OT: PC Gaming Hardware Thread

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:16 am

Who makes it? I priced a similar Dell machine without a monitor for less than that price.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:38 am

Ibuypower.com You have that Dell quote? Would like to see what you were quoted.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 1:18 pm

$979 for a fully configured Dell desktop, no monitor

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/ ... WDA4&s=dhs

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 1:27 pm

Umm, I clicked on your link and the video card is a 128 MB 8300 GS which is a hell of a lot worse than a 640 MB 8800 GTS.

Maybe the link didn't preserve all the choices you made, but the best video card I saw on that Dell site is only a 256 MB 8600 GT.

I personally think that the $1,300 system listed on the last page is a pretty good deal. Quite a bit better than the PC I bought back in June for $1,200.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 1:33 pm

Thanks for pointing that out. Squid call Dell and tell them what card you want and you'll just pay the difference. In most cases they comply. I agree the $1300 system isn't a bad deal except I know Dell will be in business the next 5 years and they stand behind their products.

The one guy in this thread who had a nightmare story who bought his from a mom and pop store is enough to make me steer clear of those businesses. Plus I build my own systems so I won't go to those stores. But since Squid doesn't want to fool with building a computer Dell is a solid choice at a goo price.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 3:33 pm

thanks fellas. Last question, what is Windows XP Media Center that they install with their machines? Is that better or worse than XP professional?

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 3:40 pm

Media Center is Windows XP with a lot of multimedia fluff. I've always preferred XP Pro.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 4:34 pm

anyway to disable some of the multimedia stuff since that is the only choice of OS?

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 4:45 pm

That I don't know since i've never used that OS. That's what I like about XP Pro it's basically stripped down.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:03 pm

Don't need to disable anything...just don't run the Media Center app. It's not like it loads a ton of background TSR's or anything. It's just XP for the media philes.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 12:53 pm

Here's the first review I've seen of the new BFG 8800 GT OC card. Outstanding performance for under $300.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardw ... 800_GT_OC/

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:57 pm

Feanor wrote:Here's the first review I've seen of the new BFG 8800 GT OC card. Outstanding performance for under $300.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardw ... 800_GT_OC/

That is one helluva card. I am curious to see what ATI has up their sleeves with the HD3870 though....rumor is it is going to go head to head and in some cases beat the 8800 GT, but I will believe it when I see it.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:04 pm

That sounds like a great deal Divot if someone needs a new card but i'm waiting for the dust to settle first on Vista and DX10. Which the rumor is that directx10.1 will be out around the time of SP2 which will require a dx10.1 card to be current.

I'm still using my trusty 7900GTO w/512MB ram.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:30 pm

I am finally upgrading my computer. Thanks to my friends at ATI, I received a new PCI-E Crossfire 3200 AMD AM2 motherboard and when my X850XT-AGP died back in August, it was still under warranty, so I RMA'd it. ATI sent me back a Radeon HD2900XT 512 MB PCI-E card. Helluva deal.

I have since purchased a PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad power supply, 2 GB Corsair 6400 DDR2 (low latency), 150 GB WD Raptor SATA hard drive and when I return from West Africa in mid-November I will buy the AMD X2 6000 or 6400 Black Box cpu and I should experience a nice bump in performance over my current rig (P4 3.2/1 GB DDR/X1950 Pro).

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:54 am

Update: Just finished the upgrade process.

Ended up getting the

Asus Maximus Formula SE X38 Crossfire motherboard

2 GB Corsair PC6400 (4-4-4-12) ram (looking to double this possibly today as DDR2 prices are falling rapidly)

Core2Duo 6850 (3 GHZ)

HD2900XT 512 MB

WD Raptor 150 GB HD

My framerates in TW08 have more than doubled at 1920x1200 and the game is alot better than I first gave it credit for. Can't wait to pop in a few new games to test this rig out. I have a copy of Crysis, but I am thinking I could do better with the Orange Box and/or COD 4 as I am reading that Crysis really cannot be played at 1920x1200 with anything remotely resembling what I have in terms of hardware. Ten fps or less is not my idea of a good time no matter how impressive or innovative the graphics are....

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:28 pm

DivotMaker wrote:Can't wait to pop in a few new games to test this rig out. I have a copy of Crysis, but I am thinking I could do better with the Orange Box and/or COD 4 as I am reading that Crysis really cannot be played at 1920x1200 with anything remotely resembling what I have in terms of hardware. Ten fps or less is not my idea of a good time no matter how impressive or innovative the graphics are....

That's interesting.

