I *could* be BACK!

[Mutzy]

Hey Guys!

Guess what!? I just ordered "high speed" cable internet! My area just got fibre optics laid so I'll be able to escape from horribly slow wireless broadband and laptop!

So that means:

- a new gaming rig YIPPEE!!!! (Self build so any suggestions appreciated!)
- a computer capable of playing games -> IL2 happyness!

Here's crossing my fingers that a techinical hitch won't get in the way cos it would break my heart!

So what has changed or what will i need to bring me up to date since IL2 forgotten battles?

Ken - excited - Mutz

[:FI:Moog]

Yo Mutz,

I'm currently awaiting delivery of the last few components of my new rig. Ordered all the parts from dabs.ie except for the HDD and CPU cooler from Komplett.ie, and the memory from memoryc.ie I did a lot of research and found these prices plus delivery to be better than the next-best option, overclockers.co.uk

Check out the main specs:
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS4 mobo
Intel C2D E6600 (purchased 2nd hand on adverts.ie)
2Gb Geil PC2-6400 ultra low latency RAM
XFX 8800Gts triple-x 320Mb
2x250Gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 Sata II's (for RAID 0 striping)
Corsair 620W power supply
Antec 900 case

After reading up and comparing graphics cards, the choice of this particular one saved me an absolute fortune over the GTX or Ultra 768Mb cards as I'm currently using a 21" CRT @ 1600x1200 and might be upgrading to a 22" TFT Widescreen @ 1650x1050 soon. The 8800Gts 640Mb models and the GTX/Ultra cards are really only for very-high-resolution HD gaming, and believe it or not, the 320Mb model actually out-performs these cards at lower resolutions.

The AMD X2 6000+ is better at stock then the E6600 stock (2.4Ghz), but the Intel chip overclocks very well very easily up to 3.2Ghz and above, even on stock cooling, offering significantly better performance.

Drop me a PM if you'd like more info, I have a good bit of research done as a result of compiling this system and could offer advice on other components as well

-Moog

PS: Get yourself a copy of IL-2 1946 on the cheap in Game or GameStop in town... It includes all official expansions, and you'll only need one patch to get up to the current (final!?) version.

[:FI:Falcon]

Welcome back Mutz!



Best of luck with puttin' 'puter parts t'gether!


Falcon

[Mutzy]

Thanks for the tips Moog,

It's been a while since I built my own - Think back to when the Pentium 4 2.4ghz and GeForce Ti4600 was the best to get so I'm fairly ignorant as what is good nowadays!

How much did your set up cost? I think a budget of €1300 would be enough for a good setup. Haven't bothered with building since I couldn't get any decent internet out here in Celbridge.

Ordered 6 meg cable internet from NTL so hopefully it'll do what it says on the tin! (Oh and that they can actually provide the service - had a problem with them before with advertsing services that they weren't able to provide in the area!)

[Mutzy]

Welcome back Mutz!



Best of luck with puttin' 'puter parts t'gether!


Falcon

Erm, Thanks Fal

You always were so welcoming!

[:FI:Falcon]

Hey!

You've been shootin' th'flippin' boid at us fer four years, so I just thought ...




F

[:FI:Moog]

Ah I remember those days! My first (and only) homebuilt system was a P4 2.6Ghz with a 9800Pro... same system today but the 9800 crapped out back in January so I got an nVidia 6800XT.

For the new computer I gave myself a budget of €1200: even with an OEM copy of Vista Home Premium 64-bit, the full system box came in around €1180, but bear in mind that's without keyboard, mouse, monitor, or dedicated sound card.

For €1300 I'd recommend building a high-end system around a Core 2 Duo processor... the quadcore chips will continue to be under-utilised by most programs and games for at least another year, by which time the other hardware components will have evolved anyway. The next batch of AMD chips are still a fair bit down the road, too early to evaluate.

Motherboard choice depends on your needs, but for instance I chose the Gigabyte board because it is a good overclocker without SLi (pure marketing ploy as far as I'm concerned) and without too many bells and whistles, so it was significantly cheaper than other Intel C2D boards.

Graphics card... try and resist the temptation to blow your budget on 2x8800 Ultras in SLi!!! There's absolutely no point blowing 200/300% extra for a 15/20% performance increase, especially when it's the difference between 130FPS and 160FPS. By seating an 8800Gts in a good system and tweaking a little, you'll still get blazing gaming performance at medium resolutions (up to 1600x1200 or thereabouts, which is still pretty damn high to me). Sure, a year down the road, the headroom that the more expensive cards provide will begin to show, but by that stage their prices will have halved, and the 8800Gts will still be performing strongly even in DX10 applications. Put it this way: when Storm of War comes out, you should have a system that's more than capable of playing it at max settings. Just be sure and have a big juicy power supply. The Corsair 520W should be enough, but I opted for the 620W as I'll be overclocking other components in the system and will need the increased voltage.

As regards RAM etc., the following thread was pretty much the deciding factor in my choice of setup:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showth ... t=17636047" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I put 2Gb in for Vista compatibility, but once I have a few more yo-yos I'll strongly consider an additional 2Gb.

