So this is my build. I've waited a year since my last build and I finally was ready to upgrade. Thanks to you guys on on these boards and your input I have decided on, purchased, and I am tracking shipments on the following parts:
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 Extreme
Thermaltake LCS (TT 120 x 240mm Radiator, P500 pump, coolant tank, copper CPU block, & 3/8" tubing... not a bad "starter kit" )
MSI 975X Platinum Socket T
Thermaltake Armor E-ATX case (black)
PC Power & Cooling S61EPS EPS12V 610W PSU
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB Kit DDR2-800 XMS2
WD 74GB Raptor (will be in RAID 0 now with my other one)
WD 250GB 7.2K SATAII 16MB (I already had actually)
Lite-On Black 16x DVD±R/±RW “SOHW-1693S” DVD Burner
Lite-On Black 16x/52x DVD & CD-RW “SOHC-5236K” Combo Drive
eVGA 01G-P2-N592-AX GeForce 7950GX2 1GB 512-bit GDDR3
ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" CRT Monitor 0.25mm dp
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 4
Logitech X-530 70 Watts 5.1 Speakers
MS 5-button Intelli Mouse & Logitech Std Wired KB (already had)
WinXP Pro w/ SP2 (already had)
Once I get everything put together and tested all that I'll definaly post some pics and benchies!
So this is my build. I've waited a year since my last build and I finally was ready to upgrade. Thanks to you guys on on these boards and your input I have decided on, purchased, and tracking shipments on the following parts:
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (Retail)
Thermaltake LCS (TT 120 x 240mm Radiator, P500 pump, coolant tank, copper CPU block, & 3/8" tubing... not a bad "starter kit" )
MSI 975X Platinum Socket T
Thermaltake Armor E-ATX case (black)
PC Power & Cooling S61EPS EPS12V 610W PSU
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB Kit DDR2-800 XMS2
WD 74GB Raptor (will be in RAID 0 now with my other one)
WD 250GB 7.2K SATAII 16MB (I already had actually)
Lite-On Black 16x DVD±R/±RW “SOHW-1693S” DVD Burner
Lite-On Black 16x/52x DVD & CD-RW “SOHC-5236K” Combo Drive
eVGA 01G-P2-N592-AX GeForce 7950GX2 1GB 512-bit GDDR3
ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" CRT Monitor 0.25mm dp
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 4
Logitech X-530 70 Watts 5.1 Speakers
MS 5-button Intelli Mouse & Logitech Std Wired KB
WinXP Pro w/ SP2
Once I get everything put together and tested all that I'll definaly post some pics and benchies!
THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP AND PATIENCE!
Any particular reason why you're getting an Audigy4 instead of an Audigy2 ZS or X-Fi? For the price of the Audigy4, either going to teh Audigy2 ZS and saving money or going to the X-Fi XtremeMusic/Platinum would make more sense.
Especially considering those speakers are quite low end and do not include/support Digital connectors.
What can I say but... bah!! Im all happy about my upgrade and then I look at this post... My damn upgrade is what your upgrading from....
Rich bastads!!
Any particular reason why you're getting an Audigy4 instead of an Audigy2 ZS or X-Fi? For the price of the Audigy4, either going to the Audigy2 ZS and saving money or going to the X-Fi XtremeMusic/Platinum would make more sense.
Especially considering those speakers are quite low end and do not include/support Digital connectors.
Really? The Audigy 4 is only $73 shipped at zipzoomfly...
so as far as I can tell the Audigy 4 is just as good or better then the Audigy 2 ZS and for only 2 bucks more how can I go wrong? (if I am wrong, please explain why b/c I may have made a mistake then :? ) I don't really care about the front drives so I can just go with the PCI card itself... and as far as the speakers are concerned... I love them. They sound AWSOME for $60 speakers. Besides, they're only to hold me over for a little while until I can get the full Digital set that I want. I only had so much to spend for this build and I have really good headphones already so the speakers didn't have to be top notch just yet.
How did you like the performance of your 4000+? Only upgrade from your old system Ill be getting is a 1900xt
Any tips or alterations you might suggest?
Changing the 4000+ not being once b/c its already shipped
It was great really. I mean, I didn't really have to upgrade but I had the opportunity and took it. The 4000+ is a GREAT processor... especially if you're a gamer. It tore through just about every game I own. (and that's quite a few) The only limiting factor in games before was the 7800 GTX. (and of course it's no slouch of a card either)
BTW BiGGuN, what would probably REALLY burn you about this is that I basically paid NADA. lol I had $3150 to spend in total from selling my "old" system and a big one day networking job I did for a company. So really just one day's work and finding a buyer for my old PC is all it cost me... just a little bit of time and effort. At least that's the way I like to look at it... takes the sting out. LOL I used to upgrade every 6 months but it took a while to find someone to buy my "old" system. He's happy with though so I don't feel bad.
So this is my build. I've waited a year since my last build and I finally was ready to upgrade. Thanks to you guys on on these boards and your input I have decided on, purchased, and tracking shipments on the following parts:
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (Retail)
Thermaltake LCS (TT 120 x 240mm Radiator, P500 pump, coolant tank, copper CPU block, & 3/8" tubing... not a bad "starter kit" )
MSI 975X Platinum Socket T
Thermaltake Armor E-ATX case (black)
PC Power & Cooling S61EPS EPS12V 610W PSU
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB Kit DDR2-800 XMS2
WD 74GB Raptor (will be in RAID 0 now with my other one)
WD 250GB 7.2K SATAII 16MB (I already had actually)
Lite-On Black 16x DVD±R/±RW “SOHW-1693S” DVD Burner
Lite-On Black 16x/52x DVD & CD-RW “SOHC-5236K” Combo Drive
eVGA 01G-P2-N592-AX GeForce 7950GX2 1GB 512-bit GDDR3
ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" CRT Monitor 0.25mm dp
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 4
Logitech X-530 70 Watts 5.1 Speakers
MS 5-button Intelli Mouse & Logitech Std Wired KB
WinXP Pro w/ SP2
Once I get everything put together and tested all that I'll definaly post some pics and benchies!
THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP AND PATIENCE!
That's a powerful machine. It better be since it cost as much as a used car. Happy fragging.
Now each part's price actually includes the part plus it's individual shipping price so if some of the prices seem high plz take into consideration there's some shipping added on to them... and the fact that I basically paid nothing out of pocket If I overpaid... eh, oh well... I'm happy with it
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (Retail) - $1149 Thermaltake LCS (TT 120 x 240mm Radiator, P500 pump, coolant tank, copper CPU block, & 3/8" tubing... not a bad "starter kit" ) - packaged w/ case MSI 975X Platinum Socket T - $236 Thermaltake Armor E-ATX case (black) - $283 w/ TT LCS kit installed
PC Power & Cooling S61EPS EPS12V 610W PSU - $178 Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB Kit DDR2-800 XMS2 - $261 WD 74GB Raptor (will be in RAID 0 now with my other one) - $164 WD 250GB 7.2K SATAII 16MB (already had)
Lite-On Black 16x DVD±R/±RW “SOHW-1693S” DVD Burner (already had)
Lite-On Black 16x/52x DVD & CD-RW “SOHC-5236K” Combo Drive (already had)
eVGA 01G-P2-N592-AX GeForce 7950GX2 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 - $506 ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" CRT Monitor 0.25mm dp $238 Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 4 - $73 Logitech X-530 70 Watts 5.1 Speakers - $60
So it all Grand Totaled to $3148... so I even got to pocket a whole $2! lol
LOL I don't even have in my own hands yet! I've gotta wait two more days until all of it comes in from the 4 different places I bought from. But once I've got it all maybe I will... in a year
I'm up for it Jack! I've heard that cliche' and I like it! lol Well thanks for all the comments guys... now I just can't wait to start putting it all together! This build will be quite a challenge as it will be my first foray into liquid cooling and RAID. LET THE TRIALS BEGIN!
I tell you what... I also just got an Acer 17" LCD too so now I'll have dual displays as well. Some of you probably remember me posting a topic when I first came on here a couple of weeks ago about wether or not quad cores were coming out too soon and if people actually needed them... WELL I WAS WRONG, NOW I SAY BRING EM ON! lol It's crazy how much more crap I can do with a second screen. Take for instance right now... I'm typing this on the 17" LCD while watching Day After Tomorrow on the 19" CRT. I could also be burning a disc and doing other crap if I had multiple cores! The movie skips every once in a while with my current setup even when just clicking on new pages and other stuff... so hopefully the new dual core CPU and dual GPU's will keep it all running smoothly (hence the X6800 and 7950 GX2 that are coming )
Hmm ... I read something regarding the 7950GX2's and dual-displays, maybe someone can better explain it.
Quote :
Our testing shows that the X1950XTX is significantly faster than NVIDIA's 7950GX2 at rather common enthusiast in-game setting. This is definitely very appealing for the gamers, especially when you factor in the ability of the card to run true HDR with Anti-Aliasing compared to the 7950GX2 which can't do that, and the fact that the X1950XTX offers dual display without compromising performance while the 7950GX2 has to sacrifice dual GPU performance for dual display. Add the best performing and best looking default cooler found in the market and it really seems ATi has come up with quite a winner this time. It is rather shocking however, to discover that the card actually draws more power than a multi-GPU 7950GX2. Other than that this card seems to have almost everything going for it, even though 3D Mark performance boost is not catching up to the 7950GX2 at 650MHz Core clock. Now it's much of a question of the availability of the cards at launch, and this may be partly affected by the production quantity of the rather new GDDR4 Memory. For gaming enthusiasts, if this card really retails at the USD$399 it is slated to, this is THE loveboat as you won't be able to get the performance for that price looking at any other card than this. It seems that ATi has delivered quite an uppercut to NVIDIA with this!
Well great... knock me off my damn mountain. lol Thank you for finding that, but I'm really not worried about that for a few reasons:
1) I can buy the 7950 GX2 NOW... not later (I'm impatient lol)
2) Once the drivers are more finely tuned/tweaked I'm sure there's plenty more power to squeeze out of the 7950... it's still fairly "new"
3) I don't game with dual displays... by the time that becomes a more widely implimented feature of games, I'll have a new rig again (in 6 mo's maybe? lol)
4) If you look at the benchmarks in that link... it's only a few fps of a lead in most of the games on there... not enough to get upset over really 5) The 7950 does do HDR... and at higher resolutions like 1600x1200 (what the 7950 is practically made for) AA becomes less important as the images become smoother from the higher pixel count (at least that's how it's been for me)
Either way, I'm happy with this build. In six or seven months... I'll probably be looking at a machine w/ a DX10 card anyway. So, this should hold me over until then!
Thanks to you guys on on these boards and your input I have decided on, purchased, and I am tracking shipments on the following parts:
rrlarose@hotmail.com 
At least that's the way I like to look at it... takes the sting out. LOL I used to upgrade every 6 months but it took a while to find someone to buy my "old" system. He's happy with though so I don't feel bad. 
If I overpaid... eh, oh well... I'm happy with it 
