Building High-end Gaming Rig....

[Xponential]

I'm currently in the process of building a new high-end gaming rig and I have a few things that I'm curious about.

Is their any performance advantage with using 1066 RDRAM instead of DDR400 with a chipset like the Intel 875P?? Since it only runs at 800MHz I'm guessing you wouldn't get any more performance using 1066 RDRAM instead of DDR400, but I wasn't sure.

Here's the specs I'm currently planning on using:

- Lian-Li or Skyhawk aluminum case
- MSI 875P Neo FIS2R mobo
- P4 3.0GHz (800MHz FSB) CPU
- 512MB DDR400 or 1066 RDRAM
- Western Digital 120GB SE (8MB cache) HD
- 16x Lite-On DVD-ROM
- 52x24x52 Lite-On CD-RW
- SB Live! Audigy 2 Platinum
- ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

Stay with DDR.. lookin' good

 

[Tavoc]

Ok, well you can forget RDRAM it doesnt work on 875 boards. Get Corsair, Kingston or Mushkin PC3200 ram, the lower timings the better. If you want to OC get PC3500. Also, I would probably get the P4C800 or IC7-G if you are going 875. Everything else seems solid.

 

[Xponential]

Anandtech's review of the FIS2R was really good, plus it has the same features as the IC7-G at a cheaper price. Is their a hardware conflict that I don't know about with this board and something in my specs?

 

[Tavoc]

I've heard of a few of them dying. The ABIT or ASUS board is just higher quality hardware.

 

[Chobits]

The MSI is also the only one that has trouble hitting 1Ghz FSB...infact it couldn't, and hardocp kept having a problem with a NIC and could replicate it everytime on two different boards.

And the board "cheats" in a sense by overclocking anywhere from 4-8% to obtain higher results. So when you see it barely pull ahead of the pack that is because it was doing "dynamic overclocking"

Until the full situation is understood I'd highly reccomend to stay away

 

[a2k]

Considering the smoking deals to be found on the WD 120 GB drives these days, why not get a second one for RAID?

 

[Xponential]

I already have one

I'm actually having a hard time deciding what exact HD setup to use. I'm thinking single drive for my OS + games & applications, and then a RAID setup for my 100GB+ collection of movies, videos, MP3s etc. I can afford to do a clean install of my OS and applications anytime, however I can't afford to lose my huge collection of media.

 

[Xponential]

The MSI is also the only one that has trouble hitting 1Ghz FSB...infact it couldn't, and hardocp kept having a problem with a NIC and could replicate it everytime on two different boards.

And the board "cheats" in a sense by overclocking anywhere from 4-8% to obtain higher results. So when you see it barely pull ahead of the pack that is because it was doing "dynamic overclocking"

Until the full situation is understood I'd highly reccomend to stay away

After reading HardOCPs review of this board, I will definitely stay away from it.

 

[Chaotic42]

I'd get 512 more megabytes of memory. There is no reason to build anything other than a value system with less than 1024 megabytes.

 

[jacktesterson]

I would personally go with the Pentium 233 MMX, the MMX technology is supposed to bring wonders to the processor and would definitly be a good investment for the extra money

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: AMDHardcoreFan
I would personally go with the Pentium 233 MMX, the MMX technology is supposed to bring wonders to the processor and would definitly be a good investment for the extra money

I predict that MMX technology will soon dominate the market. Anyone who doesn't program using it will crumble.

 

[Intelman07]

Originally posted by: AMDHardcoreFan
I would personally go with the Pentium 233 MMX, the MMX technology is supposed to bring wonders to the processor and would definitly be a good investment for the extra money

What does a Pentium 233 MMX have to do with a High End Gaming rig?

 

[cptCuervo]

I would recomend a WD Raptor for your OS HD. Then get a bigger/cheaper HD like the WD 120G 8Mb Cache for the media/archives. The Raptor only comes in 36G these days but @ 10,000rpm... 36G is fine for OS and Apps.

I have also had a lot of problems with the Lian-Li cases, but they may have gotten better.


Otherwise.. that is almost exactly the system I am building in a few weeks.

Just my $.02

 

[Krk3561]

Keep away from MSI, seems like they are having all sorts of problems. Go with an Abit IC7-G instead. The Asus 875P is a bad board.

 

[Marth]

Funny, I'm putting together a high-end gaming computer too and I have the exact same components as you except for the mobo (Abit IC7-G) and processor (P4 2.4C).

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I'd get 512 more megabytes of memory. There is no reason to build anything other than a value system with less than 1024 megabytes.

Get a gig.

 

[Compddd]

Intel D875PBZ mobo 4 lyfe!

 

[Whitedog]

Originally posted by: Intelman07

Originally posted by: AMDHardcoreFan
I would personally go with the Pentium 233 MMX, the MMX technology is supposed to bring wonders to the processor and would definitly be a good investment for the extra money

What does a Pentium 233 MMX have to do with a High End Gaming rig?

This is Pentium of Borg. Precision is futile. You will be approximated!

 

[Whitedog]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: AMDHardcoreFan
I would personally go with the Pentium 233 MMX, the MMX technology is supposed to bring wonders to the processor and would definitly be a good investment for the extra money

I predict that MMX technology will soon dominate the market. Anyone who doesn't program using it will crumble.

Believe it or not... I pulled out and was looking at an old Computer Shopper from Jan 1995 today. Woah! Brought back HORRIBLE memories. Win95 wasn't even out.

Guess what a P90 CPU was going for?

Guess what a 32MB of 70ns SIMM would cost you?

Details at 11.