Finally, after about 5-6 years, I have managed to build one of the most bad ass systems I could afford, and finally I'll be able to play counter strike with max fps possible. Currently I'm only getting about 10-15 fps, with some as low as 5. Here was my setup.

ASUS P5VD1-X Motherboard, with max 4x pcie bus speed, yuck.
Intel 2.8 Pentium D, Dual Core (OC'd to 3.0).
NVIDIA GEForce 8400GS. (this will be in the new system for now)
2x 512 MB DDR 3200
1x WD RAPTOR 10000 RPM 38gb
1x WD VELOCIRAPTOR 10000 RPM 300gb
Creative Labs X-FI Xtreme
600W Antec PSU 2x 12v Rails

Now, the new system will be...

ASUS RAMPAGE II EXTREME $399.00
INTEL i7 Extreme 8 core 3.2ghz 6.4 GT/S $1026.00
3x 2GB (6GB) DDR3 Corsair 1600 mhZ 8-8-8-24. 1.65V DOMINATOR $279
PCIE XFI Fata1ity 7.1 Sound Card (came with rampage)
Keeping the Hard Drives and Video Card. (cost for all three about $600)
ANTEC 1200 Case. $174
TAGAN 1300w with 6x 12v Rails. $200


The parts will be here at my apartment today, and I'll be putting the system together. I can't wait to boot her up. If anyone is curious how much the parts are i added them to the side of the part. I think most of the internal components altogether ran almost 3 to 3½k. It's definately an enthusiast machine, but we'll see how it goes. I'll benchmark it today or tomorrow and see what we get and post the results. No more 10 fps CSS.

Holy F**k, WHY?!?!

I mean it would be quite cool to have one, but 1k for a processor that will never be able to be used to its real potential until the price drops down to $200, I have a quad core at the moment and NOTHING that I run can bog this thing down. Unless you plan on running some hardcore rendering programs all at once(which your video card wouldn't be able to handle right now), spending that much on an un-needed eight core is just...

well, you now know what one person thinks, If I was in your place I would save a shitload of money and go for a quad core, but it's your money and if you feel there is nothing better to spend your money on than a cpu that will have 4 cores idle at all times, go ahead...

or this could just be that I'm extremely jealous that you can afford such a piece of equipment(your cpu will cost about as much as my current system did) Yellow_Flash_Colorz_PDT_08

actually, you can use a GUI'd program to specify what you want each core to do, so, that eliminates the fact that they'll ever be idle. Keep in mind that none of the extremes really drop down in price unless a new core is released at an extreme version to replace it. I have a feeling that Intel is set for some time.

That's a cool program. I have no use for anything more than dual core right now since all i do is play games and mess with photoshop. I don't think I'll be upgrading for a while, usually every 5 years or so, hopefully by then developers will be incorporating multi-cores in games and otehr progs so we can unleash the true power of our monster machines. By then I'll have a job and if they improve the performance of SLI and Crossfire I may even do that too.

ok, that is pretty cool, but what are you going to be doing on this computer?

He's powering a moon base capable of destroying earth if his demands aren't met by monday!

For the price of your CPU, I built an entire computer that runs CSS at 230+ fps on the stress test. Can you say, "Overkill"?

I want to run CSS with over 100 FPS :(

well since now theres no FSB, that makes it even better. 64 bit compatible running on ddr 3 triple channel. this is great for multitasking, and running some of the programs i use that take advantage of multiple cores like maya, and even bryce. wow uses it too. this is a stable system that i wont need to update for quite some time. i was getting sick and tired of having makeshift systems that couldnt perform. now... im going to run an fps test on cs source at full settings, and see what i get, ill post the results.

no FSB?

not anymore, it has been replaced with an old AMD style bus, called the QPI, quick path interface. removes the fsb completely.

Huh, guess i have to start reading tomshardware again, sounds interesting.

HOLY f!@#king S!#$! Someone with a multi-core thats actually going to USE it!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195055

just so you don't bottleneck your system while running maya and bryce...

but I must say once you get your system I want to see some of the sweet ass renders from bryce, absolutely amazing program

do you use these for a job or just a hobby?

and if I'm starting to sound like I'm being a dick in any of these posts, let me know, as it is not my intention... I'm just curious on your choice of cpu

i use bryce for fun, i tinker around, but mainly, i want to be able to do video, and audio recording/editing. I make alot of music and making losless wav files is a demanding process. i have used a few programs and done some ok work here and there. for me its kind of hit and miss.
recently i did some work with shading, layers, and transparencies in cs2,

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.c ... ID=8327043

yeah vision, definately check out ANYTHING nehalem related dude, you will find out, its simply dominating the entire market. i waited for 3 months to get this thing. funny how once i installed all the new parts it took the load of my video card and boosted wow by 40-50 fps while still using the same gfx card. frames in counter strike went up from 5-10 to 160 graphics on high using latest directx for css. im well sure i could get over 200+ but, id need a better video card, and im still working on that one... thats a battle hard to win. good thing about my board is that it is sli AND crossfire compatible! If you've got any questions or want to take a look at some pictures of the rig ill make some later.

Hey you live in Jensen Beach now? Man if I lived in Jensen I'd be eating at Shakra's every friggin day!!! We used to drive down there every other day just to eat a sub (or two).

actually i dont anymore just havent updated it, i live in texas now :(

wtf you redneck!!!

lol im in the army now man, cant help it.