Hi all.
Feel free to skip the rambling bit if you're impatient and/or awesome enough to know what would work best for me without getting some background
<begin rambling>
At the beginning of the year, I took a big pay cut that made buying any sort of computer components a rather illogical decision.
Being overly compulsive and wanting to enlarge my e-peen with more BOINC output, I said "fuck it" and built a Frankenstein computer from some left over parts supplemented by a nice new case, power supply, and socket 939 Athlon 64 purchased on the cheap... then felt awfully silly/guilty about making such an irrational decision. (Though I may do an extended loaning it out to my dad since the last computer I gave them is getting pretty long in the tooth).
It sounds like I'll probably be getting a boost in hours in the near future and an occasional opportunity for some unreported income, so I've spent the better part of the last 4 hours trying to get caught up on the state of affairs in GPU land.
I have a few decent older boxes now, but even my most current one feels clunkier than I would like for current games, and even slightly older games like Oblivion.
</end rambling>
--Which leads me to the current situation--
I have three or so computers of aging components, but some parts would be easily transferable to a new build. My motherboards, processors, and RAM are impractical and are at EOL in terms of an upgrade path. My graphics cards would WORK in a new and modern motherboard, though it would seem unwise.
Would the most thrifty way to get my gaming machine up to snuff be slapping a Radeon HD 4870 or Geforce x260 in an existing system, or would I be massively CPU limited?
Can I make a silent (or very quiet) build using current components that would still let me get my game on?
I really should avoid spending much money if I can help it (hence my leaning towards a GPU upgrade rather than swapping out mobo/CPU/RAM), ideally not much more than $200 if it will let me play Oblivion, Bioshock, Neverwinter Nights 2, Assassin's Creed, and some other relatively current titles comfortably at 1920x1200. I can currently PLAY those titles at 1920x1200, but not as smoothly/high a settings as I would like.
Here's what I currently have to work with (marked with an asterisk "*" are parts that would probably be "modern" enough to transfer over to a new system build):
====Primary system====
Name: Monolith
Original build philosophy: near-silent do everything box. Gaming, internet, movies, graphics work, etc.
*Primary Monitor: Dell 2405FPW 24" widescreen LCD (1920x1200 native resolution)*
*Case: Antec P180b (cooled by three 120 mm case fans)
*PSU: Corsair HX620W modular PSU
Motherboard: ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+ (passively cooled by Scythe Ninja heatsink)
RAM: 2 x 1 GB Corsair XMS DDR 400 at 3-3-3-8 (auto SPD timings)
*(?) GPUs: 2 x XFX 7950 GT eXtreme 512 MB in SLI (passively cooled by manufacturer heatspreaders)
Sound Card: Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
*Speakers: Klipsch Promedia 5.1 (rev. 3)
*Optical Drives: Samsung SH233Q DVD-RW, Samsung SH233Q DVD-RW(though I still haven't solved a problem with them.)
*Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 320 GB SATA
OS: Windows XP Media Center 2002 SP3
====TV Box====
Name: Stubby
Original build philosophy: TV box. For watching movies/hulu/netflix in the living room and routing sound from my Sony PlayStation 2 optical out to my 5.1 speakers.
Primary Monitor: a big old standard aspect CRT television.
Case: Ultra Microfly SFF micro-ATX case with rear 120 mm fan, front 90 mm fan
PSU: OCZ Modstream 450W modular PSU
Motherboard: MSI K8NGM2
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (stock HS)
RAM: 4 x 512 MB Crucial Ballistix DDR 400 at auto SPD timings
GPU: on-board Geforce 6150 using 128 MB system RAM
*Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCI-E
Speakers: Klipsch Promedia 5.1 (rev. 3)
Optical Drives: Samsung SH233Q DVD-RW
*Hard Drive: Maxtor Maxline III 300 GB SATA
OS: Windows XP Media Center 2002 SP3
====Frankenstein box====
Name: unnamed at the moment
Original build philosophy: spare box for others to use/LAN game older titles with/jack with linux/BOINC like mad
Primary Monitor: an old Logitech GS790 19" CRT
*Case: Antec Solo
*PSU: Enermax Modu82+ EMD625AWT 625W ATX12V Ver.2.3 modular PSU
Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo 4 Platinum SLI (with one burned out onboard NIC and a HR-05-SLI/IFX south bridge heatsink)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3200+
RAM: 2 x 1 GB Corsair XMS DDR 400 (at auto SPD timings)
GPU: EVGA e-GeForce 6800 Ultra 256 MB
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum (lost the cable for the drive bay connections)
Speakers: none
Optical Drives: Lite-On DVD-RW IDE, Lite-On combo IDE
Hard Drive: none (yet)
OS: eventually, one of my Windows XP Pro disks and/or Ubuntu
Other: 3.5" floppy
====Donated Beater====
Name: Uggy
an old athlon xp based computer with a PCI graphics card and Ubuntu. I plan on making it a router. 'nuff said.
---
So, that's what I have to work with. Suggestions? Ideas?
