Just finished building my new system

Refefer

Every 2 years, I build a new gaming PC. It's one of those things that I like to do, and if you do it right, the PC can play literally anything that comes its way for the next several years. In fact, my 2 year old computer was quite able to play Crysis with the FPS very adequate at around 40 average while running everything medium/high (with the exception of the shader, which was at low).

So, playing Crysis and wanting to enjoy it at the highest possible level, and making a lame excuse that I could use the extra horsepower for work, I decided to bite down and do the upgrades. The final list is constructed as such:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-D3SR = $160
CPU: Intel Quad core Q6600 SLACR = $270
Video Card: BFG 8800GT OC = $240 (with a lifetime warranty!!!!), though I was an idiot and bought it in store for $293.
4 GB of PC-8500 Crucial Ballistix Tracer Ram = $200

And everything else I'm reusing (case, hard drives, dvd drive, etc.)

The best part about it was that I was able to sell off my old system, which is a very capable gaming machine in it's own right, for $400, which puts the total cost of my upgrade a little over the $500 mark.

Did I mention I now can play Crysis at Very High? Ooooh, it is a beautiful beautiful game. Granted, I'm running it at 30 fps average, but it's one of those games where no console will be able to touch until their next generation(Crytek has to rework their entire engine so that the PS3 will be able to play it, and unfortunately only at "Medium" graphics, which still looks better than any other game I can think of).

The only other older game that needed the juice was Supreme Commander and is now running very fast now when all out battles are going on.

I'll be picking up COD 4 and UT3 soon as well.

What systems are others running for their gaming?

AdamRagland

Pentium 3 555mhz
64MB Ram
8MB ATI Rage
12GB Harddrive.

i mostly use it to play Half-Life 1. the thing screams through that game at about 9fps average

Grimster74

Refefer wrote: »

What systems are others running for their gaming?

XBOX 360 and Wii . I used to try and upgrade my PC every year but beings I work on a PC all day, have no desire to keep up with upgrades anymore, not only that, I can't stand playing games on a PC, did I already mention I sit behind a PC all day, 10 hours a day.:D By the way, sounds like you have a pretty killer gaming machine, bet ya it works great with ****.:eek:

Refefer

AdamRagland wrote: »

Pentium 3 555mhz
64MB Ram
8MB ATI Rage
12GB Harddrive.

i mostly use it to play Half-Life 1. the thing screams through that game at about 9fps average

I played Half-life 1 on my old Pentium 166 when it came out. Granted my video card had 16 mbs of ram, but that was the first real game that got me interested in FPS, even more so than the Doom series.

Refefer

Grimster74 wrote: »

XBOX 360 and Wii . I used to try and upgrade my PC every year but beings I work on a PC all day, have no desire to keep up with upgrades anymore, not only that, I can't stand playing games on a PC, did I already mention I sit behind a PC all day, 10 hours a day.:D By the way, sounds like you have a pretty killer gaming machine, bet ya it works great with ****.:eek:

I can commiserate with that. It should be noted that PC's can be hooked up to any HDTV and that really makes a difference compared to playing them on a traditional monitor.

As for me, I hate playing first person shooters on a controller, so it works out for me

jakelm

AdamRagland wrote: »

Pentium 3 555mhz
64MB Ram
8MB ATI Rage
12GB Harddrive.

i mostly use it to play Half-Life 1. the thing screams through that game at about 9fps average

Luuuuuu Huuuuuu Seeerrrrrrr....:p

Shizelbs

Thanks for posting what you got. I've been spending the morning research my future upgrade options. Nice to see what others are doing right now.

lanion

The latest AMD processors contend with the Intel Dual Core's for gaming performance. Quad Core's still are not being used for many games, except maybe stuff like Supreme Commander.

I have an AGP motherboard and DDR(1) ram so I'm going to have to replace everything but the power supply next time I upgrade.... so I am holding off on that until something really killer comes along. I can play Half Life Orange box fine, and should be good for Conan and Starcraft 2, so I'm happy for now.

Athlon XP 3200, Geforce 6800, 1.7 gigs DDR ram.

jakelm

AMD 4200 X2 Dual Core
1gb DDR RAM
Radeon x550 128mb PCI-E
80Gb HDD IDE
ASUS mobo
soundMax SC


and a peeerty mouse.

66chevyIISS

im still on the crap box I built back in 2001

AMD Athlon 2800+
1 gig ddr ram
OEM Radeon 8500 64mb

It plays counterstrike 1.6 and online poker. Thats about it!! I decide to get a 360 instead of spending $1200 on upgrading my computer.

