New barebones system...

[Enduro]

Hi, all.  Been a while.  Glad to say that work has been steady lately.  My old desktop finally died; so, it's time to replace her.  I'm willing to spend up to about $1,500.

Please understand that I'm busy 7 days a week; so, I'm not interested in having to build a full system myself right now.

The IT guy at my work swears by the barebones systems at portatech.com (they apparently build for free).  So, I wanted to see what you guys think of these specs:

At this page, my selections were highlighted in yellow: HERE

Core 2 Quad Q9300 ( 4 x 2.5GHz - 1333FSB - 6MB Cache) $345.00
Asus P5N-D

4 Memory Slots
(Max 8GB)
8 Chan. High Def Sound - 10/100/1000 LAN
Use One Or Two Separate PCI Express X16 Video Cards (Sep. Video Cards Are Best For Gaming, Video & Vista)
Integrated Firewire (IEEE1394) & nVidia SLI Technology 

Quiet Cooling Package
Large Aluminum Heatsink
Ultra Quiet CPU Fan
Arctic Silver 5
1 x 92mm Case Fan
1 x 80mm Case Fan[/pre]
4GB DDR2 800MHz (Dual Channel Kit) - Ultra High Speed / High Memory Capacity

500GB 7200RPM SATA II U300 - Hard Drive

Samsung - 20x Lightscribe Double Layer DVD+/-RW

Thermaltake Mid-Tower Gamer (Black w/ Side Window)

Echo Star 600 Watt Power Supply (Dual-Core Certified)

Windows Vista Home Premium


I'm still undecided about a video card and sound card.
Some other site recommended this:
GeForce 880 GTS
Rumor is that the GeForce 9800GTX isn't worth the extra cost.


Thanks for the input, guys.  Can't wait to get a new box. 

[Reschke]

Take a look at this thread. Exact same budget and question by the author.

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,234995.0.html

[Roscoroo]

looks good ... but skip the vista and run XP ...or toss in a second hd for vista on a dual boot.

[Fulmar]

As for the hard drive... I'd like to know brand first.  I'm not familiar with Echo Star power supplies.  Vista is poop, I'd get XP while you still can.

As for video card, I generally go by the recommendations of these guys.  They break it down into price segments and recommend the best cards for the budget.  Updated monthly.  Here's June.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-cards,1942.html

[Tigger29]

Based on that list:

Personally I would go for the E8400 processor (save about $100).  I have yet to see any evidence that quad core does that much more for 'normal' computer usage.

I would also go with the cheapest case (save another $68).

Forget the sound card.. just use the onboard.

Go with 250GB hard drive (Mine's been at about 40% capacity with a bunch of useless junk for the most part).

2GB ram is probably enough, but 4GB is cool.

I'd also probably use the Biostar motherboard (save another $80).  Forget about SLI... very poor 'bang-for-the-buck'

Get XP PRO.. definitely.

Use the savings on an 8800GTS and the best power supply you can reasonably afford.

Even with those cuts, you'd still have a SMOKIN' system (and most likely probably 300% better than you really need).

To give you an idea, I have the 'entry-level' core-duo processor (E6300), 2GB ram, and a 7900GS video card, any my AH framerates at FULL SETTINGS never dip below 50.. staying at 75 (max) about 90% of the time.

[BaldEagl]

I'd get the E8400 processor and Windows XP Pro instead of what you've picked.

What I don't like about this is that, in many cases you don't even know what brands you're getting much less the performance stats.  I can sell you and Ultra Extra Great cooling system too and I have a bridge in New Jersey if you want it.  Don't be fooled into thinking they will build this for free.

I can also understand being busy but I'd still build myself.  With help from those of us here on the BBs you can get good advice and hand select components at newegg in a couple of hours.  Two to three hours to assemble the parts and then you have to install software which you're going to have to do anyway.

Whatever you do, enjoy the new rig.  If you decide to build I'd be more than happy to help you select components, as most here would be.

[Getback]

e8400 is probably a better move. Not many programs for the quad.

[Enduro]

I'd also probably use the Biostar motherboard (save another $80).  Forget about SLI... very poor 'bang-for-the-buck'

Get XP PRO.. definitely.

Hi, everyone...thanks for your input already.   

The only reason I chose Vista was because I've been told that SLI is supported only in Vista.  I thought perhaps I'd like to experiment with SLI down the road. 

