I am finishing up my new computer build. And I must say - its a mutha fucka. I am Director of IT and a gamer - so needless to say I have no reserves about “going all the way” with this build - which i did.
4 gigs of RAM
Dual 3 gig ATHLON processor
(2) 8800 GT 512 MB graphics cards (SLI)
Vista Ultimate 64-bit
I have to say - the 64 bit thing is still a bit dodgey. While there are installers for all of my hardware (drivers) some of them aren’t solid. Many programs don’t have 64-bit installers (32-bit installer work under 64 bit). For example - When running SLI (a feature that allow one monitor to utilize BOTH graphics cards. Top half of monitor is using one card - bottom half using the other. My system thinks I have 2 gigs of Video RAM, when I actually only have 1 gig of Video RAM. I’m still working through the bugs to solve them - which I will eventually.
Anyone else running 64-bit? anyone else running vista? anyone jealous of my new rig? [:P]
agreed. i’m still rocking xp all the way, and my older 2nd pc is runnign 2000, steadily and reliably. vista, imho, has too many compatibility issues when it comes to gaming at the moment. and if it’s DX10 you’re worried about, some games have DX10 cracks for xp out there. then again, it depends on the games you wanna play. most newer games should run well, it’s just the older titles/classics that may give you some grief. food for thought.
yea - this vista is still buggy. i do like it tho. but i am having trouble getting a few of my games to run - and it was a bitch to get the ones running that i have running. plus, this new SLI tech is a tricky thing i’m stiill learning.
the problem i can’t solve now is that my system thinks I have 2 gig of V-RAM, when i actually only have 1 gig (2x512 MB). Very strange.
In short, I wouldn’t recommend going to vista just yet - hold off untill they release at least one service pack.
If my life was a bit less hectic at the moment (I’m changing the country I live in more or less every year) I’d also go for a heavily beefed up desktop setup similar to the one you now have. Unfortunately, due to the reason I gave above, I’m stuck with using a laptop. It happens to be a fairly new and powerful laptop from the high performance category, with a Geforce 8600 512 mb, 2 gigs of ram and dual core intel 2.33 ghz. It came with Vista pre-installed and I havent really changed that, although I did tweak Vista into being a bit faster. I tried one of the new Linux distros at one point as well, just to see what the big deal with Compiz was. Sadly, due to the fact that I use this computer, among other things, for video editing, I’m stuck with either Windows or MacOS, the latter of which I hate with a passion.
Gaming performance is ok for a laptop computer. Newer games (say Crysis and Jericho) wont run properly on high details but after some tweaking I am abe to get a playable framerate with some things turned off.
I have this for the 360 it’s great but then I’m a fan of clive barker. Pinhead is the coolest villain ever!! Jericho is pretty cool but the game play is just like any other action/adventure game out, but with cooler monsters.
Late,
grmpysmrf
I’m running a similar setup but under x86 Vista Home Premium-----Intel C2D E6600@ 3ghz, 4gb of PC6400, and a single 8800GT.
Personally, if are a big gamer then I’d advise waiting another year before making the x64 jump. A lot of hardware manufacturers have serious catching up to do in regards to 64-bit compatibility.
Otherwise, I definitely wouldn’t touch an AMD processor at this point in time. Which processor specifically is yours? Prior to the Intel Conroe line, I’d have definitely recommended AMD but Intel’s just mopped the floor with AMD over the past 18 months. I also think that SLI has reached the point of diminishing returns–again, speaking from a gaming standpoint. I knew someone who dropped $550ish on a 7950 GX2 just a few weeks prior to the 8800GTS release and now that GX2 struggles to play any of the newer titles at 1920x1200 but a $250 512mb 8800GT handles 'em just fine.
Also, just a clarification, if you have 2x 512mb video cards, then the system sees 512mb of VRAM. It doesn’t “double up” the available video memory. Now, there are some cheap video cards and integrted chipsets that have a sorta lame “hypermemory” feature that borrows system RAM and uses it as extended VRAM but as far as dedicated GPU memory goes, your system will be limited by the amount of RAM you physically have on one card. And if you get SLI going between a 256mb and a 512mb card, for example, it is still constrained by the 256mb of the smaller card.
Congrats again on the sweet build and good luck wih all the kinks going 64-bit!
seriously… i want to pick up a new Dell. Is there any way to get a non-vista package? XP would be perty. I’d run Linux but my wife and kids, god love em, are none too computer saavy. Sigh.
I’d run Linux but my wife and kids, god love em, are none too computer saavy. Sigh.
I’m all Mac but have always run Linux since '99 (have a partition for it on the Mac). I use Debian which is far from easy to use, however, I think Ubuntu has come a long way and Dell are even shipping some models with Ubuntu pre-installed. I’ve heard of families using it with great ease - it is Debian based.
seriously… i want to pick up a new Dell. Is there any way to get a non-vista package? XP would be perty. I’d run Linux but my wife and kids, god love em, are none too computer saavy. Sigh.
-al
I had my aunt buy a new dell inspirion with a 17" widescreen for $399 shipped (she had a newspaper coupon) last month. It had the option to ship with vista or xp. The specs were very nice for the price. All it really needed was a new video card if you wanted to play newer games on it.
[reply]I’d run Linux but my wife and kids, god love em, are none too computer saavy. Sigh.
I’m all Mac but have always run Linux since '99 (have a partition for it on the Mac). I use Debian which is far from easy to use, however, I think Ubuntu has come a long way and Dell are even shipping some models with Ubuntu pre-installed. I’ve heard of families using it with great ease - it is Debian based.
I’d also recommed openSUSE as a nice alternative to Ubuntu. OpenSUSE seems to have a more robust implementation of KDE, which is by now a far more interesting GUI than GNOME is, especially with the upcoming version 4. New Amarok looks like it will wipe the floor with all other media players out there, including winamp, itunes and foobar.
Thanks Afra,
That sounds quite promising. I’m wondering if I should order it, and do a dual boot or something. Then I can ease them into it slowly.
-al
You may also take a look at kubuntu.
ubuntu uses GNOME as user interface, which can be difficult to get into.
kubuntu is all the same, but uses KDE, which is more intuitive for Windows users.
