Bottleneck for Configuration

[Tate7]

Hi there,

I have just upgraded my computer and my upgraded configuration is as follows:

Benq 22" LCD
C2D Wolfdale O.C. to 3.4ghz
Asus Maximum Formula x38 SE
Asus EAH4870X2/HTDI/2G
Corsair Dominator PC800 4GB DDR2 (O.C. 1066)
Bose Computer Music Monitor speakers
Seagate 160gb SATA3
Coolermaster 600 W PSU
Coolermaster Elite 330 Cabinet
Logitech Cordless KB and Mouse
Vista Ultimate 64bit

Please tell me if there is any bottleneck for this current configuration. I was thinking of going for Quad Core instead of C2D but C2D seems to get better overclocked. Still I am not sure. Please help me out.

 

[Denithor]

Fishing for compliments here or something?

The only thing I see odd with your build is the 160GB hard drive. I mean...that's so 2006! Drop in a WD6400AAKS instead for storage and pick up one of the Intel 80GB SSDs for your boot disk & games. That should speed you up nicely. Otherwise it's all good.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: Tate7
Please tell me if there is any bottleneck for this current configuration. I was thinking of going for Quad Core instead of C2D but C2D seems to get better overclocked. Still I am not sure. Please help me out.

Today, I was ripping DVD's to avi for portability on my 8400 machine (see sig) on Vista Ultimate 64 4Gb and simply playing the Vista game 'Hold em' i noticed it would constantly stutter. No, its nothing else, it's cause encoding vids and doing other applications on a dual core will re-act that way. That's something to think about besides overclocking.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Fishing for compliments here or something?

+1 on the q :laugh:

 

[Tate7]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Fishing for compliments here or something?

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN

+1 on the q :laugh:

Not really. :laugh:

Originally posted by: Denithor
The only thing I see odd with your build is the 160GB hard drive. I mean...that's so 2006! Drop in a WD6400AAKS instead for storage and pick up one of the Intel 80GB SSDs for your boot disk & games. That should speed you up nicely. Otherwise it's all good.

Intel 80GB SSDs are quite expensive for about £450. Is there any other cheaper alternative than intel SSDs for now? I would definitely buy an SSD once it gets a bit cheaper. Also would you suggest more overclocking og the CPU? I mean I heard the E7400 runs stable even at 3.8ghz but then some say that might drastically reduce its life.

Many thanks

 

[Tate7]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN

Originally posted by: Tate7
Please tell me if there is any bottleneck for this current configuration. I was thinking of going for Quad Core instead of C2D but C2D seems to get better overclocked. Still I am not sure. Please help me out.

Today, I was ripping DVD's to avi for portability on my 8400 machine (see sig) on Vista Ultimate 64 4Gb and simply playing the Vista game 'Hold em' i noticed it would constantly stutter. No, its nothing else, it's cause encoding vids and doing other applications on a dual core will re-act that way. That's something to think about besides overclocking.

But does it affect hard core games like crysis? THats the sole reason went for this config.

 

[Tempered81]

with a $550 video card in there, i hope you splurged for 6mb L2 on your Wolfdale.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: Tate7
Not really. :laugh:

Sorry, couldn't resist...

Originally posted by: Tate7
Intel 80GB SSDs are quite expensive for about £450. Is there any other cheaper alternative than intel SSDs for now? I would definitely buy an SSD once it gets a bit cheaper. Also would you suggest more overclocking og the CPU? I mean I heard the E7400 runs stable even at 3.8ghz but then some say that might drastically reduce its life.

Many thanks

Seriously though, the only part of your rig that looks slow-ish is your hard drive. At this point all of the MLC drives have the JMicro controller problem (Enter the Poorly Designed MLC) with the exception of the Intel MLCs which are quite good & super fast based on the rest of that review (the whole thing is worth a good read). Otherwise you're looking at an SLC SSD or possibly a Velociraptor (also benched in that article--read it!). For gaming, with the rest of the system you've assembled, those are really the only thing I can see that would appreciably improve your performance.

Oh yeah, there's one other idea to consider for speed...increase your RAM to 8GB and allocate 2GB to a RAMdisk for your pagefile, tmp & temp files and browser cache.

EDIT: You can try this freebie, I know it works for XP 32-bit but not sure about Vista64. Otherwise go for RamDisk Plus 9 for Vista64.

 

[Tate7]

Thanks Denithor

Intel X25s are still way expensive. The Velociraptor seems to be good for now. And After getting an SSD in the future for Games and OS, I can use the same for Back-up. I would also upgrade my RAM to 8GB allocating 2GB for RAM disk. Just one last question. Do you think an X48 mobo would have been better than a x38 especially for overclocking? Although my x38 is a ROP mobo.

Thanks again for all those article links.

 

[Tate7]

Originally posted by: Tate7
...Although my x38 is a ROP mobo.

Sorry Spell Mistake - ROP = ROG (Republic of Gsmers)

 

[Denithor]

X38 vs X48 - I wouldn't worry about it, not that much difference between the two - especially as you already have the motherboard.

And you have another typo when fixing the first typo...

 

[Tate7]

Originally posted by: Denithor
...And you have another typo when fixing the first typo...

Oops!....ROP = ROG (Republic of Gamers)

Sorry about that.