my configurationPost Date: 2008-04-10 |
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workingman 
Senior Member 
Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 411 |
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 Topic: my configurationPosted: 10 Apr 2008 at 3:15pm |
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I want to purchase this in a few months..just wondered what you all though...and if i should change anything...thanks in advance...
Specifications: Case: Digital Storm 950Si (Exotic EXTERIOR StormBlue Finish) Power Supply: 1000W PC Power & Cooling (Dual SLI Compatible) (Turbo-Cool Edition) Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad QX9770 Extreme 3.20GHz (1600MHz FSB) (12MB Cache) Motherboard: nVidia 790i Ultra Core 2 Quad (nForce 790i Ultra SLI) (DDR3 Only) Memory: 4GB DDR3 Corsair at 1800MHz Dominator DHX (Extreme-Performance) Floppy / Card: Digital Media Card Reader (Black) Hard Drive 1: 320GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA) Hard Drive 2: 320GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA) Raid Option: Setup hard drive 1 and hard drive 2 in a Raid 0 Stripe Configuration (Expert) Hard Drive 3: - No Thanks Optical Drive 1: BLU-RAY/DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (Blu-Ray 4x / DVD Writer 18x / CD-Writer 48x) 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) Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (nVidia GeForce 8800GTX 768MB (eVGA ACS3) (Overclocked Edition) TV Tuner: - No Thanks Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer (Recommended) Physics Card: - No Thanks Cooling: Liquid Chilled FrostBite CPU & Dual Video Cards (Artic Blue Liquid) Case Lighting: Blizzard Internal Lighting (Blue Edition) (Cold Cathode Tubes) Round Cables: Enhanced Interior Air Flow (Optical Drive & Floppy Cables (Blue Cables) User Manual: Personalized Platinum Digital Storm Binder (Includes Paperwork/Benchmarks/CDs/Manuals) Overclock Processor: Yes, Overclock the processor as much as possible with complete stability Overclock Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) Overclock Memory: Yes, Overclock memory timings (Includes Corsair Dominator Airflow Fan Upgrade) Tweak Windows: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system Windows OS: Dual Boot (Windows XP Home & Windows Vista Home Premium) Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based) Protection: - No Thanks Office: - No Thanks Benchmarking: 3D Mark 2006 Advanced Edition (By: Futuremark) (Pre-Install and apply updates) Pre-Install Game: - No Thanks LCD Display: Acer 22 inch (Widescreen) (Black) (High-Performance Gaming Display) Surge Shield: - No Thanks Speakers: - No Thanks Keyboard: - No Thanks 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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SunfighterLC
DS Veteran 
Joined: 18 Feb 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1527 |
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Posted: 10 Apr 2008 at 3:41pm |
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Expensive machine you have going there. couple notes: Your case is a good selection.Power supply really nice as well.
Processor is expensive as hell..but hey pretty nice too.
good Mobo
Memory: Keep in mind that it looks like you havent selected the 64 bit versions of xp or vista in your duel boot so you wont be seeing all of your memory, your OSs will actually only see anywhere from 2.8 to 3.5GB of it, it depends on how much crap you have eating up memory addresses. 64 bit versions allow you to use more ram and have other benifits as well, one side effect is driver support for various older hardware isnt that great, if you have say an older printer chances are decent it might not be supported for example.
Also keep in mind this from tomshardware showing various memory speeds. http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/04/09/toms_ultimate_ram_speed_tests/ in their tests they found that memory speeds had a very very slim impact on performance.
Hard drives look good, Keep in mind though that Raid basically doubles your chances of having a hard drive failure as both those harddrives are seen as 1 drive. Still the chances are fairly low that youll most likely be alright.
CD drives are perfect, i dunno why people like to spend a fortune on blu ray drives..but hey thats me..lol.
Graphic cards: oh boy here we go again on the 88GTX vs 98GTX debate, by looking at your monitor you want to get, id almost say you dont really need 2 graphic cards anyways, cause I believe the native resolution for a 22incher is 1600x uh..1200? which is about baseline when it comes to resolutions for when sli is really starting to have a major effect that you can notice vs 1 card. The 98GTX cards ARE faster overall in the majority of games you will play, as an added bonus they are much cheaper then the 88gtx's. The 88GTXs have the pro of having a higher memory bus, and higher overall memory as well, this would help out in very high resolutions with AA on. But honestly the 98GTX wont be running out of memory very often, so overall its faster in most games, with that one minor flaw in that it might run out of memory in rare cases at which point the performance will be slower then that of a 88GTX. Its still a toss up somewhat, but id recommend going with 98GTX cards instead. Or even a single GX2 card. I believe your power supply could handle a second GX2 if you wanted one. Then again, as i said before your 22inch monitor is about baseline when it comes to the usefullness of SLI.
Sound card is good.
Nice Cooling system you have selected.
Rest looks fine, cept you might wanna check out some other monitors, or even go to a best buy and look at the various picture quality each one gives. If your hell bent on SLI and stuff, you might wanna invest in a 24inch or higher monitor.
I have a 27.5in Hanns G. Not sure i should recommend it or not, its HUGE...but a side effect of that is as with a lot of LCD screens, you gotta be like..right on it or else the edges begin to darken out and fade. And its dark contrast isnt great. For example, if you ever played Diablo 2, youd know the mobs life bar is up at the top and its a dull sort of red color, and usually most of Diablo 2 is pretty dark and black, well i cant see their life bars as all, because the red color has basically faded all the way into the black. Again thats mostly due to the size of the screen though, if i sit up straight or stand up, i can see the red finally come out, but from where i sit, its totally faded out. But its an amazing steal price wise. I got this one from best buy for 439.99.
