Before I pull the trigger... (was forum=28)Follow

Hi all,

I would like your opinions of the following new gaming set up before I buy.

Is there a big difference in capability in Vista Home and Ultimate?

Please add comments of removals, additions ect... to the set up.

*BASE_PRICE: [+1225]
CAS: Thermaltake Spedo Full Tower 420W Case w/ Side-panel Window [+101]
CASUPGRADE: NONE
CS_FAN: Extra Case Cooling Fan [+3] (3 x Fans [+6])
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-920 2.66 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366
CD: (Special Price) LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
CD2: (Special Price) LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER [+5] (BLACK COLOR)
FREEBIE_CU: FREE! (FarCry2) Game
FAN: Thermaltake Big Typhoon VX Gaming CPU Cooling Fan (Excellent Overclocking + Silent Proof 16dBA) [-6]
FLOPPY: NONE
FREEBIE_OS: FREE! (Halo 2) Game
HDD: Single Hard Drive (320GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [-48])
HDD2: 320GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive [+49]
IEEE_CARD: NONE
KEYBOARD: Logitech Deluxe 250 USB Keyboard (Black Color)
MOUSE: XtremeGear Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P6T Deluxe Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Mainboard SAS Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 SATA RAID w/ eSATA,Dual GbLAN,USB2.0,IEEE1394a,&7.1Audio [+80]
MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module [+88] (Corsair or Major Brand)
NETWORK: Intel Pro Gigabite 10/100/1000 Network Card [+34]
OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit Edition)
PRO_WIRING: Professional Wiring for All WIRINGs Inside The System Chasis with High Performance Thermal Compound on CPU [+19]
PRINTER: None
PRINTER_CABLE: None
POWERSUPPLY: 1,000 Watts Power Supplies [+99] (($50 off Mail-in Rebate) Thermaltake ToughPower 1,000 Watts Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready [+94])
RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
SOUND: Creative Labs SB Audigy SE [+30]
SPEAKERS: NONE
TEMP: NONE
TVRC: None
USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
USBHD: NONE
VIDEO: ATI Radeon HD 4870 PCI-E 16X 1GB DDR5 Video Card [+14] (Major Brand Powered by ATI)
VIDEO2: NONE
VIDEO3: NONE
VIDEOCAMERA: NONE
WNC: NONE
_PRICE: (+1793)


Thanks in advance,

This thread is a disappointment.

Thread title is misleading. :/

You really should get a floppy drive.

I'd go with an nvidia Geforce 295 gtx over that ATI card personally, and at least a 10,000 RPM raptor drive for the OS and game load drive (or beter yet, 2 15,000 RPM SAS drives in Raid 0 with adequate backup) Especially since your motherboard you have specced out there takes 2 SAS drives nativly. No reason to go with 7200 RPM drives. The drive is going to be your limiting factor on that setup as is by a fair margin. The video card is ok, but if you do go with the ATI one, at least get 2 of them in crossfire mode.

Power supply is a little overkill for what you ahve in there, doesn't hurt if you plan to expand with crossfire or SLI, but you could easily get away with an 850 watt for that setup, which would free up some money for a better drive.

As to the sound card, the motherboard specified has built in 7.1 surround sound. the Audigy SE card specified is no better than what is on the motherboard. Probably slightly worse actually in taht case. If you want a truly better sound card you are going to have to go with something like the Soundblaster X-FI Titanium. Good choice on the motherboard by the way.

Case is a good choice, make sure you get the speedo advance package if they offer it over the base case. Good candidate for water cooling too if you ever get interested in that.

As to differentces in capability of vista home basic and vista ultimate, it's a night and day difference. vista home basic lacks the shiny interface and some of the advance features. vista home premium isn't bad, but you lose the media center components.

I was really looking for this to be about something else entirely.

[serious]

He really should though. The only time I've used mine in the last year or so was when I installed a new hard drive. Installing a 300 gig HD in a five year old computer was a tricky business, I needed my floppy drive to get the job done. I'm not saying he'll use it often, but every now and then it comes in handy. The fact that cost about twenty bucks should make it a no brainer.

[/serious]

I was still hoping for some kind of suicide note or something when I read that title.



Edited, Feb 10th 2009 11:05am by TurinAlexander