New PC for War

[Gwaar]

Well guys i just bought a new PC, that i plan on running for WAR!!!! here is the spec list.

i noticed alot of people here looking for help with PC's mine was a bit pricey but i saved around 700 bucks from my work place and the instant saveings from dell here it is

let me know what you think!

XPS 630, Intel Core2 processorE8500 (3.16 GHz,1333FSB) w/Dual Core Technology and 6MB cache
Red Bezel Chassis
4GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
Consumer Performance 22W (SP2208WFP) (monitor)
nVidia GeForce GTX 280 1024MB
640GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/ DataBurst Cache
Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium Edition, English
16X DVD-ROM and 16X DVD+/-RW
Integrated Audio 7.1
$$2048.00


It should have arrived today the 28th but no show as of yet! (still crossing fingers and toes)

Any comments on the type of performance i can expect, or negative effects i might have given my self. Thanks!

[Wazdakka]

Excellent build, and a good price considering that it is a prebuild from Dell.


I hope that that is Vista 64 you have.

[Gwaar]

Eeek i am not sure, but i would hope dell knows what their doing when they offer a 64 bit system add a vista 64 with it? but i dont know much about computers

its 4:45 and the PC still isnt here ive already given up hope that it will come today, so tomorrow is friday and start of the weekend for me, i should be able to add software and such to it then


well maybe when i get it i will be able to figure out if it is vista 64, any ideas on how i can determine if its vista 64 or not? i can always wipe the HD and add windows Prof if its not

[Wazdakka]

Hopefully they wouldn't be evil enough to give you vista 32 on a system with 4 gb.

[Gwaar]

Well the PC arrived. i got it out of the box, and naturally i opend up the case to make sure everything is plugged in and intact, right when i open it up the heatsink for the processor is off its base and on the bottom of the case >.<
the heatsink is HUGE and so is the video card!!!


i secured the heatsink back to the processor i really hope i dont have to send it away after i just recieved it and paid that much for it.
i am not that great with PC's but i know a few things just not enough to handle what happens when it doesnt work LOL

[Gwaar]

I am going to power down this PC now, to accomidate the new one for stable activation i will check back later and post if i have any issues maybe we can trouble shoot something tomorrow (friday)

[Gwaar]

Well i just got the PC haha!
i have a few questions.

1. If it is a 32 bit Vista system what is the negative effect i will have?
2. How do i upgrade it to a 64 bit Vista OS
3. if i do not upgrade to a 64 bit Vista OS will i still be able to run properly, i am unclear upon the difference in types of OS like 32 bit and 64 in our topic here

thanks!

[Dall dies to much]

1. If it is a 32 bit Vista system what is the negative effect i will have?
2. How do i upgrade it to a 64 bit Vista OS
3. if i do not upgrade to a 64 bit Vista OS will i still be able to run properly, i am unclear upon the difference in types of OS like 32 bit and 64 in our topic here


1)You will not beable to fully address all 4gigs of system ram. with a 280.. your gonna only get around 3 gigs total
2) fresh install. no upgrade
3 ) yes, testers reported Vista 64 working fine for war

and rofl.. that video card is gonna make that monitor its bitch...over kill at that rez :D

[Wazdakka]

Well i just got the PC haha!
i have a few questions.

1. If it is a 32 bit Vista system what is the negative effect i will have?
2. How do i upgrade it to a 64 bit Vista OS
3. if i do not upgrade to a 64 bit Vista OS will i still be able to run properly, i am unclear upon the difference in types of OS like 32 bit and 64 in our topic here

thanks!


To be honest, the only really bad thing is that you will not get the use of all 4 gb of ram that they sent you. In fact, given the size of your video card's memory (which counts towards a 4mb total usable by 32 bit) I bet you see less than 3gb. But, you know, 3gb is enough really. At full load, playing war with Videolan media player running and several windows open I barely crack 4gb.

I had the same issue when I built my current computer. I thought that the cd would have Vista 64 on it, but it turned out that only Vista Ultimate disks have that. So, I loaded up a few must-have programs and sent off for my Vista 64 disk. It arrived and I just reinstalled. It was a bit of a pain only because I had to wait to tweak, customize and load up my full complement of programs. Was worth it, though.

