[MichaelsTheory]

Hi Guys!

Quite a while ago i utilized these forums to build my rig. I followed your advice and am very satisfied. Thank you so much! The reason I am back is that I am feeling the itch again, i've got some extra cash, and was thinking "I wonder what i could upgrade".

My system is as follows:

Case: Antec 900
Mobo: EVGA NForce 780i SLI
GPU: XFX 8800GTS 512MB (X2 in SLi)
RAM: G Skill 2GBx2 DDR2-800 PC2-6400
CPU: Intel Core2Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 500GB SATA
PSU: Silverstone 800W Modular
DVD: Pioneer 18x DVD+-R Burner Sata model
NIC: Intel 10/100/1000 mbps PCI PRO/1000GT
MISC: Tuniq Tower 120 p4 & k8 CPU cooler
DISPLAY: Samsung Syncmaster 226bw 22" LCD
OS: Windows Vista 32 bit


I have plans to purchase another monitor to run a dual setup. I also want to purchase a 5.1 system to run off my mobos' onboard sound which is supposedly pretty good.

My question for you guys is this, If this was your system, and you could upgrade something, what would it be?

As far as usage goes, i play ALOT of games (WoW, COD4, Crysis, Spore), i do ALOT of video/photo editing (sony vegas, adobe after effects, photoshop), watch alot of videos (HD podcasts), im pretty much into everything lol.


One concern i have is that im pretty much out of room inside my case, the 2 vid cards eat up alot of space, i sandwiched the NIC card in between them and now things are a bit crowded. So i need to keep that in mind when considering upgrades.

Performance now is good. My only problems are software related as far as i know lol.

Anyways, thanks for your time, try to have fun with this question, i don't want to be a pain.

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A better monitor is the only obvious one 26" beasty with 1900x1200 res would be my pic.

I would chuck the NIC in the middle slot(why would you need more than they boards onboard NIC?) and get a pair of good aftermarket coolers, maybe acceleros or the big thermal rights if you can configure them to fit.

[warriorscot]

A better monitor is the only obvious one 26" beasty with 1900x1200 res would be my pic.

I would chuck the NIC in the middle slot(why would you need more than they boards onboard NIC?) and get a pair of good aftermarket coolers, maybe acceleros or the big thermal rights if you can configure them to fit.

[MichaelsTheory]

Thanks for the response.

I considered a bigger monitor. It pretty much comes down to a larger monitor or a 2nd 22". I am still undecided which route to go.


I bought the NIC because i assumed that a dedicated card would out-perform the onboard one. Was that a bad assumption?


As far as the coolers go, as of right now i have no temp probs at all. Everything remains fairly cool even when i'm gaming.

[MichaelsTheory]

Also worth noting is that i am hardly ever in SLI mode. I run almost everything in single gpu. So one of my GPUs is unused most of the time. This is due to my most played game (Wow) seems to perform better in single GPU mode.

[warriorscot]

The thing about SLI is that its absolutely useless unless you try to play really high end games at highest settings at really really high resolutions, on normal resolutions its pretty much useless.

I do love having a second monitor myself but you don't need SLI to run that, I would be more tempted with getting a VERY high resolution monitor in order that you could actually get some use out of the SLI setup. A nice 24 or 26" at 1900x1200 would be very nice at crysis.

To be honest I use my second monitor only for work or occasionally watching TV while I game(gotta love the quad core) I only play one game that actually uses it(SupCom) and I don't even play that that often and its a very CPU dependant game not GPU driven. I just used my old 19" monitor as my second and have a 23" as my main, I wouldn't get a pair of widescreens as I think it would be a waste of screen real estate for something I only use for holding windows and watching TV when at my desk.

Also the onboard NIC is at least as good as most add on cards, motherboards have been fitted with dual gigabit lan as standard for years now and when you consider how few people even use gigabit lan even if it wasn't as good as an add on card it wouldn't matter as only a well made high speed LAN will run to gigabit speeds.

Edited by warriorscot, 18 September 2008 - 09:29 AM.