Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Making a futureproofed box using some cannibalised parts!

Options
  • 13-03-2011 1:02am
    #1
    Mouserat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 177 ✭✭


    Hello folks,

    my current box is just over 5 years old now and is starting to creak a bit at the seams with the latest games, I fear it probably won't display the next generation in all their explodey goodness :)

    It was based on a Dell Precision 380, and future proofed when I built it with a horrifically expensive graphics card (now considered quaint), a bigger PSU, some RAM, fast hard drives, the usual goodies. Earlier today I decided to upgrade to Windows 7, but I discovered (I'm pretty sure) that it's mobo is not compatible with windows 7, thus arseing up my plan of continuing to upgrade it for another few years, thank you microsoft.

    So I think I'll build a new box and hope to future proof this next one again so I can get at least another 5 years out of it. Money isn't exactly no object, but not the main thing I'm worried about. If the bleeding edge graphics card is 10% faster but 200% the cost of the second best one, I'll go for the second best one (unlike last time!). Generally, a bit better than sweet spot components :cool:

    I reckon I can cannibalise the following bits from the current setup:

    All the external bits - NEC Multisync 20WGX2 monitor, Logitech G7 mouse, Saitek keyboard, Creative 5.1 speakers, 3 * external USB drives.
    PSU: 600W Seasonic ATX 2.0 NVIDIA CERT Sli/SATA 4+8+24pin
    SATA HD: 2TB Western Digital Caviar Green
    A Belkin PCI Wireless network card
    A DVD reader.
    and optionally: A PCI SCSI controller with 2 fast (15000rpm) 73GB Seagate SCSI drives

    I reckon I need
    A new box (my current one has 7 usb slots & I'm using 5 at the moment, it'd be nice if I keep having at least 7), a new mother board, CPU & cooling setup, a new 5.1 sound card (unless there's on board stuff for that nowadays, the current card is in its fourth box, older than God, and I'm pretty sure wont work with windows 7), new RAM, and a good graphics card.

    I think I can pick up a licensed copy of Windows 7 from work. I'd like the setup to smoothly handle the next 5 years of games at least. If you reckon the WD Green drive would cause stuttering on loading in the latest sandbox games then I might get a Black drive for the OS, and use the green one for media. If anyone thinks that power supply ain't good enough either then let me know.

    I'm willing to go shop around for stuff but I'm really out of it with regards who's ahead in the current hardware wars - ATI vs NVidia, AMD vs Intel, or if I should scrap the idea of having PCI slots on my motherboard if it's going to be a decent futureproofed one, and buy myself a new network card (they're cheap) and scrap my twin fast scsi drives (they're small).

    From reading the site I know a lot of you are fans of that german place hardwareversand, and I don't care where I buy from, I'll get each component where it's cheapest and assemble myself. I don't like using hardwareversand for comparing components though, it's just got too bloody many of them to look through!

    Basically, I'm just looking for where to start. Tips on current good sites with benchmarking & recommended components would be awesome, or I'll take recommendations from you lot if you're interested in helping me pick out components for a nice DirectX 11 gaming rig. :D


Comments

Advertisement