Build it yourself Gaming Machine

[HaakonTP]

This was the latest proposal from the Devil-Priests in Norway (http://www.hardware.no):

Antec Nine Hundred 841,-
Corsair TX 650W 719,-
Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1600 CL9 4 GB ( 2x2 GB ) 799,-
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 684,-
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3 956,-
Intel Core i5 750 1420,-
Logitech G15 v.2 (Norsk layout) 689,-
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 563,-
Roccat Kone Gaming Mouse 520,-
Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 1890,-
Steel Steelpad QcK XXL 69,-
Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB 679,-
--------------------------
Rimeligste totalsum 9829,- (about 1200 euro)

(I would go for 8 GB RAM in a new machine, and Win 7 64-bit. Also prefer Nvidia to Radeon GPU.)

[Estelaryon]

Bah I thought it was going to be instructions on how to make your own Tholur

[Gwava]

when I checked your list I thought it was already in euros and was like "wow! now that's expensive!!"

not sure about the point of buying the extra soundcard (the motherboard has one already, hasn't it?) and the G15 (but i know some geeks just can't resists )

as for your remarks, dunno if going for 8go instead of 4 go ram would be really needed for a game like Lotro -and any other game... - and I'm kinda the opposite of you : always been disappointed in nvidia products, ati being my favorite for quality/price ratio in general....

In another hand I m also thinking in pairs i.e. Intel + nvidia vs AMD+ati for product symbiosis reasons... so if you go for the intel cpu, nvidia is certainly a very good choice

((Rofl @ estel))

[Drefan]

not sure about the point of buying the extra soundcard (the motherboard has one already, hasn't it?) and the G15 (but i know some geeks just can't resists )

I was pretty pleased with my on-board sound until I started messing around with audio / music applications; dedicated soundcards are much better for ASIO support and achieving low latency sound output. Not so necessary if you're just playing games, but they can eke out a few more CPU cycles. And also make your life a misery if you happen to get a Soundblaster with the LOTRO bluescreen problem... (ended up swapping to an Asus Xonar, but I *believe* they're supposed to have fixed the problem now)

Really happy with my G15, btw

as for your remarks, dunno if going for 8go instead of 4 go ram would be really needed for a game like Lotro -and any other game...

Probably not - although it should mean that Vista / Win7 can cache more of LOTRO's datafiles in RAM outside of LOTRO's own ~3GB footprint, meaning load times should be quicker. I'm definitely for 64-bit on Vista or Win7, and been happy with what I've seen of Win7 so far.

(Vista, on the other hand, has caused me numerous headaches...)

However, shoehorning 8GB RAM into a machine has caused me some problems in the past, admittedly with slightly older motherboards. Best to ensure you're using RAM that's on the motherboard compatibility list - I've found that OCZ do 4GB RAM pairs that run at a lower voltage (1.8V) which helped me achieve stability in one of my machines. Otherwise you tend to find that the higher capacities of RAM are marked for 2.1 or 2.2V, which puts more load on the motherboard.

All the best,
Drefan

[HaakonTP]

Dreaming of Solid State Disk now for OS and my main programs. Waiting till 256 GB is affordable though (200 Euro or less). No hurry, my current machine should be good till sometime in 2011.

[Lurifaks]

Dreaming of Solid State Disk now for OS and my main programs. Waiting till 256 GB is affordable though (200 Euro or less). No hurry, my current machine should be good till sometime in 2011.

Interesting and very relevant post for me as I'm also planning to build me a new system, I had in mind a i7 cpu, Nvida instead of ATI, and most definatly a SSD harddisk, for my setup.

Specifically intel gen2 SSD , as it gets a lot of praise.

I had in mind to settle with a 80GB, for OS and programs, but seems like its out of stock everywhere atm, so, put the whole project on hold because of that, and other reasons..

[Drefan]

I had in mind a i7 cpu, Nvida instead of ATI, and most definatly a SSD harddisk, for my setup.

