[MatthewPapa]

Well, $1k worth of upgrades later....


New system specs

AMD X2 4400+ @ 2.65 Ghz
256 mb BFG 7800GT @480mhz
1 gig of ram
DFI Lanparty SLI-DR


These X2's are just simply incredible! If you have the means, I highly recommend that you get your hands on one. Ive already overclocked it 250mhz with no effort and stock cooling and it runs great! Windows boots in like 8 seconds, encodings that took hours before now only take minutes. Good stuff.

[phatosealpha]

Well damn.

Hope you've got that thing hooked up to a decent monitor.

[Grey Wolf]

You're just a bit ahead of me:
AMD A64 3500+
MSI NX6800GT-TD256
1GB Mushkin Blue (2-3-3-6 @ 200 MHz)
Lite-On 16x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer
250GB Hitachi 7K250
Soundblaster Audigy 2 Value (evil)

What cooling did you put on the processor? Stock, Zalman, Thermalright, or something else?

[MatthewPapa]

Originally posted by Grey Wolf
You're just a bit ahead of me:
AMD A64 3500+
MSI NX6800GT-TD256
1GB Mushkin Blue (2-3-3-6 @ 200 MHz)
Lite-On 16x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer
250GB Hitachi 7K250
Soundblaster Audigy 2 Value (evil)

What cooling did you put on the processor? Stock, Zalman, Thermalright, or something else?

stock, models 4400+ and up come with the FX cooler. It is working quite well for a stock hsf.  The temps are 31 C idle and 44 C under load, which are pretty good. I really havent experimented much with overclocking (just got my stuff yesterday), but I hope to reach 2.7 eventually.

[WMCoolmon]

*Flees*

[Grey Wolf]

I've given up on overclocking for the moment. I may reconsider it when games actually start catching up to my hardware.

[deep_eyes]

Meh... im still lackin in all departments... my laptop is better than my desktop. im recyling older hardware on a good motherboard cause of money issues. if i had the dough id be up there too *****es lol

[Fury]

MatthewPapa, your system seriously needs another 1 GB RAM. 1 GB is by now usually recommended by latest games while 512 MB is the bare minimum. I hope you got your X2 4400+ cheap because 4200+ and above are overly priced. Other than that, your system should be able to keep up next 2 years or so.

[CP5670]

Nice OC there. Most X2's top around 2.5ghz, so it looks like you got a very good sample. Another gig of memory would definitely be a better choice though.

I've given up on overclocking for the moment. I may reconsider it when games actually start catching up to my hardware.

I dunno, I've got a similar configuration and most modern games bring it to its knees with medium-high resolutions or AA, even though an OC has provided a nice boost.

[Grey Wolf]

Nothing except cutting edge FPSs and mass hordes in RTSs can provoke any slowdown.

[CP5670]

Depends on what you call cutting edge. The major FPSs after mid-2004 will only go up to 1280x960 without AA smoothly, and that's with the overclock.

[vyper]

X2 is the dual core beauty isn't it?

[Grey Wolf]

vyper: Yes.
CP: So, which games are you talking about in particular? I ran HL2 at 1280x1024 with some light FSAA with no problems.

[CP5670]

HL2 is the one and only exception, working well at 1600x1200 (or 1280x960 with 4xAA), but none of the other games can do that, and in my opinion it doesn't look anywhere near as good as the rest anyway. Doom 3, Far Cry and SCCT are all stuck at 1280x960 (1024x768 in the latter two if HDR is on), as are several other new games judging from the benchmarks on hardware sites. This is all with the video card overclock taken into account; at stock speeds 1024x768 would be the standard for me, as 1280x960 struggles a bit.

[Descenterace]

To think that I'll have a watercooled version of that system in a few weeks time...

I assume you meant GF7800GTX, Matthew? Or is that GT custom-overclocked?

[Grey Wolf]

There's 2 7800 models out. The 24 pipeline GTX, and the 20 pipeline GT. This is as compared to the 6800GT, with it's 16 pipelines.

[Descenterace]

Yeah, but GTs don't usually run at 480MHz.

... do they?

[Grey Wolf]

He overclocked it.

Next question?

[Sandwich]

My games never drop below a gazillion frames a second, never have any jaggies, never get texture smearing, and look absolutely photorealistic.




































Gawd I love real life.

[Grey Wolf]

I'm sorry, Sandwich. That's not a question. Also, check your PMs.