Building An AH Monster Gamer PC

[68ROX]

Let's just say....

You were going to build a PC that would be THE TOTAL SCHIZNITZ for playing AH....from scratch...

What would it be---without total hardware OVERKILL?

What would YOU use for the following:

Video Card?
Audio Card?
RAM?
Memory?
Processor?
Extra USB Ports?

Talk to me........

Thanks in advance <>

68ROX

[Krusty]

Personal wishlist type of deal? [EDIT: The following is a "money doesn't matter" list, as if I won a free computer with components of my choosing]

4GB RAM (don't care if XP can only use 3.5GB)

Intel X6800

GeForce Ge 8800 GTX 768MB card*

Creative Labs XiFi with 5.25" from bay plug

4.1 (or better) surround sound digital speakers

WD 10k RPM HDs in redundant RAID to prevent data loss, totalling at least 300GB storage.

And of course all the cooling required for this


*= I know, I know! It's got issues, bad drivers, problems, but it is THE most powerful gaming card in existence!! And you never know, they might code better drivers Hrm... I wonder if you can SLI 2 of these together?

[Spatula]

Compared to modern bleeding edge uber gaming PCs, Aces High is pretty thrifty on resources and doesnt need a terrible uber gaming PC to run it at its best.

I got a modest Athlon 64 3200+ (Skt 754) which is pretty old-skool these days, Radeon X800Pro 256Meg, 1.5 Gig generic budget RAM. Windows XP, Audigy II sound card.

I run at 1280x1024, 1024 Textures/High-res pack, graphic details all at maximum, 6x AA, 4xAF, Textures and Mipmaps are all on full qaulity and i limit framerates to 60FPS, and it seldomly drops below 40.

The only thing i can improve on is the resolution, but i only have a 19" monitor, and thats about the right resolution for me.

I dont think theres much need to go all-out if AH is all that you play. YMMV.

[Krusty]

I wouldn't say AH is thrifty. Far from it. AH guzzles it.

I had a 800MHz FSB P4 2.66GHz single core CPU.

This isn't a slow CPU. It's a socket 775, not too old, and decent chip. However in AH I was getting lag, low FPS, and this with a GeForce 7600GTS.

So, same vid card, same HD, same computer down to the motherboard, I swap it out for a E6420 (core2duo) and the FPS lag is gone all by itself. Entirely different game performance with a faster CPU in it.

And the patches just made things worse BEFORE I upgraded. Every patch induced more CPU drainage, and for a long time I think AH has been one of the most CPU intensive games there are. It beats out FEAR in my book for CPU guzzling-ness.


Faster CPUs help this game a LOT. More than a vid card would, for sure.

[DAVENRINO]

Originally posted by Krusty

GeForce Ge 8800 GTX 768MB card*

*= I know, I know! It's got issues, bad drivers, problems, but it is THE most powerful gaming card in existence!! And you never know, they might code better drivers Hrm... I wonder if you can SLI 2 of these together?

Of Course you can run them in SLI.  My Squaddie, Jazz1 has a machine similar to my Signature Rig except with 2 8800 GTX's.

[Krusty]

Wow!

Must be noisy, eh? Lotta heat?


EDIT: Modify my "dream machine" to have 2 8800GTX's in SLI

[DAVENRINO]

Originally posted by Krusty
Wow!

Must be noisy, eh? Lotta heat?


EDIT: Modify my "dream machine" to have 2 8800GTX's in SLI

Surprisingly quiet and cool.  We both used the Antec 900 Gamers case and the cards exhaut the hot air.

[croduh]

Monster gaming machine for ah?

I have a 1800 mhz athlon, 769 ram, radeon 9200.I run the game at 1280x1024 with medium settings, hi-res textures, and still get 40-100 fps on normal occasions.

But yes, when in a furball or a bomber is on fire my fps drops to 15-20:(

One of the reasons i still play this game is because i can't play anything else:)

[Fulmar]

Originally posted by Krusty
*= I know, I know! It's got issues, bad drivers, problems, but it is THE most powerful gaming card in existence!! And you never know, they might code better drivers Hrm... I wonder if you can SLI 2 of these together?

Yeah i've given up with you...


Yeah the X6800 because AH doesn't support Quad-Core.  

Run Windows XP - better gaming frame rates.  3 1/2 GB max memory, so really 4gb I guess for ease.

Get 2 8800 GTX Ultra's.  Theres a new one out from Leadtek that overclocked.  A cool $900 for one.

4 WD Raptors 10k RPM 150gb in RAID 5.  300gb of HD space.  Or just have 1 WD Raptor where games and OS are installed and have like a 1tb drive for storage.

Buy one of those Killer NIC cards for $175

A nice 1kw or 1200 watt power supple that costs about $500.  You'll need it for SLI!

30" Dell Widescreen LCD.  $2000 or so.

[DAVENRINO]

Originally posted by Fulmar

A nice 1kw or 1200 watt power supple that costs about $500.  You'll need it for SLI!

Jazz1's SLI setup runs fine on a 750w and I am sure my 610w would work as well.  I have another friend running 8800 GTXs in SLI with an 850w PSU.

Originally posted by Fulmar

30" Dell Widescreen LCD.  $2000 or so.

Ewwwww!!  I would hate to go back to using a monitor as small as 30" !!!

[DAVENRINO]

Another friend of mine just built this rig which would probably run AH-

Antec 900 case
Nforce 680i mobo
Two) 8800GTX cards in SLI w/ H20 coolers (1,536 MB DDR3 total) flourescent Green viened liquid cooler system Overclocked Intel Quad core 4 GB (eventual Vista change) of ovrclkd dual chanl Corsair Dominator DDR2 850watt pwr suppy 1.5 terabytes on 4 HDs including 10000rpm raptor RAID 0 (performc)
2) DVD drives
Three) LCDs 1920 x 1200 w/ Faroudja chips
3) backup batts
5.1 audio...may upgrade to X-Fi
10 fans
XP

[Spikes]

Originally posted by Krusty


4GB RAM (don't care if XP can only use 3.5GB)

Intel X6800

GeForce Ge 8800 GTX 768MB card*

Creative Labs XiFi with 5.25" from bay plug

4.1 (or better) surround sound digital speakers

WD 10k RPM HDs in redundant RAID to prevent data loss, totalling at least 300GB storage.

Winning a computer in a raffle = $5

15 minutes on the phone setting up your computer specs = $3

Shipping your computer to your house = $60

Making people jealous of your new computer = Priceless

[Snubby]

One thing that is often overlooked is your display..

having a badass monitor can make as big of difference as anything...

to keep things "realistic" budget wise, a 19" samsung SyncMaster 906bw is a flat out AMAZING display.. and it can be had for under $250

[Fulmar]

Originally posted by DAVENRINO
Jazz1's SLI setup runs fine on a 750w and I am sure my 610w would work as well.  I have another friend running 8800 GTXs in SLI with an 850w PSU.

Ewwwww!!  I would hate to go back to using a monitor as small as 30" !!!

Yeah I know its possible to run SLI GTX's with a smaller PSU.  But if the skies the limit

Actually the monitor is about $1450 now.  A steal!

[633DH98]

What would be the most cost efficient build to be able run at a solid 60fps 1280x1024 1024textures etc.?

Never built a PC, I keep looking online for used machines thinking of upgrading PSU and adding a video card.