Pimp Rambino’s H4x
Printed From: Tippmann Paintball
Category: News And Views
Forum Name: Thoughts and Opinions
Forum Description: Got something you need to say?
URL: http://www.tippmannsports.com/forum/wwf77a/forum_posts.asp?TID=159778
Printed Date: 13 April 2026 at 10:01am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Pimp Rambino’s H4x
Posted By: Rambino
Subject: Pimp Rambino’s H4x
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 10:16am
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So my ancient Dell just died. As a result, my backburner project of building/buying a new computer just moved to the top of the list. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to catch up on the current component standards, so I hope you guys can help piece something together. Here are my parameters: - Will run Windows XP/Vista - Used primarily for web browsing, word processing, picture/video storage (some manipulation and printing), general random computer usage. - I do play games when I can, so it needs to not suck in this department, but I don't play enough to justify a hardcore gaming system. - I want to get http://www.digitaltigers.com/zenview-duo19s.shtml - this screen, space permitting. - My plan is therefore to get a NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS PCI Express video card, recommended by the screen company. - I want some type of SD/MMC/xSD/whatever multi-reader. - I am big on modularity - the old Dell was upgraded a bunch of time. Nothing built-in that can't be removed.
So I haven't fully decided whether to build or just buy a Dell without video card. It will depend on how cool the home-made version would be. So - hit me. Case, motherboard, CPU, whatever else. I'll probably be able to crib some USB and firewire cards from the old Dell, as well as a 200gig IDE hard drive, but that's about it. Thanks. ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Replies:
Posted By: Tippmania
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 10:28am
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Meh, forget IDE Harddrives, time to move in to Sata\3gs :-P I've get a 300+ Sata 3 HD, AMD 3800+X2 (Or higher), Nvidia graphic card for sure.. they have better software. Graphic card depends on if you want to go Sli or not.. if you don't, slap in a 7800GTX 512MBDDR PCI-E. To prep up for Vista I'd slap in some of Corsairs top ram, XMS, get about 2GB of that. And... well, that's really all you need, case wise I believe Thermaltake (TT) is one of the best makers out there. Motherboard.. Asus is the key, I tried to get into the second biggest one out their *Abit* and it wasn't a good run....all you need in a mother-board is it's abilty's to support Dual-Cores, Sata Drives (150 or 300), and for sure, PCI-Express inteface for graphic cards.
------------- Tippmann A-5 - Shocktech Drop + On\Off - Super R\T - Q.E.V. - Red Hot Powertube - Stock - Flatline + Metadyne Shroud - R.I.S. Foregrip - X-Core - Macro - BT Fixed Sight Rail |
Posted By: brihard
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 10:49am
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More LEDs and lighting than an entire Circuit City. You should be able to see it from orbit. Liquid cooling. Just because you're a lawyer and can afford it. Put a rear spoiler on it too. For kicks. The more over the top the better. Oh, and don't go Dell. I have too much respect for you to allow you to do that. Friends don't let friends buy Dell. ------------- "Abortion is not "choice" in America. It is forced and the democrats are behind it, with the goal of eugenics at its foundation." -FreeEnterprise, 21 April 2011. Yup, he actually said that. |
Posted By: Tae Kwon Do
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 10:51am
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Racing stripe. Makes it look like it is going faster. ------------- 
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Posted By: NotDaveEllis
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 11:10am
| Just get cores, as many as you can. |
Posted By: FlimFlam
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 11:18am
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Oh look, a dead horse, let's beat it.
