11bnth new rig thread, going ibuypower this time...

[Proletariat]

Alright, after poking around a bit with ibuypower's weekly gamer special, this is what I've come up with after some advice in the chat with alot of help from Whacker and the Xman.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Case ( Nzxt Lexa Blackline Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Blue )
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( 800 Watt -- Power Supply Quad SLI Ready )
Processor ( [New !!] Intel Core i7 Processor 920 (4x 2.66GHz/8MB L3 Cache) )
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )
Motherboard ( Asus P6T Intel X58 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/7.1 Sound, Triple-Channel DDR3, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, 3-Way SLI PCI-E MB 3-Way SLI )
Memory ( 6 GB [2 GB X3] DDR3-1333 Triple Memory Module Corsair Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( ATI Radeon HD 4850 1GB PCI-Express x16 )
Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA )
Hard Drive ( 500 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
2nd Hard Drive ( None )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( None )
CD/DVD Drive ( None )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
Speaker System ( None )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
Floppy Drive ( None )
Monitor ( None )
2nd Monitor ( None )
USB 2.0 Accessories ( Built-in USB 2.0 Ports )
Meter Display ( None )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( None )
Operating System ( Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium + [Free 60-Day !!!] Microsoft Office 2007(Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access ....) 64-Bit )
USB Flash Drive ( None )
MP3 Player ( None )
Video Camera ( None )
Headset ( None )
Power Protection ( None )
Warranty ( Warranty Service Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support )
Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) No Rush Service, Estimate Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )

I'm not thrilled about the switch to Vista (no real XP fangirl or Vista hater, just like the XP I'm familiar with really) but I was told unless I got XP 64 the pc wouldn't use all 6gbs of ram and that XP 64 was pretty glitchy.

My goal was to shoot for 1000 USD but like always there was a few extras that I felt I had to have and I'm at $1,188 which is annoying but I can live with it.

Before I pull the trigger, anyone have any last minute suggestions? Warnings? Commands? Strict orders to remove or add something essential I overlooked?

Here's the link to the Weekly Gamer Special configurator for anyone curious to see what else is available in the package. Thanks in advance for any advice



http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/c...r.aspx?mid=135

[Veho Nex]

Personally Instead of dropping for one large HD I'd go for one really small one for just the Operating system and then get another larger hd to store stuff on

[Lemur]

You know, I did just that and now regret it. So many apps store their caches on the C: drive whether you want them to or not. So many games save there unless you hack them. Browser caches (unless you redirect them). Microsoft Office insists on installing to C: or it gets cranky as all heck.

No, I would not go with the tiny C: drive again. I think one big fat drive is the way to go. So sue me.

-edit-

I thought this was funny, though:

Video Card ( ATI Radeon HD 4850 1GB PCI-Express x16 )
Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA )

And why not go all-out and get Vista 64-bit? I mean, if you're gonna jump to the new, then go new, man. Plus that way you'll be all set up and driver'd for Windows 7.

[Proletariat]

Veho, the same thought crossed my mind but the 320gb hd saves a whopping 9 bucks.

Lemur, I'm taking the 64 bit Vista, maybe it doesn't show in the text there. What's so funny about the vid card tho? /:

This took me 10 minutes to type on my iPhone.

[Lemur]

Now if only you had the MacBook Wheel it could have taken a half hour.

What's funny is that the site lists your ATI card, and then, in the blank space beneath, says "Major Brand Powered by Nvidia." Clearly a placeholder. But ATI and Nvidia are mortal combatants. I guess you'd have to be a horrible, geek with no life to find it funny.

Never mind.

[Veho Nex]

Thank you lemur, that video made my day.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Heh, yeah, I have seen that video several times before. I have seen all of the Onion videos on their YouTube channel actually. Really humorous and farcical.

[Xiahou]

Hmm, I think I'd actually go for the X-fi XtremeGamer if it won't break the bank($49?). I'm sure that with a quad core CPU the difference will be minimal, but I always like to have sound on a dedicated card instead of running off the mobo.

After some further review, it seems the AudigySE is worthless junk that still runs most sound effects (EAX, ect) via software. The XtremeGamer actually runs all that on the card itself, which is one less thing for the CPU to worry about- plus it will probably give cleaner sound. This card is a slightly rejiggered version of the now discontinued ExtremeMusic, which I have and have been generally very happy with.

----

As an aside, I remembered another blackeye for Vista when looking into this- hardware audio acceleration.... there isn't any. In their infinite wisdom, MS decided to have all audio been software only when they redid DirectSound for Vista. So now, we're dependent on OpenAL for hardware audio effects... which being open source, is probably a good thing.

