New gaming rig.........please critique.

[lexxone]

New Gaming Rig !

I dont know if this is the right place to post this but here goes. I recently built a new gaming machine and would like an opinion on it.

her name is Ruby.: intel e8400 @ 3.8GHz.
Asus p5k deluxe
Ati/ocz 2Gb ram (4.5.5.5.15)
Sapphire X3870 ( single slot)
ENERMAX 850 pSU
SOUND BASTER -X-fi.
Antec 900 case.
Acelero s1
freezer 7 pro.
raptor x2 (160) (320)

PS> does anyone know how to post on the forum from the home page.

Is this a good system for todays games > PS in can play CRYSIS on VERY HIGH and 6X fsaa and full HDR.

 

[chookman]

Should be in Homebuilt systems... however,

e8400 is a great choice
P5K deluxe has had some quality and buggy issues dont know if they are all resolved. P5K-e doesnt suffer the same fate, its cheaper and you dont loose much (2nd lan port and some copper)
a single slot 3870? i didnt think they existed, if so you will need good caase airflow.
Enermax is rated well pretty much everywhere, with the components you have money could be saved here thoug has 850W is WAYYY overkill. a touch ~500w will handle what you have there. Suggest Corsair 520
What X-fi are you getting and are you using vista? some x-fi's arent as good as others and currently are having issues on vista. Auzentech prelude is an awesome card based on X-fi chip
nice case no issues there.
Acelero is a nice cooler for the ATI card
Freezer 7 is cheap and effecient (i have 4) easy to install
you can only get 150gb raptors... and for the price they may not be worth it. Id for for something like the WD AAKS range and raid-0 if that what you want.

depending on your Res crysis will not max out settings well... as it wont play *well* on any setup at high res's currently

 

[Evilonigiri]

PSU slight overkill. I would recommend somewhere around 550W.

Don't get raptors, they aren't worth it.

Even on the res of 1280 x 1024, you won't be able to max out Crysis with that card. You'll need a 3870x2 to run decently.

 

[nforce256]

That's a nice setup. However, you won't be able to max out Crysis. The hardware is just not out there right now to max Crysis. You will be able to max out other games like TF2, UT3, etc.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

If you're using Windows XP, cool. If you're using Vista, go with another gig of RAM.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Agree with posters above....

Look at toms reviews of Samsung F1 and Seagate 7200.1 before settling on Raptors.

Whatever RAM ya'd get with XP, double it with Vista.

 

[vagetaqtd]

Get two Seagates SATAII with 32MB cache and set it in RAID0. Performance is exceptional.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Get two Seagates SATAII with 32MB cache and set it in RAID0. Performance is exceptional.

Raid 0 greatly increases your risk of drive failure and data loss. Be sure to do backups if you choose that option.

 

[Evilonigiri]

Raid 0 greatly increases your risk of drive failure and data loss. Be sure to do backups if you choose that option.

Yeah doing Raid 0 makes it 2 times more likely to have data loss. A little risky imo.

 

[vagetaqtd]

Heat is a huge factor in HDD failure. That's why I always use cooling for my HDDs. And ever since, I've never had any problems.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Yeah doing Raid 0 makes it 2 times more likely to have data loss. A little risky imo.

So does my old RAID0 SATAI 240GB Seagate HDDs that has lasted for 5+ years qualify for amazing? It has never crashed on me or lost my data. Only time is when I did a fresh instal. But I partition my drives to 15GB for XP and the rest for games, music and stuff.

RAID0 is less secure but the real chances are not that bad especially with Seagate. Their drives last a long time and are some of the best.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

RAID0 is less secure but the real chances are not that bad especially with Seagate. Their drives last a long time and are some of the best.

I wouldn't use one instance to say "it's reliable". Bottom line is one drive failure makes the data on both gone. No thank you! I'd do it for the performance, but I'd need another high capacity (but slower) to back up that data at least weekly.