Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Exile on May 29, 2003, 01:31:57 PM
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My puter is crappin out on me and it's been a long while since I've upgraded so ..... time for sumthin new. :)
Money is not a big issue, I'm more concerned with performance. I got these initial suggestions from Sharkey's. They seemed a good place to start.
Intel
Case: Cooler Master ATC-201B-SX2 Silver -$174
PSU: Antec 430 Watt TruePower -$82
CPU: Intel Pentium 4-3.0C GHz - $530
Cooling: Included - N/A
Motherboard: ASUS P4C800 Deluxe - $190
Memory: Corsair XMS 1GB PC-3200 LL Platinum (2 X 512) - $304
Sound Card: Creative Labs Audigy2 - $???
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB - $???
AMD
Case: Cooler Master ATC-201B-SX2 Silver -$174
PSU: Antec 430 Watt TruePower -$82
CPU: Athlon XP 3000+ Barton /w 512K L2 Cache - $334
Cooling: Thermalright SLK800 /w Thermaltake Smartfan2 80mm - $50
Motherboard: ASUS A7N8X Deluxe n-Force2 - $144
Memory: Corsair XMS 1GB PC-3200 LL Platinum (2 X 512) - $304
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB - $???
I'll be bringing over my primary hard drive and CD/DVD drive from my old system.
I'm leaning more towards the Intel side as I'm hoping that the noise level is considerably quieter than with my current AMD system ... sounds like I've a damn jet parked under my desk when it's running.
Suggestions?
Comments?
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I suggest that you go with a PIII 1GHz on an Asus CUSL-2 mobo. In fact, I'll give you mine in exchange for that P4 3GHz (really, what would you do with all that extra processing power anyhow?). I'll post my address for ya in the squad forum!
SOB
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The more people buy Intel processors, the happier I am. Other than that... both systems look great.
MiniD
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Exile,
Icer and I just built systems (last week) very similar to your Intel specs ...
We got the ASUS P4C800 DELUXE-UAY with the 800FSB and it has both the sound and 3-Com (gigabit) ethernet right on the MB. The sound is more than acceptable to me and the ethernet connection is 3-Com, which is great as far as we were concerned. $193.99
We bought the Antec Peformance Plus AMG Soho Server (PLUS 1080AMG) 10-bay Server case with the 430V True Power already in the case. We also filled every fan mount (Antec fans), so the box has 7 fans in use (2 of which are part of the power supply). $124.99
We got 2 x 120Gig SEAGAT ST3120026AS SATA IDE Hard Drives and are running them in RAID 0. Looks like 1 240Gig HD. Preliminary test show that a SCSI setup would only buy us about 10% more speed, but the cost ... whoa !!! 2 x $176.00
We took an extra step and bought Thermaltake SubZero4G™ Microprocessor-controlled Thermo-electric Cooling Systems. ThermalTake SubZero4G Socket 478 ... $129.00
We both have our 3 Gig Pentiums running at 10% overclock and ASUS Probe show the CPU temp to be (on my box) 78-82 degrees F and the MB shows a steady 85 degrees. Those numbers are quite impressive knowing what kind of wattage and heat a P4 will produce. Temp jumps up to 102-110 during AH gameplay.
Thermaltake can also control ALL your fans and will boost the rate when it feels its necessary. I only have the side case fan linked to the cooling system at this time. They supply an LED case fan that shows 3-step variations in different stress modes.
We put in 1 Gig (2 x 512) DDR RAM ... forgot the make. DDRAM 512MB 32MX8 PC-3500C2PT 2 x $134.60
We bought the ATI Sapphire Radeon 9500 for $165.00 and loaded the cracked drivers that makes it think that it is a 9700. From what I read, the 9500 does not utilize all its channels (8 of them) like the 9700 does. This crack allows that card to be used to it fullest. We are waiting for the next generation of Cards (ATI or nVidia) to see what they bring to the table. For the mean time and for $165.00, I am VERY happy with this card.
There is a particular 9500 you have to buy to take advantage of this crack. I am at the office so I can't tell you the exact details right now. Its the Sapphire with Red PCB and L shaped memory.
Average FPS while playing AH is 160+ and the best I have seen is 230 FPS low over the water all by myself. Flew over a carrier furball the other night and the lowest it got (a lot of planes, ack and other stuff going on) was 135 FPS. I also have a SONY GS500 21" montior that supports 100Hz refresh rate ... that helps. I run AH in 1280 x 1024.
