-Gaming build-

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the long post but I like to be verbose!

I was going to build an overclocked rig from Newegg when I found powerpc. While I was excited that I will be taking some load off my shoulders, it was hard to make the right choices as I have not built a machine in 5 years. Then during my 'liquid cooling' research I found DS. I am completely blown away by all the great information on this forum/site. It feels like I am cheating as all the work is going to be done for me :P

My future machine will be used to play games like StarCraft 2/GTA(any that show up)/StreetFighter4/Any games that are only for PC as I have the consoles. I also have lots of music/videos that I encode from different compression standards to others. For example, I'll get a wmv that I will convert to avi. I do use Photoshop once in a while to edit/manipulate pictures.

Before I paste my configured rig, I'd like to mention what I have and what I plan to do. My present machine is about 5-8 years old. I have played around with overclocking and have updated it frequently. However, in the last 2-3 years it has been hard to do so due to the limitations of the motherboard.

Here it is my sad excuse of a computer:
Antec Performance Plus PLUS1080AMG Case
430W TruePower Power Supply
ABIT IS7-G 478 Intel 865PE ATX Intel Motherboard
Pentium 4 2.4ghz
Zalman fan for the CPU
G.SKILL 4GB (4 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 500 (PC 4000)
EVGA GeForce 6600GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3
1 x Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s for OS
2 WD 7200 RPM 500GB configured as RAID 0 as Data
an older logitech cordless mouse/keyboard combo garbage
Hanns·G HG-281DPB Black 28" 3ms

It used to run at 3.0ghz solid till I added the 'new' video card.. maybe its my OC skills or maybe its the PSU. In any case the computer blue screens a lot and I cant OC it all anymore. In any case, I plan to salvage a DVD writer and the hard drives from this machine for the new one.

Here is the configured rig from DS:

Chassis - Cooler Master 942 HAF X
1. Should i save money here? I do not care for looks/lighting/etc. I just want the stuff to run cool and have as much expansion space as possible

Exterior Finish: !PROMOTION: FREE Exterior High-Gloss Paint Finish (TJ09 Chassis Only, Select Color After Purchase)
2. I have no idea what this means, but it was free.. :)

Processor: Intel Core i7 930 2.8GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA X58 LE Edition SLI (Intel X58 Chipset)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)

Power Supply: 1000W Digital Storm Certified (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Highly Recommended)
3. Do i need something more powerful? I will be adding hard drives/optical drive/possibly another video card for SLI or an upgraded video card...

Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 2x (40GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: X-25V Edition) (Extreme Performance)
4. I was going to select 80GB but then saw that for a few bucks more I could RAID them. Any performance benefits of that? I am not that familiar with SSD's..

Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D14 Extreme Performance (Does NOT fit on the regular EVGA X58 3X SLI)
5. I might play around with overclocking in far future. Is this worth the extra cash or should I just get the level 1 fan?

Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Cooling Upgrade Recommended)
Boost Video Card: FREE: Yes, Overclock the video card(s) as much as possible with complete stability
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
6. I would like the memory overclocked too. How can I ask for that? Also, if that means I have to jump up to Corsair, i'm fine with that. Worth it?

Windows OS: - No Thanks, Please test my memory, I will be responsible for software based support
7. I'll probably get a free copy from work. Is it worth getting OS from DS?

Mouse: Razer Deathadder Gaming Mouse (High-Speed Gaming Grade)
8. the logitech cordless mouse I have runs out of juice constantly. I'd like a better mouse. Any suggestions besides this?

Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Large)
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

9. I was thinking of taking my Raptor and using it for the page file. Bad idea? SSD's are supposed to be faster so I am not sure on this one.


now grill me!

Originally posted by beeloo Chassis - Cooler Master 942 HAF X 1. Should i save money here? I do not care for looks/lighting/etc. I just want the stuff to run cool and have as much expansion space as possible

May as well step down to the HAF 932 then. It's $42 cheaper and has marginally better air flow (bigger fans). It just doesn't fit the huge sized motherboards that the 942 does, but those are never recommended anyway.

Exterior Finish: !PROMOTION: FREE Exterior High-Gloss Paint Finish (TJ09 Chassis Only, Select Color After Purchase) 2. I have no idea what this means, but it was free.. :)

That's only for the TJ09 case, which you don't have selected.

