Ulysses
General => Off-Topic => Topic started by: atomicspark on June 04, 2007, 07:06:54 PM
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I have made a wish list (which is constantly changing) but view it here (https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=6686448&WishListTitle=New+Computer), and tell me what you think.
I will also need a PSU. There are so many I don't even know where to start. I want at least 30 amps on the 12 v rails (or as many as possible) for overclocking. Maybe at least 800w too. I don't want a $800 PSU tho. Recommend cases too. Big heavy metal ones are better. :)
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Over all, nice system.
This is just my personal opinion. It will differ from the 'ultimate-have-to-stay-on-cutting-edge' system builders out there.
Video cards over $300 are rarely if ever worth the money. (And some might debate, myself included, the worth of a $300 card)
They don't hold value.
Of all the components that go obsolete within a short amount of time...the video card goes the quickest.
Through a lifetime warranty and RMA claim, I just got an 'upgraded' card due to BFG no longer making the card I had.
I bought mine new a little over a year ago for ~300 on ebay. Chipset itself was just now two years old.
When it first came out 2 years ago, it was running $550.
It's going to be some time before your video card even sees a DX10 game. Never will see one unless you're running Vista.
My advice - Get a 200 to 300 dollar vid card. 7600 to 7900 of some sort. (yes, even if a GS model)
Then, by the time DX10 games start becoming mainstream ('if', M$ is having trouble selling Vista right now), I'm betting you could get a good GF 8x series card for half what they are now, and then you'll have a backup video card for a second pc that still rocks on old games.
Until my 6800 GT died (I now have a 7800 GT), that's what I had planned on doing.
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Holy wow... I just had to review my parts again.
I have the 7900 GTO, which isn't sold anymore. I forgot why I was willing to sacrifice being able to SLI down the road to get a soon-to-be discontinued GPU (yes, I knew it would be at the time) so I took a gander at the wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_7_series#GeForce_7900_GTO). Wow, I timed my purchase at the right time. Half off (half off even on today's prices) of a 7900 GTX! Jeeze.
atomicspark: I'd follow JamminR's advice. DX10 is vista-only. Do you really want to use vista? Keep in mind it will probably be another 5 years before we start seeing interesting games that support DX10 (developers wait for customers to have capable cards, customers wait for games that support it; vicious cycle.).
Also, there's no need to get an 800W PSU. According to power usage calculators, my system (2xSATA, 7900 GTO, Asus mobo, Core 2 Duo, lots of USB devices, DVD drive) is only using at max 350W. I assume this is a high estimation too.
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I've chosen the "XFX PVT71JYHE9 GeForce 7950GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP ExTreme Edition Video Card". It's the highest clocked 7650GT and also has passive cooling! I believe it's a good fps/$ investment.
Do you guys think 4GB of RAM is insane? I mean with how RAM prices work, I can't even find RAM for my system that I have now without paying $$$. I think it would be better to get it all now and running then wait till later and not get the chance. I guess I could buy 2 GB now, see how it runs, and buy 2 GB more in a month or so. I just run the risk of it going out of stock again.
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Another option to consider would be www.mwave.com (http://www.mwave.com) thanks to JamminR. For just a couple bucks they put it together and test it before sending it out. I have used newegg in the past for many computer builds but I have to hand it to mwave, they really got something going on over there. With all the new technology's it is easy for something obscure to pop up and with a prebuild for less then 10 bucks to check, it's worth it.
Just my $.02
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Re: Online shopping
Yes, NewEgg has a nice wish list/shopping cart experience, but always check prices at other places.
I like www.mwave.com, have also gotten decent service (though I don't know as well) from ewiz.com
Previously, zipzoomfly.com has done well, however they let me down recently, and also online store ratings sites have been harsh to them lately.
Re: Vid card
With exception of the passive cooling (like one review said, some worry), it looks like a much better card for the money.
You can save your ~$450 you didn't spend on a GF8x series card now for something else.
Re: 4gb.
I have XP Pro x64 with 2gb, and have never hit 2gb. Think I maxed at 1.5gb once. I forget what I was doing.
Do you really need 4gb? Guess it's a personal 'think about it' thing.
I don't do high res image editing. Only gaming, surfing, and the occasional coding.
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I usually game and browse the Internet at the same time. I also do the occasional picture editing for my website work. I think I'm going to go with the 2GB pack. I was honest with myself and I figured I probably wouldn't try to overclock that much. The 2GB pack for $150 is a sweet deal for me.
Now as far as my new system that I want goes, I've changed my mind which mobo to go with. The ASUS P5K DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131182) allows for higher RAM speeds, one of which isn't even out yet. Supposedly, I'm supposed to be able to reach higher overclocking levels (for everything) too. Even if I can't do SLI, the performance benefits seem to be a better choice then the NVIDIA chipset.
One bad note tho, the XFX video card is now out of stock. The selection of older GeForce 7 cards are getting worse by the day. I know Megiddo has a thing against ATI for some reason, but what other cards do you suggest? I was looking for buying the best DX9 card I can get. I don't want to spend 400 something for it because thats getting in the low level GeForce 8 cards.
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Well, mwave has some 7950s
Some refurb, some retail, mixed memory and slot types.
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/DeepSearch.hmx?scriteria=7950&ALL=y&TP=5
Ewiz has some 7950s
http://www.ewiz.com/query.php?categry=67&s=7950&Go+Search%21.x=0&Go+Search%21.y=0&search=y
I'm happy with my BFG 7800 GT OC (but, my last was a 6800GT OC)