Hi all,
I've been out of the loop for quite some time and haven't kept up to date with all the new stuff. I'm planning to buy and build a new system in two or three months though and I could use some advice in this regard.
The PC will be for general use (all the normal stuff) and gaming. When it comes to gaming I really only play EVE Online these days, something which probably won't change until that game no longer exists.... Once in a while, when suffering from EVE overload I visit games like Civ 4, the Total War series and similar stuff.
What I'm after is primarily 4 things: rock solid stability, total reliability, great responsiveness and excellent gfx performance. Those are pretty self-explanatory, but in regards to responsiveness I should mention that I always run several things in the background - generally also while gaming. Hence I need a system which is able to cope with EVE, dvd/cd burning, Winamp, multiple browers windows, Outlook, BitComet, etc, etc all at the same time. My current system (3GHz P4) copes reasonably well, most likely due to the 2GB RAM I have installed, but gets sluggish or occasionally freezes if things get busy in several places at once. So my main aim is really to fix this.
The core component list I'm considering is as follows:
AMD X2 2.4GHz, Asus A8N32 Dlx, 4 x 1GB RAM, X1900/1800XT (or 7800GTX, non-SLI), SB X-Fi, Enermax 620W PSU (or equivalent).
Alternatively I wonder if following the dual Opteron route will gain me anything in terms of responsiveness and multitasking capabilities. Will it make much of a difference for my use, or will it be a total waste of the extra outlay? Here's the Opteron config I'm considering:
2 x Opteron 2.4GHz, Tyan NForce4 Pro2200 server board w/16x PCI-E and SCSI, 4 x 512MB RAM (have 4 x 512 already) + same as above.
In both cases I'll run the OS off a fast SCSI drive.
I'd be much obliged if those in the know could give me opinions on which alternative would suit me best in terms of the use described above.
PS - forgot to say the OS will be either XP x64 or Server 2003 x64
I've been out of the loop for quite some time and haven't kept up to date with all the new stuff. I'm planning to buy and build a new system in two or three months though and I could use some advice in this regard.
The PC will be for general use (all the normal stuff) and gaming. When it comes to gaming I really only play EVE Online these days, something which probably won't change until that game no longer exists.... Once in a while, when suffering from EVE overload I visit games like Civ 4, the Total War series and similar stuff.
What I'm after is primarily 4 things: rock solid stability, total reliability, great responsiveness and excellent gfx performance. Those are pretty self-explanatory, but in regards to responsiveness I should mention that I always run several things in the background - generally also while gaming. Hence I need a system which is able to cope with EVE, dvd/cd burning, Winamp, multiple browers windows, Outlook, BitComet, etc, etc all at the same time. My current system (3GHz P4) copes reasonably well, most likely due to the 2GB RAM I have installed, but gets sluggish or occasionally freezes if things get busy in several places at once. So my main aim is really to fix this.
The core component list I'm considering is as follows:
AMD X2 2.4GHz, Asus A8N32 Dlx, 4 x 1GB RAM, X1900/1800XT (or 7800GTX, non-SLI), SB X-Fi, Enermax 620W PSU (or equivalent).
Alternatively I wonder if following the dual Opteron route will gain me anything in terms of responsiveness and multitasking capabilities. Will it make much of a difference for my use, or will it be a total waste of the extra outlay? Here's the Opteron config I'm considering:
2 x Opteron 2.4GHz, Tyan NForce4 Pro2200 server board w/16x PCI-E and SCSI, 4 x 512MB RAM (have 4 x 512 already) + same as above.
In both cases I'll run the OS off a fast SCSI drive.
I'd be much obliged if those in the know could give me opinions on which alternative would suit me best in terms of the use described above.
PS - forgot to say the OS will be either XP x64 or Server 2003 x64