vivman1107's new Core 2 Duo machine

[vivman1107]

As I am now permanently in the US of A, I can finally get a new machine. That, plus my parents need one so I am donating my current PC to them (my excuse to get one). I decided to go with Velocity Micro as they have no interest financing for 6 months. I got approved for $1,600 so I took their $1,500 model and made a couple tweaks. This is what I ended up with:

Case: GX-W Black - Velocity Micro Classic Case - Pure Aluminum with side window, 2 x 120mm fans
Power Supply: 500 Watt Velocity Micro Power Supply with Dual Blue Lighted Fans
Motherboard: Asus P5N-E SLI nForce 650i SLI, Socket 775, PCI-E, DDR2
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor E6420, dual 2.13GHz cores, 4MB L2 Cache
Memory: 4096MB Corsair DDR2 PC6400 DDR2-800 (4x1024)
Video: 2 x 256MB eVGA NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT Velocity Micro Performance Edition in SLI, 2 x DVI
Audio: Creative Labs SoundBlaster X-Fi XtremeAudio
Hard Drive: 250GB Hitachi 7200rpm 8MB Cache SATA 300 w/NCQ
Optical Drive 1: 20x Lite On DVD+/-RW/CD-RW Dual Layer, Black Bezel
Optical Drive 2: 16x DVD/48x CD-RW Lite On Combo Drive, Black Bezel
Floppy Drive: 8-in-1 Floppy Drive & Media Reader Combo, Black Bezel
Network Adapter: Integrated 10/100/1000MBps Gigabit Ethernet Network Adapter
Operating System: Genuine Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

Total price: $1,590

The system originally had 2 GB RAM and I upped it to 4. I took out the keyboard and mouse and changed the case to one with a window. I have Vista Home Premium because that was the default. Changing to XP Pro would have added $75 to the cost. I just figured that the 4 GB of RAM should handle Vista and I was planning on upgrading to it in the near future anyway. This kept me just within my assigned budget. Now, you may notice that there is no keyboard, mouse, monitor or speakers. This is because I bought these for my current PC and will use them:

Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Natural-Ergo-Keyboard-4000/dp/B000A6PPOK/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-3591304-9083659?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1183118843&sr=8-1

Mouse: Logitech G5 Laser Mouse
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-910-000093-G5-Laser-Mouse/dp/B000ODN7VM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-3591304-9083659?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1183118792&sr=8-2

Monitor: HP L2045w 20" widescreen
http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Buy-20IN-Wide-LCD/dp/B000KUWX7I/ref=pd_bbs_1/105-3591304-9083659?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1183118868&sr=8-1

Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX
http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-ProMedia-Certified-Computer-3-Piece/dp/B000062VUO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-3591304-9083659?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1183118904&sr=8-1

I always liked the Microsoft Natural keyboards so that was an easy choice. The choice between the G5 and G7 mice came down to the color and lack of batteries for the G5. The HP monitor was chosen based on a boss review in Maximum PC and the fact that it rotates to portrait mode (good for some MAME games). The Klipsch speakers have been known as best in class since they were released so that was an easy choice. The M-Audio studio monitor speakers that are now the best in the business are a little too pricey for my blood.

Currently, the PC is in the assembly stage so I should have my hands on it by next week. I will try to get some pics up when I get it set up.

[Crixx_Creww]

sounds good

keenly interested in that 6420, interesting little chip there

wanna see what yur performance is like using vista and those 8600s

iam thinking of 4 gigs myself and have been wondering whether to go xp64 or vista.

[Spazosaurus]

First off, about 1gig of the 4 gigs would not even be addressed by Vista or any other 32bit OS so that's some wasted $$ right there.

Also, 8600gt? not even 8600gts? 8600gt in SLI doesnt really make much sense. Best you get an 8800gts 320 because even at stock, that will outperform those 2 8600's. Also, just check what Arc and I do with our 8800gts. Vista will jst futher bring down performance. x64 Vista is an option but you'll have to hunt for 64bit drivers and of course deal with a plethora of incompatibility issues and significantly lower graphics performance on the same hardware. (Ive personally tested this)

[W1nTry]

I have to agree with Unknown here, 8600GT in SLI will not perform even on par with the 320MB version of the 8800GTS. I would have opted for 2GB of memory and a better vid card and/or faster CPU. Everything else (save the PSU) seem quite in order. What kind of warranty are they offering with that PC? and what quality of service can you expect? these are important questions when buying a pre-built system. Take into account that PCs with warranties will void said warranty with OCing. Thus it would have been wise to get a faster STOCK CPU. All in all though a decent rig to be sure. Price is a lil high though, but as I said warranty, service, etc SHOULD account for the cost.

