Advice on new gaming computer specification

[robrace]

Hi
I intend on upgrading my computer.
The benchmark that I will use is GTR2, with all settings at maximum having a 35 car grid at the start of a race and 100% rain, running at between 60 -70fps with vsync off.
( On my current setup, GTR2 is very CPU dependent especially with rain settings resulting in low FPS )

Using the above criteria, I have been advised of the following spec,i.e.

Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair 2 Formula AM2
Ram: Kingston Hype-x 2 x 1G
Processor: AMD AM2 Phenom x 4 Quard Core
Cooler for processor: Asus Lion Square 8 x copper
heatpipes
Soundcard: Asus Xonar Dx2 7.1 PCI-X
Graphics card: Asus ATI HD4870 x2 2GB DDR5
Harddrives: Seagate Barracuda Sata2 1 x 750g and
1 x500G (32MB ) @ 7200rpm
Power unit: Corshair HX1000w EPS12v, triple 12v
rail
Monitor: Samsung T260 26" widescreen 5ms

Can anyone out there advise me if any of these components will cause any performance bottlenecks and are they the right choice when intergrated with one another as I intend using this 'setup' for future directx 10 compatible games as well.
For your interest, due to the current exchange rate in my country, the cost thereof is a cool R27500-00 rand or approximately 2371 euros. I would want to make the right choice.

Thanks for your help there, it is appreciated.

[Stalk3r*]

Everything seems good what you listed there, but i imho, i would go with Intel, they're unstoppable at the moment.

I would also watch out for the 4870 X2's, at the moment with ATI/AMD's current driver, there are a few Micro-Stutters with that graphics card. But i'm sure they'll fix it soon (hopefully).

But it's your choice in the end bud.

[Siggs]

+1 for that. Apart from that, it looks pretty good, no, very good.

[ravenmorpheus2k]

From my experience I'd say don't put Vista on it. I've had problems with FPS being lower in Race07 (not to mention stuttering) and GTR 2 than in XP on my laptop (Asus M70VM, 4GB RAM, nVidia 9600M GS, 2.2ghz C2D).

I have a dual boot system of XP and Vista so I can safely say it's not the computer, it's the OS, on average I get twice the FPS in XP with no stuttering in GTR 2 than I do in Vista and the same in Race07 from what I can tell (although I've never actually measured Race07 but it sure as hell doesn't stutter like it does in Vista at times). Mind you with the spec you've listed I shouldn't think you'll have any problems at all.

[aelange]

1.25 terabytes of hard drive space? @_@ man, not five years ago that would have been overkill. But nowadays that's not enough!
I just might have to use that list for my own upgrading.

[Stalk3r*]

It'll do, depends if he is storing ALOT of stuff.

[bozont]

you will have to change the wires in the wall and the fuses to 25 Ampers

i dont like huge diskspaces . lots of space - lots of data - huge mess.
and if it dies (hope not) than a huge data loss in sight.

appart from that its a monster.

[Kneegrow]

The need for Quad core isn't here yet and probably wont be for a few years, unless your a benchmark racer.

I wouldn't do a AMD system right now. I would go with a Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 CPU and use a Abit IP 35 Pro motherboard. These two match up awesome, you can overclock to 3.6 and not even have to mess with voltage.

The 8400 will stomp a mud hole in any AMD CPU's ass.

As for memory?
Go with something like CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) it only costs 30 bucks more then 2 x 1GB. Install Vista 64 bit and be as happy as can be.

I don't know why everyone has a hard on when it comes to Vista, I relate that to simply not knowing any better, its a great O/S. It's faster,more secure and more stable then XP will ever dream of being. Sure, older systems may gag on Vista but that's not what he is building here.

Everything else you picked is top notch.
If you want to get out of the mainstream on sound cards I would suggest a Auzen X-FI Prelude 7.1 soundcard. It's so clean sounding, it's unreal.

[unklepepper]

Id second that Kneegrow. Thats the sorta monster I wanna build when I get some dosh together, with any luck that GPU will drop in price by then!
Id go down the vista route too, but if it gives your games issues you can pick up XP oem cheap n dual boot.

[Mogget]

1.25 terabytes of hard drive space? @_@ man, not five years ago that would have been overkill. But nowadays that's not enough!

Don't be ridiculous. My new PC has a 500GB hard disk, and that will be more than enough.

I don't know why everyone has a hard on when it comes to Vista, I relate that to simply not knowing any better, its a great O/S. It's faster,more secure and more stable then XP will ever dream of being. Sure, older systems may gag on Vista but that's not what he is building here.

I'm running Windows Vista64 on my new PC, and my first impressions are that it is very good indeed. The appearance of those popup windows asking for confirmation of almost everything that I want to do is the only really annoying aspect.

[GTR2addict]

i say get rid of the amd quad core... the E8400 or the Q6600 are the ones to look at

[wingboot]

Originally Posted by Mogget

.....The appearance of those popup windows asking for confirmation of almost everything that I want to do is the only really annoying aspect.

I turned of UAC and am much happier with Vista 64 now.

EDIT to show signature on newly completed build.

[night_owl2007]

Originally Posted by Kneegrow

The need for Quad core isn't here yet and probably wont be for a few years, unless your a benchmark racer.

I wouldn't do a AMD system right now. I would go with a Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 CPU and use a Abit IP 35 Pro motherboard. These two match up awesome, you can overclock to 3.6 and not even have to mess with voltage.

The 8400 will stomp a mud hole in any AMD CPU's ass.

