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Configuring PC from hardwareversand.de - advice needed
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13-03-2009 12:51pm#1
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First problem: Reliability issues with overclocking are a drop in the ocean compared to issues with CrossFire. Which is nothing compared to issues with overvolted PC8500 RAM, especially offering from OCZ. And that's stable in comparison to the issues you'll have with SLi. Guess which two you've gone for?
If you want stability get a bigger, stronger single card, or at the most a dual-GPU card, not two midrange nVidia cards straight up, that's begging for trouble and forces you to use the nForce platform, which isn't the best for heat or reliability.
What are you intending to do with this rig other than games? If you're not going to be playing GTA IV or doing heavy applications/multimedia that quad is merry overkill - the third and fourth cores won't be utilised by games or other non-massively-multithreaded applications. You could switch to a E8600 instead, save money and get better performance when you need it. If you like GTA IV though, you'll need at least a tri-core to avoid getting a CPU bottleneck even using one 9800GTX! Getting a decent AM2+ mobo and a X4-940BE should give you just as much performace as the Q9650 for less. Or if you do downsize the CPU you could get an AM3 mobo and an X3-720BE - there's not that big a difference between DDR2 and DDR3 prices anymore even without counting performance gains. I know you don't want to overclock, but those two BE (Black Edition) CPUs can be overclocked by increasing their multiplier, so they can be tweaked for a little more speed a lot easier than any Intel processor under €900
If you rethink the OC business (for the CPU only) the BEs are very noob- and maintenance-friendly. But even without OC you might want a better CPU cooler than stock...
Two 9800GTX is an odd choice - why not a single GTX260+ or even a cheap GTX280 (if you find a good deal)? That means you could plump for an Intel/AMD mobo while ditching the many problems associated with SLi. If you don't want to overclock your CPU you sure as hell won't enjoy the epic fiddling needed to maintain an SLi rig - it sure ain't plug and play.
I wouldn't recommend XP64 to anyone. If you can, live with the lost RAM and stick with XP until Windows 7 64bit hits retail. If you can't (or need a new OS license) get Vista 64.
Your headset probably sucks. Your sound card certainly does. You could get a cheapie Audigy ZS and use modded drivers to get the same features (as a Live 64, ZS and X-Audio are all identical! And all suck.) for a lot less. If you don't need those feautures, chuck it and live with onboard audio. If you actually want good sound you're looking at getting at least an XtremeMusic, or possibly an XtremeGamer. And those cost a fair bit.
Why are you getting that LAN adapter? All modern mobos have 10/100 LAN built in (most have Gigabit Ethernet nowadays!) And do you actually need a floppy drive?! Card readers are usually more common nowadays (why the hell lug bulky 1.44MB plastic wafers when you can fit 2-32GB on the tip of your finger? :P) Can't you steal one from an old comp if you actually need one??
Cases can be subjective, but I can say that SFC knock-off is pretty sucky. A cheaper Coolermaster would beat it to death in terms of cooling, looks and build quality.0 -
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Hmm... Retard-head over here only just checked the E8600 prices and didn't know they were carrying that much of a premium still. D'oh. ~€250 is a bit much for a non-Extreme Edition dual-core
You could stick with it or drop to a E8500 (3.16GHz x 2) which remains under €175. By comparison the slower (2.8GHz x 3) AMD X3-720BE costs under €135 and that third core comes in real handy if you get stuck with something that does need a bit more horsepower than two processing cores can provide alone. With gaming there are an increasing number of titles that can use the third core but only one game so far chokes on any less than that. Your choice.
Not really important to you but I noticed that the X4-940BE is now a full €100 cheaper than the Q9650 (both 3GHz quads, although the Intel chip is stronger). Interesting...
Memory-wise that Corsair looks like good value. PC6400 does have the strength of working "out of the box" most of the time, PC8500 usually requires tweaking and overvolting (because its really overvolted PC6400 - sneaky!)
Mobo is a good 'un if you go the C2D route.
GTX285 is a monster. 'Nuff said. What size monitor are we taliing about here though? Unless its native resolution is 1900x1200 that card almost borders on (very expensive) overkill Kills me that the Club GTX260++ and the HD4850X2 are both out of stock, but there are some reliability issues with the latter so maybe its best left alone. BEAR IN MIND that an Intel mobo can't support SLi, so if you did go multicard in future (if) it'd have to be ATi cards.
