Getting a new gaming rig, what would you change to these specs?

belladauna

I'm planning on getting a new gaming rig, and I'm wondering if I'm doing too much, not enough, or what. Just looking for some feedback.

 

Here are the specs I've chosen. Would you do More, Less, or you think it's reasonable? If you'd change something, what would you change?

 EDIT:

Okay, this I think is the final incarnation of the rig build. Last chance to help decide the fate of one mans gaming rig.

 

System Configuration:

Case: Digital Storm 850Si (Black Anodized Aluminum Finish) Power Supply: 1000W SilverStone Strider (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) (Model: ST1000) (Silent) Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz (1333MHz FSB) (12MB Cache) Motherboard: nVidia 780i Core 2 Quad (nForce 780i SLI) Memory: 4GB DDR2 Corsair at 1066MHz Dominator DHX (Extreme-Performance) Floppy / Card: - No Thanks Hard Drive 1: 320GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA) Hard Drive 2: 80GB Western Digital (8MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA) Raid Option: - No Thanks Hard Drive 3: - No Thanks Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x) (LightScribe Edition) Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks Network Card: Bigfoot Killer Network Card (Features MaxFPS and UltimatePing Technology) Video Card: nVidia GeForce 9800GX2 1GB TV Tuner: - No Thanks Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer (Recommended) Physics Card: - No Thanks Cooling: Air Cooled Stage 2 (Silent Artic Cooling Heat-sink Upgrade (Copper Heatpipes) Case Lighting: Blizzard Internal Lighting (Green Edition) (Cold Cathode Tubes) Round Cables: - No Thanks User Manual: Personalized Platinum Digital Storm Binder (Includes Paperwork/Benchmarks/CDs/Manuals) Overclock Processor: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my processor Overclock Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) Overclock Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory Tweak Windows: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (64-Bit Edition) (For Enthusiasts) Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based) Protection: McAfee Internet Security (Includes: AntiVirus, FireWall and AntiSpyware) Office: Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student (Word Excel PowerPoint OneNote) Benchmarking: - No Thanks Pre-Install Game: - No Thanks LCD Display: - No Thanks Surge Shield: - No Thanks Speakers: - No Thanks Keyboard: - No Thanks Mouse: - No Thanks Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty Support: Lifetime Toll-Free Platinum Care Technical Support

 

So yeah, I am going to go with intel. Some people won't be happy about that decision, but after weighing advice I think the intels won overall. I just feel personally safer with the intell, Im used to it,'and change scares me despite the fact that if I was American I would vote for Obama.

Oh God I got political. Forget what I said there, and just focus on the computer. 

I'm going to go with the killer connectivity card too. One person mentioned that and it seems like it'll improve overall gameplay in the mmo's.

I'm sticking with the 9800Gx2 single card now. and have gone and upgraded the fan so it's more silent hopefully.

I think those are all the current changes.

Sound good?

 

I'll probably be ordering today. If please help any way you can. Thanks.

spookytooth

Looks good, except everything will bottleneck at the hardrive. Get at least two, and set up a Raid0.

belladauna

pardon my stupidity but what's a raid0?

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imb0r3d

I think you should model a gaming PC on an AMD - not pentium.  I hear from a lot of hardcore gamers that AMD is the way to go - better performance, faster speeds and such.  Also - why waste money on lighting the case when you can spend the extra $40 on a better processor / mobo.

Think of it this way - the better you build your PC now, the longer it will take to become obsolete.

When I got my gaming pc 2 years ago I pretty much made sure it could stand up to the xbox 360 so that I could play some mainstream games that come out crossplatform. 

Just my 2 cents.

belladauna

no I'm getting rid of the physics card. I've been told that by several, so that's getting scrapped

spookytooth

Originally posted by belladauna


pardon my stupidity but what's a raid0?

Raid 0 takes multiple harddrives and treats them as one big one. It will "stripe" the information across all of them. So when it reads or writes it will do so on all of them at the same time. Theoretically if you had 4 harddrives it would go 4x faster, but I dont think it would come close to that speed. It will make a noticable difference though.

