Gaming Rig specs

[JRD]

It is never worth overclocking if you don't have the money to replace the hardware you might burn out.

Which can also be read as never OC a laptop

Thanks mate... a straighforward answer!!  :-X

[GPFontaine]

New MaximumPC Article up about do it yourself water cooling:
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/howto_water_cool_your_pc

[PZ]

lol - reads like you're building the cooling system in a car!  Excellent article, GP - thanks for posting.  :-X

[Art Blade]

Having asked wexer9 about his new rig in a different topic, I think it's ok to post his specs here where we'd be more likely to look for it :)

AMD Athlon II X3 440 3.0GHz
Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
Asus EAH5850 Radeon HD 5850
Cooler Master CM690 ATX
Corsair TX Series CMPSU-750TX
G.SKILL ECO Series DDR3 1600MHz 4GB (2x2GB)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 SATA 1TB (x2)
Asus DRW-24B1ST Black SATA
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

[Yxklyx]

Just wanted to mention this in case others have overheating issues:

My computer is about 5-6 years old and I've been upgrading the graphics card over time but I had major temperature issues (crashes at 70-80 celsius) with the Geforce 9800 GT 1GB until I found this card:

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/gaming/gv-n98tsl-1gi

my temps are down to 50 C and there's no noise to boot - one of the best cards I've gotten.

[Art Blade]

wow, a "fanless" card.. more typical for extra silent systems or those with extra potent fans built in :) No wonder you don't hear any noise from it  ;)

[Stryker7]

If anyone is interested, my main computers system specs are as follows.

Case: BTX style Silverstone TJ06 with ..

......  Silverstone AEROSLOTS (No side window)
......  Thermaltake A2309 iCage 5.25" bay convert to 3 x 3.5" HDD Module

PSU : INFORMATION REMOVED as I will not do business with Corsair ever again.

Motherboard : Asus M2N SLI Deluxe ( modded ) to replace the stock NB/SB and power circuit heatpipe  ..

..... Thermalright HR-05 SLI/IFX Northbridge cooler
.....  Enzotech BMR-C1 Forged Copper BGA Ramsinks
.....  Enzotech BCC9 / BMR-C1L Low Profile Forged Copper BGA Ramsinks
.....  Enzotech MOS-C10 Forged Copper
.....  Enzotech MOS-C1 Forged Copper Mosfet Heatsinks

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Black Edition

Memory : INFORMATION REMOVED as I will not do business with Corsair ever again.

Video: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5

Sound : Soundblaster Live Gamer 5.1 (yeah I know, but I do all my gaming with headphones and what I have is more than capable)

Drives:  6 Seagate SATA2

3 = 149 GB
1 = 500 GB
1 = 320 GB
1 = 300 GB
1 Toshiba 1TB SATA2

Asus DVD_Writer w/ Lightscribe DRW-2014L1
Monitor: Samsung Syncmaster 2033SW

Nostromo N52 Gamepad.
WOLF KING TROOPER Gaming Mouse Laser 2200 dpi

[Art Blade]

your rig specs look like a manual for a spaceship  ;D Nice rig  :-X

[PZ]

That's quite a rig - I know who we'll be going to for advice  ;)

[Art Blade]

And if we want to build a lunar lander  ;D

[Stryker7]

Geez guys,  :-[

To be honest, I just had to do my home-w@&k BEFORE I went to newegg.

I am impulsive sometimes, but I am not rich, so I really have to get the most bang for the buck.

I do have a system, like the other 7 or 8 I have built for myself, that is rock solid stable. And my systems last, because I pay attention to the details.

I have built probably 200 computers in the last 15 or so years for others, but .....

How can I say this gently? Some of the people I have built for, have more money than they have sense. As long as it is the most expensive, has the most bells and whistles, as long as it is the coolest  8), they are happy.

The point is, I have learned what works and what doesnt.

But thanks again.

And as far as a lunar lander, that made me chuckle.

One more note, that is why I am having such hell with getting this win7 installed. Everytime I am just about ready to put the DVD in and reboot to install, I find something else that is suppose to be a major problem. But I will w@&k it out, and then I will install.

[PZ]

Good luck with the W7 install  :-X

[Art Blade]

 ;D Good luck, Stryker  :-X

[spearhead_22]

Ahem!
I guess I had to drop in something in this thread.
So....here goes....

