Wirehead Studios

I really figured that I needed a computer updrade, since my A64 3000+ is getting a bit rusty, even at 2.4 Ghz. I really want to upgrade my video set up as well, which is currently two G6800's in SLI.

I debated and battled in my mind, and I have decided, I am going dual core, because dual core stomps so much ass and because Quake 4 is SMP. I found and awsome dual core for $325. The 1.8GHz, Opteron 165. "But wait, that is only a dual core of my current CPU." Wrong. It sports 1mb of L2 cache (per core), and is so overclockable, you might misake the CPU for some kind of hot porn. MMmmmmmm......... ----- Ahem... People have gotten this baby up to 2.8 Ghz on stock cooling and do you know what is interesting about that? The speed of it is a bit faster than a counterpart of this CPU that costs one healthy liver, $1000. That's right, this baby can go faster than the FX-60, for only $325. With that, you may have sprung a rubbery one. Er.. yeah.... :D
 
The video set up I am thinking about getting is the soon to be released GeForce 7950 GX2 card which sports two GPU's on board, and a whole 1GB of DDR4 memory. I know, I am nuts and need to be detained ASAP, but the price is great, $600. Yes it's $600, and that is a lot of money for a video card. However that is about how much a decent SLI setup will cost. What's even better about this? This card is SLI, which means; quad SLI. And there is also a Gigabyte mobo that has a quad SLI setup on it, so you can pheasably put four of these cards on it and have oct SLI. 8 GPU's 4GB of GDDR3. Gawd, you could literally take pictures of it and it would be considered hot porn, and then you would be banned from various fourms for it. That's how great it would be.

I really don't know about it though, I may just wait for the DirectX 10 cards to come out, I think that would be the smartest move.

Dang, and here I thought, upon reading the thread title, that we finally had established communication with the afterlife (and possibly with biblical characters, too), but alas, it's only about computer hardware.
Nice stuff though. I still something like your "old" setup running here, minus a vidcard, and I think this will be my last game rig. I can't afford a mother like that, so enjoy it for me ;]

First, can an Opteron run 32-bit x86 instructions?  I'd be concerned with that, I don't know much on the specs but you might want to double check that it can handle Windows properly.  You may need to have a 64-bit copy of Windows.  I think that's why most people don't run them on their home machines.

Second... isn't there something in the bible about boasting being bad?  I'm still running an XP 1800+ 1.53 GHz with a GF4 Ti4600 AGP card.  I can't even afford that 3000+ that you're considering obsolete at this point!  Where do you get all this money?  :wtf:

Where do I get all this money? Well you see guys I need to let out a secret, I'm in the mafia posing as a gay prostitute so I can infiltrate the mafia's sworn enemy, the United Peoples of Gay Affiliation.........

Now that I have spoiled your meal you are now probably gagging on I just want to say: JUST KIDDING! Lawl.

No really this money comes from long, long, long, hours at McDonald's, being the grill bitch. Some money management skills, and saving money. Living on romen noodles... (not really)

There is no way I will get an oct SLI setup, I don't want it, and the fact that it would cost about $2,500. (which $2,500 is a synonym for rape) But I may buy one card, then in a few months, buy another. So I will have Quad SLI, because it kicks ass.

As far a Opterons, they can run x86 instructions, so I've heard, but if not, I do own WinXP x64, which I am currently running, the reason why I bought it is so I can run 4GB of RAM instead of only 2GB.

Pho, the 3000+ is only $150, it is quite affordable, unless you are in debt and on a tight budget.


Kruz to comment on the physics, there will be an Ageia PhyX 256MB card comming out soon that plugs right in your PCI slot. I kinda want to check it out, because UT 2k7 will support it.

I don't get it.

 :(

There's no avoiding it now.. your secret is out, and I can inform my leaders of your dubious plot!


I don't either, really. Guess people are disgusted by gay prostitutes. Now some of the crossdressers can be pretty nasty, but that wasn't really mentioned.

Prostitution of any kind I find disgusting.

