The Glade 4.0

So.. I'm hopefully going to be able to afford a new desktop about Christmas or a bit after. I haven't bought a desktop since 2004, and a new one is needed, although there have been a couple laptops in that time. The last one was the one I use now which is a bit over 2 years old.

Anyhow, this time I intend to not skimp on a gaming desktop. I'm probably not going to get absolute top-of-the-line every component because price still is a factor, but I am not going to go to Best Buy and get some generic machine off the shelf this time.

I'm looking for suggestions for companies to buy from, something basically the same idea as Alienware, which is the only company I know by name that does this, but it sells Dell products and I'm not a big Dell fan. I'm also not interested in building it myself except insofar as the "get it out of the box and plug everything in" part goes.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

http://www.ibuypower.com/
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

I will be buying mine from here

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

I like these websites.

What's up with this solid state hard drive business?

Why does it ask what kind of monitor cable I want? Will it show up with no way to plug in the monitor if I don't pick one?

If I don't pick one of the windows + office packages does it show up with no operating system?
D
Why does it ask about a gaming network card on one page and then about a wireless network adapter on the next? Do I need both?

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

SSHDs are generally faster and more reliable with no moving parts. However, they're more expensive in general.

Monitor cables may be DVI, VGA, or that other one that looks kinda USBish. It depends on what kind of monitor you have already so you can select which one you'll need.

I think so. There may be an option to get a compy w/o an OS for those people that have a license for Win7 already or plan to use some flavor of Linux.

The "Gaming" network cards I think are generally gigabitethernet, and have some sort of traffic prioritizer for gaming related traffic. I don't know too much about them really. For me, networking is networking and you're limited by the slowest pipe in the system If you plan to go wireless, you'll need a wireless adapter. If you don't then not.

I second cyberpowerpc. I have a compy from there and its been pretty rock solid. Ordering was a cinch, it came on time and has worked pretty damn well ever since.

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Holy shitsnacks!

SSD's are definitely faster. You will notice a dramatic improvement in things like boot time, and programs will generally start faster. I build a system using one when I was playing EQ on Trakanon. I didn't use it as the boot drive though. I just got a small 30G drive and copied by EQ folder to it and launched from there. It was a huge improvement, especially zoning. Unfortunately, it isn't going to help with network or server lag. Another benefit you may enjoy being in Tejas now is that as a general rule, they don't generate much heat, and they are dead silent.

If you are buying a new monitor with your computer, given those two choices, get the DVI cable. The only reason you would need the older RGB/SVGA cable is if you are using an older monitor that doesn't have a DVI connection. There are other options (HDMI and Display Port), but I won't cover those unless they are an option.

15 pin RGB/SVGA Cable


DVI Cable


Regarding the OS, if you choose "None", yes, they will likely ship it with nothing on the hard drive (not bootable). If you already have an OS you want to install, then there is no sense buying it. On the otherhand, it's generally much cheaper to buy the OS from them than to buy it separately (there are exceptions), and you get the added benefit of not having to hassle with installing it yourself (unless you find that sort of thing fun ).

Regarding the network cards, if you have the choice you will want to use a wired network connection. If you have no easy way to get a cable to your PC from your router, then you might consider a wireless card. If you get the wired network card, you will have likely have no use for a Wireless card.

Yes, it will come without an OS installed. They will however power up your system and make sure everything works for you, though. But it will be up to you to put an OS on it.

The gaming network cards are usually these things. Totally not necessary, but if you get the option for a free upgrade to one, then it's ok. Otherwise avoid it, because your motherboard will have a network interface card built into it. It may or may not have a wireless card in it, though. That part is optional as well, and really depends on your own network needs.

I also heartily recommend cyberpowerpc. Bought mine and my wife's machines there a few years ago, and have nothing but praise for them. They built both machines and shipped them to me for cheaper than I could have bought the parts and built them myself. And all I had to do was plug them up and install Windows. Easy peasey.

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"I Live, I Love, I Slay, and I Am Content."
- Conan the Barbarian

Thanks for the advice. So if I understand correctly, the gaming network card is not a wireless card; it's an ethernet card that makes game traffic go faster, and if I need to use wireless networking I need to either have it already on the motherboard, get a card and put it in myself, or order it with one?

Going to have to think about that one. I would prefer wired networking, but in our old house it just wasn't practical. I might be able to manage it in the new one though if we either put the computer in the living room, or if I can run ethernet cable to the master bedroom in the same path the cable TV lines take. I'd guess it's about 25 feet of cable; no more than 30.

I'm a little appalled that you have to buy the monitor cable separate from the monitor itself, but I'm definitely going to have to get a monitor.. the only one I have is an early flatpanel that's limited to 1024x768. My wife is going to be... displeased if I try to use the new TV as a monitor.

As for the SSHDs, they do seem expensive and they seem to have awfully limited capacities. I was thinking of getting a mid-range (in terms of price) one as the primary HDD and a much larger standard HDD for data storage, like 3 TB or so. What's the ins and outs of which one you boot off of and run programs off of and so forth? (I didn't even know these things existed until I clicked on DS's link!)

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

In all honesty, the price difference between Hard drives and SSD's, in your shoes I would so stick with Hard drive, for the price of an 80gb SSD, you can get 2 1TB WD Black Hard drives, easily.

SSD's in my eyes are still meant for the power user, there is alot of tweaking you can do with them, but I love how fast Windows boots of my SSD, basically I run Windows on my SSD and everything else (except for my daily games I.E TF2) on my Hard drive's, besides Windows Boot, you really wont notice a difference.

