Please Review New System Specs...

[dwellman]

If I get CAS3 RAM then I can't return it (without paying a restock fee) if it refuses to run at CAS2.5.

I have a feeling your conversion is going to take a while

Crucial has a 30 day guarantee.
I don't remember where I saw them, but a year ago, I was looking for RAM, and I wanted to know if there really was a benefit to paying more for Corsair, Geil, ect. Plus, I was pissed at Micron for artificially inflating DRAM prices. The answer I got was:

<i>Using default voltages at rated bus speed and same timings, Micron RAM performs better than any other manufacturer's RAM.</i>

Anandtech's article on RAM compatibility for 875/865 shows only the Corsair LL besting the Micron, albeit at faster timings than the Micron.

Like I said, the Ti4200-8X is a great card right now. MSI makes good vid cards, too. Never had a problem (all our nVidia based cards are MSI). It's comprable in 3D performance to a 9500 PRO, but $70 less.

If I were in your situation, I would be wont to get the BEST technology I can afford. You might be able to get away with doing what I did:

Buy your components in order based on price volitality,
Example:
Case
PSU
Keyboard
Mouse
CD/DVD-ROM drive
Monitor (CRT)
CD-RW
RAM
HDD
Monitor (LCD)
Video
Motherboard
CPU
DVD-RW/DVD+RW

Problems arise where RAM and HDD can also go up or down over time.

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<b><font color=red>Three great virtues of a programmer are: laziness, impatience, and hubris.</font color=red><b>

 

[Mephistopheles]

For games, sure. However games aren't the only things that I run. I do write analytical scientific software and that takes some major CPU and RAM to crunch through well. I also dabble in 3D rendering, which again is primarily CPU-based. So as much as I'd like 'the ultimate gaming machine', I had to find a balance between CPU performance and gaming performance to meet all of my needs adequately.

Interesting... I do almost the exact same things that you do... I also do gaming, of course... Just out of curiosity, what kind of scientific work do you work with? I'd like to know that! (I'm actually a physicist)... And I've always loved 3d rendering as a hobby. Too bad 3DSMAX is so expensive...

Oh, and I might be upgrading by the end of this year... And I do hope to get a system that looks at least as nice as the one you plan to get!

 

[pIII_Man]

there are many vivo versions of ti4200 cards...off of the top of my head i know that leadtek made/makes a vivo 4200 card.

 

[GIPNOR]

I own a WD800JB and it's the best IDE HD I've ever had. It's fast and VERY quiet. I'm so happy with it, I intend for my next HD to be a WD model. I'll never buy a Maxtor again!

 

[slvr_phoenix]

I have a feeling your conversion is going to take a while

**ROFL** Really, I'm not too concerned. Both RAM options are the same price, for the same quantity, for equal performance. Both are good manufacturers. It's not that I have anything against Crucial and am refusing them flat out. It's that in theory <i>if</i> I overclock the timings from the Crucial I get the exact same performance either way, and for the exact same money. So what's the point? The point is that with the Corsair I don't have to overclock the timings because they're already set in the SPD to the timings that I want. So why convert when it's not going to save me money or give me better performance?

If I were in your situation, I would be wont to get the BEST technology I can afford.

For the most part, I am. However, I invision upgrading both the video card and the processor at a later time. (Probably adding more hard drives too.) So these areas I can 'settle' for less-than-perfect now and aim at the midrange spectrum where prices aren't so inflated but performance is still acceptable.

What will be fun as hell is seeing that huge conglomeration of parts arive from Newegg all in one shipment. Heh heh. A whole PC (including monitor and UPS) with all of the parts in seperate packaging. It's almost evil. Poor FedEx delivery person.

"<i>Yeah, if you treat them like equals, it'll only encourage them to think they <b>ARE</b> your equals.</i>" - Thief from <A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=030603" target="_new">8-Bit Theater</A>

 

[slvr_phoenix]

Interesting... I do almost the exact same things that you do... I also do gaming, of course... Just out of curiosity, what kind of scientific work do you work with? I'd like to know that! (I'm actually a physicist)...

I write software for x-ray diffraction crystallography with small molecules and proteins. All considered it's pretty amazing since I don't have any sort of a scientific backround ... well, other than a bunch of advanced programs in high school for college credit ... that I never recieved the credit for because I went into the military instead of going to the community college where I would have gotten the credits and so by now I'd have to take the classes over again. Heh heh.

