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Preposed Setup

post #1 of 81
1/20/06 at 9:34pm
Thread Starter 
Though this is not a lappy, I know you guys can provide a better, faster response than the guys in the desktop forum.

I have several questions regarding a desktop that i am considering ordering.

Is it better to go with one 10k drive + a 80gb 7.2k drive or 2x 80gb with RAID 0.

Does liquid cool provide alot more room for ocing? What are the pros/cons?

Will adding a creative audigy 2 sound card provide that much greater of an experience?

Also, how much room is there to oc in a 7800gt w/ liquid and w/o liquid cooling?

Is it better to go SLI w/ 2x 6600gt or possible 6800gs (w/o liquid cooling) OR go with a 7800gt and oc the shit out of it?

LAST QUESTION... with the amd x2s, is it better to go with something like the 4400+ or something lower and oc it while getting better parts in other areas of the setup?

Heres my preposed setup(plus or minus the forstated things): Case ( Raidmax Ninja-918 ATX Mid-tower Case w/450W Power Supply Silver )
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( Standard Case Power Supply )
Processor ( [939-pin] AMD® Athlon-64 X2 4400+ CPU w/ Hyper Transport Technology )
Processor Cooling ( CoolerMaster Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit + 2 EXTRA CASE FANS )
Motherboard ( eVGA nForce-4 SLI Chipset Dual DDR w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E MB )
Memory ( 1024 MB [512MB X2] DDR-400 PC3200 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( [PCI-Express 16x] Nvidia Geforce 6800XT 256MB w/DVI + TV Out Video )
Hard Drive ( Gaming HARD DRIVES [Serial ATA-150, 10,000 RPM] WD Raptor WD740GD 74.0GB 8M Cache Hard Drive )
2nd Hard Drive ( 80 GB HARD DRIVE 80 GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA-100 Hard Drive )
Raid Controller ( None )
Raid Configuration ( None )
CD/DVD Drive ( None )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] 16X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Beige )
Sound Card ( Creative Lab Sound Blaster Audigy SE )

You can see why i dont think the desktop section can handle my thread

Thanks for even reading it,
jcll2002
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post #2 of 81
1/20/06 at 9:47pm
get the 80GB in raid 0. raptor---NOISE<PERFORMANCE noise outweighs performance gain.

liquid cool does help A LOT for oc'ing. however they sometimes make expanding difficult and messy because of liquid and pipes. u can probably get like 600mhz-1000mhz OC depending on what liquid colling system u get.

the audigy 2 is kinda obselete (except for notebooks). get the x-fi xtrememusic or the fatal1ty fps if u got the money. this will greatly increase clarity and gaming performance.

of course oc'ing a 7800 gt with liquid cooling is GREAT (maybe ~50-100 on core and A LOT on the memory!...w/o will give u less OC... u can also unlock pipes via rivatuner to make it closer to a GTX!!!

get the 7800 gt for more quality and features... (cinefx4.0 vs cinefx3.0(in the 6 series)...transparency AA vs. regular AA (found in 6 series)

get the 4400 because it has 2x 1MB L2Cache and u can easily OC with and w/o liquid cooling... the 3800 or 4200 may seem better but they have 2x 512KB L2Caches so they can never become a true 4800+...

btw, u getting this from cyberpowwerinc. or ibuypower?
i remember them having stuff like that...

good luck
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post #3 of 81
1/20/06 at 9:52pm
Thread Starter 
Yep, ibuypower... good guess...

Are they ok?
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post #4 of 81
1/20/06 at 9:55pm
Thread Starter 
BTW this is the type of liquid cooling they provide:

Description:
CoolerMaster Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit + 2 EXTRA CASE FANS