Refefer

lanion wrote: »

The latest AMD processors contend with the Intel Dual Core's for gaming performance. Quad Core's still are not being used for many games, except maybe stuff like Supreme Commander.

I hate to break it to you, but none of that really is true. The Q6600 quad core outperforms every AMD processor, including their newest line of quad core Phenoms, in literally every test. Their erata problems have made it unable to compete in the high end market. Older games like UT 2004 show an improvement of almost 15 fps on a Q6600 vs. an AMD Phenom 9700.

Newer games are becoming very multithreaded: Valve just reworked their game engines to get a huge speed up when used on dualcore processors, and an even bigger speedup (roughly 70% compared to a dual core) on quad cores. Crysis is another example: if you disable Crysis' ability to use all four cores and limit them to only 2, as in a dual core system, I lose roughly 10 fps.

It's a real shame about AMD. I can't wait till they cut the fat and start pumping out chips that can compete in the high end market again. My last gaming machine was actually an AMD X2 4200+.

Refefer

jakelm wrote: »

AMD 4200 X2 Dual Core
1gb DDR RAM
Radeon x550 128mb PCI-E
80Gb HDD IDE
ASUS mobo
soundMax SC


and a peeerty mouse.

That's a good machine. Ever think of sticking in another gig of ram? I found it makes a HUGE difference.

jakelm

Refefer wrote: »

That's a good machine. Ever think of sticking in another gig of ram? I found it makes a HUGE difference.

Yeah. I am, but to be honest, its running great right now..i can add up to 4g's of RAM, but 1 more would do great. I have found the 4200+ is the best for the money. Superb for gaming and multi tasking. I bought (or shall I say , wasted money) on a new Ge Force 5500 256mB PCI card, only to find out my Radeon (only 128 mind you) PCI-E outperforms the GeForce.

The only problem I have, (someone here might be able to help me out), is I must have a ground issue, because when I unmoute the "pc beep" or "mic" or "cd" volumes I get a buzz and hiss sound like a bad ground. Any ideas?

Refefer

jakelm wrote: »

The only problem I have, (someone here might be able to help me out), is I must have a ground issue, because when I unmoute the "pc beep" or "mic" or "cd" volumes I get a buzz and hiss sound like a bad ground. Any ideas?

Is it onboard audio? If it is, it's doubtful that it's a grounding problem since the board is grounded to the power supply.

It's interesting, I got my 8800GT before getting the rest of my system and I found that I could play Crysis on High using my old AMD X2 4200+ with 2 gbs of ram. They're quality chips, there's no doubt about it. And dirt cheap to boot.

jakelm

Refefer wrote: »

Is it onboard audio? If it is, it's doubtful that it's a grounding problem since the board is grounded to the power supply.

Yes the soundMax is onboard. I think I might have my external (case) mic and headphone jacks hooked wrong. There are 2 options on the board for case hook up, but niether have what is labeled on my connections coming from my case. I'm pretty sure I have the 5v plug on right. But then my case plugs have left return, right return, ground, left and right. Also every time i scroll down a web page I get this ticking from the page moving. Very weird..

It's interesting, I got my 8800GT before getting the rest of my system and I found that I could play Crysis on High using my old AMD X2 4200+ with 2 gbs of ram. They're quality chips, there's no doubt about it. And dirt cheap to boot.

I dont play Crisis, but movies and video are flawless. Also streaming video.

Refefer

jakelm wrote: »

Yes the soundMax is onboard. I think I might have my external (case) mic and headphone jacks hooked wrong. There are 2 options on the board for case hook up, but niether have what is labeled on my connections coming from my case. I'm pretty sure I have the 5v plug on right. But then my case plugs have left return, right return, ground, left and right. Also every time i scroll down a web page I get this ticking from the page moving. Very weird..

Have you checked to make sure your mic/headphone plugs are plugged in all the way? That would certainly make an annoying buzzing noise.

Sami

Refefer wrote: »

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-D3SR = $160
CPU: Intel Quad core Q6600 SLACR = $270
Video Card: BFG 8800GT OC = $240 (with a lifetime warranty!!!!), though I was an idiot and bought it in store for $293.
4 GB of PC-8500 Crucial Ballistix Tracer Ram = $200

Pretty similar speeds I would assume. 8800GT Extreme + E6400 dual core with 2GB of RAM. Maybe a few fps slower but still well above the eye treashold for the games I play (COD4 at highest details mostly). Right now I have no need to upgrade, maybe in a year or two.

