New rig

[floppybootstomp]

I upgraded over the weekend, first time in two and a quarter years.

Old rig:

DFI Ultra B II Lan Party mobo
AMD XP3200 Socket A CPU (2.2Ghz @ 2.4Ghz)
Gigabyte Rocket blue LED cooler
1 Gig Crucial standard PC3200 RAM (2 x 512)
Leadtek Nvidia 256Mb 6800GT Video card (AGP)
2 x Western Digital 35Gb Raptors in RAID 0
1 x Samsung PATA 160Gb hard disk
Pioneer DVDRW
Samsung DVD ROM Drive
Floppy drive
Tagan 480W U-22 PSU
Lian Li PC-61 Tower case with side window and stealth drives
2 x Panaflo 80mm case fans & 2 x Vantec 80mm case fans

That stayed the same except the following parts were substituted:

Asus P5B Deluxe Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 CPU, 2.4Ghz x 2
Zalman 775 Flower cooler
2Gb Corsair 800Mhz PC2-6400 XMS Memory (2 x 1Gb)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV Video card
2 x Western Digital 74Gb Raptors in RAID 0
1 x Samsung SATA II 250Gb Hard drive

It's now all up and running, had a couple of probs.

First, the manual said 'To enter RAID setup, press Ctrl + l on POST'. So I did, nothing happened. I updated the BIOS and still no go.

Then I figured 'l' might actually be 'I'. That is I instead of L. And it was. Doh.

Then I couldn't get Windows to see the storage hard disk. It was showing in Bios and in Device Manager so what do do? Finally managed to format it in Windows Disk management thingie, but had me going for a while.

So how is it? Well, it's fast for sure but if you want to know the truth, I can hardly notice any difference at all in general usage between old and new systems. That was a lot of money for an upgrade and I thought I wasn't really seeing that much difference.

However

Games now run bloody marvellous. Oblivion Elder Scrolls 4 is a totally different beast now, it's so clear, full of detail and fluid.

Half Life 2 looks good and I can play CoD2 online at 1600 x 1200 without any jitter at all.

Have yet to try any other games, will be reloading PREY, FEAR and Far Cry soon.

The other area where this sytem excels is multi-tasking. Previously, if I was using, say, Photoshop and I-Tunes, the music would stutter sometimes. It doesn't now. I've actually had four programs open at once, no probs.

And of course the dual processors crunch two WU's at once.

The Zalman cooler is huge but it's quiet and does a good job. CPU runs idle at 33C and full tilt at 42C. Room temp is about 20C.

Haven't tried any overclocking yet but I will do.

Here's a few random pix of bits, they're nothing special, I was impatient to put this thing together:

And two WU's at once

 

[MalcolmW]

>Room temp is about 70C.

Really? What are you made of? Your rawhide wont be for long! {8;-))

 

[ChristopherP]

How much all that cost (minus the raptors)

I'm looking to upgrade to something similar soon - though maybe not such a beefy graphics card... i hardly game any more!

 

[floppybootstomp]

>Room temp is about 70C.

Really? What are you made of? Your rawhide wont be for long! {8;-))

oops, lol, of course I meant 70 degrees farenheit, post now edited from 70C to 20C

Chris, you don't really want to know cost, do you? I'm kinda about that

Lemme see, all prices aprox:

CPU: 225
Mobo: 132
RAM: 212
Cooler: 35

Total of those parts: 604

 

[Ian]

Oh man that is one sweet system! What sort of monitor are you playing the games on at 1600x1200?

If you sell any of the old bits do let me know

 

[muckshifter]

Cool Man ...

... sweet innit ... and the price ain't that bad, fact is, it's darn good.


Enjoy your games ...

 

[floppybootstomp]

Thanks for replies

Ian: Monitor is Iiyama 21" 504 CRT. It's such a good picture, I have room for it so I didn't see the point of going TFT just yet.

When it conks out then I'll get me's one of those new fangled screens

As for the old bits, they've worked their way down the chain and I've put these parts to one side to make a Media PC for my TV and Hi-Fi:

Asrock Dual SATA 939 mobo
Socket 939 XP3200 (2Ghz)
1Gb Corsair Value select PC3200 RAM
Radeon 9800 128Mb Pro video card (AGP)

But that won't be just yet, my wallet needs to recover

 

[V_R]

That looks really nice Flops.

