Second Life Forums Archive - Anyone care to critique my new system?

DancesWithRobots Soyer

Registered User

Join date: 7 Apr 2006

Posts: 701

03-21-2009 21:52

Still a pile of boxes.

Asus P6T
PNY Geforce 9800GT w 1024m ddr3 (just the one. No SLI yet)
2 500 gig Western Digital Caviar green sata drives (to be striped into a raid 0)
I7 processor (920)
6 gig Corsair 1600 memory (The salesman did me a solid by pointing out that the Corsairs were on sale, for only $10 more than the slower Kingston memory I had picked out.

750 watt Corsair power supply. Sorry, but I forget the model, and I'm too lazy to go look.

Windows Vista Ultimate, and the latest Ubuntu. . .whatever they're calling it this week.

The aggravating part is, while Vista will let me load drivers off of a flash drive, the intel driver disk utility for the raid array will only write to floppys.

I don't think I even own diskettes any more. . .

_____________________

"Two lives I have.
One life I live. One life I dream.
In dreams I remember the better in me."

SuezanneC Baskerville

Forums Rock!

Join date: 22 Dec 2003

Posts: 14,229

03-21-2009 22:38

It is a terrible, terrible system that will bring you nothing but misery and agony.

I strongly urge that you ship it to me post haste for immediate disposal.

_____________________

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Milla Janick

Empress Of The Universe

Join date: 2 Jan 2008

Posts: 3,075

03-21-2009 23:24

For that much of a system, I'd probably step up the video card a bit. A 9800GTX+ is practically the same price as a 9800GT. A GTX260 isn't a whole lot more than either one.

_____________________

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All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain...

Daniel Regenbogen

Registered User

Join date: 9 Nov 2006

Posts: 684

03-22-2009 02:10

I second the part about getting at 9800GTX+ (or under the new name GTS250). About the RAM: you will only be able to use the 6 GB if you run a 64bit system - and if I remember correctly, there are a few reports about troubles between SL and Vista64.

Craig Altman

Second Life Resident

Join date: 11 Nov 2004

Posts: 131

03-22-2009 03:28

I find Vista next to impossible to use, I put it in this computer when first built it, also had no choice but to have it in a Dell Laptop I bought, I ended up installing XP pro in both, this was nearly 2 years ago so I expect Vista is better by now with updates etc, could even be almost as useable as XP by now

If go the SLI route you may have heat issues if the second video card slot is very close to the bottom of the case, the fan cannot get enough air and the bottom one gets too hot, both I and a friend had this issue, even with a virtual hurricane of fans in the case, in the end I replaced the dual 8800GTs I had for a single GTX 280

Toy LaFollette

I eat paintchips

Join date: 11 Feb 2004

Posts: 2,359

03-22-2009 04:21

I used to have liquid cooling but after a huge heat fail problem I got rid of it. I have a rather large case and added 2 more fans. The large case makes heat no problem while running 7 fans (21"X21"X8"

. I Run a MSI mobo with SLI and have had no crashes in SL since the change. 800watt powersupply also helps. Im running a Intel Core 2 Series Processor (2999 MHz) with 4GB ram. Dual 8800GT cards. I have had no problems with Vista 64bit and SL. Ive been runing it well over a year.

_____________________

"So you see, my loyalty lies with Second Life, not with Linden Lab. Where I perceive the actions of Linden Lab to be in conflict with the best interests of Second Life, I side with Second Life."-Jacek

Void Singer

Int vSelf = Sing(void);

Join date: 24 Sep 2005

Posts: 6,973

03-22-2009 07:13

the 750w power supply may be a bit limiting in SLI options, double check the specs for power reqs

raid 0 = not a great thing unless you like the idea of doubling your chances of unrecoverable data loss due to failure. sure it's faster to access and write, the cost in losing it all though? pain

also on raid setups, go with an add on card if you can (they're cheap and it look like it'll squeeze in above the second sli slot if I've got the right board pic) it'll free up some of onboard processing for other things (like built in ethernet), and as a bonus if it goes down, you still can use the onboard raid. a cheap smaller main drive will make installation a snap, and you can configure your other two for programs and storage make OS recovery a bit easier too.

see if you can get someone to slipstream your install disk and include the updated drivers, saves alot of time effort and hassle

oh and remember that it may be worth more to get a better vid card over running SLI which may not play nice in all situations.

_____________________

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DancesWithRobots Soyer

Registered User

Join date: 7 Apr 2006

Posts: 701

03-22-2009 07:35

Thing about this system is, I usually stay a step or two behind the bleeding edge of technology, at least until the guys with the arrows in their backs tell their stories.

I once slipstreamed a W98 disk *mumble* years ago. I actually thought about it this time. Wasn't sure what I could get away with this time around.

Hadn't thought about the GTX200 series cards at all. Oh well. . .it will give me an upgrade path. In fact, it's a thought I'm more comfortable with than SLI.

There's a fan that blows right down onto the video card. Hopefully that will help too.

I'll double check the power specs.

Thanks for your input!

_____________________

"Two lives I have.
One life I live. One life I dream.
In dreams I remember the better in me."