Specification:
Material of Base: Cu. Stacked Fin + Cu. Base
Dimension of Base: 70 x 85 x 23 mm
Bearing of Pump: NCB (Nano-millimeter Ceramic Bearing)
Fan Dimension: R80: 80 x 80 x 25 mm
Fan Speed: R80: 1,800 ~ 3,800 R.P.M.
Air flow: R80: 53.499 CFM
Air pressure: R80: 8.658 mm-H2O
Fan Noise: R80: 24.4 ~37.9 dBA
Fan Bearing Typ:e Long life sleeve bearing
Radiator Material: Aluminum Alloy
Radiator Dimension: R80: 80 x 120 x 45 mm
Pipe Dimension: 300 mm x 2
Application: Intel® Pentium® 4 (Socket 478/LGA 775) processors, Intel® Pentium® Xeon® (Socket 603/604) processors, Intel® Celeron® (Socket 478) processors, Intel® Celeron® D Socket 478/LGA775) processors, AMD Sempron™ (Socket A/754) processors, AMD Athlon™ XP (Socket A) processors, AMD Athlon™ 64 (Socket 754/939/940) processors.
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post #5 of 81
1/20/06 at 10:02pm
You could save some money buying all the parts yourself and putting it together.
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post #6 of 81
1/20/06 at 10:04pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hunterelite
get the 80GB in raid 0. raptor---NOISE<PERFORMANCE noise outweighs performance gain.

liquid cool does help A LOT for oc'ing. however they sometimes make expanding difficult and messy because of liquid and pipes. u can probably get like 600mhz-1000mhz OC depending on what liquid colling system u get.

the audigy 2 is kinda obselete (except for notebooks). get the x-fi xtrememusic or the fatal1ty fps if u got the money. this will greatly increase clarity and gaming performance.

of course oc'ing a 7800 gt with liquid cooling is GREAT (maybe ~50-100 on core and A LOT on the memory!...w/o will give u less OC... u can also unlock pipes via rivatuner to make it closer to a GTX!!!

get the 7800 gt for more quality and features... (cinefx4.0 vs cinefx3.0(in the 6 series)...transparency AA vs. regular AA (found in 6 series)

get the 4400 because it has 2x 1MB L2Cache and u can easily OC with and w/o liquid cooling... the 3800 or 4200 may seem better but they have 2x 512KB L2Caches so they can never become a true 4800+...

btw, u getting this from cyberpowwerinc. or ibuypower?
i remember them having stuff like that...

good luck
From what youve said...here's my new idea

Case ( Raidmax Ninja-918 ATX Mid-tower Case w/450W Power Supply Silver )
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( Standard Case Power Supply )
Processor ( [939-pin] AMD® Athlon-64 X2 4400+ CPU w/ Hyper Transport Technology )
Free Software/Game ( [NEW !!!] Free Nero 7 Ultra Edition --- with Purchase of any AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Based PC or Up )
Free Software/Game ( Free Game --- Half Life 2 Download Coupon with purchase of any AMD-64 based systems or Mobile Turion notebook )
Processor Cooling ( CoolerMaster Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit + 2 EXTRA CASE FANS )
Motherboard ( eVGA nForce-4 SLI Chipset Dual DDR w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E MB )
Memory ( 1024 MB [512MB X2] DDR-400 PC3200 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( [PCI-Express 16x] Nvidia Geforce 7800GT 256MB w/DVI + TV Out Video )
Hard Drive ( 80 GB HARD DRIVE 80 GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA-100 Hard Drive )
2nd Hard Drive ( 80 GB HARD DRIVE 80 GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA-100 Hard Drive )
Raid Controller ( Highpoint Rocket Raid Controller PCI Card -- Must select 2 same size Hard Drives )
Raid Configuration ( Raid-0 [Data Striping] With 2X Hard Drives )
CD/DVD Drive ( None )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] 16X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Beige )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )

Regarding the ram, is there really a point of getting faster ram? im coming from 533mhz in my 9300. The whole point of me even getting this system is so i dont have to get a new one soon (as done with my 9300 which was a mistake)
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post #7 of 81
1/20/06 at 10:05pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mZimm
You could save some money buying all the parts yourself and putting it together.
yeah but then if i screw something up no warranty and im screwed

Ive always wanted to build one myself though...
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post #8 of 81
1/20/06 at 10:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jcll2002
yeah but then if i screw something up no warranty and im screwed

Ive always wanted to build one myself though...
I did it a while back with a P3 system. Ran strong for years, and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be to build.