Myself. I put away ?1 a day so when I want (not need, nobody needs) a new comp, I have the money. I got a new PC recently, because my number 2 comp, slot1 800 mgz finally died, otherwise I would not have. seems drastic to upgrade when you have a 3000+. what do you get for the money? better frame rates?

Aw I'm sorry.  *give Pho a pomagrante*   <3

Contrary to popular beleif, the 3000+ is not really that good, in fact I only bought it so I have a CPU for the mainboard, and I was planning on getting another one down the road. It's only 1.8 Ghz core and has only 512k of L2 cache.
It's mediocore now. I have a friend who bought a server style set up. It was a dual socket 940, with two dual cores on it. He has 6GB of RAM and two G7800GTX's in it. Not to mention a  X-Fi sound card. I said he was freaking nuts. But that's his hobby, and that is pretty much all he spends his extra money on.

That is still nothing compared to the things people want to buy. The new socket AM2, is going to stomp some ass. It requires DDR2 and supports DDR3 memory. They are talking quad core FX's and opterons coming out, with core clock speeds pushing 3 Ghz, and memory supporting up to 1 Ghz. Not to mention the cache is going to double, and another layer "L3" cache is going to be added. The next gen video cards are being released sometime this year. The entry level cards are going to have 512mb of RAM on board (I'm sure some 256mb budget cards will be released) supporting up to 1GB maybe 2GB per card, in later editions. They will have a core clock of at least 700 Mhz, going up to possibly 2 Ghz. If one had Quad SLI or Quad Crossfire (which ATI is working on ATM) they wouldn't need to upgrade for 10 years. It's crazy, you'd think these computers would be able to cure cancer or land a space probe on mars.

What do I get for the money? Better framerates, yes, but realize that this is my hobby as well. I also get better render times in 3d applications. A dual core would enable me to multi-task, and it's an opteron, which means I can overclock it greatly. I can't decide if I want another set of cards, or a nice cooler for the CPU. Honestly I think a cooler might be better because it's cheaper and you get more value. OCZ is releasing a phase change cooler for $300, and that is going to totally knock the socks off of water cooling products which cost just as much. Phase change cooling right now costs around $800! It's so great because you will literally get your CPU's temperature below zero, which makes a lot of room for overclocking. I'm willing to bet that someone can get an Opteron 165 a 100% overclock without any issue. That's almost 4Ghz. Within the next year, people's machines will start taking off into outer space.


Edit: I just read some Gamespy fourm posts ( http://www.forumplanet.com/gamespy/pc/topi...649&tid=1882491 (http://www.forumplanet.com/gamespy/pc/topic.asp?fid=11649&tid=1882491) ) about the GeForce 8 series. I don't know if they are talking out their ass. Apparently they are working on an architecture for a dual core GPU, and the fact that they want to still implement 2 separate GPU's on one card, so it's Quad SLI on one card. So you can pheasably throw in 4 cards and have 16 cores for video, that is nuts. NUTS! NUTS!  :wall:  :idiot:

i own a dual opteron 244 system (with 8 gigs or ram) and i use the 32bit version of windows just fine. Though im sure it would run even better with the 64bit version.

Ahh, good to know Woods.  I guess that settles that then.

Washu:  Thanks for the pom. <3

Looking at those future computer specs you're talking about, I just have to know... how much liquid nitrogen are we going to need to cool these things?  More power is great, but the more stuff you cram into a computer the more heat it's going to kick out.  Cooling it all is going to become more and more problematic when you start having 2 processors with 4 cores each and 4 video cards with 2 cores each.  If the component makers do their jobs right you should be able to air cool a high end system with an ambient air temperature of 80 degrees F / 26.67 degrees C and still run it under load.  Slapping waterblocks on everything, to me, is not a solution.

Speaking of that, I'd be careful trying to cool something to a sub-zero temperature.  The crew at [H]ardOCP blew the heat spreader plate off a P4 chip by overcooling it.  It destroyed the CPU.  Also, when you start getting the coolant under the dewpoint you have to worry about condensation inside the case.  Dripping coolant lines = system death.  You'd have to have an environment without any humidity to avoid this problem.