Feel free to skip the rambling bit if you're impatient and/or awesome enough to know what would work best for me without getting some background
<begin rambling>
At the beginning of the year, I took a big pay cut that made buying any sort of computer components a rather illogical decision.
Being overly compulsive and wanting to enlarge my e-peen with more BOINC output, I said "fuck it" and built a Frankenstein computer from some left over parts supplemented by a nice new case, power supply, and socket 939 Athlon 64 purchased on the cheap... then felt awfully silly/guilty about making such an irrational decision. (Though I may do an extended loaning it out to my dad since the last computer I gave them is getting pretty long in the tooth).
It sounds like I'll probably be getting a boost in hours in the near future and an occasional opportunity for some unreported income, so I've spent the better part of the last 4 hours trying to get caught up on the state of affairs in GPU land.
I have a few decent older boxes now, but even my most current one feels clunkier than I would like for current games, and even slightly older games like Oblivion.
</end rambling>
--Which leads me to the current situation--
I have three or so computers of aging components, but some parts would be easily transferable to a new build. My motherboards, processors, and RAM are impractical and are at EOL in terms of an upgrade path. My graphics cards would WORK in a new and modern motherboard, though it would seem unwise.
Would the most thrifty way to get my gaming machine up to snuff be slapping a Radeon HD 4870 or Geforce x260 in an existing system, or would I be massively CPU limited?
Can I make a silent (or very quiet) build using current components that would still let me get my game on?
I really should avoid spending much money if I can help it (hence my leaning towards a GPU upgrade rather than swapping out mobo/CPU/RAM), ideally not much more than $200 if it will let me play Oblivion, Bioshock, Neverwinter Nights 2, Assassin's Creed, and some other relatively current titles comfortably at 1920x1200. I can currently PLAY those titles at 1920x1200, but not as smoothly/high a settings as I would like.
Here's what I currently have to work with (marked with an asterisk "*" are parts that would probably be "modern" enough to transfer over to a new system build):
====Primary system====
Name: Monolith
Original build philosophy: near-silent do everything box. Gaming, internet, movies, graphics work, etc.
*Primary Monitor: Dell 2405FPW 24" widescreen LCD (1920x1200 native resolution)*
*Case: Antec P180b (cooled by three 120 mm case fans)
*PSU: Corsair HX620W modular PSU
Motherboard: ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+ (passively cooled by Scythe Ninja heatsink)
RAM: 2 x 1 GB Corsair XMS DDR 400 at 3-3-3-8 (auto SPD timings)
*(?) GPUs: 2 x XFX 7950 GT eXtreme 512 MB in SLI (passively cooled by manufacturer heatspreaders)
Sound Card: Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
*Speakers: Klipsch Promedia 5.1 (rev. 3)
*Optical Drives: Samsung SH233Q DVD-RW, Samsung SH233Q DVD-RW(though I still haven't solved a problem with them.)
*Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 320 GB SATA
OS: Windows XP Media Center 2002 SP3
====TV Box====
Name: Stubby
Original build philosophy: TV box. For watching movies/hulu/netflix in the living room and routing sound from my Sony PlayStation 2 optical out to my 5.1 speakers.
Primary Monitor: a big old standard aspect CRT television.
Case: Ultra Microfly SFF micro-ATX case with rear 120 mm fan, front 90 mm fan
PSU: OCZ Modstream 450W modular PSU
Motherboard: MSI K8NGM2
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (stock HS)
RAM: 4 x 512 MB Crucial Ballistix DDR 400 at auto SPD timings
GPU: on-board Geforce 6150 using 128 MB system RAM
*Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCI-E
Speakers: Klipsch Promedia 5.1 (rev. 3)
Optical Drives: Samsung SH233Q DVD-RW
*Hard Drive: Maxtor Maxline III 300 GB SATA
OS: Windows XP Media Center 2002 SP3
====Frankenstein box====
Name: unnamed at the moment
Original build philosophy: spare box for others to use/LAN game older titles with/jack with linux/BOINC like mad
Primary Monitor: an old Logitech GS790 19" CRT
*Case: Antec Solo
*PSU: Enermax Modu82+ EMD625AWT 625W ATX12V Ver.2.3 modular PSU
Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo 4 Platinum SLI (with one burned out onboard NIC and a HR-05-SLI/IFX south bridge heatsink)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3200+
RAM: 2 x 1 GB Corsair XMS DDR 400 (at auto SPD timings)
GPU: EVGA e-GeForce 6800 Ultra 256 MB
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum (lost the cable for the drive bay connections)
Speakers: none
Optical Drives: Lite-On DVD-RW IDE, Lite-On combo IDE
Hard Drive: none (yet)
OS: eventually, one of my Windows XP Pro disks and/or Ubuntu
Other: 3.5" floppy
====Donated Beater====
Name: Uggy
an old athlon xp based computer with a PCI graphics card and Ubuntu. I plan on making it a router. 'nuff said.
---
So, that's what I have to work with. Suggestions? Ideas?
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