What can I expect?

[Fishbulb]

I originally posted this in the greeting forum, but its really more of an inquiry regarding my new computer. My first post:

Hi! My name is Fishbulb, but you can call me Chris..
I hail from the Novocaine gaming community, where I've made my mark on the great defacable wall that is the internet. ahahah. Take a look at my community at novclan.com, or else give me hell for advertising! ahahah.

Anyway. Im sure you're busy folks! ahaha, so I'll get to the point.

I've just ordered myself all of the components for a nice new computer. Im really happy and excited to get all of my parts.. but, I want to know what EXACTLY I should expect. I bought the parts knowing what I want to do with the machine (gaming! Crysis at maxed out settings, w00t).. but just so im not disappointed, and so I have something to read while im at work tomorrow, can anyone tell me exactly what I should expect? Will I really be able to max everything out in every game, or am I still gonna have to cut back a little bit? The specs:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, (Im sure youre familiar.)
GPU: GeForce 9800GTX 512mb (Im sure youre familiar with this one too)
Mobo: Asus P5N-e SLI.. (this bit worries me)
RAM: 4gb (2 * 2gb) 800MHz DDR2 (forgot the brand. its middle-of-the-line kinda stuff. forgive me)

- 500GB SATA HD
- 800W overpriced PSU
- and a giant overpriced copper CPU fan/heatsink to make sure my investment doesnt go up in smoke. (oh yeah, and also, itll help me OC my CPU a teensie bit. teehee)
- 22'' Acer (eew, I know, but it was only 200 bucks) monitor with a 2500:1 contrast ratio and 5ms timing, surprisingly. not that it makes a difference as far as performance goes..

So, what can I really expect from my rig? Im really not 100% sure what to expect.. My old PC is a P4 2.0 with 512mb of ram and a radeon9600XT 128mb running on 4X agp. Its a big leap. It'll take some adjusting.

Anyway, thanks in advance for your answers, and your warm welcomes.

=)

The reply from the wonderful TAKTAK:

Hey Chris, welcome to HEXUS

the welcome area isn't the best place to put questions (no-one reads them )

your better off putting it in the relevant section (in this case, 'help and technical advisory')

i can tell you straioght off that you will not max out crysis... nothing will currently.. (well, at least not at a decent resolution)

and the 'radeon 9800gtx' i think you've muddled a bit matey, do you mean the ATI radeon HD4870 or Nvidia Geforce 9800GTX?
nice CPU (more of a future proof option as no games use quad core at this moment in time)

i would get a different mobo... something like the abit IP35 Pro (or Pro XE) as it is a nice and proven board

4GiB of DDR2 PC2 6400 is perfect TBH, you don't need to overclock the RAM to get the Q6600 to around 3.6GHz, and 4GiB is the current sweet spot for RAM

i would get a dual platter (320GiB platter) drive such as the WD AAKs as it is not much more and offers slightly improved speeds

PSU could be a bit iffy... try to stick to reputable brands.. as the wattage rating is not enoug to go on, it needs to give enough stable oomph down all power lines... (a decent 550w PSU would be fine to power that rig) the decent manufacturers are corsair, enermax, seasonic and FSP (there are others but they are your safe bets) for that rig i would recommend a corsair HX520w or an enermax modu 82+

coolers are an area to squabble over for some people, i have a TRUE and would heartily recommend it to anyone... but for great cooling at a decent price point have a look at the xigmatec red scorpion

also do you have an operating system in mind? (you will need a 64bit OS to use all of the RAM otherwise you will only have ~3.4GiB available to the system) obv with it being a gaming rig you will probably want vista for future DX10 support so i would suggest vista 64 home premium


as to whether you will notice a difference...

you will notice normal things like multitasking come into their own on a quadcore PC, and you will notice a difference in games because of the multiple cores in use (it would only be two but its still a boost, and things will get better in the future as developers decide to support things)


edit: i'm a numpty and don't read properly
i thought you said you were about to order, sorry

you will get more opinions in the correct part of the forum tho

My witty retort:

hahahahaaa. Radeon 9800GTX, hilarious.

