My Friend Jeff's New Gaming Computer System

[Apoptosis]

My buddy Jeff ran by last night and let me put together his latest creation... It's pretty nutty...

All his hardware was bought brand new and he is such a cool and laid back guy he thinks nothing of it, but it's a great system.

Intel QX6850 Extreme Processor
ASUS P5E Motherboard
OCZ Memory - 4GB of PC2-6400 C4
MSI GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB
Tagan 1100W Power Supply
Western Digital RaptorX in RAID 0
Thermaltake Armor
Microsoft Vista 64-Bit

He is crazy to think that this system is nothing to get worked up about... We used the stock cooler for now... he wanted to go with a Freezone, but I talked him out of it... He was also interested in water cooling, but doesn't want to deal with an external housing... his processor idles in the 30's, so we just used the reference HSF for now. We fired up his system and updated it from BIOS 0203 to 0502 and without increasing any of the voltages it was able to run 400MHz FSB x 8 from the default 333 x 9. Very impressive system. I made fun of him all night for the 1100W power supply though... When playing COD4 his system was only sucking down 380W!!

He's going to finish cleaning up the wires and think about better cooling, so this rig is only going to get better!

Hope you enjoy the pics.

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[kappage]

Very very nice, But their is only one thing lacking, and that is that bloody 8800GTS, that is unless the 512mb performs better then the 320mb and even the 640...

But That is a great computer i like the CPU especially...

[Apoptosis]

Very very nice, But their is only one thing lacking, and that is that bloody 8800GTS, that is unless the 512mb performs better then the 320mb and even the 640...

But That is a great computer i like the CPU especially...

He has a 22" monitor, so the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB is a solid choice. I'd pick it over the 320MB and the 640MB any day.

[Mad_Goku]

Yeah the stock HSF sticks out like a sore thumb. That's a very nice system...just needs an Ultra120 extreme or a Tuniq.

I just got the 8800GTS 512, and WOW definitely a nice choice. Outperforms the GTX in some cases, anything at my resolution of 1280x1024 it beats the GTX.

[martini161]

yea i agree about the heatsink thing. it looks bad with everything else looking so awesome. a bunch of 1/2'' tubing would look much more at home and about the power supply, i was also going to get something 1000+watts, but then i realized, wait, why is the psu the most expensive thing in my system? 850w is still probably more than ill need for a long time, but its nice to be future proof

[stev]

All looks well and good, but why Vista, especially the 64-bit edition??? There are complaints on the web about Vista and gaming yet alone the 64-bit version. That's the only thing that puzzels me.

[dkarko]

Nice rig!

Apart from the psu being overkill, doesn't their efficiency drop alot when lightly loaded?

[FZ1]

That's more or less my system except I am using the QX9650. I'm using the OCZ Reaper X PC6400 (4GB) RAM now that my Ballistix died.

[Bwall]

Nice rig, where does Jeff live? I see a new system in my future. ;) My only problems are 1.) Vista- I lived with it for a month and just switched back to XP. It has some nice features but it just feels so slow, even with a core 2 at 3.5GHz...oh yeah, folding times dropped by :45 seconds/ percent. 2.)I would have a QX9650. 3.) Friends don't let friends run stock heatsinks and frequencies.

Hm..I'm close to Cincinnati every other weekend (Dayton), I might have to stop by FZ1's place after visiting Jeff.

-Bwall

[Methious]

That is a thick rig. Been a while since I've seen a new build of that magnitude. I usually see the one part at a time machines. Raptor raid sweet. Does he have to use bungee cords to keep it from flying off the desk?

[FZ1]

Hm..I'm close to Cincinnati every other weekend (Dayton), I might have to stop by FZ1's place after visiting Jeff.

-Bwall

Stop on over!

[maj0r_pawnage]

That's more or less my system except I am using the QX9650. I'm using the OCZ Reaper X PC6400 (4GB) RAM now that my Ballistix died.

O: your ballistix died too?

[FZ1]

yep

[camaroguy1998]

Out of curiosity how much does he have invested in that rig?
A friend of mine is wanting help putting something like that together!

[Apoptosis]

Out of curiosity how much does he have invested in that rig?
A friend of mine is wanting help putting something like that together!

Not sure... he didn't know as he didn't have a budget and I didn't press the issue. My guess is 2-3k.

[FZ1]

Closer to 2 I'd say.

[dgood]

That power supply is sweet. I was checking those out the other day. Maybe he'll let you do a review on it . I'd like to build a system like that.

[Alathald]

Hm..I'm close to Cincinnati every other weekend (Dayton), I might have to stop by FZ1's place after visiting Jeff.

-Bwall

Stop on over!

Hmm...perhaps vicaphit and I could stop by and we could have ourselves a small cincy LAN Party. Who needs those guys in St. Louis? *shoots evil eye in direction of STL* Just an idea, would be fun tho...Oh wait, Bwall is from STL, disregard my earlier comment about STL!

Not sure... he didn't know as he didn't have a budget and I didn't press the issue. My guess is 2-3k.

Wow, I'd love to have the funds to drop 2-3k in my computer! Although, you probably could have had a build just as good and as fast for a good deal less...I'd have at least dropped the Tagan PSU to a Corsair PSU (still loving it) and upped my GPU if it was my build, but hey, to each his own.

[FZ1]

Yeah, we should have a SW OH day I'm liking my Corsair PSU as well.

[Sparky]

Pretty sweet set up! Has he done any benchmarking yet? Scores?