LancerChronics on 19/8/2009 at 16:53
Quote Posted by jay pettitt
This is turning into a fascinating exercise in money spending and an insight into the mind of a gamer. A few things spring to mind. Also, I'm feeling grumpy at the world in general, so here goes:
Nobody in the world wants to publicly admit to having made a poor purchasing decision. It's like admitting to being stupid or having a small pecker or some other shameful inadequacy. User reviews may have all the heir of independence, but in truth are biased and anything but trustworthy.
Shortened so people aren't blinded by wall of text. (Edit: not a dig at you, but your post plus my post in one is just too long)Speakers.
I have Acoustic Energy Aego M speakers. They are outstanding. Something like (
http://www.lars-ivan.com/product2.php?itemID=81788931&catID=44936537) these might appeal to your sense of aesthetics.
Thx for the reply. Like I said, I wanted both to here both sides, so this is actually very helpful. Let me see if I can make a decent argument for my choices.
Case: True, black attracts heat and heat is bad..but this is only in cases of light radiation. If I had the case by an uncovered window or outside, I'd agree with the choice. Also, Full towers rarely come with handles and the last thing I want is to be moving out Summer 2010 and drop the case because of a bad grip. Maybe (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK_elZ0sxAE) this will change your mind.
Memory: not sure if it will work well or not. It's suppose to be high performance memory, so I'm assuming that design is standard for that kind of memory. Here's to hoping it works.
CPU: Okay, good point. Maybe the money is just burning a hole in my pocket and I'm getting it because I can. I am still considering it, but if there's still space in my budget, I'm tempted to take the 265 anyway. I'm avoiding the intel for several reasons. 1) like to support the little guys. 2) The i7 is a 2.66 ghz vs the amd 3.4. It's obvious the i7 has potential for greater, but I do not overclock, so a better stock is preferable. I may be way off base on this though. And I would have to change my mobo, and then I would be tempted to buy 6 gigs instead of 4....and so on.
Screen: I suppose I could keep looking around. But I have a few requirements. 1) 2ms reaction rate 2) Widescreen/LCD. 3) 50000:1 contrast ratio (this is a new one :D ) . 4) Not too big, preferable greater than 17" and less than 25". 5) HDMI. If you know a a brand that that contains all of the above and a higher viewing angle, I'd love to know. The price can't be too great, since it is a gift and I don't want to drain the person's bank account. It's for gaming...and I plan to be sitting square in front of the screen the entire time while gaming. LG is also a trusted name, but who knows, they may skimp on monitor construction. Not sure what else I need to say...
Drive: I can't draw worth a crap...It's a single drive, that reads blu-ray, hd-dvd, dvd, and cd...fast. It writes Hd-dvd, dvd, and cd. Including dual layer...
GPU: Initially considered building the Dragon platform, but the Zotac GTX 285 had such good benchmarks, so thnx. Don't need to argue this one.
Speakers. Hmm I'll look into them. Is there one minus the sub woofer? It is a dorm room afterall.
Please, criticism keeps me from making bad choices, so keep it coming. Won't be able to respond for approximately 6 hours. Gotta finish final work day paperwork.
jay pettitt on 19/8/2009 at 18:21
Quote Posted by Matthew
Not necessarily. Black, when in direct sunlight, absorbs most heat. Black, when not in direct sunlight, is however the colour which emits heat the most, so if your case is below your desk it's a decent option.
I dunno... Black absorbs more
light radiation which then becomes heat as internal energy. Colour doesn't change the way a material conducts heat energy directly, back things don't absorb heat so much as they absorb light. Being black doesn't make the case more effective at radiating heat away from inside your PC.
EvaUnit02 on 20/8/2009 at 07:56
RE: motherboards. I really suggest not going for Gigabyte, they're notorious for their poor quality. I've personally had two in a row go bung on me. Asus or DFI would be far better brands to choose.
Quote Posted by LancerChronics
Do I need a sound card?
IMO, yes. Sound quality matters. It blows my mind the sheer number of people who spend hundreds on graphics cards, but then settle for on-board sound.
Asus Xonars and Auzen X-Fi's are the best on the market, but a Creative X-fi Titanium PCI-e or X-fi Xtremegamer PCI (the former is the newer model, using the "X-fi 2" chipset) should be fine (avoid the XtremeAudio like the plague though, it's a rebadged low end Audigy that runs completely in software).
Also it's entirely a myth that compressed audio doesn't benefit from better audio hardware. I initially upgraded from an on-board Realtek codec to a low-end true Creative X-Fi sound card (I can go into the specifics of this if requested). Even with cheap arse PC multimedia speakers things like 128Kb/s encoded MP3s noticeably had greater clarity that I had been missing out on. The down-side to this is that it revealed just how poor 128Kb/s MP3s are.
LancerChronics on 20/8/2009 at 15:23
Quote:
Also it's entirely a myth that compressed audio doesn't benefit from better audio hardware.
This is good to know. I think I'll grab the (
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102006) X-fi Xtreme Gamer. Still unsure on the speakers, I've hit $1500 so not much room to play with, not to mention shipping. If I knock down to the 955, though, I'll gain another $50 leeway. I'm still tempted to grab the cheap $20 hobo speakers...see how they sound to me (its still an upgrade from a laptop). And if I hate them, I'm not out for very much.
edit: dang it, the PCP&C 750W has sold out again...it never lasts more than 2 days. Maybe that's a good sign..Of course I could always get the red or the blue version...but it wouldn't quite fit.
Another Q: Overclocking...does any overclocking void the warranty, or just overclocking beyond a certain point? for instance if I overclocked the 955 to a 965 equivalent, do i lose the warranty.
EvaUnit02 on 21/8/2009 at 10:05
Quote Posted by LancerChronics
Another Q: Overclocking...does any overclocking void the warranty, or just overclocking beyond a certain point? for instance if I overclocked the 955 to a 965 equivalent, do i lose the warranty.
Yes any overclocking normally voids the warranty (for graphics cards at least, I'm not sure about CPUs), but set it back to stock speeds, keep your mouth shut and you're usually 100% fine.
Although some publishers are okay with OC'ing, like XFX USA are with their graphics cards.
LancerChronics on 22/8/2009 at 13:53
Maybe I will get the 955 then and use the extra $50 to get a decent cooler and themal. I hear the Rosewill F120 is decent.
EvaUnit02 on 22/8/2009 at 14:23
Zalman make awesome coolers, efficient and quiet.
LancerChronics on 22/8/2009 at 15:41
Good to know, I like the full copper look. my main worry is if it will fit in the case. Second worry is attempting to properly apply thermal paste.
jay pettitt on 22/8/2009 at 16:07
Thermal paste is all kinds of scary (getting the stock cooler off is possibly the worst bit) until you've done it and realise it was a cinch.
LancerChronics on 24/8/2009 at 19:57
Well, crud, so much for getting the Win7 RC. Apparently you couldn't download it after Aug 20, and I had no internet before that most of the time. So now I need to get Vista with the cheap/free upgrade option.
Just one question: Whats the difference between the system builder's OEM, and the general retail version. Which is better, especially if I plan on getting 7 later?
