First post, relatively new reader of these boards... gotta say I really appreciate the wealth of good information here.
First a little background: I am a pretty heavy user of computers. Gaming: MMO addict (WOW currently, Warhammer when it comes out too). Work: extensive graphics (i.e. Adobe Creative Suite), workflow, project mgmt, and presentations (a LOT of this). Home: high-end digital photography and some low-end HD video, some web development and programming. Now, in the past, I have generally tried to separate gaming from all other stuff, building 2 rigs instead of 1 that can do it all. This hasn't been so much a HW issue as it has been a safety issue - can't have my gaming goodness potentially impact the critical work stuff.
So fast forward to today... both my current rigs are having major issues, and I suspect it is due to them both having very similar builds (the only difference is the RAID configuration), and more specifically, both are using geforce 7900 GTX in SLI (and Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe, 2G DDR400 PC3200 RAM, Enermax 620W PSU, Athlon FX-60, Thermaltake Armor full tower case, SB X-Fi Plat, and Arctic Freezer Pro 64). Basically both rigs are locking up / freezing and becoming increasingly unreliable. For example, the gaming rig which has been able to run 2 instances of WOW without any hickups is now crashing to BSOD, or else just freezing. Strangely, the work comp is also doing the same without any gameplay - eventually the screen just locks or doesn't come back from the black screen even though the PC is still powered on. I have literally spent weeks trying to diagnose various things (from cooling to drivers to RAM to BIOS to MB to malware/virus to other components) and all are showing clear except the inevitable graphic lockups. Some research has basically told me that the most likely cause are the 7900 GTX cards, and that I may have even been lucky to get 2 solid years out of them... and also that the nvidia mobo is apparently a very moody animal. Anyway, I digress... Ironically, despite my anger with the nvidia cards, I have ordered a temporary replacement for the 7900 GTX cards atm: 8800 GT until I build new rigs. Hoping this will get me the fix till then.
Now at the time (little over 2 years ago), these rigs were considered pretty high-end. Problem was I went with stuff (specifically mobo and gfx cards) that turned out to be less than reliable. I definitely do not want to do that again. Furthermore, it seems that the much safer route is to get a mid-range system with proven HW, spend less money and potentially upgrade/rebuild more often? I can say with pretty high certainty that I am not gonna be building any leading edge / high-end stuff again... what an incredible money sink.
So, what do you guys think? Is my original precaution of separating gaming and all else into 2 rigs still appropriate? Seems like it would be. Also, should the rig build be different for each if I stick with this philosophy? If so, any suggestions are welcome.
Equipment guidlines that I am thinking of living with:
** stay away from Athlon CPU (Intel seems to be just way better these days), prolly a no-brainer atm
** stay away from nvidia mobos
** stay away from nvidia graphic cards (not so sure about this last one, but I am pretty pissed atm)
** stay away from Asus mobos??
** wide open on PSU, RAM, and other suggestions. Oh, and it seems that RAID seems less useful than I used to think (still have my server configured this way, but desktop RAID might be overkill)
First a little background: I am a pretty heavy user of computers. Gaming: MMO addict (WOW currently, Warhammer when it comes out too). Work: extensive graphics (i.e. Adobe Creative Suite), workflow, project mgmt, and presentations (a LOT of this). Home: high-end digital photography and some low-end HD video, some web development and programming. Now, in the past, I have generally tried to separate gaming from all other stuff, building 2 rigs instead of 1 that can do it all. This hasn't been so much a HW issue as it has been a safety issue - can't have my gaming goodness potentially impact the critical work stuff.
So fast forward to today... both my current rigs are having major issues, and I suspect it is due to them both having very similar builds (the only difference is the RAID configuration), and more specifically, both are using geforce 7900 GTX in SLI (and Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe, 2G DDR400 PC3200 RAM, Enermax 620W PSU, Athlon FX-60, Thermaltake Armor full tower case, SB X-Fi Plat, and Arctic Freezer Pro 64). Basically both rigs are locking up / freezing and becoming increasingly unreliable. For example, the gaming rig which has been able to run 2 instances of WOW without any hickups is now crashing to BSOD, or else just freezing. Strangely, the work comp is also doing the same without any gameplay - eventually the screen just locks or doesn't come back from the black screen even though the PC is still powered on. I have literally spent weeks trying to diagnose various things (from cooling to drivers to RAM to BIOS to MB to malware/virus to other components) and all are showing clear except the inevitable graphic lockups. Some research has basically told me that the most likely cause are the 7900 GTX cards, and that I may have even been lucky to get 2 solid years out of them... and also that the nvidia mobo is apparently a very moody animal. Anyway, I digress... Ironically, despite my anger with the nvidia cards, I have ordered a temporary replacement for the 7900 GTX cards atm: 8800 GT until I build new rigs. Hoping this will get me the fix till then.
Now at the time (little over 2 years ago), these rigs were considered pretty high-end. Problem was I went with stuff (specifically mobo and gfx cards) that turned out to be less than reliable. I definitely do not want to do that again. Furthermore, it seems that the much safer route is to get a mid-range system with proven HW, spend less money and potentially upgrade/rebuild more often? I can say with pretty high certainty that I am not gonna be building any leading edge / high-end stuff again... what an incredible money sink.
So, what do you guys think? Is my original precaution of separating gaming and all else into 2 rigs still appropriate? Seems like it would be. Also, should the rig build be different for each if I stick with this philosophy? If so, any suggestions are welcome.
Equipment guidlines that I am thinking of living with:
** stay away from Athlon CPU (Intel seems to be just way better these days), prolly a no-brainer atm
** stay away from nvidia mobos
** stay away from nvidia graphic cards (not so sure about this last one, but I am pretty pissed atm)
** stay away from Asus mobos??
** wide open on PSU, RAM, and other suggestions. Oh, and it seems that RAID seems less useful than I used to think (still have my server configured this way, but desktop RAID might be overkill)