Yet Another "Is this one good?" Thread
By
Cade Lawson,
Posted on: 2009-12-27 09:05 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
Good processor, good RAM, good vid card - you should be set to go for Ultra, as far as we know at this point. Until then you'll have to tweak down some settings, since the game currently isn't as ATI friendly as it is with NVidia. There are guides to settings here in this forum.
I'd definitely save the drive from your current system as well...that's a nice drive.
Free is good, and I'd take it at that price, for sure! Shouldn't be any real problems with it - just make sure the reservoir is full and circulate it before you get going to make sure there's no air trapped in the system.
I wouldn't bother with the $160 for a bit faster processor...use that money to maybe upgrade to better or quieter fans or whatever, if you want - some times the stock fans aren't so good, and you'll still be pretty warm with that card and other stuff.
Have fun with your new system!
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Transferring the operating system from one drive to another shouldnt' be too difficult. There are several programs out there that could manage this for you. I would recommend looking for a program that says it can clone system drives, as the OS can and will "protect" itself by hiding files from regular copying.
1) Let me hold off a bit on this one.
2) Assuming you get the Windows 7 DVD so you can do an install, sure. Just don't reformat the new drive until you can boot off the old one.
3) It's a small self contained low cost liquid cooling system just for the CPU, something like but not necessarily this. The radiator is mounted with the rear 120mm case fan.
4) Now considering that the i7-940 is only 10% faster than the i7-920, I personally wouldn't spend $160 for a mere 10%. Especially once you realize that games running at high resolutions with cranked up settings are bound more by the performance of the GPU than the CPU. As for OCing the i7-920, there are lots of guides at various tech sites that go into how to do this methodically and safely. Also the motherboard comes with utilities that can help.
Problems with this build. First realize the case has only one fan. Sure it has space for five more (1 front, 2 top, 2 side) but it only comes with one rear fan. Now there doesn't appear to be any options at iBuyPower to add additional case fans, just replacing the default ones with quieter ones. So you may want to consider ordering a case fan or two from NewEgg or switching to a case that has more fans to begin with, like less exotic looking CoolerMaster CM 690 which comes with three.
Not a big fan of unnamed PSUs, even ones as large as 800 watts. I would go with the 750 watt Corsair 750TX. At the very least it gives 4 PCIe power connecters instead of the two that come with the generic 800 watt.
Now back to 1). Be aware that few systems can play Crysis at 1920x1200 at any reasonable framerate (over 30fps) when all the settings are cranked to 11 (ultra quality). Crysis, even though it's two years old, will still drive powerful systems to their knees at that resolution and those settings. As long as you are aware of that going in that you will have to run at lower settings at that resolution, then you shouldn't be overly disappointed. Games with more realistic expectations for gamer hardware shouldn't be a problem.
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I would have to agree with X on most of those points, though my knowledge is markedly more limited. The one obvious consideration I see here is the single-fan + liquid CPU cooling system. Without additional fans installed to circulate the air, you're still going to build up heat that a CPU cooler isn't necessarily going to draw off the other components.
If I were you, I would invest in a slightly more robust case (CMs seem like a good choice, but there are a few decently priced ones on Newegg's daily-deal page) and definitely, most definitely, go with a more reputable PSU.
I bought it, with some changes. Went with the Corsair power supply as Santa Claus suggested, as well as that case. I originally picked the odd looking one because of cost more than anything, it was the cheapest. But the CM wasn't much more, and I like the look better anyway. Here's to hoping this'll last me for a few years!(My current one sure did!)
For the past ten years or so I've built my own computers, including the one I'm on now. But this time I thought I might save myself the trouble and buy pre-built. So I went to iBuyPower.com and specced one out. I have some questions lower down in the post, but here's the specs:
- Case NZXT Gamma Gaming Mid Tower Case-Black
- iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction Basic - iBUYPOWER Harmony SRS Sound Reduction System-Reduce System Noise
- iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion None
- Case Lighting None
- Processor Intel® Core i7 920 Processor (4x 2.66GHz/8MB L3 Cache)
- iBUYPOWER PowerDrive None
- Processor Cooling [Free Upgrade] Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ 120mm Radiator [SOCKET-1366]
- Memory 6 GB [2 GB X3] DDR3-1600 Triple Memory Module-Corsair or Major Brand
- Video Card ATI Radeon HD 5850 - 1GB-Single Card
- Video Card Brand Major Brand Powered by ATI or NVIDIA
- Motherboard MSI X58 PRO-E -- Intel X58 CrossFire Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, Triple-Channel DDR3, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Triple PCI-E MB
- Power Supply 800 Watt -- Power Supply-SLI Ready
- Primary Hard Drive 1 TB HARD DRIVE -- 16M Cache, 7200 RPM, 3.0Gb/s-Single Drive
- Data Hard Drive None
- Optical Drive 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive-[Lightscribe Technology] Black
- 2nd Optical Drive None
- Flash Media Reader/Writer 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer-Black
- Meter Display None
- Floppy Drive None
- Sound Card 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
- Network Card Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
- Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Professional + [Free 60-Day !!!] Microsoft Office 2007(Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access ....)-64-Bit
- Monitor None
- 2nd Monitor None
- Speaker System None
- External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] None
- USB Flash Drive None
- Power Protection None
- Headset None
- MP3/MP4 Player None
- Video Camera None
- Warranty Standard Warranty Service-Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support
- Rush Service Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee)-No Rush Service, Estimate Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days
- Advanced Build Options Professional wiring for all cables inside the system tower-Achieve exceptional airflow in your chassis
Subtotal $1,403.00I splurged a bit with the sound reduction, the "professional" wiring job, and the card reader.
But I had a few questions:
1. So like, is this one good? While I mainly play CoH, I'm also interested in certain other upcoming MMOs as well as those fancy high-tech FPS that the cool kids enjoy. Would a setup like this allow me to play CoH Ultra Mode, modern FPS such as Crysis and its ilk, and Trek Online or other graphics-intensive MMOs at 1920x1080 with all the bells and whistles turned up?
2. I have 2 hard drives in my current computer that I'll want to transfer over to the new one when it arrives. One of them is a nice WD "Velociraptor" 300gb drive I currently have my OS and applications on. How feasible would it be to, when I receive the new computer, copy the new Windows 7 stuff over to my 300gb drive and use the new drive as storage? Basically, I'm confident enough in the hardware aspects of installing a new drive, just not entirely sure about the software aspects of copying everything over.
3. The liquid cooling. It's a free upgrade. I've never had liquid cooling before. Is there anything in particular I need to know, or is this pretty much a forget-it's-even-there deal? It's only for the CPU as far as I can tell, which is fine. I got it because, well it's free. And I also thought it might reduce noise and let the CPU run a little cooler, which brings me to...
4. The CPU. If I spent another $160 I could get a 940 with 2.93ghz instead of 2.66. However, I'm thinking it might be possible to just overclock the 920 to 2.93 with the help of the liquid cooling mechanism. Am I completely crazy? And if I am, would the difference between 2.66 and 2.93ghz be worth $160?
Thank you very much in advance!