The major difference is speed and no mechanical moving parts, its a new technology (3rd generation of Intel's just rolled out a few months ago), but IMO unless your a power user, stick with standard old hard drives, IMO price difference just isnt worth it yet.



I did not look at either site, but 99% of motherboards made in the last 4-5 years have network cards built into them, those will work just as fast as 'gaming' network card, dont waste your money on a 'gaming' network card, wont notice any speed difference a standard 10/100 card will do it fine. As long as the motherboard has an oboard NIC you would be fine for wired connections. Most motherboard's dont have wireless cards built in, I have seen a few but not many come with wireless built in, just the wired ethernet connections, which will be fine.

For Wireless card yes you would either A.) Install yourself B.) Order one and have it come pre-installed C.) get a USB wireless and set it up (probably the cheapest)

It also just depends how much disk drive space you use... I don't think I have more than 150gb on all my computers, including my work ones.

The other option you can look into, especially if you get one of the new Z86 chipsets, is an SSD "Cache" drive- basically, it takes a small SSD (around 40gb) and a full size HDD, and uses them as a hybrid drive. The OS maintains a "cache" of most used files, and those are placed on the SSD, while less often accessed files are placed on the SSD. The OS also usually resides on the SSD.

Looking through the links, Cyberpowerpc has the option of a 40gb SSD as a cache drive for about $70, which is a nice price for the boost you get.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Based on the performance improvements I saw running EQ off of an SSD, I would say it would easily be worth $70, especially considering allocating files to the SSD cache is automatic. That's a pretty impressive feature.

SSDs are freaking awesome.

What's up with the multiple video cards? I'm only going to have 1 monitor, so is it better to have 1 powerful card, 2 less powerful cards, or 3 cards? And why is it that the 3rd card options are so limited. What's up with this PhysX card? It strikes me as a gimic, and unnecessary.. is it a specification that one video card be set up as a PhysX card, or .. well.. or what?

I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with the options; it's been a long time since I really looked at stuff like this.

Oh yes... RAM. I like to go pretty heavy on the RAM in my computers, but is it better to have more RAM at 1333 or 1600, or less RAM at 1800+? Is there any benefit to going with the more expensive RAM sub-options under each size/speed combo?

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Multiple video cards can sometimes be a less expensive way to get performance.

It depends entirely on the video cards involved. Two GeForce 460's probably offer more performance than a single GeForce 570. Cost is probably comparable, depending on the motherboard you find.

For the most part, SLI or Crossfire aren't necessary for single-monitor setups, period. If you have a lot of money to drop on outrageous performance, that's where you go to find it.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

After playing with http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ at length, I'm arriving at something like configuration 1DD76K if anyone wants to critique it.

I know it has a few bells and whistles that just make it look cool but.. I've always wanted a computer that looked cool.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Tagging on here- can anyone comment on the benefits/drawbacks of liquid cooling systems?

What's their usual lifetime? Breakdown rate?

I've never had one, but it seems like they're standard on most custom gaming rigs (cyberpowerPC doesn't have any that AREN'T LC).

I know when we design instrument systems, the LC portion is usually what breaks down first, resulting in a leak somewhere that damages the rest of the instrument, which makes me a bit leery.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

When I had my Alienware desktop, the liquid cooling was a non-issue. It was a completely closed system, I didn't ever have to change the liquid. It also wasn't cooling my whole system, though, just the CPU. I thought it worked pretty well. Kept my i7 920 running at decent temps when it was OC'd.

I wouldn't bother with liquid cooling unless you plan to overclock aggressively or locate your computer in someplace with an abnormally high room temp.

Stock air-cooled heatsinks have become remarkably efficient and processor power consumption (and thus, radiated heat) has been going down or, at the worst, staying steady over the last several CPU generations.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

That's good to know. I was sort of nervous about the mere availability of all that cooling stuff; I kind of figured it must be there for a reason.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Oh, it's there for a reason. The reason is that the market for "gaming PCs" strongly overlaps with the two primary markets for water cooling:

I need moremoremoremore power! I can see the pixels, still!

and

I need a bigger PC-wang than everybody I know.

The first audience will, as I said, aggressively overclock.
The second audience may or may not, but wants to ensure that nobody else has spent more than they did or has some switch or display that they don't.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I wonder if having an SSD as your system drive in a laptop will affect battery life of the laptop?

I know 5400rpm drives are typically chosen over 7200rpm drives to increase battery life in laptops, but if a hard drive could be eliminated completely....

I mean, if you don't need huge amounts of storage and can get by with only 80gb or so....wouldn't having a laptop with an SSD and no HDD improve the battery life considerably?

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Ron Paul 2012

It looks like it's pretty negligible, due to them still running on the same legacy bridges. Another explanation I read (while researching quickly for you) was that the vast majority of power consumption comes from the primary components of the laptop, (LCD, mainboard, CPU, etc), and that the hard drive consumption overall is very low.



http://blog.laptopmag.com/toms-hardware-we-were-wrong-about-ssd-power-consumption

Hmm..good to know. Thanks

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Ron Paul 2012

FYI,that article is three years old. It may (or may not) still be accurate...

here is a recent article discussing SSD reliability. One of the points it mentions is that often SSD drive failures are blamed on write-cycle limitations, when the real problem is firmware.

It mentions some recalls that potential SSD buyers might want to know about...

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd ... or=RSS-182

Ah, thanks for the article, Midgen. Funny enough, I think that's the first time I've ever seen anybody crunch numbers to talk about how long you can expect your drive to last when it comes to write cycles.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades