- Mar 4, 2010
- 9
- 0
- 18,510
I will try to keep this brief, for the benefit of those with ADD.
I have a 1st Gen Mac Pro w/Radeon X1900 512MB & 23" WS LCD - Now. I play predominately World of Warcraft - its playable now - but slow - and when Cataclysm hits, it will be no doubt unplayable.
I want to try nVidia's 3D Vision system. I also won't be coming into this kind of money again for at least 4 yrs - so I wanted to get something I can upgrade.
If ppl can take a look at what I have now, and offer opinions such as what I should beef up, what is overkill, what has better alternatives ... I'd appreciate it. The only component I'm not tickled pink with is the case .. but to be fair - I didn't like any case I could find except the Level10 - and I'm not paying the price for that.
Here is my component list, followed by comments:
----------------------
CPU Intel Core i7 930 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 2.8GHZ 8MB L3 Cache 130W 45NM Retail Box
MB Intel DX58SO Smackover LGA1366 ATX DDR3 2PCIE-16 PCI-E4 2PCI-E1 PCI eSATA 1394 SPDIF Motherboard
ADDON NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision Stereoscopic 3D Shutter Glasses Kit USB
HDD Intel X25-M 80GB 34NM Postville 2.5IN SSD SATA Solid State Disk Flash Drive
MEM Kingston KVR1333D3N9/2G 2GB 1X2GB DDR3-1333 NON-ECC CL9 240PIN DIMM Memory Module x 3CASE Lian Li Armorsuit PC-P80 Black Aluminum EATX Case 12X5.25 6X3.5INT No PS W/ Blue LED Fans
PSU Antec Truepower New 750W Modular Power Supply ATX Active PFC 80 Plus SLI Ready Blue 120MM PWM Fan
CPUFAN Thermaltake SpinQ Heatpipe CPU Cooler Heatsink LGA1366 AM2+ W/ 80MM 1600RPM 28DBA Fan
SOUND Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI Titanium FATAL1TY Champion PCI-E 1X 24BIT Sound Card 7.1 Optical
GRFX EVGA E-GEFORCE GTX 285 648MHZ 1024MB 2.484GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card
MONITOR Acer GD235HZ Bid 23.6IN 3D Ready 120HZ Widescreen LCD Monitor 1920X1080 80000:1DC 2MS DVI HDMI
MOUSE Microsoft Habu Laser Gaming Mouse USB 2000 DPI BLACK/BLUE Powered by Razer
KEYBD Razer Lycosa Gaming Ultrapolling Keyboard Black USB Programmable Blue Backlight NON-SLIP Keys
OPTICAL Liteon IHOS104 4X BLU-RAY Reader BD-ROM Drive SATA Black Retail Box
OS Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Edition 64BIT DVD OEM
----------------------
I chose the CPU because of the LGA1366 socket. The 775 was around for a few years .. Everything I read says that the i7 1366 socket will be the new socket type for the next little bit.
I originally went with an ASUS P6T mainboard but I started reading some not-so-nice reviews on it .. and I didn't like the air flow design. I went with the Intel DX58SO because of good reviews, and the ram / sockets are all positioned properly to offer the "thermal tunnel" type air flow I desire .. Air should move in, flow freely past hot components, and out .. not reflect, and circulate inside the case.
Went with an SSD hard drive purely because of the speed. I don't plan on having more than two-three games installed at any given time .. so I am not worried about speed. I have a RAID File Server on my home network for Photos, Music, etc.. so space requirements for those are non-issue.
I selected the DDR3-1333 memory because when I checked for recommended memory, the faster DDR3 had (O.C.) next to it. I do not overclock my systems .. I'd rather get a system with a bit more horsepower and underclock it for increased stability, rather than overclock it with the occasional crash. I mean seriously.. Right now I have a Dual Processor Xeon with 8GB of ECC memory .. I love stability. I went with 6GB just because the cost to get more is negligible and windows 7 no doubt would be happier with more than 2GB.
Lian-Li's cases are some of the few simple/innovative, yet functional, types that I like... this case was listed on nVidia's site as being SLI certified.. and the case layout and fan design supports back-to-front thermal tunneling air flow.
PSU. I have had good experience, with past PC builds, with Antec. (should be noted that my last PC build was an AMD Athlon XP system .. switched to Mac after that .. so its been awhile). I originally put down a 1000W power supply .. but I was reading other people's posts on this site that said that's overkill for a single GTX 285 ... So I bumped it down to a 750W. It has 4x12v Rails too .. I have no idea what a rail is .. nor why I'd need four of them .. but having 2 or more was also indicated on this site as being 'good'.
I chose the CPU fan because the fan is a back-to-front design, as opposed to a radiating design. I want to interfere with internal case airflow as little as possible on this build .. so this heatsink / fan seemed like the perfect choice.
I went with Soundblaster mostly because I always put a soundblaster into my systems... I have a pair of Tritton AXPro headphones .. with an Optical connection between the computer and its Dolby Processor .. probably this card would complement that quite nicely. I also like the front controls on this SB.