You have the makings of a very fast machine there. And right now HD technology is a bit behind. Until we can buy cheap Flash HD's, setting up a Raid is the only way to compensate for their deficency.

belladauna

lighting the case costs nothing. It's just one of the stupid perks they give I guess. SO I say why not pick the color I want. At least it's somewhat calming. I don't think I could do red. I already go aggro when playing games. I need a little peace. lol. (no I don't really go aggro...often)

chrisleko

I would def. go with the raid0, it can be a pain in the butt, but its performance is great.

DAS1337

Originally posted by hitec7


2x GFX cards and Ageia? Also i hear ageia my be incorporate in the future gfx cards so imo its no need to get one now. (also the best games don't use ageia.)
Seems bit overkill to me and yea your hd its to small 2x500G should do it since u get everything x2

Since when does size have anything to do with speed?  Get two 10k RPM drives and put them in raid0.  Do some research, it's easy to find guides online.

 

If I have one 100G 7,200 RPM drive and on 1TB 7,200 RPM drive, they will run at exactly the same speed.

belladauna

Originally posted by spookytooth


 
Originally posted by belladauna


pardon my stupidity but what's a raid0?

Raid 0 takes multiple harddrives and treats them as one big one. It will "stripe" the information across all of them. So when it reads or writes it will do so on all of them at the same time. Theoretically if you had 4 harddrives it would go 4x faster, but I dont think it would come close to that speed. It will make a noticable difference though.

 

You have the makings of a very fast machine there. And right now HD technology is a bit behind. Until we can buy cheap Flash HD's, setting up a Raid is the only way to compensate for their deficency.

Thanks, that helps. I know some stuff, but not all the hard core stuff. I thought it'd be a good idea to do this as a post so I get the best advice from other hardcore gamers. Everything is greatly appreciated. It'll be ordered tomorrow I think so this is my last minute attempt to get everything sorted.

Neopsych

I would drop vista for either 32bit or xp.

 

For cost saving, i would half the power supply and go single card. Graphics cards are the main upgradeable item and whilst you have excellent next gen cards, in 2 years they will be old hat and you now have to buy twin to keep sli. Most games will over perform with 1 card - 2 may not give you much additional impact for the money.

 

belladauna

Anyone else think 2 graphics cards are excessive?

belladauna

yeah, Rig means like desktop system/beast.

on the site they only offer 150 gig 10krpm HD, so I'd have to get two of those, but do you think 300 gig is too small?

 

I mean I could get a third drive I guess. I dunno

 

Neopsych

300g is more than enough unless you want to install a huge games library, store an obscene amount of photos and files or you are a coder. For general use, I think its more than enough. If you have thta much non-game stuff to hold, i would invest in an external drive for back up rather than in your rig.

 

 

Yaedien

Wow is all i can say, some of the things people recommend lol.

Don't do Raid0 its a joke if one drive dies in the raid your screwed why chance that? If your going to do any striping do Raid10 which requires 4 harddrives but it is a true failsafe,striping scenario. Honestly i just would just run 1 or 2 harddrives with its own partition each for simplicity sake.

AMD is the way to go for gaming rig's, the heat is less overall from AMD than Intel, Intels get super hot even stock, motherboard, ram all of it gets hot running Intel, heat kills electronics.

And who would you be going through to do this configuration, personally i would just buy the parts from newegg and just put it together myself as i have just recently done to my new AoC gaming rig

Your not going to see a HUGE difference with the 9800's over the 9600's besides the massive price difference, granted the 9800's have a HDMI port on them which could be nice.

Ageia isn't really worth it honestly

Vista 64 Home Premium is ok, just make sure you install SP1 as that fix's alot of the issues with Vista (Personally listening Ultimatex64)

McAfee is a joke, use AVG or Avast its free and updates daily and doesn't rail your resources through the roof constantly.