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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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workingman
Senior Member
Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 411 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 10 Apr 2008 at 3:49pm |
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wow sunfighter....thanks for the quick response..was thinking of the 24 lcd but dont think it will fit on the desk..and the printer is exactly why i didnt go for the 64 bit vista system....your suggestions on the video cards..are great too...your input is greatly appreciated..thanks..workingman
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Tyler Lowe
Newbie 
Joined: 14 May 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 0 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 11 Apr 2008 at 12:43am |
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Heya workingman.
Sunfighter did a great job, but I wanted to toss in a couple of points. Memory may have a small impact on performance at stock speeds, but it can have a *major* impact on overclocking potential. I would be looking at the 1600MHz DDR3. Talk it over with the DSO staff when you call and ask what sort of overclocking they are seeing on QX9770 with the 1800 vs the 1600 RAM, and see whether or not the difference is worth it to you. You may wish to consider a Fatality edition sound card if you would like to be able to use front audio connections. The regular X-Fi is rear output only, which can be a hassle if you like to use analog headphones. The 9800GTX is probably the best choice for a 22inch display. Personally, I would go ahead and get two, since you're running liquid cooling, and upgrading later will be a bigger hassle than if you were on air cooling. I am going to *strongly* suggest a dual loop cooling system. An overclocked quadcore and two high end GPU's is a tremendous amount of heat for a single loop cooling system to deal with. I would actually opt for stage 3 air cooling and make a special request a beefier CPU Heatsink/Fan before putting all of that on a single loop. What ends up happening, is the radiator can't dissipate all of the heat, so warm liquid gets shuttled back and forth between cooling blocks, which is sub par. When it comes to the OS, I would probably just replace the printer if Vista 64 isn't compatible, but if it's a high end printer I can understand where that might be a less practical option. |
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workingman
Senior Member
Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 411 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 11 Apr 2008 at 7:20am |
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thanks again for the great input..you guys are the best....i checked out the drivers available for my printer..and vista 64 would work with it..so that is going to probably be a def. change..and the cooling and memory info again I will probably consider doing...it will be a few months before i buy..but i think i have done all my homework and DS will be the company that gets my business..so long Dell...........Sincerely, Workingman
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MarkNY
Groupie 
Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 476 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 11 Apr 2008 at 9:50am |
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I would also highly recommend dual loop. I currently have single loop on my setup and it is probably worse (temperature wise) than stage three cooling. My processor temps run around 50/60c idle and around 70-75c under full load. The graphics cards run in the high 80s under load.
Both radiators get so hot that they almost burn to touch.... I was actually going to upgrade to two 9800 gx2s and only cool the processor with liquid cooling. Unfort- it turns out i owe a ton of taxes this year!! :( oh well.
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workingman
Senior Member
Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 411 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 11 Apr 2008 at 1:39pm |
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thanks..already changed it to dual loop.cooling...and i guessi will talk to ds about an extra fan maybe...read a lot on the forums..heat seems to be a problem for some...so maybe an extra fan..if they can fit it in..will help..thanks for your input...just waiting to pay of the car so i can order my machine
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SunfighterLC
DS Veteran
Joined: 18 Feb 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1527 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 11 Apr 2008 at 2:50pm |
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Wouldnt you have to be like...super overclocking to the extreme to have the 1600Ghz even be of us? im not really strong in this subject, but i figured 1066 is good enough for OCing on air, and maybe even 1600 for water, but thats like..if your pushing the limits on both. |
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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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Tyler Lowe
Newbie
Joined: 14 May 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 0 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 11 Apr 2008 at 11:24pm |
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Not necessarily Sunfighter.
Don't forget that the timings on faster RAM can often be made much better than lower binned variations. Additionally, since RAM can be set to a ratio as high as 1:1, this means 1600MHz RAM will give the overclocker the greatest possible freedom to find the best settings for stable operation up to 3.6GHz, and quite probably up to 4.0GHz with a mild RAM OC. Personally, I still think DDR2 has some legs, and I am quite satisfied with my PC6400. (This next bit is a little off topic workingman, I ask your pardon) I do however recognize that the additional bandwidth may prove useful in future applications. Software obviously has not caught up hardware at this point, but I certainly don't want to discourage someone from exploring the newest technology simply because it isn't being used to it's fullest potential *at the moment*, at least not if doing so isn't going to hurt the rest of their build due to budget constraint. While *I* might not want some of the options I try and optimize for a configuration, I try to keep in mind that everyone has different wants from their systems when I offer what advice I can. Rather than assume there is one best set of components, I try and optimize, at least to my limited abilities the build someone presents. In this case, I have read reviews of DDR3 1333 where it actually lost in a head to head versus high end DDR2. I figure if you're going to go for the latest tech, you might as well pay a little extra to see at least the potential (software permitting) for a performance boost. 1600MHz DDR3 offers that without going to quite the expense level of the 1800MHz RAM. I also feel that the 1600MHz RAM will offer a very strong overclock capability for the the high end CPU selected in this build. You may not end up pushing it, but it does in probability eliminate RAM as a possible limitation. Again, this is off topic for this thread, but that is my reasoning in the suggestions I have made here, and I hope the explanation of my train of thought is helpful, and will offer a reasonable starting point for disagreement if anyone else would like to offer up a differing opinion. |
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workingman
Senior Member
Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 411 |
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Posted: 12 Apr 2008 at 12:24pm |
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np its all good
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