[Gwaar]

Well i wanna get it settled before i start adding files here, so if i just do a upgrade via download from windows home premium to ulitmate that will be a 64bit?

if what i understood from your statement here the ultimate is only a 64bit OS or does that also come in a 32bit?

i want to get the most out of what i paid for as i can, plus i want to add up to 8-12 gigs of ram depending on what i can support.

right now from looking at the properties it is reading that i have 4gigs of ram, but its lieing to me? its not really 4 gigs?

I also plan to add a second monitor so i can run other programs in side windows while playing WAR, such as being able to see ventrillo, and other websites with information on war stuff a typical gamer does you know :D

haha Dall, yes sadly that size of monitor was the only size i was able to afford at the moment, i am either going to buy a 47inch 1080p rez TV to mount up or get the Dell 24" Ultrawidescreen monitor to pair up with this one.

but as for now this monitor is still better then the 20 inch one i had with my other beastly machine haha

[Wazdakka]

Ultimate also comes in 32 bit. Here is what i meant: An ultimate disk has everything you need to install any version of Vista in either 32 or 64 bit, so if you know a friend with Ultimate you could use their disk and input any valid Vista code and get your choice of 32 or 64 bit. Otherwise you need to get a special disk with a 64-bit version of vista on it, which you can order from Microsoft. I'm kinda sorry i mentioned ultimate at all, I just thought it might be convenient if you could borrow someone's disk.

[Gwiragan]

If you look at Sysinfo (Accessories, System tools) you can see what Windows is actually "seeing" in terms of memory. For instance, I have a 4GB Vista 32 system but Windows when fully loaded only reports 3.3 GB in sysinfo. The other .7GB is being reserved by device memory addressing making it unavailable to the OS itself. As mentioned, vidcards are the biggest culprit as it reserves addressing in the OS for it's own memory. Thus my 512mb card snags 512mb of memory addresses.

Is it a thing? Naww. Not really. But if you're wanting to add 8GB to 12GB in the future, you'll have to plan on upgrading to a 64bit OS. Certainly not anything you're going to have to do right now.

If you really want to delve it, you can use freeware tools like Meminfo to really prowl around in the guts of your memory addressing.

[Gwaar]

Thanks for the great information, i went to the systeminfo and it shows the ram as 4mb when i go to the computer properties.

[Aoann]

I thought there was something I had adjusted on my card for playing DAoC.

[Jalec]

Vista shows proper sizes but gwir is right it does not address about 3.2 or so. Ive seen xp show 3.75 but was skeptical.

[Gwaar]

Ahh great info here thank you! i will be calling dell on monday to see if i cannot persuade them to send me the correct copy of vista that should be installed for the specifications i have suggested by Dall

[Dall dies to much]

check your invoice and check yoru order on their website... it honeslty might be vista 64.

if dell gives you the run around... try contacting microsoft, you might be able to get the vista 64 OEM disk from them for like 6 bucks.

I know some that have done this, just need to prove you have a legal copy of vista 32

[Aoann]

1 Sunbeam Transformer IC-TR-US-BA-WOPSU Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811166004) $59.99

1 SAMSUNG 941BW Black 19" 4ms (GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001088)

1 Saitek PZ30AU Black USB Wired Standard Eclipse Keyboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823175103) $44.99

1 Microsoft C6W-00001 Silver/Black 5 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Laser Mouse 6000 - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826105177) $17.99

1 LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM write and LightScribe Technology Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model LH-20A1H-185 - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106055) $33.99

1 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250820AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148142) $66.99

1 ASUS EN8800GTS/HTDP/320M GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported HDCP Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121061) $304.99

1 DFI LANPARTY UT NF590 SLI-M2R/G AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136014) $168.99

1 Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W ATX12V v2.01 SLI Ready Power Supply - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182032) $64.99

1 CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1G 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4 - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034) $144.00

1 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Brisbane 2.5GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO4800DDBOX - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103778)

Can easily pop in 2 more gigs or upgrade to vista. (my current rig)

the case is kind of cool :D

[Wazdakka]

Ahh. I guess I am dense. If you just want to see whether you already have 64 bit vista, go to start, right click on "my computer" and look at "properties." It tells you there.