Oh ... we also installed 1 Sony CD/DVD reader ($40.00) and 1 Sony CD/DVD writer ($335.00).
I don't have all the prices, but bottom line was about $2,225.00 for the whole package (not including the monitor - got that on e-bay for $250.00)
If you want more details and the prices we paid ... let me know and I will get back to you when I get home.
Oh ... It is unbeliveably quiet ... that I would attribute most to the case. The only noise I hear is the side case fan and can tell when the Themaltake kicks it up a notch, but still is not annoying by any means.
updated with some info and prices.
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Slapshot -
If you could post the ATI 9500 card and the place the you got the cracks from I would appreciate it.
I've got a ATI 9500 coming next week and would love to bump it up to a 9700.
thanks!
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Exile, if money is low priority and quiet is high, you might want to look at the Antec Sonata case.
I just put together a couple of these and could not beleive how quiet they were.
The hard drives are rubber mounted in front of the front fan (optional 120mm). The fans are rubber mounted as well.
It's a nice looking case.
You will like the Audigy2. I picked up the Audigy2 Platinum with the front bay controls/plugs and love it. The sound is very nice, and being able to plug the headset in front is sweet. Just make sure you only install the drivers, and not all the Creative garbage or you will be looking at a reinstall of the OS soon.
The dual 120mm fans are very quiet, as they move the same amount of air as the 80mm, but spin slower to do so.
Some people don't like the front door which covers the 5 1/4" slots, but it does seal out more noise.
If quiet is a priority, then Intel s probably the best bet. The stock fan for the P4 is not loud at all and works like a champ.
My system:
Antec Sonata case w/480W Antec Trupower w/dual 120mm fans
ASUS P4PE motherboard
Intel 2.4Ghz CPU
512MB of ram
ATi 9800Pro
Audigy2 Platinum Sound card
Intel PRO100 Ethernet
Sony DRU-500 DVD/CD Burner
Toshiba 52X IDE CD-ROM
Adaptec SCSI host adapter
Seagate 18GB 15K Cheetah as boot
Seagate 36GB 10K Cheetah as secondary
19" NEC FP-955 Monitor
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Originally posted by Modas
Slapshot -
If you could post the ATI 9500 card and the place the you got the cracks from I would appreciate it.
I've got a ATI 9500 coming next week and would love to bump it up to a 9700.
thanks!
The ATI 9500 Card is the Sapphire with Red PCB and L shaped memory. The crack won't work for the "Black" card.
Direct3D settings are:
SMOOTHVISION II
Anti-Aliasing = 2X
Anisotropic Filtering = 8X
Texture Preference = High Quality
Mipmap Detail Level = High Quality
Wait for Vertical Sync = Always Off
TRUFORM = Application Preference
I also have a SONY Trinitron Multiscan G500 21" set at 100Hz refesh rate.
The crack can be found here ...
www.maxdownloads.com/~ian/wizzard/ (http://www.maxdownloads.com/~ian/wizzard/)
I haven't tried the 9500--->9800 crack yet.
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Cracking that card is VERY hit or miss and only has about a 50% sucess rate.
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The guys that wrote the crack does say that it won't always work ... but both Icer and I had hits !!!
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thanks for the suggestions guys
The Antec Sonata case is pretty nice. I really like the idea of side mounted drives, opens up alot of space.
Thermaltake's SubZero is pretty sweet too. I think I might give that a try also.
Off to Newegg now :)
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Have you considered portability? I take my PC to games meets a fair bit and got fed up with lugging round a huge case, so when it came to upgrade, I bought myself a Shuttle system.
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ASUS A7N8X Deluxe <<< i have it and have several problums with it .. will not take the fx 5800 ....will not take a v.92 modem that's
$400 worth stuf that i wasted money on .
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB - $??? >>> $399 .99 at my local store ill get 1 soon as they get 1 ...anyone want to buy a PNY FX 5800 ???? >>i paid $349 .81
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Well I'd say AMD but this Epox 8rda+ board I have took about a month since I recieved it to make it work finally yesterday with the help of Mwave.com tech support I got it to work.
