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[Razoric]

How's this sound so far?

CPU: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 530 w/ HT Technology 3.0GHz 1MB Cache
Motherboard: PCI Express Motherboard with Intel® 925 Chipset
RAM: 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz - 2 x 512MB
Video Card: NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6800 GT PCI Express 256MB DDR3 w/Digital and S-Video Out
Hard Drive: 80GB Seagate® Barracuda 7,200 RPM w/8MB Cache (ATA)
Power Supply: Antec 430 Watt True Power
DVD-RW: Plextor® PX-712A 12x DVD±R/W Drive (BLACK if possible)
Monitor: Gateway EVF720 Flat-Screen CRT 17-inch Monitor With 16-inch Viewable Area (BLACK)
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 High Definition 6.1 Surround
Speakers: Creative 4.1 setup
LAN Card: Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
Keyboard: Logitech (BLACK)
Mouse: Logitech (BLACK)
Floppy: Generic 3½” Floppy Drive (BLACK)
Case: Generic Midsize ATX Case (BLACK)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP2

Will a DVD burner also burn CDs? Is that a decent harddrive?

Will this run Doom 3 / Half life 2 at full detail?

 

[8bit]

Doom3 will only run with a white keyboard.

 

[Razoric]

Doom3 will only run with a white keyboard.

:lol

 

[dem]

All the cool kids are getting Athlon 64s

 

[Razoric]

All the cool kids are getting Athlon 64s

I'm a huge greedy corperate fanboy. That's why I support Xbox, Windows and Pentium.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Get an Athlon 64.

 

[mrklaw]

sounds good, but please post how much, just so that I can scream in pain at the injustice of US prices :/

Maybe a bigger hard drive though, and a dual layer DVD burner (yes they burn CDs too). Difference in price not much for a lot more futureproofing.

 

[Dilbert]

Another vote for Athlon64.

Something to think about for your video card: The nVidia versus ATI debate basically comes down to which engine you want to play optimally. If you really care about the Doom 3 engine, then nVidia is a good choice. If you want to run almost anything else, you should get something from the X800 series.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

^^

Huh?

Those are just two games... Both will run just about anything you throw at it (rig dependent) over 60fps.

Basing a buying decision over a game or two is silly IMO.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Half-life two is expected to hold full 60 with a lesser system than that, by some people I know, anyway.

However Doom3 will not hold full 60 on this:
P4 3.4 HT
1 gig'o'ram
6800 GT 256 (is there a 128 version?)

It don't run bad at all, but medium to heavy combat is rarely a perfect 60. I'd say the drops normally don't fall below 45fps if that, but I'm one to notice. Just don't think you'll get an unshakable Doom3 experience tho'.

Of course, if you hadn't yet "graduated" to worring about 60fps then you should not have read this post.

 

[buck naked]

What about getting a second hand 19" or 21" monitor instead of the 17"?

 

[DaCocoBrova]

However Doom3 will not hold full 60 on this:
P4 3.4 HT
1 gig'o'ram
6800 GT 256 (is there a 128 version?)

Bullsh!t. No recent game out there 'holds' 60fps. There will always be frame drops at some point regardless of rig. But Doom3 on my rig runs at 60 85% of the time, but never drops to or below 30fps.. That's enough to be considered a solid 60fps by PC standards IMO.

 

[teh_pwn]

Screw AMD 64 and screw P4 LGA Prescotts.

Get this stuff:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-152&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-116-156&depa=1

And some good PC3700 RAM that'll run at 2.8 Volts or lower.

Follow this guide to OC:

http://www.pcholic.net/overclocking.htm

And overclock to 3.4-3.5 GHz with stock HS/fan.

I've got the IC7 MAX 3 which is the same mobo essentially, and my processor benches between a P4 LGA prescott at 3.8-4.0 GHz. Forget the 3.4 EE, I smoke that. And that extra money sure feels good in my wallet.


And the HDD is too small. Sure you might not use all the space, but a near full HDD blows ass in performance. And you'll get a much better $/GB with a 160 GB.

 

[dem]

Overclocking is so 90s Celeron =P

 

[DaCocoBrova]

^^

Agreed. There once was a time where you almost had to, but not now. The risk is not worth a few extra frames and a sh!tload more heat.

 

[teh_pwn]

Actually, the Nortwoods OCed run cooler than Prescotts stock.

