On top of the world

[jiffy]

I been very happy with my system lately.

Abit KR7A
XP1800
IBM 75GXP 20 G
Creative GForce2 Ultra :redface:

My computer has been on for 5 days w DSL on. I did up the volts a little for greater stabilty. And it has been running sweet. I don't even want to shut it down and disrupt it's performance. My UT is running great and the other players are coming up with some new names for me, at least the ones that want to play with me. hehehe
With out braking a tear, I owe it all to this sight for my ability to kick *ss.

I would like some feedback on a couple of new upgrades.

One is the Geforce3 Ti500 from Ledtack. I understand they had a heat problem, but have fix that. I'm just waiting for it to come to a store I trust. I pick this card because it's persistent to being one of the fastest.

Second would be the Water cooler from Koolance. A picture if you care to look.
<A HREF="http://koolance.com/products/pc2/" target="_new">http://koolance.com/products/pc2/</A>
I chose this, because it clams to be cooler then any HSF combo. That way if I get my butt beat playing UT I can crank up a couple more hundred MHz. Plus the summer get's pretty hot in my place. I was going to go with the 401 P/S and just the CPU cooler. I'm not sure if I need the one for the mobo chip, or HDD and the one for the video card I guess won't fit anyways, because of the heat sink for the mem.

Any thumbs up, things to be aware of or better solutions would be appreciated. Thanks





defrage is child's play-fdisk

 

[camieabz]

I'd change the HDD to a 60GXP (40GB or 60GB depending on your needs), but better yet, get two and get them on a RAID 0 configuration for extra fast drive performance.

As for gfx card, I prefer ATI and at the moment I run a Radeon 64MB DDR, and I would look at the 7500 & 8500.

<b><font color=blue>~scribble~</font color=blue></b> <A HREF="http://www.ud.com/home.htm" target="_new">Help cure cancer.</A>

 

[jiffy]

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm lucky I haven't had any problem with my HDD, but I think thats 40G and over. If the 60GXP is newer and faster I'd be up for that.
I didn't get Raid this time around, I think people are having problem with the Raid, not sure because of the VIA or the user, if it's VIA hope they get it fix.

<font color=red>Is Raid faster for on line gaming???</font color=red>
If so I'll be into that, also. I'll have to dig deeper in my pockets, just hope my girlfriend isn't reading this she would rather see me buy a house instead of all these upgrades, but I do have my priorities. hehe

Personally I like Nvidia I think there faster and less problems. Being a UT fan your hardware does play a part along with good Internet access, so I look for speed. OK, I'm a UT nut.



defrage is child's play-fdisk

 

[AMD_Man]

Please tell me you aren't spending $300USD on a GeForce3 Ti500 to only play UT!

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

 

[jiffy]

My Ultra card cost $420 when I bought it and my GTS $350. The test difference between an Ultra card and a Ti500 playing UT are very small. OK, I'll tell you I'm not spending $300 to play UT. You did say please. Anyone care to frag? hehehe

defrage is child's play-fdisk

 

[jiffy]

Any word on <font color=red>Is Raid faster for on line gaming???</font color=red>
Also anybody for or againts a water cooler
or
anyword on any new Nvidia cards coming out? accept for that one that hasn't even count my attention yet.


defrage is child's play-fdisk

 

[camieabz]

No reson why RAID should noticeably improve the online stuff, unless you have a major online connection. The bottleneck is usually the modem or whatever you're using. A single drive should outperform any online hook-up.

Never tried a water cooler. Apparently better, but have extra headaches.

<b><font color=blue>~scribble~</font color=blue></b> <A HREF="http://www.ud.com/home.htm" target="_new">Help cure cancer.</A>

 

[jiffy]

OK, Thanks. The water cooler will have more work to setting it up, hopefuly that will be all.

defrage is child's play-fdisk

 

[AMD_Man]

Good! Paying that much money on a graphics card for UT shoudl be a crime! UT is CPU dependent so upgrading the graphics card won't improve the performance much!

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

 

[jiffy]

UT is a sport to me, even thought I'd be lucky to see 2% increase with a Ti500, I'm doo for the upgrade, plus I want to get another computer together.
I'm hopeing with the water cooler I can get some more MHs out of my XP1800, since UT is CPU dependent.

defrage is child's play-fdisk

 

[Ron_Jeremy]

Jiffy, I can't see much of any upgrades giving you even a noticeable improvement playing UT:

> GF3Ti500? = Hardly, if any real life improvement. Maybe only a psychological advantage at most
> You already have one of the fastest cpu's available
> RAID 0? = exactly that, <b>zero</b> UT improvement
> Watercooling? = I'm not even going to bother

The only thing I would change if I had your system, is dump the IBM 75GXP. Forget the 60GXP & <b>any IDE RAID pipe dreams</b>, & buy yourself a good, new, top of the line hard disk like:

> Series IV Fish from Seagate <A HREF="http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/0,1081,381,00.html" target="_new">http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/0,1081,381,00.html</A>. Very very quiet, equally fast. Great drive to run in a JBOD (non-RAID) setup

> Western Digital <A HREF="http://www.westerndigital.com/products/products.asp?DriveID=24" target="_new">http://www.westerndigital.com/products/products.asp?DriveID=24</A>. This particular model is the <b>only</b> IDE disk I am aware of with as much cache (8 MB) as my SCSI disks > the one I would pick, but probably the most expensive by a considerable margin

> Maxtor D740X with fluid bearing motors (sorry, no direct link) <A HREF="http://www.maxtor.com/Maxtorhome.htm" target="_new">http://www.maxtor.com/Maxtorhome.htm</A>. This drive is a fantastic performer, especially at the price they can be found

While swapping out your 75GXP for one of the aforementioned newer disks will improve your disk-subsytem, it won't improve your online UT play at all. More practice (& possibly a bigger pipe to the 'Net) will.

Cheers,

Ron_Jeremy

If you loan a friend $20 & never see them again, it was worth it.

 

[jiffy]

I new if I post how great my PC has been running with out rebooting it I might jinks myself. Sure enough I had to reboot, but I did go down with a hell of a fight.

Thanks for your insightful response.
UT is the game I play most and you guys are right and even I know there wouldn't be much difference between my Ultra card and a Gforce3 Ti500. There's rumors of a Geforce4 that might help if it's true. But for now I'll hold of off and wait to see if it's true. The only plus to getting the Gf3 would be to having another computer to try out WinXP.

I will need a new HDD. I like IBM or Seagate, but the Western Digital looks tempting too. I'll have to look into them.

I'll just have to practice and realize I can't win them all.







defrage is child's play-fdisk