Just bought a new computer...

[Wolfehunter]

Originally Posted by Hylander_1314

[
You may want to check if the mobo supports SLI and crossfire. That way if you ever need to add more video power, all you'll need is another vidcard. I've been thinking about adding a 3rd GeForce 8800 GTS 512 and get 3-way SLI going on mine.

Other than that, I think you'll be quite pleased with what you are getting.

What OS are you getting on this rig?

Well I've been doing some research on the SLI. the Best vid cards are the one you have posted here for that setup.

The GTX280 does slightly poorer when SLI is used for some games.

So I balance out the research from various sites testing ATI and Nvidia cards.

Over all and for future possible prospect in my eye GTX280 solo will be enough for the budget and power I need. Later in a year or two I might see again what happens when all the driver issues are worked out.

I was almost going to take 2 of your type cards instead of GTX280 but I want to look at the long run. If and when they fix the drivers and who knows the vid cards firmwares maybe SLI will run more efficently for the GTX280.

I'm not much a fan for ATI but I was very much considering their latest cards. Value for the buck and performancewise.:hmm:

The motherboard is a intel and has nForce in it.

Exact specs are limited because they don't say what brand. Its a dell motherboard I get that. They told me they get the parts from NVidia and intel stuff like that and assemble it.

Slots
PCIe X 16 Gen 2 – 2 slots
PCIe x 16 – 1 slot
PCIe x 1 – 2 slots
PCI – 2 slot

Front: USB 2.0 (x2), 1394a (x1), (1) headphone out, (1) microphone in, optional 19-in-1 media card reader
Rear (Audio connectors): S/PDIF Audio Out(Coax and Optical), microphone, line-in, line-out, center/LFE, Rear Surround, Side Surround
Rear(Other): USB 2.0 (x6), 1394a (x1), eSATA (x1), PS/2 Mouse and Keyboard, Gigabit Ethernet (x2)

To start for now and within my budget this computer is the best. Plus I've been a good client of theirs for over a decade and I get some perks too.

It comes with Vista Premium...

I have Vista 32 ultimate, but I might consider getting 64bit version...

[Wolfehunter]

Well I never thought how big XPS system really is...Well its freaken massive.

Full tower and super heavy.

WOW

I'll be gone for a day or 2 fixing up my rig and setting up my old one for my daughter see ya soon guys...

I can't wait to try SH3 on this baby fully loaded....

Later all.

[Hylander_1314]

You'll like it.

I think you made some good choices there. If you have it, the 64 bit version is the way to go for your OS. It gives loads of romm for ram to expand, even though your board may not equal it, but I just recently updated to 8 gigs of SLI ready OCZ ram, and it kicks the rig into high gear real nicely.

[Task Force]

Dont forget us wolfehunter. And bring back some screen shots.

[bookworm_020]

I take your old rig anyday! It beats my current one handsdown!

I'm hoping to get a new computer sometime next year, just have to talk the wife around, or giver some nice bling to keep her happy!

[Reece]

I take your old rig anyday! It beats my current one handsdown!

Ahh, you mean Jims!
That rig of "yours" Jim tells a story:
Frustration + Temper = Jims computer!

Good to see you have got yours now Wolfhunter, hope you don't have any problems, mine is going fine now, next year I might go for a quad core, the board is capable but the chips are too costly & a better type is to be released soon.

[Wolfehunter]

Well I got the basics working...

My new rig came with a crappy Vista Home premium but I upgraded it to Vista Ultimate 64 and wow what a difference...

I couldn't believe the limitations of the 32 bit system with 4 gigs of ram only showing 3 gigs.

Plus it was super slow. Now its super fast.

Still some tweaks that I like to add before shes ready for her first patrol in the seas lol.:rotfl:

[Wolfehunter]

Originally Posted by Hylander_1314

You'll like it.

I think you made some good choices there. If you have it, the 64 bit version is the way to go for your OS. It gives loads of romm for ram to expand, even though your board may not equal it, but I just recently updated to 8 gigs of SLI ready OCZ ram, and it kicks the rig into high gear real nicely.

Price was fair also for the times. OS I have changed because it didn't use systems full abilitites.

GTX280 card I haven't try it out yet going to do it soon.

2 bad things dell did with my system and I had to fix it.

DVD rom drive was at the top most bay and its very difficult to access.

Onboard Realtek Sound card wasn't disabled and conflicted with the X-Fi PCI card. Easy fix.

I moved it to the second bay and now I have plenty of room.

Second thing was the google tool bars and desktop nonsense... Really I mean jezz.

Did I tell you why they installed a uber power supply...? To pay for all those LEDs light up like a christmas tree lol.:rotfl:

My wife said we don't need to use our living room lights anymore with this bad boy.

Still its and awesome beast.

I'm very happy with it and going to really push it to the limit... Anyhow I have warranty...

[Hylander_1314]

Ah Wolfhunter has now joined the city lights dimming club!

I know about the biiiiiiiiiiiiigggggggggg powersupplies. I popped a 1000watt Toughpower 4 rail monster in this rig. So I can run all the junk I want.

Yep the 64 bit version really unleashes things.