Friggin people always trying to perfect the wheel. I'm done upgrading my system unless it breaks.


-My daddy was in maintenance and he had a saying, he used to say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."-

I mainly agree with this, as far as PC's go.  but to each his own. I may do SLI sometime down the line, or get some more ram, but thats probably about it.

Mind, guitars are my hobby (and my work at times too) and I own 12 of them. so I simpathise with what you are doing. But it's not the equipment, but what you do with it. good luck to you. :band:

I don't entirely agree with that.  Having the right equipment is essential to many endeavors.  You can't play Doom 3 on a 386, nor can you machine precision robotics parts with 18th century hand tools.  Granted, precision machine tools and electronics are worthless in the hands of the unskilled, but even a guitarist first needs to have a guitar before he can learn to play one.  Frankly I wouldn't mind an upgrade myself.  I really do need one.

My quote was referring to computer hardware (and technology in general) being constantly upgraded and 'perfected' (not just my own). This 'forever expanding technology' crap sucks. It was fun like 10 years ago, now it's just old and more annoying than anything. I can't wait until a 'Matrix' is developed and everyone loses their sense of reality.

Pho, you can get a 3000+ for a little over $100 if you shop around. It's not really that expensive, so I'd hope anyway.

Kruz, anything that says Intel on it, has about as much architecture, design, and temperature as a freshly laid pile of shit has. The other day I was watching my friend look for a CPU, he was looking at Intel. I said, "Dude, it's Intel. What the H?" He said, "I'm just looking." Then I said, "That's like being busted at looking at gay porn, then you say, 'I'm just looking', then I will question your sexuality." He said, "Good point." Ha! Intel's Marketing Department: 0 Me: 1. I win.

One wonders if this includes lesbian porn.. they are, after all, gay women. Probably not..

:thumb:


Oh yea.. forgot.. :offtopic:

Washu:  It's not enough to just upgrade the CPU, otherwise I would have done that.  My system board is limited to a 133MHz front side bus speed.  The maximum I can run on this board is a 1.66 GHz CPU, and right now I'm running a 1.53GHz CPU.  I'm running a 1.53 GHz Palamino core Athlon XP 1800+, on an Asus A7V266-e system board.  Replacing the processor isn't worth it, and I have nothing else to put my old CPU into anyway.  I don't like spare parts just sitting around collecting dust.  I'm also limited to PC 2100 RAM speed.  I have PC3200 ram on the board awaiting an upgrade, but I have to do a full system board/CPU update, which means the price goes up.  Anything worth having is on PCI-e now, and I'm not into plunking down over $200 for an already third-generation system and be stuck with AGP still.  My min spec that I'll tolerate is a 2.2 GHz Athlon 64 with a 1 MB cache on a PCI-e system board.  That means I also have to have some kind of video card until I can afford a high-end one, and even a cheap one still costs some money.  It also means getting a heatsink and fan compatible with socket 939.

One thing I won't tolerate is cheap or substandard components.  Everything I use is high quality, so that's another financial barrier.  I know what I want, and I won't get anything less than that.  I'm not talking "most expensive fastest processor", what I mean is high quality products, regardless of speed.  Add to that the fact that I do intend to update to a high-end video card to replace the interrim one, and that adds another $300-400 to future cost.  I already have the RAM I need, which is currently in use on this system, but when budgeted out what I need to upgrade my system it will cost me at least $500, and I have to do it all at once.  Add $300-400 to that for the video card I want and it's approaching $900 total.  Even $500 is way outside my budget right now.

You might say, why all at once?  Why not piecemeal it?  The system board/CPU/video card requirement is the primary factor.  I'm also not going to sit 6 months on a component that I can't test for defects and go outside any kind of return period when I go to plug the thing in, plus it's a waste of money to buy something you can't use right away since it depreciates and would cost less later.  I know manufacturer warranties run longer than that, but a lot of places, like NewEgg, you can return a DOA item within 30 days and it's a lot easier than dealing with the manufacturer.  I've had to RMA parts to manufacturers before, and even the good ones have horrible turn-around times.  It's a lot easier for me to just get all the parts at once and put it all together and test it out right then and there.  Until I can get enough cash to do so, I'm stuck with what I've got.

