The Smell of Burning Plastic

Anyone that has used a computer in the past 20 years knows that they are finicky creatures. Hard on the wallet, and sometimes way more trouble than they are worth.

I have conquered the beast.

Any PC gamer worth his salt has wanted to build his own gaming rig at some point or another. Some pass up the opportunity to purchase a system already built, and ready to go, to avoid the hassle of operating system install nightmares, or because they come with a nice combo of monitors and other peripherals.

But it's always there, lurking in the back of your mind. That computer you wanna build. Maybe it's that ridiculously powerful processor you wanna put to the test, or that sweet clear sided case you saw with all the LED's and said, "Hey, I can do that."

I've had the dream for quite a number of years. Since the requirements on EverQuest increased to astronomical amounts of RAM, for its time, to display all the character models. I was running a 350Mhz Pentium 2 at the time, that was the computer my dad had purchased for the family to use. I had added a Voodoo2 3d card, the kind that had to be coupled with a 2d display card to work, and scrounged up enough extra RAM to make it actually run nice. But I wanted more. I wanted faster, bigger, better.

The dream has seen many platforms over the years, from the boom of the AMD chips at the turn of the millennium, to Intel's triumphant return with the advent of the dual core processors. From ATI's charge into the forefront of GPU chips, to nVidia's quiet and resolute steadiness. From DVD readers, to CD burners, to DVD burners, to Blueray burners. And everything in between.

Since this year, my girlfriend and I will be sharing a house, that will also be purchased this year, I thought that before she was down here to tell me no, would be the perfect time to make the dream finally come to life. So I started doing my homework.

Sadly, the end all be all of performance was an unattainable goal, I don't have that much money to blow on a computer, not to mention the current state of the economy, and my current job status, it would be financially irresponsible. And as the son of a lifetime banker, I have had my share of "talks" about financial responsibility. So this computer was going to have to be built on the relative cheap. The rebate check I was receiving, coupled with my actual income tax return, would be more than enough to get me where I wanted to be, performance wise.

The Specs

I went to the site I've trusted for every piece of computer hardware I've ever ordered, TigerDirect. These are the parts I chose.

• Ultra Grid Case - This was not my first choice for a case, but quickly became so. It's design and layout work very well, and the two 120mm fans that are built in are very quiet. The black satin finish is smooth and beautiful, my only regret it my budget didn't have any room in it for parts that light up, but there is always the future.
• nVidia 680i LT Motherboard - I picked the XFX version of this board because, instead of the heatpipes running across it to the chipsets on the board, it just has two built in fans. This may not displace heat as well as the pipes, but the pipes are known for getting in the way more often than not and the added heat displacement of the pipes wasn't necessary for me, because I didn't plan on overclocking, at least not initially. The 680i LT itself was chosen for its 1333mhz front side bus, thus working at full capacity with the processor I had picked out..
• Intel E6550 Dual Core Processor - This processor packs the biggest punch in the smallest size. It's performance is rated equal to a 3.0 ghz dual core, with the 1066mhz front side bus. It's lower price tag was attractive as well as its user reviews. And I can tell you first hand, this chip is way fast.
• nVidia 9600 GT Video Card - Again, I chose XFX for my card, for two reasons. It matched the maker of the motherboard, so I would imagine it would be more inclined to work correctly, and the last three video cards I've owned were XFX, and they have definitely stood up to the test of time. The 9600 chipset was picked because it performed at almost twice the speed of the 8600gt chipset, my first choice, and was only about $20 more.
• oCz Dual Channel DDR2 SLI Ready Memory - I picked DDR2 over DDR3 because of price / performance ratio. DDR3 just hasn't proven to be enough of a difference over 2 to warrant the price increase. SLI ready, as the rest of the unit, allows me to add a second Video Card in the future, to ensure my PC can run Crysis 2.
  

The other parts were just personal preference, although I did pick a SATA DVD burner and a SATA hard disk for increased speed. I highly recommend a modular power supply because it cuts down on cable clutter inside the case. My motherboard, case, and power supply came together in a bare-bone kit, which kept the price lower, and offered me a 700w power supply so I have plenty of room to expand in the future.

It had been a while since my last assemble. Since the new technology was AGP and DDR. So, I was a bit out of sorts on some things, but it's more or less like putting together a big puzzle, things can only go in one place, and only go in one way.

First Impression

So, everything is put together, installed, and running. I downloaded a demo of Crysis, since it seems to be the benchmark everyone knows, as well as my first PC game purchase that wasn't a MMORPG in two years, or better, Sins of a Solar Empire.

First up was the online version of the 3d Mark test. My older computer had ran this and scored about 1200, so I had expected a score around 5-6k. The test came back about 9,500 - 9,800. I figured this couldn't be right, so I ran it again, thinking maybe somehow Mozilla Firefox had fudged it up. Exact same result.

Then, I installed Sins. This game is not the graphical monster that Crysis is, there is not nearly that much detail anywhere on it. But the sheer scale of the game is what ups its resource usage. I conquered an entire galaxy of planets, with each system having a fleet of ships in it, with no slowdown, at all. It ran so smoothly I was convinced my old computer would run it. The disk took itself out of the old comp's drive, laughed at me, and climbed back into the box.

I wasn't convinced. Crysis time. 1200x1024 res, which is the most my monitor can handle sadly, and settings on high. 55-60 fps through the whole demo. And believe me when I say I tried to slow it down. It ran beautifully. The detail in this game is truly something to behold, and you should all experience it if you can.

Last test, 3dMark '06. First two tests ran beautifully, the CPU tests however, were obviously a strain on the processor, and the last two tests again ran amazingly. This told me the real performer in this box was the GPU. Total score of 9776. Which was just 300 points shy of the "common system" they have listed, whose processor and GPU cost about $300-$400 more total than my setup.

All in all, I am extremely pleased. It looks good, runs good, and has renewed my confidence in the do-it-yourself market for PC's. Possibly even igniting a desire to start building machines on the side, custom specs, for people who are wanting the bang of a good machine, without the equal bang on the wallet. We'll see how that goes though, but for now, I'll see you in TF2.

-j