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

**Proletariat** · 04-03-2009, 22:18

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:

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** · 04-03-2009, 23:21

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** · 04-03-2009, 23:24

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:

Originally Posted by Proletariat

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** · 04-04-2009, 01:29

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** · 04-04-2009, 01:31

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** · 04-04-2009, 03:35

Thank you lemur, that video made my day.

**Spino** · 04-15-2009, 20:13

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!

Originally Posted by 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

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** · 04-20-2009, 01:41

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:

**Lemur** · 04-20-2009, 18:30

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** · 04-20-2009, 19:06

Originally Posted by 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:

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** · 04-20-2009, 19:12

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?