What's your gaming rig?

[Charnel]

1) Rig type?

Desktop running Windows XP Pro SP3
PSU = Enermax MODU82+ 625W
Mainboard = MSI P4N Diamond

2) Processor?

Pentium 4 660 @ 3.6 GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz FSB

3) Graphics card?

MSI 9800 GTX+, 512 MB GDDR3, factory overclocked to 760 MHz core, 1880 MHz shader, 2300 MHz memory

4) RAM? Hard drive?

RAM = 2 x 1GB Crucial DDR2 PC5300 @5-5-5-15 timings
HDD = 2 x 74GB WD Raptor SATA1.5 in RAID 0 for OS and game installs
1 x 160GB WD Caviar SATA3 for data storage
Monitor = Samsung SyncMaster 245BW, 16:10 aspect, native resolution 1920x1200

5) Benchmarks?

Never benchmarked. I do most of my gaming at monitor's native resolution and if the game gets too laggy then I'll turn down quality levels instead of resolution. Someone mentioned the burning and battling Vizima level of The Witcher though and I do recall my rig getting herky-jerky in that portion of the game. It runs Mass Effect fairly well at native rez and high detail settings.

When I built this rig back in late 2005 it was pretty good. The only thing I upgraded since originally build were the PSU and video card. But it's getting kind of long in the tooth now and I plan on replacing all components except for the video card next month.

[Tricky]

Shaders have megahertz now?

[Loki[D.d.G]]

Interestingly enough, graphics cards have three different clock rates. Core, shader and memory. Though the ones that really govern performance are the core and memory. I think.

[penguin_king]

im getting in 2 weeks:

Desktop.
Intel Core 2 duo 2.8GHz
Acer 9500gt 1GB graphics card
4GB kingston RAM
500GB HDD

sorry, dont know many of the specifics, but im new to the whole PC gaming thing.

[Loki[D.d.G]]

If money is not an issue, you could do better with both the processor and GPU. A Core 2 Duo E8400 or E8500 and a GTX card would do wonders for the future gaming life of your new rig.

[penguin_king]

i would go for higher end parts, but money really is an issue. my parents are buying it for my birthday (less than 2 weeks away yay) and im building it myself and then i can upgrade it as i can afford to.

[DesR85]

Quote:

Originally Posted by penguin_king im getting in 2 weeks: Desktop. Intel Core 2 duo 2.8GHz Acer 9500gt 1GB graphics card 4GB kingston RAM 500GB HDD sorry, dont know many of the specifics, but im new to the whole PC gaming thing.

Not a bad rig. Your processor is much better than mine (2.33Ghz). Most games should run fine with this configuration.

[penguin_king]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesR85 Not a bad rig. Your processor is much better than mine (2.33Ghz). Most games should run fine with this configuration.

some of the higher-end games reccomend 3Ghz, but once ive got a bit of spare cash im gonna bump up the cooling and overclock it to about 3.2, not too far, just enough to run most (if not any) games smoothly

[Loki[D.d.G]]

Quote:

Originally Posted by penguin_king some of the higher-end games reccomend 3Ghz, but once ive got a bit of spare cash im gonna bump up the cooling and overclock it to about 3.2, not too far, just enough to run most (if not any) games smoothly

I'm sure you are aware of the dangers of OCing?

[penguin_king]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loki[D.d.G] I'm sure you are aware of the dangers of OCing?

yeah, thats why im not pushing it too far past its stock speed. just enough to get what i want.

[Loki[D.d.G]]

Quote:

Originally Posted by penguin_king yeah, thats why im not pushing it too far past its stock speed. just enough to get what i want.

Not only that, OCing will void most manufacturers warranties.

[penguin_king]

oh that, yeah i know lol. but the individual parts are all pretty cheap so it wont be much of a fuss to replace a processor or motherboard etc.