But I basically got hired as a general programmer and GUI specialist when the company was pushing for a new software suite. Then when that was over I worked my way into coding more of the scientific parts of the software.

And I've always loved 3d rendering as a hobby. Too bad 3DSMAX is so expensive...

No flirking schiznit! Not only that, but the last time that I checked they don't even offer a trial version so that you can see if it even meets your needs yet. 🙁 Like I'm going to shell out loads of cash on software that I can't even try first.

I have an old version that a friend sold to me dirt cheap when his company upgraded to a new version. It's so old that it is kinda crappy though. General modelling works fine, but animation effects are a pain in the arse and I haven't gotten sound to tie in correctly at all yet. I pretty much gave up on it for those reasons. I do have some other softwares too, so I just really don't use 3DSM all that much anymore. Mostly right now I just make web graphics (like nifty buttons) so Asymetrix Web3D is what I use the most often.

Once I get the new hardware though I'm going to check out the open source community and see what's out there. If they have 3D modeling software that's anywhere near as advanced as Gimp then I'll be happy. (Even if it probably means a painful user interface.)

Plus I'm writing my own 3D software. It's just another OpenGL engine, but this one is for Python specifically and written completely in Python without using GLU or any other libraries, which makes portability easy as sin. It's also designed specifically around object modeling, not around game design. So at some point I'll just be able to use that software and code in my own models using the primatives from the engine.

All in all though what I <i>really</i> want to do is start work on a DX skin-morphing engine where you take a basic model (such as for a human) and you warp that model in specified areas. Then using the information on how you warped the model, you warp the skin for that simple model into a skin for your warped model. If it works it'll allow game programmers to spend less time making skins and greatly increase the visual differences between characters and monsters and such that would have normally looked exactly identical.

Oh, and I might be upgrading by the end of this year... And I do hope to get a system that looks at least as nice as the one you plan to get!

Cool. Now seems like a good time to upgrade. You can get a motherboard with a Northwood but can later upgrade to an early Prescott. You can give it a PATA hard drive but have support for a SATA upgrade later. A whole new batch of video cards will be out for Christmas and affordable a few months after that. **ROFL** Short of waiting another year or more, now is the time to buy an Intel-based system.

I might have a massive update on my system specs though. It's mostly a lot of subtle changes. I'll probably post a whole new thread on it when I finish working out the kinks in the budget part of it. **LOL**

"<i>Yeah, if you treat them like equals, it'll only encourage them to think they <b>ARE</b> your equals.</i>" - Thief from <A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=030603" target="_new">8-Bit Theater</A>

 

[dwellman]

<b>Message</b>
Brothers and sisters, we are gathered here today to welcome our brother, slvr_phoenix to our fold. He has seen been shown the light that leads to understanding. You see, brothers and sisters, a problem with Micron is that they <i>strictly</i> adhere to JDEC standards. That means PC 3200 @ CAS 3. Corsair says "fully compliant with <i>appropriate</i> JEDEC specifications." Do not let yourselves be mislead by those words. The straight and narrow path to righteousness begins with knowing that even <i>with</i> the higher latency, the memory performance is just as good (many times, faster) as RAM from other manufacturers with faster specified timings. The main issue with Micron, however, is that their DIMMs are abysmal overclockers.

<b>Hymn of Response*</b>
Bottom line: if you want to overclock (voltage/bus), even OCZ RAM beats Micron.

<b>Benediction</b>
There's no reason for you to buy Micron, actually. I Just wanted to make a plea to all the lost out there.

<b>Postlude</b>
<i>THG Oratorio, III</i>

*Congregation, please stand

<b>Message for next week:</b>
“Who Shall Deliver FedEx?” Or, “Witnessing begins at home”

Ok, enough silliness. I did the same thing when I built the system I using now. I fully intended to install a Barton CPU, but they were delayed, delayed, and delayed. So, I bought the cheapest Duron I could find. I’ll get a Barton in October. Now, it is HARD to do that with video cards because of technology creep.

Now, you <i>could</i> buy a Celery to offset the price of a more spectacular video card. Or you could. . . Hell, I keep going, I'll confuse myself.

Just buy the junk. Get your scores on the Futuremark ORB. Or else. Fire and brimstone.



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<b><font color=red>Three great virtues of a programmer are: laziness, impatience, and hubris.</font color=red><b>