The Ultimate Dream Computer

Sorry if you detected sarcasm, but it was a pretty pointless question.

 

Bru when it comes to cooling, you cant beat peltier cooling. Got myself a Vapochill Micro. At peak load it runs at about 35 degrees Celcius.

Check it out www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=726

 

ultimate cooling? i think this could be it.

 

@BigDK
ya i know wat u mean...that was a stupid question...

@marsey99
dude thats thing is damn expensive...but it looks good...

need help...which mobo should i get...the
P5WDH Dlx or the 680i...which one is cheaper and which is beta...

 

The P5WDH is cheaper than any 680i motherboard.

If I didn't already own the P5WDH I would buy the 680i, as it will perform at least as well as my P5WDH.

You'll need to remember that being a very new board with very limited BIOS updates, there will be issues that you may or may not encounter.

I am amazed and annoyed at the amount of people on various forums RMA'ing boards, memory and CPU's just because they haven't the first idea what they are doing, all that feeds back on the rest of us, making things more awkward and expensive.

There's no doubt that either would keep you at high end for quite some time to come, but the 680i is using the latest features available from Nvidia (although they don't quite work as they do yet) things like EPP.

If you decide on the 680i board then you can choose between the EVGA, Asus Striker or Abit IN932 (the latter being the cheapest pre-order).

As with most boards, there are bound to be further Rev Boards made, so you just have to decide how quick off the mark you want to be.

If you plan this to be a major purchase you are unlikely to change for over a year or two, then you may be better off waiting a few weeks or months to see what pans out.

If you think you're likely to start upgrading quite often, then it becomes less critical to get everything 100% first time.

I would still wait to buy a Core 2 until January, the next phase of Intel's are due for release. Although the QX6700 didn't impact on anything other than the X6800 really, I would expect that when there are several chips above the 6800 etc... that the price would come down a bit.

Long and short of it - you shouldn't regret buying either, but you really need to read up on the spec's to see if there is something in particular about one of the boards you prefer (just ignore the sales crap and use independent reviews and where possible user feedback).

If you end up with a P5WDH then I’ll be more than happy to guide you through tweaking it, if you get the 680i, then at least one reliable AD member is just getting it and would probably help you out (kivory666) but don’t quote me!

 

@BigDK
thnx bra...i'll wait another 2-3 months...and c wats new...

 

Ultimate system is now just about finished!

The Dell 3007 monitor is now on version A02, and it appears that the image brightness problem has been eliminated, although Dell advised that it was driver/GPU related not the A01 monitors.

Being someone that can't put off buying new toys for long, I took the plunge today and bought the 3007WFP 30" TFT monitor.

Luckily the main UK outlet that takes these off of Dell are literally 10 minutes up the road, so having made the decision, it was bought and installed within an hour.

As a finishing touch to my ultimate system, I can't say much more than WOW! It’s massive; the desktop space available to work with is fantastic.

Just played DOOM3 for a quick view of game play, and although it only goes up to 1600x1200 Res, it fills the screen perfectly and now if I select fists as weapons, they are almost the same size as my own hands and I now have a life sized Pistol

If I now work on an A0 Visio document I can see the whole page at 50% view, with things at a very workable size.

Time to start some serious playing!

 

Wow, my 3007's just arrived today! but since mine's older, it's the A00. I see the brightness problem THG reported, but it's far from severe, just a bit odd to get used to. It's also a bit noisy in a silent room, but at university, life is rarely silent. Mine was £777 off ebay, but new (just unused). How much did you fork out on yours?

 

damn...ur lucky...30" thats huge...how come the res can only go up to 1600 x 1200...i thought it could go higher...like 2280 +

 

The sig's old, I've changed it. It goes to 2560x1600. Played a bit of Half Life 2 on it, looks absolutely superb. Unfortunately my PC's Graphics card really isn't up to playing FEAR at that sort of res...

 

Hi the res is 2560 x 1600 but the lower res is all the Doom3 game is capable of playing at.
UT2003 goes higher 1920 x 1200.
I’ll have to sort through the games and see what they all play at.

There aren't too many games that have large enough res to fill the screen correctly.

I paid £968 for it, and obviously as I picked it up there was no delivery charge.

I can't really hear anything from the monitor, but the heat off of it is noticale if I put my hand over it.

 

Yeah I found that with my 24 previously.

UT04 can easily be modified to run at 2560x1600 (*/UT2004/System/UT2004.ini):

And so can other games. Doom 3 can be done, but it seems more complex than other games, so I haven't tried it yet.
At that resolution, UT2004 and HL2 look superb. I'm going to need an R600 before I can play FEAR like that though, especially with AA/AF.

 

I've just loaded FEAR at set it to 2048 x 1536
If I leave all the max details enabled on, then I get the following FPS in the test.
Min 37
Av 58
Max 113

I'll have to spend some time tweaking the system again, but those FPS are more than okay for playing in the bit I tried.