Power Supply: 1000W Digital Storm Certified (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Highly Recommended) 3. Do i need something more powerful? I will be adding hard drives/optical drive/possibly another video card for SLI or an upgraded video card...

It's actually overkill for dual 460s (which is not recommended) or a 480, you can step down to a 750w.

Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 2x (40GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: X-25V Edition) (Extreme Performance) 4. I was going to select 80GB but then saw that for a few bucks more I could RAID them. Any performance benefits of that? I am not that familiar with SSD's..

In the case of 2x 40GB Intels vs 1x 80GB Intel the difference will mostly just be higher sequential read speeds on the 2x 40GB (340MB/s, vs 270MB/s on the 80GB). Small 4k file read/write speeds will benefit as well but only under heavy load or while multitasking, so the difference isn't as prominent or noticeable under normal use.

You also lose TRIM functionality for an array though, so you may just want to stick to the 80GB for simplicity.

Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D14 Extreme Performance (Does NOT fit on the regular EVGA X58 3X SLI) 5. I might play around with overclocking in far future. Is this worth the extra cash or should I just get the level 1 fan?

Depends on the budget, only if you don't really have anywhere else to put the $55 difference to good use. There is very little difference between the two Noctua coolers with their default fans, within 3°C degrees of each other, so the Stage 1 Noctua is the better value buy.

Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory 6. I would like the memory overclocked too. How can I ask for that? Also, if that means I have to jump up to Corsair, i'm fine with that. Worth it?

Not worth it at all, almost no gains to be had, barely even measurable in synthetic benchmarks and definitely not going to influence any real world (game FPS) things.

Windows OS: - No Thanks, Please test my memory, I will be responsible for software based support 7. I'll probably get a free copy from work. Is it worth getting OS from DS?

If you are absolutely sure you're getting a free copy of Windows 7 64-bit then no I suppose not, just use your copy.

Mouse: Razer Deathadder Gaming Mouse (High-Speed Gaming Grade) 8. the logitech cordless mouse I have runs out of juice constantly. I'd like a better mouse. Any suggestions besides this?

Don't use cordless mice? After enough time all their batteries will stop holding charges regardless of brand. I'm rather partial to corded Logitech mice personally.

9. I was thinking of taking my Raptor and using it for the page file. Bad idea? SSD's are supposed to be faster so I am not sure on this one.

Don't bother, Intel SSDs have literately 100 times faster small file performance than the fastest VelociRaptor HDDs available, which are in turn a good deal faster than that old Raptor model. Keep the page file on the SSD OS/app drive.

But here's an important question. What is your budget?

Originally posted by beeloo 1. Done. So all my drives (2 optical, 3 sata's) are going to fit?

Definitely, the 932 is huge too.

So, is there something you would upgrade besides the fan? Is there a better SSD to get? I read your thread about Crucial SSD and figured I'd stick with Intel. I am assuming that 460 will be able to handle my HansG monitor with max res on most things.. right? Let me know if you have any suggestions. I appreciate your help!

I'm guessing your 28" monitor is a 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 resolution? You want a 480, a single 460 is only about 60% of a 480 and can't manage many games at higher settings at that resolution.

As far as which to recommend, I'd stay away from the Superclocked or Superclocked+. Those are only offering you a backplate at a pretty ridiculous cost. There is some slight tweaking, but gains on overclocking a vid card are 5-10%, nothing worth the extra heat, especially on a 480.

Now between the normal and the EVGA ones, it's really up to you which you'd prefer to get. I've always bought EVGA nVidia products and I've never had one fail, so I never saw a reason to migrate away from the name. However, you'll still get the same amount of performance from another manufacturer, and the only real difference is customer service. EVGA has excellent customer service, but so does DS, so if anything happens you can always just contact DS.

Oh because my monitor just stretches the screen when its 1080.

Here is the new config:
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=433226

Anything else I skipped?

ew yea lol dont stretch anything, as he said thats terrible, i support the punishment dragoon chose for you here

Stage 5!