How long do you plan to keep this system Rambino? As in, what sort of useful life do you expect out of it? 2 years? 4 years? More? Budget? ------------- 
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NotDaveEllis wrote:Posted By: mbro
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 11:18am
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*cough* mail me your old one when you're done strippnig it *cough* ------------- 
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos. |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 1:53pm
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I certainly hope to have some LEDs and/or racing stripes - part of the motivation for building would be to get a non-boring case. Useful life - a long time, if possible. I had the old Dell for more than 6 years. I would rather do this by gradual upgrade, though, than by buying the uber-leet system right away. That's why I am big on modularity. I am guessing I probably want a pretty badass motherboard, though, to accomodate future growth. I don't really have a specific budget, but I don't like paying too much, and I don't like paying for things I don't want or need. So it really depends on what I get for the money. Mbro - you are welcome to whatever is left of the machine after I'm not, and after I have taken a magnet to the hard drives. So - hit me with the specifics, guys. ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: Tae Kwon Do
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 1:57pm
CASE. -------------
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Posted By: procarbinefreak
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 2:06pm
| pm'd you about a guy to talk to |
Posted By: Dazed
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 2:10pm
| No time to delve too far in, but I do want to note that if you want it to be able to run Vista (and I mean run all components of vista, not the stripped down version), you will end up with a pretty high end machine. They recommend a 128 meg video card and 1 gig of system ram at the minimum. It isn't going to be gentle with your hardware. |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 2:12pm
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Sexy. Me likey. And yeah, I haven't looked at the specs, but I hear Vista has got some serious spec requirements. ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: jerseypaint
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 2:30pm
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Get a Mac. Nah, I'm just kidding, I have very minimal knowledge on computers, but I always love saying "Get a Mac". ------------- 
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Posted By: choopie911
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 3:17pm
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www.ncix.com has a great PC builder you can work with as a base.
Enos and I were formulating a great idea for a case a while ago. Take a case, tie a rope to it, tie the other end to your car. Drag it around for a while, getting it thuroughly dinged up/ scratched. After you've done that, hit it in a couple non-key places with a hammer or something, but make sure the inside is still functional. Toss some gas on / around it and light it on fire. After it burns out, toss it in the backyard and let it get rained on a couple times to rust it up. After that, toss your leet componants inside, and voila. You'll have the crappyiest, ugly oldschool, neglected case, with a great new PC inside. And do you want your harddrives usable after you erase them, or just want to destroy them? If you want the drives unusable/ data unrecoverable, just destroy them. Shatter the disks, etc. |
Posted By: TEHGANGSTER
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 9:41pm
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i like that screen, and water cool it, defiantely, also, gets lots and lots of cores
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I am a leaf on the wind, watch how i soar. |
Posted By: Gatyr
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 10:07pm
6 times? ------------- 
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Posted By: TEHGANGSTER
Date Posted: 18 September 2006 at 10:14pm
oooooh good one...  -------------
I am a leaf on the wind, watch how i soar. |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 11:20am
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Thanks for input so far. Here is a set of suggestions I got from an off-line connection. Thoughts on this setup? CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115002 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E168191150 02 or
Intel Pentium D 960 Presler 3.6GHz 2 x 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116247 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E168191162 47
HD: everybody agrees that SATA/3gb is the way to go, apparently. My guy thinks Western Digital may be the best choice.
RAM: Crucial Motherboard: Gigabyte - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128316 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E168131283 16 Asus board of some kind as other choice.
DVD burner - Plextor/NEC/BENQ. Should I bother with a second drive? CD of some kind?
Case is tricky. I've gotten a few suggestions - either too plain or too outlandish. If anybody has got something, let'er rip.
Thoughts welcome. Thanks. ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: mbro
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 11:32am
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Go for the core duo.
