Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: BirdDog on September 21, 2009, 09:10:53 PM
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It's time for a new system. Does AH and win 7 op ok? Did you build your system or buy it.
I've not built a computer from scratch but I've done warranty repairs at work ( down to MB replacement ).
Not sure which route to go. What do most of you do?
Thanks Tick
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AH and Win7 play nicely for me, I saw a bit of an frame-rate drop from the switch on XP but I'm going to blame that on me not being able to OC my GPU because of the driver. (It's a beta-driver Riva-Tuner refuses to recognize)
As far as building or buying, I prefer building, not only does it give you a larger variety of options, but there is also the fun of just building it.
If your not comfortable building your own, I know a lot of guys recommend TilDeath. I've no experience with him, but a lot of guys here do, and I'm sure they'll be happy to vouch for him soon enough.
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Win 7 RC 64-bit and the latest AHII get along fine on my build.
Gigabyte MA74GM-S2, AMD 7850 CPU, 4GB DDR2 800mhz, PNY 9800GT 512mb Video.
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If you want to overclock or use multimedia codecs to watch movies a 32-bit Win7 would be an excellent choice.
x64 has driver enforcement meaning ati tray tools etc. will not be able to run without disabling driver enforcement during every bootup. Also some codecs will fail in x64.
Unless you do some very special stuff that makes you need more than 2Gb of ram at once (meaning you need a 64-bit version of the program) then go x64. If you run AH and regular internet etc. go with 32-bit.
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I'm running Win7 RTM x64 on a homebuilt with a 790i FTW EVGA board, Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16GHz) OC'd to 4.28GHz, and an EVGA 260/core 216 graphics card and have absolutely no complaints at all. Frame rates are virtually "locked" at 59Hz (maximum monitor refresh rate and VSync On) and I get absolutely no stutters during AH. I have yet to find anything that won't run on it although I did change several of my old x32 programs to x64 compatible versions. I don't even have to disable any background processes to do this, something I couldn't come close to doing with my old single core GenIII Dell XPS. The other advantage to a DIY is that you can more easily upgrade. My Dell had lots of proprietary plugs and equipment (like the PSU) and was virtually impossible to really upgrade anything but the graphics card. My new build is easily changed.
As far as building is concerned, this was my first and was quite fun to do. This board, along with many others on the internet, provide a wealth of info to assist you. Do be careful though if you decide to OC as there are quite a few folks who volunteer info that can get you in trouble if you take their numbers for gosphel without knowing the details. For instance, I've seen people recommending CPU voltages well in excess of Intel's published limits and then, when pressed, they'll admit that their Core temps are through the roof or they use watercooling and failed to mention it. It's best to take things slow and monitor all your temps and voltages carefully as you increase your speeds unless you don't mind frying and replacing a CPU or two.
I haven't personally seen the problems Ripley describes but then I don't really do much multimedia. If you do, then I'd certainly take that into consideration.
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that can get you in trouble if you take their numbers for gospel without knowing the details
That's always the case. Every overclock is different - even when done with "identical" components.
<S>
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how about:
asus P6t Motherboard
6gigs of ocz 1600 DDR3 ram
I7 2.66 processor
zalman 120mm cpu cooler
seagate 1 Tb harddrive
card reader
2 DVD burners
OCZ 600watt P/S
Xclio windtunnel Full tower with 2 250mm fans
MSI Radeon 4890 1gig 256bit GDDR5 pci-e card
all for under $1200. frame rates hold at 59 all the time with everything on running windows7!
mine is running on windows7 and it works fine. as mace2004 said, mine too is virtually locked at 59mhz.
above quote will show you what im running for parts. all purchased at Egghead!