The All New, All New Spec and Bench Thread!!!

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 2:56 pm

Now if the Admiral would just get a proper motherboard...

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 2:58 pm

Changing the case out tonight. Not getting enough air flow in the very cool looking, but bad-air-flow-mofo-low-down-around-this-town case. Should be a lot quieter too now.

Beeeph · Post by **Beeeph** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 2:59 pm

J3RK wrote:That sounds a lot like this:

AMD 64 3800+ X2 @ 2400MHz
Zalman CNPS7700-Cu
ASUS A8N-SLI
2GB Corsair XMS PC3200 (2x 1GB modules)
BFG Tech 7800GT OC
Creative X-Fi
Tapco/Mackie S5 monitors
120GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.8
250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.9
Plextor 16X DVDRW+++---
Cooler Master Mid Tower (picked this up today)
MS Keyboard
MS optical mouse (mid range because I like the shape better)
Viewsonic P90(somethingrather)
Enermax 495 (dual 12V rails)
Joymaster MkII
2x SuperJoyBox13 (gamecube controller adapters)

I used that as a template

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 3:01 pm

One more 7800GT OC would be nice.

Post by **enderzero** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:37 am

Got some storage there beeephy?

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 11:02 am

I forgot that I replaced my 120GB system drive with a 160 SATA2.

Must change that...

Beeeph · Post by **Beeeph** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:40 am

J3RK wrote:Grin One more 7800GT OC would be nice.

so would one more 24" LCD, but I don't think I could make much use of it now. perhaps I'll pick up another 7800GT around the beginning of summer when it's cheaper and I can make better use of it. Are you running two 7800's? Do you think it's really worth having right now?

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:36 pm

I'm only using one. In fact I just swapped my motherboard last night with the BFG Ultra (non-SLI) board. I didn't want to, but I damaged my ASUS board somehow during my case swap. I somehow managed to zap my CMOS battery, which caused Windows to become corrupt. So, then I go to replace the battery, so I can get Windows reinstalled, and the whole battery clip thing breaks off. I whip out the solder-station, connect some wires to a new battery, start it up, and it starts freaking out, reading incorrect voltages, etc. The Admiral and I found the BFG board locally at CompUSA (the only place open after 8:00.) After some jiggery pockery, we get it back, toss it in, and all kinds of lovliness breaks loose. I stayed up until 3:00am to get a working XP install. After that, I copy everything I need from my system drive to my larger drive, and go to bed. I read today that half of the problems I was having are because of the original BIOS for the BFG board not liking the X-Fi card. I just downloaded the new BIOS which will fix everything. (the X-Fi is currently not installed) I've decided to install XP-X64 Edition, so I've just grabbed all the 64 bit drivers. When I get home, I shall once again have a working computer. Now with 64 bit wiener scent! I decided to go with the non-sli board because I'm totally happy with the single 7800GT right now. I figure, if I need more power, I'll just buy a faster single card and sell the one I have now. I like SLI, but I'm kind of curious what new tech they'll put into the next cards. If there is a big change (like new shader revision or something,) having two cards won't make up for the new features (even though they might be faster.)

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:42 pm

Forgot to mention: I picked up an XBox 360 controller for my PC. It's the most comfortable, well laid out game pad I've ever used. Nice build quality too. I love the Gamecube controllers, and their layout is perfect for platform games, but other types of games will be better with the 360 pad. I'll probably pick up a second one pretty soon. The Admiral and I are of the opinion that that was a very smart move by MS (using standard USB connectors for them.)

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:01 am

HA!! I got XP X64 installed last night. It's so fast! I didn't think there would be that much of a difference. It boots in around 4 seconds. I didn't get a chance to try it out with any games, so I'll do that this evening. Far Cry has a 64 bit patch that enables more graphical features, pushes out the clipping plane a bit, etc. Think I'll give that a whirl. Lost half of my torrent downloads

I backed them up by installing XP32 just to copy them from one drive to the other. When I installed Windows, chkdisk ran for about an hour ruining the files for me. (nice of it) All I could do was watch as it "fixed" them for me. Oh well, I've got most of them re-downloading now. (all the stuff that was already on that drive before the copy is fine. Flyakite won't install on X64, so I no longer have my fancy OSX theme. Everything else is tip top. This BFG motherboard overclocks better than the ASUS did.

Admiral: I also got the BIOS IRQ thing sorted out. I think it reads those things from the ESCD, so once I got all the devices sorted out in Windows, they aligned on the post-POST table.

mistasparkle* · Post by mistasparkle* » Fri Feb 03, 2006 3:52 am

w00t.

I ordered some new pc parts this past week for a little upgrade.

