azrael Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 So, was that a yay on going up to 4G's of RAM, or am I ok on keeping it at 2? Mike did say that 32 bit OS's can only use up to 4 including video cards-my 250 GTS has 1G of RAM so getting any more RAM is pointless, right? What mikeszekely is saying is it's cheaper to just buy an additional 2x1GB sticks of RAM as oppose to buying 2x2GB sticks of RAM. You have the 2 GB of RAM in there already so don't bother to buy an entirely new set. Now, if you go with 4GB for your system, then you'll probably want to switch to a 64-bit OS or you will not be able to take advantage of all 4GB of RAM. The advantage of just getting the 2x1GB sticks is you can save the extra 1GB stick for later and just go with 3GB total in your system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 (edited) Quad core cpu's, GTX 280's, etc. Waaaaaay out of my price range, lol. So, was that a yay on going up to 4G's of RAM, or am I ok on keeping it at 2? Mike did say that 32 bit OS's can only use up to 4 including video cards-my 250 GTS has 1G of RAM so getting any more RAM is pointless, right? I thought you're all set? I haven't been following all the posts so pls correct me if I missed anything. if you have 4G of system RAM with a 32 bit Windows OS, you're good. Get them if you find the right price. One of my xp32 laptop has 3G of RAM and I have no idea how they did that. you're doing dual channel so odd number doesn't sound right does it? your gts250 got 1G of video RAM and it is not accessible for the system to use, and it is pretty much the high end for this class of video card. if you screen is no bigger than 23 inches, then you can pretty much max out on all game available now except Crysis, you will need to scale back the AA. I think GTS 260 and up comes with 800ish G or ram or 1700ish version, but you can always SLI a 8800 or 9800 to your 250, with nvidia you can split out the physx stuff to the smaller card. unlike ati which use the specs of the smaller card. my opinion is to add system ram to 4 G, and you will likely see a nice improvement on the overall performance. Edited February 28, 2010 by Vince Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myk Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Yeeeeeah, I thought I was all set too, but you know how it goes. One upgrade leads to another and to another and so forth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Yeeeeeah, I thought I was all set too, but you know how it goes. One upgrade leads to another and to another and so forth... that why I said spend money on good mb, it would allow you to keep upgrading longer. but with what you got, adding ram would probably have the most benefit. add one thing at a time. you already got a decent system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
light Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 If I were you I would go to four especially with the prices being not to expensive. There are many things ram are used for in many matters, its a little more complicated than just saying one bold statement, it is more as to how your ram is diversified. I run three gigs of ram on a laptop lol and it cost only three hundred and fifty bucks, would you want to run your gaming machine on less? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 If I were you I would go to four especially with the prices being not to expensive. There are many things ram are used for in many matters, its a little more complicated than just saying one bold statement, it is more as to how your ram is diversified. I run three gigs of ram on a laptop lol and it cost only three hundred and fifty bucks, would you want to run your gaming machine on less? i paid about 60 for mine ... a while back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugimon Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 I think he meant his laptop cost 350$, not the ram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uxi Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Gonna start my new build. Will be re-using my Antec Nine-Hundred and probably my BFG 1000W power supply... set on Core i7 but everything else is variable. Make me some suggestions. Also considering a new keyboard... anyone using the fancy Logitech ones? Would I really appreciate the differences of the G19 over the G15? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azrael Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Gonna start my new build. Will be re-using my Antec Nine-Hundred and probably my BFG 1000W power supply... set on Core i7 but everything else is variable. Make me some suggestions. Also considering a new keyboard... anyone using the fancy Logitech ones? Would I really appreciate the differences of the G19 over the G15? Desktops and Servers 1) What is the intended usage of this system? (ex. Internet/Email/Office/Pictures/Movies/Gaming/Server/CAD/Media Center/etc.) 2) What operating system will you use? (ex. Windows/Mac OS/Linux/etc.) 3) How much are you planning to spend or what is your intended budget for this system? 