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Post Date: 2008-08-23
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mod4500 View Drop Down
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Posts: 7 		  Quote mod4500 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: New to this
    Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 4:15am
Ive never configured a pc before can anyone please give me some pointers on my setup.  What could I do to trim the fat a little. Thanks



Chassis: Digital Storm 850Si
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Interior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Power Supply: 860W PC Power & Cooling (ESA Edition) (Dual SLI Compatible)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz (1333MHz FSB) (12MB Cache)
Motherboard: NVIDIA 750i SLI Core 2 Quad (Chipset: nForce 750i SLI)
System Memory: 4GB DDR2 OCZ at 1066MHz (SLI-Ready Edition)
Card Reader: - No Thanks
Hard Drive 1: 1TB Western Digital (7200 RPM) (16MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed)
Hard Drive 2: - No Thanks
Raid Option: - No Thanks
Hard Drive 3: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: Blu-Ray Writer/Reader (Burn Blu-Ray discs and play them)
Optical Drive 2: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x) (LightScribe Edition)
Wireless Access: Bigfoot Killer Network Card (Features MaxFPS and UltimatePing Technology)
Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX 512MB)
TV Tuner: Pinnacle PCTV HD Card (HDTV, Video Recording, Video Capture, FM Audio)
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi FPS Fatal1ty Champion (Includes Front I/O Unit)
Extreme Cooling: Liquid Chilled FrostBite CPU & Dual Video Cards
Internal Lighting: Blizzard Internal Lighting (Red Edition) (Cold Cathode Tubes)
Modifications: LCD Temperature Display & Fan Controller
Boost Processor: Yes, Overclock the processor as much as possible with complete stability
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost 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 Ultimate (64-Bit Edition) (For Enthusiasts)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Protection: - No Thanks
Office: Nero Express CD Writing Suite
Benchmarking: 3D Mark Vantage Advanced Edition (By: Futuremark) (Pre-Install) (Vista Compatible Only)
Install/Test Game:
LCD Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard
Mouse: Razer Lachesis Gaming Mouse (High-Speed Gaming Grade)
External Storage: - No Thanks
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty
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DST4ME View Drop Down
DS ELITE
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Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 4:48am
What is this pc maily going to be used for? In otherwords are you a gamer or power user?

Edited by DST4ME - 23 Aug 2008 at 4:49am

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
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mod4500 View Drop Down
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Posts: 7 		  Quote mod4500 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 4:57am
ill be using it for gaming
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DST4ME View Drop Down
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Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 5:04am
1TB HDD for the main drive is not a good idea, its too big to manage, eg. defrag or backup or anything will take a while.

raise teh power to 1000w

instead get a raptor for the main drive, say a 160GB.

then get a 500GB second HDD.

If you don't really need the blueray drive then just keep the dvd drive.

drop bigfoot and go with a regular card.

drop the tv tunner if you don't realy need it.

drop the sound card if you don't realy need it, an intergrated one will do just fine.

love the fact that you got liquid cooling, but I think you should go with just the cpu.

OC the ram.

drop Nero, benchmarking, Keyboard and mouse.

raise the warranty to 4 years

here you go this would be it

Edited by DST4ME - 23 Aug 2008 at 5:11am

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
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rai-zero View Drop Down
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Posts: 98 		  Quote rai-zero Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 10:47am
you guys spend $1K on RAM that's the most expensive component?  Why not spend more money on a CPU than RAM?

Just curious.
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SunfighterLC View Drop Down
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Posts: 1527 		  Quote SunfighterLC Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 1:01pm
Slip the 1TB hard drive into 2 500GB ones if you really need the 1TB of space, if not just get a 500 or so single drive.
 
Bigfoot cards are more important if you play on a shared network, if you dont then really not worth it. Youd really have to strain to see a difference, and when you consider the price..is it really worth it? That money could be better spent into better video cards.
 
Go for the 200 nivida line or the 4000 line from ATI, the 98GTX can not really compete with either. Id recommend a 4870X2 at this point. Though if you want to stick with nvidia go with dual 260s, if you can afford it go with dual 280s, but the price point really kills on that one, youd get performance about as well as a 4870x2, but a few hundred bucks more. I dont think there is a water block out yet for the 4870x2 though, so you may have to drop the liquid cooling for it. 
 
The bigfoot network card money would easily pay for the video upgrades. And youd see MUCH better video performance due to greater bandwidth with both the 200 or 4000 line vs the 98GTX.
 
You can digital download Vantage yourself off of futuremarks website for 20 bucks. Im sure DS loves that i say this.
 
Sound card is nice, just make sure you have the speakers to make use of them. Also keep in mind X-FIs have been having trouble with vista, though i hear the latest drivers helped out a lot.
 
The difference between ultimate and home premium is not very much, just a lot of business apps that youll probably never use and a recovery maker which hopefully youll never have to use...so is it really worth it? I dont think it is.
 
The rest comes down to personal preference.
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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TomD View Drop Down
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Posts: 289 		  Quote TomD Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 3:01pm
rai-zero wrote:
 
you guys spend $1K on RAM that's the most expensive component?  Why not spend more money on a CPU than RAM?

Just curious.
 
The extra money for 1800 RAM vs 1600 RAM is not justified. Its over $600 more and the speed difference in applications would not be noticable. The money would be MUCH better spent on a faster CPU, better Videocards, or even a more comfortable chair Wink
 
 
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mod4500 View Drop Down
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Posts: 7 		  Quote mod4500 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 3:18pm
thanks for the tips guys. is the liquid cooling more for quiet operation or would the fans be sufficient. noise isnt a big concern of mine unless its like a leaf blower  
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TomD View Drop Down
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Posts: 289 		  Quote TomD Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 3:37pm
Liquid cooling will help you get better overclocking results, as well as quiet operation.
 
