First real gaming system, thoughts?Post Date: 2008-04-01 |
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brutusford 
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Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3 |
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 Topic: First real gaming system, thoughts?Posted: 01 Apr 2008 at 10:34pm |
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Case: Digital Storm 950Si (Black Anodized Aluminum Finish)
Power Supply: 1000W SilverStone Strider (Dual SLI Compatible) (Model: ST1000) (Silent) 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) Memory: 4GB DDR3 Corsair at 1333MHz Floppy / Card: - No Thanks Hard Drive 1: 320GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA) Hard Drive 2: - No Thanks Raid Option: - No Thanks Hard Drive 3: - No Thanks Optical Drive 1: DVD-ROM/CD-ROM (DVD Reader 16x / CD Reader 40x) Optical Drive 2: DVD-ROM/CD-ROM (DVD Reader 16x / CD Reader 40x) Network Card: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections) Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 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 (Blue 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 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: Acer 22 inch (Widescreen) (Black) (High-Performance Gaming Display) Surge Shield: - No Thanks Speakers: - No Thanks Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Desktop 2.0 (Multimedia Keyboard + Optical Wheel Mouse) 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 So there you go! I'm trying to buy my first real, pure gaming system. I've gotten by with Dell and HP but now I have the money to actually buy something nice. I want a system that can pretty much run anything and last me quite a while. I'm debating on Vista 32 or 64 bit. Also on the video card. Not sure if I should go with the 8800 GTX 768mb, the new 9800 GX2, or maybe a SLI conifiguration. Also on RAM, I know I want at least 4 gb. Should I get the performance ram or not? Will I notice much of a difference? Any thoughts or overall tips? Thanks! |
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SunfighterLC
DS Veteran 
Joined: 18 Feb 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1527 |
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Posted: 01 Apr 2008 at 10:48pm |
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This should go in the configuration forum, but yea..
The 8800GTX is an intresting choice, While the new cards 8800GTS 512, 9800GTX and GX2 are all faster overall FPS wise, the 8800GTX does have them beat in memory. The newer cards all seem to be limited with this texture memory problem in certain games. But its only situational. Im not sure whether to recommend the newer cards or not though because of that problem. BUT keep in mind the newer cards are MUCH MUCH cheaper. I mean for the price of that GTX you can with a little bit more get a GX2, which is by far the fastest single card out there. But again, it has that texture memory problem.
Though if it was me, I probably would not get the 8800GTX, its times when its better then the newer cards is very situational and it doesnt happen very often. I personally would choose a single GX2 and upgrade later on when the price of a second one goes down, or just remove it all together and get 2 newer cards 3-4 years down the road. Your monitor choice is a 22inch which is good enough for baseline SLI should you choose to add a second 8800GTX or other type of card later on. 1600x1200 is about when SLI starts to show its real power. Im not a huge fan of the acer brands though, you might wanna do some more research first before you think about buying one.
Power supply is overkill right now unless you plan on triple SLIing 8800GTX/9800GTX cards or something. That same power supply ive been told will power 2 GX2s which is quad sli. Then again i dont really know the power requirements of a 790 and that ram. (thats some expensive as hell ram)
The rest looks really good, you got a great CPU, and an awesome as hell MOBO and RAM.
That video card is about the only thing i question, and judging by the overclocking options it looks like you plan to do all that stuff yourself which is fine, probably means you know what you are doing. The 790i and the ram are for power overclocking people, so if you arnt really into that stuff or you dont plan on doing it, the 780i and 1066 ram will be sufficent (and much cheaper) Edited by SunfighterLC - 01 Apr 2008 at 10:54pm |
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GentleKiller
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Joined: 18 Mar 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20 |
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Posted: 02 Apr 2008 at 4:46pm |
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you might also want stage 3 cooling since you have a quadcore and other powerful goodies, they will release a lot of heat
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