Luckily, (and probably since their business depends on it) Creative has embraced OpenAL, even going as far as releasing ALchemy, which adds hardware support back into older games where EAX wouldn't work otherwise. Interesting stuff...

[KukriKhan]

The guts seem fine to me. I like how they put a couple of USB slots top-front of the case, since most folks put their machine below, not eye-level. But looking at the other views offered, I don't see any other USB slots. Two won't do, that's for sure. Maybe I just missed them.

I hope the funky "alienware"-looking front door doesn't annoy you over time. HP put little french-doors on the front of mine to hide usb & headphone jacks. My headphones are plugged in all the time, so the doors just get in my way.

And I agree with Lemur on the C: drive thingee. External HD's are fine, as an archive, but are too unreliable (in my experience) to be used as a primary data source. (I make exception for laptops, where the heat generated by a huge internal HD is a problem).

Looks like you have plenty of room to expand on this rig, so you should be in pretty good shape for 3-5 years. And a 3-year warranty sounds good. Good Luck!

[Crandaeolon]

No, I would not go with the tiny C: drive again. I think one big fat drive is the way to go. So sue me.

Teh REAL hardcore get a SSD system drive.

For the slightly less hardcore, how about dual HDDs in raid 0 mode? You'll get, at least in theory, double write/read speed, and the flip side (if either drive fails, data on both drives is lost) is not so bad if you do regular (or automatic when machine is idle) backups, for example on an older but not too old, proven-to-be-reliable HDD.

[Furunculus]

i store all my data in a truecrypt container file on a separate partition on my gaming PC, which i back-up by copying to an external drive, and then back-up again by copying from the external to my media PC downstairs.

I have 32GB for Vista + Drivers on C:\, and put My Documents + Apps on a second 32GB partition, and then have 128GB for Games.

the truecrypt container occupies a separate terabyte drive.

it works for me.

[KukriKhan]

So, what was the outcome here? Did you buy the rig, as described? Or go with something else? Or wait, and surf with your iPhone? :)

[Spino]

Congrats on your move into the modern age Proletariat!

Here are some thoughts...

The 800W PSU is serious overkill for that system. Unless you actually intend on running a dual card SLI/Crossfire setup then save a few bucks and downgrade to that 650W Corsair PSU, it's a reputable brand that is of superior quality to that no-name 800W.

It doesn't look like you can do this but if I were you I'd downgrade from a quad Core i7 to a dual core Core 2 Duo that runs at 3Ghz or higher (E8400 or E8500, 'meh' to the E8600, it's roughly the same price as the Core i7 in your rig) and transfer the anticipated savings over to the 3D card by upgrading to a 1gig 4870 or 4890. The advantages of a quad core over a dual core are limited, especially with regards to gaming. On the other hand I don't want to discourage you from embracing new tech.

There's nothing wrong with the 1gig 4850, it's a great card. However it doesn't have quite the teeth as its higher end brethren and won't help you make the most out of a high end CPU. A more powerful 3D card will have a much bigger impact on your framerates and gaming enjoyment than a quad core CPU, especially if you want to game with eye candy features like anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering enabled. So I'd pony up the extra $40? or so for one of its bigger brothers.

Beyond that it looks like a great system. By all means, pull the trigger and happy gaming!

Personally Instead of dropping for one large HD I'd go for one really small one for just the Operating system and then get another larger hd to store stuff on

That's not a bad idea. As Lemur mentioned problems will arise if the small HD isn't big enough to handle everything.

For the last several years I've relied on partitioning my drive; the smaller, 20gig C: partition contains the XP OS, page file (fixed size at 2gigs) & apps with everything else going on the D: drive. If I was running Vista (fat chance) then I'd consider increasing the size of the C: partition, possibly doubling it to 40gigs. Anyway this simple solution has made my computing life alot easier. First of all it makes periodic defragging of the C: partition blissfully quick and easy, my OS still runs like new. Best of all if my OS gets sluggish or flunky I can easily nuke the C: partition and re-install without having to archive the contents of my drive first. Sure, some stuff won't work afterwards but you'd be amazed how many games still run without all that nonsense. As far as installed apps go... well, I'm a minimalist. There isn't much going on in my System Tray, I don't have too many TSR apps running at any given moment. My rig's sole existence is to provide me with a hassle free, gaming experience and a means to surf, be productive and download stuff once in awhile. I don't even use Outlook for e-mails anymore, I do all my e-mailing via Yahoo & Gmail.

One thing for sure is I've learned to hate developers that insist on putting all the user info, settings and saved games in the My Documents folder. It not only messes with my way of doing things but it can make modding and fudging with config files a royal pain. How about applying some old school sensibility and keep all associated files in the install directory?!?

