NewScrapper
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Posts
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Joined
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Heads up! NewEgg is selling the Crucial SATA-III 128GB SSD for $234 with promo code until 1/22! Plunking down NOW!
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It has begun! Bought the i5 2500K CPU at MicroCenter for $190. (Will be purchasing a few more items off NewEgg tonight to make sure I get all the discounts and rebates currently being offered.)
One thing I might switch up is that I might still get a Crucial SSD over the OCZ Agility2 60GB SSD. Was reading a Tom's Hardware article and they gave the Crucials (64GB and 256GB) the best overall marks for the money. The 256GB is way, way out of my price range, but maybe the 128GB will end up being the happy medium I'm looking for. Say 35GB for Windows 7 and CoH, 30GB for WoW, and 35GB for DC Universe Online, and that comes to 100GB -- more than enough, I'd hope. And that's assuming I even care enough about those other 2 games to try them. (Any happy WoW or DCU players here? Are they worth trying out?) -
Quote:ZOMG! Thanks for the heads up.Originally Posted by Lakevren_
If you must know, that other superhero MMO with crappy character customization is 30GBs. -
I checked out a bunch of articles on Agility vs. Vertex and they reported no real-world difference in performance between the two, so I'll go with the significantly cheaper Agility. Only 60GB of space -- 55GB after formatting -- but still plenty of room for Windows 7 and CoH if I've been reading everybody right. (I need to see if DC Universe Online has a trial edition out yet just to see if I'll even be interested in that -- might influence me to get a bigger SSD if the answer is yes. Aside from WoW, I don't know of any other programs of tremendous size I would need to run on it.)
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Quote:If I get the 128GB version of the SATA-III, the maximum write goes up to 140MB/sec. Is that still too gimped?Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Okay, the read speed is all great, fine and wonderful. Just not enamored of the write speeds.
Here's an OCZ drive for Comparison.
Also, how big of a factor is the IOPS number? I found a similar OCZ drive for $40 cheaper, but it's only 10000 IOPS as opposed to 50000 IOPS. -
Hey, in case anyone is interested, NewEgg has a Combo Deal running on the CPU and motherboard I've got on my list. It's $20 off and includes a copy of the game "Civilization V".
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Okay, tossed in the Crucial 64GB SATA-III, which is all I'm willing to cough up for at this point. (For some reason NewEgg is selling the version that comes with copying software at a cheaper price than the standalone SSD.) With Windows 7 Home and CoH on there only, there should be plenty of room. Very, very close to pulling the trigger...just need to price check some other sites besides NewEgg to make sure I'm getting good deals all around.
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Quick question about CoH on an SSD: I've been told that whenever CoH does an update to my normal (non-SSD) hard drive, I should defrag my hard drive to make sure that all the files line up. What about with CoH on an SSD -- is the normal TRIM maintenance (which I assume happens regularly or is scheduled regularly) sufficient to take care of the update fragging factor?
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According to my "sources", the ASUS motherboard comes with a button that you push to overclock the CPU. That's about as much technical overclocking work as I intend on doing, but it depends on how easy it is to go the software route. I just Googled up an article that says you can push a 2500K to as high as 4.8GHz, but I'd be satisfied with the advertised 3.7GHz if that meant not killing my CPU. (I have no clue what overclocking does to the life of a CPU. It just sounds bad. Darn gut feelings.) Other than that, I read about the G.SKILL memory that the memory may need to be tweaked to run at the full 1600MHz, as it might default to 1333MHz straight out of the package.
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Quote:Changed.Originally Posted by Father Xmas
That Cooler Master PSU isn't all that great....As an alternative, the Antec TP-750 is currently $95 after rebate and is semi-modular.
Changed the motherboard to the "PRO" version which has 2 of the PCIe x16 slots running at the full speed (if I'm using the right terms).Quote:Motherboard - Most notable thing about this is the lack of SLi and reasonable CrossFire support. No, I don't consider the 2nd PCIe x16 but what is actually a PCIe x4 slot reasonable CrossFireX support.
