Setup feedback?Post Date: 2010-03-18 |
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cswiacki 
Newbie 
Joined: 16 Mar 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 40 |
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 Topic: Setup feedback?Posted: 18 Mar 2010 at 12:51am |
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Hey everybody, I'm hoping to be a first time customer to DS. I used to get my computers from a local PC store, but it shut down.I heard from a lot of people that DS has some of the best quality out there with reasonable cost. The cost seems pretty fair, so no complaints there.
Anyways, I'm hoping to buy a new computer in a week or so (if the money I saved doesn't get spent on something else). I'd appreciate some feedback, maybe suggestions to improve the setup. My budget is $4600 before the promotion, not including tax. My priorities are: 1) Stability 2) Future proof (upgrades) 3) Performance (gaming) 4) Silence I don't really want to go liquid cooling, even though I realize it cools better. I'm not too keen on overclocking either. Here it is: --------- Chassis Model: Lian Li PC-P80B (Black OPS Edition) Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: Intel Core i7 930 2.8GHz (Quad Core) Motherboard: EVGA X58 Classified 3X SLI (Intel X58 Chipset) (Supports Triple SLI or CrossFire) System Memory: 6GB DDR3 2000MHz GTX-8 Digital Storm Certified Extreme Performance (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested Power Supply: 1200W Digital Storm Certified (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Highly Recommended) Expansion Bay: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor (10K RPM) (16MB Cache) (Extreme Speed) Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Seagate/Hitachi/Western Digital (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed) Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: 1x (1TB Seagate/Hitachi/Western Digital (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed) Optical Drive 1: Blu-Ray Player/DVD Player (Play Blu-Ray and Play DVDs) Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections) Video Card: 2x CrossFire Dual (ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB) Add-on Card: - No Thanks 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) H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected Chassis Airflow: Upgrade Chassis With Zalman Performance Fans (Up to 6 Fans) Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue) Enhancements: - No Thanks Chassis Mods: - No Thanks Noise Reduction: Noise Suppression Package (Optimized Airflow & Fan Speeds with Noise Dampening Material) Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Requires Air Cooling Upgrade) Boost Video Card: FREE: Yes, Overclock the video card(s) as much as possible with complete stability Boost Memory: Yes, Overclock memory frequency (Includes Memory Fan Kit Installed) Boost OS: FREE: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (64-Bit Edition) ------ I would like to get the most out of the money. I plan to keep the PC for around 5 years or more, upgrading along the way if needed. Also, I will use a 1920x1200 resolution. A few questions: Is the Lian-Li case the best of the selection or is the extra money not worth it? Will the noise of the setup warrant noise reduction? Are the DS certified parts (PSU and RAM) roughly the same quality as the name brand? |
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DST4ME
DS ELITE 
Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
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Posted: 18 Mar 2010 at 2:03am |
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best case depends on your needs, lian, hailstorm, haf are all good cases depends on your use tho.
90% of your noise will come from the gpu's fans when under load, noise package and all of that will not make a big difference and the noise package has a bigger problem, trap noise, trap heat, so the noise package and upgraded fans contradict each other, also the upgraded fans are loud. for your res all you need is 1 x 5870 to play most games at highest settings and 8x aa and 16x af, some games just can't be maxed out. no the DS certified are not as good as the brand names. Here you go Ticket# 393360 --- Price: $4181 (To see this build click here) Price after current promotion $3831 Copy of Specifications: Chassis Model: Cooler Master HAF 932 (Black OPS Edition) Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz (Quad Core) Motherboard: EVGA X58 Classified 3X SLI (Intel X58 Chipset) (Supports Triple SLI or CrossFire) System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested) Power Supply: 1000W Corsair (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) Expansion Bay: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (256GB Solid State (By: Corsair) (Model: CMFSSD-256GBG2D) Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Seagate/Hitachi/Western Digital (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed) Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 22x / CD-Writer 48x) Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections) Video Card: 1x ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB Add-on Card: - No Thanks 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) H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Red) Enhancements: - No Thanks Chassis Mods: - No Thanks Noise Reduction: - No Thanks Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Requires Air Cooling Upgrade) Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) Boost Memory: Memory Fan Kit Only (Does not include memory overclocking service) Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition) Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based) Virus Protection: - No Thanks Office: - No Thanks Benchmarking: - No Thanks Install/Test Game: FREE: Please include a free copy of a hot-selling game Display: - No Thanks Surge Shield: - No Thanks Speakers: - No Thanks Keyboard: - No Thanks Mouse: - No Thanks External Storage: - No Thanks 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: 5 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty (Highly Recommended) |
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cswiacki
Newbie
Joined: 16 Mar 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 40 |
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Posted: 18 Mar 2010 at 2:56am |
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My needs would be gaming, watching movies and music. I want the PC to be pretty quiet since it will be on during the night sometimes. A good amount of room for upgrading, which would probably be larger graphics cards one day.
