Madshrimps Forum Madness

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- - New System (https://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/f18/new-system-11268/)

So finally, its time for me to buy a new pc.. This one is going to be used mainly for playing games (WoW,SWG,hl2).

I am going to take a combination of both your multimedia gaming system and the ultimate gaming system:

power supply: ocz powerstream 520W
dvd1: Nec 16x double layer..
dvd2: some dvd reader
hdd1: WD raptor 74
hdd2: WD raptor 74
hdd3: WD 200GB WD200JD
Vidcard: X800pro Vivo (flash to XT)
mobo: MSI K8N neo Nforce3 Ultra
cpu: A64 3500+
soundcard: Audigy 4 pro nl

now, the open issues:

Mobo: what of these should I choose? (list from mpl.be):
MSI K8N-SLI Diamond / Socket 939 / nVidia nForce4 Ultra SLI / ATX motherboard
MSI K8N-SLI Diamond / Socket 939 / nVidia nForce4 Ultra SLI / ATX motherboard
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum 54G / Socket 939 / nVidia nForce3 Ultra / ATX motherboard
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum 54G / Socket 939 / nVidia nForce3 Ultra / ATX motherboard

Case+cooling: my budget allows me to purchase a WC set (custom or premade), and I was wondering what case you advice me to buy to install it in.. Also, how hard is it to install the system yourself? I've read alot about it lately, but the only thing that isnt really cleared up for me is how you build in the radiator :S
Also, what (premade or custom) setup do you advice?
Might I decide not to go for a WC setup, what cpu cooler and fans do you advice?

Vidcard: Should I wait for the 850 to arrive? And if I'm going to use a SLI mobo, am I forced to use a PCI-E card?
And any specific brand that is known to to give alot of problems when flashing to a X800XT PE?

Memory: What are for the moment high performing chips (2x512 should do I think?)? The ones you put in your system guide, or do you advice something else?

Monitor: I dont know if there are alot of performant (and not overly expensive) LCD monitors around, but if there are, please list it :D otherwise, what CRT monitor should I purchase?

Speakers: This might be personal preference, but what 5.1 or 7.1 speaker set have you got good experience with.

Thx for the help!

edit: added some small questions :D

Oh yeah, my budget is +- €2250 exl VAT

Seems like you have enough money :D

mobo: Nforce 4, sli in combination with a nvidia graka

case: a big lian-li alu or a coolermaster stacker

cooling: go for watercooling. If you buy a big case you got plenty of room for it

screen: I would go for a TFT. I got a IIYAMA and I'm very satisfied with it.
I also heared nothing but good news about the new sony screen (real black) or something like that, the color off those screens are the best in LCD.

memory: s939 ==> dual channel, so 2x512 is great. Go for High-end memory, not budjet.

speakers: Don't know what I would chose, because I don't have the room for a speakerset.

This list is based on personal taste, so If you like ATI and you don't want a nvidia graka chose something else
;)

Quote:

Originally posted by Ihen
Case+cooling: my budget allows me to purchase a WC set (custom or premade), and I was wondering what case you advice me to buy to install it in.. Also, how hard is it to install the system yourself? I've read alot about it lately, but the only thing that isnt really cleared up for me is how you build in the radiator :S
Also, what (premade or custom) setup do you advice?
Might I decide not to go for a WC setup, what cpu cooler and fans do you advice?
watercooling: custom is better but also more of a hastle to get all the parts you need. if you don't care about looks then just keep your rad outside your case, it'll perform better too. if you want to build it into your case, you usually can build in the smaller (single rad) models in the front, back or top of your case. if you have a double rad, you'll probably have to place it in the top of your case.
If you build the rad inside your case, you're performance will go down because you will eather draw hot air from your case to through your rad or you will blow hot air from your rad into your case.
if you go for aircooling. get a thermaltake xp-120 if it'll fit, if not, an xp-90 probably will.
delta or vantec tornado fans for top performance and insane noise, papst or panaflo low cfm, low noise for, errr.... low noise :)