The Graphics card is the only component that I didn't compromise on for price. In my experience, it is the graphics card that is going to make/break games more than any other component ... and since I won't be doing any hefty upgrades for at least 4 years .. I consider going with the top notch one my best strategy. I originally wanted to get a GTX 295 - but I couldn't source one. I'm not all that clear on what the difference is between these cards - I read that some of them have a higher number, but are really two or more lesser GPUs on the same card... No actual feature improvement on-chip. I picked EVGA because review after review I checked (except for one guy that was clearly an idiot) had nothing but raving good reviews of the card and the company. I have gone ATI for all my cards in the past .. and this time I will be going nVidia - I know the current ATIs are better .. but that's just what I want.
Monitor .. I have a 22" .. I really wanted to go up to a 27" ... or at least a 24" .. but there are no available 24" 120Hz LCD Monitors on the market right now. I originally was going to jump on the Acer GD245HQ .. but that is clearly unavailable at the moment. My choices boiled down to a Samsung, Viewsonic, or the Acer. I've had both Samsung and Viewsonic LCDs before .. albeit early LCD models .. the Samsung was not bright .. so I got a Viewsonic vp191 .. and it had horrible response time .. I know things have improved over time .. but I figured I'd go with Acer this time .. I liked the red base too
Keyboard / Mouse - Just picked some things I thought I'd like. Right now I use the full-size Apple keyboard with a Microsoft Intellimouse 5-button Optical. If I could still buy those original Intellimice I would .. I love them ..but alas .. My buttons are failing on mine after 5 years of Warcraft mashing ... so I think I should get a new one. I use all 5 buttons when playing too - so I figured I should get a good gaming mouse. I am NOT a fan of the big fancy over-sized gaming keyboards .. I want a plain ole 104 Key keyboard with the keys all in the proper spots. This keyboard looked nice .. resembled what I'm after .. and has a few extra features that I can ease into ..
Optical - I have DVD Burners, Readers / Writers throughout my house on all my other computers - not too worried about burning capability on this computer. What I am worried about is Blu-Ray capability. I want to be able to watch Blu-Ray movies .. and when they start pumping out 3D BluRay movies .. I want to be able to get first-peeks using my setup.
Went with Windows 7 because its latest and its not Vista. Do not want XP. went with Pro over Ultimate because I don't need all the extra settings.
I look forward to people's opinions and suggestions. I ask that you keep in mind my needs. I am a Warcraft Player that wants to be comfortably playable still in four years .. not much more. Thanks.
I have a 1st Gen Mac Pro w/Radeon X1900 512MB & 23" WS LCD - Now. I play predominately World of Warcraft - its playable now - but slow - and when Cataclysm hits, it will be no doubt unplayable.
I want to try nVidia's 3D Vision system. I also won't be coming into this kind of money again for at least 4 yrs - so I wanted to get something I can upgrade.
If ppl can take a look at what I have now, and offer opinions such as what I should beef up, what is overkill, what has better alternatives ... I'd appreciate it. The only component I'm not tickled pink with is the case .. but to be fair - I didn't like any case I could find except the Level10 - and I'm not paying the price for that.
Here is my component list, followed by comments:
----------------------
CPU Intel Core i7 930 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 2.8GHZ 8MB L3 Cache 130W 45NM Retail Box
MB Intel DX58SO Smackover LGA1366 ATX DDR3 2PCIE-16 PCI-E4 2PCI-E1 PCI eSATA 1394 SPDIF Motherboard
ADDON NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision Stereoscopic 3D Shutter Glasses Kit USB
HDD Intel X25-M 80GB 34NM Postville 2.5IN SSD SATA Solid State Disk Flash Drive
MEM Kingston KVR1333D3N9/2G 2GB 1X2GB DDR3-1333 NON-ECC CL9 240PIN DIMM Memory Module x 3CASE Lian Li Armorsuit PC-P80 Black Aluminum EATX Case 12X5.25 6X3.5INT No PS W/ Blue LED Fans
PSU Antec Truepower New 750W Modular Power Supply ATX Active PFC 80 Plus SLI Ready Blue 120MM PWM Fan
CPUFAN Thermaltake SpinQ Heatpipe CPU Cooler Heatsink LGA1366 AM2+ W/ 80MM 1600RPM 28DBA Fan
SOUND Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI Titanium FATAL1TY Champion PCI-E 1X 24BIT Sound Card 7.1 Optical
GRFX EVGA E-GEFORCE GTX 285 648MHZ 1024MB 2.484GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card
MONITOR Acer GD235HZ Bid 23.6IN 3D Ready 120HZ Widescreen LCD Monitor 1920X1080 80000:1DC 2MS DVI HDMI
MOUSE Microsoft Habu Laser Gaming Mouse USB 2000 DPI BLACK/BLUE Powered by Razer
KEYBD Razer Lycosa Gaming Ultrapolling Keyboard Black USB Programmable Blue Backlight NON-SLIP Keys
OPTICAL Liteon IHOS104 4X BLU-RAY Reader BD-ROM Drive SATA Black Retail Box
OS Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Edition 64BIT DVD OEM
----------------------
I chose the CPU because of the LGA1366 socket. The 775 was around for a few years .. Everything I read says that the i7 1366 socket will be the new socket type for the next little bit.