The wait is unbearable as you can imagine. Here are a few things I am planning on getting in preparation for the rig:

1. HDMI cable to connect the video card to my monitor
2. A secondary hard drive. Found out that my hard drives are a lot slower than the new ones out there. So I need some suggestions... I have looked at Samsung F3 1TB, WD Caviar black 1TB, Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.c, etc. I skipped Seagate as I have had bad luck in the past with them. As these are all under $100, im sure I'd be ok with any, but just wondering what you guys think. Also, might be getting two to put them in Raid 0. I backup all my data to an external drive so not worried about backup. Do you think for the 'slight' increase RAID 0 is worth it? Not worth it? Especially because it is software RAID.
3. Mouse. Stopped at Best Buy, Staples, Target, and Walmart. Apparently, no one likes to use corded mouse anymore. Everything on display was either wireless or a basic mouse. Best Buy had the best selection, but in boxes, so could not try any of the good ones. Might just need to depend on reviews and buy one.. :(
4. Chair. Mine sucks! :) Looking at getting the Sealy Geneva (selling for $180 at store) or the Greenley from Staples. I know that people have diff perceptions of being comfortable so I tried them and liked both. Just wondering if there are others I should go try.. any suggestions?
5. Desk. Looked at compressed wood, real wood, solid veneers, etc and it looks like the best price point is to buy a combination. Looked at a custom shop that will build the stuff from scratch but its just too much money for a desk ($2500+). So ordered the Bush Somerset Cherry Hill. It is very sturdy where needed and very cheap where it doesn't matter and for the price I can replace it in a few years with a solid one.
6. OS/Software is ready to go! I have all the console's so only interested in the games for PC's. On my radar: MW2 (FPS's are best on PC for me), SC2, C&C Tiberium (never got to play it as my PC pooped), Metro 2033 (maybe), STALKER (maybe), Borderlands (one of my favorite recent games on PS3, will play for the hell of it) ....  any others?
7. Said my goodbye's to my wife. Will probably see her in a few weeks after finishing StarCraft2. ;)

Interesting specs on the mouse. Is it relatively new? I did not find many reviews or comparisons on it. Wish it was more widely available so I could go take a look at it. But the specs are phenomenal!

I still have a "Ratz-pad" as a mouse pad, anything better recently?

Most of them games look decent, however some of them are on consoles so I might skip. There might be a free game with the rig so I'll have to spend some time playing that. Mass Effect looks very interesting.. didn't know anything about it till you mentioned it..

Has anyone done comparisons on games like Borderlands or Assassins Creed on a PC vs Xbox/PS3? In terms of graphics.. etc..

I personally like playing FPS's on a PC as I like using the mouse/KB vs a controller. Those damn things are so hard to aim for me! One of the comparison's I did was with GTA and it was soooooooooo much better on a PC (for me). Granted thats not a FPS but there are parts where it acts like one..

That is hilarious! because...... I am one of those %1 gamers too.... I have a gel pad that I rest my wrist on while using the mouse on the ratpadz... Sooooooooooo how comfy is the gel pad on exact mat? :)

In case anyone was following this thread.. here is an update..

1. HDMI cables are $2.26 at Amazon with free shipping. Got extras..
2. 3 Samsung F3 1TB drives to put in RAID 0. I liked numbers I saw at Overclockers.net. The WD Black are 'supposed' to not support RAID1+ so I figured not to take the risk even though I was going to only do RAID0. Besides, the F3's are less than $65..
3. It was a hard decision between Deathadder, Logitech G500, Logitech G9x, Logitech G518, and a couple others. I narrowed the list down to G500/G90x and Death adder based on price/brand/reviews. Finally it came down to Deathadder vs G500 and I picked the latter. It was hard to make a decision without touching either but my decision was based on the following..
- I have a Logitech that I like (at home and at work)
- Logitech software has been pretty good
- Price was similar as Amazon has a $25 rebate for G500
- Programmable buttons
4. For the chair I went with a Boss Black LeatherPlus Executive Chair based JUST on reviews.. :) The reason being that I tried tons of chairs and there was always something wrong with at least one of the following: Height, wheels, padding material, tilt/recline, base material, etc. If it sucks, I can replace it easily for how much it costs..
5. Ordered the Logitech Illuminated Ultrathin Keyboard with Backlighting . I have a similar 'laptop type' keyboard at work and I like it. Honestly, I was surprised by the lack of decent keyboards available.. At least in the <$100 range..

Hope I got everything! Still stage 5..