I subbed in some G.SKILL memory at 1.5V, a little cheaper and hopefully not as tall, though it's hard to say without dimensions. Now that the memory's (hopefully) shorter I'll see how the stock cooler performs on the CPU when overclocked. If that's no good, I'll try my friend's cooler. Worst case I'll get a new cooler.Quote:Memory - Tall memory heat sinks may interfere with a 3rd party CPU cooler. Otherwise fine. Note that Intel now lists 1.55 volts as the maximum voltage for memory for Sandy Bridge CPUs.
Additionally, I've dropped the i7 to an i5 and the Radeon 6970 to a 6950. As much as I would get a kick out of having the top-of-the-line, I don't really do anything on this PC that would require hyperthreading such that the extra $150-$200 is justified.
Still hemming and hawing about whether to use that recovered money to plunk down on a 64GB SSD just so I can have the quick boot-up times. (And CoH load times if CoH will fit -- I wonder if I would miss reading the tips at the bottom of the load screens....)
I need to check the rebates and codes on NewEgg...I think there's a discount that expires today, and I know some of these rebates will have expired by the 19th. Could it be I'll actually pull the trigger on the 19th? <shudders with anticipation> -
Quote:I forgot -- my friend mentioned that I can buy this adapter for $5.Originally Posted by Father Xmas
First your friend's heatsink won't work, it needs to be Socket 1156 compatible. Socket 1155 is compatible with Socket 1156 heat sinks BTW.
I switched out the Rosewill for the Cooler Master on your high-end build.Quote:I still prefer the Antec 300 Illusion but the Rosewell does come with an SSD adapter.
Switched it out for a Cooler Master 750W.Quote:PSU - It's fine, a little on the low end if you are planning to OC the CPU.
What's the overall benefit of 2 video cards vs. one, with regard to gaming? If I recall correctly, even your higher-end build has just the one card.Quote:Motherboard - Most notable thing about this is the lack of SLi and reasonable CrossFire support. No, I don't consider the 2nd PCIe x16 but what is actually a PCIe x4 slot reasonable CrossFireX support. But if you have no plans of ever doing either then it's fine.
Strongly considering downgrading to the i5 and 6950 at this point....Quote:CPU - Personally I think the i7-2600K is overkill for gaming. It's not clocked that much faster (3%) than the much cheaper i5-2500K and while that and the extra 2MB of L3 cache will help, what you are paying for is Hyper Threading, which is of questionable usefulness for gaming but great for highly multithreaded applications like video compression and 3D rendering.
Will check against the new case. Thanks!Quote:Video - If you can afford it sure. But double check if the board can fit in that case. -
Quote:Okay, I switched out the Rosewill for the Cooler Master that's in Father Xmas' $1375 build.Originally Posted by Mr_Apocalypse
the cases made by rosewill have problems with the i/o panels, causing random resets.
I don't understand. Is there something wrong (besides the height) with the Corsair Dominator memory that makes it worse than, say, this memory that's in Father Xmas' $1375 build? All the Dominator GT setups on NewEgg come with their own fans, which is like "holy crap, Batman" to me.Quote:you will get better performance from a higher quality, lower latency ram at 4GB than 8GB of slower ram. also the ram you have chosen has a very tall heatsink, that will hit some of the larger CPU coolers
Okay, changed out the 650W for a Cooler Master 750W (whose biggest major drawback appears to be that it is "not modular" which I assume to mean that the extra cords will have to be tied off and taped out of the way or something).Quote:your PS is acceptable, but I would go up to at least a 750-800W if you plan on running a second graphics card in the future.
This is good to know. Thanks!Quote:I am running a AMD phenom II 1090t black edition 3.2GHz OC'ed to 4GHz with 4GB of high speed corsair dominator GT ram, and a xfx radeon 5870 all mounted to an asus crosshair IV formula MB and I run the game with all settings maxed out, and have yet to experience any stutter or lag even while on a rikti ship raid
One additional question while you're "here": Do you concur with Rhysem that getting the six-core over the quad-core for what is probably only a 0.1GHz boost is going too far, or do you think the extra expense on the six-core now will be worth it in the future? -
I'm fine with both dropping the i7 to the i5 (and correspondingly dropping the Radeon 6970 to the Radeon 6950 -- heard they're supposed to go hand in hand like that) and waiting on the SSD. Reason I was picking the i7 was a friend told me, "Sure, they aren't using the six-core for much now, but what about later?" Is the number of cores actually going to matter soon, either for CoH or the other games I listed?
