What is your Gaming Rig

[coastie65]

What is your Gaming Rig

I suspect someone has probably started this somw place, but I couldn't find anything. Simple, What is your gaming rig specs? I have two:1) eMachines T5212.....Pentium D 945 ( 3.4 Ghz )......2Gb Crucial 667 Mhz memory......PATA 200 GB Hdd........EVGA 9800GT Video Card with 512 Mb DDR3 memory........Corsair TX650w PSU......LightOn Optical Drive 24x with LightScribe, Dual layer, And DVD RAM capability, running XP MCE 20052) Gateway FX6800-01e........Intel Core i7 920 ( 2.66 Ghz ).........6 Gb DDR3 Crucial Ballistix Tracer 1600 Mhz memory,, Seagate Barracuda SATA II / 300 Hdd........WD SATA Caviar Black 1 TB Hdd.......ati Radeon HD4850 1 Gb DDR3 Video Card & Crossfire capable........Corsair TX850w PSU.......Super Multi Optical drive with Label Flash, running Vista Home Premium 64 bit ( may set up dual boot with Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit ).

 

[Flash]

Dual boot with Vista and Win7 is rather duplicating the same system. You'd benefit more from Win XP as a second system. It would remedy compatiblity issues with older software.Btw. you forgot the CPU cooling on the list ;-)

 

[tommy5761]

HP m9510f....Intel C2Q Q8200@2.33....8 Gigs DDR2-800 Samsung 750GB sata....WD Caviar Green 300 GB sataAsus GTS250 w/ 1 Gig GDDR3... OCZ Game Xtreme 850W PSU SLI capableLiteon 16X DVD-RWTSST TS-H653Z DVD-RWstock CPU cooling fan... stock case cooling fanVista 64 Home Premium

 

[coastie65]

Both are stock cooling although the Gateway is using a Combo Heatsink/pipes and fan from Foxconn. Biggest issue with that thing is the keeping the Northbridge cool. I've gotten it down to about 73C. This Northbridge chip doesn't have the cap, so the core and stuff is exposed. I can live with 73C but would like to get it down some more. I changed out the case fan to a Gelid as it moved a bit more air than the stock fan. I have both XP Home w/ SP3 & XP MCE 2005 w/ SP2b, both OEM. I had thought about it, but it seemed to be a waste to put a 32 bit OS in this thing. I will admit, I do play some games on the eMachines, because they will not run on this Gateway. Fallout 3 is one of them.

 

[Flash]

Does messing with the motherboard voids the warranty? Maybe try adding some passive cooling, maybe even a fan on NB. Anyway, usually Intel NB can go up to 100C or more without any harm so 73C is nothing serious.32 OS is a bit of waste of potential but so is having 2 nearly identical systems. Win7 could as well be called a big service pack to Vista.

 

[coastie65]

Does messing with the motherboard voids the warranty? Maybe try adding some passive cooling, maybe even a fan on NB. Anyway, usually Intel NB can go up to 100C or more without any harm so 73C is nothing serious.32 OS is a bit of waste of potential but so is having 2 nearly identical systems. Win7 could as well be called a big service pack to Vista.

Actually, I did jury rig a small ( about 40mm x 40mm ) Coolermaster fan on the NB Heatsink. This thing was a refurb, so there wasn't much a warranty to begin with so no problem ( Got a $1250 rig for $650 ). { Chuckling } as for Win 7 being a big Vista service pack, I 've heard that. As I said, I have those two brand new OEM copies of XP and of course it would only use 4 Gb of memory being 32 Bit ( actually about 3.5 Gb ).

 

[d_ahura]

Built a gaming rig on the cheap. i3-530 OC'd to 4GHz, 4GB Ram slightly OC'd, HD 5770 1GB voltage tweak edition OC'd as heck. Runs most anything flawlessly at 1900x1080/1200

 

[coastie65]

Sounds like a good budget build. Those things do OC well.

 

[ryuz]

Some nice rigs, my current one i've had for around five years and it too outdated, looking to buy one at the end of summer.Going to to get:Antec Twelve hundred caseAMD Phenom 3.40 GHZ quad core - Could overlock up to 3.90 ghz without any issues i think.ATI Radeon 5850/5870, not even too sure on a GPU to get yet, may just dumb it totatlly down to an older/cheaper one.6GB DDR3 Corsair ramThats all i've even contemplated yet still need to decide on other parts, if anyone has any changes, or suggestions to add, i'd be greatful.