My current setup is:

P4 Northwood 2.4 Ghz socket 478
Intel mobo & chipset
A gig of ram
Radeon 9700 128mb

That setup has been more than good for the last 3 years, but lately it's really started to show it's age with newer games so I thought it was time for a speedier setup. I went with these three:

AMD 64 X2 4200+
Asus A8N-E mobo (Nforce Ultra chipset)
Geforce 7800 GTX

So far only the vid card has arrived, and the other stuff is on its way. I can't wait to play BF2 all cranked up with my new gear!

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 8:19 am

Very nice!

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:46 pm

Jerk: Glad to see your post table is fixed, that was wacky!

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 2:09 pm

'twas wacky. I had a feeling it would be fixed after loading the OS once though. I'm pretty sure the OS assigned everything, wrote to the ESCD, and then the BIOS picked it up after that. The thing is running perfectly now. It also works with the dual core patch for Quake IV. BF2 runs way faster than it used to as well. Hopefully Psychonauts will be done dling, so I can give the 360 controller a whirl. I gave it a small whirling with some emus, but I want to try out the analog parts too.

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 2:17 pm

Yeah i'm going to have to get me one of them.

mistasparkle* · Post by mistasparkle* » Sun Feb 05, 2006 5:12 pm

the sparklebox is up and running. So far it's smoked every game i've thrown at it on the highest quality settings with 4xfsaa, etc. at my screen's native res 1280x1024. BF2 looks like a totally new game compared to my last setup. I gave 3dmark2006 a shot, and that thing is a beast! I don't think I ever saw the framerate get past 30 on any of the full demos. I'm going to give 3dmark05 a shot later to see how it fares.

The dual core chip is also giving some nice multitasking performance.

so far so good. The last thing i'm thinking about upgrading is the ram, because the sticks I have are pretty old, and were purchased on a budget at the time, so I'm sure there are speedier kinds of ram around these days.

what do you guys think? faster ram is an important upgrade, or no big deal?

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 5:33 pm

Fancy memory doesn't really help on AMD64s all that much. The performance difference is really quite minimal. That said, I have fancy RAM.

If you need more RAM, I'd say go for it, but if you're looking for a little more performance I'd skip it. I like Corsair XMS. It's quick, reliable, etc. (far from necessary with AMD though)

mistasparkle* · Post by mistasparkle* » Sun Feb 05, 2006 7:59 pm

good to know. thanks.

I've already got a gig of ram, so I don't think I need more. Guess I'll just hold off for now.

Post by **enderzero** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 8:20 am

Damn, more jealousy. All signs point to 2GB minimums these days. I would say adding a 2nd GB would defiitely give you a perf boost with that new smokin sys. But I would just stick with Corsair Value Select as far as the brand goes. Like J3RK said, the price-performance ratio of the platinum shit is negligible.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 9:25 am

I wouldn't say it's the minimum yet, but it definitely makes a difference.

mistasparkle* · Post by mistasparkle* » Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:02 pm

hmm... good to know. thanks for the info.
RAM is so cheap these days anyway, I might just go ahead and pick up another gig.

I played FEAR last night for the first time. that game is the cats ass! It really looks "next-gen" as far as effects, and overall polish. IMO it looks better than Quake 4, and the gameplay is pretty slick.

I also ran through half-life lost coast, which is pretty impressive too. I can't wait for them to come out with the next chapter of HL2 with all that HDR tomfoolery added.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:01 pm

I like the way F.E.A.R. looks, but I wouldn't compare to Quake IV. It looks more realistic than Q4, but Q4 is quite stylized. Whether you like one better than the other is up to taste, but I think one looks easily as good as the other if you look at it a bit more objectively. I don't really like the way humans look on the D3 engine (at least of any of the games currently available on it.) F.E.A.R. is much better there. (however, the enemies on Q4 look VERY cool if one was to ask me) The architecture in Q4 is far more impressive. The skybox/2D backdrops in the outdoor levels of Q4 absolutely suck. They look completely disconnected from the 3D portion. Indoors though I'd go with Quake. F.E.A.R. wins for the action packed office building and warehouse feel. (which I'm fond of)

I'd say that out of F.E.A.R. and Quake IV, I like Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay the best.

mistasparkle* · Post by mistasparkle* » Wed Feb 08, 2006 5:25 pm

Good points. I hear what you're saying about q4 being stylized, but I guess I just look at it and see a technically impressive game that doesn't really do anything new. FEAR is chock-full-o special effects that I've never seen in an fps, and has really good people models. HL2 Lost coast is a bad comparison, but it's another example of awesome new technology that I find more impressive. (did you see the fisherman in lost coast? amazing stuff.)

Riddick is another good one I haven't tried on the new sparklebox yet... I'll have to give that a shot...