PSU: Oh dear. We've entered the land of merry overkill here. 650W would be too much. 750W is just barmy. If you're only going to be using one GTX and have a 65W or 95W CPU then that thing is completely unneccessary. Go for a decent 550W etc. Go for either the Earthwatts 650W or the Corsair VX550, both are top-notch PSUs, and there isn't that much competition (if there had been a 550W Earthwatts for a lot less it would have been easy but life's never that simple...)
Case: Okay... that's a big change from your first choice... The downside is that it only comes with one combobay and two fans (for a total of 3)... and do you really need a possible eight fans? Nice case but there could be better in that price range. Antec Three Hundred is a good alternative - why did it have to be sold out?! :mad: The Coolermaster Elite 330 is also a known pedigree for quality budget cases (€30-40!) although it lacks the mad amount of fans.
Get back to me about your monitor - that graphics card may almost be a waste of money if it isn't cutting edge as well.0 -
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RoyalMarineComm wrote:i have 8gb ddr2 and find it perfect for oc. running @ 3 3 3 and never gave an ounce of trouble. maybe its just luck, fingers crossed.
CL3?! What speed/voltage?! And what part number?? I know that OCZ is having tons of trouble with recent batches of DDR2 Platinum and Reaper (especially ones rated for speeds above 800MHz), I bought a 4GB Platinum kit just before I found out and lo and behold it won't run at rated despite chipset tweaking. I also noticed that data on the Platinum is all over the place, OCZ claims you should need no more than 2.0V or at worst 2.05V but the rated part voltage has risen from 2.1V to 2.15V and now 2.2V, at which I can barely keep mine stable. Then again that's nowhere near the worst - I've seen Reaper that needs a whopping 2.4V just to stay at CL4... at 800MHz. My old Team Elite could do that at 1.9V... and that's an old PC5300 part! The OCZ foums seem to continue the trend of fail as well (soooo many people screaming for RMA).
That said, I haven't seen as much anger directed at their branded modules (SLI, Fata1ity etc.) or older sets and have had good experiences with Fata1ity myself. It just looks like OCZ had such a meh shipment of PC6400 they saved the high-binned sets for the branded kits and left the mainstream kits with the slightly duddy ones :rolleyes: Its not like we're talking about "Crucial's Amazing Detonating RAM" here (that's why many are nervous of RAM with a voltage requirement increasing with every batch), just modules that aren't quite hitting their rated speeds (technically a fail and RMA issue but the problem is so minor most people just can't be bothered). The issue is sixpack doesn't want to be messing around with OCing and although most MSI boards can read EPP (even Intel ones!) profiles for PC8500 you'd still need to up the voltage manually and messing with slightly-dodgy RAM would drive him bonkers 0 -
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My current monitor is a fairly low quality Samsung 21" LCD
Yeah, but is it 1680x1050 or 1900x1200? That's the biggest problem as LCD screens don't like being run at lower-than-native resolution Its probably the former and a stock HD4870 1GB or GTX260 can run very high settings quite happily. If it is the latter then you might need the GTX285 if you insist on very high quality settings, or live with a slight reduction in the AA department 
As for your current choice? There isn't really that much difference in terms of performance or power uasge between 55nm and 65nm GTX260+ or the HD4870 1GB but the OCd version you picked may have enough of a boost to just pull ahead of a stock HD4870, especially if the monitor does run at 1900x1200. A stock HD4870, however, can be had for under €190, while all the cheaper GTX260+ are out of stock
Avoid the bog-standard GTX260, there seems to be a few floating around there a fair bit cheaper than the GTX260+ but they're inferior to even a HD4870.
What's up with the sudden change in mobo? In any case you'll be stuck looking for a model with dual IDE if you want to run three IDE drives, and I don't think that's very common nowadays
Case is nice, a bit pricey but its quality. Shame HWVS don't seem to have the revised version of the 900 yet. Good news is that the 900 should come with two combobays as standard plus the top and rear fans, so you'll be well kitted out and as those are pretty decent fans you shouldn't have to buy replacements straight off the bat 0 -
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