08-09-2005, 03:15 AM
Hi,
Thanks for all the info so far (yours, too, Doc ;) ). I'm taking it all into consideration, and I'm planning to spend most of his week researching on line.
The Mad Dog sound card is now pretty much a non-issue. I found some comments on line and it appears that their quality is spotty and their support almost non-existent.
I should have set out the parameters a bit more clearly. My bad.
These are going to be all-out gaming machines. At any given time, the only things running will be the OS, one game, possibly a browser window, possibly a speech over net program. The price point I'm looking at is $1200 - $1250 per machine.
Case aesthetics don't mean much to me, all I really care for is excellent cooling. Since the case lives in a cubby under the "workstation", I don't see it much :)
After having had repeated troubles with power supplies, I'm looking for a well made 550 Watt or greater supply.
Given that it's 2005, I'm going to swallow the bullet and use XP and hope that I can reclaim most of the bloat. I don't see any advantage to Pro for a gaming machine (most of he Pro features I'd just turn off).
Sound card: Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS (OEM). Not that much cheaper than the gamers edition, but I just don't think I'd play those games much. But I do need the game port for my old but top of the line ThrustMaster Hotas controllers.
Storage? Well, the customary floppy to set up RAID. A DVD burner (I accumulate a lot of junk in games, hate to delete it when I uninstall. This way I can stack up DVDs until the bottom ones turn to diamond (or petroleum)). Doesn't have to be fast, since I like to copy images to the HD and use a virtual CD whenever possible. Easier on the media and on the DVD drive. For the HDs, I'm thinking two 160thish GB SATA drives in RAID 0.
Video? GeForce 6600 GT PCI-e or AGPx8. Preferably the PCI-e version. I'm looking for a card from a 'good' maker. I need the 'normal' analog output for now and I'll need the digital output in a while when we convert to LCD. S-Video, video out, etc., are just additional attractors for Murphy's Law for my needs. On an aside: I love ATI the company. Bought a bunch of cards from them years ago. Always got good service, up to and including a 'loaner' card when one of mine went on the fritz. But years of battling their driver problems has left me with a strong allergy to all things ATI. So my choice will be limited to nVida products.
Memory? One gig of quality RAM is a must. If the mobo I end up with supports 4 slots of memory, then I'll use 2 512MB sticks for the speed boost. If it only supports 2 slots, I'll get a single stick and leave room for expansion.
Motherboard, CPU, CPU cooler all depend on price. After having looked at benchmarks, especially game benchmarks, I've decided to go Athelon (sorry, Roland. If this were a work machine, I'd back off on the video and audio and go Intel and ASUS). Right now I'm looking in the 3500+ to 3800+ bracket for the CPU and at an nForce 4 Ultra board.
All other components (wireless NIC, keyboard, trackball, speakers, etc.) will come off the old systems (if I can ever find them in storage :) ).
OK, that should clarify the issue. Around Thursday, I'll post my final choices with cost and source for comments and I'll make my final decision (and put in the orders) Sunday. A couple of weeks later, I hope to see y'all in some game or other on line :)
--Pete
P.S. If anyone cares (looking at you, Doc), I do not dislike Apple products. They have been, quite often, of the highest quality. I dislike the company itself. For its baronial development and pricing strategies, yes. But most of all for the kick in the teeth it gave independent software and hardware developers (i.e., 'hackers' in the finest sense) when it introduced the totally sealed MacIntrash in '82. From the most consumer friendly computer company in the world, it went, overnight, to the most hostile. My only regret is that 5% of the users took the punishment and asked for more, it should have died like the rabid dog it had become. I know that things have been changing, but in my opinion, that dog got its bite -- and that is all it is entitled to.
P.P.S. Enough. Typing on this laptop keyboard is an exercise in frustration. The 'touch' is both hard and long, and with my typing, it drops about two letters in ten. I've got a Logitech trackball and keyboard coming this week. Can't hardly wait :)
Thanks for all the info so far (yours, too, Doc ;) ). I'm taking it all into consideration, and I'm planning to spend most of his week researching on line.