How long of a warranty does ibuypower give you?
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post #9 of 81
1/20/06 at 10:09pm
Thread Starter 
3 years apparently stock
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post #10 of 81
1/20/06 at 10:14pm
You don't need faster RAM, but you need RAM that will overclock well otherwise you're RAM will be a bottleneck. If you're planning to overclock, build the system yourself, research all the parts, and make smart buying decisions. A little bit of pre-planning can make all the difference on a good overclock.
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post #11 of 81
1/21/06 at 12:50am
Thread Starter 
Yeah, thats what i did with my 9300. I knew the 6800 go was good at the time and i also knew there was room for overclocking...

When the ram is oced, what areas of improvement can you expect?
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post #12 of 81
1/23/06 at 3:13pm
sorry for the LATE response... great set-up...as for memory OC u can expect "snappier" performance, better games performance, memory intensive tasks (duh LOL)...and overall better system performance... :-D
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post #13 of 81
1/23/06 at 3:19pm
Ibuypower prices can't be beat generally if your putting it together yourself. It will cost more but you have alot more say in what parts to use if you put it together yourself. But their is nothing wrong with them, I have 2 friends with comps from them and they've been running great
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post #14 of 81
1/23/06 at 4:11pm
have a friend with the a comp from there...dont forget to order "immaculate" wiring :-D
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post #15 of 81
1/23/06 at 10:08pm
Thread Starter 


Thanks for the responses.

Is there any specific type of memory that i should go for that is easily oced?

Also, does it really matter which mobo i choose? These are the choices:

Asus A8N5X nForce4 Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0 PCI-E Motherboard [+ $2]
Asus A8N-E nVidia nForce4-Ultra Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0 PCI-E Motherboard [+ $25]
Gigabyte GA-K8NF9 nVidia nForce4 Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 PCI-E Motherboard [- $1]
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum nForce4 Ultra Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394 PCI-E MB [+ $32]
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe nForce4-SLI Chipset w/LAN, 7.1 Sound, IEEE-1394, USB 2.0 Dual PCI-E Motherboard [+ $75]
Asus A8N-SLI Premium nForce4-SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, Dual PCI-E MB [+ $93]
Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe nForce4 SLI-x16 Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, Dual PCI-E MB [+ $110]
eVGA nForce-4 SLI Chipset Dual DDR w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E MB
Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro-SLI nVidia nForce4-SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB

This is my set up as of late:
Case ( Raidmax Ninja-918 ATX Mid-tower Case w/450W Power Supply Silver )
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( Standard Case Power Supply )
Processor ( [939-pin] AMD® Athlon-64 X2 4400+ CPU w/ Hyper Transport Technology )
Processor Cooling ( CoolerMaster Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit + 2 EXTRA CASE FANS )
Motherboard ( eVGA nForce-4 SLI Chipset Dual DDR w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E MB )
Memory ( 512MB DDR-400 PC3200 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( [PCI-Express 16x] Nvidia Geforce 7800GT 256MB w/DVI + TV Out Video )
Hard Drive ( 80 GB HARD DRIVE 80 GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA-100 Hard Drive )
2nd Hard Drive ( 80 GB HARD DRIVE 80 GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA-100 Hard Drive )
Raid Controller ( Highpoint Rocket Raid Controller PCI Card -- Must select 2 same size Hard Drives )
Raid Configuration ( Raid-0 [Data Striping] With 2X Hard Drives )
CD/DVD Drive ( None )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] 16X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Beige )
Sound Card ( Creative Lab Sound Blaster Audigy SE )
LED PANEL (Temperatures)
12 in one Card Reader

Also, i think the mobo supports 4 sticks of memory so one 1 or two sitcks of 512 will do... Can you guys help me pick out which ones?

Also, about the sound card, does it REALLY make a $50 difference?

Thanks again guys
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post #16 of 81
1/24/06 at 9:39pm
get one with dual pci-e for sli in the future :-D i prefer the asus because they have great motherboard capabilities like special OCing (Asus NOS--something like "Nitro..." which increases ur cpu speed when necessary)


here are some of the great things that come with an Asus MB

Power Loss Restart
- Support S/PDIF out interface
- ASUS POST Reporter
- ASUS MyLogo2
- ASUS Q-Fan technology
- ASUS EZ Flash
- ASUS AI Booster
- ASUS CrashFree BIOS 2
- ASUS Instant Music
- Intelligent CPU frequency tuner
- ASUS JumperFree
- ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
- CPU, Memory, and AGP voltage adjustable
- SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection) from 100MHz up to 400MHz at 1MHz increment
- Adjustable FSB/DDR ratio, Fixed AGP/PCI frequencies.
Features Support dual graphic cards, AI NET2, AI NOS, CrashFree BIOS 2, POST Reporter, Q-Fan2, MyLogo2, EZ Flash, Multi-language BIOS,C.P.R., WinDVD Suite bundle, NV Firewall,AMD Cool 'n' Quiet! Technology

most of them are self explanatory, but if u dont understand them...