4) Do you intend to buy a pre-built or a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) system? Answering #1 and #3 would help us...a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uxi Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Oh yeah, Gaming and DIY. I'm a sys-admin with out good hookups for gaming rigs but build servers and such all the time. Am considering SSD for the boot drive instead but willing to consider using something like a Raptor again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Also considering a new keyboard... anyone using the fancy Logitech ones? Would I really appreciate the differences of the G19 over the G15? They always struck me as being overly large, and for what? Some gaming buttons off to the side, where I'm going to have to lift my hands off the WASD keys anyway? Pass. I'd rather have a mouse with some extra buttons to remap. Since I do a lot of stuff at my desk besides computing (including eating), I also like to have a wireless keyboard so I can move it off my desk sometimes. To that end, I've now owned two Microsoft wireless keyboards and two Logitech ones. They've all be solid, comfortable keyboards, but the Microsoft ones tend to have better battery life. Specifically, I think I was replacing the batteries in the one Logitech I use more about every two or three months, and my old MS one would get at least a year. I can't comment on the new one yet, since I've only had it for less than a month. I'd still be using the old one if I hadn't knocked over a glass of Pepsi on it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uxi Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 I actually care far more about backlighting tand generally prefer cords to replacing batteries, but that largely depends on frequency and ease of replacement (definitely not anything other than AA). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 I actually care far more about backlighting tand generally prefer cords to replacing batteries, but that largely depends on frequency and ease of replacement (definitely not anything other than AA). Backlighting is nice (I have it on my laptop), and it would almost tempt me to go back to wired. But like I said, I need the wireless so that I can move the keyboard off the desk to make room when I need to. As for batteries, none of my keyboards used anything but double-A, and I'm still waiting to see how the new MS keyboard pans out battery-wise, but the old one would go a year or more on a trio of them, and that keyboard got extremely heavy use. I'd say that's a fair trade to ditch the cords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azrael Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Oh yeah, Gaming and DIY. I'm a sys-admin with out good hookups for gaming rigs but build servers and such all the time. Am considering SSD for the boot drive instead but willing to consider using something like a Raptor again. You still haven't answered how much you intend to spend. If I shop around, look on Slickdeals.net; I could price a fairly cheap gaming system. It would help to have a price range. Concerning keyboards, I agree with mikeszekely, remapping keys work just fine for me. Having media keys is more than enough. And since my hand doesn't normally move away from the WASD-position, I have very little use for other extra keys. I find wireless to be a good choice for people who lack workspace. I have a wireless keyboard for a testing machine which is on a very very very small desk and it makes a great item when you lack surface area. But if you have the room, I would suggest a wired keyboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
light Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 I like the logitech boards they are geared towards gaming and I like the backlighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
light Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Quad core cpu's, GTX 280's, etc. Waaaaaay out of my price range, lol. So, was that a yay on going up to 4G's of RAM, or am I ok on keeping it at 2? Mike did say that 32 bit OS's can only use up to 4 including video cards-my 250 GTS has 1G of RAM so getting any more RAM is pointless, right? You should get four gigs of ram period 2 gigs is not enough unless you want to just play pac man; trust me your computer especially a gaming machine eats more ram than it say officially. I knew to use four gigs in a gaming machine four years ago, itz cheap so go overboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiroikaze Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 (edited) Oh yeah, Gaming and DIY. I'm a sys-admin with out good hookups for gaming rigs but build servers and such all the time. Am considering SSD for the boot drive instead but willing to consider using something like a Raptor again. I've read many times that the Western Digital Black 640GB and the Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB perform just as good as the Raptors. Also, speaking of Logitech... Logitech X-540 5.1 speakers (dented box) for about $44 Logitech has Logitech X-540 5.1 Speakers (Dented Box) for $100 - $48 coupon woot_30110 - 15% coupon MIR15 = $44 with free shipping. Thanks powerfuldoppler Dented box products are brand new, however the outer box may have cosmetic damage and/or markings on it. Price comparison is for non-dented box version Edited March 1, 2010 by shiroikaze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uxi Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Oops misread 3 as the DIY. Prefer to spend no more than 500-600 for CPU/Mobo/RAM. I have an 8800 GTS right now... would upgrade that later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azrael Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Oops misread 3 as the DIY. Prefer to spend no more than 500-600 for CPU/Mobo/RAM. I have an 8800 GTS right now... would upgrade that later Hmm... a Core i7 eats into half that budget. I'd probably stick with the low end i7s just to keep it under (Core i7-860 LGA 1156 or the Core i7-920 LGA 1366). 