Leatherface-TCM
The Saw is Family
+0|6812
Ok - So it is now looking like I will be going back to the RAID 5 config.
See article here at Tom's

Last edited by Leatherface-TCM (2006-01-02 09:10:13)

unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6762|PNW

I put together a dream system of my own (in my imagination) sometime around December. Note that prices have probably dropped a bit by now.

Cool End-of-2005 System (prices from Newegg and Xoxide) wrote:

Chassis: *Xoxide Exclusive* Lian Li LL Warrior - Blue LED Special Edition ($210.00...oddly cheaper than the default case)
Power Supply: ULTRA X-Finity 600W PSU ($99.00) (or some other 600+ watt power supply with nvidia SLI certification)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 x2 4800+ ($787.00)
Memory: 4x (2x 2x1GB pair) Corsair XMS-3500LL PRO ($298.00x2)
Motherboard: ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe ($229.00) (note the "32" in A8N32-SLI Deluxe)
- 2x16x SLI, instead of the standard 2x8x SLI
Video: 2x BFG Tech GeForce 7800GTX 512MB PCI-e ($749.00x2)
- shipped wired on overclock with a lifetime warranty and free 24/7 tech support
Audio: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro ($385.00)
- X-Fi Xtreme Music will do for most people (~$100.00)
Main Hard Drives: 2x Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10KRPM 8MB Cache (WD740GD) SATA-150 ($169.00x2)
Storage Hard Drives: 2x Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.9KRPM 16MB Cache (ST3500641AS) SATA 3.0Gb/s ($357.00x2)
OS 1: MS Windows XP Professional X64 (~$140.00)
OS 2: MS Windows XP Professional SP(x) (~$already purchased)
OS 3: some convenient version of Linux (~$0.00)

Total Base = $4855
You might note that a physics processor wasn't included in this round-up. I couldn't toss it in for a variety of reasons:

1. It isn't out yet.
2. It would have brought the total up over the $5000 mark.
3. There is no space on the motherboard for it due to the tall video cards, unless either it (the PhysX) or the X-Fi came in PCI-e 4x (it still annoys me that Creative Labs hasn't released their audio cards in PCI-e yet).
4. It may be incorporated into video cards (nVidia expressed interest in the technology) by the time anything comes out that takes true advantage of it.

Also, there's no room on the motherboard for any Gigabyte iRAM, but I'm happy with the A8N32's true 16x ea/ SLI mode.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2006-01-02 22:52:57)

nitro92
I cheat.
+-6|6792|Sydney, Australia
a FX-57 it much better than 1 4800 but if its dual core 4800 then a FX-57 is stil betr becos not many games are designed for multiple threading dual core but if ur gonna use ur pc more for other stuff than gaiming than get the 4800 but otherwise a fx57 is my dream CPU and i wud only use the 15k rpm sata 150 for the OS and not the actually storage drives so get 1 15k rpm HD for the OS like a 30 gig 1 or sumthin then get ur 4 raptor 74 gig like u asked and raid them in 0 striping them and i also have those awesome PC150 headphones so much padding and the 780GTX 512 is out soon just imagine 2 7800gtx 512
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6762|PNW

nitro92 wrote:

a FX-57 it much better than 1 4800 but if its dual core 4800 then a FX-57 is stil betr becos not many games are designed for multiple threading dual core but if ur gonna use ur pc more for other stuff than gaiming than get the 4800 but otherwise a fx57 is my dream CPU and i wud only use the 15k rpm sata 150 for
the OS and not the actually storage drives so get 1 15k rpm HD for the OS like a 30 gig 1 or sumthin then get ur 4 raptor 74 gig like u asked and raid them in 0 striping them and i also have those awesome PC150 headphones so much padding and the 780GTX 512 is out soon just imagine 2 7800gtx 512
Somehow I knew that somebody couldn't resist and would instantly say "OMG but FX-57 owns 4800 x2!" I'd like to clarify that dual core systems have a bit of an advantage in graphics design applications, and will be greatly enhanced upon the release of Windows Vista (though by the time I buy a new system, quad cores will probably be out). I do both design and gaming, and I realize that this is a "gaming system" thread, but is it really that difficult to swap the 4800 for the vaulted FX-57 if you were to round up these specifications for purchase? Sure, if I straight-up gamed, it would be FX-57 all the way in that rig.

As for headphones, I am immensely satisfied with my own Sony MDR-V900's. Sennheisers just seem too flimsy for me. As for imagining twin 7800 GTX 512's...I already did. That's why I placed two of them in that monster of an ASUS board.

