New System - Opinions & Suggestions.

[Dave_07]

Hey All

Ok, this is the new gaming spec i've come up with.

* Are there any conflicts ?
* Could the setup be improved in any way ?

* Intel P4 2.8 Ghz (800 fsb) Northwood
* Msi 875p Neo-FIS2R Canterwood
* Corsair 512 mb DDR XMS3200 TwinX (2 x 256 mb)
Platinum CAS 2 Dual Channel
* Msi GeForce FX 5900TD 128mb
* Creative Audigy 2
* Samsung SD-616QBB 16X/48X DVD-Rom
* Seagate Barracuda Serial ATA V 120Gb 8mb cache
7200rpm
* LG 17" Flatron CRT F700P
* Genius 3 in 1 pack :
G16 320w Speakers
NetScroll+ PS2 Mouse
Comfy KB-10x PS2 Keyboard
* Antec Truepower 550w PSU
* MS XP Home ed.
* Thermaltake Xaser III V2000+ Super Tower (Silver) w/
TT Aqurius II CPU Cooling system

Cheers All, Dave.

[Aaron]

That case is butt-ugly, IMO. Other people disagree though.

Looks good overal, though I think the ATi Radeon graphics cards offer the best value for money these days. Also, what's the point of getting such a bad-ass system and then getting such a poor keyboard and mouse? I'd seriously suggest getting a Logitech MX500/700 and a nice keyboard instead.

[Spud1]

yup but it depends on how much money you have. I'll suggest some improvements

1) forget XP home, its a cut down version of Pro and you will regret not having pro in the future
2) your mouse\kb\speakers are very important in a gaming rig - and to be frank genius ones are a bit poo, a logitech solution is average but if you can afford it microsoft do the best combinations
3) good choice with the graphics, but a 256meg model would be better as the 128meg model doesnt out perform the best radeon, while the 256meg one does

If that stretches your budget then i would suggest chucking the p4 and mobo and replacing it with an athlonXP 2800+ barton and MSI K7 Delta ILSR mobo, then overclock it to 2.6ghz or more, its much cheaper and would give you roughly the same and/or better performace - the money you save could finance the upgrades i suggested above, or get you a bigger monitor , or more ram

[Dave_07]

What is the range of working conditions the optical mice will accept, ie MS say they will work on most surfaces just not anything reflective. However when I took some of my mouse mats (Blue SeaSalt mat & Blue Allsop Bubble mat) to my local store to tryout the MS Optical Explorer it lagged alot on the mats.
We then tried it on the till counter, which was a bleached wood effect, and it seemed ok.
If you want to use a mat do you need any special types, special pattens ?

Cheers Dave.

[spikegifted]

Overall, the rig looks good... However, as others pointed out, you really should do a little more research on the my input devices... But then again, everyone has different preference. Also, I notice you choice of speakers... Who makes this "G16 320w Speakers"... If you've the money, go for some high-end Cambridge SoundWorks units (they go well with Creative cards) or something from VideoLogic (if you can find them, that is...)

[BlackSheep]

Originally posted by Dave_07
What is the range of working conditions the optical mice will accept, ie MS say they will work on most surfaces just not anything reflective. However when I took some of my mouse mats (Blue SeaSalt mat & Blue Allsop Bubble mat) to my local store to tryout the MS Optical Explorer it lagged alot on the mats.
We then tried it on the till counter, which was a bleached wood effect, and it seemed ok.
If you want to use a mat do you need any special types, special pattens ?

Cheers Dave.

pffffft you were trying with the wrong/older version of the Intellimouse optical then, which lags on everything - allsop blue mouse mat works superbly well with the IE3 or any of the logitech MX range of mice.

[Spud1]

even better is a funC mat - only £14 at alienware, its the best mat i've ever had tbh

[acidrainy]

Originally posted by Spud1
even better is a funC mat - only £14 at alienware, its the best mat i've ever had tbh

What mouse do you use in combination to this pad ?

[chrisf6969]

Are you planning on overclocking?

If so I recommend getting the Abit IS-7 or IC-7

If not the MSI will do fine b/c I hear it somehow dynamically overclocks when the CPU use goes up. You can check Tom's Hardware they used some real time Mhz measurement thing-ama-bob and detected it overclocking.

[Spritzup]

Personally I would stay away from the Thermaltake Aquarius water cooling solution. It seems a little over priced, with about average performance. Save up and get something like this http://www.virtual-hideout.net/revie...ng/index.shtml
Also definetly spend more on your speakers/mouse/keyboard etc. You use these everyday and if they suck, you won't fully enjoy your computer. Personally I like the logitech stuff, but that's just me. Good luck!

[catattack]

Make sure the Geforce FX 5900 is a ULTRA 256mb...

[Lexeus]

Originally posted by spikegifted
Overall, the rig looks good... However, as others pointed out, you really should do a little more research on the my input devices... But then again, everyone has different preference. Also, I notice you choice of speakers... Who makes this "G16 320w Speakers"... If you've the money, go for some high-end Cambridge SoundWorks units (they go well with Creative cards) or something from VideoLogic (if you can find them, that is...)

VideoLogic are now called PureDigital ......

[BlackSheep]

Originally posted by Spud1
even better is a funC mat - only £14 at alienware, its the best mat i've ever had tbh

agreed - I'm still using mine (at home) which I ordered from US over 3 years ago

Mice that I have used and which work very well with this mat:

Razor Boomslang 1k/2k
Logitech Dual Optical
Logitech Pilot Mouse (ball)
Logitech Pilot Mouse (optical 2x)
Microsoft IE3
Logitech MX300 (current mouse)
Logitech MX500