I like segate for Hard drives but that's just me, and of course go sata with a 16mb buffer for whatever you do decide. -------------
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos. |
Posted By: Tae Kwon Do
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 11:36am
You need atleast 3 of them, so you get 6 cores. -------------
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Posted By: Tippmania
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 3:16pm
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If you want "bling-bling" just get UV Lights.. some PSU's come with UV braided hoses so all you do is stick a back-light in there and BAM, whole case is glowing. Core Duo is a no no for gaming.. AMD is the BEST when it comes down to dual-core gaming. I've dealt with Intel chips they just aren't as good :( If you want the best of the best, get a 4800+X2..however the power will not be fully used until Vista comes out since XP dosen't use that much outta a dual-core
------------- Tippmann A-5 - Shocktech Drop + On\Off - Super R\T - Q.E.V. - Red Hot Powertube - Stock - Flatline + Metadyne Shroud - R.I.S. Foregrip - X-Core - Macro - BT Fixed Sight Rail |
Posted By: Jack Carver
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 3:26pm
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Dude... Core 2 Duo (NOT plain Core Duo) kicks AMD's ass in every single category. Gaming, video, synthetic, everything. You can spend $330 on a Core 2 that performs on par with AMD's top of the line $800 processor. I like AMD too, but I can't deny that Core 2 is freakin awesome. And whether or not dual core is used to it's potential depends on the individual programs and how many programs the user runs at once, not the operating system. |
Posted By: Tippmania
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 3:38pm
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Jack.. I have a Core Duo 2.... and I can easily say that AMD matches up to it....you've read stuff, you haven't experianced it... Core 2 is best for multi-tasking, yes, such as mp3 playing, photo-editing, video watching, lime-wireing, all at once, AMD is set from the start, to focus on the biggest CPU hogger, Games. Don't get me wrong, Core Duo 2 is amazing, but with games I'd def go AMD... I have a 2.00 GHZ Core Duo 2 is my Dell XMS M1210 laptop....lotsa battery life, great speed, and never slows down... but if I had a desktop, I would have put in an AMD with NO question. And what are you talking about 200$ Core Duo 2? Show me the link as to where you found that price.
------------- Tippmann A-5 - Shocktech Drop + On\Off - Super R\T - Q.E.V. - Red Hot Powertube - Stock - Flatline + Metadyne Shroud - R.I.S. Foregrip - X-Core - Macro - BT Fixed Sight Rail |
Posted By: Jack Carver
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 3:41pm
Ok well http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005 - here's the cheapest one for $183. If you overclock you can beat any stock AMD out there.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003 - Here's the $330 one. Check out http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=432&model2=464&chart=165 - these CPU charts @ TomsHardware |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 3:47pm
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You guys are both pushing me towards a Core 2 Duo. I am not the biggest gamer out there, but I am a MASSIVE multitasker. I'm getting a double screen - I really wanted a quad setup, but it wouldn't fit in the room. I usually have anywhere from 8-20 windows open at any given time, with a couple of background processes as well. So I think I am leaning towards the Intel. Question is - do I buy the faster processor now, or buy a low-mid Core 2 and upgrade when they drop down in price? ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: Tippmania
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 3:47pm
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Oh really? Beat ANY AMD stock cpu out there eh? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E168191035 44 has a higher fsb as well, bigger Cache as well.. and L1's\L2's you can not speed up or add more.. it's set. If you show me some TRUE benchmarks to prove that you're right..... I'll cut you some slack and side with you. But until then... no. If you want RAW power for gaming... I'd go with..http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E168 19103861 you need to remember.. mhz\ghz are different in Intel\AMD, Intel's 2.00GHZ CPU and benchmark at exact range as a 1.60GHZ AMD... design is COMPLETLY different. I'll continue l8er on right now I gotta go meet up with a buddy. Peace. ------------- Tippmann A-5 - Shocktech Drop + On\Off - Super R\T - Q.E.V. - Red Hot Powertube - Stock - Flatline + Metadyne Shroud - R.I.S. Foregrip - X-Core - Macro - BT Fixed Sight Rail |
Posted By: Jack Carver
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 3:52pm
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Yeah but MHz are different for Pentiums vs Core 2s also. It's a different architecture. And FSB doesn't matter if it can't turn out some real world performance. http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/core2/index.x?pg=6 - http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/core2/index.x?pg=6 You can check out that page too, as well as the one @ tom's that I linked a couple posts up.
I personally think the mid-range ones are the sweet spot, maybe the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003 - E6600 , but I'd like to hear some more opinions too. |
Posted By: Darur
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 9:47pm
 ------------- Real Men play Tuba [IMG]http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1859/newsmall6xz.jpg"> PH33R TEH 1337 Dwarf! http://www.tippmann.com/forum/wwf77a/log_off_user.asp" rel="nofollow - DONT CLICK ME!!1 |
Posted By: Shub
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 10:11pm
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I am not a fan of Western Digital HDDs. I have replaced eight hard discs in peoples' computers this year, and EVERY tanked HDD was a WD.
