That time of year again, Im excited Options

[Colossus]

Every year near the end of march as you know I build a new system to end all systems. I would like you all to feast your eyes on this years rig to end all rigs!

Mainboard: Asus Striker Extreme
Processor: Intel Quad Core QX6700 2.66ghz
Memory (RAM): 4x1gb Corsair XMS2 Dominator 4-4-4-12
Video card(s): 2x Asus EN8800GTX
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty
Power supply: Antec TruePower Trio TP3-650watts
Media: Plextor PX-716AL 16x Slot Load DVD +/-
Storage: 2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320gb SATAII
Headphones: Altec Lansing AHP612 Wireless
Microphone: Logitech USB Desktop Microphone
Gamepad: Logitech Rumblepad2 Vibration Gamepad
Keyboard: Logitech G15 Keyboard
Mouse: Logitech G5 Laser Mouse
Speakers: Logitech Z5450 Digital 5.1 Speaker System
Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate
Monitor: Samsung 20" 206BW Black Widescreen

you may now begin drooling.

edited changes for performance.

[Mike]

What do you do with your old systems?

[Crilix]

[quote=Mike,Mar 2 2007, 09:06 PM]What do you do with your old systems?

[/quote]

That's *exactly* what I was gunna ask. Sweet lookin' rig though. I wish I had enough dough to buy a new top-of-the-line system every year. I'm already depressed at how the one I got last year can't keep up with some of the more recent games (IMG:http://www.fridaynightfirefight.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
-Cril

[Colossus]

I usually keep 3 systems running, sell the oldest off to friends who look for systems.

Question: Anyone big on liquid cooling? To keep such a system cool im pretty sure ill be looking at 120db or something insane like that.. So anyway I'll more than likely be looking towards LC for that reason and just for the further coolness of liquid cooling!

Anyway I'd like to know more about the subject so any info would be much appreciated. Links to comparisons of the big name companies and their products. Personal preferences and why. stuff like that. Thanks.

[Nova]

I urge caution with vista, i beta tested and i had a few serious issues such as my monitor drivers mysteriously stop working and wont work. I hope the release had most of the frustrating issues resolved.

[Colossus]

[quote=Nova,Mar 2 2007, 10:57 PM]I urge caution with vista, i beta tested and i had a few serious issues such as my monitor drivers mysteriously stop working and wont work. I hope the release had most of the frustrating issues resolved.

[/quote]

Meh, Windows XP is always there to support me if it fails, im sure Vista will be just as good and from the looks a lot prettier than WinXP, perhaps not right away but in time. I'll have the money now and perhaps not later - im undertaking a huge academic venture and money will be spent elsewhere. So when it comes to mainstream I shall be able to run it, and if I can put up with it until then.. well even better.

Of all the computer systems I bought, I believe this is the first that I actually purchase a legit copy of Windows with lmao so it has alterior motives too.. IM GOIN LEGIT.. at least for the OS rofl.

[VaderOnIce]

Vista = bad for gaming, just so you know. I'm running it and if you're not gonna game, it's fine. But don't install it if you plan to use it as a gaming pc. Right now, it's using 1 gig of ram just sitting there letting me type this in Firefox. All I'm running in the taskbar is minimized outlook and my corporate edition NAV, which doesn't use a lot of resources.

Mr. Marton, go for 4 gb of ram if you can, and skimp on some of the other stuff if you plan to stick with Vista.

[Colossus]

well i intend to go for kickass ram whether i do 2 or 4 but question my friend brought up that motherboards usually only wire two fo the four slots into the motherboard, the other two piggy back if you will on the original two. To me that would create a bottleneck and he infact said its better performance wise to go with 2 sticks vs 4. It sounds plausible but ive not found documentation to support it but why would they intentionally design a bottleneck?

Also do you have performance ram? the ram ive listed is touted the fastest in the world right now. I had 4gb of OCZ Platinum, my buddy said going with 2gb of performance ram (low CL, etc) will be better performance wise than 4gb of lesser ram. If the bottleneck is not true I'll be going 4gb regardless of my OS.. so thats the main thing to clear up.

[Tekmo]

I think a rig to end all rigs would have more than 2gb of ram (as Frank has said), at least 1TB, and a larger monitor than 20" with HDMI outputs (IMG:http://www.fridaynightfirefight.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) and you'd have your whole rig submerged in Sapphire with the exception of the hdd's and psu.

[Colossus]

way to blow my over exaggeration out the door tekmo (IMG:http://www.fridaynightfirefight.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

anyone hear anything on this 2 sticks vs 4 sticks of ram?

[Colossus]

[quote]The biggest problem with going over 2GB is the hardware. Right now, on the majority of PC boards ram will not run at full speed with more than 2 sticks installed on the motherboard, or with multiple 2GB sticks. Running over 2GB total most oftem means dropping the ram speed by up to 50% and backing down the timings (espeically the command rate from 1T to 2 or more) - which takes an AWFUL toll on system performance. If you need a large ram machine, the best option is a mac, unfortunately. And no, simply adding 1GB more of addressable ram to your system (3GB limit) would not improve things significantly for you anyway. Going to 4 or 8 addressable (mac) would though. From your limited description of workflow needs though, it doesn't sound like you need to do anything. You might be spending $10,000 to save a couple minutes.[/quote]

From some tech site. Guy seems to know what hes talking about. 2gb performance > 2gb regular > 4gb any.

Its not a bottleneck in the way it was explained to me.. (one slot piggy backing off its master) but its indeed a hindrance to performance.

Further inspection: If I stick with vista apparently I can run up to 128GB of ram and that the bottleneck is mostly to do with previous versions of windows. so if its XP 2gb optimum, up to 128gb w/ vista. NOT CONCLUSIVE.

[VaderOnIce]

What the guy's referring to is for XP. XP has a thing where it can't really see more than 3gb's of ram. Vista doesn't have this problem.

Think of it like this, didn't you ever throw 4 sticks of 512 in a machine back in the day, so you could run shit at double the speed? It worked, right? It's just xp's prob in dealing with more memory. Either way, my machine runs fine with the 2 gb of ram, but I can tell with Vista, the sweet spot'll be 4, like 2gb was it with xp.

[Colossus]

[quote]a maximum of 4GB RAM support on 32-bit editions (up to 128GB RAM on some 64-bit editions[/quote]

Cnet Vista Ultimate Review.

All can use 4gb, up to 128gb on 64bit. Looks like im goin back up to 4gb.

[Crilix]

Hey, I ran across this article about setting up a Vista gaming rig from Gamespy. Maybe it'll help. In the conclusion they said maybe to hold off on Vista for a bit while the bugs get ironed out *shrugs*
-Cril

[Nova]

Well dont get me wrong vista looks hawt, its just for me i dont have the money to upgrade my comp so that i can run a buggy OS smoothly lol. I agree with Frank about vista and gaming, i saw a noticable difference in gaming in vista compared to xp. Perhaps in time i will gain the money and vista itself will be stable enough IMHO. But i look forward to helpin and reading about your venture marty (IMG:http://www.fridaynightfirefight.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/happy.gif)