Author Topic: Skuzzy I have excuse to build new PC :-) (Read 2053 times)

bustr · « **on:** May 29, 2005, 04:02:48 PM »

Skuzzy,

The O'l ladies P300MHz VAIO finally blew up. I want to give her my Intel P3.06Ghz and build a new Intel based game monster. I'm partial to Intel. It also seems to have fewer problems running this game at high frame rates.

If you had $2K-$3K what would you build Intel based to make this game scream?

I live in Kali so this is my Barret .50 BMG...........

P.S. This is only hardware cost. I have software covered............

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #1 on:** May 30, 2005, 01:51:52 AM »

LOL for 3K?

You could probably build a W.O.M.P.R
LMAO

Skuzzy · « **Reply #2 on:** May 30, 2005, 09:17:45 AM »

Does that include the price for a monitor, keyboard, and input devices?

bustr · « **Reply #3 on:** May 31, 2005, 12:29:04 PM »

Ok make it $3.5K, but the software is still covered.........I'll throw in the die's and press I had in mind for the barett for .50 BMG reloading........

I have a new 20" ViewSonic that works great. The O'l lady has my old Hitachi 20".

Kali hasen't outlawed .45/70 Sharps target rifles yet......................you can shoot down a plane from 1000yds with one ya know if your name is Matthew Quiggley amd the plane will hold still long enough..........

bustr · « **Reply #4 on:** June 01, 2005, 07:15:50 PM »

Skuzzy,

I aplogise for asking this question in the first place. Thinking about it, answering my original request may place you in a hard spot liability wise by asking you to reccommend a complete system design to one of the paying customers. Also it's lazy on my part........

Kinda looks like I will build everything around an Intel 955X Express chipset with 1G DDR2 667Mhz RAM, and a P4 3.73Ghz Extream Edition processor. Dual core sounds nice but, it's more oriented to business, cad, and multimedia applications. I'll stick with single core HT. The 955x has dual core compatibility.

So video cards will be PCI Express ok. Question is who's PCI Express video card gives better results on the Intel chipset for this game? nVidia or ATI? I always buy ATI for some reason. I'll look through the reviews.

Since I will be able to do RAID natively now, does RAID improve game performance? Never really had to worry about it till now. Also are there any companies offering this chipset on a system board without the Intel sound chipset? Will have to look around. Whats a current sound card that works reliably with Aces High? This could be a fun search.

Designing a cooling strategy. That will be interesting. I've noticed the internet is loaded with strategies. What works and what's just lights and noise? I'll have to lurk some sites and get a handel on case design vs. cooling strategies.

buzkill · « **Reply #5 on:** June 01, 2005, 08:47:12 PM »

cooling is easy....just use alot of the quietest fans you can find. after cutting a hole in top and a 3rd in the side i've got total of 11 fans.....(inc. PS and vid. card, cpu, chipset fans) and it's still quieter than the 3 fan gateway i had it setting next to yesterday. just wish they didn't all have to be lighted fans:rolleyes:
it's just as important to get the air in and out in high volumes, not ness. at high velocity, as it is to have a reliable one on the cpu.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #6 on:** June 02, 2005, 07:39:11 AM »

I was not concerned about liability as much as I just did not understand what the heck you were talking about in that followup poast after I asked about the monitor.

I would strongly urge staying away from Intel Prescott CPU's.

Want a good Intel combo? ABiT IC7-G motherboard plus a 3.0C Ghz Northwood Intel CPU, and Crucial Ballistix Memory.

Cooling is easy for this setup. I would go with the Antec P160 aluminum case + Antec 480W TruePower supply. Replace the stock 120mm exhaust fan with a thermal controlled fan (pick it up at CompUSA).
Get the ThermalRight XP-90 heat sink and add a variable speed 92mm fan (also from CompUSA).

You need a 'dead air' fan. Use the Vantec 92mm bracket and fan kit. Mount the bracket on the drive cage (yes Virginia, you need to drill two holes for two #10 machine screws).

You do not even need an intake fan in front of this case. It will run cool, and very quiet.

bustr · « **Reply #7 on:** June 02, 2005, 01:32:22 PM »

Sorry Skuzzy I live in california where our ideiot governator just signed a bill outlawing the .50 cal BMG rifle and any variants. I had planned to purchase one and reload for it. But instead for the thousands in cost to aquire the rifle and reloading equiptment I'll just build the .50 cal of gaming machines.

The Matthew Quiggley joke has to do with the Sharps single shot target rifle in .45 caliber has the same range as the .50 BMG. Shooting sown a plane with either would require the legendary Mr. Quiggley's skill along with the 747 sitting still to be hit in exactly the right place. Kind of a billion to 1 shot...........

What are the draw backs to Intels latest cpu offerings, single core?

I have a P3.0Ghz Northwood in my current machine that I want to give the O'lady. I just thought it would be fun to build a monster for the fun of it since I have the resources and the excuse.........

Skuzzy · « **Reply #8 on:** June 02, 2005, 05:39:25 PM »

The current Prescott CPU's run hot, and clock-for-clock are slower than the Northwood. They also run incredibly hot.

The DDR2 memory is slower than DDR1 due to latencies and they also run much hotter. And the CPU runs really, really hot.

If you need a space heater, go for it. Oh, did I mention, the damn things run really, really HOT!

bustr · « **Reply #9 on:** June 02, 2005, 06:24:17 PM »

Yeah I kinda saw that in reviews. What do you think about ASUS board P5WD2 and their cooling strategy? I could always run it caseless like Ive seen in some tests. Might loose a cat or 2 in the process........

Play Aces High and get my daily sauna bath at the same time........

So is Intel in a dead end, or is there something nice on the horizon?

bustr · « **Reply #10 on:** June 02, 2005, 06:25:54 PM »

Didnt NVIDIA put out a nforce4 board that allowed you to tune the memory latency problem out?

Just saw this, OCZ DDR2 PC2-8000 Platinum Enhanced Latency Dual Channel is optimised for running on the ASUS P5WD2 board. It runs at 1Ghz........maybe I setup a room chiller..........

Hap · « **Reply #11 on:** June 03, 2005, 09:09:17 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
Want a good Intel combo? ABiT IC7-G motherboard plus a 3.0C Ghz Northwood Intel CPU, and Crucial Ballistix Memory.

Skuzzy, any drawbacks to the 3.2 Northwood other than the extra $70 it costs?

bustr · « **Reply #12 on:** June 03, 2005, 01:01:05 PM »

If anyone is interested in the history of the P4 and the different cores and technology in an easily digestibly format go here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_4

This is a bit on other processors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_M#Merom

Skuzzy you are right about the heat issue. The new extream edition Prescotts have about a 60% increase in heat over the 3.06 Northwood. So understanding the heat issue, are there any benifits from a faster Prescott, with a faster FSB and 1Ghz RAM to this game or games in general for the forseable future?

Hap · « **Reply #13 on:** June 03, 2005, 01:46:21 PM »

ty bustr. useful to me because i didn't know the story.

bustr · « **Reply #14 on:** June 03, 2005, 02:25:29 PM »

Skuzzy,

Looks like for about $700 I can get a P4 3.4Ghz Northwood and ABIT IC7-MAX3 with an 800Mhz FSB. In gaming tests this still looks like it has better performance for the dollar than Prescotts.

1Gb of DDR400 in 512 modules should be good for the game. This is still AGP8 but the game is only using about 30M of memory on my ATI 9700 Pro 128.