I personally recommend Asus mainboards. I am currently running three PCs with Asus MBs. |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 10:59pm
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If not Western Digital, then what? Any other good brand recommendations? I have consistently heard good things about the Asus boards, but I have a simple concern: The Core 2 Duo is a fairly new chip - how can I be sure that any given board is compatible? With the Intel boards I can be sure, but they are annoyingly expensive. I would love to hear if anybody can recommend an Asus mobo that absolutely for sure will work right with the Core 2 Duo CPU. Good on-board audio would be a plus, since I don't plan on separate audio. Separately, I am also changing my mind on the video card. Instead of getting a card with an on-board tuner, I'll buy the tuner separately. So now I need a video card. I need 2 DVI outputs, and I prefer nVidea. I don't need uber-1337 graphics, but I don't like sucky graphics either. Thanks again, all. ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 11:00pm
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The 6600 does look nice - not too much slower than the 7600, but a whole cheaper. I'm kind of leaning in that direction as well, unless somebody can give me a good reason to get the super-duper chip now. ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: Tippmania
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 11:28pm
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Uh.. if not Western Digital then how bout something better? Seagate is MUCH better and lasts alot longer. They also carry 2-4 years warrantys... I HATE WD I have had so many of thier Raptors and Caviers die on me. E660 one of my buddies just bought.. he loves it. So I'm assumeing it's quite good. Rambino, the Core Duo 2 is compatible with most Asus boards, it might not be off that bat that means that you simply have to FLASH the motherboard to get it to run correctly and utlize both cores\recognize them. If you want mid-range graphics, get a 6800 GT, if you want better graphics get into Nivida's 7-series and get yourself a 7300. Whatever you get, make sure it's PCI-E It blows AGP out of the water.. but only get PCI-E if your mother-board has it (most new ones do) On-board sound is never that good.. just buy a 30-40$ Soundblaster Audigy 2 off of Newegg.. they are quite cheap now.
------------- Tippmann A-5 - Shocktech Drop + On\Off - Super R\T - Q.E.V. - Red Hot Powertube - Stock - Flatline + Metadyne Shroud - R.I.S. Foregrip - X-Core - Macro - BT Fixed Sight Rail |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 11:33pm
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PCI-E is a given for the mobo + video at this point. And for $30 I probably will get an audio card. I'm just not enough of an audiophile to justify super-fancy sound cards. But somebody fill me in - "SLI" keeps coming up in regards to video cards, and I can't find a decent explanation. Anybody got the 2-sentence version of what that is and why I care? But that's interesting about flashing the motherboards - I'll have to look for that. Could definitely open up some new options. ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: Tippmania
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 11:36pm
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SLI is not worth it... trust me. Look around at benchmarks... it's not all that "incredible" SLI is basically an ability that your mother-board that accepts TWO gpus that BRIDGE together. Normally the second one will only run at about 30-40% of it's power which is why it's not worth it...On the sound card.. a 30-40$ Audigy 2 will give you all the sound you need, X-FI is a laugh. Flashing the motherboards is a need... even more so with new cpus and graphic cards. Simply goto Asus and download the new bios, the mother-board has a built in flasher so it's VERY easy.
------------- Tippmann A-5 - Shocktech Drop + On\Off - Super R\T - Q.E.V. - Red Hot Powertube - Stock - Flatline + Metadyne Shroud - R.I.S. Foregrip - X-Core - Macro - BT Fixed Sight Rail |
Posted By: Jack Carver
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 11:38pm
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SLI is where you use 2 video cards together and use their combined power to get more frames per second. You can have each card render every other frame, have one do the top half one do the bottom, etc. SLI is for Nvidia, Crossfire is a very similar technology for ATI cards. It's unneccasary for everything except gaming at high resolutions with lots of eye candy. EDIT: Beat me to it! EDIT 2: If you go to Newegg.com, you can search for Asus "Core 2 Duo" and on the results http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?DEPA=0&type=&Description=asus%22core+2+duo%22&Submit=ENE&N=0&Ntk=all&Go.x=0&Go.y=0 - here , you can see what CPU type each motherboard is compatible with. And reading reviews both from Newegg and from third-party sites is always a very good thing after you get a few ideas of which one you might want. |
Posted By: TEHGANGSTER
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 11:41pm
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mmm dual core, ima have to go with carver on this one, just cuz i hate you revo
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I am a leaf on the wind, watch how i soar. |
Posted By: Tippmania
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 11:41pm
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Just said that, all it is is bridgeing two cards together just like BRIDGEING a net-work connection. They even have the Nivdia 7950 out now which is two gpus in one.. use two of those in sli and you have four gpus.. = quad-sli = very VERY stupid.
