Rip my computer to shreds

[weemadando]

OK, so this is what I'm currently looking at purchasing. Is there anything notably stupid/wrong with what I'm thinking about?

Main questions now - is paying more for DDR3 v DDR2 RAM worth it, as I can get 4g of DDR2 1066 for $195. Is the extra memory speed worth the extra $80 or so?

And having checked benchmarks and looking at the constantly rising prices of NVidia cards I'm going with the 4870 at the moment - unless someone can give me a good reason to spend the extra $165 on the GTX280...

CPU:
E8500 ($289)

Mobo:
GIGABYTE EP45T‐DS3R ($199)

RAM:
4GB KIT DDR3 1333 KINGSTON ($275)

HDD:
1T SATA Western Digital ($168)
(have a 250gb SATA that I'll also be putting in)

GFX:
4870 1G SAPPHIRE ($489)

Guff:
SATA LG DVD R/W ($27)
VISTA HOME PREMIUM ($165)

Case:
Coolermaster CM690 ($129)

[Darth Mall]

I have the same CPU, and with cooling it easily overclocked to 4Ghz if you are interested in that.

I have the HD4870 in 512 mb for, and it also overclocked really easily. I will suggest if it comes with the reference cooler to upgrade it, because the reference one really sucks, and my temps dropped almost 20*C.

With the same amount of RAM, but ddr2, and XP pro I am able to run any game I've come across at highest settings and 1680x1050 resolution. So I don't see any reason to upgrade to the GTX.

I'm assuming that the money is in AU dollars?

[Ace Pace]

DDR3 is currently not worth it. Not even close. If you really insist, I can link you to a variety of websites showing that.

[Archaic`]

You're going to want a 650W power supply with that setup. That appears to be the same case I bought when putting a computer together earlier this year, so there should be an option to get it with a separate power supply. The only that you can purchase in a package together with it was only rated at 500W, IIRC.

[Darth Mall]

You're going to want a 650W power supply with that setup. That appears to be the same case I bought when putting a computer together earlier this year, so there should be an option to get it with a separate power supply. The only that you can purchase in a package together with it was only rated at 500W, IIRC.

A good 500W supply should be fine. I'm running mine on a 535W and I have the same setup as him, and 5 harddrives running no issues

[weemadando]

So maybe swap out the DDR3 for DDR2 and use that money to go to the GTX280?

[General Zod]

DDR3 is currently not worth it. Not even close. If you really insist, I can link you to a variety of websites showing that.

I dunno about ando but I'd be interested in links with a more detailed explanation.

[Dominus Atheos]

DDR3 is currently not worth it. Not even close. If you really insist, I can link you to a variety of websites showing that.

I dunno about ando but I'd be interested in links with a more detailed explanation.

Google is your friend.

[weemadando]

OK the final build is:

Coolermaster CM690 case w/650W PSU
Intel E8500
GA-EP45T-UD3LR Mobo
4gb of DDR3-1333 (the guy cut me a deal for that for less than the DDR2)
Sapphire 4870 1gb
1Tb HDD

And drives and guff.

It's being assembled now (so I get a full service warranty on it too) and should be ready for me on Friday.

Looking forward to it. Even bought Crysis in anticipation of trying to break it.

[Xon]

You should have gone for 8gb of memory and 64bit Vista.

With 32bit Vista you will be seeing about 3gb of that memory, maybe less.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Anders just make sure you don't use an Antec power supply, it will short out and possibly fry your mother board....

[weemadando]

You should have gone for 8gb of memory and 64bit Vista.

With 32bit Vista you will be seeing about 3gb of that memory, maybe less.

Well, I can always add more memory in the future. And how big an issue is the 64bit v 32bit Vista, because I can always alter that.

[The Kernel]

You should have gone for 8gb of memory and 64bit Vista.

With 32bit Vista you will be seeing about 3gb of that memory, maybe less.

Well, I can always add more memory in the future. And how big an issue is the 64bit v 32bit Vista, because I can always alter that.

The issue is that Windows 32-bit will not be able to see (let alone use) your 4GB of system memory. This is by far the largest issue with choosing 32-bit Windows.

