I'm getting my new computer tomorrow. I'm a wimp, so I'm having a local shop I've been using about 12 years now build it for me (hey -- that two year, total parts and labor warranty is cool, and believe me -- the price is actually competitive).
It's not going to be the fastest box on the planet. But it is sure not going to be the slowest, either. Athlon 64 3200, gig of good DDR3200 ram, SATA hard drive, and a good video card (9800 pro (256-bit version), which I probably plan to upgrade in about four-six months or so once AGP versions of the new generation of cards become plentiful and prices perhaps drop a notch.)*
All in all, I'm pretty pleased. But I forgot one thing -- a sound card.
The motherboard apparently has built-in audio, but I'm terribly skeptical. Every computer I've had to this point has had a sound card -- usually a good one. Back when I had my very first "exclusively for gaming PC," I was one of those guys who had a Soundblaster card AND a Roland MT-32 (later a GS) card under the hood. I LIKE sound.
A friend of mine who's a powergamer in extremis likes his onboard audio a lot and maintains that he had an Audigy 2 for a while and couldn't tell the difference, so he sold it. Of course, I wasn't in the market for a new machine at the time, otherwise none of this may have happened.
I don't mind getting in under the hood of my machine, and I regularly do routine stuff like add optical drives, hard drives, add/remove cards, reinstall the OS and drivers, etc. So it ain't gonna be any big deal to pop in a sound card in the future if I want one. What I'm worried about is extreme performance hit right out of the box that I didn't anticipate. I understand that the onboard sound tends to use up CPU cycles, which might only make a few FPS difference here and there initially but I fear could grow as software becomes more complex.
Any advice? I do have an old SB Live! 5.1 card I could get them to slam into the rig until I can scrape together an extra $80 or so for an OEM Audigy 2. Ah, life on a reporter's salary. We're only rich in the movies, guys, I promise.
I digress. I often do.
Thoughts?
Brian
* I really wanted a 6800GT, but obviously have hit my budget (and my wife's final level of patience) of what I can spend now. I'm really interested in the 6600 series (especially, again, the GT) and might pick up an AGP version in November if it's clear there will be a real performance jump.
It's not going to be the fastest box on the planet. But it is sure not going to be the slowest, either. Athlon 64 3200, gig of good DDR3200 ram, SATA hard drive, and a good video card (9800 pro (256-bit version), which I probably plan to upgrade in about four-six months or so once AGP versions of the new generation of cards become plentiful and prices perhaps drop a notch.)*
All in all, I'm pretty pleased. But I forgot one thing -- a sound card.
The motherboard apparently has built-in audio, but I'm terribly skeptical. Every computer I've had to this point has had a sound card -- usually a good one. Back when I had my very first "exclusively for gaming PC," I was one of those guys who had a Soundblaster card AND a Roland MT-32 (later a GS) card under the hood. I LIKE sound.
A friend of mine who's a powergamer in extremis likes his onboard audio a lot and maintains that he had an Audigy 2 for a while and couldn't tell the difference, so he sold it. Of course, I wasn't in the market for a new machine at the time, otherwise none of this may have happened.
I don't mind getting in under the hood of my machine, and I regularly do routine stuff like add optical drives, hard drives, add/remove cards, reinstall the OS and drivers, etc. So it ain't gonna be any big deal to pop in a sound card in the future if I want one. What I'm worried about is extreme performance hit right out of the box that I didn't anticipate. I understand that the onboard sound tends to use up CPU cycles, which might only make a few FPS difference here and there initially but I fear could grow as software becomes more complex.
Any advice? I do have an old SB Live! 5.1 card I could get them to slam into the rig until I can scrape together an extra $80 or so for an OEM Audigy 2. Ah, life on a reporter's salary. We're only rich in the movies, guys, I promise.
I digress. I often do.
Thoughts?
Brian
* I really wanted a 6800GT, but obviously have hit my budget (and my wife's final level of patience) of what I can spend now. I'm really interested in the 6600 series (especially, again, the GT) and might pick up an AGP version in November if it's clear there will be a real performance jump.
Facebook
Twitter