My Son's New PC

[duhvoodooman***]

Spent a significant chunk of the Memorial Day weekend building my son's new PC, installing WinXP & applications, and then optimizing performance. Unless you're a PC geek like me, this won't make much sense to you, but I was able to get the Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 Wolfdale processor (2.66 GHz stock clockspeed) up to 3.68 GHz so far (8x460 MHz FSB), with the G.Skill DDR2 1066 memory running at 1104 MHz. So I've already gotten a "free" extra 1 GHz of processing power, and it may even do a bit more. But that'll be gravy, because it's already screaming along pretty nicely! Together with the Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GT 512MB video card I installed, this machine just eats up games. I watched my son run Call of Duty 4 for a while, and the 3D image quality is just flat amazing, and the frame rates look smooth as silk. Quite a machine. System components are:

All parts from NewEgg.com. Pretty amazing performance for a tad over $700!

[Robert****]

Pretty impressive! It can almost keep up to an old Mac now! :

[duhvoodooman***]

You Mac users are such a smug bunch! :

Seriously, for a broad selection of the latest & most popular game titles, a PC is definitely the way to go....

[Robert****]

Seriously, for a broad selection of the latest & most popular game titles, a PC is definitely the way to go....

That's what the Xbox 360, Sony Playstation and the Wii is for!

[stingx]

V-e-r-y nice. I know Robert was jesting but in all seriousness those specs will smoke all but very expensive multi-cpu Mac workstations.

Now, get COD 4 installed and we'll grab Justa and get some game on!

We can do TF2 or Counter-Strike too if you are so inclined :

[stingx]

That's what the Xbox 360, Sony Playstation and the Wii is for!

I like console games (own an Xbox) but everyone knows that the graphics cannot come close to what you get with high end GPU cards in a PC. I can run two 8800GT cards in tandem and get details in Crysis and COD that a console player would envy and sport wood over.

[duhvoodooman***]

I like console games (own an Xbox) but everyone knows that the graphics cannot come close to what you get with high end GPU cards in a PC. I can run two 8800GT cards in tandem and get details in Crysis and COD that a console player would envy and sport wood over.

Yup, right on the mark there, StingX. My son has a Wii, but still does most of his gaming on the PC (and yes, he does play COD4 online!). These days, Guitar Hero III is the main thing he uses the Wii for....not that that's a bad thing!

[Spudman***]

That is a really good looking system and price to boot. If I ever need a new system will you help me put one together?:

[duhvoodooman***]

If I ever need a new system will you help me put one together?

DVM Technical Consulting Services, Ltd. is always happy to help out....for an eminently reasonable fee!

[Spudman***]

DVM Technical Consulting Services, Ltd. is always happy to help out....for an eminently reasonable fee!

As long as you don't paint it yellow I can probably afford it. back atchya

[Justaguyin_nc]

V-e-r-y nice. I know Robert was jesting but in all seriousness those specs will smoke all but very expensive multi-cpu Mac workstations.

Now, get COD 4 installed and we'll grab Justa and get some game on!

We can do TF2 or Counter-Strike too if you are so inclined :

You mean he didn't get COD4 for it yet!!

Very addictive game..Im a 1st lewie after 3-4 days playing..lol
you will know where your son is once you get it for him!

basicly..consoles just don't have the content a PC game has..
even same titles.

MAC people...pfffff... if they only understood.. sigh

Great system DVM...

Spuds... it's so easy to put a system together if you just use common sense.. and you feel much better about it in the end.

[stingx]

If you are into multi-play, consoles cannot even come close to the audience on the PC. Literally millions vs. thousands. Oh man, we've come a long way from finding the correct modem string for playing DOOM!!!!

[duhvoodooman***]

You mean he didn't get COD4 for it yet!!

Very addictive game..Im a 1st lewie after 3-4 days playing..lol
you will know where your son is once you get it for him!

Better go back and read my first post a bit more carefully:

"I watched my son run Call of Duty 4 for a while, and the 3D image quality is just flat amazing, and the frame rates look smooth as silk."

So, yes, he already has it and spends a lot of time playing online. A little too much time some days, to the detriment of his homework!

[Justaguyin_nc]

oops..I continued the read from Sting... so thought not..

Maybe he will grow up to be a graphics game designer..?

so he is just study'n for his future...

[duhvoodooman***]

Yeah, I guess I can't get too upset with him, seeing as how by building this hot new PC for him, I'm officially an "accessory to the crime"! :

[duhvoodooman***]

I tried 3.75 GHz on the CPU last night, but quickly encountered stability testing failures. Since I already have the CPU core voltage dialed up a bit, I really don't want to go higher and put more thermal stress on the processor. So I just dialed it back to 3.66 GHz and we'll happily live with a very respectable 1.0 GHz (+37.5%) overclock! This setting passes overnight stress testing with flying colors. :

[Robert****]

Just wait until the stress you are putting on that poor CPU makes it BLOW UP! :

[duhvoodooman***]

You know, Robert, you've been a regular little ray of darkness in this thread! Don't you have a video or something to work on?!?

Seriously, when done judiciously and with common sense, overclocking really puts minimal stress on a system. I've done it with many of my systems, OC'ing CPU's, memory and video cards, and have never suffered a premature component failure from it. The idea is basically to use that margin of "overdesign" that engineers typically build into their products, in order to get the incremental performance that is left on the table when running the hardware at its generally very conservative stock settings.

[Robert****]

Sorry, DVM... I should know you know what you are doing. :
But the world needs some balance between light and dark!

I'll go back to my stock Mac and work on some videos...