[Proletariat]

Thanks for all the help, I love this place back here.

I've waited to pull the trigger, had a few bills that needed to be knocked out first but I'm pretty much ready to order now.

Spino, I was thinking of spending more on the processor than the gpu now since I'm aiming to future proof as much as possible. I figure I know how to put in a video card so I can upgrade that for a few hundred bucks in a year or so from now, but upgrading processor is way above my level. That being said, am I going about the 'future proofing' the right way with this thinking?

I'd love to pull off a Lemuresque 4-5 year run on this go 'round

edit: Alright, gonna go with the lower PSU and the 4890 according to Spino's advice (before I hadn't realized the 4890 wasn't tons and tons more) and also the sound card like Xiahou suggests.

This ought to be how my final order goes

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Case ( Nzxt Lexa Blackline Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Blue )
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( 650 Watt -- Corsair CMPSU-650TX Power Supply SLI Ready )
Processor ( [New !!] Intel Core i7 Processor 920 (4x 2.66GHz/8MB L3 Cache) )
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )
Motherboard ( Asus P6T Intel X58 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/7.1 Sound, Triple-Channel DDR3, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, 3-Way SLI PCI-E MB 3-Way SLI )
Memory ( 6 GB [2 GB X3] DDR3-1333 Triple Memory Module Corsair Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB PCI-Express x16 )
Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA )
Hard Drive ( 500 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
2nd Hard Drive ( None )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( None )
CD/DVD Drive ( None )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black )
Sound Card ( Creative Lab Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio )
Speaker System ( iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )

[Lemur]

Looks like an excellent gaming rig, Prole. The I7 is probably overkill, but it does give you the option of swapping out for a more current processor somewhere down the line, which is a good thing.

The only thing I would consider is a second hard drive. I love having a storage drive, and as Kukri correctly points out, HDs in external enclosures have a high failure rate. Dunno why, but they do. I would imagine that tossing another 500 gig or 1 terabyte HD for storage and backup wouldn't break the bank.

[Spino]

Thanks for all the help, I love this place back here.

I've waited to pull the trigger, had a few bills that needed to be knocked out first but I'm pretty much ready to order now.

Spino, I was thinking of spending more on the processor than the gpu now since I'm aiming to future proof as much as possible. I figure I know how to put in a video card so I can upgrade that for a few hundred bucks in a year or so from now, but upgrading processor is way above my level. That being said, am I going about the 'future proofing' the right way with this thinking?

I'd love to pull off a Lemuresque 4-5 year run on this go 'round

edit: Alright, gonna go with the lower PSU and the 4890 according to Spino's advice (before I hadn't realized the 4890 wasn't tons and tons more) and also the sound card like Xiahou suggests.

This ought to be how my final order goes

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Case ( Nzxt Lexa Blackline Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Blue )
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( 650 Watt -- Corsair CMPSU-650TX Power Supply SLI Ready )
Processor ( [New !!] Intel Core i7 Processor 920 (4x 2.66GHz/8MB L3 Cache) )
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )
Motherboard ( Asus P6T Intel X58 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/7.1 Sound, Triple-Channel DDR3, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, 3-Way SLI PCI-E MB 3-Way SLI )
Memory ( 6 GB [2 GB X3] DDR3-1333 Triple Memory Module Corsair Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB PCI-Express x16 )
Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA )
Hard Drive ( 500 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
2nd Hard Drive ( None )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( None )
CD/DVD Drive ( None )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black )
Sound Card ( Creative Lab Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio )
Speaker System ( iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )

Ooh, nice to see you took the plunge and went for the 4890, that's some serious horsepower.

Well the problem is you can't upgrade the processor without feeling some serious pain in your wallet. The perfomance differences between the 920 and 940 are miniscule and do not justify the latter's $300 higher price tag. The performances differences between the 920 and 965 are marginal and in no way, shape or form justify the extra $750! Basically you don't have any sensible options beyond the 920 and in 6-9 months time when the latest i7 chips hit the market you'll kick yourself for spending so much money on the 940 or 965. If you're insistent on staying future proof for the next 4-5 years then hold off until the end of the year to see what your CPU options will be. But believe me, upgrading to the latest and greatest 3D card in 2-3 year's time will do wonders for your framerates.

[Lemur]

Another nice thing about that videocard: It's single-core. For all they hype around dual video cards, the driver support in games has never been that great. I think Crysis, to pick an example, didn't get support for two+ videocards until eight months after launch. Much better to fit as much horsepower as possible into a single card.

Isn't Intel supposed to release a more consumer-friendly version of the I7 sometime this year?