I really like big & sturdy cases with convenient features. Which case do you think fits this the most? I heard a lot of good feedback from the Lian-Li and HAF, but not the others. Thank you for the configuration and I looked over it. I have a few questions: Is the price of the SSD worth it? Would an HD5970 2gb be a worthwhile choice over the HD5870? Are there other areas I could invest in which would make a good difference? Do the OS tweaks help? Thank you for replying. Edited by cswiacki - 18 Mar 2010 at 2:57am |
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DST4ME
DS ELITE
Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
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Posted: 18 Mar 2010 at 4:55am |
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My pleasure
hailstorm is a great case also specially if you are going LC on cpu/gpu, for air cooled I like the haf, but lian li is a good case, can't argue that, no matter what case you pic the noise from the fans of the gpu will be loud, the only way to get rid of that problem is to go LC, but he LC here is loud due to the fans they use so you would have to ask them to order you quiet fans, and thats all if you wanted to go LC to being with. ssd is worth it, if you have the money, otherwise no its not worth the money yet, the thing that is wrong with ssds right now is their price. 5970 is like 295, the 295 is in internal sli, and the 5970 is in internal cf, and rule number one to gpu is that best choice is always a single solution, in this case a 5870 is all you need so there would be no point in dealing with cf or sli and the bugs those have. os tweaks will make no difference to the apps you use and etc and if you happen to need one of those services then you gonna have to call DS back and remove the tweak anyways. |
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cswiacki
Newbie
Joined: 16 Mar 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 40 |
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Posted: 18 Mar 2010 at 1:41pm |
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Ah that's really helpful, thanks. I was thinking the OS tweaks would just remove annoying things.
Roughly how many dB would you think a 5870 and a Noctua D-14 would produce in a Lian-Li case? Sorry if that's a strange question, heh. |
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DST4ME
DS ELITE
Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
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Posted: 18 Mar 2010 at 2:22pm |
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don't worry about the dba on d14, but the 5870 I have heard are very loud, something like 50 to over 60 dba at full load.
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cswiacki
Newbie
Joined: 16 Mar 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 40 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 18 Mar 2010 at 2:37pm |
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Wow, I wouldn't want to CF those monsters. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night probably. I think I'll just keep one card and replace it in a year or two. I might be leaning towards Lian-Li because their cases have served me well.
I guess the sound isn't too bad, it should be quieter in a good case. I really wanted to go with Nvidia, but it seems like their cards will be lagging behind ATI until the 4 series is on the shelves. By chance, do you know when DS might carry the 4 series? |
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DST4ME
DS ELITE
Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
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Posted: 18 Mar 2010 at 5:55pm |
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within the next 30 days I think DS should have them, but that is just my guess, you can email them to find out:
[email protected] |
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cswiacki
Newbie
Joined: 16 Mar 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 40 |
Quote Reply
Posted: 18 Mar 2010 at 6:36pm |
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Okay, I'll look over the 400 series and see if it's worth waiting. Thanks for all your help, I'll keep your suggestions in mind when I'm ready to buy.
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DST4ME
DS ELITE
Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
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Posted: 18 Mar 2010 at 6:46pm |
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My pleasure and good luck
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