The Antec 900 is a big-assed case but features incredible cooling as-is, and, very importantly, provides room for the (massive) 8800 card!... I'm not concerned with the visual appearance of the computer but this case does look pretty cool and stealthy

But of course, all said, I'm yet to get the thing up and running... I'm still awaiting delivery of the 8800, the PSU, DVD+RW and mobo. I thought it might have arrived today when the case was delivered (ordered at the same time) but for some reason they ain't here yet. Assuming the thing doesn't blow up at first boot, I'll let you know how the thing behaves, and how it handles games, ASAP.

Good hunting!

[:FI:Moog]

PS: Check out the following thread for more info/help on selecting the right graphics card:
http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=113045" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that greater numbers = better performance . Unless of course you have more money than sense, in which case, I'll provide you with my PayPal details and you can send me a couple of grand...

[:FI:Heloego]

[:FI:Dutchman]

well you made me thinking

Moogyman I ordered alsonew memory 2 gig 800 memory now i have 2 gig 533 speed, and i am searcing for a core 2 duo wich should replace my p4 dual core and the mobo will be a asus p5b-e plus also with the 965 chipset.

together with my XFX8800 gts 640 i will be ready for bob and Kinghts o/t Skies i hope.

I've heard that a c2d e 6420 can be compared with a p4 4.9 ghz ??? if it should excist even when the e-6420 has 2130 mhz ??

do you know how this works.


Dutch..,

[:FI:Moog]

Hey Dutch, put your glasses on mate, things might get a bit technical here, but might save you some money as well

The Core 2 Duo and P4 with Hyper Threading have very different architectures and cannot be directly compared by clock speed. A clock speed of 2.13Ghz on the E6420 *roughly* translates into a total of 4.26Ghz as the C2D is basically 2x2.13Ghz processors working together... but this is far in advance of a P4 with HT running at a similar clock speed around 4Ghz, so much so that it's not even worth making a comparison. P4HT chips could theoretically clock faster and faster but they're limited by their memory cache. Bear in mind also that Hyper Threading is NOT Dual Core: unless programs are specifically optimised for HT, you won't see any performance improvements.

Imagine cycling faster and faster on a bicycle: as you go up through the gears you need more resistance to take efficient advantage of the increase in power, and to stop your legs going around too quickly. The C2D chips have many higher gears after the P4HT has reached its limit. Pumping the same amount of power through a P4HT would be like a world-class cyclist with tree trunk thighs pumping away in low gears - he'd very quickly become exhausted!

As far as C2D chips go, the E6600 is faster than the E6420 at stock speeds (2.4Ghz vs. 2.13Ghz) but they have the same memory cache so for all intents and purposes you could overclock the E6420 up to about 3Ghz, which is pretty much the limit of where the E6600 will go without good additional cooling.

Be careful to differentiate E6420 from the E6400. The latter has a lower memory cache and won't overclock nearly as well. If you're prepared to get your hands dirty and do a little overclocking, you could safely get both the E6600 and the E6420 up to 3.0 or 3.2Ghz, and seeing as the E6420 is probably cheaper, you should go for that one. I bought the E6600 on impulse via a local buy+sell website because it was cheap and I trusted the guy selling it.

Be careful installing RAM with different speeds - you have 533Mhz RAM already installed so your system will slow the 800Mhz RAM down to that speed. It's not ideal but you'll see a decent improvement. Still, something to look out for in future. I did the same thing when I put more memory into my current computer.

There are looooooooads of other factors to consider but like I say, I've been doing a bit of research for my new computer and I'm only too happy to share what I've learned if it'll help other FI's save a few bob or decide on the appropriate components for an upgrade. This thread has already been hijacked (sorry!) so maybe you should PM me if you want to ask more questions

Peace,

Moog

[Mutzy]

.... This thread has already been hijacked (sorry!) so maybe you should PM me if you want to ask more questions

Moog

No not all keep up the hints and tips cos I'm still composing my masterpiece!

[:FI:WillieOFS]

Hey Mutzy!!

I was wondering how our local Guarda was making out these days. Good to see you're on your way back.

I was also wondering where Mr Moog went too.

The Dublin contingent appears to be coming back strong.

Welcome home gents.

W

[:FI:Dutchman]

Tjeez barra,

I am still dizzy but I d made up my mind it will be a E6750 with 4 cache
but i ment to replace the 2x1 gig 533 mhz mem by the 2x1 gig of 800 mhz mem the faster mem .
i will go for a new asus new mobo (p5k deluxe or something) with the p35 chipset wich also supports the 1333mhz wich is the speed at the E6750, instead of the 1066 mhz on the E6420

the "old" ( c.a. 1,5 year old) mobo (asus pa5d deluxe) goes to Madra with this 2x1 gig 533 mhz and the X800 xt ati radeon wich is still fair for BF2 and so and if needed i can plug another gig 533 with it.

Dutch..,

[:FI:Fenian]

I'll need one of them new PC thingies in the next year too....