Building new PC - A question those who know

[zii]

Thinking of putting a PC together primarily for playing NC, and BP when it appears. The PC world has moved on since I first put an 386/40Mhz, 16Mb RAM, and a 10Mb hard disc into an IBM PS2 case so tech is new to me.

Current system is a notebook (Core Duo 2.16 T2600 and a 64Mb nVidia 7400 card) which gives NC 90fps when char is standing still facing a wall and about 60 fps when standing still watching action in p2, and bounces between 20 and 70 when actually PVPing.

Thus I think I shall head down this path : How well does this fair?


Motherboard: Zotac H55-ITX-WiFi Socket LGA1156 Mini-ITX (max 89watts)
CPU: Core i3 probanly i3-530 or i3-540
GPU: nVidia GT 240 (max 300watts about)
Disc: 32Gb 2.5" SSD (disc only used for WXP install plus games)
Case: Silvertech SG06 (mini-itx case)
PSU: Silvertech ST45SF (450Watt)


regards,z

[pottburter]

> Disc: 32Gb 2.5" SSD (disc only used for WXP install plus games)

You do realize, that on this SSD you can use only about 20Gb without draining on performance and life-time?
It's recommended to fill SSDs only up tp 60-70% so it has enough free space to re-arange used (and freed) blocks.

Also look for a SSD with Trimming function as it greatly increases speed and life-time.

As for the OS you might want to consider Win7 as several players reported they had no FRE nor SYNC since upgrading to Win7.
(Maybe it's just plain luck, but it's not only me having this impression, search the forum)

hf

[zii]

Win7. No chance. My weapon of choice is OpenBSD... The only reason I use WinXP is to run NC on. Sometimes I run NC from Linux as well. The meer thought of sending Redwood any money makes me walk into parked cars. My WXP was given to me some time ago.

SSD - I did not know this and shall investigate further. I just checked my WXP partition and its 20Gb. With NC and Photoshop installed (this is all there is) I have 3Gb left. Even MLC SSDs are not cheap hence the thought of 32Gb. The drive I have in mind has Trimming, and is available in 64Gb versions, but I only play NC, and will play the BP beta when available. This is all.

[pottburter]

> Disc: 32Gb 2.5" SSD (disc only used for WXP install plus games)
> My weapon of choice is OpenBSD... The only reason I use WinXP is to run NC on.

Honestly, in this case I would drop the SSD at all at just go with a normal drive.
You can get decent results on a SATA 2 as well and if it's only for playing 2 games...

Imho. you would be better off taking the money saved on the drive and invest it in a better GPU.

[zii]

Would love to add a better GPU, but there is a space and power supply restiction on the box. Has to look pleasing to the eye in the lounge as stipulated by wife, which means a mini-ITX ( H55 ) motherboard, a 450w PSU inside one of these diminutive cases:

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=SG06&area=usa

The GF240 pulls 300Watt max. While the higher ones pull more power and are too high to place into the case and have clearance for some of the CPU fans/cooler thingies.

Will drop the SSD. Have a SATA 320Mb lying around - It'll cut the cost down.

Final step is to locate a keyboard that it as good as my Vaio SZ keyboard for playing on. This is the hard part.