Plan for the future.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2006-01-02 23:15:07)

BlackLegion42
Damn Command and Conquer Generals...
+62|6721|Rochester, NY
Very Good Setup. The only thing I am not good at with computers is raid setup and water cooling. Otherwise, if I had $$$ and time, I could make my own comp that is faster than the one I have now, which is not bad so I am not complaining for now.
iLLmatic
Member
+0|6741|uk
by the looks of it, u'd love my system want pics to drool over ? lol
Leatherface-TCM
The Saw is Family
+0|6812

iLLmatic wrote:

by the looks of it, u'd love my system want pics to drool over ? lol
No - pictures don't do much for me but let me know your 3DMark score - that will tell me something and let me know your FPS on BF2 and BF2:SF
Thanks,


EDIT
Saw your other post so I know your FPS and you are going to post your 3DMark score shortly - thanks

Last edited by Leatherface-TCM (2006-01-03 08:18:09)

iLLmatic
Member
+0|6741|uk
rgr, i'll download the apps this evening. FPS with everything on high and 4x anti alias on BF2 is around 160 mark.
Leatherface-TCM
The Saw is Family
+0|6812
Found this chart at Tom's VGA Charts - going to have to Rethink the 7800 SLI setup.
Looks like on some games you get negative performance when using high end card(s) in SLI
Tom's

Anyone know about BF2 in SLI

https://img284.imageshack.us/img284/4162/pic19mw.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6762|PNW

The idea of abandoning the concept of an SLI-based gaming system based on the benchmarks of that chart is ridiculous. As you may know, PC games are subject to official patches designed to address such issues. Besides, we have a new Microsoft operating system and a reconceived DirectX on the way which may have a very significant impact on such benchmarks, perhaps going so far as to placing dual-core solutions at the top.

If you'll take a closer look at the math on that chart...

Code:

Avg SLI Performance over Single Card (7800GTX)
Disadvantaged (4 titles): -10.8%
Advantaged (3 titles): +34.7%

Sum of Avg %'s from advantaged and disadvantaged (7800GTX) = +23.9%
You also forgot to take 3DMark into consideration. A SLI configuration of 7800GTX 256MB's mark at over 160% of what a single 7800GTX 256MB accomplishes.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2006-01-06 19:30:45)

Leatherface-TCM
The Saw is Family
+0|6812
"...which may...perhaps"

I think that sums it up - we can never build the ultimate system because the next day it starts going obsolete.
My point was more from a cost point of view - saying I have dual 7800 GTX 512 cards is great but if they perform like shit then is that bragging right really worth it?  No.

2 weeks from now I will start posting what I have amassed so far in terms of parts and at this point I am now looking at RAID 10

Later
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6762|PNW

Leatherface-TCM wrote:

"...which may...perhaps"

I think that sums it up - we can never build the ultimate system because the next day it starts going obsolete.
My point was more from a cost point of view - saying I have dual 7800 GTX 512 cards is great but if they perform like shit then is that bragging right really worth it?  No.

2 weeks from now I will start posting what I have amassed so far in terms of parts and at this point I am now looking at RAID 10

Later
You obviously didn't read my post through.

As for "which may" and "perhaps," that's a nasty bit of paraphrasing you have going on there. The next windows and Direct X aren't out, thus the larger community has not yet benchmarked them. Microsoft, however, is confident that they will greatly improve gaming performance.

That being said, I agree that nobody will ever build the ultimate system (short of computers being able to automatically reconfigure themselves into each next-gen hardware update that comes around). When I build myself a computer, I want to be confident that I'll be able to run all current games as fast as possible, and that it will last in great performance for the next two years. If I can then sell it for a third or fourth of what I paid for it, I'm happy.

If you work and play your computer, you probably spend little less than 5000 hours a year in front of it. If you have a $2500 computer and sell it in two years, you've paid roughly a quarter each hour you've been on it. If it's a $5000 computer, then it's $0.50. Now, discounting the computer cost of electricity and munchies, considering that some arcade machines can cost up to $0.75 to $1.25 for a 2-5 minute session (if you make a few mistakes), having a really cool computer doesn't seem all that bad, does it?

However, some of this will be rendered obsolete this year by the coming of DirectX 10 and the NVIDIA 8000 series, featuring GDDR4 memory and Shader Model 4.0.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2006-01-07 09:55:38)

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