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Viewing by Category: Gaming / Main
May 12, 2008
Pics of the new gaming rig
Finally got around to taking some pics of The Ultimate Gaming Rig Reloaded. It is my three year refresh of The Original Dream Machine.
I've only had it a few days and had some driver issues to get sorted, so I haven't gamed a great deal. But the games I've played so far run awesome. I wouldn't call it a "Crysis Killer", but it can play it very well. It's pulling 18127 on 3DMark06.
I've only had it a few days and had some driver issues to get sorted, so I haven't gamed a great deal. But the games I've played so far run awesome. I wouldn't call it a "Crysis Killer", but it can play it very well. It's pulling 18127 on 3DMark06.
April 7, 2008 The Ultimate Gaming Rig Reloaded
It's been 3 years since I built my ultimate gaming rig, so it was getting to be time for a refresh. Building your own system brings a certain feeling of satisfaction, but can be a real pain, particularly if you decide to liquid cool. With that in mind, I had been researching boutique builders for awhile looking for the best set of parts at a great price for building. My thought was if I could get someone else to build it for pretty much the same price as the parts, that I'd rather let someone else do it.
I'd been putting off a new system for as long as possible, but had to quit putting it off because my system drive is showing signs of failure (again). This is the second time in the last 6 months that I've had to replace the system drive and reload everything, so I decided that I might as well go ahead and start over.
So I ultimately decided on the Digital Storm Desktop 57769. Here is what I bought...
System Configuration:
I'd been putting off a new system for as long as possible, but had to quit putting it off because my system drive is showing signs of failure (again). This is the second time in the last 6 months that I've had to replace the system drive and reload everything, so I decided that I might as well go ahead and start over.
So I ultimately decided on the Digital Storm Desktop 57769. Here is what I bought...
System Configuration:
| Case: | Digital Storm 950Si (Black Anodized Aluminum Finish) |
| Power Supply: | 1000W SilverStone Strider (Dual SLI Compatible) (Model: ST1000) (Silent) |
| Processor: | Intel Core 2 Quad QX9650 Extreme 3.00GHz (1333MHz FSB) (12MB Cache) |
| Motherboard: | nVidia 790i Ultra Core 2 Quad (nForce 790i Ultra SLI) |
| Memory: | 4GB DDR3 Corsair at 1333MHz |
| Video Card: | nVidia GeForce 9800GX2 1GB |
| Hard Drive 1: | 150GB Western Digital Raptor (10K RPM) (16MB Cache) (SATA) |
| Hard Drive 2: | 500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA) |
| Optical Drive 1: | DVD-ROM/CD-ROM (DVD Reader 16x / CD Reader 40x) |
| Optical Drive 2: | DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x) |
| Sound Card: | Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer |
| Cooling: | Liquid Chilled FrostBite CPU Only (Blood Red Liquid) |
| Case Lighting: | Blizzard Internal Lighting (Red Edition) (Cold Cathode Tubes) |
| Round Cables: | Enhanced Interior Air Flow (Optical Drive & Floppy Cables (Black Cables) |
| Windows OS: | Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (64-Bit Edition) |
| Overclock Processor: | Yes, Overclock the processor as much as possible with complete stability |
November 10, 2006 New Gaming Toy: Nvidia 8800 GTX
Most of the PC gaming community has been been eagerly awaiting the first DirectX 10 cards to start shipping. That wait is over with the arrival of the Nvidia 8800 GTX card, which started shipping yesterday.
All of the initial reviews have been stellar. The 3DMark 2006 scores have been consistently 2.5 times better than what I bench with my current setup of 2 7800 GTX cards in SLI. Pretty amazing that their new single card so thoroughly dominates a pair of year and a half old cards that were bleeding edge when I bought them.
Needless to say, I ordered a new 8800 GTX last night and eagerly await its arrival. When it arrives and I get it installed, I'll be sure to post my benchmark results.
All of the initial reviews have been stellar. The 3DMark 2006 scores have been consistently 2.5 times better than what I bench with my current setup of 2 7800 GTX cards in SLI. Pretty amazing that their new single card so thoroughly dominates a pair of year and a half old cards that were bleeding edge when I bought them.
Needless to say, I ordered a new 8800 GTX last night and eagerly await its arrival. When it arrives and I get it installed, I'll be sure to post my benchmark results.
October 31, 2006 Battlefield 2142 Server
Curtis got the Battlefield 2142 Server up ahead of schedule. It is now available to the public for unranked play.