I laso bought myself a Thermaltake 420W PSU and it works like a charm,though the Volcano 9 I recieved from Knowledgemicro.com arrived broken, the fan legs were detached from the plastic mounting inside the heatisnk, in the meantime I'm using an AMD Athlon Heatsink fan that I polished heavily and put in some thermal grease to help with the heat ,so far so good don't even break 45C on heavy ops,but still I want it to be cooler,so I'll be getting a replacement soon for the one that arrived broken.
Not only that but my Kingston Valueram Memory so far hasn't given me any problems at DDR 333mhz setting,like I've read across the AMD Forums so maybe I'm in luck.
Been playing ww2ol and an unmentionable beta game that taxes heavily on proccessor and graphics and both are working fine! wit High FPS.
The epox board is a really tricky board ,many headaches I've had with this,but so far soo good this is my second day using it,so I'm not canceling my RMA request just yet,I'll see what happens in the upcoming days to see if it doesn't croak.
I'm just relieved that it works and it's stable haven't had any boot ups or lock ups,BTW apparently the whole keyboard deal could have been that the MObo was getting shorted out by something inside the case, I fixed it by putting all raisers below the apropriate holes and the coper ones taping them over with electrical tape,as I was suggested byt the Mwave.com tech support person. :D
El Glassoid is pleased,annoyed but pleased :D
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I am doing an update on my machine.
Asus A7N8X DLX MoBo
2500 Barton (Getting a new Heatsink/Fan)
Asus V8420 GeForce4 Ti4200 128M
Corsair 512M PC3200
Keeping:
Lite-On CDRW
Lite-On DVD 16X
Seagate 60 GB 7200 HD
Hercules GTXP
10/100 Card
1.44 MB Floppy
Antec Case 2080
350W PS
I may sell my Game Theater XP. I understand the audio on the NForce MoBo's are very good.
I told the boss and she seems OK with it.
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got my final shipment in today :cool:
Case: Antec Sonata
PSU: Antec 380 Watt TruePower (included with case)
CPU: Intel Pentium 4-3.0C GHz
Cooling: Thermaltake SubZero4G
Motherboard: ASUS P4C800 Deluxe
Memory: Corsair XMS 1GB PC-3200 LL Platinum (2 X 512)
Hard Drive: Seagate 120GB SATA 7200 RPM /w 8MB Cache
stuff from old machine:
Sound Card: SB Live *still doin it's thang
Video Card: GeForce Ti500
Now about getting a new video card ... I'm gonna try to hold out for the next big card from ATI after reading a review on HardOCP (http://hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDc0), not sure how long I can hold out though. :confused:
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Ouch! Exile, sound like a killer system. Let us know how it flies!
:)
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9800Pro 256MB is shipping, but tough to find.
Exile, I am telling you,..ditch the SBLive and get an Audigy2 Platinum. You won't regret it. Of course, if you do not need the 1394 firewire port, then the regular Audigy2 is the next best bet. The reduction in overhead for sound is dramatic.
It is very noticable in the video smoothness since I got rid of my SBLive. Video reaction is now crisp and smooth, regardless of the number of sounds playing.
It doesn't hurt that the sound quality is near audiophile levels either.
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Wow... nice system.
And wtg on starting perhaps the first thread I've ever seen with "AMD and Intel" in the header that did not turn into a flame fest. Nice to see both sides of the fence settling down a bit.
MiniD
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Originally posted by Mini D
Wow... nice system.
And wtg on starting perhaps the first thread I've ever seen with "AMD and Intel" in the header that did not turn into a flame fest. Nice to see both sides of the fence settling down a bit.
MiniD
I think more and more nowadays people are more concerned with performance and not with remaining loyal to a brand name.
Performance is the bottom line.
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Well yah performance and not braking the bank while you're at it.
Though they both could be mutually exclusive to each other in some instances they could work in harmony. :D
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Alright, on the way home I pick up an ATI 9800 Pro 128, Audigy2 and a Pioneer DVD drive. I figured might as well get a complete system this way I'll still have a working system in case anything goes wrong.
So I'm doing **** around the house for a few hours, finish things up and am ready to assemble my new toy. Get the motherboard in, plug in all those mother fluff'n tiny prettythang connectors, get the SATA hard drive attached to a drive bay, slide it in, plug in the SATA cable that came with the motherboard, then....... DAMN!! No friggin power adapter! :eek:
This sucks man ... I spend booku bucks on all this hardware and I'm hamstrung by a little $3 power adapter.
That's just too funny. :D Play time is gonna have to wait till tomorrow.