Emirate xaaron

Age/Occupation/Location?

31/ full time sales / UK.

How long have you been a member of Guru3D forums?

Only just joined after a recommendation.

What did you first come here for?

Drivers and tips on graphics card issues and performance.

What do you mainly use the system for?

Gaming and a small amount of multimedia.

How much did you spend on the rig?

£1,100 approx.

How often do you update/buy a new rig?

Whenever I feel the need to. At the mo I’m just making small changes but eventually I'll build a whole new system and this will probably be my backup system.

What components are used?

AMD Athlon64 3000+ socket 754
DFI LanParty UT nForce3 250Gb
Nanya 1GB PC3200
XFX geforce 6800GT
Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS
Lite-on DVD-ROM
NEC DVDRW 3500a  
Samsung 160gb SATA
Standard floppy drive
Logitech internet pro keyboard and Logitech mx510 mouse
Logitech x-530 5.1 speakers
Hiper Type R 480w PSU
Antec P160 case with window
Philips 170s 17” TFT monitor
Windows XP Home SP2

Why ATI or NVIDIA, why Intel/AMD?

Apart from a 9800 Pro that I had I’ve always used Nvidia cards and I’m happy with the performance I’ve had from them. As for the CPU, I used Intel for a while and fancied trying an AMD 64 and have been very impressed so far.

Does the system work as expected?

Yeah I’d say so. I think I could squeeze more performance if I wanted to, but while I have air cooling I don’t want to push it. Once I install water cooling then I’ll have fun getting more from it.

What's the best part of your rig?

I love my Antec P160 case and I’m chuffed how good a job I have done with the cables inside. I’m still very pleased with my 6800GT and haven’t come across a reason to change it.

What sucks and should not have been bought?

Nothing really sucks as such, but I guess I should have gone for socket 939 which was just starting to come out when I bought the socket 754 setup. Saying that it works as well as some socket 939 versions that people I know have. The monitor isn’t the best I could have bought but it will do until I get a decent DVI 19” monitor at some point.

Modified cases/video cards/other? Did you do it yourself? Walk us through it.

Without sounding too standard, I have only added a window door to the case and a couple blue lights. I did however spray the drives silver to complete the front of the case, and I plan to change the cooler on the 6800 GT. The whole computer was built by myself.

3DMark scores?

3Dmark03: 11,132
3Dmark05:  5, 288

Future upgrades?

It’s going to be a while before I change, but when I do I’ll change the whole lot and go for whatever the current socket is at the time and PCI-Express. Until then I’m gonna put an Athlon 64 3700+ in to boost it a bit more. I’m thinking of putting an extra 512MB RAM in as well as water cooling, and a new DVI equipped 19” TFT monitor is on the cards.