I've never seen SLI in action.  Are you all saying that it doesn't live up to its hype?

Thanks for the link Reschke.  I'll read the thread.

[Fulmar]

The only reason I chose Vista was because I've been told that SLI is supported only in Vista.  I thought perhaps I'd like to experiment with SLI down the road. 

I've never seen SLI in action.  Are you all saying that it doesn't live up to its hype?

Adding a second video card doesn't double your performance.  The performance gain your achieve in SLI is dependent on what cards you use.  2 cheap cards in SLI does not equal 1 expensive card.  2 high end cards in SLI will probably create a CPU bottleneck, even with a 3ghz chip.  Unless you have a big hole in your pocket to burn.  I highly recommend not doing SLI.  I saw a poll from Steam users (program made by Valve who made Half-Life) that showed out of some 400,000 responses, only about 2-3% were using SLI configurations.

And SLI is supported in XP as well and has been around for quite a while before Vista ever showed up.  Actually 3dfx created SLI 7-8 years ago.

[Reschke]

No prob on getting the link. I echo all these guys comments...in fact run away from SLI and don't look back. The performance gain is nothing like it was when you could run link the old 3dfx 3D cards together back with a Pentium 4 400MHz and smoke out a whopping frame rate in Quake or Starsiege: Tribes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starsiege:_Tribes.

[Fulmar]

No prob on getting the link. I echo all these guys comments...in fact run away from SLI and don't look back. The performance gain is nothing like it was when you could run link the old 3dfx 3D cards together back with a Pentium 2 400MHz and smoke out a whopping frame rate in Quake or Starsiege: Tribes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starsiege:_Tribes.

[Enduro]

Ah, thanks for the news about SLI.  I didn't know it was just a bunch of hooey until now.

Doing a quick 180-degree turn here...another IT guy knew I originally was planning on a laptop; so, he walked in and told me about this Gateway laptop: HERE

LOL...I just about laughed him out of my office when he said "Gateway."  But, we checked out some YouTube videos showing nice performance with modern games.  Damn...I never thought I'd say this, but I think I have to really consider that Gateway 6860.

(zips up the flame suit) 

[Tigger29]

Laptops are fine and serve their purpose, but you have to remember that laptops are designed with two things in mind:  Portability... and Energy conservation.

There are two bigger reasons why desktops are so much bigger than laptops.. because they use a lot of power and they generate a lot of heat.

The more performance you want to get out of your processor and video card, the less viable an option a laptop is going to be for you.  Did you notice the video in the laptop?  8800M GTS.  The "M" stands for mobile, and is basically a toned down version of the real 8800GTS card (designed with energy conservation in mind), otherwise, the laptop would get so hot it would melt itself, and it would drain its battery in a matter of minutes.

Even the plug in power supply wouldn't be able to deliver enough electricity to make the laptop perform as well as a desktop.  Likewise, the Centrino "T" series Core duo processor is a 'stripped down' version of the normal Core duo.

Now don't get me wrong, laptops have come a long way in the last couple of years, and perhaps it will perform well enough for Aces High, but you're probably going to need to turn down some graphics settings to make it run smoothly.

If you want to run even more graphics intensive games, well you're not even going to come close to the what the same setup in desktop form would deliver.

If you need the portability of the laptop, then this looks like a fine machine, but if it's just going to sit on your desk anyways all of the time... spend the same money and get a better desktop instead.

[BaldEagl]

One other thing about laptops vs. desktops; no opportunity to upgrade to keep up with changing technology and system requirements.  You're essentially buying built-in obsolescence.

[68Wooley]

...so, I'm not interested in having to build a full system myself right now...

But building it's the best bit:

The bleeding knuckles from trying to wedge a hard disk into a slot the graphics card is intruding a half inch into.
Trying to insert power supply cables into slots on the motherboard hidden underneath the monster CPU cooler you bought
Realizing you're one molex short for the 10 disk RAID array you were going to store the entire knowledge of the human race on.
The sinking heart followed by extreme cursing when you finally get everything together, hit the power button, and nothing happens.
The elation and jumping ofr joy when you realize the power supply wasn't plugged in.
The sinking heart followed by extreme cursing when, 10 minutes later, your CPU explodes because you forgot to put any AS5 on it.