Game synopsis:
The year is 2142 and the dawn of a new Ice age has thrown the world into a panic. The soil not covered by ice can only feed a fraction of the Earth's population. The math is simple and brutal: some will live, most will die.
In Battlefield 2142, players choose to fight for one of two military superpowers - the European Union or the newly formed Pan Asian Coalition -in an epic battle for survival.
Armed with a devastating arsenal of hi-tech weaponry, including assault rifles, cloaking devices and sentry guns, players will also take control of the most lethal vehicles known to man. Massive Battle Walkers wage fierce combat on the ground, while futuristic aircraft rule the skies. When taking on this futuristic armor players will need to use their wits and an arsenal of new hi-tech countermeasures like EMP grenades and smart mines to level the playing field. 
Game synopsis:
The year is 2142 and the dawn of a new Ice age has thrown the world into a panic. The soil not covered by ice can only feed a fraction of the Earth's population. The math is simple and brutal: some will live, most will die.
In Battlefield 2142, players choose to fight for one of two military superpowers - the European Union or the newly formed Pan Asian Coalition -in an epic battle for survival.
Armed with a devastating arsenal of hi-tech weaponry, including assault rifles, cloaking devices and sentry guns, players will also take control of the most lethal vehicles known to man. Massive Battle Walkers wage fierce combat on the ground, while futuristic aircraft rule the skies. When taking on this futuristic armor players will need to use their wits and an arsenal of new hi-tech countermeasures like EMP grenades and smart mines to level the playing field.
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October 31, 2006 F.E.A.R. Combat Server
Now that the server is built and in the datacenter, Curtis and I have started hosting online games. Our first foray into this arena is a F.E.A.R. Combat server.
F.E.A.R. Combat is the free multiplayer version of the popular commercial game, which can be downloaded here.
I played for awhile last night and the server was extremely responsive even with a full load of 8 players. So feel free to download your free copy and join us. We'll be putting up a Battlefield 2142 server in a few days too. 
F.E.A.R. Combat is the free multiplayer version of the popular commercial game, which can be downloaded here.
I played for awhile last night and the server was extremely responsive even with a full load of 8 players. So feel free to download your free copy and join us. We'll be putting up a Battlefield 2142 server in a few days too.
June 6, 2006 Battlefield 2: Armored Fury Released!
Looks like my layoff from the battlefield has finally come to an end, with the release of the Armored Fury Booster Pack for BF2.
I'd been taking a break from Battlefield 2 after being in the throes of addiction for several months. The Euro Force Booster Pack was a big disappointment to me (and many in the BF2 community) due to having no decent city maps and being so armor-centric. You'd think that Armored Fury would be very armor-centric as well, but with the addition of the A-10 tank buster it shouldn't be an issue. The new maps are U.S. based as well (for the first time). I've also been looking forward to the "little bird" scout helicopter, as my helo skills are getting pretty mad.
The booster is available for download now, so you can guess how my evening will be spent...
I'd been taking a break from Battlefield 2 after being in the throes of addiction for several months. The Euro Force Booster Pack was a big disappointment to me (and many in the BF2 community) due to having no decent city maps and being so armor-centric. You'd think that Armored Fury would be very armor-centric as well, but with the addition of the A-10 tank buster it shouldn't be an issue. The new maps are U.S. based as well (for the first time). I've also been looking forward to the "little bird" scout helicopter, as my helo skills are getting pretty mad.
The booster is available for download now, so you can guess how my evening will be spent...
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May 8, 2006 The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
A new game has dislodged Battlefield 2 as my top time-waster - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Oblivion is the latest in the Elder Scrolls series of Fantasy Role-Playing Games (RPG's)and a signficant upgrade in visuals and A.I. I've been a fan of the series since the first iteration, The Elder Scrolls: Arena, which was a DOS-based game that shipped on like eleven or so floppy disks. God forbid that one of those disks was bad... For a limited time they are giving away the original version here.
I'll likely play Oblivion all the way through and then head back to Battlefield 2 when the Armored Fury Booster Pack comes out. Then on to Enemy Territory: Quake Wars when that comes out. So many games, so little time...
I'll likely play Oblivion all the way through and then head back to Battlefield 2 when the Armored Fury Booster Pack comes out. Then on to Enemy Territory: Quake Wars when that comes out. So many games, so little time...
March 15, 2006 Battlefield 2: Euro Force is here!EA released the long-awaited Battlefield 2 booster pack Euro Force yesterday. It contains three new maps, one new army, seven new weapons and 4 new vehicles. I haven't played enough to have a solid opinion of it, but at this point I like the army, weapons and vehicles and am tepid about the maps. It can take awhile for maps to grow on you, so I'll keep my jury out on them. But for 10 bucks I'm sure that I won't end up with buyers remorse.