Vidcard: Should I wait for the 850 to arrive? And if I'm going to use a SLI mobo, am I forced to use a PCI-E card?
And any specific brand that is known to to give alot of problems when flashing to a X800XT PE?
with an sli board, you'll have to get a PCIe card and if you want sli cards, you'll have to get nvidia's...for now.
I wouldn't wait for the x850. by the time you 'll actually be able to get your hands on one we'll be half way 2006 already. with x800's people only flash if they have a succesfully hardmodded pro or a pro vivo with 1.6ns memory. here you'll find a short list of the pro vivo's that are still softmoddable, it's in dutch though

Memory: What are for the moment high performing chips (2x512 should do I think?)? The ones you put in your system guide, or do you advice something else?
if you're no overclocker, any memory with samsung tccd chips will do. memory like that will give you 2-2-2-5 timings at pc3200 (=standard) speeds. if you are going to overclock, tccd :) or those VX series from OCZ [/b]

1 tip, don't wait, because then you'll do that you're whole live.

The mobo:
If you would go for the MSI K8N-SLI Diamond, then you'll have a mobo that's future proof (compared to the other on), because you have PCI-E slots and 2 SLI ready PCI-E 16X slots. Plus, the MSI uses a Creative chip that's used in the Audigy (can't remember exactly wich one, gonna search it for ya).

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum 54G seems to be a great overclocker and this version offers you wireless lan.

The vidcard:
Don't wait. The choise it up to u. You can take one high-end pci-e card (nV or Ati) or you can take 2 mid- or high-end Nvidia cards.

The WC:
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=269

Then just make sure you have at least 5 5.25" bays available.

The memory: go for tccd memory if you want ultra-high performance mem. (it's a bit expense, start @ E260 @ http://www.pc-memory-upgrade.co.uk/m...ram-pc3200.asp ). If it doesn't have to be ultra performance memory, then some low latency memory should do fine.

The monitor:
don't ask me, I'm still working on an old 15" crt screen :grum: .

The speakers:
Well, I have an Ozaki HM30-Q3 wich works fine for me, but there's a lot of noise on the front speakers and one speaker tends to crackle.
If you have the money, I'd go for some good Logitech speakers.

thx for all the advice, I got my system now I think:

OCZ Technology PowerStream PSU - 420W Sustained, Universal Connector inc BTX, 3 Adj Pwr Rails, Ultra Quiet

Western Digital Caviar WD1200JD 120GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache SATA

Thermaltake SHARK Silver Aluminium with Window

Samsung SyncMaster 710 T (MJ17BSTSQ) - Flat panel display - TFT - 17"

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2 GHz) - socket 939 - 512K L2 64Bit Hypertransport 1000Mhz 0,09micron (Winchester) Retail Boxed with cooler

OCZ Dual Channel Performance Series PC 3200 Rev.3 DDR - 512 x 2 1024MB Kit - 184 pins - 400MHz - Timings 2-3-3-6

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum 54G / Socket 939 / nVidia nForce3 Ultra / ATX motherboard

Logitech Cordless Desktop MX for Bluetooth: Keyboard BE + Heroplaadbare Wheelmouse

Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS NL PCI Retail (70SB035000010)

LG GDR-8163RB DVD-ROM 16x DVD - 52x CD-Rom IDE internal - Retail

2x Western Digital Raptor 74GB S-ATA 8MB 5,2ms 10000RPM

Club3D CGA-PX86VTVD ATI Radeon X800Pro VIVO - AGP 8x - 256 MB GDDR3 SDRAM - VIVO

IFC-Ivory Internal 3,5" all in one Floppy+ 7 in 1 Card Reader, Flat Cable, Ivory Colored

NEC ND-3500 Dual Layer DVDRW-4,DVDRW+4,DVDR-16X,DVDR-16X,DVD12,CDRW24,CDR48 - Silver

Last thing is the WC.. has any got experience with the passive zalman set? http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product...dx=63&code=021

ps: you might have noticed this system resembles the tweaker.net high performance system alot.. I assure you this was pure coincidence :P yet funny I stumbled on that guide right after I had the system (and not 4 hours before :P )

nice system :o

The zalman cooling is designed to be quiet, not for performance.

It is prolly one of the most quiet cooling systems (passive not included :D). Dunno how it will perform, but I guesse as a high end aircooling.

you may want to considder the epox 9nda3+ or it's cheaper brother...

it's a better board, not out of experience but from what I hear and read from others...