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Mid-range gaming system config

Post Date: 2007-10-13
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oldboy View Drop Down
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  Quote oldboy Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: Mid-range gaming system config
    Posted: 13 Oct 2007 at 3:31pm
I'm looking to get a mid-range gaming system in the ~$2500 range,  The system below specs out at ~$2700 and I hope is close.   I'd appreciate  comments  or suggestions on components that are over- or under-spec'd or places I could trim the cost a little.
 
Some specific questions:
- case, cooling and power supply adequate?  How about air-flow enhanced cabling?
- Corsair 1066 MHz DDR2 vs 667 Mhz ?
- WD/Seagate hard drives with RAID compared to Raptor? Any real-life experience?
-  Video card- 2X SLI 8600 GTX vs 1x GTS 8800 640 MB or other card?
- Should I care about Vista 64-bit?

Also, I'm coming off an unhappy experience with another boutique vendor (cough, CyberPower)... any comments on dealing with Digital Storm? (yeah, I know it's their forum, but it doesn't hurt to check)

Thanks for any helpful comments... the other posts here have been pretty useful.



Case: Digital Storm Twister PRO (Black Anodized Aluminum Finish)
Power Supply: 620W Corsair HX (SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition) (High-Quality Unit)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz (1066MHz FSB) (8MB Cache)
Motherboard: nVidia 680i LT Core 2 Quad (By: eVGA) (nForce 680i SLI)
Memory: 2GB DDR2 Corsair at 1066MHz Dominator (Dual Channel) (Extreme-Performance)
Floppy / Media: Sony 1.44MB Floppy (Black Edition)
Hard Drive 1: 250GB (Western Digital / Seagate) (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Hard Drive 2: 250GB (Western Digital / Seagate) (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Raid Option: Setup my two hard drives in a Raid 0 Stripe (Read and Write Performance Boost)
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)
Network Card: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Modem: - No Thanks
Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (nVidia GeForce 8600GTS 512MB (By: eVGA / Asus) (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 (Blue Edition) (Cold Cathode Tubes)
Round Cables: - No Thanks
User Manual: Personalized Platinum Digital Storm Binder (Includes Paperwork/Benchmarks/CDs/Manuals)
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Protection: - No Thanks
Office: Microsoft Office 2007 Basic (Word Excel Outlook)
LCD Display: Samsung 20 inch (Widescreen) (Black) (High-Performance Gaming Display)
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: Logitech 2.1 System (Black Edition) (Model R20) (Includes Subwoofer)
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
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The Letter T View Drop Down
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  Quote The Letter T Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Oct 2007 at 4:24pm
don't bother SLIing anything less than Some sort of 8800
ditch the lighting,

consider downloading openoffice
put the money you would have put toward that to upgrade your soundcard.  

Your power supply is most likely fine, along with cooling/case.

I'd suggest also if your cost cutting getting 800Mhz ram, and I just don't trust vista.

I ordered from Digital Storm on the 25th of September, still in stage one due to supply mishap, but as far as I know it cleared up, they are definitely good with the customer.

Try This:
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=87213
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skyR View Drop Down
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Joined: 08 Oct 2007
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Posts: 2220 		  Quote skyR Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Oct 2007 at 5:06pm
Don't bother with SLI on mainstream cards, it is a total waste of money. A single 8800 640MB GTS destroys SLI 8600 GTS in performance.

Don't bother with 1066MHz ram unless you are going to spend $1300 in Q1 for Intel's new extreme CPU. 800MHz should get you by fine for mid-range gaming and overclocking.

620W will get you through fine.

If all your software and hardware have 64 bit drivers than there is no reason not to get 64 bit.
The only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star.
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commast View Drop Down
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Posts: 262 		  Quote commast Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 14 Oct 2007 at 12:06am
Power supply is fine but ditch the SLI 8600GTs and get a single 8800GTS 640 MB, newer games required 512MB of Video RAM for ultra high texture. The 8600GTS can't even beat a Dx9 card.

Raid 0 array is much faster than a single Raptor.

Go with the 1066Mhz. It won't make game run faster but it will make your system faster. Both 800 and 1066 RAM run on the same 266 Mhz bus but there's a difference. The 800mhz ram can only fetch 3 chunks of data every cycle ( 3 x 266 = 798) and the 1066mhz can fetch 4 chunks of data every cycle ( 4 x 266 = 1064). 1066mhz ram is faster, doesn't matter how you  look at it Tongue If you only want a gaming system then go with the cheaper 800mhz RAM, but if you want a gaming/multimedia/all-around system, the 1066mhz is your best bet.

Go with Vista 64 bit if you have 4GB of RAM, otherwise stick with Vista 32bit. Bench marks for the RAM and Raid 0 below.







Edited by commast - 14 Oct 2007 at 12:11am
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Tyler Lowe View Drop Down
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Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 14 May 2008
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Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 14 Oct 2007 at 12:45am

Suggested configuration @ ~ $2668

You may be able to trim $190 by using open office  instead of the microsoft offering. It was tempting to try and stuff a GTX onto the build and bump up the PSU to a 750W TT. I trimmed down the HDD space a little. 320GB is alot of storage for the average user. Unless you plan on storing alot of media files, it should do nicely. I upgraded the motherboard and pulled back the RAM to get you a better shot at a higher OC figure while trying to stay within or around your overall budget.I included an XtremeGamer soundcard in place of the Audigy. If you feel the Audigy is sufficient, ther's a place to trim ~$50. You could consider going with the onboard sound and using something like this as well.
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oldboy View Drop Down
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  Quote oldboy Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 15 Oct 2007 at 11:04pm
Thanks for all the comments.  I have a new config at about the same price I started, but a better system I think (ticket #87716).  The OpenOffice was a nice idea, but I couldn't sell it to the losers that think they're going to do  homework on this machine.  I'm still over-budget by about the cost of the MS Office, but I decided that since I don't really want it, it doesn't count.  I'll probably run this past the tech support hotline and maybe get serious about ordering...

Happy trails...
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