A 400-500 MHz OC on that board is actually very modest. I've seen plenty of people with 2.4 Cs at 3.6-3.8.

I'm just not willing to increase my CPU core voltage and run the RAM and CPU out of sync. Oh, and the whole water cooling thing is tedious...

 

[Razoric]

If I were to go with an Athlon 64, what is a reasonably priced one with good performance? Also what motherboard should I look at? Could I get a good motherboard that has a soundcard built in, thus eliminating the need to buy one?

 

[teh_pwn]

Seperate audio cards are almost always superior with sound quality and don't eat up CPU cycles, but if you're running on 4.1 Creative, sound quality isn't that big of an issue. But still consider the CPU usage.

The 3000+ and 3200+ Socket 754s are at excellent prices right now. I don't know about AMD mobos...though I do remember people talking about Nforce 3 sucking, so I'd avoid that.

 

[mrklaw]

get prices of all the different athlon64s, and plot them on a little graph. Then choose the one thats just before it goes ballistic.

 

[Razoric]

Aight here is my new version, tell me what you think:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512k L2 Cache, The Only 64-bit Windows Compatible Processor - Retail

Mobo: ASUS "K8V SE Deluxe" K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU -RETAIL

RAM: Kingston 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-2700 - OEM (x2)

Video Card: EVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT Video Card With Free Doom 3Bundle, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, TV-Out/DVI, 8X AGP, Model "256-A8-N349-AX" -RETAIL

Hard Drive: Seagate 120GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model ST3120026A, OEM

Power Supply: Antec 430W Power Supply, Model "TRUE430" -RETAIL

DVD-RW: Plextor 12X DVD+/-RW Drive, Model PX-712A Black, Retail

Monitor: ViewSonic E70f 17" PerfectFlat CRT Monitor –RETAIL

Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS GAMER Limited Edition PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0350" -RETAIL

Speakers: Logitech Z640 5.1 Speakers -RETAIL

Keyboard: Logitech Black Internet Keyboard PS/2 104keys -OEM

Mouse: Logitech SBF69 Optical Wheel Mouse PS/2 -OEM

Floppy: Alps Black 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive, Model DF354H121F, OEM

Case: ANTEC Black Solution Series ATX Mid-Tower Case with 350W Power Supply, Model "SLK3700-BQE" -RETAIL

Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP2

TOTAL: $1,583.47


I took down the RAM a bit. Is that good RAM? What about the mobo and CPU?

 

[DaCocoBrova]

I'd get a better monitor (19" CRT or 17" low response LCD).

I'd most definately get some better/faster RAM. 3200 at least.

 

[Razoric]

This good RAM?
Rosewill 184-Pin 512MB DDR PC3200, Model RW400/512 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-223-009&depa=0

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Bullsh!t. No recent game out there 'holds' 60fps. There will always be frame drops at some point regardless of rig. But Doom3 on my rig runs at 60 85% of the time, but never drops to or below 30fps.. That's enough to be considered a solid 60fps by PC standards IMO.

So really you're agreeing with me, just not my proposed standards.

I believe that Doom3 runs at 60 85% percent of the time, because you're only fighting about 70% of the time. It's great that the game will run smooth when we're all standing around and admiring it, but throw three enemies in the mix and you've hit 50fps or below.

I never said it wasn't playable, it was playable before I got the 3.4 and GT, but it doesn't stay smooth through combat. Also, if your settings are like mine, High at 1024 no AA no AF, the final scene runs at or very near 30fps. I'm not slamming the game, I'm just giving realistic measurments based on my experience with three hardware configurations.

Would you consider UT2K4 a recent game? Maybe the engine's a little old? In any case, I haven't seen that game ever drop below 60fps; of course, I never play anything but Onslaught either. Not saying it's doing as much as Doom3, but I make the announcer guy say "Holy Sh!t" and the game stays as smooth in combat as not, and that's where it matters.

What about Max Payne 2? It would drop on my 9800 Pro, depending on settings, but not on the GT.

Far Cry drops outside when it's CPU, but inside, where it's GPU, it flies. If I have v-synch off, there's a lot of areas (indoor areas mind you) where the framerate would be over 80 in combat. Maybe thats not relevent, but it's another measurement.