Also the 9800x2 is 2 GPU's on one board with 1gig of ram, 512 is split per GPU so basically you would be running 4 GPU's with SLI, if you can justify spending over $600 per 9800x2 better you than me lol

 

I'm sure alot of people are going to flame me for this but o well, I build systems for 15+ years now for friends, family and have done it commercially a ton, also work for a datacenter so i know comp's pretty well if i say so myself

Neopsych

I agree with all of the above especially on the graph cards.

Not sure on the AMD heat issue and will not profess to know eough about them. I have never used AMD.

 

Orphes

I think SLI and XF is overhyped. And so 2 of 9800x2 cards is abit over the edge. I'm afraid that when you are there to actually have a computer that old, let's look into the future, so when the GPU setup will have made a difference (making the computer future proof) you will see a single(or what it at that time would be) card having the same performance and thus at that time more future proof. Or being able to get your GPU setup then for a fraction of the price of what it is today.

Today I will say that you are going to have a really good setup if you are buying one to really have something to brag about, sorry for the pun, but also wasted alot of unnecessary money to get that.

Go with one 9800x2 card, or even a simple 9800.

Yaedien

Just from looking at this rig i say your going to pay 2.5k or so just from looking at the spec's

Just get 2x250's if you don't need a crap load of space, the I/O Rates on 500+'s are terrible (read/write rates)

Vid card i wouldn't waste my time on the 9800's personally its to expensive for something that will be phased out within a year or will plummet in price within 6months or so, if you are serious about getting SLI just do 2 9600 GT KO's don't get the super overclocked 740mhz ones as they are having heat issues for being super overclocked 700mhz is more reasonable and heat is a lot less and not near the issues. Now if you seriously want to do a 9800 thats fine but just be careful check newegg for prices before you purchase anything from a set distributor though, like said before i would just buy from newegg and build it myself, if you can't build it i'm sure atleast one of your friends know how

Also one question all this hardware and you have no monitor..... why are you going to use? or are using now?

jayheld90

as far as i can tell, you would need to grab a couple Western Digital Raptor 10000rpm HD in raid0 format(problem is they only come in small sizes. so, you should add a tertiary HD in as storage (if you download lots of movies/music, etc.) SLI is overkill in my book, lots of games dont even support it at all or not very well (very buggy). just one of the new 9800 gx2 1gb, should be able to handle anything you can throw at it on highest settings. also, personally i would use AMD cpu, but thats is just my opinion.

belladauna

Currently the monitor I'm using is a Sharp 23" LCD.

 

Hey I appreciate everything I'm getting. As I said that's why I put the post here, I just didn't expect the response I'm getting. Thanks. And I'll check Newegg or whatever it was. I've built computers before, and I won't tell you what the price is, but it's above 2500. I'm shopping at digitalstormonline. So far theya re about 400 bucks cheaper for this build over every other palec I've looked at.

whozthisguy

i recommened raid0 with two 150gb raptors or even two 74gb raptors plus a 3rd storage HDD of any size and speed u want. (i have two 74gb raptors in raid0 plus a 7200rpm 300gb drive just for storage, and i love the setup, and not a single problem so far.) ya raid0 can fail, but SO CAN EVERYTHING ELSE. if u want great over-all performance i'd get a raid0 setup with like a 32k or 64k stripe. (i think 4k is the lowest, and the lower the striping the faster the performance, BUT the harder the HDDs work and the shorter the life of them)

also if money is no problem, i'd seriously look into a raid card. nvidia's motherboards don't have the best onboard raid-controlling. and u can easily double the performance of your HDDs with a good raidcard. but thats going into extreme performance just so u can read and write in an instant. mmm, load up windows in 5 seconds any1? =p

if u can afford SLI, get it!

plus i'd seriously recommend building your own system. theres no magic involved with assembling comp parts. and u'd save alot of money to get the exact same system. but thats up to you and your wallet. if i was a millionaire, i'd buy my systems through falcon northwest. 17grand comp systems? yes please.

try getting an OEM version of vista ultimate64. 200 bucks. retails what, 500??? and all u get is a fancy book and 90days of phone support. comon...whatever u get tho, GET 64BIT! its the future, its better, it sees AND uses all 4gbs of your RAM, and no matter what others say, it works. i have OEM vista ultimate 64bit and everythings perfect, all the time.

