How are these specs?

[Irenicus]

I want to play Oblivion on the highest setting with no hitches. It's never been about graphics with me, but always gameplay. I've decided to upgrade however.



CASE: CoolerMaster Praetorian 730 RC-730 Aluminum Tower 420W Case (Silver Color)
CPU: (939-pin) AMD Athlon™64 X2 4800+ Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
MOTHERBOARD: (Sckt939)EVGA nForce4 SLI Chipset SATA RAID Dual PCI-E Mainboard w/GbLAN, USB2.0, &7.1Audio
MEMORY: 2048 MB (1GBx2) PC3200 400MHz Dual Channel DDR MEMORY (Corsair Value Select)
VIDEO CARD: NEW! NVIDIA Geforce 7900 GTX 512MB 16X PCI Express Video Card
VIDEO CARD 2: NONE
LCD Monitor: ViewSonic VX2025WM 20.1" Wide Screen Color TFT Active Matrix LCD Display Monitor
HARD DRIVE: 400GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive
Hard Drive 2: NONE
Optical Drive: PIONEER DVR-111 DUAL FORMAT 16X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BEIGE COLOR)
Optical Drive 2: NONE
SOUND: ESS 3D WAVETABLE SOUND PCI
NZXT PF-500 500Watt Power Supply
CoolerMaster Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit + 2 EXTRA CASE FANS

I game countless hours of the day, and would like suggestions about the cooling fan if possible. Also what the noise factor might be.

[freakitchen]

Those specs should allow maxed out settings on pretty much all games.

The jury is still out on eVGA motherboards. The specs of the board seem good, but I haven't heard anything about their quality or performance - good or bad. By all means go for it, or get an ASUS board if you don't want to take the chance.

What brand is your hard drive? It's got the 16MB cache which is important. Seagate, Maxtor and Western Digital would be my picks.

Perhaps give the onboard sound a try before shelling out on a sound card. I'm not sure of the abilities of the one you picked out, but if its sub $30, then the Onboard will match it anyway.

The quality of NZXT Power Supplies is questionable. Also, if you're planning SLI in the future, it would make sense to purchase an SLI Certified unit now. I'd suggest the Antec Truepower 550w.

Your processor, if it's the Retail Box, will come with a Cooling fan. It's more than adequate, and using an aftermarket unit will invalidate the warrenty on the chip.

FK

[Strider]

Yeap, that will definetly play Oblivion at the highest settings, my computer plays Oblivion with the highest settings (See Sig Below). I second to go with a different motherboard and go with a better well-known motherboard (ASUS, DFI, MSI, etc...) and while I like the eVGA 7800GTX video card, if I had to do it over I think I would go with a different manufactor for the graphics card, while it works great I had a few minor issues with it that left a little bit of a bad taste.

[blue60007]

If you plan on using dual 7900GTXs you *must* buy one of the power supplies on this list:
http://www.slizone.com/object/slizon..._powersupplies -> the ones on the top portion, specially for dual 7900GTXs (this is a point that needs to be stressed)

It looks like you got that spec list through some online configurator. Avoid those...there are several that are just horrible. Buy the stuff yourself and put it together from Newegg. You can get all quality parts and avoid horrible customer service.

[Irenicus]

I used CyberpowerPC to compile this together. Changed the specs. How would you rate Cyberpowerpc.com against the other services. Thanks for the replies so far BTW they've been incredibly helpful.


Antec TPII-550 550Watt ATX 12V Power Supply


500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive


Motherboard: (Sckt939)ASUS A8N-SLI nForce4 SLI Chipset SATA RAID Dual PCIE MB w/Gb-LAN,USB2.0,IEEE-1394,&7.1Audio

[Staren]

CyberPower is at best iffy. So is IBuyPower, and most other of the cheaper custom builders. If you want a well done custom system with a warenty, you will have to pay a lot more then I think you want to. Building yourself is a much better deal, and better quality.

[Irenicus]

Originally Posted by Staren CyberPower is at best iffy. So is IBuyPower, and most other of the cheaper custom builders. If you want a well done custom system with a warenty, you will have to pay a lot more then I think you want to. Building yourself is a much better deal, and better quality.