Unfortunately FPS games (and several other genres) are a PITA to play on consoles so I have to keep my PC up-to-date. Otherwise I'd just play on the PS3 but what can you do, only one game so far for it, the rest on PC.

jakelm

Refefer wrote: »

Have you checked to make sure your mic/headphone plugs are plugged in all the way? That would certainly make an annoying buzzing noise.

Yep. No mic hooked, just phones. And secure plug. It sound like feed back. Mute mic option, hiss gets softer, mute CD, hiss gets even softer. I have to run everything eccept, master and Wave, muted. And yet I still get a very slight hiss and buzz. Like a bad ground. Maybe, there is a short between the mobo and the case? The mobo is installed with metal lifters on the case. So it is grounded on the case. Maybe its the case?


Anyways.. I am sorry for hijacking your thread.

jakelm

Sami wrote: »

Unfortunately FPS games (and several other genres) are a PITA to play on consoles so I have to keep my PC up-to-date. Otherwise I'd just play on the PS3 but what can you do, only one game so far for it, the rest on PC.

I think just the oposite. FPS are easier on the console rather than the PC. But games like WOW or Ever Quest, I could never play on the console.

But..to each their own..:p

Sherardp

66chevyIISS wrote: »

im still on the crap box I built back in 2001

AMD Athlon 2800+
1 gig ddr ram
OEM Radeon 8500 64mb

+1 except mine is the 3200, 1 gig ram, ATI All in Wonder 9800, I used to upgrade yearly, often times within months. I havent built a rig in about 2-3 yrs. Just got into consoles as some others have.

Sami

jakelm wrote: »

I think just the oposite. FPS are easier on the console rather than the PC. But games like WOW or Ever Quest, I could never play on the console.

But..to each their own..:p

So you rather take the inaccurate thumb device instead of the accurate mkb combination? Just asking...

Refefer

Sami wrote: »

So you rather take the inaccurate thumb device instead of the accurate mkb combination? Just asking...

The smartest thing Microsoft ever did was not let players of a PC version of a game play against console players

Sami

Yep, console players would be in for a rude awakening.

SolidSqual

I don't think there is anything better than letting the original mario them play from my old school nintendo play through Odyssey Mono Extremes and AZ adagios.

jakelm

Sami wrote: »

So you rather take the inaccurate thumb device instead of the accurate mkb combination? Just asking...

My control is accurate to the pixel..:p

bdaley6509

Just bought a new Intel E8400 CPU to go with my new 512mb Nvidia GTS cards. I'm currently running an AMD 4800+. Still not sure what MB to get. I heard the 8400 can be OC'd to over 4ghz on air. I have a Zalman 9700LED so it should be fun.

ledhed

Q6600 (not SLACR)
8800 GTS 320 MB
4GB DDR2 800 RAM
1100GB HDD space

As soon as I get the money, I'm getting 8GB RAM. 4GB for sale! Cheap!

Though I can't run Crysis well above all settings at medium (Though it was the demo). I haven't tried tweaking any of the settings in game to get the best visual performance. I just keep getting the sneaking suspicion that something in my comp isn't running at the speeds its supposed to.

Though After Effects now blazes. 720P? No problem. It bogs up a little during heavy color correction on 1080P but my old comp would bog up on SD footage.

Refefer

ledhed wrote: »

Though I can't run Crysis well above all settings at medium (Though it was the demo). I haven't tried tweaking any of the settings in game to get the best visual performance. I just keep getting the sneaking suspicion that something in my comp isn't running at the speeds its supposed to.

Nice system. I run the game at 720p on my 52" with all the settings on "Very High" using the XP tweak and it looks great. This is one of those games where lesser resolution doesn't really make a difference.

ledhed

I'm sure part of it is my flavor of OS - Vista x64. I'll eventually get the actual game and try it out.

lanion

Refefer wrote: »

I hate to break it to you, but none of that really is true. The Q6600 quad core outperforms every AMD processor, including their newest line of quad core Phenoms, in literally every test.

Well, these benchmarks show the Phenoms doing quite well. I have no checked their prices but it could be a better value. The Phenoms outperform Intel's best on a few games and is about even with the Quad Cores on Crysis. Check the link.

Refefer

Of the group of 5 games they tested, it only won in one of them. Furthermore, that was on a much older game. For the rest, it was bested on average by 10 fps. Considering the Q6600 sells for around $270 compared to the the flagship Phenom which sells for $330, I find it thoroughly beaten.