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~$1700 system--thoughts?

Post Date: 2008-01-18
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  Quote Van Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: ~$1700 system--thoughts?
    Posted: 18 Jan 2008 at 6:05pm
First of all, thanks for any help.
 
Below is the system I've built. I think it was in the $1700 range--dollars are important but I might be willing to spend a few more if it's worth it or, better yet, save a few bucks if I'm wasting any.
 
This computer will replace a 3 year old Alienware (FX-55 and nvidia 4800 or something like that). BTW, something in that Alienware has eaten 3 hard drives to date so hopefully this would be a more stable system. Anyway, I want a PC ready for games like Starcraft II and Spore plus two unopened games I got for Christmas and didn't get to play because my Alienware crapped out--The Witcher and Kane and Lynch. I wouldn't really care about playing Crysis with everything maxed but would hope it would be somewhat playable on any system I might buy.
 
So what do you think? Is overclocking a good idea with this system? Do I need more power?  Would I do better getting the stock Twister Pro they have for $1985 with the Quad 6600 processor and the 8800GTs in SLI?
 
Again, thanks for any thoughts.
 
Case: Digital Storm Twister LITE (Black Aluminum Edition)
Power Supply: 560W SilverStone Strider (Model: ST56F) (Silent)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz (1333MHz Front Side Bus) (4MB Cache)
Motherboard: nVidia 650i Core 2 Quad (By: eVGA) (nForce 650i Ultra)
Memory: 2GB DDR2 Corsair at 800MHz Dominator (Dual Channel) (High-Performance)
Floppy / Card: Sony 1.44MB Floppy (Black Edition)
Hard Drive 1: 160GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Hard Drive 2: 160GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Raid Option: Setup hard drive 1 and 2 in a Raid 0 Stripe (Read and Write Performance Boost)
Hard Drive 3: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Network Card: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800GTS 512MB (By: eVGA) (PCI-Express)
TV Tuner: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE (Up to 7.1 Channel)
Physics Card: - No Thanks
Cooling: Air Cooled Stage 2 (Silent Artic Cooling Heat-sink (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: Yes, Overclock the processor as much as possible with complete stability
Overclock Video Card: Yes, Overclock the video card(s) as much as possible with complete stability
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
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
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 my keyboard comes with a mouse
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty
Support: Lifetime Toll-Free Platinum Care Technical Support
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Dashuu View Drop Down
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Posts: 407 		  Quote Dashuu Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 18 Jan 2008 at 6:09pm
You can save yourself the money on the sound card. You won't need the audigy with the 650i. I also wouldn't recommend the RAID, but that's just my personal opinion. I'm not a fan of RAID. 
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Posts: 395 		  Quote Solo Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 18 Jan 2008 at 6:59pm
I seriously doubt this computer would be able to play Starcraft II...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
because its not coming out for 30 years at least.
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Posts: 128 		  Quote Getout Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 18 Jan 2008 at 7:07pm
Starcraft II is comming out soon I played it at blizzcon in 07
 
 
 
Not sure if the lite case will be the best bet with overclocking due to heat issues.  Thought I read something about that on this site.


Edited by Getout - 18 Jan 2008 at 7:08pm
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Posts: 4219 		  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 18 Jan 2008 at 7:27pm

your build: (links are so much easier)
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=113755

given your outlines, and a budget of ~1700 i'd go something like this:
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=113757

boosted the ram, nessesary for that processor i believe
dropped the floppy ( who uses floppy disks? )
dropped the raid 0 ( really no need for it in MY opinion )
went to lightscribe optical ( its $9 )
I'm with you on the GTS 512
dropped the sound card ( the mobo supports 7.1, either go for the $100 card or nothing)
dropped the case lighting ( the LITE case comes with plenty of stylish blue light )
changed the overclocks to processor and ram, its easier on the cooling and youll get more out of your system that way ( MY opinion )

the LITE case is fine overclocking. its not ideal, but neither is dropping $300 for the chance at a better overclock result

Edited by !ender_ - 18 Jan 2008 at 7:30pm
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  Quote Van Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Jan 2008 at 12:06am
Thanks for the thoughts. A few questions:
 
1. I guess I don't understand the whole Raid thing. I don't feel like I need a whole lot of storage space so if I can squeeze a bit of speed out of two 160s in a Raid 0 versus one 350, why wouldn't I want to do that?
 
2.!ender, I guess I'm a noob, but why overclock the memory and the processor instead of the GPU? I thought that was strange considering you picked high-end memory but I don't know any better.
 
3. I was under the impression that any sound card is a bonus, not so much because I'm an audiophile or anything but just because it's something that can free up the processor to do other stuff.
 