I'm sorely tempted to get an SSD for the next machine I put together, but there are still a few glitches to watch out for - although new firmware is coming out to improve long-term performance, there are still issues with broken firmware updates (eg. the recent Intel one), SSDs suddenly stopping working, etc. Hopefully in just a few more months things will have stabilised a little more.

[Lurifaks]

This is an old post, but I've been away.., so replying nevertheless.

I caved in and built me a i7 system with 160GB Gen2 Intel SSD, and I have to say that it runs very smooth and not to forget: without a sound whatsoever. Compared to my previous old OS disk, raptor 30GB 10.000 RPM, its a bliss.
For OS games and programs, I think its size is ok, but I look forward to maturity on the SSD arena, GB/cost and quality-wise. Pondering whether to get a internal 1TB'ish disk HDD as additional storage, although I got a 500GB external. It would make sense I guess.

Also got me a GTX 285, although I'd perhaps be better off with a Radeon 5870(?) or something.., but I figured I'd go for a full Intel setup, as Nvidia = intel? , ok its not, but its more intel than AMD Radeon,(bold statement maybe), and besides, its rumoured to have better AA (antialiasing), which according to a italian friend, (and Nvidia fanboi), matters a lot. So there you go.

And hi btw! For those who remember me. Apparantly I didnt relocate to a mountain cave to find myself after all. Rather I'll go to South America to start a revolution this summer, so if you have any hot tips on places to go, let me know!

[Bardori]

nice well some of those statements have very little to do with facts but i'll ignore em & congratulate on a nice machine ^^

[Alexsta]

This was the latest proposal from the Devil-Priests in Norway (http://www.hardware.no):

Antec Nine Hundred 841,-
Corsair TX 650W 719,-
Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1600 CL9 4 GB ( 2x2 GB ) 799,-
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 684,-
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3 956,-
Intel Core i5 750 1420,-
Logitech G15 v.2 (Norsk layout) 689,-
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 563,-
Roccat Kone Gaming Mouse 520,-
Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 1890,-
Steel Steelpad QcK XXL 69,-
Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB 679,-
--------------------------
Rimeligste totalsum 9829,- (about 1200 euro)

(I would go for 8 GB RAM in a new machine, and Win 7 64-bit. Also prefer Nvidia to Radeon GPU.)

Hahah this is nearly exactly what im building, Only difference is the GFX - Im gonna run a ATI 5770 HD 1GB, which I believe is not as powerful as the HD 5850
This only cost me 694£ to put together even with Windows 7 Its prolly cheaper cos im doing myself though.

[Alexsta]

Quick nerd question... I've ordered ddr3 ram at 1600mhz running at 1.65v and my mobo supports up to 1.5v is that a big issue or will it adjust itself, or will it just reduce my mobos life span. Any ideas anyone!?? Thanks

[Bardori]

depends more on your cpu, most if not all mobos can deliver that voltage but its down to if the cpu can handle it (all newer cpu's have built in mem controller). Usually you have to set the voltage manually and timings aswell and frequency to, unless you have XMP or similar jedec bypass. Just shout if you need a hand configuting it

[Alexsta]

Thanks for the hasty reply bard. Yea ill be running a i5 750 Intel, with a base speed of 2.66GHZ. Ive looked into Overclocking as this CPU has so much potential for that; ill probably pump about 3.6 out of it and hope it will run stable. Yea i assume setting the voltage manually is done in the BIOS? Anyway i think ill need a hand tweeking everything to the max, so ill need your help a bit later on.
Thanks buddy

[Bardori]

an i5 has a maximum allowed voltage of 1.65 for mem, and the base support for mem speed is 1333 so 1600 should be handy for OC'ing, and yes all of it is set in BIOS (well, some mobos support bios changes in windows enviroment but it still just changes bios values)

[Alexsta]

Oh sorry i thought the Mobo determined the maximum allowed voltage. Im silly, thanks for clearing that up! Last question - i promise : are there programs supplied with ASUS mobo's that allow the changes to happen in windows, or must i always go into the bios and fiddle with CPU multipliers and frequencies to get my stable OC?