i would opt for a more powerful power supply (at least 500 watts) because u have a lot of high-end components and u are gonna be OCing...right and u might run into the problem of a weak PSU

this is more opinion, but i would choose a tower case for more expanibility options and better airflow...and it looks cooler (and i faithfully trust coolermaster...great construction...i would be careful about flimsy plastic on that case that u currently have...

get corsair xms pro for OCing and great performance...it has a nice heat sink that allows for a lot of OC because heat is never a problem... corsair memory is among the best

and what sound card were u thinking (+$50)... if u mean buying the x-fi for an extra 50, it is well worth it because x-fi is next gen technology while audigy 2 is old.

GOOD LUCK AND TELL ME HOW EVERYTHING TURNS OUT!!!
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post #17 of 81
1/24/06 at 11:12pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hunterelite
this is more opinion, but i would choose a tower case for more expanibility options and better airflow...and it looks cooler (and i faithfully trust coolermaster...great construction...i would be careful about flimsy plastic on that case that u currently have...
The airflow matters when theres liquid cooling?
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post #18 of 81
1/25/06 at 12:29am
it would be cheaper if you built it yourself and you would have a (only) say in the parts you get. No warrenty though
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post #19 of 81
1/25/06 at 1:44am
I'm just replying to the first post, I skimmed the rest of the thread.

Building your own computer is a great way to go. It's very easy to do and a great learning experience. Unless you're really uncomfortable with it, I'd say go for it. Also, don't worry about warranties as most manufacturers have at least a 1 year warranty on their parts. For example, AMD CPUs and most HDDs have 3 year warranties while most RAM will have a lifetime warranty. The important thing is to do your purchasing through a reputable online reseller such as Newegg.com that has a no hassle RMA policy.

Commenting on the parts that you've chosen, if you're going to do ANY kind of overclocking, make sure you get a good power supply. That piece of s*** that comes with the Raidmax can't handle the load of high-end components, and dont even think about SLI. Pick up a 450watt+ model from Enermax, OCZ, Antec, or any other quality manufacturer.

The X2 CPU's are great. How much more is the 4400+ over the 3800+? The extra L2 Cache and 200MHz will probably equate to ~8-12% performance boost in games if that's your main focus.

Water cooling isn't worth it unless you buy a high performance setup from Danger Den or any other online store or build your own. It's a big hassle to run (cleaning, leak testing, etc.) and the stock X2 heatsink is actually a superb cooler, don't waste your money.

If you want the best bang for your buck, get a 250GB harddrive for ~$105 from newegg. It'll be almost as fast as a raptor, but quieter, and you wont have to deal with the BS of setting up RAID nor of RAID failing (which is a pain in the ass if you've ever had that happen to you ).

Any sound card is better than onboard sound so that you dont waste CPU power processing the audio. The audigy two is still a pretty good sound card. How much more you want still depends on how into audio you are. I've been using $27 24 bit sound blaster cards for a couple of newer builds and they really sound great, especially for the price.

The 7800GT is the minimum I'd go for on a new system. Buying lowerend cards to put them in SLI is a waste. SLI for the most part is just if you want to have TWO of the most powerful graphics cards on the market. Anyway, the 7800GT overclocks extremely well. I've toyed with an XFX model and I was very impressed.

Hope the helped, and you might want to check out a more desktop oriented forum such as www.hardforum.com .

-Mr. K6
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post #20 of 81
1/25/06 at 8:06am
jclll2002,

those are just my opinions based on what ive heard and seen...ppl like k6 know a lot more than me so (im just 14 ), so if u dont feel fully comfoartable taking advice from me, take theirs.
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