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About the only other "strenuous" things I was thinking about putting on the new system was DC Universe Online or World of Warcraft. Would either of those rate a better cooler than stock?
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In case anyone wants to chip in on my latest parts list, I've got a new thread at:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=250119 -
In case anyone wants to chip in on my latest parts list, I've got a new thread at:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=250119 -
In case anyone wants to chip in on my latest parts list, I've got a new thread at:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=250119 -
After shopping around all the "we'll build it for you" places, I've realized there's no way to get a good quality top-of-the-line PC without at least a 33% markup in price, which I'm just not willing to pay if I don't have to. And with the relative ease of building PCs these days, I really shouldn't have to. So I'll bite the bullet and build instead.
Next question: what parts? Been getting a ton of input from here on the forums and from friends at work, and given all that, I've decided my goal is to get a system that will last me another 6+ years like my current Dell Inspiron 8300 has, so the point that I've taken to heart is, "Front-load this bad boy with as much high-end stuff as you can."
So here's the current list o'stuff:
NewScrapper Gaming Rig
Questions I have at the moment:
1) Is the i7 2600K + Radeon 6970 overdoing it? I could go with the i5 2500K + Radeon 6950 instead.
2) Will I need more cooling "oomph" than the stock cooler that comes with the CPU? If not, a friend of mine offered me this cooler for the price of lunch.
3) Is the 650W power supply enough?
Feel free to point out any other problems you see. Thanks! -
Forgot the link -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129066
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ALERT! The Antec 300 Illusion ATX mid tower case in Father XMas' low-end build just went on Shell-Shocker discount at NewEgg -- now $54.99 until 10AM PST!
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Since all I'd be using the SSD for is the operating system (at least at first, for simplicity's sake), I would guess the SATA-III is the best bet...although I'm not seeing it on NewEgg for $120 as previously advertised -- I snoozed, I loozed, I guess. Worst case scenario I'll make sure whatever motherboard I get (most likely this one) is SATA-III compliant so that I can stick a SATA-III SSD in my PC someday, when the price on the larger-sized ones seems more reasonable.
I can install Windows on a hard drive and boot from there at first, then install an SSD later and boot from there from then on, right? No issues with that? Not saying this is what I'll do...I still might plunk down on the Crucial...but this is an option, right? -
So, judging from what I've been hearing and reading, at the very least I should cough up the $120 to get a 64GB SSD to hold Windows 7 if nothing else. The one thing I'm still not clear on yet, though, is whether I should get something SATA-II or get the Crucial SATA-III.
SATA-IIs seem to have slower read maximums and faster write maximums than SATA-IIIs. Which is more important -- the SATA-II's faster write potential, or the SATA-III's faster read potential? -
Whoops! Here's a question I just learned to ask: SATA-II or SATA-III? Naturally, I think, "It's got a 'III' on it! It must be better than a 'II'!" But then I found out that the SATA-III has a top write speed of about 70MB, which is like lower than the lowest SATA-II. On the other hand, SATA-III has a top write speed of 355MB, which is higher than the highest SATA-II, which maxes out around 280MB. So what matters more, top read speed or top write speed? (Cost-wise there is no difference, I can get either for $120 at NewEgg.)
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Quote:Although my price range is getting higher the more I consider my options, I'd like to try and keep the price down if I can, and it seems to me that SSDs are still hella-expensive: $120 has been the best deal I've seen on the 64GB, so the thought of 2 120GB SSDs gives me hives. Considering that I'd probably be putting only Windows 7 and CoX on the SSD, would a 64GB SSD be enough? Worst case I could just put Windows 7 on the 64GB and leave CoH on the hard disk.Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Okay, I am currently running Windows and CoH from a pair of 120GB SSDs in RAID-0 (striped, no redundancy) configuration.
I keep hearing about this falloff. What's the general rate of performance falloff? Am I going to need a new SSD every 2 years?Quote:Performance will fall off (more or less) slowly with an SSD as it's used. 
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Okay, scrap the MicroCenter deal.
I've got a wish list put together on NewEgg with my latest proposed build, but I'm not seeing it in their "Public Wish Lists" section? How long does it take them to refresh that section? Do they only do it once a day? (I'm not seeing anything from 1/11, and it's already 1/11.)