yahu

iTrader: (55)

nice writeup, Scott. I should have sent this out much sooner but Intel does a LAN party every 4 - 6 months and there is one this coming weekend. It is very casual, but they have really good prizes, and the entry fee ($25, which all goes to charity) gets you food, soda, and entry into the main raffle which is where most of the prizes come from.

Anyhoo, I agree with you on nvidia. I've tried and failed too many times over the years with ATI (now AMD) and their driver support. Unfortunately I haven't had the best luck with AMD procs due in large part to stability of their released designs. Some of this is due to the motherboards, but I've had pre-release procs that were in the retail channel as well (I worked heavily with AMD at the time and verified this). Nothing pissed me off more than spending hours upon hours figuring my system issues out only to find I shouldn't even have the proc I was running. I know they have gotten better, but I've been burned too much in the past.

As for Intel, I know their past isn't squeaky clean either, but their level of QC is much better (I worked heavily with Intel as well). I've thankfully had no problems with my Intel products, and I've been able to consistently overclock to a much higher/more stable degree than AMD products, and I'm willing to pay a bit extra for that. That really all comes down to person experience though, and I have plenty of friends that are more gung ho toward AMD.

BTW with all that cooling, are you overclocking? I've normally had my air cooled systems over 4GHz, and when I have done water cooled I'm obviously even higher. I personally can't stand the Reserator, but to each his own. I'm currently out of water cooling as I lean toward SFF now for mobility sake. I have a nice little setup now using a µATX clocked to 4.12GHz on air cooling in a case that can fit in a plastic storage bin with all of my other LAN goodies (headphones, keyboards, mice, etc.). The office computer is an i7 but I don't really do much gaming on it.

yahu

iTrader: (55)

Cedric - look into an nvidia-based motherboard for AMD procs.

RallyDSM

iTrader: (21)

beat me to it.... but that did make me look at my post and I did have the wrong board ID posted.... it's the 98 TD EVO, not the 85 TD EVO. My bad. Sorry about the confusion.

RallyDSM

iTrader: (21)

I do overclock both my machines but I don't think I am done pushing the new 3.5 gig AMD yet. Over 4.0 no problem but I go down that path pretty slowly.

I am currently working out my own "mystery mix" of coolant (can you say "methanol"?) and experimenting with additional cooling options. In fact, I have inline radiators now that are seeing 38-39 temps pretty consistantly. Once I hit a steady 35-ish, I'm going to go for a 4.2 - 4.5 oc. ??? Also waiting on getting some stable 2000+ oc memory. Recommend any?

My OC options with the ROC Formula IV mainboard are much better but the big drawback is that it carries the ATI video chipset so I will never get my nVidea 3D working there unless I go single car (which is why I am seriously considering the new 580 GTX).

Having said that... I keep reading tanuts about the new 6990 from ATi and the new 595 GTX coming from nVidia. Wholly Crow!!! Simply amazing these things!!! Single PCB with dual GPU... a satisfactory solution for the Formula MB

Of course, it looks like the vast majority of my cooling is going to the GPUs from now on.

I am curious about your comments about AMD Proc failures... I've not heard that before. Makes me a bit nervous as to how far to push. My 970 seems very stable and runs really cool with all the prep work (props to arctic silver) and aggressive cooling.

Scott

DecepticonsMR

iTrader: (7)

Everyone has great setups here! Was a long time pc guy, then switched! Couldn't be more happier. I play CS, SC 2, mainly play console games now, PS3 mainly. GT5 and Black ops.

yahu

iTrader: (55)

I think I missed your previous posts, Scott. I've had the best luck oc'ing Corsair dominator series, but higher-end OCZ has done me well too. I agree about the new cards; crazy stuff and I'll have a hard time not upgrading!

As for my AMD proc failures, take them with a grain of salt. It just happened to be my personal experience (I guess I got "lucky) and that was several generations of processors ago. I would still be willing to run an AMD setup, I just haven't bothered at this point as I'm happy with what Intel has given me since.