Hmmm....name the price. I'm afraid I'd screw something up if I built it myself......

[Alaron]

Check out Cyberpower's rating: http://www.resellerratings.com/seller6897.html Only 6.88 Lifetime.

I would recommend you build it yourself. It is very rewarding. Do you have a budget?

Your changed part choices are good.

[Irenicus]

Hmmmm.....I have 10 thousand. Only wanted to spend 4,000 at the most, in case I feel like upgrading in awhile. So far I've been able to find these on Newegg:


COOLER MASTER Praetorian 730 RC-730-SSN1 Silver Computer Case - Retail

Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 550W Power Supply - Retail

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ 1GHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Couldn't find the memory. Will continue to check the specs.

[freakitchen]

Wow, that's some budget, but you won't need to spend anywhere near that to get a top of the line gaming system. $4000 is more than enough.

Here's the RAM:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145579

I know I suggested the Antec Truepower 550w initially, but Blue6007 made the very valid point that you should get a power supply that will be able to handle two 7900GTXs if/when you come to upgrade. Choose from the list he linked to.

The only other comment I'd make is that 500GB hard drives, at the top of what's available in a single drive, commands a price premium. Why not get 2x250GB or 300GB drives instead? That way, you have two large drives, which would be very useful for backup purposes.

FK

[Irenicus]

Originally Posted by Freakitchen Wow, that's some budget, but you won't need to spend anywhere near that to get a top of the line gaming system. $4000 is more than enough. Here's the RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145579 I know I suggested the Antec Truepower 550w initially, but Blue6007 made the very valid point that you should get a power supply that will be able to handle two 7900GTXs if/when you come to upgrade. Choose from the list he linked to. The only other comment I'd make is that 500GB hard drives, at the top of what's available in a single drive, commands a price premium. Why not get 2x250GB or 300GB drives instead? That way, you have two large drives, which would be very useful for backup purposes. FK

Sound advice on the Drive front. Thanks. I don't intent on upgrading unless it's going to be the Direct X10 cards, but that's also good advice. Thank you for the memory link, looks like everything's coming together on Newegg.

[blue60007]

If you aren't going to go with dual video cards, why not drop the SLI board? It'd save you a few bucks (and that Antec would be a good choice).

[Staren]

Ok just for the shock value, here is a link to a "good" custom pre-builder. That is, if the sticker shock doesn't make you run screaming into the night after adding everything you think that you want.

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

You really could build a top of the line system for around $2,000 and an afternoon of work. It's not as hard as you think it is, really.

[Irenicus]

Antec TPII-550 550Watt ATX 12V Power Supply


500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive


Motherboard: (Sckt939)ASUS A8N-SLI nForce4 SLI Chipset SATA RAID Dual PCIE MB w/Gb-LAN,USB2.0,IEEE-1394,&7.1Audio

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ 1GHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail

COOLER MASTER Praetorian 730 RC-730-SSN1 Silver Computer Case - Retail

CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

One of those two monitors ^

HITACHI Deskstar 7K500 500GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

VINPOWER Silver 1 to 1 DVD Duplicator VP series w/ Pioneer Drive Model VP399-PIO10-1SIL - Retail


From Newegg. Is it as good as the original specs, better, or worse? I am taking the advice to see how the onboard sound card is. So far this is a very helpful site, and will make sure to recommend it to as many people as possible.

[Staren]

Pretty good starting point. Two comments though.

That DVD duplicator, its some kind of stand alone thing right? You don't need anything like that. Two normal DVD burners in your computer can do the same thing.

And your hard drive, you would probobly be better off going with a more well respected brand like Western Digital, Seagate, or Maxtor. The Deskstars have gotten better since Hitachi bought the brand from IBM, but they wern't called "Deathstars" to be cute.

[Irenicus]

Originally Posted by Staren Pretty good starting point. Two comments though. That DVD duplicator, its some kind of stand alone thing right? You don't need anything like that. Two normal DVD burners in your computer can do the same thing. And your hard drive, you would probobly be better off going with a more well respected brand like Western Digital, Seagate, or Maxtor. The Deskstars have gotten better since Hitachi bought the brand from IBM, but they wern't called "Deathstars" to be cute.

Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM


Is that better?

So the Duplicator isn't neccessary....hmmm.....

[Staren]

Defenetly not. Two of these in your computer and a copy of any good dvd burning software will do the job.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827249003

This is one of the most high end burners, excluding Plextors SATA drives. Most burners are around $40, and are still very good.

[Irenicus]

So the latest specs I posted would run Oblivion on high without a hitch, besides the hitches that it naturally has (from what I've heard)?

[blue60007]

I would consider getting two 250GB hard drives if you really need that much storage. It'll be significantly cheaper (at least $100).

Yeah, it should handle any game very well.

Keep in mind, if you want to run dual 7900GTXs the Antec TP-II 550W, while very high quality, probably can't handle dual 7900GTXs.

[Irenicus]

XFX PV-T71F-YDL9 GeForce 7900 GTX (650MHz) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail


Alright... it's about 2 and a half grand

2-PLEXTOR 18X DVD±R DVD Burner included Replaceable beige front bezel Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model PX-760A/SW BL - Retail

COOLER MASTER Praetorian 730 RC-730-SSN1 Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

2-Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

ViewSonic VP2030b Black 20.1" 8ms gray-to-gray (avg); 16ms black-white-black (typ) LCD Monitor - Retail

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply - Retail

CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model VS2GBKIT400C3 - Retail

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 1GHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4800CDBOX - Retail

Sounds damn good. So the suggestion is I go ahead and try the onboard sound?

[Irenicus]

Honestly, I could care less about the speakers, as long as I can hear well out of them it's fine, but could I get a suggestion on some decent ones? I'll be getting a new headset and headphones. Thanks for all the help so far. This is a great site

[Staren]

Yes, I would stick to on-board sound to start with. You could always add a sound card later on if you find you need to. But unless you know yourself to be an audiophile, I would guess on-board will be fine.

As far as speakers go, will just the standard two speakers work for you, or are you used to suround sound?

[Irenicus]

Most definitely not an audiofile . As long as it sounds fine, I am good. I only care about the gameplay, but my system is simply too old now, and I want a great new PC. I am used to just two plain speakers, never done surround sound before. I wouldn't have it that loud often.

[blue60007]

Make sure you get one of the power supplies on the special list for dual 7900GTXs if you think you'll ever run two of them.

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizon..._powersupplies

Also, I'd rather see you get an eVGA (nVidia's house brand I believe) video card...other than that, it looks very healthy.

[Irenicus]

eVGA 512-P2-N570-AX Geforce 7900GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

Nice.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104014

How is this for the power supply?

[MakeYourslf2012]

That unit is great. FSP makes pretty good PSUs, and it looks like it's on the dual 7900GTX list for qualified units.

[blue60007]

Yeah, that is a very powerful unit. It should be able to handle dual 7900GTXs just fine. It's got a total of 60 amps on the 12V rails (4 of them) vs 38A on the Antec's 2 rails. The 12V power is the most important number to look at...

[Irenicus]

Now that that is covered, the only thing I worry about is the motherboard. I want Oblivion to run perfectly, so if anyone feels that the motherboard isn't quite as up for the job, please tell me. I could use more suggestions if needed. Great site. Already recommended it to two others.

[freakitchen]

The ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe is a great motherboard. Above it in the range are the A8N-SLI Premium, and the A8N32-SLI. On top of the specs of the SLI Deluxe, the Premium adds heatpipe technology to cool the chipset.

The A8N32-SLI allows two video cards to run in full 16x mode each (hence the '32' in the name), whereas the standard SLI boards share 16x between the two slots. This gives a performance boost when running two cards, but It's your decision as to whether you think you'll be running SLI any time soon (you shouldn't need to with that top-of-the-range card) and whether it's worth the price increase.

FK

[Staren]

Asus is a very good brand, and the model you picked out is perticularly good. As Freakitchen said, Asus does have two boards that would be an upgrade from what you have, but the extra features shouldn't be anything you would really notice at this point. If you reallly wanted to future proof, the A8N32 might be something to look at. It's your call though.