Trigger Time

[troymscott]

Final thoughts on my build are welcome. Keep in mind I use my system mainly for RTS games like C&C 3, also surf the net and use office applications. I am not much of a multitasker. Very little DVD burning/encoding or Photoshop stuff. Also I have never overclocked before, but might consider it with this rig.

CASE: CoolerMaster Stacker 830
CPU: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8400
DVD-ROM: LITEON DH-16D2S-04 16X SATA
DVD±RW : LITEON LH-20A1S-12 20X SATA
FLOPPY: 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
FAN: CoolerMaster Hyper TX2 Gaming CPU Cooling Fan
MAIN HARD DRIVES: RAID-0 with 2 36.7GB Western Digital Rapter 10,000RPM SATA150 16MB Cache WD360ADFD
DATA HARD DRIVE: 320GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5N-D nForce 750i SLI Chipset
MEMORY: 4GB (4x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Memory w/ Heat Spreader
OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit Edition
POWERSUPPLY: Thermaltake ToughPower 600 Watt Power Supply
VIDEO: NVIDIA EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB 16X PCI Express
WIRELESS NETWORK CARD: PCI Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Interface Card

COST: $1488.31

Just for Laughs here is current system

CASE: Antec Performance II Series
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ @ 2200 MHz
DVD±RW: Memorex DVD+/-RW Dual-X1
FLOPPY: 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE
FAN: Stock AMD fan for 939 socket
MAIN HARD DRIVE: Western Digital 80GB SATA 7200 RPM
DATA HARD DRIVE: Maxtor 80GB PATA 7200RPM
MOTHERBOARD: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
MEMORY: 2GB (4x512MGB) PC3200 DDR/400 Dual Channel Memory Corsair Value Select
OS: Microsoft® Windows XP Home Edition
POWERSUPPLY: Antec Smart Power 500 Watt Power Supply
VIDEO: Two NVIDIA EVGA GeForce 7300 GS 256MB PCI Express in SLI
WIRELESS NETWORK CARD: PCI Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Interface Card

COST: Worthless

Also how much improvement do youthink I will see with the new system with out even overclocking?

 

[eagles453809]

massive improvement. nice rig.

 

[nossr50]

CASE: CoolerMaster Stacker 830
CPU: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8400
DVD-ROM: LITEON DH-16D2S-04 16X SATA
DVD±RW : LITEON LH-20A1S-12 20X SATA
FLOPPY: 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
FAN: CoolerMaster Hyper TX2 Gaming CPU Cooling Fan
MAIN HARD DRIVES: RAID-0 with 2 36.7GB Western Digital Rapter 10,000RPM SATA150 16MB Cache WD360ADFD
DATA HARD DRIVE: 320GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5N-D nForce 750i SLI Chipset
MEMORY: 4GB (4x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Memory w/ Heat Spreader
OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit Edition
POWERSUPPLY: Thermaltake ToughPower 600 Watt Power Supply
VIDEO: NVIDIA EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB 16X PCI Express (This is actually a PCI-E 2.0x card, but they are backwards compatible)
WIRELESS NETWORK CARD: PCI Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Interface Card

Comments: A few things on your list can be improved without changing the price by much

Everything I highlighted in red I would consider changing/not buying

1) You listed a DVD-ROM and a DVD-RW, why do you need 2? Get rid of the DVD-ROM.

2) You are going to RAID-0 with raptors, they are overpriced and 7200.11 Seagates Sata 3.0 in RAID-0 will offer you much more space for almost the same speeds

3) I would get a 780i if you're going to do Sli

4) I would dual boot XP and Vista, Vista has a very hard time running most games and is pretty much only used by enthusiasts and people who want to play a DX10 game.

5) Your choice in videocard is good, considering you picked Sli I'm going to assume you will get another, but it is a lot cheaper to do sli with the 8800GT (G92) than the 8800GTS (G92).

The improvement will be like night and day, even if you change nothing although I certainly would.

 

[doormatderek]

Im very happy with my dualcore Opteron170 system. Socket 939 with same memory as yours. I have a x1950pro and it handles Crysis at medium/high settings pretty well at 1440x900. I would almost recommend a video card or CPU upgrade. If you dont really 'need' the power, you could try a videocard first, one you could eventually swap over to a new build. You can still find a few socket939 chips at Newegg. 939 isn't dead yet!

 

[troymscott]

doormat wake up 939 is dead, AM2 is dead AMD is dead hate to say it but it is true

 

[amd_fanboi]

i wouldn't count them out co quickly... look @ fusion... give them a few more months, and if they keep their slow pace up, then pronounce them dead... as for AM2 being dead, i think that's plain ridiculous... and yes, i am an amd fanboy

 

[doormatderek]

doormat wake up 939 is dead, AM2 is dead AMD is dead hate to say it but it is true

Can't really argue with you there, but lets hope DAMMIT doesnt die I'm trying to skip DD2 completely

 

[troymscott]

nossr

from ASUS
P5N-D

The best platform combining powerful performance with great energy efficiency
- Intel® Core™2 Quad / Core™2 Extreme / Core™2 Duo / Pentium® Extreme / Pentium® D / Pentium® 4 Processors
- NVIDIA® 750i SLI chipset
- ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit)
- ASUS Precision Tweaker 2
- Support PCIe2.0 Dual x16 SLI
- ASUS Q-Shield

that said PCI E 2.0 board and vid card

 

[nossr50]

My bad

 

[troymscott]

Ok I think I got it now.

CASE: CoolerMaster Stacker 830
CPU: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8400
DVD±RW : SAMSUNG SH-S203B/BEBN 20X Burner w/Software
FLOPPY: 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
FAN: CoolerMaster Hyper TX2 Gaming CPU Cooling Fan
HARD DRIVES: RAID-0 with 2 36.7GB Western Digital Rapter 10,000RPM SATA150 16MB Cache WD360ADFD
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5N-D nForce 750i SLI Chipset
MEMORY: 4GB (4x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Memory w/ Heat Spreader
OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit Edition
POWERSUPPLY: Thermaltake ToughPower 600 Watt Power Supply
VIDEO: NVIDIA EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB 16X PCI Express
WIRELESS NETWORK CARD: PCI Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps

I got rid of the idea for the dual DVD. Mainly because someone told me my MOBO will only have 4 SATA connectors, so to save room I killed the idea for the extra DVD drive. I also got rid of the 320GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM for the same reason. I will use my external network drive for all of my data storage. I will use the Raptors for the OS and Program files.

 

[troymscott]

Ok help please I am seriously looking at nossr's suggestion about the 7200.11 over the WD Raptors. What has anyone elses experience been with either of these drives and would you still go the same way or switch to the other

So is it worth the extra performance and way less storage or would i be happy with slightly less performance with way more storage.

Right now it would be 148GB (2 74GB Raptors) vs. 1TB (2 500GB segate 7200.11) only a $2.00 so it is really a price vs. performance question.