As for memory?
Go with something like CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) it only costs 30 bucks more then 2 x 1GB. Install Vista 64 bit and be as happy as can be.

I don't know why everyone has a hard on when it comes to Vista, I relate that to simply not knowing any better, its a great O/S. It's faster,more secure and more stable then XP will ever dream of being. Sure, older systems may gag on Vista but that's not what he is building here.

Everything else you picked is top notch.
If you want to get out of the mainstream on sound cards I would suggest a Auzen X-FI Prelude 7.1 soundcard. It's so clean sounding, it's unreal.

yeah agree with kneegrow, i have the E8400 cpu and its great, currently at stock speed but i believe you can safely clock it to nearly 4ghz, and also agree that quad core isnt functioning properly for most games and software yet, and best option is to dual boot vista 64bit and winxp pro, coz any older games might have problems with vista, so no worries if you got xp as well, plus it splits your main hdd into two so you can back up your files on both op systems....
also note that if you're only using xp and not vista, then xp doesnt use more than 3.25gb of ram, doesnt know how to deal with it, i know some of you guys might question this but my friend told me this and hes been working on pc's since fred flintstones first pc's!! tho xp will work with 4gb of ram, its just wont utilize it proper he reckons....
also when you select a monitor, make sure it has 1920 x 1200 resolution or higher, as when i bought my 21" acer it only has 1680 x 1050 and i regret not paying a little extra for the 24" 1920x1200 version... also a good deal would be to get 2 nvidia BFG8800gt oc2 (overclocked twice) in sli for a real bargain price, but if you wanna splash cash go for an even better geforce, i dont rewally like ati myself...
finally if you're not a real good tech head, have someone build this for you, it'd be a real shame to mess up and blow your board or somethin

[Mogget]

It's worth bearing in mind that higher resolution monitors will require more graphics power to run games at decent framerates. Since I am perfectly happy with my 17" TFT (1280x1024), I don't need quite as much grunt as a 1920x1200 widescreen.

On a side note, I have been told many times by tech aware games forum users that quadcore CPUs are worth buying now, because new software will soon take advantage of the extra cores.

[SwiftyOne]

Originally Posted by Mogget

On a side note, I have been told many times by tech aware games forum users that quadcore CPUs are worth buying now, because new software will soon take advantage of the extra cores.

It's funny you should say that,....I have a Phenom 9550 Quad core, and with running GTRevo, if I Alt+Tab out of the game, and check the Affinity in Task Manager, the game is actually set on all four cores. Does this mean that at least GTRevo is set up to take advantage of all four? I would have expected to only see it using just TWO and not four...

So yes, I would strongly agree about getting a quad core NOW, not sure though which is the best, AMD/Intel, never had an Intel...But the Phenom I have runs really well with games...I am real pleased..

Swifty

[ZeZeZoom]

Robrace,
Your components list is awesome. Like Kneegrow said, I'd replace the sound card for the Auzen he mentioned (or for the Auzen X-Plosion), because I have 3 of these and they sound phenomenal and are less expensive than the Xonar.
I'd go for 2x2Gb RAM, even with WinXP, just because the price difference is small. I never tried Vista, I am happy with XP and, despite the OS (XP) not using the full 4Gb, there is a noticeable improvement when moving from 2Gb to 4Gb as I did with my Q6600.
Bear in mind that the 4870x2 graphic card is a monster when it comes to electricity consumption and heat dissipation. You will not need to heat the computer room anymore, you will have to get air conditioning (at least during Summer if you do not live in Alasca) instead. I have a 4870 512Mb (stock) and it runs really hot, the heat dissipation is noticeable; the image quality is astounding (I have a Samsung 275T, 27' working at 1920x1200x32 and racing is a pleasure with this video card), though. Don't know if you need to pay the extra $ for the 4870x2, perhaps a 4870 1Gb would do for almost half the price. When it comes to image quality, ATi/AMD is much better than nVidia imho (and I have good cards from both brands).
The Intel 8400 is a very good processor, even at stock speed (I have 3 of these), but I have been told the AMD Phenom 9850 is also very good. If you go for the Phenom pay extra attention to heat dissipation, as this processor easily outputs 120º C (the intel E8400 being much fresher). This added to the 4870x2 would create a fantastic room heater!!!. The computer case is also something you should pay attention to, as your machine will need proper ventilation. The Coolermaster Centurion 590 is relatively affordable and has plenty of ventilation holes; there are many good cases out there, though.
As for the motherboard, and given my recent ordeal with a Asus P5Q Pro, I'd go for a Gigabyte, irrespectively of chosing Intel or AMD.
I wish you the best of luck with your new machine.

[Mogget]

It's probably worth noting here that I haven't had any problems (so far) with my Soundblaster X-Fi Extreme Music card. In fact, I'm still using a relatively ancient set of speakers (Yamaha YST-M30 with subwoofer), but the difference in sound quality between this card and my old Audigy 2 is very obvious. My Mustang sounds even better now

[robrace]

Thanks very much guys/girls for all the feedback and advice.
It is a honour to be part of this vibrant forum!

My current XP Sp2 gaming rig is just over 2 years old and
although runs rFactor very well ( 90-100 fps at certain track points ), is gasping for breath when running GTL,
GTR2 and GTRE especially in the wet.

Collectively, it seems that a ATi/AMD combination is good for image quality while that of a Nvidia/Intel is for pure performance. What to choose if you want the best of both worlds?

Anyway it is also important to have the blessing of in this case my wife, as a new rig such as this takes simulation racing into a entirely new league.

Cheers!

[GTR2addict]

get an intel CPU and an ATI graphics card