Gamer Build & Questions

[The_Gremlin]

[emphasis added]
RAID 0 - Well, I have about a month of planning time still before I order these parts. If I can find substantial benefit to having RAID 0 in the type of games I play, I'd still want to go with RAID 0.

OEM - I do remember being able to transfer my XP Pro to another machine, until I ordered parts to fix a machine that was originally running it; I then transferred it back to the original machine. The main thing that I really hated and really do not want to have to put up with is calling MS every time I reinstall. It never accepted phone input, it always had to redirect me to someone who I couldn't understand speaking and I'm sure they couldn't understand me either.

You probably won't find substantial benefit with raid-0, just like you don't get substantial benefit going from an E6600 to an E6700. The benefit is incremental in either case. Of course, I may just be arguing semantics here, for which I appologize. 😎

You only need to call MS if your hardware changes significantly between re-installs, and I suspect you would be phoning MS regardless of whether you use OEM or retail if your hardware is changing frequently. I have installed my XP-PRO OEM on 3 completely different builds* (i.e. different mobos, CPUs and RAM), excluding incremental upgrades (audio, hdds, removable storage) and have only had to call MS once.

* - disclaimer for microsoft. I've only ever had the OS on one machine at a time and have only changed systems as parts die or get upgraded.

 

[WR2]

Raid 0 does not provide substantial improvement in overall system performance except for some environments that are highly dependent on repeated disk access. Such as the multitasking business environment or the multiuser server environment. Thats just another way of saying it doesnt do squat for games.
From an older article but still accurate:

from: http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2101&p=11

OEM The ability to migrate an OEM OS to a new system does not alter the fact that it violates the OEM license. If you trust MS to not screw around with you TOO much OEM OSs are a safe bet.

PSU No one has yet suggest a PSU that isnt a quality part. If you want to better understand the specs and requirements you'll want to do the research yourself.

Power Protection As several have mentioned the APC Surge Protector is worth looking into. You could also look into the next level of protection - UPS or uninterruptible power supply (AKA battery backup). I use an earlier model of APC similar to this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842101002

 

[EV700]

The point of having a UPS is to prevent the hard drives from powering down incorrectly right?

How do you figure what VA and Watts you need?

Also, I've heard of people using the UPS for the system then plugging the UPS into a surge protector. How does this help?

Also, I feel there may be something wrong with the outlets in my house. I have replaced the PSU in my current system due to degradation; it may have just been old though, considering it was like 6 years old. This PSU has shown signs already though of degradation.

I believe it was the +12V that was off on my last PSU, it was like 11.30V when I replaced it.
Currently this PSU is 11.80-11.67V fluctuations.

 

[The_Gremlin]

OEM The ability to migrate an OEM OS to a new system does not alter the fact that it violates the OEM license. If you trust MS to not screw around with you TOO much OEM OSs are a safe bet.

Yikes! My blissful ignorance has been smashed!
After a little research, it appears that my usage of my OEM Win-XP violated the EULA as soon as I upgraded my motherboard. The OEM license is bound to a single "NEW" system, and by microsoft's standards, a new system that's had parts upgraded is not considered a different "new system" until the motherboard is replaced (with the exception of replacing a defective mobo with a new one).

While I love learning, I hate when my learnings cost me money! 🙁

 

[EV700]

Yeah, I'm thinking about just buying the retail that comes with a 32-bit DVD and a 64-bit DVD. I am really sick having to call MS every time I reinstall. The 'Internet authentication thingy' stopped working after like 3 reinstalls.

 

[geofelt]

If your AC power is suspect, or if it fails occasionally, then consider a UPS (battery backup device). It also acts as a power conditioning device and a surge protector. I have a APC XS1500 with an additional battery pack. As I type, the APC powerChute monitoring program says I am using 305 out of 865 watts, and that I have 95 minutes of battery time. Truth be told, this is overkill. If I have a power failure, I will have more things to be concerned about than running my PC. The real value of the UPS is to ride through momentary spikes without causing your PC to fail abruptly. It is very comforting to have this while doing a BIOS flash because a power failure in the middle will cause some motherboards to be unuseable. I think you need only enough time on battery to save things, and power down gracefully. I highly recommend at least a minimal UPS.

 

[geofelt]

If I am not mistaken, only vista ultimate will come with both 32 and 64 bit dvd's. Home premium will include a 32 bit dvd, and you can order the 64 bit version directly from microsoft for a $10 processing fee. For OEM, you need to specify 32 or 64 bit up front.

 

[EV700]

Yeah, Vista Ultimate is what I am planning on getting.

Edit:

I think I'll get this UPS:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842101003

Will I still need a surge protector?

 

[WR2]

Surge Protector->UPS->PC. As far as I know people do this to protect the more expensive UPS. Im some case a big surge will cause the surge protector or UPS to "give up its life" to protect your system. The UPS is almost always has a higher quality surge protection factor than a stand alone surge protector.

A quality UPS provides battery backup to let your system power down normally in case of a power outage and it also protects against voltage surge/spike/sags, frequency differences and provides some power conditioning. Most good UPS have software and a control cable to let the UPS auto-shutdown the system after a short time (you pick the length of time) such as 3 minutes if the power doesnt return or stablize. In my case I leave my PC running while Im not around.
A lot of people will tell you to just add up the full (MAX) VA/Wattage requirements of your system to size your UPS. Unless your "critical" application is gaming sizing a UPS for the more typical average power requirements (100-200 Watts) works fine. My UPS runs my system under battery for 12 minutes unless I'm gaming when it runs 5 min.

It's not unusual to have power issues either through the power company distribution system or your own residence (major appliances, such as refrigerators, etc.). The usual home or office UPS only kicks in when power degrades or surges. A more expensive always on UPS (continuous UPS) is available for extreme power problems or critical power requirements such as medical equipment and mission critical data center servers. There are also voltage regulators and power conditioners to take care of specific problems.

A modern PSU (ATX2 design standard) does have some over/under voltage protection built in. And the voltage readings provided by the "health monitoring" software function of motherboards is notoriously inaccurate. 11.30V would have concerned me. A reading of 11.8-11.6V would not greatly disturb me.

 

[EV700]

The only real issue that remains is my case and graphics card combo.

Antec P182
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=81820
(at NewEgg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129025

It is stated in the customer comments there that a frontal VGA cooling fan cannot be installed when using the eVGA 8800 and this case.

eVGA Card at NewEgg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130072

Customers state on the eVGA NewEgg page here that the card barely, emphasizing barely greatly, fits into the case. The card is said to be 11 inches long.

I plan on ordering a 120mm fan for the optional frontal fan of course, but I wonder if that VGA fan might be needed.

[strike]Since some people say the card runs like a space heater and is really big, I'm thinking about finding a different card; one that I could install the VGA fan with.[/strike]
It looks like they're all huge! >.<

 

[geofelt]

The P182 is a fine case. I have used the predecessor(P180) and liked it. Unless you needed more than 4 hard drives, you would normally remove the upper drive holder. This leaves room for a 8800GTX and a front fan for the upper chamber. All 8800GTX cards will be the same length if they use the standard cooler. This is, I think 10.5 inches, or about 1.5 inches longer than the GTS version. There are many reviews out there, read them to get a good idea of what the case is about. You could also download the manual and dimensions from the Antec site.

 

[EV700]

Actually, I looked for that.. Couldn't find any real dimensions, besides the over all case dimensions; not even in the manual.

I'll just take that upper drive holding bay out I guess... hope it's enough air flow though.