If you run into any issues, getting things up and running you can go here:

http://www.blackviper.com/

good reads here:

http://www.start64.com/index.php

and some quick tweaks here:

http://pctuneuptips.com/tips/vista_tweaks/?ref=insert

Now, a couple little things you may want to do, if you don't already know about them, or do them.

User Account Control.

Go to User Accounts in Control Panel, and look for the option to turn it off. It sspeeds things up for you.

Also, in XP the old DEP (Data Execution Prevention) could cause problems with software and games. In XP it was easy enough to go to the Windows boot.ini file and edit it to turn DEP off completely, but I have looked for it in the windows folders and files to no avail, so if you have problems with some games, you may have to add them to the DEP list, and tell windows to ignore this program.

You may even find some older games work great on Vista with no additional programs or fiddling to get them going. EAW loads fine in the native Vista format, with no issues for me.

Also, if you want a cheap version of windows to load up, just go to the local big computer retail store, and buy a second harddrive, usually a good deal is on the bargain table, as an extra storage device, and ask the salesclerk for an OEM version of Windows. I paid like $120.00 or it may have been an even $100 for an OEM version of Vista Home Premium. which saved me around 100 to 150 bucks of the top compared to a boxed shelf version. Plus it doesn't have the extra junk the boxed versions can have.

[Wolfehunter]

Thankyou very much Hylander for the tips. I'm noob to a 64bit system so your info will really help.

I just played stalker SHOC at all maximum and average FPS was 98 and lowest was 79 and best was 137. Everything was soooo smooth it was almost surreal.

Going to load up all the mods for SH3 now.

See what I can pull out...

I alway turn off UAC... Has no purpose in my computer...

[Reece]

Stop trying to make Vista 64 sound good! XP 32 bit forever .... Yay!!

[Wolfehunter]

:hmm: Well how does and average 106 FPS with all my Nvidia settings maxed out sounds for SH3 with these mods

GWX - Merged Campaign
Improved textures
torpedo trail and wake fix
OLCE2
OLCE2 Adjusted GWX 2.1 Crew Skins
OLCE2 Adjusted GWX 2.1 Enhanced Damage Effects
OLCE2 Fixed GWX 2.1 Ship Reflections
Thomsen's Sound Pack V3
BritishAsdicMk1 v1.02
DD_all_types_OH_V2
LifeBoats&Debris_v3B
Water_Stream_for_Uboats_V4
Thomsen's Water V3.1
WH_VIIB_Bluecamo_2048
Wolfehunters_IXB_U40_2048

It takes me 40 seconds to load well the scene is perfect.

Unforturnately I don't have photoshop installed yet so I can't show the pic yet...

Soon soon.

So far this system passes its test with flying colours and many more some.

[Wolfehunter]

Originally Posted by Reece

Stop trying to make Vista 64 sound good! XP 32 bit forever .... Yay!!

I'm not...:hmm: I'm saying my system rocks... sorta..

I never realized how sickly outdated my old rig was.

[Hylander_1314]

Originally Posted by Reece

Stop trying to make Vista 64 sound good! XP 32 bit forever .... Yay!!

There's nothing wrong with 32 bit versions of XP. But when I built this rig, I couldn't find a 64bit version of it anywhaere in town, and didn't want to wait for mail order. So I, with hesitation, opted for the 64 bit version of Vista. There were some stability issues at first as I learned how it worked, but later found it to be linked to software issues between M$ and Nvidia. The latest drivers from Nvidia and SP1 from Microsoft have seem ed to tame the issues that I was having at first, and thought to be a compatability problem with the games themselves.

So I wanted to move up in the OS, and that was pretty much the option. And for the future it will only be a benefit since games like SH4, SH3, O.F.F., and the Battle of Britain are going to have or already have more going on in the game than they did even 2 years ago, which means more load on the computer and the components, and 64 bit versions of any os help to improve things since it opens up the rig for higher memory support, which you can then run more video memory, and mainboard memory coupled with highpowered cpu's, and gpu's gives you the horsepower to run at full tilt boogie, with adverse affects. Plus the games that come out in the future are going to require more and more to run with more intense graphics, and action taking place.

I really wanted XP Pro x64 when I put this thing together, but since M$ said they were dropping support for it, which seemed a little too soon to me, I had to make the choice. And it seemed silly to get a 32 bit version of windows, when the cpu I have is the Intel Core2 Extreme QX9650 Yorkfield Quadcore 3.00Ghz, which is designed to support 64 bit versions, and not take advantage of it.

It reminded me of when M$ dropped support for Win98. I thought that it was the best version of windows ever, and in some ways I still do, as it let you get down to core of the software for tweaking as long as you knew how to read and type. There were all kinds of cool little settings you could modify in the core files, and really optimise it. When I updated to XP, it became a little tougher to do as it was a different format and more complicated to do the same tweaking, and Vista has gone a step further. I guess M$ doesn't like folks dabbling in what they think is best for the consumer.

Tough part is, learning the ins and outs of something new after you've gotten comfortable with something that works perfectly fine.

[Hylander_1314]

Originally Posted by Wolfehunter

I'm not...:hmm: I'm saying my system rocks... sorta..

I never realized how sickly outdated my old rig was.

But you also have a little more room for upgrading too, without having to scrap this one to build a new rig in the future.