I can run it at max detail around 25-30 fps with a very occasional dip on my e6600 & 8800GTS 640 @ 1920x1200. Sure, it's not ideal, but it's a graphics beast. Give it a shot...you can always flip it on Ebay.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:45 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:
DivotMaker wrote:Can't wait to pop in a few new games to test this rig out. I have a copy of Crysis, but I am thinking I could do better with the Orange Box and/or COD 4 as I am reading that Crysis really cannot be played at 1920x1200 with anything remotely resembling what I have in terms of hardware. Ten fps or less is not my idea of a good time no matter how impressive or innovative the graphics are....
That's interesting.

I can run it at max detail around 25-30 fps with a very occasional dip on my e6600 & 8800GTS 640 @ 1920x1200. Sure, it's not ideal, but it's a graphics beast. Give it a shot...you can always flip it on Ebay.

Really? That is interesting as well. Max detail? I have heard that is a recipe for low FPS, but considering you are running an nVidia board and I am running an ATI board, there might be something to it. How is the game? Do you like it and is it worth installing and playing over other PC titles?

Thanks.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:26 pm

I'd got with COD4 over Crysis...but then again, I've finished COD, and I'm about halfway through Crysis. COD was incredible.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:59 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:I'd got with COD4 over Crysis...but then again, I've finished COD, and I'm about halfway through Crysis. COD was incredible.

That is what I am leaning towards doing....thanks again for your input.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:11 pm

The last week I have been going through my annual "spec out a new gaming PC" ritual, even though I have not bought a new PC in 5 years.

Here is my attempt at getting the best bang for buck for under $1000 (no monitor or operating system). For those that pay better attention to current CPU, GPU trends, feel free to comment if you so desire. Thanks.

CPU: $199.99

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115215

Memory: $103.99

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820104141

Motherboard: $169.99

GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128400

Video Card: $179.99 ($149.99 after $30.00 Mail-In Rebate)

GIGABYTE GV-N26OC-896I GeForce GTX 260 896MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125291

Hard Drive: $74.99

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136319

Power Supply: $139.99 ($109.99 after $30.00 Mail-In Rebate)

CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139009

DVD/CD Writer: $33.99

LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R SATA DVD/CD Writer LightScribe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106335

Case: $59.95

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811129066

Total before shipping and mail in rebates = $962.88
Mail In Rebates = $60.00 = $902.88

Of course this is before operating system as well. Most likely will install XP Pro SP3, but contemplating one of the versions of Windows 7 if I can figure out which one to use.

I don't know if it's overkill on the Power Supply and the Motherboard. I am also not positive that those huge video cards will fit in that case.

Any comments or alternatives would be greatly appreciated.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:14 pm

CPU's as a general rule are at times a waste of money because most modern games are GPU dependent rather than CPU. The only exception is Microsoft Flight Simulator and that game really poorly utilizes 2 cores.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:15 pm

Actually, all the racing sims I play are CPU dependent, particularly iRacing and all the ISI gmotor2 based sims.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:17 pm

Let me clarify my thoughts on the CPU. A good CPU is obviously needed BUT if your going from a E6750 to an extreme CPU sometimes the money is better spent elsewhere because like I said most games rely more on the graphics/physics card rather than the CPU. A lot of game developers are now off loading the CPU even more by coding for physics cards.

edit: Don i've played rFactor on a piss poor notebook CPU with a nice video card and I was able to achieve nice framerates with 25-30 cars on the track. I think RBR is the same because RBR runs silky smooth on my E6750 CPU.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:21 pm

DChaps, I just put together my new rig...getting the ram today so I can finish the install. Bang for the buck right now, I think I did a good job.

CPU: Intel i7-860 (bought an i5 initially, changed my mind because of video encoding using the HyperThreading)
Mobo: Asus P7P55D Pro
Ram: 8gb G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3 2000 (16000)
Video: Radeon HD 5850

Then I'm using the rest of the stuff from my old PC (case, hdds, optical, monitor, etc.).

Including tax, 300 for CPU, 290 for Video, 200 for Mobo, 200 for Ram. Puts ya under 1000. I sold my old components (e6600, 8800gts, mobo, ram) for 250, so I got out the door even cheaper.

And Rod...the i5-750 is a 200 dollar processor that will absolutely CRUSH any of the Dual Cores...so it's money WELL WELL spent.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:33 pm

iRacing will look GORGEOUS on your rig, DB.

Probably something like this:

http://blog.popabawa.net/wp-content/gal ... racing.jpg

http://www.virtualr.net/wp-content/gall ... eens04.jpg

OR

Hell, iRacing even gets right the rust on the fence posts and the diamond grinding in the Yard of Bricks at Indy.

Hope to see you on the track soon!

Take care,
PK