Hence the nick name people give it: Maninteltosh.


I totally understand your point. Your not going to just go to your local dollar store, and buy 2gb of pc3200 from a brand you have never heard of. Let me give you some advice:
Just because it's the most expensive, doesn't mean that it's the best.

I assume you know this but that's besides the point, I just want to reinnerate it.

A good example is the Geforce 7800 GTX. It's $400. But you know somthing else. The Geforce 7900 GT. Which through various benchmarks, have proven it was much faster than the 7800 GTX, and it's only $300. Faster and cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814130254 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130254)
7800 GTX

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814150139 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150139)
7900 GT

A great mainboard manufacturer is DFI. They are cheap boards, $100-$200 for a socket 939, and they are great for overclocking.

Opterons are fairly cheap for the value and quality you get from them, from $175-$700. They are the overclocker's dream, they can take a beating, and you'll still see you face on its shiny die. (or dies in my case) You could get a 1.8 Ghz Opteron for 939 for $175. People have gotten a 1Ghz overclock on stock cooling, (which 939 heatsink and fan are include by the way) stable, easily That's the great thing about opterons; they are made to take a beating. They run cool, and are more power efficient.

Just some insight for you.

Oh I'm certainly not of the mindset that expensive == better.  I look at several factors when choosing something like a video card, mainboard, etc.  Reliabilty, performance, and testing all come to mind.  I want rock-solid reliability.  That is my primary consideration in any component.  Performance comes in second behind that.  I do not like having parts fail on me.  I do a lot of research before I pick company X's product over company Y's.

Regarding Opterons, what Woods brought up with them being able to run 32-bit Windows I find interesting.  I had been under the impression that you could not run a 32-bit OS on them.  I need to do more research on the Opteron's capabilities and performance to better understand what differentiates them from the Athlon 64 line.

Edit:  After some quick investigation, it looks like not a whole lot except having additional hypertransport links for multiple-CPU server stations.  That and the CPU's being unlocked.  Otherwise the Opteron is the same as an Athlon-64.  Not only that, but any socket 939 Opteron looks like it can run on any socket 939 board.  This opens up a LOT of possibilities for me if I save up a little extra, though I'm torn between dual-core or faster single-core.  I want to run 2.4 GHz or greater no matter what, which concerns me for dual-core since even a 2.0 GHz dual core is close to $400.  I plan on using a Thermalright XP-120 heatsink and a nice powerful 120mm fan on whatever I choose.  I don't like severe overclocks since I prefer hot environments, so I'm hedging on single core for now, but still, I'm at least several months off on committing to a CPU.

Thanks a bundle Washu.  I'm always pleased when someone tips me off to something I didn't know before.  :thumb:

I am also considering the Opteron 180, which is $700 (ouch) but I want it over 3 Ghz, an dit's core clock is 2.4Ghz.

I'm glad  I could help! :)b

Oh hell yeah, I just ordered the Opteron 165.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819103588 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103588)

Along with this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16835118223 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118223)

And this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16835100007 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835100007)

If they found a way to package pure boner into a computer component, this is what it would be.
It should be here in a few days.

That's just wrong on so many levels...  Why not just casemod a dildo if we're going for phallic references?  Maybe a few one liners about hard drives, hardware, or even cybersex while we're at it?  :rolleyes:

I have a joystick you can use... heh heh.

:rolleyes:

I wasn't trying to be all-inclusive, just blatantly sarcastic.

Nah,
I was get the point across about how great this thing is. It is so great, people get boners just thinking about it, and even a bigger one knowing that it's going into my sexy computer case that I modded myself. Oh yeah, I modded it so that just futher increased the boner because I am so great. Everytime I walk through a grocery store and come out I see a lot of hunched over guys limping to their cars, I even get boners just thinking about my awsomness.