------------- Tippmann A-5 - Shocktech Drop + On\Off - Super R\T - Q.E.V. - Red Hot Powertube - Stock - Flatline + Metadyne Shroud - R.I.S. Foregrip - X-Core - Macro - BT Fixed Sight Rail |
Posted By: Darur
Date Posted: 19 September 2006 at 11:54pm
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I'd reccomend you avoid some "bling bling" PSU, go with something solid. I use a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817703001 - PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI PSU . Plenty of power, outstanding protection. Also, if your looking at DDR2 RAM, I'd go with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034 - Corsair's XMS2 line. Very good stuff, I run it in my new set-up as well. I'd also suggest a DFI motherboard. I've had nothing but good results with them. As far as Core Duo goes, their support isnt all that great at the moment, but their new AM2 board is outstanding. You seem focused on a Core Duo rig but AMD is always something to think about. As far as people saying the smaller FSB on Intel isnt important, I would beg to differ. And of course there is the AM3 line to look forward to. AM3 processors will be backwards compatible and will feature true quad cores unlike intel's duel-duel core "quad core" line comming out later. Of course their boards are more geared towards overclocking and performance and less on features and gizmos. Best of luck! ------------- Real Men play Tuba [IMG]http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1859/newsmall6xz.jpg"> PH33R TEH 1337 Dwarf! http://www.tippmann.com/forum/wwf77a/log_off_user.asp" rel="nofollow - DONT CLICK ME!!1 |
Posted By: Tippmania
Date Posted: 20 September 2006 at 12:02am
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All depends if his mb is DDR2 or not.... if it's a Core Duo mb it probly is, I already recommended Corsairs XMS line, "bling bling" psu's are fine.. the one i was talking about is made by OC2 which makes mighty-fine products including power-supplies, ram, etc. FSB of course matters, I forgot to comment on that.
------------- Tippmann A-5 - Shocktech Drop + On\Off - Super R\T - Q.E.V. - Red Hot Powertube - Stock - Flatline + Metadyne Shroud - R.I.S. Foregrip - X-Core - Macro - BT Fixed Sight Rail |
Posted By: Darur
Date Posted: 20 September 2006 at 12:09am
Intel has been a little shy around DDR2 but I suppose they would run it. Sorry, must have missed your comment on the RAM. My comment on dressed up hard drives was pointed more at cheap ones. The PSU I was reccomending is by far the best one I've ever seen, however OCZ is very good as well. As for all the comments about overclocking though and benching results, those are pointless here. I doubt rambino will be overclocking his system, so benchmarks for core duo mean nothing. ------------- Real Men play Tuba [IMG]http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1859/newsmall6xz.jpg"> PH33R TEH 1337 Dwarf! http://www.tippmann.com/forum/wwf77a/log_off_user.asp" rel="nofollow - DONT CLICK ME!!1 |
Posted By: Tippmania
Date Posted: 20 September 2006 at 12:37am
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I have a Core Duo 2 as I said in my laptop and it my MB uses DDR2 = 667MHZ (2GB)...Overclocking no, I doubt he will be doing any of that, benchmarks can help though. It all depends on how much he wants to get his "game on"
------------- Tippmann A-5 - Shocktech Drop + On\Off - Super R\T - Q.E.V. - Red Hot Powertube - Stock - Flatline + Metadyne Shroud - R.I.S. Foregrip - X-Core - Macro - BT Fixed Sight Rail |