4GB of DDR3-1066 will cost you <$100 should you go with LGA 1366 while DDR3-1333 will probably cost you about $10 more should you go with LGA 1156. GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3L LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - $99.99, reg. 124.99. This could probably fit into your budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 You should get four gigs of ram period 2 gigs is not enough unless you want to just play pac man; trust me your computer especially a gaming machine eats more ram than it say officially. I knew to use four gigs in a gaming machine four years ago, itz cheap so go overboard. If you're going to use a 32-bit OS, and you know you're only ever going to use a 32-bit OS on this machine, stick with the 2GB you have, or maybe buy a third 1GB stick. If your graphics card has 1GB of VRAM, you'll be wasting your money by moving up to 4GB because your computer will only be able to use 3GB of it. And frankly, you're fine with that amount. My system is a Windows 7 Pro 32-bit with a Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, 3GB of DDR2, and a GeForce 9800GTX+, and it has handled pretty much every game I've thrown at it at the highest settings (except for, of course, Crysis). While you might want to aim a little higher, I expect to get another two years out of that hardware. And while games certainly like to have plenty of RAM, unless you plan on running the game windowed while surfing the net, listening to iTunes, and encoding video all at the same time, you'll be fine with 3GB. If you're going to go with a 64-bit OS, though, or are thinking you might in the very near future, you'll definitely want at least 4GB, because Windows itself will use more RAM. Of course, even if you want to go that route, you might buy one 1GB stick now, and one 1GB stick when you actually move to the 64-bit OS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
light Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 If you're going to use a 32-bit OS, and you know you're only ever going to use a 32-bit OS on this machine, stick with the 2GB you have, or maybe buy a third 1GB stick. If your graphics card has 1GB of VRAM, you'll be wasting your money by moving up to 4GB because your computer will only be able to use 3GB of it. And frankly, you're fine with that amount. My system is a Windows 7 Pro 32-bit with a Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, 3GB of DDR2, and a GeForce 9800GTX+, and it has handled pretty much every game I've thrown at it at the highest settings (except for, of course, Crysis). While you might want to aim a little higher, I expect to get another two years out of that hardware. And while games certainly like to have plenty of RAM, unless you plan on running the game windowed while surfing the net, listening to iTunes, and encoding video all at the same time, you'll be fine with 3GB. If you're going to go with a 64-bit OS, though, or are thinking you might in the very near future, you'll definitely want at least 4GB, because Windows itself will use more RAM. Of course, even if you want to go that route, you might buy one 1GB stick now, and one 1GB stick when you actually move to the 64-bit OS. Its funny you say that becuase usually I do surf the net playgames and listen to winamp agent. And if your computer cant handle crysis core and you are making it a ultimate machine then hmmm... I mean they are not going to go backwards in game making. I see you slowly making your way to the four gig mark... come on you can do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeszekely Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 Its funny you say that becuase usually I do surf the net playgames and listen to winamp agent. And if your computer cant handle crysis core and you are making it a ultimate machine then hmmm... I mean they are not going to go backwards in game making. I see you slowly making your way to the four gig mark... come on you can do it. 3GB of system RAM, and 512MB of VRAM. I could add another 1GB RAM stick, since I have an empty slot, but why would I? Windows would only address another 512MB. And that's what most people refer to as "waste of money." For the record, I've never claimed my rig is an "ultimate machine." The reason I keep referencing is that a lot of people visiting this thread are looking to get decent performance on a budget, and I'm pointing out that you can have that without quad-core CPUs, multiple graphics cards, or more RAM than you know what to do with. And yeah, maybe developers are going backwards in game making. My system can handle Crysis just fun, just not at the highest settings. And I'm not convinced people with two GTX 280's in SLI can play Crysis at the highest settings. My system plays plenty more recent games at the highest settings just fine, though, including Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect 2, Modern Warfare 2, Star Trek Online, etc. By the way, maybe your multitasking is why you're having such a hard time enjoying games lately. Try playing in fullscreen and enjoying the game's score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emajnthis Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 I've read many times that the Western Digital Black 640GB and the Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB perform just as good as the Raptors. Also, speaking of Logitech... Logitech X-540 5.1 speakers (dented box) for about $44 it's funny that you posted that, i actually bought them this morning... damn you slickdeals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myk Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 I figure at some point I'll drop my pants and let MS do me with the 64 bit version Windows 7, which is why I went ahead and bought another 2G's or RAM. As expected, the system only sees 3326 MB's of the 4G's that I have on the board... