Computer Build

[ScarySquirrel]

Caydr, thanks for responding.

1) The word "used" is music to my ears, I think I'm going to start with a real cheap graphics card now and go hunting in April, based on what you said about the release then,

2) I have received the "you get what you pay for" advice about the power supply and motherboard from my RL friend, too.

POWER SUPPLY: Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W Continuous Power:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
What do you think?

3) MOTHERBOARD; ASUS P7P55D:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
What do you think?

4) Again, as far as AMD chips are concerned, I want to find one with a solid upgrade path/chipset, multiple cores, and no heating problems. Like I said, my computer with a 2.2 GHz AMD Athlon 3500+ chip was getting stomped by a computer with a 1.8 GHz pentium M and a comparable graphics card. Though, like Apollo said, the chips were in laptops and are now discontinued, it's the only track record I can work from first hand. I was considering the AMD Phenom, but the price difference is really negligible, especially since I have already found an in-budget cpu that meets my specs. Still looking into it.

[ScarySquirrel]

This is mysterious. My posts are being eaten by some beast.

*eats*

[manolo_]

750W for power supply? so i assume that u want to use more than one graphic card or?

[BaNa]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/val ... ,2578.html

I'm happy with the 4core i5, and it seemed to beat all the amds in the tests. dont go spending too much on 1337 ram, just about any ddr2 or 3 will do if there is enough.

I got an asrock p55 extreme mobo and its also decent, tho the built-in OC settings where a tad unstable at 3.8 Ghz and 1666 Mhz ram. Tbh i dont need the overclock so its at stock now. The thing i like the most is that i can monitor how much energy the processor is eating and for humdrum win7 + browsing it takes 4-5 W. Goes the hell up during rendering or GTA4.

Oh yeah I have a gts 250 and that can do dual monitors (for some strange reason the hdmi dvi adaptor doesnt want to work on mine so the second monitor is on analog). The whole thing runs nicely off a 525W Enermax modu82+ psu that i can heartily recommend as it is very quiet.

[Neddie]

I'm still running on a Core 2 Duo. For most users a Core 2 Duo is still more than they need.

[zerver]

IMO there is no such thing as "more than they need" when it comes to computers. Spring runs better on an i7 for sure.

[JohannesH]

IMO there is no such thing as "more than they need" when it comes to computers. Spring runs better on an i7 for sure.

Maybe it runs a lil better - but is that needed?

[zerver]

Spring is apparently cpu limited in the vast majority of cases, so the fps will increase a lot with a faster cpu:
http://springrts.com/mantis/view.php?id=1851

[aegis]

right, but my Phenom II x4 can take anything spring can throw at it.

[CarRepairer]

right, but my Phenom II x4 can take anything spring can throw at it.

What if spring threw grenades?

[aegis]

it has shields.

[Tribulex]

hax wtf.

what ghz on that phenomz?

[Wartender]

IMO you'd probably get just as much (or close) a performance boost by staying on the C2D and getting a multithreaded build that works well and is stable, than to buy a quad core i7 just to use one damn core.

seriously multi-core cpu are so mainstream nowadays, spring needs better MT support.

of course who am i to talk? i'm not devving.

this is of course not meant to undermine your efforts with that zerver, great job with that, but IMO it needs much more attention by lots of devs so it can be the standard executable in spring, so that people can actually take advantage of multi-core cpus

this has been said many times before, i know, but really, it needs to be done.

[zerver]

Indeed C2D+MT > I7+ST in the majority of cases.

IMO MT is stable, but many mods need fixing. MT can never be 100% compatible since it inevitably opens up the possibility of things being executed in a different order than with ST.

I think part of the problem is that mod makers blame MT for being unstable, and the engine makers (me) blame the mods. The truth is no one is right, we must meet somewhere halfway.

[hoijui]

maybe it would help if there was something like a Mod MT tester app/widget, and the same for widgets, or tutorials for what to look for/how to test if a mod/widget is compatible. the optimum would be, if eg SpringDownloader could execute a test for each widget/mod, and show it to the user. as i got it, a tester for a widget could be done relatively easy, eg checking that it does not call certain functions (eg drawing) in certain methods. no idea what mods could do wrong though; the same with their gadgets?

[Wisse]

I like this chart.

I would go for i5-750 and some DX11 GPU from ATI. But I've heard a lot about problems with ATI drivers on linux or with spring, so nVidia might be better option -.-

Mobo has to be from known vendor and it has to have whatever ports you want. Other than that it doesn't rly mater. Also RAM's timings are equally important as clock.

p.s. I didn't read whole thread so I don't know what's been said already.

[Wartender]

perhaps mod makers could talk with engine devs, and a date could be established, where a new engine is released, that has the MT build exclusively, and new versions of most (especially the most popular) mods are released that fix compatibility with the MT build. A sort of mass switch to MT.

i wouldn't know what to do for widgets though...

[aegis]

I like this chart.

doesn't factor in AM2+/DDR2 systems, which end up costing less but still performing very well

[ScarySquirrel]

The AMD processor nearest the i5 750 in performance cost only about $15 less than my current choice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

The upgrade path for the comparable AMD processor/chipset combo is uncertain, however.

I plan to replace the processor for this in about three or four years with an i7 or something, and I could not find any gaurantee of a similar option for the amd Phenom x4.

I have been reading what you are saying about the uselessness of multiple cores for Spring. According to Passmark, however, the quad core i5 750 greatly outperforms such dual core processors as the i3 540, a link to which follows:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

Here's a link to the Passmark results:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

Also, I have carefully researched both the present and future costs of the i5 750 system, and this page agrees with me that I can get the best system performance for the money with a i5 750: http://techreport.com/articles.x/18448/17
Also, aegis, considering that I plan to upgrade this frequently, DDR2 is out of the question.

Any thoughts?

By the way, aegis, I don't know if it was you or AF, but if you were the one who made the dynamic soundtrack changer widget, I thank you greatly. Fave widget of all time.

[ScarySquirrel]

Thanks for all of your insight. All of my initial questions have been answered here, and most of the new questions those raised have been answered, too.

The other two fora I posted in gave me a grand total of 2 replies, in all.

Without you guys and my computer-building addict friend I would probably still be poring over benchmarks and agonizing over dual monitor support.

I'm currently taking the plunge and making purchases from Newegg.com, TigerDirect, and google shopping now.

I will edit my first post to show my changes to the build.

Time to cross my finders and hope that I have found the right parts for Spring and my budget.

CA-Spring Mod + Epic.sd7 + 32 player FFA + slider bars all to the right, here I come, at last! Nobody disillusion me now...

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