New PC: what do you think?

Hey, I just took a big plunge and purchased my very first gaming pc.


Processor: Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz (Quad Core) Overclock to 3.3GHz
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X58 (Intel X58 Chipset)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz
Power Supply: 750W
Hard Drive: 1TB Hitachi/Seagate (7200 RPM)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 1.2GB Overclocked
Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Noctua NH-U12P SE Dual 120mm Fans
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)

Total: US $1600


What do you think? Do you guy think that it's worth the money? Let's here some of your thought.

Nice PC, although I have no idea what for you need so much power. I would have been hesitant to spend so much money.

The hard disk strikes me as rather mediocre. This PC deserves a SSD.

That's definitely a potent PC that should last you quite a while before any upgrades are needed. My only suggestion is for you to install a cheap second harddrive and install XP on it in order to dual-boot between the operating systems- there's quite a few games (even newer ones such as Risen) that will only work well on XP. Otherwise, I'd say you're all set!

Whoa whoa, Risen works in Windows 7 (even 64-bit) no problem. I have no problems with anything. Please, don't listen to Nerevarine.

darkling said:

Whoa whoa, Risen works in Windows 7 (even 64-bit) no problem. I have no problems with anything. Please, don't listen to Nerevarine.

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Well it was just one example, and if it works good on 7 then that's great...I thought I had read numerous problems about Risen failing to work properly on 7 but maybe those issues have all been worked out. There's still a lot of games (especially older ones) that won't work well on 7, however, and it's not expensive or a big hassle to get XP and 7 on one computer, so I still recommend it.

Well, my current pc is more than 4 yrs old (1GB ram with GeForce FX 5200) so it's about time, I think. This should last me another good 4 yrs, I hope. Actually, $ wise, it a lower-end model from where I'm having it made. Do you guys think I spent too much money?

I thought about getting SSD briefly, but that's extra $2-300 so...

About getting 2nd hd with win xp, any good tutorial sites I can visit? I don't think I have actual win os xp cd, just a recovery/reintall cd. Can I use that instead?

That guys last post indicated that he has no experience with Windows 7 and is going on anecdotal evidence of problems. Risen had no problem from launch. I played it on release, it was fine. The reality is, you won't ever boot into Windows XP. If you desperately need it, run an XP VM but I'd be willing to put cash on my statement that you will never need to use even that.

I have plenty of experience using Windows 7, actually; I've been dual-booting 7 and XP on separate harddrives since 7 was released, so there's no need for your condescending, semi-hostile remarks. Also, I could be wrong, but you're comment about never using XP tells me you don't play old games very often. I find myself using XP quite a lot because I have run into issues with some games while using 7, especially older ones, and while some of these games will run on 7, they won't run as well as they would on XP or require extra fiddling that I would rather just avoid by playing them on the OS they were intended to be used for. There might be an alternative to dual-booting, but I enjoy the simplicity of using Windows 7 for newer games and XP for older games. That's just my own preference, so there's no need to be so critical or offended by my opinion.

User Name, if you are ever interested in dual-booting 7 and XP, just google "how to duel-boot Windows 7 and Windows XP on separate harddrives" and several solid tutorials will be available that do an excellent job of walking you through every step. I don't think you can install XP with a repair/re-installation disc, but I'm not 100% sure on this because I've never tried it personally. However, when I lost my XP OS disc and bought a new CPU when 7 came out, I was able to find a cheap replacement on ebay.

I am definitely interested in playing older games & am concerned about compatibility issue with win 7. I heard that win 7 does a fairly decent job of running older games, compared to vista. Nerevarin, did you have difficulty running a lot of older games?

It is true that Windows 7 is much, much more compatibility-friendly than Vista. I personally have had issues getting a few older games to run well on Windows 7, but most of the time these issues can be fixed with some workarounds, so I guess it just comes down to whether or not you would mind having to deal with these issues. I think you'd be perfectly fine running just Windows 7 for the most part, but I just wanted to offer dual-booting as a suggestion because I have really enjoyed the convenience of having both 7 and XP and not having to deal with any complications at all when I install my older games. Just a personal preference.

Nerevarine said:

I just wanted to offer dual-booting as a suggestion because I have really enjoyed the convenience of having both 7 and XP and not having to deal with any complications at all when I install my older games. Just a personal preference.

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+1

I have a dual-boot setup with WinXP 32 bit and Win 7 64 bit. Very easy to do, and no drawbacks that I can name.

Nice setup.

Personally, I would recommend looking into a faster hard drive. The fastest SSDs are quite expensive, but they should be worth it. Alternatively, you can buy a 10K RPM SATA3 Western Digital drive - if the mobo supports it. Slower, but a lot cheaper and with a lot more space for games.

With a fast machine, it's a shame to be held back by a slow drive.

DArtagnan said:

Personally, I would recommend looking into a faster hard drive. The fastest SSDs are quite expensive, but they should be worth it. Alternatively, you can buy a 10K RPM SATA3 Western Digital drive - if the mobo supports it. Slower, but a lot cheaper and with a lot more space for games.

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You don't even need an expensive one. I think Intel's 40GB X-25 drive (Could be wrong on the name) is pretty good (From what I've heard, mind you). Install the OS on it and use it simply for the OS and there'll be all-round improved performance, and it's one of the cheaper SSDs out there.

Dwagginz said:

You don't even need an expensive one. I think Intel's 40GB X-25 drive (Could be wrong on the name) is pretty good (From what I've heard, mind you). Install the OS on it and use it simply for the OS and there'll be all-round improved performance, and it's one of the cheaper SSDs out there.

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Well, it wouldn't hurt.

Personally, I'd go for a larger drive so gaming would feel the improvement - but I think we've been through this

I'm contemplating getting a 256GB Crucial SSD - but it'll be a few months before I can afford it.

I would get an SSD, but you don't need to spend more than $100 for a 64GB one. Use it as your boot drive with Windows 7 there, and install the most used application(s) there.
I disagree with the Windows XP drive. First, you don't need a second drive for it. You could partition your existing drive with, say, a 150GB partition and use it for that. But it's not necessary at all. When I bought my 1TB drive and my SSD drive, I left my old drive with its XP as an option to boot, in case I needed it for compatibility with older games. Do you know how many times I've booted it because an old game wouldn't run in Windows 7? None. Every game I've installed (even old ones like Master of Magic, X-Com, Dungeon Keeper, Arcanum, etc) have run just fine in Windows 7.

Give ibuypower.com a try to play with configurations. I just did it yesterday to play around (as I'm not planning on upgrading yet), and it was fun.