Hey guys,

With BF2 coming out real soon and the fact that I want to run it in all it's glory (and obviously detail) I got to thinking that my old box prolly won't cut it so I'm retiring it dedicated server status

Old Box
P4 3.0 (533mhz)
Asus P4G8X Deluxe
1.5 Gb PC2100
128 mb Radeon 9800 Pro
2x80 gb SATA Raid 0
1x200 gb WD IDE

Curious what you think of this as a setup

P4 650 3.4GHz (2mb Cache)
2x 74GB WD Raptor Raid 0
1Gb DDR2 RAM Corsair 5400
ASUS P5ND2-SLI Deluxe (nForce4)
2x BFG 6800GT

Im open to AMD's as well

All said an done, I do actually use it for other than gaming (though that is it's primary function)

I'd go with AMD because it's cheaper and awesome for games.

Those Raptor drives would be f***ing nice to have.

8-)

I'd go for a AMD Athlon64 for the CPU. 64bit is where it's at.

agreed
athlon64 skt 939

That Intel is 64bit

It's also nearly double the price of an AMD chip too which would be just as good for games.

But if you've got the cash, go for it. Trust your heart.

8-)

I personaly would buy an Athlon over Intel as they are faster for the price. I also wouldn't buy the Asus board and I definetly wouldn't buy the raptor drives as they are so problematic it's not funny. Also I would only get 1 6800 because in that system you should be able to play every game including BF2 at max settings so you could wait and buy another one later when they are cheaper.

trade the p4 for a athlong 64 a 3500 or 4000 and buy a DFI lan party board

^^ Question
Why not Asus & what probs have you had with the Raptors?

Have them in a box at work running an Oracle Database and they're fine. Haven't had any issues with Asus boards I've owned in the past.

What's the bad experience you had? Was it some sort of user error or actual hardware failure?

Bought 6 36g Raptors for new systems and returned 2 within a week due to constant blue screening. After replacing them the systems worked fine. 4 good ones out of 6 is not good. Also one of the system I built has given me problems and I am sure that it is a problem raptor. I hardly have any problems with any systems I build.
The newer Asus MB's seem to be problematic. They have inbuilt overclocking in the bios which makes them unstable with certain system configs. To turn the overclocking off is a task and a half. I am sure you could get it running fast and perfect with some playing around but I think there are better boards on the market that are faster and much more reliable.

I have the asus a8n sli deluxe board, I've had no problems so far with it. Only windows problems. The overlocking utilities are working fine as well.

Fair enough..

I build the PC's at my work as well. We did have one Asus board snap on power being applied, though I'm not certain that it wasn't the powersupply (which seemed was at fault in the end). I've heard of a few Antec 480 being dodgy.

I have no problems with using a Gigabyte board either (haven't had a bad experience with them an neither have my mates).

Anyone else had any hassles with the new Asus boards? If so, can you specify which ones?

With the rig I'm looking at, I'm not really interested in overclocking

The Asus boards definitely draw a lot more power then other boards. I think Asus have had many complaints about it and they have now added a section specifying the power requirements for each board. If you use Asus you will need a high amperage psu. Some of the Antec psu's have high wattage but lack the amperage and I think that is where the trouble is.

Doh, that's a point...

I had completely forgot that I would need a new PSU *slap*

Old box is running a Antec 550

With the amount of SATA's + vid cards I'm looking at, methinks I'll need a beefy setup

buy 64bit. your important s*** may or may not work until 64bit technology matures.


god loves a beta tester :D



btw - when's your next lan Hermi?

We have one of the 640 CPUs with a BFG 6800GT running in store now Hermi, it kicks a whole lot of ass, though its warm enough you could mistake it for an AMD :p Come in and have a look if you want, we can run whatever bench you want on it :p

heh, I said Hi to you on Friday, you didn't have a clue who I was. I was picking up a tablet for our IT manager to demo over the weekend

Prolly didn't help that I now sport a shaved head instead of my old sabretooth look

An koopz, there's a LAN here almost every weekend. Doesn't take much to get it up an running considering all 4 residents are gamers (albeit we have lives) with 3 or 4 mates who always rock around on weekends

Ooeer troy, just get a decent case. 2 power supplies++!

Sifn't go for the crazy dual 250GB seagates.
Also one video card is sufficient for now, you're just jealous my system pwns yours! :P
Wouldn't even bother with the aud2, if you must, get the aud2 value.

Asus mobo - they've generally been great, but the one i got recently for my uncle just seems whacked, no firewire, some other issues, its just been so picky and annoying.

Get on msn, the phone is just out of reach! Will pop round later.

Too lazy to edit, sif invite more people, its getting CROWDED!
Actually scratch that, last time all they did was play WoW
All non-WoW people are welcome !!!!

just on the raptor drives, the 36Gb ones there were a few reported problems when they came out. They also werent as fast as the 74Gb ones which came out later. Forgive me for not remembering but there was something to do with the platter's and then they also became noisy after a while as well.

Those things were fixed up for the 74Gb drives. Sorry i cant be more specific, is Sunday lunch time and brain will not work still :(.

Ive had 2 for over a year now, lots of transfers and hours of use and never had 1 problem at all.

Nato

you can retire your old system at my place hermi.
Ive got a good spot already picked out for it! :P

After some thought, I'e decided to drop the 2x BFG 6800GT's in favour of 1x 6800 Ultra an hopefully pick up a 2nd one down the track a bit cheaper

An I'll prolly go AMD (f*** it, I'll do work stuff on the laptop I'm gonna get)

Sory Fireblood, our lounge room would cry if I retired it elsewhere =)

An koopz, there's a LAN here almost every weekend

f*** YER...!


dude, I've totally compiled a crew of hardcore 1st person shooters at work since the last lan. Bring eet bitch :P

An I'll prolly go AMD

well, that's f***ed. If your s*** falls over I'm powerless to help you :(

Intel based products have me pulling all-nighters to ensure you're coming back. AMD are still trying to get away from the kid-gamer-dole_bludger market, but have yet to accomplish this :(

it's over my head :(



at the end of the day it all comes down to the bottom line :(

hey, don't get me wrong - I still prefer Intel over AMD

Intel runs again after overheating, haven't seen an AMD do that as yet