nice gaming rig?

[dangel]

Not always as simple as that though - what if the chip can't do it? What if the cooling isnt up to it - that means getting a bigger hs/fan (and therefore more noise) or watercooling etc = more cost..

Honestly i've not heard of 3800's not overclocking to the degree i've got mine at (chance's are it's the same chip as the 4200 in reality) as it's a really mild overclock for an A64 thesedays. Plenty of people doing it without exotic cooling too!

Nice thing about my overclock is that the ram is running at stock (400mhz) and the HT bus is a shade under 1000mhz (~967) so i'm not really pushing much. I had watercooling from my old rig. I'll step up the speed when i've time to test the limits of ram but i think 2.4ghz is pretty good for a no-effort overclock!

[hitharder]

i would have the samsung drive but it is sata 2 and the mobo isnt

[Kaine (AoD)]

i would have the samsung drive but it is sata 2 and the mobo isnt

go for either Samsung standard Sata drives or Seagate.. both on good reviews ATM (i R lovin Seagate! ) they may be a few pounds more but with 5 years warranty and VERY nice drives you cant go wrong!!!111!!!!11!11!1

[saintdragon]

i think 2 gig ram is crucial, even the "fear" game says on its site its recomended to have 2 gig ram, times are changeing... i would have 2 gig ram if i could... so i would need to update the pc less only a suggestion though, its all up to you...

[BUFF]

i would have the samsung drive but it is sata 2 and the mobo isnt

Fatality SLI has 3Gb/s transfer rate (what most people call SATA II).
Any nF4 SLI board should.

[Yohji]

Definatly go for 2gb of ram

[Nick]

Fatality SLI has 3Gb/s transfer rate (what most people call SATA II).
Any nF4 SLI board should.

But be wary... there's an on-going network issue with nForce 4 mainboards which, in my personal experience makes online gaming impossible.

Check PD's post in this thread on the ECS Care Forums for more info.

[BUFF]

But be wary... there's an on-going network issue with nForce 4 mainboards which, in my personal experience makes online gaming impossible.

Check PD's post in this thread on the ECS Care Forums for more info.

mmm, we are talking hard drive transfer not ethernet ...

but yes, I don't use nVidia SW IDE drivers, Network Manager or Firewall.

[Nick]

BUFF, I know, but I was talking about real-world use of the rig... all well and good with HDD transfer and all that, but when your new uber-rig can't download a demo or a patch without corrupting it, you can't connect to steam to validate your HL2 install or connect to any BF2 server to get a game... it becomes just a lump of plastic and metal... and an expensive one at that.

[Ramedge]

But be wary... there's an on-going network issue with nForce 4 mainboards which, in my personal experience makes online gaming impossible.

Check PD's post in this thread on the ECS Care Forums for more info.

have had my Asus a8n sli deluxe nf4 for about 6-7 months now and have had no networking issues atall! know one else i know with this bored has had them either

also id prob go for the 3800 and 2gig of RAM
one thing i dont like with the asus a8n deluxe is the chipset fan, even with the new impoved fan its still audible. with out it my pc is very quiet. i need a low profile passive heatsink for it really as i have an artic cooler on my graphics card. and there isnt much space for a big heatsink on the chipset.

see piccy

[BUFF]

BUFF, I know, but I was talking about real-world use of the rig... all well and good with HDD transfer and all that, but when your new uber-rig can't download a demo or a patch without corrupting it, you can't connect to steam to validate your HL2 install or connect to any BF2 server to get a game... it becomes just a lump of plastic and metal... and an expensive one at that.

Easy solution though - just don't use the nVidia Firewall.
Same as I don't recommend nVidia's SW IDE drivers either - hardware good, software could do better.

[Kaine (AoD)]

i got Asus A8N SLi-D board aswell disabled to NV firewall instantly, used the NV network port for about 2 months but it packed in all of a sudden =\ so glad it comes with 2 posts the other one has been runnin fine since i changed over

[Ramedge]

i like the NV firewall, think its a nice feature. when i first got my motherboard though the NV firewall was the reason for alot of BSOD's when exiting games, but that was fixed by new graphics card drivers strangly enough. you had to basically unplug the network cable for the computer to boot without BSODing again.

[hitharder]

right this is the last one i think, i still have the mobo and gfx caed as i have already bought them.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4400+ S939 1MB (2.2) Retail inc Heat Sink Fan & 3 Years Warranty £320.44 £376.52

LN9106 2Gb (2x1GB)Corsair, DDR400, non-ECC, 2x184 DIMM, unbuffered, 2-3-3-6, Silver H/S, L/T Warranty £178.74 £210.02

LN11918 Logitech G15 Keyboard "The Daddy of Gaming keyboards" inc Programable & backlit keys, LCD Display £39.99 £46.99

LN11652 Logitech G5 Laser Mouse - 2000dpi USB2 PC/MAC £39.69 £46.64

LN11733 Asetek 06-L-0018 VapoChill Micro Ultra Low Noise AMD S754/S939/S94 £28.85 £33.90

LN6288 19" Iiyama E481S-S3 Silver1280x1024 700:1 8ms VGA+DVI-D + Speakers £230.00 £270.25

LN10750 Enermax CS-718 (Silver) Aluminum front Tower case with front USB/Firewire/audio/LCD display(w/o PSU) £93.15 £109.45

LN11461 250GB Samsung SpinPoint P120S (SP2504C) 7200rpm, 8MB, SATA II Fluid Dynamic Bearings, 25dBA £67.51 £79.32

LN7972 Akasa 2grammes AK450-2G Thermal Heat Sink Compound "Silver" £1.29 £1.52

LN11603 600w Seasonic S12-600 SLi Ready Silent PSU 2xPCI-E 4xSATA 120mm Fan ATX1.3/2.01 *CPC Offer until 9th £67.99 £79.89

LN11833 NEC ND-4550A Silver 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer DVD-Writer OEM UK £26.09 £30.66

Net Total £1,093.74