Last time I ran Source was when the "alpha" leaked last year and it was rock solid on my 9800 Pro. It wasn't doing anything, really, but that's another measurement. I expect the full version to run very well. Maybe I'll be dissapointed, who knows.


data access points and severe overdraw will bring drops three years from release, you are correct. But I remain a little dissapointed that a very respectable rig such as my own is unable to push Doom3 in combat as smooth as I had hoped.

Just, FYI to the guy about to drop over a grand.

 

[teepo]

get a bigger hd.

 

[teh_pwn]

I'm pretty sure the Audigy 2 ZS gamer is just the Audigy 2 ZS with the games bundled.

So if you don't want the games, get the regular.


Get 1024 MB of PC3200 memory. If you're going to be cheap on RAM, get like Corsair Value select or something. 512 MB won't cut it in the new games. You'll be using page filing in no time and it'll lag.

Don't worry about memory timings...they're irrelevant.


But I'd highly advise checking out compatibility with your mobo and RAM. 99% of the time it'll work, but ocassionally it won't.

"DVD-RW: Plextor 12X DVD+/-RW Drive, Model PX-712A Black, Retail"

I just installed that exact drive. I won't be able to test it because my Taiyo Yuden DVDR-s aren't due til friday.

Got mine from Dell for $47. I filled in the business form for some ridiculous company name and they took it, heh.

 

[gohepcat]

 

[teh_pwn]

Yes, the S939s kick ass, but using one test is not very accurate.

My CPU benches around 3800+. OCing a P4C is the best way to go for Price versus performance.

 

[Razoric]

Where do you think the AMD Athlon 64 3200+ would fall in that cat?

 

[Razoric]

I'm pretty sure the Audigy 2 ZS gamer is just the Audigy 2 ZS with the games bundled.

So if you don't want the games, get the regular.


Get 1024 MB of PC3200 memory. If you're going to be cheap on RAM, get like Corsair Value select or something. 512 MB won't cut it in the new games. You'll be using page filing in no time and it'll lag.

Don't worry about memory timings...they're irrelevant.


But I'd highly advise checking out compatibility with your mobo and RAM. 99% of the time it'll work, but ocassionally it won't.

"DVD-RW: Plextor 12X DVD+/-RW Drive, Model PX-712A Black, Retail"

I just installed that exact drive. I won't be able to test it because my Taiyo Yuden DVDR-s aren't due til friday.

Got mine from Dell for $47. I filled in the business form for some ridiculous company name and they took it, heh.

Thanks for the info, it's been a big help.

I'm trying to get a decent machine to run Half Life 2, World of Warcraft and future PC greats! :O

 

[mrklaw]

Where do you think the AMD Athlon 64 3200+ would fall in that cat?

Slightly above the 3000+, and slightly below the 3500+

 

[Biff Hardbody]

Good specs. GT is the card to have imo. That and an Athlon 64, you'll be able to kick the shit out of anything out there.

 

[Razoric]

Slightly above the 3000+, and slightly below the 3500+

Yeah that's what I figured, didn't know if there was any special difference between any of them though. :O

 

[Razoric]

Good specs. GT is the card to have imo. That and an Athlon 64, you'll be able to kick the shit out of anything out there.

Yeah I was thinking going ATI but after all the praise I've been reading about the GT I figured I'd give that card a shot.

 

[Biff Hardbody]

Yeah I was thinking going ATI but after all the praise I've been reading about the GT I figured I'd give that card a shot.

I went from using a pentium 1.7/Radeon 9800 to a Athlon 64 3800/6800GT. Its not even comparable. Its what I always dreamed of, something that can run all the games I have without breaking a sweat. I can't recommend either product enough.

Here is a problem I ran into early that you should be aware of when choosing your motherboard/graphics card. I have an asus mb with a via chipset. When I put my radeon in and loaded the radeon drivers, I got graphics errors that made my pc reboot time and time again. I downloaded the new hyperion drivers for via which supposedly fixed it, but it did not. No matter what I did, I got these graphics card errors from the radeon drivers/via chipset conflict. Not until I installed the GT and gave it the nvidia drivers did everything remain stable.

Maybe I just had a bad board, but I heard about this kind of stuff. Although I had great performance with my 9800 while I used it with my old pc, the experience has left me hesitant to use a radeon card as long as I have this via chipset motherboard.

BTW, Toms hardware just released a bunch of new benchmarks on all the cards out there in various games. I recall the 6800 series coming out the best.