[Arcmanov]

^^^ What he (Unknown) said.

If you can, see what the cost will be if you swap out those 8600s for a single 8800 GTS (320 MB).
The price/performance ratio of a single 8800 GTS is a whole lot better than 2 8600s.  Even in SLI.


I say, drop back to 2 GB RAM, upgrade video to a single 8800 GTS and use Win XP Pro.
You can always upgrade to 4 GB RAM when Vista 64-bit matures enough.
You say its being built already, so it might be too late to change anything.

You should have solicited our advice BEFORE you bought it man.   lol

[W1nTry]

Hmm I could almost delete arc post as its more or less a double post of mine... ah well

[Spazosaurus]

Unlike Dell and Hp, Velocity Micro atually has a decent latitude of video card (and other) options from which you can choose.

http://www.velocitymicro.com/wizard.php?iid=2

This is most likely the system Viv configured and as you can see, there are a lot of options.

[Crixx_Creww]

dell doesnt have alot of video card options???

[Spazosaurus]

Not all under one configuration like Velocity does. Just check it out and tell me i'm wrong. With any one Dell/HP system, you usually have what...about 3 or 4 maximum cards to choose from? These pple have tons of configs including sli AND non sli.

[Arcmanov]

Hmm I could almost delete arc post as its more or less a double post of mine... ah well

lol.  I was typing that post when you posted yours. Didn't see it until the page refreshed.

[Beomagi]

To extrapolate on why 4 GB wont work on a 32 bit os :

1 - bugs. Windows initially had a bug which limited memory to 2.5GB fixed by a patch. that may or may not be fixed in vista.
2 - addressable space.

e.g. assume you have a 4 bit os. you can access 16 bytes of data
let say you bought 16 bytes of memory, and had a 4 byte videocard, modem took a byte, and another virtual device uses 2 bytes.

0000 - video byte 1
0001 - video byte 2
0010 - video byte 3
0011 - video byte 4
0100 - Modem
0101 - virtual device
0110 - ram 1
0111 - ram 2
1000 - ram 3
1001 - ram 4
1010 - ram 5
1011 - ram 6
1100 - ram 7
1101 - ram 8
1110 - ram 9
1111 - ram 10

6 bytes of ram, simply cannot be addressed. Windows DOES have PAE but it isn't enabled for anything but data integrity in home and office versions of windows.

32 bits access 4 GB of memory. Now your cards and other devices use up memory from those 4 GB. If there's no other limiting bugs, then you may have say, 3-3.5GB available, which isn't bad at all. Do tell once your system arrives how much is available.

[vivman1107]

Ok. Velocity Micro is on par with top system builders like Alienware, Falcon Northwest and Voodoo in terms of quality. I am a programmer and really don't like building my own system if I don't have to. So, I went with a custom built model. I knew about Vista and the graphics cards before I ordered the system. However, I figured that for the price I was getting a damn good deal. As I said, I was on a budget because of the financing deal and so I got what I could for the best price. Right now, I'm running one 7600 GS so I thought (correctly) that two 8600 GT's would smoke that. A couple months ago, I was running a 5500 so I would say that is a marked improvement.

Now, the base system as configured has the two 8600 GT's and 2 GB RAM for $1,500. I made it 4 GB for $100 more and that was the end of my options as I had reached my budget. I could have gotten the 320 MB 8800 GTS for $85 more and foregone the extra RAM. Then, I would be running Vista with just 2 GB RAM, though, as switching for XP costs an extra $75. I wanted to keep all the other hardware options so in the end I decided to go with the extra RAM and the 8600 GT's. Later on, I can always swap out those for something faster (if I feel the need to). Somehow I feel I will not need to, though, as all I am playing these days is World of Warcraft.

FYI ... At this point, I can't make any changes to the configuration as it is being assembled. I am satisfied with it, though, and I will most likely be grinning from ear to ear when it finally gets here.

[Spazosaurus]

You're paying for 4 gigs of memory when you're actually only getting use of about 3. Snagging the 8800 gives you better performance sans sli drama, not to mention gives you the option to add another in sli for uber power for another year and a half. Oh and Vista with 'just' 2 gigs of ram doesnt slow you down any, even running multiple proggies like CS3, folding etc etc (again, talking from experience). But hey, whatever floats ur boat it's your $$.