New to the forums and a new(ish) PC. Just a slight intorduction.

[MisterMister]

Whats up guys. I recently built a new rig (it's about 2 months old ATM), upgrading from my near prehistoric AMD64 3200+ w/ ATi X800XT, 2GB of RAM, & Windows XP Pro.

Since then I have been doing a lot of research on my new components, which eventually brought me to this forum! I have a feeling that I'm going to be spending most of my time here, so I felt an introduction was in order.

First of all, let me get this out of the way. My Current PC set up consists of:

* Windows Vista Home Pro (32-bit) w/ SP1 & all hotfixes
* Ultra M998 mid-ATX case
* SilenX 650W, SLI ready, 14DBa modular PSU
* Nvidia/EVGA 780i motherboard running @ 1600MHz FSB
* Intel Q6600 CPU running @ 3.2GHz (24/7) & 3.6GHz (benchmarking)
* 2GB OCZ ReaperX HPC Edition PC9200 DDR2 RAM (5-5-5 timing @ 1100Mhz)
* 2x Nvidia/EVGA 9600GT video cards in SLI configuration running @ 740/1100Mhz
* 2x WD Raptor HDDs; (36GB & 74GB) - OS & games
* Samsung SpinPoint HDD (200GB) - Media
* Creative Lab Soundblaster Audigy 2 sound card
* 2x DVD-RWs w/ lightscribe (1x NEC-Sony & 1x Plextor)
* 20" Samsung SyncMaster 206BW LCD monitor (3000:1 CR & 2ms response rate)
* Audio Engine-2 bookshelf reference (audiophile level) speakers
* Logitech G11 back-lit gaming keyboard
* Razer Copperhead 2000DPI, adjustable resolution gaming mouse
* Icemat Revision-2, tempered glass, high end gaming mouse pad (black)

I am using all air cooling, using a TRUE-120 as my primary CPU cooler & IC Diamond 7-Carat thermal paste. On the TRUE-120 I am using two 120mm SilenX fans (one 120x38mm 90CFM @ 18Dba & one 120x25mm 72CFM @ 14Dba fan in a "push-pull" configuration). This allows my system to run at 100% fan speed while remaining near silent.

At my 24/7 CPU clock of 3.2GHz, my Q6600 is running @ ~42*C (idle) and ~58*C (100% load). This is with an average ~78*F ambient room temp.

here is my "best run" 3Dmark06 *score (click on the score to see the ORB compare chart):

3DMark06: 17,420 Points

*Keep in mind that the ORB does not, for some reason, read your CPU milti. I had mine set to 8x while the program thinks its 9x, leading it to think that I am running my Q6600 @ 4GHz, while I was actually running @ 3.6GHz.

Now, I had intended to only use my 9600GTs until the release of the GT200 series video cards... however, plans changed a bit lately...

This set up basically allows me to play ANY game at its full detail settings & full AA/AF @ my screen's native resolution of 1680x1050 (except Crysis of course, I need to turn AA OFF) while maintaining a near (or better then) 60FPS frame rate. This is much better then I had originally anticipated!

Due to this fact, I am going to keep my SLI 9600GT set up until the GTX260 comes down in price (the rumored $299.99 USD price point should happen well before the end of the year in order to combat ATi's lower priced offerings), at which point I will sell my current cards and will pick up two GTX260s for a near unbeatable SLI set up (testing shows this is much better then even a quad SLI 9800GTX rig) for the cost of a single GTX280. I will probably end up upgrading my PSU at that point as well as adding liquid cooling for my CPU so I can keep it at 3.6Ghz 24/7 with an even higher clock for benchmarking (I don't plan on putting any other components in the cooling loop to keep things simple and trouble free)... but I digress...

Anyway, please feel free to comment on my current set up, and/or my plans for the near future. Nothing is written in stone thus far (other then what i already own of course), so I am more then willing to entertain some other suggestions.



Peace and good health,

-MM

[Destroy]

Welcome to the nut house. Nice rig for sure. Cut back on the Frappuccino or you'll lose your edge.

[lee63]

Welcome to the forums and nice rig

[andy_nv]

You could add another 2GB of ram, install Vista 64 and you're set.
Beside that, nice rig and welcome to the forums !

[MisterMister]

Originally Posted by andy_nv

You could add another 2GB of ram, install Vista 64 and you're set.
Beside that, nice rig and welcome to the forums !

Ah, yea as you can see I would have went with 4GB of RAM but as you know Im using Vista-32 bit which makes it kind of well... useless.

However I dont see the point of adding another 2GB of RAM since thats never been a bottleneck issue for me. Since I dont do video editing or anything, what would be the point (seriously, I'm not sure)?

[Redeemed]

Originally Posted by MisterMister

Ah, yea as you can see I would have went with 4GB of RAM but as you know Im using Vista-32 bit which makes it kind of well... useless.

However I dont see the point of adding another 2GB of RAM since thats never been a bottleneck issue for me. Since I dont do video editing or anything, what would be the point (seriously, I'm not sure)?

I don't know honestly. I've got 8GB in my system and have yet to figure out how to use it all.

But, it sure does look cool in the sig though, don't it?

[Destroy]

Originally Posted by Redeemed

I don't know honestly. I've got 8GB in my system and have yet to figure out how to use it all.

Superfetch uses a bunch for ya.

[Redeemed]

Originally Posted by Destroy

Superfetch uses a bunch for ya.

It sure does, but not 8GB worth.

[MisterMister]

What exactly is "Superfetch" for?