A PC built for two (CoH and CoV that is)
By
Aggelakis,
Posted on: 2009-07-31 20:36 in Player Questions
FatherXmas has a nice ~$600 build in his sig (price changes as components go on sale/rebate etc).
Problem with that is multi-fold.
1st) $500 isn't a lot even taking the fact he has a case and drives already.
2nd) uATX mother boards tend to be more expensive than inexpensive full size ATX motherboards.
3rd) The OP wants to overclock. This adds the need for a 3rd party cooler that can fit into his compact case which may not have the clearance for the usual selection of 3rd party CPU coolers. Then there's the extra power overhead for needed for CPU overclocking. Also uATX motherboards almost always come with some form of integrated video which is one reason they cost more.
I'm assuming the OP also has an optical drive to use. Hopefully his data drive and/or optical drive are SATA and not PATA since modern motherboards are rich in SATA connectors and very poor with PATA (ATA 100/133) connectors.
OK after looking around some, finding a review on the case which indicates that there is plenty of room for a standard "heat pipe tower" style of CPU cooler I priced the following at NewEgg
Pentium Dual Core 2.8GHz E6300 - $84
Gigabyte GA-EG45M-UD2H uATX motherboard - $130
ZEN FZ120 CPU cooler - $42 ($22 with rebate)
Tube of Arctic Silver - $9
4GB (2x2GB) OCZ Platinum DDR2-1066 memory - $54
eVGA GTS250 512MB - $125 ($110 with rebate)
OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W PSU - $59 ($34 with rebate)
------------
Total $503 before and $443 after rebate.
Just tossing this configuration out there for comment. Not sure if the OP has any brand or Intel/AMD - nVidia/ATI preference.
If anyone is interested, PSU review can be found here.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
No brand preference, unless CoX's listed brands actually apply.
Regarding overclocking, I want the later ability to do it, I don't need to now. I know there are boards and processors which are unsuitable for overclocking, and I'd like to stay away from those, but I don't need anything more a proc+mobo and basic heatsink+fan for the moment.
Easy enough, leave off the Arctic Silver and the FZ120 if you aren't interested in OCing. You may even want to save a few more dollars going with "standard" CAS 5 DDR2-800 memory.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
What are the differences between dual-core and quad-core other than the obvious hurr-hurr-more-cores?I mean, differences in what practical people need/use them for?
Quote:
City does not utilize more than two cores.|
Originally Posted by Grendel
What are the differences between dual-core and quad-core other than the obvious hurr-hurr-more-cores?I mean, differences in what practical people need/use them for?
|
If you use resource-heavy programs in the background while playing City (like Photoshop or watching a movie or something), then more than two cores is an OK choice. If you only play City while playing City, you won't need more than two cores.
This may change in the future, plus there are games being written/released with four cores in mind, though no REQUIREMENT of four cores yet.
Paragon Wiki: http://www.paragonwiki.com
City Info Terminal: http://cit.cohtitan.com
Mids Hero Designer: http://www.cohplanner.com
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Dispari
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.
|
Quote:
Here is a comparison between a 3.0 GHz E8400 dual core and a 3.0GHz Q9650 quad core on some benchmarks. The apps that like more cores tend to be 3D rendering software, video compression/conversion software and even Excel on very complex spreadsheets. Note, check the description on the benchmark as to what is better, longer or shorter bars. |
Originally Posted by Grendel
What are the differences between dual-core and quad-core other than the obvious hurr-hurr-more-cores?I mean, differences in what practical people need/use them for?
|
There are a few games that can take advantage of more than two cores, notice the considerable improved performance in Far Cry 2 (note that they are running it a medium quality so the benchmark doesn't become GPU limited to highlight CPU performance gains).
As Aggelakis says, this game doesn't gain any advantage of more than two cores when running by itself. But if you are running other CPU demanding apps at the same time as the game, any of the previously listed type of apps or multiple active apps at the same time, then more than two cores shine. Otherwise it's a significant cost difference, at NewEgg the E8400 goes for $165 and the Q9650 is $320 which sort of makes sense, twice the cores, twice the price.
There is always the question of what is better, a fast dual core or a slower quad core? This compares the $165 3.0GHz E8400 to the $170 2.66GHz Q8400. Again if an app can take advantage of all the cores in the system, a quad is better. But if most of your apps only care about a single or dual core then speed is more important. The last four benchmarks are games and other than a very modest improvement (12%) in Far Cry 2, the other three games had modest losses in performance (-9%) with the slower quad core.
Even if you don't use any of the apps that can take advantage of quad cores there may still be the "feeling" of improved responsiveness. This is true with a quad core over a dual core or a dual core over a single core. The interface may seem faster, more responsive and that's simply caused by having more cores available, waiting for work and little to do with the actual speed of the CPU. It's a perception thing.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
One thing you can consider re: the duo vs. quad-core question is to do like I did when I built a new rig after Christmas. I bought a duo-core CPU, but bought a motherboard that can handle quads so that later when the quads come down into my price range, I can upgrade without tearing my whole PC apart.
"Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to let you in."
On some parts of the CoX website and load screens, I see the "Best played on Nvidia" and on my AE retail box, the same, but for ATI. Which GPU are the devs actually building for nowadays? I want to assume ATI since it's on the most recent retail offering, and the load screen stuff is just outdated.
Ok, so it's obvious I guess, but I want to be reassured, it's been really bugging me at load screens all weekend.
nVidia has certain issues that have to be workeda round, and ATI has certain issues that have to be worked around. Neither one is really better than the other beyond personal preference.
Paragon Wiki: http://www.paragonwiki.com
City Info Terminal: http://cit.cohtitan.com
Mids Hero Designer: http://www.cohplanner.com
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Dispari
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.
|
I hope this is posted in the right place. I remember this sort of advice from the forums, but where? Arg?
So my PC is maggot-ridden and smells of peat. I get by fine most of the time solo, but with more than 3 or so teammates in a mash-up, I dip into a kaleidescopic reel of frozen explosions and still-framed glimpses of faces in torment. I miss Task Forces.
I haven't built a PC in so long that my flint knapping hammer is probably hopelessly outdated; I'm confident with fitting together the fiddly bits, but I could really use some stalwart assistance making purchase decisions in this brave and hideous new world of multi-core monsters. CoX is the game I want to build for; I like a number of other games, but none of them will be seeing another 5 years playtime. Plus, any hardware that pretties up CoX should do me at least middlin' on anything else.
So, I have a case, a harddrive, and a budget. I need a microATX board for the case, but the case will hold nearly any video card and a standard power supply. I'd prefer to be able to overclock at least reasonably. Needed:
microATX motherboard
processor
RAM
video card
psu
cooling
advice
Thus, with CoX in mind, Intel? AMD? ATI? nVidia? I had some brand loyalty once, but I was young. Forgive me. The budget is $500, and could change if some wild advice puts steel in my spine.
For the curious, the case is a Qmicra Qv2E, and the harddrive is a 30g SSD OCZ Vertex (with one of my old platter drives for file storage).