New PC

[Rahl]

Saturday I went to the shiney new Fry's Electronics here and bought some parts. I discovered I got robbed on prices on several items, so yesterday evening after I got done vomiting I took most of that crap back and bought better and cheaper stuff at MonarchComputer.com's store here in Atlanta.

Here is what I got and some prices...I can't remember exact prices and I don't want to look:

Abit IC7-G ~$150
P4 3.2 GHz with 1M of cache ~$225
Gig of dual channel DDR 3200 ~$200
Nvidia 6800 GT 256M DDR ~$380
Audigy2 sound card (old one was real crap) ~$75
Aluminum Lian-Li case ~$100
Enermax power supply ~$70

For a grand total of $1300 after taxes. I bought local because I'd rather pay sales tax that benefits my local economy than the fedex/ups tax which benefits fedex/ups. And, the prices at Monarch are as good as newegg.com or better.

I won't be shopping at Fry's for computer hardware anymore. They took 20 minutes to tell me whether they had a 3.2GHz in stock and how much it would cost if they had it. Then they sold me the wrong one for too much money (I trusted them and didn't check what I was buying carefully). Fuckers.

So, performance....wow.

For a few minutes I ran PS at 1600x1200 with ALL options turned on. I was flying a reaver around on an empty Ish. I was getting 100FPS with smooth performance. It was fucking beautiful I turned off the hud with alt-u and just flew around and enjoyed the landscape. The PS team really has created a very pretty world....if you have a fucking cray to render it all.

Then, I reduced the settings to my normal low quality and was getting about 250 FPS. When I got into a fight I was staying around 100-150 FPS. I found that turning on some of the better textures and a few options actually smoothed out the gameplay. I suppose its because I was using the hardware like the makers intended rather than culling a ton of stuff.

I'll mess with the settings soem over the next few days and see if I can post some better numbers. All I can say is that the game runs pretty well now.

For comparison...previous specs. The old machine was great too. I bought a new one mostly because I wanted to turn the old one into a Linux desktop for working on some software projects at home. I got a little two port $30 KVM so I can use the same monitor/keyboard/mouse and just flip between as needed. I had two really old PCs that I was using for Linux, but neither ran my Eclipse IDE very well...all that Java wants a lot of memory. The old P4 2.4 runs Linux fucking great.

SuperMicro something
P4 2.4 GHz with 512k of cache
Gig of dual channel DDR 2100
Nvidia Ti 4600 128M DDR
Sound Blaster PCI 512 sound card (real crap)
Antec case
Enermax power supply


I'm using the same Sun Microsystems 21 inch Trinitron CRT for both systems. I moved the 36 Gig, 15K RPM SCSI drive and the array of 18gig 10K RPM SCSIs to the new box and stuck a 250 Gig 7200 RPM ATA133 drive I picked up for $150 into the old machine.

So, now I've got a screaming fast gaming machine and a pretty hot shit Linux box. I'm a dork....I should really get a life.

[BuzzEvil]

LOL yeah Taylor. If you had a GF you would not be able to afford what you just did. :wink:
Enjoy the freedom!!

[martyr]

i just sold both my sun trinitrons :(

[snipegrzywa]

I bought a new one mostly because I wanted to turn the old one into a Linux desktop for working on some software projects at home.

damn, was goign to ask if i coudl ahve your old one.

[Draconus]

Rahl's name is Taylor? Hah, rockin wicked cool!

Reminds me of this crazy bitch who wanted to date me and kept throwing her Double D's in my face :? Thank god she transfered.

Oh, but Rahl's cool :)

[tj2spike]

soon oh so soon.

will keep you updated on the new drives and FPS's

then I wll have to start the 64 bit 940 chip PC

But so nice rahl. :twisted:

[LuckYx]

my java class in college is full of the dorks rahl is

as soon as i graduate can you get me a job?

[Navin]

Rahl,

nice machine. The game does look great on a high end machine.

But why invest the time and money now? You of all people must know about the newer PCIexpress thingys on the horizon. Heck, just look at some of the boutique sites to see they are supposedly selling some versions of it.

And a GeForce card. Uck. Should have gotton the ATI x800 XT.

Regardless, if you run at 2x AA and 2x AF, the graphics look even better - and the fps will be quite good even in hugh battles.

cya on the battlefield with your friend walmart..... :D

[Rahl]

The x800 was too expensive. I've always had an inner hatred for ATI because I don't believe they produce quality drivers. I hear thats not always a problem today, but I still read complaints about bugs in the catalyst drivers...but I've never read about a bug in a nvidia driver.

I chose not to go with PCI Express because of cost and stability. The latest generation of PCIExpress cards are over $1,100. There is no fucking way I'm paying that much for a graphics cards. The $380 I just paid made me sick. Also, PCIExpress is a new technology and still has a lot of rough edges. I tihnk it'll be 6 months before PCI Express is in a state where I'm ready to lay 1,000 on the table to back it.

I knew the nvidia 6800 would perform significantly better than my old card. The Ti 4600 was a directx 7 or 8 card...the 6800 GT is a directx 9 card. That means the 6800 GT is going to support much more of the rendering process in hardware. For the CPU, the extra 800 MHz, the doubling of front-side bus speed and big step from PC2100 to PC3200 RAM gave me the other performance boost, but wasn't really expensive.

The funny thing is, Alienware was is machines with these specs for about $3000. I think I got a hell of a deal at $1300.

[rev]

Nice, Rahl. I will have to drive over in my new truck and check it out sometime. :)

[Navin]

Great news. I'm happy you PC professionals make those kinds of decisions when overall cost/performance is a driver in the decisions.

Very similiar to my mental process for my recent upgrade. I too saved at least $1000. over the Alienware types and got probably a similiar performing machine. And, I continue to be happy with my machine and the savings.

Thanks for the reply.

Cya on the planet.

[elana]

The funny thing is, Alienware was is machines with these specs for about $3000. I think I got a hell of a deal at $1300.

Alienware is a massive rip off. Two times in a row I've priced them against something else and always found I could get the something else for llike half the price.

[FortunateSon]

Welcome to mass marketing. Did you think computers would be any different? Just look at food... There are some cases you will actually get a lesser product if you buy the cheaper, less marketed one, but not usually. Yu either buy products because you are thrifty, or because you saw it in a magazine or ad and it caught your attention. Alienware looks cool. Period.

[Triggar]

Rahl, congratulations on the smooth machine. We're in the process of deciding whether to overhaul and beef up a desktop we've got now, or to get a laptop. We love the mobility of a laptop, since we're roadtrip people and plugging that badboy into the inverter as we shlep from Daytona to Buffalo is heaven. But it's so much cheaper to make what we've got better.

I may be consulting with you soon, as Martyr's birthday is fast approaching (September 22nd, baby) and I may need ideas for pieces I can get him to buff up what he's got!

[Rahl]

Talk to Bumrush, I think he can help out with the beefing up....

Oh, computer parts...yeah, no problem.

[tj2spike]

at default screen size and settings at sanc??

200 + in the field and major battle no less than 45.

Finally, after all the tweaks and mods bo-ya.

And answer me this when did they take out the radar and such in the screen shots, or i would have posted the shots