FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Register Register  Login Login

Help with Build.

Post Date: 2008-09-10
 Post Reply Post Reply
Author
  Topic Search Topic Search  Topic Options Topic Options
Nicota View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie


Joined: 10 Sep 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1 		  Quote Nicota Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: Help with Build.
    Posted: 10 Sep 2008 at 10:28pm
What is your budget: Not looking to go over 3500

What are you using the computer for: mostly gaming, few papers here and there for school, nothing more really.

What games/types do you like the most: Mostly playing cod4, cs:s, wow.

What size monitor are you using: 22"

I really want a solid system that is going to last me for a while. Not looking to get vista i have it on my current computer and all it has caused me is trouble, if somebody can give me a reason that vista is better then xp i would be glad to listen.

I am wondering if the 1000w power supply is worth it,

Am i going to want to go with more ram?

Is overclocking really worth the strain its going to put on the hardware?

and is stage 3 going to be good enough or do i need to step up to liquid cooled?

Thanks for the help in advance :)

current build: http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=182205
Back to Top
DST4ME View Drop Down
DS ELITE
DS ELITE

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 10 Sep 2008 at 10:42pm
ok few things:

you have to go vista 64bit to enjoy all of your ram and the ram from your card, and xp does not support diretcx10.

not sure what problems you are having with vista, but I got none to be honest, perhaps its your settings in vista that are creating conflicts.

with the things you have picked you better go with 1000w

yes you are going to need more ram.

yes over clocking(OC) done right is perfectly fine and gets you much faster speeds.

stage 3 is good but it can't do what liquid can.

so here are 2 choices I have for you, one is ddr2, one is ddr3, everything else is the same, both have liquid cooling, 500GB HDD, ONE dvd drive, ram OC and fan, cpu OC, 4GB of ram, vista 64bit

if you don't need the sound card then don't get it.

also recommend you raise your warranty to 4 years.

also its better to get a raptor and make the 500GB the second HDD.

if you choose the ddr3 ask ds to give you that speed ram but an ocz ram, corsair has been failing alot.
OK

here you go DDR2 $3213

here you go DDR3$3405

Edited by DST4ME - 10 Sep 2008 at 10:44pm

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
Back to Top
skyR View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie

Digital Storm Apprentice


Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2220 		  Quote skyR Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 10 Sep 2008 at 10:47pm
did you even look at his build dst? he only has a single gtx 280 and 2gb of ram.. which is fine for 32-bit.

current processors come no where near needing the bandwidth provided by ddr3 so it is a waste of money...


The only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star.
Back to Top
Clinton View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 08 Sep 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 298 		  Quote Clinton Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 10 Sep 2008 at 11:07pm
I agree with SkyR about using DD3, I think DD2 will just be fine. Also, overclocking your processor won't hurt it any. That's basically what they were designed for.

Liquid cooling is good if your room temperature is warm. Air cooling can only cool to the room temperature, but liquid cooling can do better.
Back to Top
DST4ME View Drop Down
DS ELITE
DS ELITE

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 10 Sep 2008 at 11:17pm
I don't think 2 or 4 GB of ram has anything to do with the OS, even with xp I recommend 4 cause the system will still use it.

also I gave him the option of ddr3 or ddr2, my job is to recommend, at the end he will decide.

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
Back to Top
Tyler Lowe View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 14 May 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 11 Sep 2008 at 12:17am
Originally posted by Nicota

What is your budget: Not looking to go over 3500

What are you using the computer for: mostly gaming, few papers here and there for school, nothing more really.

What games/types do you like the most: Mostly playing cod4, cs:s, wow.

What size monitor are you using: 22"

I really want a solid system that is going to last me for a while. Not looking to get vista i have it on my current computer and all it has caused me is trouble, if somebody can give me a reason that vista is better then xp i would be glad to listen.
 