My recommendation would be to liquid cool the CPU only. Liquid cooling the videocards isn't as large a benefit and is expensive. The money would be better spent getting better Videocards to start with. If you already are getting 280GTXs or 4870x2 is the time to consider liquid cooling for added performance.
 
Stage 3 air cooling works well for overclocking and would be adequate if you are looking to save some money. Your overclock will most likely be about .2 to .4 lower with air cooling vs. liquid cooling (about 10% clockspeed difference). Of course there is never a guarantee on overclock results, alot is the luck of the draw on the chip you get.
 
Stage 3 is not a leaf-blower, but you don't want it running in your bedroom at night either. About the volume of a bathroom fan or small space heater is the best comparison I can think of.
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mod4500 View Drop Down
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Posts: 7 		  Quote mod4500 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 4:01pm
thanks tomd,sunfighter and dst4me. all helpful
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widdlecat View Drop Down
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Posts: 840 		  Quote widdlecat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 5:09pm
At this point, if you really are just playing games, and not doing other tasks, I think the others have brought the system under control. It started out as very unfocused and looking a bit like a Swiss Army Knife of computers. If you could tell us what games you play and if you have any other uses for the pc, that would fine tune things. 1st person shooters, simulators and RTS games all have different requirements. Additionally, if you're into photo post work or 3D rendering, even if it's a side hobby, some adjustments could be in order. Storage requirements also may be an issue if you like to copy all your photos onto your pc. Let us know! Smile
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mod4500 View Drop Down
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Posts: 7 		  Quote mod4500 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 6:04pm
1st person shooter mostly also  wow and soon warhammer. for photos and music im just keeping my mac for that.  i understand the cooling better now and the hd space thanks to the replies. i wanted to go with the 4870x2 now but a motherboard and processor combo kinda mixes me up. any suggestions for this combo with these 4870 would be helpful. thanks
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DST4ME View Drop Down
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Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 6:40pm
Originally posted by rai-zero

you guys spend $1K on RAM that's the most expensive component?  Why not spend more money on a CPU than RAM?
Just curious.


you have to have a good cpu but if you do then 2GB of ram can't do what 4GB of ram can do even in a 32bit OS ;)

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
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rai-zero View Drop Down
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Posts: 98 		  Quote rai-zero Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 23 Aug 2008 at 8:06pm
Originally posted by DST4ME

Originally posted by rai-zero

you guys spend $1K on RAM that's the most expensive component?  Why not spend more money on a CPU than RAM?
Just curious.


you have to have a good cpu but if you do then 2GB of ram can't do what 4GB of ram can do even in a 32bit OS ;)

no kidding, I was saying $1K for RAM. You can get 4G without spending $1K for it. That's all I am asking does spending 4x more for the same amount of ram get you more than putting that money into a CPU and getting less expensive RAM?

Edited by rai-zero - 23 Aug 2008 at 8:07pm
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DS ELITE
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Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Aug 2008 at 12:04am
Well if you want ot OC your ram it will help the speed some what, and good ram to OC costs a bit more.

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
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TomD View Drop Down
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Posts: 289 		  Quote TomD Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Aug 2008 at 1:13am
DST4ME wrote:
 
Well if you want ot OC your ram it will help the speed some what, and good ram to OC costs a bit more.
 
I won't dispute that more expensive RAM will clock higher. Nor that 4GB is much better than 2GB.
 
The issue is that faster RAM won't improve your performance to a noticable extent compared with the same amount of memory at a lower clock speed.
 
Here is an article with some benchmarks that explains it in more detail.
 
 
 
 
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DS ELITE
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Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Aug 2008 at 1:15am
@TomD, I agree it does not make that much of a difference, but I do believe you need to match your chip's FSB.

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
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mod4500 View Drop Down
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Posts: 7 		  Quote mod4500 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Aug 2008 at 1:48am
whats with all the talk about ram do i have the wrong kind picked out.
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TomD View Drop Down
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Posts: 289 		  Quote TomD Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Aug 2008 at 2:40am
DST wrote:
 
@TomD, I agree it does not make that much of a difference, but I do believe you need to match your chip's FSB.
 
That used to be the case, but is no longer true with any modern board. The RAM speed can be set independently of the CPU. You just set the RAM in "unlinked" mode rather than "sync" mode.
 
 
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TomD View Drop Down
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Posts: 289 		  Quote TomD Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Aug 2008 at 2:43am
mod4500,
 
I apologize we hijacked your thread (. Your RAM is fine.
 
In a prior suggested build there was some very expensive RAM suggested, and DST and I are just jousting over the merits of upgraded/overclocked RAM.
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DS ELITE
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Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Aug 2008 at 2:57am
@TomD, I think you are mistaken, I'm on your side. The reason for matching fsb was so that you get what your system can do

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
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mod4500 View Drop Down
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Posts: 7 		  Quote mod4500 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Aug 2008 at 3:21am

no problem Smile
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widdlecat View Drop Down
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Posts: 840 		  Quote widdlecat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Aug 2008 at 3:38am
LOL

Since you know you want the HD4870x2, the ASUS Rampage mobo would be a good choice, as it is CrossfireX ready so that you can upgrade your vid with a second card later. As far as sound, this mobo has the best of those offered by DSO. I think the others have covered which quad processor to get.
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DS ELITE
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Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Aug 2008 at 3:49am


Which ever you get overclock it with liquid cooling.

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
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