Anyone care to critique my new system?
DancesWithRobots Soyer Registered User Join date: 7 Apr 2006 Posts: 701	03-21-2009 21:52 Still a pile of boxes. Asus P6T PNY Geforce 9800GT w 1024m ddr3 (just the one. No SLI yet) 2 500 gig Western Digital Caviar green sata drives (to be striped into a raid 0) I7 processor (920) 6 gig Corsair 1600 memory (The salesman did me a solid by pointing out that the Corsairs were on sale, for only $10 more than the slower Kingston memory I had picked out. 750 watt Corsair power supply. Sorry, but I forget the model, and I'm too lazy to go look. Windows Vista Ultimate, and the latest Ubuntu. . .whatever they're calling it this week. The aggravating part is, while Vista will let me load drivers off of a flash drive, the intel driver disk utility for the raid array will only write to floppys. I don't think I even own diskettes any more. . . _____________________ "Two lives I have. One life I live. One life I dream. In dreams I remember the better in me."
SuezanneC Baskerville Forums Rock! Join date: 22 Dec 2003 Posts: 14,229	03-21-2009 22:38 It is a terrible, terrible system that will bring you nothing but misery and agony. I strongly urge that you ship it to me post haste for immediate disposal. _____________________ - So long to these forums, the vBulletin forums that used to be at forums.secondlife.com. I will miss them. I can be found on the web by searching for "SuezanneC Baskerville", or go to http://www.google.com/profiles/suezanne - http://lindenlab.tribe.net/ created on 11/19/03. Members: Ben, Catherine, Colin, Cory, Dan, Doug, Jim, Philip, Phoenix, Richard, Robin, and Ryan -
Milla Janick Empress Of The Universe Join date: 2 Jan 2008 Posts: 3,075	03-21-2009 23:24 For that much of a system, I'd probably step up the video card a bit. A 9800GTX+ is practically the same price as a 9800GT. A GTX260 isn't a whole lot more than either one. _____________________ http://www.avatarsunited.com/avatars/milla-janick All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain...
Daniel Regenbogen Registered User Join date: 9 Nov 2006 Posts: 684	03-22-2009 02:10 I second the part about getting at 9800GTX+ (or under the new name GTS250). About the RAM: you will only be able to use the 6 GB if you run a 64bit system - and if I remember correctly, there are a few reports about troubles between SL and Vista64.
Craig Altman Second Life Resident Join date: 11 Nov 2004 Posts: 131	03-22-2009 03:28 I find Vista next to impossible to use, I put it in this computer when first built it, also had no choice but to have it in a Dell Laptop I bought, I ended up installing XP pro in both, this was nearly 2 years ago so I expect Vista is better by now with updates etc, could even be almost as useable as XP by now If go the SLI route you may have heat issues if the second video card slot is very close to the bottom of the case, the fan cannot get enough air and the bottom one gets too hot, both I and a friend had this issue, even with a virtual hurricane of fans in the case, in the end I replaced the dual 8800GTs I had for a single GTX 280
Toy LaFollette I eat paintchips Join date: 11 Feb 2004 Posts: 2,359	03-22-2009 04:21 I used to have liquid cooling but after a huge heat fail problem I got rid of it. I have a rather large case and added 2 more fans. The large case makes heat no problem while running 7 fans (21"X21"X8". I Run a MSI mobo with SLI and have had no crashes in SL since the change. 800watt powersupply also helps. Im running a Intel Core 2 Series Processor (2999 MHz) with 4GB ram. Dual 8800GT cards. I have had no problems with Vista 64bit and SL. Ive been runing it well over a year. _____________________ "So you see, my loyalty lies with Second Life, not with Linden Lab. Where I perceive the actions of Linden Lab to be in conflict with the best interests of Second Life, I side with Second Life."-Jacek
Void Singer Int vSelf = Sing(void); Join date: 24 Sep 2005 Posts: 6,973	03-22-2009 07:13 the 750w power supply may be a bit limiting in SLI options, double check the specs for power reqs raid 0 = not a great thing unless you like the idea of doubling your chances of unrecoverable data loss due to failure. sure it's faster to access and write, the cost in losing it all though? pain also on raid setups, go with an add on card if you can (they're cheap and it look like it'll squeeze in above the second sli slot if I've got the right board pic) it'll free up some of onboard processing for other things (like built in ethernet), and as a bonus if it goes down, you still can use the onboard raid. a cheap smaller main drive will make installation a snap, and you can configure your other two for programs and storage make OS recovery a bit easier too. see if you can get someone to slipstream your install disk and include the updated drivers, saves alot of time effort and hassle oh and remember that it may be worth more to get a better vid card over running SLI which may not play nice in all situations. _____________________ \| \| . "Cat-Like Typing Detected" \| . This post may contain errors in logic, spelling, and \| . grammar known to the SL populace to cause confusion \| \| - Please Use PHP tags when posting scripts/code, Thanks. \| - Can't See PHP or URL Tags Correctly? Check Out This Link... \| -
DancesWithRobots Soyer Registered User Join date: 7 Apr 2006 Posts: 701	03-22-2009 07:35 Thing about this system is, I usually stay a step or two behind the bleeding edge of technology, at least until the guys with the arrows in their backs tell their stories. I once slipstreamed a W98 disk mumble years ago. I actually thought about it this time. Wasn't sure what I could get away with this time around. Hadn't thought about the GTX200 series cards at all. Oh well. . .it will give me an upgrade path. In fact, it's a thought I'm more comfortable with than SLI. There's a fan that blows right down onto the video card. Hopefully that will help too. I'll double check the power specs. Thanks for your input! _____________________ "Two lives I have. One life I live. One life I dream. In dreams I remember the better in me."

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Anyone care to critique my new system?