And it isn't an easy fix by the way as your OEM license to Windows only entitles you to the 32-bit version (unlike retail copies which have both 32 and 64 bit bundled.

[weemadando]

Have the issues to do with driver signing and zero 16bit backwards compability been fixed on Vista 64?

[The Kernel]

Have the issues to do with driver signing and zero 16bit backwards compability been fixed on Vista 64?

I have no idea about 16-bit compatibility, but what in the name of hell do you need that for? You have apps from the DOS days floating around?

As for the driver issues, yes that has been worked out and you won't have any driver issues on a new machine anyway.

[Xon]

Well, I can always add more memory in the future. And how big an issue is the 64bit v 32bit Vista, because I can always alter that.

The crappy part is unless the sticks are 2gb sticks and if you have 4 DDR2/3 slots, you will likely need to dump the sticks to get higher density.

The same key will work for 32bit or 64bit, even with OEM. But you will need to reinstall windows (can't do inplace upgrades form 32bit -> 64bit).

As for 64bit Vista, go download a 64bit Vista OEM iso or borrow it from someone and use the same key from your 32bit version. This would work best if Windows haven't been activated, and in all likelyhood will work even if you activate with 32bit since the hardware hasn't changed. Otherwise you might need to phone microsoft and get them to manuelly activate it. Just say the shop installed 32bit instead of 64bit and you'll be good, you can get away with reactiving OEM copies via phone with the crappiest of exuses(I've had a XP OEM transfer across 5 motherboards, and 6 massive hardware changes). And it is a toll-free line too boot.

As for 16bit compadibility, dosbox works a hell of a lot better than trying to run most old 16bit games than trying to run natively on XP or vista.

Driver wise, anything with 32bit vista ready drivers will have 64bit drivers.

[Stark]

The only time I've run into problems re 16-bit is trying to run old Windows 3.1 apps (like that SPACE INVADERS IN UR FILESYSTEM game). Otherwise, no problem, and of course 32-bit is seamless for most applicaitons.

LOL at 'must own 650W power supply' btw.

[weemadando]

I went ahead and upgraded to 64bit Vista - I hadn't really checked into the differences since Vista launched and back then it seemed mostly crippled and not worth it. But the evidence previously presented has changed my mind on that.

[atg]

Anders just make sure you don't use an Antec power supply, it will short out and possibly fry your mother board....

Could you expand on that? I've used Antec for years and never had a problem. They've even gone through power spikes and blackouts at LANs without having an issue where other PSUs died as a result.

[Beowulf]

Some Antec PSUs are good, and others are crappy, and there's no easy way to tell which are which.

And yeah, if you need 16 bit now, there's ways to run the program in a virtual machine. It's not as if programs that old really need any type of speed at all.

[phongn]

Antec EarthWatts is a solid PSU design.

[weemadando]

Well, I've picked it up and am currently bringing it up to speed with some essential software etc. Will let you all know how it handles the games.

[weemadando]

Muhahahahah!

It ate Crysis alive with everything on Gigh + 4xAA. Going to try it with everything on Very High and with V-Sync to boot.

[Starglider]

LOL at 'must own 650W power supply' btw.

There are a couple of good reasons to own a somewhat overrated powersupply. The efficiency of most PSUs peaks in the 50-70% range, so at long as you don't pay too much more for it you might actually save money over the life of the PC. An underloaded PSU will generally run cooler, decreasing the probability of failure and possibly making it quieter (if it has a variable speed fan). But yeah, no need to go nuts, most PCs (even gaming ones) only actually use 300W tops.

I actually have a pair of 1000W heatpipe cooled PSUs waiting to be put into a couple of new workstations I'm planning to build. I confess though there isn't much rational justification for this; I also have four Zalman Reserator 1+s (huge water cooling towers) waiting to be connected to them as well. Though it should run cool and quiet even if I do put 4-way Opteron motherboards in there...

[Uraniun235]

50% efficiency? You can't be serious. It's not hard to find power supplies rated at 80% or better.