Sorry, thats a force of habit. Its not a Radeon, its a GeForce. My old card was a Radeon 9600, so that habit won't die easily.

Thanks for the help, though!

I really DO want a different motherboard.. But unfortunately, the one you mentioned doesn't support SLI. Is there a moderately priced mobo (Less than $150?) that supports PC6400, 1333 FSB and SLI that you can recommend?

and Im not too worried about the PSU. Its a decent brand, I didnt get the cheap, ****ty $30 option

For my OS, I'm gonna stick with Windows XP Pro.. gonna start with 32bit, but I'll uhmm.. *cough*purchase*cough* the 64bit version and use it. I'm really kinda scared to go with vista, with all the horror stories and such.

Ill copy this into the right forum. Thanks

and thats it. So what I wanna know is.. What can I expect from the computer that I've ordered?

Thanks in advance

[TAKTAK]

righty.

TBH SLi isn't worth it... (unless you like waving your e-peen around...)
it's often better (and alot cheaper) to just upgrade to a better single card solution...

and most of the vista 'horror stories' never existed... and the ones that did have been fixed now anyway


and i would be expecting Mikes arrival any time now

[NovaSphere]

righty.
TBH SLi isn't worth it... (unless you like waving your e-peen around...)
it's often better (and alot cheaper) to just upgrade to a better single card solution...

Completely agree.

As for Vista 64-bit, almost anything runs on it (there have been really few problems with certain programs)
The biggest problems were just from the release of Vista itself, but almost all of it was fixed with the release of SP1, which you can get anytime.

Single GPU solutions ftw =p

[staffsMike]

Pretty much agree with what TAK TAK has been saying. You compomise CPU support/overclocking and system stability with nvidia boards, especially that one.

If you want to SLi 9800GTX's just buy an 9800GX2 and an intel board. Don't do that though it's silly

If you have that sort of graphics budget, blow it on a 280GTX (£240) that will pretty much own crysis at 22" but who really cares about crysis it's a bore fest

At 22" almost every game will easily max out with a 9800GTX so I would just stick with that, and just the one. Motherboard wise, get an intel chipset board. P35 like the Abit IP-35 PRO(XE if you like) that has been mentioned. Or the newer P45 boards (which add very little so don't be put off a great board like the abit PRO )

As has already been mentioned I think, get the 640GB western digital AAKS. It's faster and costs next to no more

EDIT: Having re-read the OP you have already bought this stuff.. hmmm.

Well running stock settings, you will see no difference to what I have mentioned above. Overclocking might tell another story, let us know how you get on if that is your intention.

The 640GB drive is faster but not worlds apart especially if you aren't looking for it.

[Fishbulb]

Yeah. I always figured SLI was overkill.

The crappy P5N-E that I got didnt have to be ordered, so I doubt they'll want me to pay anything extra to switch mobos. Ill ask about that tomorrow. Ill get them to order it and just use the P5Ne for awhile, haha

But really. what CAN I expect? I knew I wouldnt really be able to do Crysis on full.. but what will I be able to do?

Oblivion (I know its old, but still pretty..) on full? CoD4? Supreme Commander?

What should I expect to get from 3DMark?

etc. Gimme an idea of the performance I should be getting.

[staffsMike]

At 1680 x 1050 (your monitor's resolution) any game will run pretty much maxxed out with playable frame rates.

To give you an idea, "my system" runs every game I have thrown at it, excluding crysis which runs well enough anyway, with all the details on full and usually full AA and AF but enough for you not to tell the difference at that resolution anyway.

My graphics card is equivalent to the £70 cards you can buy today, your card blows mine into the weeds so you with have no trouble with full detail AA and AF.

[Fishbulb]

bahahahahaha

That makes me a happy feller.

I used to have to minimize EVERYTHING to play Oblivion with an FPS of more than 10. This is going to be pretty freakin awesome.

ahahaha

Im posting this from work, btw. I shouldnt really be here, and I risk getting in ****, but its worth it. I'm super excited about getting my monstro machine later.