There is another booster pack coming out: "Armored Fury" which I'm stoked about because it includes that A-10 Warthog tank killer.
The nifty cover art below is from Team AWG.
February 21, 2006 After the 8000'th point, Shawn rested.
I finally broke 8000 points on Battlefield 2 last night which brought the rank of Gunnery Sergeant. It *only* took 97 hours. Whew! During that period of time I've racked up 2500+ kills (with 3600 deaths) and 169 wins (with 217 losses). My stats are on the rise lately, mainly just due to learning the ropes. When I first started it wasn't uncommon to die at least two or three times for every kill. Now it is uncommon for me to have more deaths than kills, but it takes awhile for your overall numbers to balance out. Wins/losses are another matter. My stats are improving there, but it is difficult when you play on public servers all the time. You often are at the mercy of team members who are often much worse than you are. And if you see that the other team consists of mulitple "clan members" (guys who play together regularly, not the hooded type) it usally means you're going to be on the losing end of a whipping. Lately I've been playing more of Battlefield 2: Special Forces than the vanilla BF2 and am eagerly awaiting the new Euroforce booster pack.
Below are screenshots of my player stats and ribbons.
Below are screenshots of my player stats and ribbons.
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October 13, 2005 The addiction: Battlefield 2
When I built the ultimate gaming rig it was a response to a birthday gift from my mom of Battlefield 2, which didn't have a prayer of running on the old PC. But after building the rig, the game that kept me up late was Half Life 2 with its awesome ragdoll physics and engaging single-player campaign. After completing HL2, it was time for a new diversion. I played a bit of BF2 in single player mode and thought it was ok. Great graphics, better AI than the previous Battlefield iterations (BF 1942, BF Vietnam), but sort of "same old". Then came the day I started playing in multiplayer mode online...
Games that have single-player and multiplayer modes are complete split personalities. For example, the single-player part of HL2 (and HL) is awesome, very focused on the story and advancing to an end. Multiplayer (deathmatch) couldn't be more different. Basically it is a free-for-all of people running around fragging one another mindlessly. Kind of like the Doom deathmatches of old. Some people really like that kind of play, but I find it to be boring with a quickness. To each their own.
Battlefield 2 is another animal completely. Both single-player and online have objectives-based gameplay, with the big difference being the human element. The bot AI is excellent in single-player but lacks the unpredictability of human opponents. Quality of your opposition varies wildly from game to game. Sometimes you'll go up against a team that has a bunch of lone wolves running around like chickens with their heads cut off with basically no strategy or cohesion. Other times you'll come up against a team that organizes into squads that work together to control objectives. Often they will have a strong commander who uses all available assets (artillery, UAV, supply drops) and commands squads to take/defend control points. When you come up against a group like that it is immediately obvious, because artillery will rain down on your important spawn point within the first seconds of the game and end up with a rout. Usually teams end up being sort of a mixed bag of noobs (new players) and seasoned veterans, with the end result being a protracted (and spirited) battle.
When I first started playing BF2 online it seemed like I couldn't stay alive for more than 15-30 seconds. I quickly found out that running around as a lone wolf is a road to repeated death and frustration. My initial frustration led me to check out some online strategy guides that had great tips to improve your Battlefield proficiency. Now my kills-to-deaths per minute ratio is trending in the correct direction, as has my end of round rankings. I've even started to get some medals and ribbons, which is a nice affirmation of leaving the noob ranks.
My favorite maps in BF2 are the "Strike at Karkand" and "Sharqi Peninsula", which are both city maps. The city maps seem to have more battle intensity than the more open ones. You never know when you'll round a corner and get mowed down, or get picked off by a distant sniper on some rooftop. The buildings and streets lead to close quarters around many control points which leads to intense firefights time after time.
My favorite kits (classes) are Special Forces and Anti-Tank. Special Forces players do the sneaking around blowing up the enemy assets (artillery, UAV, supplies) with satchels of C4 explosives. This can make or break a battle since you can take away the eyes and long reach of an enemy commander. Anti-tank players run around with rockets that can be used to take out tanks and other enemy vehicles. Tanks might take 3 shots to destroy, while APC's & Humvees can be blown up with a single rocket.
Here is a review which has more details. That's what's keeping me up late nights...