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 i paid about 60 for mine ... a while back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 I actually care far more about backlighting tand generally prefer cords to replacing batteries, but that largely depends on frequency and ease of replacement (definitely not anything other than AA). I use razer lycosa and microsoft x8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 (edited) Oops misread 3 as the DIY. Prefer to spend no more than 500-600 for CPU/Mobo/RAM. I have an 8800 GTS right now... would upgrade that later built a i7 (the cpu that was the same price as 9550 at the same), 6g of ram, budget everything at around 800 last xmas from newegg, and they are not even the cheapest. 600 cpu/mb/ram is doable. Edited March 2, 2010 by Vince Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myk Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 $500 for the CPU, MB and RAM? I like the sound of that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azrael Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 $500 for the CPU, MB and RAM? I like the sound of that! At $500, it's doable. But it will probably take a little patience. As I said, out of the CPU/RAM/MB set, a Core i7 would eat about half the cost of the set. This is probably where he'll probably want to focus his search on Slickdeals. RAM will probably cost between $90-$110, depending on which kind of RAM he gets. For example: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ - Retail GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3L LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I7860 - Retail Total: $484.97 And the only thing on sale is the motherboard. But there are 2 socket sizes for the Core i7, LGA 1156 and LGA 1366. The 1366 is about $10 more, but it can only run up to DDR3-1066 RAM, which would drop the price a bit. It won't be high end but it you will get decent performance for mid-range parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uxi Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 built a i7 (the cpu that was the same price as 9550 at the same), 6g of ram, budget everything at around 800 last xmas from newegg, and they are not even the cheapest. 600 cpu/mb/ram is doable. Yeah, I've been pricing the 920 and 930 and am right around $600 depending on the exact mobo and RAM I get. I'm wondering if I'll really want to go SLI at some point since that adds a bit of a premium to the board and pushes me towards $550 for mobo and cpu. Does Intel still release new chips around April and/or is anything new imminent? If so, I'll give it a month... otherwise getting ready to jump on: Core i7 930 ($250 at Microcenter) EVGA X58 SLI (~$263) or EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR ($200) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azrael Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Yeah, I've been pricing the 920 and 930 and am right around $600 depending on the exact mobo and RAM I get. I'm wondering if I'll really want to go SLI at some point since that adds a bit of a premium to the board and pushes me towards $550 for mobo and cpu. Does Intel still release new chips around April and/or is anything new imminent? I would probably get it now or by the end of the month. They just released some new chips in January 2010. The Core i9's are suppose to be coming in Q2-2010, but those will probably be priced outside of your budget so those chips would probably not be a good idea. But for most of the year, they are going to focus on the Core i3, i5 and i7 lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Yeah, I've been pricing the 920 and 930 and am right around $600 depending on the exact mobo and RAM I get. I'm wondering if I'll really want to go SLI at some point since that adds a bit of a premium to the board and pushes me towards $550 for mobo and cpu. Does Intel still release new chips around April and/or is anything new imminent? If so, I'll give it a month... otherwise getting ready to jump on: Core i7 930 ($250 at Microcenter) EVGA X58 SLI (~$263) or EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR ($200) good stuffs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uxi Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 (edited) Bought the 930, the 3x SLI EVGA X58 board, and 6GB of Corsair XMS3 tri-channel DDR3 1600 and got it all set up last night. I'm surprised my old 8800 GT OC still gets me a 7.0 performance rating. I'm 7.2-7.4 on everything else except the HDD (standard 7200 rpm 500GB), which was rated at 5.9. Guess it's time to do an SSD and reinstall Windows later this week. I was just under $900 counting Windows 7 Pro OEM Sys Builders and $80 in tax I've been getting cheapie boards the last couple builds... forgot all the goodies and attention to detail a high end board gives you. Now to start contemplating which GPU setup I want to upgrade to Edited March 7, 2010 by Uxi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugimon Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 get at least an nvidia gts 250. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Togo Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 I just drop 274 beans on the Astro a40 "audio system" gaming headset + optical cable. I hope it lives up to the hype, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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