I have really come to like Vista 64 bit. I stubbornly stuck with XP and dual booted for some time with Vista 32 bit, but in the end found that Vista really wasn't so bad, and I actually prefered the interface and desktop. Is it much better? I guess that depends on how you define better. it is more secure, that's for sure, but also more resource hungry. I really don't know what sorts of problems you've had with your current system and Vista, but if the processor isn't up to running the OS on your current machine, I will promise it's a whole different ballgame with something with real muscle driving it along. The main thing to understand, is Vista is by far a better choice if you want to go 64bit, and a 64bit OS is the only way you will make effective use of 4GB of RAM, especially with a 1GB graphics card installed. If you ever want to SLI, you'll really want to go 64bit, since you'd be under 2GB of addressable system RAM otherwise.
Originally posted by Nicota


I am wondering if the 1000w power supply is worth it,
 
Only if you want to be able to SLI that GTX280 or another top end card in the future. Otherwise, it's overkill in a massive way. What you want to do is to select a power supply that will be operating somewhere near 45 to 65% of it's rated output when at load. By doing this, you accomplish two things- first, your power supply will operate cooler, quieter, and more efficiently, so it's good for your PSU. Second, PSU's degrade over time. As the capacitors age, the output they are capable of declines. By selecting a power supply that is rated at a minimum of 150% of what you expect your max draw to be, you extend the useful life of that PSU in your system. For example, a system with a single GTX280 might draw 450W at the wall. Your PSU is an 80% efficent model, so it's outputting 360W to power that system. the minimum rated power supply I would reccomend in this case would be 550W. The maximum I might suggest would be 800W. More than this, and the power supply would be operating at less than it's best efficiency. Considering your build, I would select either a 650W or a 750W to power that if SLI was not something I planned on doing later, and go with the 1000W unit if it was.
Originally posted by Nicota


Am i going to want to go with more ram?

If you want the best gaming experience in the future, yes, you will want more RAM. For the games you listed, it won't matter. If you do go with more RAM, you will 100% want to get a Vista 64 bit OS. XP 64 is not a very good OS to say the least, and you need 64bit support of some kind to make use of more than a bit over 2GB due to the limitations imposed by a 32 bit address system. Therfore, Vista 64 bit editions are your best bet.

Originally posted by Nicota


Is overclocking really worth the strain its going to put on the hardware?
 
This is a common misconception that overclocking has to neccesarily place excessive stress on a system. It doesn't. Keep in mind that the environmental conditions that Intel has to reccomend settings for vary wildly, and they have to assume that you will be using a stock cooler. So when they set voltage and speed  reccomendations, they have to include those living at the equator, operating the CPU inside a cramped OEM case with one 80mm fan for air circulation. This isn't how your CPU will be treated, so you have *alot* of room to push those settings up without much, if any risk to your system. Whatever risk there might be, your suytem will be garanteed by DSO so yes, it is 100% worth having the CPU overclocked. Graphics cards on the other hand, I would not pay to have overclocked. There is plenty of free software that you can use to do that.
 
Originally posted by Nicota


and is stage 3 going to be good enough or do i need to step up to liquid cooled?
 
Liquid cooling the CPU is a great way to get the best overclock possible. IMO, the only reason to go with the DDR3 youe selected and that 790i board is to get the best possible overclock from that CPU. Personally, I would put a Q9550 in that build and liquid cool the CPU only if I were going to stick with the 790i.
 
Originally posted by Nicota


Thanks for the help in advance :)
 
You are most welcome, I hope at least some of that was helpful to you, and welcome to the community.Smile


Edited by Tyler Lowe - 11 Sep 2008 at 12:18am
Back to Top
widdlecat View Drop Down
DS Veteran
DS Veteran


Joined: 11 Mar 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 840 		  Quote widdlecat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 11 Sep 2008 at 4:40am
SkyR and Tyler covered everything I think. Tyler, you should try pink instead of that green BTW. Pink is much sexier! WinkEmbarrassed
Back to Top
rai-zero View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie

Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 13 Aug 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 98 		  Quote rai-zero Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 11 Sep 2008 at 10:54am
If you see my thread on picking a case (etc.) this is what I ended with..

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=182275


I went with the Nvidia 260 GTX which saves $287. It is deplorable how DS wants to charge us $614 for the 280 which is nowhere selling for that. I looked at the reviews and the 260 is getting ~80% of the performance (or better) of the 280 and the price here at DS is almost half the price of the 280.

You can take that $287 from the video card and like Tyler said take some money from the power supply and you get the 300GB Velociraptor HD. I read a lot of reviews and they say you can really tell the difference with having a fast HD for games. Also, I took the money from liquid cool and got a faster rated CPU. Maybe it's foolish, but I don't want to bother with checking water level for liquid cool.

I would not be without 2 HD, I use a lot of room for videos.

I did go with the 1000W myself but not sure I need it at all. And I did go with 4 years as well little piece of mind with the OC CPU.

Edited by rai-zero - 11 Sep 2008 at 11:02am
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down



This page was generated in 0.0546875 seconds.