Onboard

[marcus_85]

i have an Alienware Aurora coming, this will be the first computer without a sound card i have owned. it is loaded with 2 5870's therefore no room for a sound card.

is onboard sound any good for gaming?

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

Yea, onboard sound in near enough all cases is more then enough for most people, you shouldnt worry too much about the loss of a dedicated sound card

 

[marcus_85]

thanks, even though i made out like a bandit on the exchange i was worried it would sound like crap. i have another question for you. this new computer has RAID 0 256. G Solid State drives. my old computer has 300G drives SATA. the Dell exchange guy didnt notice the mistake will they be as good as SATA drives?

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

2 256GB SSDs in a Raid 0 array? Yes they will smoke the water off any mechanical HDDs

 

[marcus_85]

thanks from for the help, i am not a novice but i am far from a pro. i do know that the guy was trying to match my old system exactly and instead of picking way bigger SAta's he saw the option and figured that it was close enough. meanwhile it was a $1600 option on Alienware.

my other option for the soundcard was to pick a GTX 295 and have a sound card.

what do you think?

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

For gaming performance, 2 of the 5870s will have at least 75% more performance then a 295. That kinda of sacrifice isnt worth it just for a dedicated sound card

 

[marcus_85]

all the things they upgarded me too were above my old computer.

p4 3.2
1000 psu
8 G 1067 RAM
2 8800 gtx
raid 0 300G 10000 rpm

new system:

i7 920 3.2
875 psu
12 g 1333 RAM
256 SSD RAID 0
liquid cooling
2 5870

my borad will accept 12 G of 1600 RAM, is it worth it?

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

Nah not really, a 6GB kit will be more then enough for a couple of years.. still not enough 64bit programs out there for it to be useful

 

[marcus_85]

i think the 960 will go alot further. anxious to see how well the liquid cooling works. hammer the cpu.

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

DONT pay the extra cash for the 960, its about twice the price for like 0.3ghz more speed... with liquid cooling you can easily pass that speed with a very moderate overclock on the 920

 

[marcus_85]

cool

my monitor is a two year old Samsung 22", its a good monitor but i cant help thinking that i need a new one beacuse max is 1600x1050. maybe time to go BIG. any suggestions?

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

That monitor is fine for now, but if you do want something new...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052
That seems like a good popular monitor

 

[marcus_85]

thanks for the help cant wait for Bioshock 2

 

[marcus_85]

i was thinking 30" LCD

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

In that case...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005115
No problem lol

 

[marcus_85]

Best answer selected by marcus_85.

 

[marcus_85]

That monitor is fine for now, but if you do want something new...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052
That seems like a good popular monitor

i dont know how all this works but i ended with a Best answer, hope it gives you points

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

Yea it did, think its like 40 points or something lol, were here to help anyway