ATX Cabinet: iBall B&S Gamer Designer PC Cabinet
Motherboard: Intel DG33FB
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.33 Ghz (I know I know I have to upgrade to an i7! ::)  )
GPU: MSI Nvidia GTX 260 OC Edition, 896 MB
PSU: Coolermaster GX 650W
RAM: Transcend 2 GB DDR2
Monitor: AOC V22
Internal HDD: WD 160 GB
External HDD: WD My Passport Essentials 500 GB
Speakers: Creative 2.1 Channel
Keyboard: Logitech Multimedia Keyboard.
Mouse: Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse (for some reason, I like the ergonomics of this mouse...so have still stuck with it)
Headphone: Logitech Clear Chat Premium PC headphones.

I need to upgrade my PC a little...but can do it only in installments. Can play most of the games in Medium settings. Have to try out the max settings yet. Got the GPU last month.

[Art Blade]

a strong dual core CPU may be better than an eight core CPU (i7 actually is a quad core physically) because the GHz per core are more efficient.. my "8" cores are mostly useless because there are basically no applications that make full use of them. Most of the time only one or two cores are actually busy.

[JRD]

I know I`m tracking this thread very close to when I get my new PC  ^-^

[mandru]

The real advantage that I picked up from the i7 CPU was that it had cooler running temps which was a first consideration when I was building my rig.  I did well and have never had an occurrence of a CPU or other in case reading above 120 F.

I'm anxious for a game to come along that is actually programmed to harnesses those extra threads the i7 is capable of.  I hope it's a good one.  8)

[Art Blade]

"Tetris 3D multi core"

[JRD]

Hahahahaha... or SUPERPONG  ^+-+

[Art Blade]

 ^+-+ :-X

[Stryker7]

a strong dual core CPU may be better than an eight core CPU (i7 actually is a quad core physically) because the GHz per core are more efficient.. my "8" cores are mostly useless because there are basically no applications that make full use of them. Most of the time only one or two cores are actually busy.

As I dont have an 8 core processor, I have a question.

Is it possible to set the affinity on cores 5 thru 8?

I know that you can set the affinity for programs on a 4 core system, just wondering if it is possible to do so with 8.

If so, you could get a REAL performance boost from assigning certain task and/ or applications to certain cores.

[Art Blade]

yes, from the task manager.. you can assign any running program a specific core from 1 to 8 in any combination and count (like 1,5,6,8)

[Didius Falco]

* Thermaltake Soprano mid-tower case w/3 fans - one in front with a filter sucking in, one in the side blowing out (it was originally installed sucking in but I reversed it since I'm a smoker. It keeps the smoke away from my MB/CPU) and one in the back blowing out.

* Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H motherboard

* AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ CPU

* 4 Gigs 800mhz Kingston Ram (2x2)

* MSI Radeon HD 4870 PCIE video card with 512MB of DDR5 ram

* Acer H243HX 24" monitor running at 1920x1080 at 60 Hz

* Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm 750G SATA HDD

* 3 button Microsoft mouse, old fashioned (works best for a left like me) Fellows keyboard

* Lister 4.1 speaker system

* Using onboard 106Db SNR AC889 HD Audio with Dolby

* LG GH22NS50.AYBU10B 22X cd/dvd reader burner

* Corsair HX620W Modular Power Supply with 2 PCIE 6+2 connectors

In less than a week, I'll be replacing the video card with a Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD5970 2GB card.  In September I'll be moving up to  an AMD Phenom II X6 1055T CPU and replacing the ram with G.Skill Ripjaws 1600 Mhz 2x2 Gigs.

[Art Blade]

nice rig already and impressive once you've got those upgrades in place  :-X

[Binnatics]

Think it's time to post my Rig as well. Here it is:

Binnatics' Rig:

Motherboard:         Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P
CPU:                     AMD Phenom II 955 black edition (quad core with 3,2 Ghz)
Graphicscard:        ASUS ENGTX570 Direct-CU-II Recently upgraded
Int. mem:             2X2Gb Patriot Extr. Perf. Viper (pc3-12800 1600 mhz, 7-7-7-20)
Powersuppl:         Cooler Master Real Power M620 (620 watt output
Case:                   Cooler Master Centurion 590 Midi tower (with nice shining blue leds in frontfan)
Sound:                 Logitech S200 black, 2 speakers and subwoofer
Headseat:            Creative Soundblaster Arena Headset
Monitor:               Brandless 19" 3-4 flatscreen (to be ungraded)
Hard disks:            2X 250 Gb in Raid 0 config.
Optical drive:        Sony DVD-RW +/-
Keyboard:             Microsoft basic Keyboard 1.0A
Mouse:                 Revoltec Fighting mouse Pro. (laser tech, for ultimate precision)
Oper.system:        Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit
Paper-device:       HP Photosmart C5380 All-in-One


Well, that's it atm. I am planning on upgrading my monitor. I am still dreaming of a Solid State Disc. But since that would make a lot of w%&k installing and reconfiguring, it'll be a longterm desire ;)