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Did I Go Overboard?

Post Date: 2008-07-30
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hack52 View Drop Down
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Posts: 20 		  Quote hack52 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: Did I Go Overboard?
    Posted: 30 Jul 2008 at 3:59pm
I've been delaying a new purchase for a long time because I didn't want Vista.  But now I'm sick of Bioshock stuttering even on low res on my 4-5 year old Falcon Northwest. 

I have a 24" monitor (may try a 40"), like FPS's, want to try Crysis, and have a great sound system.  Also use it for home business.

Here's what I'm looking at:

Chassis: Digital Storm 850Si
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Interior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Power Supply: 1200W PC Power & Cooling (Turbo-Cool Edition) (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad QX9650 Extreme 3.00GHz (1333MHz FSB) (12MB Cache)
Motherboard: nVidia 790i Ultra Core 2 Quad (nForce 790i Ultra SLI) (DDR3 Only)
System Memory: 4GB DDR3 Corsair at 1600MHz DHX (High-Performance)
Card Reader: - No Thanks
Hard Drive 1: 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor (10K RPM) (16MB Cache) (Extreme Speed)
Hard Drive 2: 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor (10K RPM) (16MB Cache) (Extreme Speed)
Raid Option: Setup hard drive 1 and hard drive 2 in a Raid 0 Stripe Configuration (Expert)
Hard Drive 3: 500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Optical Drive 1: DVD-ROM/CD-ROM (DVD Reader 16x / CD Reader 40x)
Optical Drive 2: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x)
Wireless Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 1GB)
TV Tuner: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Razer Barracuda AC-1 (Recommended)
Extreme Cooling: Air Cooled Stage 3 WindTunnel (Copper Heatpipe Heatsink & Additional Case Fans)
Internal Lighting: Blizzard Internal Lighting (Blue Edition) (Cold Cathode Tubes)
Modifications: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my processor
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost 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

Overkill?  Especially the 2 GTX 280's in SLI?

OS choice?

850Si vs 950Si case?

Any comments appreciated.  Thanks.



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Kliebor2 View Drop Down
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Posts: 659 		  Quote Kliebor2 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 30 Jul 2008 at 4:06pm
Looks like a kick ass system, some comments:

1. Raid 0 - Danger sign, Raid 0 offers little performance boost (most overclocker and hardware review sites agree the performance gain is negligible.) The doubling of failure chance is an issue. RAID 0 means if either drive hiccups, your raid becomes unstable and can lose data.

2. Twin GTX 280 - Alot of power, alot of heat, your cooling looks good have you looked at the ATI cards? they are looking alot more viable these days. the 4870 is hot right now.

3. Win Vista Home Premium is great, if you want 4 GB memory it will need to be the 64 bit edition.

Seems like alot sunk into drives, but it is definitely a hot rig.

Dave


Edited by Kliebor2 - 30 Jul 2008 at 4:06pm
Digital Storm 950Si - Q9450 Quad Core @ 3 Ghz
Dual PNY OC2 GTX 560Ti
8 Gigabytes DDR2/800
2 Western Digital 500 GB SATAII 7200 RPM HD
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SunfighterLC View Drop Down
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Posts: 1527 		  Quote SunfighterLC Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 30 Jul 2008 at 4:19pm
There is no such thing as overkill.
 
The 850i is better for air cooling then the 950i so stick with that. If you wanna really spend the dough go with the Cosmos S..I really like mine.
 
The 280s i have dont put off a lot of heat. I think people believe this because of the bad batch 280s that went out and would instantly go up to 105C before failing......the average 280 will idle in the upper 30s to mid 40s and top out in the upper 80s in SLI. I should know..i have them myself..these are non DS ones though..the FTW editions...prem-o quality lol.
 
If you looking to save a few bucks and get near as much performance then yes 4870s are good....but for the money you are putting down..it doesnt really look like youre the type that will pinch the pennys. DS might not like what i say here though, but they still charge the original full price for the 280s...if you have the knowledge id say buy them yourself seperate and install them on your own...youd save damn near 350 bucks. Some stock 280s are now as low as 399.99 after rebates.
 
You maybe able to get away with a 1000W PS in that get up...Corsair is a good selection *wink*
 
And yes, get 64 bit, especially because your GPUs would be 1GB+ as well as being able to utalize all the ram you have.
E8500@ 4.03Ghz
XFX 790i Ultra
1000W Corsair HX
2 280 GTX EVGA FTW
4GB OCZ Reaper 1800Mhz
250-80-300GB VR HD
Logitech Z-2300 2.1 Speakers
Asus Xonar 7.1
Hanns-G HG 281D 28" HDMI Monitor
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hack52 View Drop Down
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Posts: 20 		  Quote hack52 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 30 Jul 2008 at 4:22pm
That's a good point.  I was going to use drive 3 for data, but maybe just drop one of the Raptors.
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Kliebor2 View Drop Down
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Posts: 659 		  Quote Kliebor2 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 30 Jul 2008 at 4:32pm
Sunfighter, listen to yourself... top out in the 80 C ballpark... not terribly hot... wow...

I only commented that they throw alot of heat, which they do under load.

It is just something to be aware of.

I also noted that the cooling he selected looked good to control it.

YMMV

Dave.
Digital Storm 950Si - Q9450 Quad Core @ 3 Ghz
Dual PNY OC2 GTX 560Ti
8 Gigabytes DDR2/800
2 Western Digital 500 GB SATAII 7200 RPM HD
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hack52 View Drop Down
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Posts: 20 		  Quote hack52 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 30 Jul 2008 at 4:59pm
My old machine has raid 0 and I never had a problem.  From what I've  read here and in the mags, maybe with the newer drives they are less reliable?

I'm going to stick with nVidia (I'm a stockholderWink).

Sunfighter, have you have problems with the SLI setup?  I've read they can be problematic.
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DST4ME View Drop Down
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Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 30 Jul 2008 at 5:00pm
I think the ram is overkill for the processor you chose

System Memory: 4GB DDR3 Corsair at 1600MHz DHX (High-Performance)

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad QX9650 Extreme 3.00GHz (1333MHz FSB) (12MB Cache)

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
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