 

[coastie65]

Some nice rigs, my current one i've had for around five years and it too outdated, looking to buy one at the end of summer.Going to to get:Antec Twelve hundred caseAMD Phenom 3.40 GHZ quad core - Could overlock up to 3.90 ghz without any issues i think.ATI Radeon 5850/5870, not even too sure on a GPU to get yet, may just dumb it totatlly down to an older/cheaper one.6GB DDR3 Corsair ramThats all i've even contemplated yet still need to decide on other parts, if anyone has any changes, or suggestions to add, i'd be greatful.

Yeah, I agree, there are some nice rigs listed so far. You could probably safely OC that processor to 4 Ghz without any issues. As for the Graphics, you can save some by going with the 5770 and still have some great performance. Over all you are heading in the right direction for a great rig.

 

[ryuz]

Wow cheers, i didn't notice how cheap the 5770 was, for that price it would be easy for me to later add another if needed, but the performance should be good enough to support games for a year or two anyway. Anyway cheers for the suggestion mate.

 

[coastie65]

Wow cheers, i didn't notice how cheap the 5770 was, for that price it would be easy for me to later add another if needed, but the performance should be good enough to support games for a year or two anyway. Anyway cheers for the suggestion mate.

My pleasure. I do this sort of thing on another forun that I moderate ( PCWorld.com ). Always trying to save someone some money while still getting the performance they want. You will be good to go for sometime with thar card. I am thinking of moving up from the HD 4850 I have in here to the 5770.

 

[ryuz]

Ahh, you can maybe help me then as this will be my first rig i create. As you know the most parts im already considering, im probably going to go with a Asus Am3 M4A79XTD Evo S/L 5200MT/S motherboard (Thought i'd post all the name because it wasy easier i may also go for the antec 1000watt power supply, but maybe 1k Watts is a slight bit too much, and i could save a bit of money on a cheaper one.So altogether:Antec Twelve hundred caseAMD Phenom 3.40 GHZ quad core - Could overlock up to 3.90 ghz without any issues i think.ATI Radeon 57706GB DDR3 Corsair ramAsus Am3 M4A79XTD Evo S/L 5200MT/S motherboard CP-1000 Antec power supplyStill need a few parts i believe, but what do you think so far?

 

[coastie65]

Hi, First, You can cut back on the PSU. 1000w is definite overkill. A corsair 650w or 750w would be plenty enough, even in Crossfire. I would save some and go with the 5770 Video card. I am not familiar with the Antec 1200 case, most that I am aware of that I know who use Antec use the 900. What you are looking for in a case above all else, is good airflow. So far, everything else looks good.

 

[ryuz]

Ahh sorry, i drank a bit too much and didn't make the changes, i meant to put in the 5770 graphics card, and yeah i believe the 1000 watt power supply would be overkill to be honest. Anyway thanks for all the help mate.

 

[coastie65]

I am assuming you are talking about the AMD Phenom II X4 Black 965 Processor. That is a pretty good CPU for the money. Sure as heck is a whole lot cheaper than the Intel Cor i7 920 I have in this thing. I know about the drinking, been down that road more times than I care to think about. : )

 

[ryuz]

Haha, tell me about it, and yeah the the AMD Phenon II X4 965, i was looking at the i7 920, but they're heck of a lot of money, and some of them aren't even selling for the same amount of money as the Phenom, when they are offering less performance.

 

[coastie65]

Haha, tell me about it, and yeah the the AMD Phenon II X4 965, i was looking at the i7 920, but they're heck of a lot of money, and some of them aren't even selling for the same amount of money as the Phenom, when they are offering less performance.

I have always been an Intel person, but when I have someone wanting t build a performance machine and save some money, I with steer them toward the AMD Phenom II . You get a lot of bang for the money with that thing. The Core i7 920 is a good performer and takes OCing well, it is also very pricey. The X58 Northbridge also tends to run a bit warm as well. I think you are heading in the right direction for a really good rig.

 

[coastie65]

Dual boot with Vista and Win7 is rather duplicating the same system. You'd benefit more from Win XP as a second system. It would remedy compatiblity issues with older software.

Btw. you forgot the CPU cooling on the list ;-)

Already answered.

 

[CalinTM]

Nothing special, but it keeps running ok in games, for now.

Intel i5 750 3.5ghz
6gb ddr3 1333mhz
Asus DirectCU II GTX570
SSD OCZ Vertex 2 60gb (game installed there)
Asus P7P55D-E
Seasonic X-650