Games that have single-player and multiplayer modes are complete split personalities. For example, the single-player part of HL2 (and HL) is awesome, very focused on the story and advancing to an end. Multiplayer (deathmatch) couldn't be more different. Basically it is a free-for-all of people running around fragging one another mindlessly. Kind of like the Doom deathmatches of old. Some people really like that kind of play, but I find it to be boring with a quickness. To each their own.
Battlefield 2 is another animal completely. Both single-player and online have objectives-based gameplay, with the big difference being the human element. The bot AI is excellent in single-player but lacks the unpredictability of human opponents. Quality of your opposition varies wildly from game to game. Sometimes you'll go up against a team that has a bunch of lone wolves running around like chickens with their heads cut off with basically no strategy or cohesion. Other times you'll come up against a team that organizes into squads that work together to control objectives. Often they will have a strong commander who uses all available assets (artillery, UAV, supply drops) and commands squads to take/defend control points. When you come up against a group like that it is immediately obvious, because artillery will rain down on your important spawn point within the first seconds of the game and end up with a rout. Usually teams end up being sort of a mixed bag of noobs (new players) and seasoned veterans, with the end result being a protracted (and spirited) battle.
When I first started playing BF2 online it seemed like I couldn't stay alive for more than 15-30 seconds. I quickly found out that running around as a lone wolf is a road to repeated death and frustration. My initial frustration led me to check out some online strategy guides that had great tips to improve your Battlefield proficiency. Now my kills-to-deaths per minute ratio is trending in the correct direction, as has my end of round rankings. I've even started to get some medals and ribbons, which is a nice affirmation of leaving the noob ranks.
My favorite maps in BF2 are the "Strike at Karkand" and "Sharqi Peninsula", which are both city maps. The city maps seem to have more battle intensity than the more open ones. You never know when you'll round a corner and get mowed down, or get picked off by a distant sniper on some rooftop. The buildings and streets lead to close quarters around many control points which leads to intense firefights time after time.
My favorite kits (classes) are Special Forces and Anti-Tank. Special Forces players do the sneaking around blowing up the enemy assets (artillery, UAV, supplies) with satchels of C4 explosives. This can make or break a battle since you can take away the eyes and long reach of an enemy commander. Anti-tank players run around with rockets that can be used to take out tanks and other enemy vehicles. Tanks might take 3 shots to destroy, while APC's & Humvees can be blown up with a single rocket.
Here is a review which has more details. That's what's keeping me up late nights...
June 30, 2005 The benchmarks are in...
I was curious to see exactly how fast the new gaming rig is so I downloaded Futuremark 3DMark (2001,2003,2005). Here are the numbers:
Needless to say, it was pretty impressive. When I did comparisons against other benchmarks in their database the only systems with better scores were seriously overclocked and watercooled. I haven't gotten around to overclocking yet, but with scores like it puts up without it, why bother.
| Benchmark | SLI Disabled | SLI Enabled |
| 3DMark 2001 | 27419 | 30086 |
| 3DMark 2003 | 16997 | 27882 |
| 3DMark 2005 | 7886 | 11755 |
Needless to say, it was pretty impressive. When I did comparisons against other benchmarks in their database the only systems with better scores were seriously overclocked and watercooled. I haven't gotten around to overclocking yet, but with scores like it puts up without it, why bother.
June 30, 2005 ...and the ecstasy
After getting over the painful parts it was time to get on with the gaming, which is why I went through the pain to begin with. My old system just didn't have the horsepower for the newest 3D games (Half Life 2, Battlefield 2, Far Cry, Doom 3), but this new rig cuts through them like butter.
I'd read all of the reviews and was quite excited to actually be able to play some of the games with steep hardware requirements at their highest settings. All of them looked amazing and played with nary a hitch in SLI and non-SLI modes.
I only had a couple of hours to play so here are my first impressions:
Half Life 2 was the best of the bunch for gameplay. Absolutely addictive. No slouch on graphics either and didn't make me feel motion sickness (as reported by other users) "Valve Steam " is kind of a pain, but not as much as I'd heard.
Battlefield 2 is the newest of the bunch. Same fun gameplay as Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield Vietnam, with much better graphics and physics. Only annoying point was how hard it was to hit anything. Guess they are opting for realism over pure fun. Maybe there is a setting to make hitting something easier...
Far Cry is one I've been coveting for awhile from afar because my old system was incapable of playing it at all. It is the king of steep hardware requirements, but the new system crushed it with no problem. Didn't play for very long, but the graphics are awesome. I'll get back to this one after vacation.
Doom 3 is one I've had for awhile but could only play on the lowest graphic setting on my old box. The new box was able to run it at maximum settings with no problems. The difference between low and highest graphic settings is like night and day. Like the difference between VHS and DVD or cable and HDTV. Extremely realistic.
