Finally upgraded after 3 years

[Helevitia]

Actually, I did upgrade the cpu and memory over the 3 years. I started off with 1GB of memory and went to 2GB. The CPU was a 3500+ and now it is currently a X2 4800+. I plan to sell the 4800+ and the memory.

Most of it is still in the mail.

Old(and current) system:

Lian-Li Chassis
Enermax 425W PS
Asus A8V(worst motherboard I've ever owned)
X2 4800+
2GB Mushkin DDR
Asus X800XT PE
2 -Plextor DVD-RW (one ide and one sata)
2 - WD 74GB Raptors
Floppy


Ordered:

CM Stacker Chassis
Tt Toughpower 1200W(I know, overkill, but I plan to upgrade to quad core and dual vids next year)
Asus P5K
2x1GB Mushkin DDR2 PC8000 - 4-5-4-12
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Asus 8800GTS 640MB
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme
Scythe S-Flex 120MM fan

I bought the Mobo and PS from Fry's today. The PS was actually $30 cheaper than Newegg which confirms my suspicions that Newegg has been doing a lot of price gouging lately. The mobo isn't supposed to be released until June 4th, so I was surprised to see it. From everything I've seen, it is a killer overclocker. I hope to get 450-500+MHz FSB and 3.2 - 3.6GHz on the CPU.

[Helevitia]

Anybody own the CM Stacker? Just wondering how much space there is for a PS? This 1200W monster is 200mm long.

Also, does anyone ever buy those VFD's? I think that is what they are called. You know, like the Hardcano series?

If you bought one or more, do you like it? What would you recommend?

Also, what about the Scythe S-flex FDB fans? Are they worth the money?

[Mehen]

My brother is running a thermalright ultra-120 extreme with a scythe fan - keeps his quadcore nice and cool, and really quiet too. (Q6600)

[Helevitia]

Cool, looking forward to getting it Tomorrow, everything will come in except for the memory and fan. The fan might not make it until next week which means no new computer until next week. I haven't received tracking info on the memory yet, time to call Mushkin

[Helevitia]

Nothing worse than staring at a brand spankin' new computer missing two parts, memory and a fan for the CPU. I haven't been able to appreciate SM 3.0 yet, so Oblivion will be one of the first games I check out.

It'll probably Monday before I get a chance to boot it up for the first time.

[Delany]

I haven't been able to appreciate SM 3.0 yet, so Oblivion will be one of the first games I check out.

I went from a SM2.0 to SM3.0 card not long back, I wasn't expecting Oblivion to look that much different between to the two but boy was i surprised.

Sorry if this is teasing you...

p.s If you don't already run some of the texture packs created by people such as Qarl, then make sure you check them out, they also make a huge difference.


Phill...

[Helevitia]

I went from a SM2.0 to SM3.0 card not long back, I wasn't expecting Oblivion to look that much different between to the two but boy was i surprised.

Sorry if this is teasing you...

p.s If you don't already run some of the texture packs created by people such as Qarl, then make sure you check them out, they also make a huge difference.


Phill...

Thanks for the info I started up Oblivion but haven't had a chance to experience HDR yet as I am still in the sewers I did notice much nicer stones and shadows in the sewers with very nice lighting. I'll have to check out the texture packs as well. I also want to check out the patch that changes how the leveling works since the default way means that every enemy is equal to your skill.

[Helevitia]

As luck would have it, the memory came in on Friday, so all I needed was the Scythe fan I ordered. Of course, I didn't want to wait until Monday for a fan, so I went to my local Fry's and picked one up. I also couldn't resist buying a pair of RaptorX's.

To make a long story short, I am extremely happy with this setup. I have it overclocked to 425x7= 2975MHz and mem is at 4-5-4-11 @ 1025MHz. This is all without changing any voltage settings. I plan to push it further when I get a chance. It's amazing how well the Ultra-120 Extreme heat pipe works, keeping my temps below 30 degrees at idle.

Everything is rock solid under Vista 64-bit. I am running Oblivion, CoH(DX10) and Stalker. Stalker does crash every now and then, but that is a game problem as everyone is having the same issue.

I do have one weird issue, but not sure if it is the OS or my DVD burner. Basically it will not recognize CD's. It's a Plextor SATA DVD burner. I even installed Vista off this drive without installing third party drivers.

The Asus P5K is an awesome overclocker with tons of features. I'm really looking forward to the X38 chipset.