I suppose it's a good thing I don't have a penis then, otherwise while flying I might catch myself on powerlines thinking about your "awesomeness." -_-

No wonder you're so homophobic.. whole herds of guys limping after you.. the clerk going "paper or rubber?" etc.. now it all makes sense! ;]

Since when did the talk about computers turn into this dirty-thinking discussion!? :wtf:

Computers have a lot to do with boners. For example my graduation presents I just got:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822136012 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822136012)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16829102189 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16829102189)

With all this my system specs stand at:

DFI nForce4 Infinity SLI

AMD Opteron 165 Dual Core 128kb L1 Cache per core, 1mb L2 Cache per core, at 1.8 Ghz per core stock. Plus high overclocking potential.

2 Geforce 6800 in SLI

4 GB of PC3200

WD Raptor X 150GB S-ATA 10K RPM 16MB Cache HDD
Maxtor 32.5GB IDE HDD
Maxtor 74GB IDE HDD

Sound Blaster X-Fi "F4tal1ty" Sound Card with dedicated processor, and 64mb of dedicated sound memory.

OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU

I wouldn't call something like that dirty personally. Besides, is that not boner inducing? If I were to take pictures of it and post it on these forums, I may get banned for posting pornography, because my computer is so hot, and boner inducing. Not appropriate for children.  :)

Tab you hit it on the nail there. All guys drool at my sheer manliness, and it bends the straightest of bars if you know what I mean.

Gah, I'm sorry, I just had to post that.  ^_^ I am just so excited to get my parts. Er parts, yeah....  :rules:

F4tal1ty can eat my waste.

Yeah I guess I concur.

But the sound card kicks ass though.

Bah, you mammals want something "boner inducing", let me show you what should constitute porn:

(http://files.uzitalk.com/reference/shoots/uzitalk2005/barrett.jpg)

Stuff like this should just be banned.
(Oh wait, that's right, they did ban it in California.)

Oh.... *boner*

Porn....
Being a "bird" and all, you sure know what give "us mammels" boners, like that picture of that sexy ass sniper rifle.

Did you have to go as far as show a REAR view of a sniper rifle like that, Pho? Now you (Besides Washu, heh) got us all thinking dirty... O_o;

Gah... it's not dirty I tell you! Its a beautiful thing.  :ownage:

Sniper rifles suck, no matter how big they are. Vulcans are more my thing.. that is, miniguns.. not Spock.

http://www.armamentsales.com/downloads/minigunSD.wmv (http://www.armamentsales.com/downloads/minigunSD.wmv)

Might not be interesting to the normal person.. just watching a gun shoot.. but it's orgasmic to me. Just look at all the shells and links flying! And such long presses of the trigger too. :D

And that's only half speed... I want to see it at full speed!

:slippy_thumb:

Of course it's dirty!  There's plenty of dirt in that picture.

I've always found this kind of talk somewhat .. eerie. First off, I don't believe anyone really ever got a 'boner' from anything that's angular and made from steel (-- then again, I'm not a shrink, so perhaps I just don't meet 'em ;)). Are you sure it's not just some kind of conceptual mix-up?

Can someone explain to me why this (not for kids) (http://www.lonedarkknight.com/Babes-Guns/GIRL1.JPG) is in any way a sensible combination? Does this get anyone here 'started'? It never ceases to amaze me. I'm also trying to understand the probable link with hardware-boners here -- even getting turned on by watching animals mate makes slightly more sense to me..

Does it also happen when you buy a particularly nice carton of milk? Dear Susan, please explain. I'm always willing to learn about kinky intercourse-related fetishes, but I just can't get the facts straight on this one.. :]

Tabby:  I'm with you on this one.  100%.  No need for us to start at diverse positions and reach a consensus this time around.   :surprise:

I belive this comic may have some insight (NSFW) http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20060421 (http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20060421)

I don't understand it either.. but I try to make fun of it, while also being serious at the same time (like I do a lot of other things). So, I also fully agree.