I also loaded up some of my older games Battlefield Vietnam, Medal of Honor (Allied and Pacific Assault + all expansion packs), and Star Wars Battlefront. It crushed all of them at highest settings. Once I get through the newer games I'll get back to these old friends for a replay.
So many games, so little time...
I'd read all of the reviews and was quite excited to actually be able to play some of the games with steep hardware requirements at their highest settings. All of them looked amazing and played with nary a hitch in SLI and non-SLI modes.
I only had a couple of hours to play so here are my first impressions:
Half Life 2 was the best of the bunch for gameplay. Absolutely addictive. No slouch on graphics either and didn't make me feel motion sickness (as reported by other users) "Valve Steam " is kind of a pain, but not as much as I'd heard.
Battlefield 2 is the newest of the bunch. Same fun gameplay as Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield Vietnam, with much better graphics and physics. Only annoying point was how hard it was to hit anything. Guess they are opting for realism over pure fun. Maybe there is a setting to make hitting something easier...
Far Cry is one I've been coveting for awhile from afar because my old system was incapable of playing it at all. It is the king of steep hardware requirements, but the new system crushed it with no problem. Didn't play for very long, but the graphics are awesome. I'll get back to this one after vacation.
Doom 3 is one I've had for awhile but could only play on the lowest graphic setting on my old box. The new box was able to run it at maximum settings with no problems. The difference between low and highest graphic settings is like night and day. Like the difference between VHS and DVD or cable and HDTV. Extremely realistic.
I also loaded up some of my older games Battlefield Vietnam, Medal of Honor (Allied and Pacific Assault + all expansion packs), and Star Wars Battlefront. It crushed all of them at highest settings. Once I get through the newer games I'll get back to these old friends for a replay.
So many games, so little time...
June 30, 2005 The agony...
Spent the last couple of days going through the ups and downs of building your own ultimate dream gaming PC.
Chronology:
Monday - Curtis came over and we worked until after midnight putting together all of the hardware and doing the base installs.
Tuesday evening I worked all night on installing as much of the software as humanly possible.
Wednesday morning - Houston, we have a problem. Woke up to find a nasty XP "serious system recovery error message" and a funny clicking sound emanating from what the hard drive array. Go for a reboot and the thing won't even POST. Started pulling hard drives one at a time to determine the culprit, while hoping that it isn't the MOBO or RAID Controller causing the issue. Turns out to be one of the drives in the RAID 0 (mirrored) array has up and died on me. Thankfully it wasn't one of the drives in the RAID 1 (striped) array, since that would have meant a total rebuild/reinstall. Disconnected the offending drive and things started working like clockwork again. A replacement (actually 2) drive is on its way overnight FedEx. I'll try to put it in before vacation.
Chronology:
Monday - Curtis came over and we worked until after midnight putting together all of the hardware and doing the base installs.
Tuesday evening I worked all night on installing as much of the software as humanly possible.
Wednesday morning - Houston, we have a problem. Woke up to find a nasty XP "serious system recovery error message" and a funny clicking sound emanating from what the hard drive array. Go for a reboot and the thing won't even POST. Started pulling hard drives one at a time to determine the culprit, while hoping that it isn't the MOBO or RAID Controller causing the issue. Turns out to be one of the drives in the RAID 0 (mirrored) array has up and died on me. Thankfully it wasn't one of the drives in the RAID 1 (striped) array, since that would have meant a total rebuild/reinstall. Disconnected the offending drive and things started working like clockwork again. A replacement (actually 2) drive is on its way overnight FedEx. I'll try to put it in before vacation.
June 22, 2005 Ultimate Gaming Rig
After years of unrequited desire for the ultimate gaming computer, I've made the plunge. I'd been planning a new rig for awhile and had been waiting for a few technologies to firm up (SLI, SATA2). Now they have, so it's time for an upgrade. I've always taken shortcuts in buying new systems and decided not to this time. Rather than going to one of the big boys of gaming machines (Alienware, Voodoo, Falcon Northwest, ABS, Velocity Micro), I bought all of the bleeding-edge parts and will put it together myself (with assistance from some very skilled colleagues). The specs are below. If you tried to buy a rig from one of the aforementioned companies it would run you anywhere from 6-10k. By doing it myself, it comes in under 5k. I was fortunate enough to catch this on the right day and get a pair of GeForce 7800 GTX cards, which just started shipping today. Otherwise I would have been a generation of video cards behind already. Tragic;)
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Eric