As for cooling, I usually stick with ceramique, which is actually made by Arctic Cooling (I think they bought out the company that originally made it). I have also had extremely good success with http://www.coollaboratory.com/ products. Specifically the Liquid Pro (I haven't used their Liquid Ultra yet). It is a bit more of a pain to apply but well worth it, IMO. I imagine you could really fugg someone up with that stuff seeing as it ships in a syringe!

Graphic

iTrader: (13)

Hey don't forget RAM latency. You can have slower clocked ram that actually runs faster due to sync times.

Like previously mentioned, put $$ into your video card. That is definitely great bang for your buck! Do research on your cards. Don't be biased when it comes to ATI(AMD) or Nvidia. Both are great, I've had both for years. Do research IE: Tom's Hardware, AnAndTech, etc.. I'm running a nice Niveus box. Thing is ******* .

Also Asus makes great sound cards! I'm running an Asus Xonar D2. I love it, on the other hand, I don't think spending the money on a sound card is anywhere worth it! Don't waste your money, go buy a nice receiver\stereo, which will outlast your sound card. Trust me! Also nice headphones like yahu said. I have Zalman 5.1 they're old but they are true 5.1. I believe they have 7+ now through USB interface instead of 3.5mm. (These headphones actually have a 5.1 speaker setup in them.)

When buying a case, if doing air cooled that is. Make sure the power supply intake fan is not close to the CPU unless the CPU has its own separate air duct straight to it. Any setup like that will tend to draw air away and reduce cooling.

Don't forget to... take your time! Get a nice mainboard, with great support just in case there are any issues. I've always gone with Asus but there are many great competitors out there with amazing warranties and service. I'm sure you already know since you're a big gamer

Lastly, I’ve always found it better to spend a little less on a machine since computers depreciate so fast. I tend to sell my boxes and buy a new one every 6 months. Lately that hasn’t been so, since I don’t really play many games on it anymore. Been playing Christ Box 360

Yahu, what is SFF?

Graphic

iTrader: (13)

How often have you been playing Forza?

MR_Evo206

iTrader: (8)

I play WoW hahaha yes, sad I know...

billabong687

iTrader: (1)

haha no WoW for me... i wouldnt want any girl to know i played that game... i stick to COD MW2... black ops sucked, only good thing about that game is the zombie mod.

drocksmash

Most don't really see a difference from what i have seen.... either you play video games or you don't, regardless of what you play don't be the stereotypical video gamer and you are fine. ... GF hates it when i play too much of any game, wow or xbox.

edogg23

iTrader: (2)

I don't do much gaming on my pc because i usually play on the xbox 360.
I bought an quad core intel i7 920 almost exactly 2 years ago and overclocked it to 4ghz and it is still pretty much as fast as anything you can get. I'm pretty surprised how slowly cpu's are progressing these days.

MikePL

iTrader: (9)

What's up..not from WA but this looks like an interesting thread. I'm starting a new build right now. I picked up a i7-970 proc. through work for cheap. I paid 450+ s/h for it. And I picked up two 160gb intel SSD's for 200 a piece. Not a bad start. I could get more FYI. pm.

My current system is:

AMD phenom X4 965 black edition 3.4ghz
8 gigs patriot gaming DDR3 1600? 7-7-7-20 timings (claimed to work best with black edition CPU)
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe Board
Corsair Modular 750Watt PSU
Radeon HD5770
160gb intel SSD (one of the ones I just got)
Corsair H50 Hydro series CPU cooler
Antec 902 Case (favorite case to work on ever)

^ That build is about a year old right now so eh.

I don't plan on going crazy with this new build, because of the price I got on the parts I want to keep it relatively cheap.

edogg23

iTrader: (2)

Nice... I think i paid 200 for an intel 80gb ssd last year.

RallyDSM

iTrader: (21)

Stripe them bad boys and have faster than instant seek. Look up a video on youtube about a guy that striped 24 SSD's... insane!!!

By the way all, I just invested in a new LED 120 hz 24 inch monitor. OMG!!!!

The HUGE difference comes in that things remain recognizable and clear while you turn, jump and run.... unlike my other 24" 2ms Asus (awesome monitor by the way) that blurs a bit when turning fast or jumping.

The 120 hz makes ALL the difference. I've not had a game under 4000 points since. It's a BIG advantage. I definitely recommend it.

Scott