Varlok91

 

Originally posted by DAS1337


 
Originally posted by hitec7


2x GFX cards and Ageia? Also i hear ageia my be incorporate in the future gfx cards so imo its no need to get one now. (also the best games don't use ageia.)
Seems bit overkill to me and yea your hd its to small 2x500G should do it since u get everything x2

Since when does size have anything to do with speed?  Get two 10k RPM drives and put them in raid0.  Do some research, it's easy to find guides online.

 

 

If I have one 100G 7,200 RPM drive and on 1TB 7,200 RPM drive, they will run at exactly the same speed.

You should do some research actually. Today's larger hard drives such as Western Digital's 640 gb and the Samsung 1 TB drives are faster than raptors.

 

RPM is not the only thing that matters. There is quite a bit more to it. Don't believe me?

Here you go - techreport.com/articles.x/14380

To the OP, that system is way overkill, unless you are really swimming in cash, I suggest going for something cheaper. You can get a system that performs nearly as well as the machine you listed for significantly less.

If you are willing to build the computer, tell me your budget and I can price out some components, if you aren't I suggest looking at the dell XPS 630 - www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsdt_630

belladauna

The reason I'm getting this so soon is because my other computer which is old enough finally crapped out, and now I'm stuck using a friends, and I'm going through game withdrawls. So I don't want to spend the time ordering parts and having them come one at a time. I'd rather just get it prebuilt and come all shiney I new. I know I know, somewhat of a waste of money, but I even shopped around for parts, and there isn't much of a saving for what I want to get anyways. But from all the advice I got here I can probably bring the price down about 800 bucks from getting rid of one of the graphics cards as well as the agei card.

 

Thanks for everything, Still wanting to hear more, anything helps. Thanks to everyone thus far.

Varlok91

Originally posted by belladauna


The reason I'm getting this so soon is because my other computer which is old enough finally crapped out, and now I'm stuck using a friends, and I'm going through game withdrawls. So I don't want to spend the time ordering parts and having them come one at a time. I'd rather just get it prebuilt and come all shiney I new. I know I know, somewhat of a waste of money, but I even shopped around for parts, and there isn't much of a saving for what I want to get anyways. But from all the advice I got here I can probably bring the price down about 800 bucks from getting rid of one of the graphics cards as well as the agei card.
 
Thanks for everything, Still wanting to hear more, anything helps. Thanks to everyone thus far.

Look at the dell XPS 630 I linked to in the post above.

Yaedien

I agree yes the Raid0 will be faster as you are spreading the load accross 2 harddrives, but you can get 7200 RPM drives with 32mb of cache onboard now instead of 16mb's of cache.

If i was to buy Vista again i would go Home Premiumx64 as Ultimate is to fat it has all the business crap with it, domain controller, etc.. which is not needed for small network's in your home with only a few computers.

My system is 8 gigs of Kingston HyperX ram and Vista idles with 1% ram usage, but you go look and it is using 1gig of ram just idling there (page file is 16gb's since Swap is always and should always be 2x ram size)

These are my exact spec's no overclocking,etc..Ram is 800mhz but this system fly's no heat issues, once i fixed the few issues from initial vista install no blue screens or anything system is rock solid and the vista score is 5.6 (5.9 is highest)

AMD 6400x2 BE

M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wifi Edition

8 gig's of Kingston HyperX

250gb Seagate

Thermaltake Armor Case

Thermaltake 700 Modular PSU

EVGA 9600 GT KO

22" LG 3000:1 2ms Monitor

G15 Keyboard Logitech

G9 Mouse Logitech

G51 5.1 Logitech Speakers

Asus Sata 20x DL Burner

Ultimate x64 OEM