Finally Got A New Rig

[Jeremy C]

I read that the difference between SSD and HDD isn't really that noticeable especially when these 2 drives are going to be doing 6Gb/s.

Anyone who says it isn't noticeable either has a badly setup SSD or is someone who hasn't used one and is too cheap to buy one.



This is a comparison of my single 80GB Intel x-25m SSD which is a 2nd gen SSD (they've released their 3rd gen since which is faster, and 4th shouldn't be too far away) and a pair of WD Velociraptor 10k RPM HDD's in RAID-0. It's not even a fair comparison when you get to random access times.

In real world, you can see this speed by the fact my system doesn't even get a chance to completely display the Win 7 loading animation before the login screen pops. Once I login, the desktop is immediate and everything is usable. If you can add an SSD for boot and use the raid for apps, you won't be disappointed.

EDIT: Just rebooted (had closed some running apps and didn't feel like manually restarting them). From hitting "reboot" to being back to the login screen was 30 seconds dead. This is on an older p35 based motherboard as well, no fancy EUFI to speed up the boot process.

-February can't get here fast enough. I've been waiting patiently to rebuild my aging system and finally will be in a spot to pickup a shiny new Ivy Bridge setup and one of the Kepler based nV cards.

[terrets]

I sure hope your not going to dwell on the cost! lol..

Battlefield is going to be FUCKING AWESOMME on that computer. Very jealous.

[Zaroth]

not only do i do a lot of traveling, 1080p is not the demanding resolution that wqxga (2560x1600) a 30" display has. i've had this bad-boy for a year now, and everything i've thrown at it i've been able to max out in resolution and still have acceptable framerate. and it'll probably last me 5 years WITHOUT hardware swaps/upgrades, since i (as a general rule) don't pay full price for games. newest thing i handed it was fallout: NV...and it gobbled it like a BOSS.

the biggest change in the last 5 years is that software has been improving slower than hardware, and hardware has finally not only achieved parity...in most cases it exceeds what the software demands. and on a SINGLE CARD. the 7970 is a good case in point (yes, i know it's a desktop card). back when desktop cards struggled to make it through 1600x1200 rendering at even 30fps; laptops didn't have a prayer. today, it's unusual if the single-cards on top of the heap deliver less than 120fps at similar resolutions--and that's on NEW games.

now personally, i really think that has more to do with the wussification and watering-down of game offerings, due to profiteering and the mindless-drone-stupidity of consumers content with lackluster FPS offerings on consoles--but that's another argument i've already presented elsewhere. the net effect though is that--like it or not--laptops are more than adequate gaming powerhouses in their own rights--even ones below 17" form factor. not only is mine (for example) able to handle everything i throw at it, it's also exponentially better than a shitty xbox360 at graphic rendering; which, i'll remind you, console fanboi's constantly scream is supposedly "great" at 1080p.

Maybe I play more demanding titles than yourself, but 120fps would be a pretty impressive feat in a lot modern games at 1920x1080. FearPB's 6 core dual 6970 rig doesn't run BF3 at those frames maxed out and neither does my quad core 6950 rig. I'm the type of person that likes their graphics maxed running 50+fps though for shooters. SWTOR also doesn't run nearly that high on my rig. Fallout is another story of course though. That game is rather old. My old 4850 crushed that game and I only paid 120 dollars for it 3+ years ago.

Laptops are certainly a viable gaming option though if you are willing to make sacrifices.

[GTOJOE]

A good SSD drive is very noticable. I built a rendering machine for a jeweller mate [uses autocad to design jewellery] and fitted it with a Corsair Force GT series 3 and it loads windows 7 in 8 seconds.

Also that processor would be worth over $1k alone. The video cards are only about $300 each. The mainboard would also be about $5-600

[green-lantern]

OK enough with the BS! How does it stream porn?

[ictponder]

Ordered this thing December 23rd w/expected delivery date of January 11th. Delivery date has been pushed back about 4 times and this morning it was changed from the 26th to the 1st of February. I'm getting slightly annoyed, this shit is going to be old school by time it gets here.

[Zaroth]

Order the parts from newegg and build it yourself. It will take 3 days to get to you.

[FeaRpb]

Tell them to fuck off, cancel the order. Build it yourself and still have money in your pocket.

[Boost4VR4]

Alienwares are meh...

I don't like the flashy cases they use, they are kinda cheap cases. Thermaltake cases are my favorite.

For the money I would have bought another 3S. My 3 year old Core 2 Duo Dell Studio 17 laptop performs everything I need without problems. I upgraded to a 2nd gen SSD drive and saw night and day difference in seek times than my 4500 RPM 320GB drive. I don't have nearly the space anymore on my laptop because I have a 64GB SSD, but this laptop takes 15 seconds to boot Windows 7, it takes longer to get out of POST than to boot the OS. Also, it goes to standby and hibernation much quicker and comes out extremely fast. SSD is the absolute way to go and for the price you paid, I would say you got ripped off and also I would say that for your needs, SSD should have been a requirement. I would have built a machine as opposed to buying a machine. The only machines I will buy already built are laptops, netbooks, and tablets.

[ictponder]

We got it through Dell because we've had a preferred account for years and $50 a month is more affordable at this time than $7,000 up front. I would prefer to build my own computer but can't afford up front costs. Also, I can upgrade to SSD any time, the only option for SSD they had when I made my purchase was 1TB, which isn't enough.