That deluxe MB looks the nuts. Really does look so much better that the standard P5B, if like yourself you got a window in your case and you want to show off your hardware, then thats the puppy!

I didn't notice a big difference in normal running on my new rig either, but as you say start gaming and you see where the money went!

Hmm, Me want a C2D now..... Why am i never satisfied....?

I'm not sure if you go in for all this, but i wouldn't mind seeing what it does on 3DMark06, It should do very well, mine does 6500ish (stock) so i would expect that to hit 7000-8000.

I love that Zalman cooler, sounds like it does the job well too.

Nice one Flops, It looks awsome and i am now offically jealous!!

 

[floppybootstomp]

A few more random pix, case side on and off, and yes, I know I need a bit of a cable tidy up

 

[TriplexDread]

Very nice m8. Makes me wanna go spend a big wad myself lol.

 

[AbsoluteKevster]

Hmm... and there's me poncing around with a 3.4Ghz Skt 478 o/c build..
:-/


LOL

 

[ChristopherP]

Mmm i like

I specced up a similar mobo, memory and CPU and added a GFX card that looked satisfactory and it came to £750

I got some saving to do!

 

[michael 118]

very lovely floppy

My case is pretty similar to yours..cept its got some cool silver bits on.

other than that, your pc pretty much beats mine at everything. enjoy your crown of "best pc" whilst it is warm good sir


where did you get all them parts?

 

[floppybootstomp]

Yep, I have almost top of the range right now

That should last until, what? February? May? Not a long longer I'll wager.

I kept my last main setup 2 & a quarter years as I was so pleased with it. If I do that again it means I'm next due for an upgrade early Spring 2009.

Looked at that way, it's actually not such a big expense.

And I am so enjoying my gaming right now

I purchased all the parts from Overclockers.co.uk

As I wouldn't be at home all the time for most weekdays I went for Saturday delivery, which cost an extra tenner. Ordered goods 3.15pm Friday, they arrived 8.30am Saturday morning.

Well packed and everything worked ok.

Before ordering I phoned overclockers and asked a couple of questions about the components and also asked if I wasn't ordering too late for Saturday delivery. Got through straight away and the guy I spoke to was helpful.

I only say what is, if they were to let me down, I'd soon shout about that, but for the last few years OCUK have been good, including a painless video card RMA a couple of years ago.

 

[Me__2001]

very nice flopps, i reckon that should last you a couple of years easy

 

[Thermaltke]

Thats quite funny actually, i'm looking around for a new computer to build and what i have in my basket is surprisingly similar to what you bought. Thats a pretty good price actually

 

[crazylegs]

Must of missed this thread first time around..

Very nice flopps glad you went 775 and core 2 duo like I suggested as opposed to Amd like everyone else was telling you to do..

Love the P5B board me is gonna get meself one of those I think...

Glad you is enjoying your gaming dude..

Your gonna have to run some benchmarks and drop me a line on here to let me know if she's ripping the place apart...

Bet Oblivion is smooth as hell...

 

[floppybootstomp]

Oblivion is superb

Now I've been using it for a few days I am noticing lots of little improvements that weren't immediately apparent.

I-Tunes rips CD's to mp4a a lot faster for instance, typically in about a third of the time it used to take.

No 'stuttering' anywhere.

Time, soon, for an overclock, methinks

Here's 3D Mark 2006:

 

[floppybootstomp]

I wondered why 3DMark listed my Nvidia drivers as unapproved as I'm using the latest drivers for the 8800 series from the Nvidia site.

Turns out 3DMark only have the 91.47 drivers listed for the GeForce series. Something of an oversight on their part, I feel

 

[crazylegs]

Yeah but all the same flopp's that is nice, very nice indeed...

I wondered how quick it would rip a dvd...Must be bloody fast...

I know i'm just about fed up of waiting for virus scans and spyware scans to finish before I get a smooth running of other applications...

You must be well thrilled with it...and just over the £600 mark sounds fantastic..Mine was built December 2004 so just about 2 years old now, was gonna keep for 3 years, well that was my intention but you have made me jealous now, and mighty hard for me not to upgrade the goodies inside my case now as opposed to 12 months down the line...Aarrgghh decisions, decisions...

Enjoy it mate you deserve it...