Thanks again all. Only other questions--buying a 2 core processor at this stage is okay, right? And this general computer still gives reasonable performance with a game like Crysis, right?
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  Quote Van Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Jan 2008 at 12:08am
Oh, and I just can't stand that Twister PRO case. No one would ever see the window in my gaming space and I just much prefer the bit of style on the LITE. Maybe the photos don't do the PRO justice...
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Posts: 4219 		  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Jan 2008 at 1:44am

Raid 0, from my understanding, is like having a multi-core processor... almost exactly. The negative side is that I get the impression they are more prone to errors and that if you dont use HD-intense programs like big renders or serious video editing that you will see little to no difference with raid set up. If you are a generally clean person, you will likely find that 320 is more than you will -ever- need.
 
2. The GTS 512 is already a strong card, i believe OC'ing it would be a considerably larger strain on your system, especially heat wise. If you think about it in terms of responsibility: the GPU is responsible only for visual end processes, while your processor/RAM are left with feeding it info AND generating sound, managing every process on your system, internet, etc etc etc etcetcetc. I believe the overall power of the system will be better increased by processor/ram than processor/GPU. (oh and the info needed to OC the 512 properly isnt released yet, but that didnt have much to do with it :) )
 
3. The point about the sound card is that the only role of a $30 card is supporting 7.1 sound, it takes NO load away from your processor. The X-FI Extreme and Fatal1ty peices have thier own seperate audio processors, (just like a video card vs on-board video). Since DSO deals with only the best motherboards, the $30 one really offers nothing, its just some frill becuase it has some more audio modification and so on.
The XFI/Fatal1ty will show an increase in performance becuase your main processor will have no responsibility to audio, so it is more free for other things, however, in a budget build, you should really be ok with just using onboard sound. The extra $100 would be MUCH better spent upgrading the processor to 6850.
 
Can't answer the crysis question, I would think it will be fine but I have no facts to justify that.

The LITE case has better cooling passively and with fans than the PRO case, frankly its a mystery to me why people choose the pro case at all.
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Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Jan 2008 at 4:11am

So what do you think?

Personally, I would keep the floppy in the build. First, it's cheap, and cutting it doesn't save you much. Second, they are useful for a handful of extremely useful (and free) open source utilities, are used by a couple of security programs to create bootable disks, and offer a cheap BIOS update method. Not something you'll use often, but something you'll be happy you have when you need it. 

RAID is more useful in multimedia applications than it is for gaming. If you need to read/write massive amounts of information to your HDD's, you *want* RAID. The performance gains for gaming are minimal at best. You can try placing your OS and swap files on a separate drive if you want to pick up some performance. I use an 80GB HDD and a 160GB HDD. So far, the main drive is about 20% full. Tongue

Crysis plays well on Crytek's min spec system. Anything you have DSO build will play Crysis. I was able to get over 30 FPS in their demo (which didn't sell me on the game) Forget about max settings, that's not going to happen no matter how much you spend.

Is overclocking a good idea with this system?
 
Overclocking is a good idea in general, at least IMO. It's like getting something for nothing. I would stick to an overclocked CPU and RAM. In my experience, unless you plan on adding aftermarket cooling to a GPU, you really can't expect much of a performance gain over the stock speeds before things start to get unstable. The fans on the 8800GT are not the best to begin with, placing more stress on those cards is something I wouldn't do.
 
Do I need more power? 
 
No. You will if you go to an SLI setup, but even then, only to keep the load under 60% so the PSU stays happy (read *efficient*).
 
Would I do better getting the stock Twister Pro they have for $1985 with the Quad 6600 processor and the 8800GTs in SLI?
 
In my opinion, no. I don't think SLI is a very good return on your investment $$$. Plenty of people disagree and vote with their wallets in favor of multi GPU setups. To me, spending twice the $$$ for a 0 to 20% increase in performance isn't worthwhile.
 
As far as the pro case goes, they work well enough, and no, the picture does the case no justice whatsoever. I can tell you for me, the choice between the Pro and Lite came down to build quality and appearance. Differences in personal tastes are exactly why they offer both a traditional style and something with a bit more radical design. Smile 
 
Either case will work for the components you've listed. I don't think you'll find that either case will do particularly well with 2 8800GT's and an overclocked quad inside. For those sorts of configurations, I recommend looking to an Extreme or Ultra. At the least, upgrade the stock fans on the less expensive cases.


Edited by Tyler Lowe - 19 Jan 2008 at 4:29am
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  Quote Van Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Jan 2008 at 2:46pm

Thanks so much for all the input. I probably would go for a floppy just in case--they're only 10 bucks.

One more thought: using !ender's build, I could spend $94 more and go to the Quad Q6600. I might be willing to spend that for the performance boost but not if that means I have to spend more for power, motherboard, and/or case. Would it be fine with that build, and is it worth another c-note?
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Posts: 4219 		  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Jan 2008 at 3:40pm
if you could post the new build with any revisions youve made ( in a link )
 
honestly for gaming, going up to the 6850 for a slight amount more would be the biggest increase in power, the quad core is strong, but its designed for heavy multitasking or multithread apps (which there are not to many of) Also, overclocking the quad in the LITE case isnt the best idea
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