I originally went with an ASUS P6T mainboard but I started reading some not-so-nice reviews on it .. and I didn't like the air flow design. I went with the Intel DX58SO because of good reviews, and the ram / sockets are all positioned properly to offer the "thermal tunnel" type air flow I desire .. Air should move in, flow freely past hot components, and out .. not reflect, and circulate inside the case.
Went with an SSD hard drive purely because of the speed. I don't plan on having more than two-three games installed at any given time .. so I am not worried about speed. I have a RAID File Server on my home network for Photos, Music, etc.. so space requirements for those are non-issue.
I selected the DDR3-1333 memory because when I checked for recommended memory, the faster DDR3 had (O.C.) next to it. I do not overclock my systems .. I'd rather get a system with a bit more horsepower and underclock it for increased stability, rather than overclock it with the occasional crash. I mean seriously.. Right now I have a Dual Processor Xeon with 8GB of ECC memory .. I love stability. I went with 6GB just because the cost to get more is negligible and windows 7 no doubt would be happier with more than 2GB.
Lian-Li's cases are some of the few simple/innovative, yet functional, types that I like... this case was listed on nVidia's site as being SLI certified.. and the case layout and fan design supports back-to-front thermal tunneling air flow.
PSU. I have had good experience, with past PC builds, with Antec. (should be noted that my last PC build was an AMD Athlon XP system .. switched to Mac after that .. so its been awhile). I originally put down a 1000W power supply .. but I was reading other people's posts on this site that said that's overkill for a single GTX 285 ... So I bumped it down to a 750W. It has 4x12v Rails too .. I have no idea what a rail is .. nor why I'd need four of them .. but having 2 or more was also indicated on this site as being 'good'.
I chose the CPU fan because the fan is a back-to-front design, as opposed to a radiating design. I want to interfere with internal case airflow as little as possible on this build .. so this heatsink / fan seemed like the perfect choice.
I went with Soundblaster mostly because I always put a soundblaster into my systems... I have a pair of Tritton AXPro headphones .. with an Optical connection between the computer and its Dolby Processor .. probably this card would complement that quite nicely. I also like the front controls on this SB.
The Graphics card is the only component that I didn't compromise on for price. In my experience, it is the graphics card that is going to make/break games more than any other component ... and since I won't be doing any hefty upgrades for at least 4 years .. I consider going with the top notch one my best strategy. I originally wanted to get a GTX 295 - but I couldn't source one. I'm not all that clear on what the difference is between these cards - I read that some of them have a higher number, but are really two or more lesser GPUs on the same card... No actual feature improvement on-chip. I picked EVGA because review after review I checked (except for one guy that was clearly an idiot) had nothing but raving good reviews of the card and the company. I have gone ATI for all my cards in the past .. and this time I will be going nVidia - I know the current ATIs are better .. but that's just what I want.
Monitor .. I have a 22" .. I really wanted to go up to a 27" ... or at least a 24" .. but there are no available 24" 120Hz LCD Monitors on the market right now. I originally was going to jump on the Acer GD245HQ .. but that is clearly unavailable at the moment. My choices boiled down to a Samsung, Viewsonic, or the Acer. I've had both Samsung and Viewsonic LCDs before .. albeit early LCD models .. the Samsung was not bright .. so I got a Viewsonic vp191 .. and it had horrible response time .. I know things have improved over time .. but I figured I'd go with Acer this time .. I liked the red base too
Keyboard / Mouse - Just picked some things I thought I'd like. Right now I use the full-size Apple keyboard with a Microsoft Intellimouse 5-button Optical. If I could still buy those original Intellimice I would .. I love them ..but alas .. My buttons are failing on mine after 5 years of Warcraft mashing ... so I think I should get a new one. I use all 5 buttons when playing too - so I figured I should get a good gaming mouse. I am NOT a fan of the big fancy over-sized gaming keyboards .. I want a plain ole 104 Key keyboard with the keys all in the proper spots. This keyboard looked nice .. resembled what I'm after .. and has a few extra features that I can ease into ..
Optical - I have DVD Burners, Readers / Writers throughout my house on all my other computers - not too worried about burning capability on this computer. What I am worried about is Blu-Ray capability. I want to be able to watch Blu-Ray movies .. and when they start pumping out 3D BluRay movies .. I want to be able to get first-peeks using my setup.
Went with Windows 7 because its latest and its not Vista. Do not want XP. went with Pro over Ultimate because I don't need all the extra settings.
I look forward to people's opinions and suggestions. I ask that you keep in mind my needs. I am a Warcraft Player that wants to be comfortably playable still in four years .. not much more. Thanks.
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