Video at the end

I'm using the 1.49 GH processor...

  • 01.20.2007 7:26 PM PDT
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Posted by:TomsHardwareGuide

September 17, 2001



Stop recommending anything computer related, for everyone's sake.

[Edited on 1/20/2007]

  • 01.20.2007 7:37 PM PDT
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Posted by: staticx57
Posted by:[b]TomsHardwareGuide September 17, 2001


Stop recommending anything computer related, for everyone's sake.


The latest isn't always the best. I like to think of myself as the "budget guy". If your short on cash, I know exactly the stuff you can get to be able to run a game, but not spend a bunch of money.

And it's not that bad. I have my card overclocked to 2 GH, making it a lot better. The Radeon 9250 is getting outdated, but really cheap. Especially if you play games like I do (Halo, RTS, and free games). If you only got $150 to build a computer, I can tell you the parts to get for it.

  • 01.20.2007 7:43 PM PDT

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