The Mad Dog sound card is now pretty much a non-issue. I found some comments on line and it appears that their quality is spotty and their support almost non-existent.
I should have set out the parameters a bit more clearly. My bad.
These are going to be all-out gaming machines. At any given time, the only things running will be the OS, one game, possibly a browser window, possibly a speech over net program. The price point I'm looking at is $1200 - $1250 per machine.
Case aesthetics don't mean much to me, all I really care for is excellent cooling. Since the case lives in a cubby under the "workstation", I don't see it much :)
After having had repeated troubles with power supplies, I'm looking for a well made 550 Watt or greater supply.
Given that it's 2005, I'm going to swallow the bullet and use XP and hope that I can reclaim most of the bloat. I don't see any advantage to Pro for a gaming machine (most of he Pro features I'd just turn off).
Sound card: Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS (OEM). Not that much cheaper than the gamers edition, but I just don't think I'd play those games much. But I do need the game port for my old but top of the line ThrustMaster Hotas controllers.
Storage? Well, the customary floppy to set up RAID. A DVD burner (I accumulate a lot of junk in games, hate to delete it when I uninstall. This way I can stack up DVDs until the bottom ones turn to diamond (or petroleum)). Doesn't have to be fast, since I like to copy images to the HD and use a virtual CD whenever possible. Easier on the media and on the DVD drive. For the HDs, I'm thinking two 160thish GB SATA drives in RAID 0.
Video? GeForce 6600 GT PCI-e or AGPx8. Preferably the PCI-e version. I'm looking for a card from a 'good' maker. I need the 'normal' analog output for now and I'll need the digital output in a while when we convert to LCD. S-Video, video out, etc., are just additional attractors for Murphy's Law for my needs. On an aside: I love ATI the company. Bought a bunch of cards from them years ago. Always got good service, up to and including a 'loaner' card when one of mine went on the fritz. But years of battling their driver problems has left me with a strong allergy to all things ATI. So my choice will be limited to nVida products.
Memory? One gig of quality RAM is a must. If the mobo I end up with supports 4 slots of memory, then I'll use 2 512MB sticks for the speed boost. If it only supports 2 slots, I'll get a single stick and leave room for expansion.
Motherboard, CPU, CPU cooler all depend on price. After having looked at benchmarks, especially game benchmarks, I've decided to go Athelon (sorry, Roland. If this were a work machine, I'd back off on the video and audio and go Intel and ASUS). Right now I'm looking in the 3500+ to 3800+ bracket for the CPU and at an nForce 4 Ultra board.
All other components (wireless NIC, keyboard, trackball, speakers, etc.) will come off the old systems (if I can ever find them in storage :) ).
OK, that should clarify the issue. Around Thursday, I'll post my final choices with cost and source for comments and I'll make my final decision (and put in the orders) Sunday. A couple of weeks later, I hope to see y'all in some game or other on line :)
--Pete
P.S. If anyone cares (looking at you, Doc), I do not dislike Apple products. They have been, quite often, of the highest quality. I dislike the company itself. For its baronial development and pricing strategies, yes. But most of all for the kick in the teeth it gave independent software and hardware developers (i.e., 'hackers' in the finest sense) when it introduced the totally sealed MacIntrash in '82. From the most consumer friendly computer company in the world, it went, overnight, to the most hostile. My only regret is that 5% of the users took the punishment and asked for more, it should have died like the rabid dog it had become. I know that things have been changing, but in my opinion, that dog got its bite -- and that is all it is entitled to.
P.P.S. Enough. Typing on this laptop keyboard is an exercise in frustration. The 'touch' is both hard and long, and with my typing, it drops about two letters in ten. I've got a Logitech trackball and keyboard coming this week. Can't hardly wait :)
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?