Post by **enderzero** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 6:57 pm

You get into the new Call of Duty sparkle? I remember you loving the first.

mistasparkle* · Post by mistasparkle* » Thu Feb 09, 2006 1:07 am

Call of Duty 2?

...how 2 months ago

Yeah. Played all the way through. It was as solid as the previous games in the series. I might go back and play it again with the new rig, because I'm sure it'll be a much better experience playing with all options cranked up.

mistasparkle* · Post by mistasparkle* » Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:23 pm

J3RK wrote:HA!! I got XP X64 installed last night. It's so fast! I didn't think there would be that much of a difference. It boots in around 4 seconds. I didn't get a chance to try it out with any games, so I'll do that this evening. Far Cry has a 64 bit patch that enables more graphical features, pushes out the clipping plane a bit, etc. Think I'll give that a whirl. Lost half of my torrent downloads I backed them up by installing XP32 just to copy them from one drive to the other. When I installed Windows, chkdisk ran for about an hour ruining the files for me. (nice of it) All I could do was watch as it "fixed" them for me. Oh well, I've got most of them re-downloading now. (all the stuff that was already on that drive before the copy is fine. Flyakite won't install on X64, so I no longer have my fancy OSX theme. Everything else is tip top. This BFG motherboard overclocks better than the ASUS did.

Admiral: I also got the BIOS IRQ thing sorted out. I think it reads those things from the ESCD, so once I got all the devices sorted out in Windows, they aligned on the post-POST table.

Hey J3RK, I'm curious, how's your xp64 experience been up until now. I've been thinking about installing it, but i'm wondering if i'm gonna run into all sorts of compatibility problems. Can you exec standard xp32 apps on it? what about driver issues? Is dual-booting with XP32, and XP64 an option?

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:55 pm

I have good drivers for all of my hardware for it. No complaints there. I haven't had a 32 bit app/game have a problem yet. There is no 16 bit support whatsoever. I was cheering that on, until I discovered that my hacked up way of playing System Shock 1 (DOS game,) didn't work anymore. (it was dependent on the legacy support) The only way I can run it now is through DOSBox, which is slower. Anyway, if you don't play DOS games using the NTVDM (virtual X86 support,)

then you don't need to worry. I'm sure it will work quite well for you. (apparently when the AMD64 is in 64 bit mode, it takes away the virtual X86 abilities) The only other complaint I have is that I can't run a certain crack that I like to use, because it installs a virtual USB device driver, and the hAxoRZ didn't make a 64 bit version. It seems to work exceedingliy well under normal circumstances though.

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:38 pm

Time for an update:

Running Microsoft Windows XP - Professional x64 Edition

Dell 2005FPW 20' Widescreen LCD
ASUS K8N-SLI Deluxe Nforce4 Motherboard
AMD64 3200+ Venice Core w/ Thermalright XP-90C Copper Cooler
2GB Corsair XMS3200CL2PS (2x 1GB dual channel)
(1x) eVGA 7900GT Superclocked
Linksys 802.11GS with Speedbooster Technology
(2x) Seagate 300GB 7200.8 SATA+NCQ
Lite-On SOHD-16P9S 16x DVD-Rom
NEC 3520A 16x DL +/- DVD Burner
Enermax 495P-VE (485W dual 12v)
Coolermaster Centurion 5 Case
1x Thrustmaster FireStorm Dual Power 3 Gamepad
Creative Inspireâ„¢ 2.1 2600 Stereo Speakers
Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse Explorer 2.0
Microsoft Digital Media Pro Keyboard

Edit: Fixed picture link.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Tue May 30, 2006 10:56 am

I haven't updated my specs in some time, so here:

Dell 2001FP 20.1" LCD
ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard
AMD Opteron 170 (dual core 1MB L2 cache per core) @2500 + Zalman CPNS7700
2GB Corsair XMS3299CL2PS (2x 1GB dual channel)
ATI Radeon x1900XT
Creative X-Fi (game audio)
M-Audio Delta 44 (pro audio)
Seagate 7200.9 160GB (system drive)
Seagate 7200.8 250GB (game/storage drive)
Lacie 80GB USB2.0 (detachable drive)
Plextor 16X DVDR/W/+/-/Whicheverthefuck
Enermax 495P-VE (485W dual 12v)
Coolermaster Centurion 5 Case
2x XBox 360 Wired Gamepads
Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 5000
Microsoft Standard Keyboard
Tapco S5 Studio Monitors
OCZ 2GB USB Flash Drive
Joymaster MkII (MAME controller)

Hmm, most of this is VERY similar to the Admiral's system. Weeeeee!!!

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Wed May 31, 2006 1:52 am

Super computer buddies!

teh Forum

teh Forum

The All New, All New Spec and Bench Thread!!!