Wired
An Eye For An Eye
Rule of Three
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Posted - 2007.11.29 21:50:00 -
[1]
Heres my opinion.
If you're not doing loads of audio editing you can save some cash on the sound card. In a lot of cases on board is good enough, however if you must have a soundcard, the X-Fi Xtreme gamer will do you.
Also 2x 8600's will be less powerful and more expensive than a single 8800GT (a single card option will also leave you a spare PCI card for a quick upgrade later on).
Do you really need the Raptors in raid? Yes they will run ****-diddly-quick, but saving 4s loading the next level of a game isn't the be all and end all.
Will your system last 3-4 years? Yes, will it be cutting-edge, not by a long shot. I ordered my own new machine last week and there are already bits coming out that will make it obsolete, the trick is to look at whats coming and be sure that your current parts will support it, or that if you do have to upgrade it will be as painless as possible.
Does your mobo support AM2+ (i havent checked), if it doesn't this will rule you out of utilising some of the advanced features that AMD are introducing, and since they have already talked about releasing AM3...well i'll leave that topic there.
Back to graphics what size is your monitor and what do you game at? If it's 24" or bigger SLI will be worth considering, but if it's smaller SLI will not make so much of a difference. The human eye only picks up 26fps (roughly) so if your computer is throwing out 100fps+ a lot of that is wasted, but granted it will run smoother.
I have just ordered my own machine (based on a C2D) and is as follows, if you swapped the cpu+mobo i'm sure something similar would work for you, unless you plan to do a lot things other than gaming.
And if you get Vista 32 only 3-3.5Gb of RAM will be visible to your OS.
Here's what i have just recently ordered, i hand picked the parts and for ú10 they've saved me the hassle of putting it all together, they will also install my OS and test the lot for me (isn't that nice)
Antec P182
Antec Truepower trio 650W
P35 based intel mobo - switch for AMD
E6750 - Switch for AMD
4Gb Patriot RAM (2x2GB)
Tuniq Tower
8800GT alpha dog
X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
500Gb Samsung spinpoint
DVD-RW (Not huge difference between any of them)
22" Widescreen monitor
Razer gaming peripherals (Mouse +KB + Baracuda HS)
From what you are looking at i think your own spec may be overkill, if you want me to come up with something send me a mail and i'll see what i can come up with, if you give me a budget and say if you just need a case + parts or if you need everything (inc monitor etc). I'll fire something back your way.
I spent 6 months planning on building my machine (while i waited to move into my house), and to design another would be fun.
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