 

yeah I just found out I was running 4xAA and 16x HQAF LOL! Turning that off may make the game perform a bit better!

 

LOL

nice purchase by the both of you~ i'm sticking with my dual 24" Dell widescreens at the moment~

sam, i know ur a big supporter of ATI products and the wait for their newer cards must be killing you to play your current games at the ultra high resolutions you are craving; patience is a virtue and i respect that~

i'm sure by now you realize that i'm in the opposite camp w/ Nvidia and SLI, just picked up dual 8800gtx's and should be shortly running in SLI once i get my eVga 680i mobo in~

even though i am not a "gamer" in any sense of the word, i'm one of those enthusiasts that is always on the "up and up" on the latest/greatest video card offerings (by BOTH companies Nvidia + ATI btw, i just PREFER SLI over Crossfire because i've been fortunate enough to have used BOTH at one point on my rigs and Crossfire doesn't even compare: (2) 7900gtx vs. (2) x1900xtx = no contest from PERSONAL experience)

anyways, congrats on the 30" Dell purchases BigDK + sammorris, since i have no immediate upgrades planned in the lcd display panel market anytime soon, i can only imagine what sort of resolution/frame rates either of you would achieve with even a SINGLE 8800gtx, let alone 2...might be something to consider to take your experience to the "next level"

p.s. i got an Enermax Galaxy 1000w to accomodate the power draw from the two 8800gtx in SLI, it was significantly cheaper than the PC Power & Cooling offering (which i know is arguably THE BEST 1000w PSU available at this time), but i think the Galaxy will more than suffice~

enjoy your new "toys" guys, my own "ultimate dream computer" rendition is coming along nicely too, i should have all the parts in and complete my build come Christmas time

btw, BigDK, did you finally get your Corsair Dominators delivered? or still on "back-order" ? the G.Skill set i picked up is wonderful, i can say they are much more overclocking friendly than my Corsair C4 kit, but what do you expect when you compare a C4 DDR2-pc2 6400 kit to that of a C4 DDR-pc2 8500 kit

if interested in model numbers and specs, here is the direct link:

http://www.gskill.com/en/f2-8500phu2-hz.html

i'm actually blown away by the timings, i have them currently at the manufacturers rated settings @2.4v 4-4-4-5

have a good one.

docTY

 

hi ddp, long time no see~

i don't frequent AD as much as i once did, but since i'm currently knee-deep in upgrading my systems, i figured i would pop into this thread and share some personal experience in building what i perceive as MY OWN idea of an "ultimate dream computer"

good to see you around and still doing a fine job!

have a good one my friend, it must be really cold where you are at up north of me, it's already freezing here in the evening times (well to me it's cold, LOL, probably considered fairly warm for what you may be accustomed to)

docTY

 

I used to prefer ATi cards because of the better image quality, but now that nVidia have come up to ATi's standars there with the 8800, that's no longer valid. I'd be tempted by an 8800GTX, but one won't fit in my case!
I'm no real supporter of either dual graphics, but acknowledge happily that SLi is superior. They both exhibit good performance in some games, but negligible benefits in others, and that's usually the bigger group. NICE PSU by the way, the enermaxes kick some serious ass. But yep, that won't fit in my case either!
I loved my 24" Dell, so to have two, you're very lucky indeed. This single 30" behemoth will only just fit on my desk though! I did happen to use dual monitors (Dell 24 & 19" Viewsonic CRT) at home before I came to uni, and while I found it useful, it was a bt glitchy (the occasional flicker on both screens and it took an age to change res, to load a game for example)

 

sam,

yeah, i think a lot of people fail to realize the LENGTH of a 8800gtx, it's significantly longer than a 7900gtx or even a x1900xtx for that matter. the PSU's above, let's say for example, 850w+, are longer too. ALL the 1000w PSU's i've seen ARE longer than the standard to fit an ATX case, midtower cases are even more problematic for fitting both an extended PSU and GPU. (without mods of course)

as with any high tech upgrade in the computer world, a little bit of research needs to be done and measurements taken prior to such a purchase, you've obviously done your homework as i have done mine...i've always wanted a 30" lcd, perhaps that will be on MY list next year around this time~

enjoy your new 30" monster, i'm sure it is quite a sight to behold.

docTY

 

...30"LCD, 8800GTX, 1000wPSU...these r the stuffs i'm wishing for this xmas/B-Day...but just cant happen...i didnt get any present last year for xmas, but a psp for b-day...this year i only want money...so that means i need to stick with my CMV 15" LCD for sometime before i upgrade it to 19"/20"+ monitor...ok one question...is it good idea to buy 7950GT now or must i wait till 8800GTX/GTS drop the price then buy it...