May 2012 Setup of the Month

[Tambourine]

I'm curious to see if anyone has tried out the Puppy version of May's Setup of the Month, in the post "Fishing: The Anglers, Blue Posts, Setup of the Month, Poll". I want to buy the components myself once I have the money, but I want to know of others' experiences with it - how long did it take to set up, how loud it is, what resolutions work well with the 22 inch screen, how well it plays games like WoW or Diablo 3, and really anything else interesting about it.

[noteworthynerd]

I haven't built the computer myself, but I can answer your questions regardless:

how long did it take to set up

Components don't really affect assembly time unless you're doing something uncommon like a water cooling loop. It basically comes down to how much experience you have. If you've never built a PC, or have only built a few, it'll likely take you hours, and that's okay... It's better to take your time than to rush it and mess something up. llDemonll has a pretty nice guide to follow here: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-in-9.75-Steps

how loud it is

I guess if I had to compare it to something, I'd probably compare it to a table fan set to medium. All-in-all, it isn't too loud.

what resolutions work well with the 22 inch screen

The monitor's native resolution is 1920x1080 (aka 1080p).

how well it plays games like WoW or Diablo 3

The CPU in the puppy build is not the greatest, if you can afford it, I'd buy the CPU and motherboard from the Dolphin build and the rest of the components from the Puppy build. If you do that, it'll handle games like WoW and D3 on high just fine at 1080p in intense areas (like 25 man raids). If you stick with the pure Puppy build, it will probably handle medium ok.

really anything else interesting about it

Not really, the Puppy build is a pretty run-of-the-mill budget gaming rig.

[Tambourine]

Thanks for the reply, your advice is much appreciated. Two more questions: can that Puppy video card handle 1080p, and do I have to worry about exceeding the limits of the Puppy PSU wattage?

Edit: "Mix and match anything but the CPU/Motherboard combo between Puppy and Dolphin." This quote from the Setup of the Month conflicts with your advice as I understood it, so what should I do about that? And the Dolphin CPU is only a dual core - what's up with that, especially since the Puppy CPU is a quad core?

[inux94]

The puppy video card will run WoW and D3 absolutely fine (with no shadows and no AA on WoW), I've got the Phenom X4 955 series which runs WoW at high with shadows turned off with 40-50 FPS, I don't do raids so I can't comment on that.

[DeltrusDisc]

Edit: "Mix and match anything but the CPU/Motherboard combo between Puppy and Dolphin." This quote from the Setup of the Month conflicts with your advice as I understood it, so what should I do about that? And the Dolphin CPU is only a dual core - what's up with that, especially since the Puppy CPU is a quad core?

Linking the bloody post to make things easier: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...the-Month-Poll

The way Nerd and chaud mean, is don't mix the AMD CPU of the puppy build with the Intel Mobo from Dolphin, or vice versa.

The Dolphin CPU also has HT, so technically it's a 2 core but has 4 threads, however it is newer technology and thus, its 2 cores will handle WoW far more efficiently than the Phenom X4.

---------- Post added 2012-05-14 at 05:23 AM ----------

The puppy video card will run WoW and D3 absolutely fine (with no shadows and no AA on WoW), I've got the Phenom X4 955 series which runs WoW at high with shadows turned off with 40-50 FPS, I don't do raids so I can't comment on that.

Last I checked, the shadows and AA had next to nothing to do with the GPU, as they are far more CPU-intensive tasks.

[inux94]

Ah, I thought the shadows were impacting the GPU, sorry for that

[DeltrusDisc]

If Blizzard could code WoW to make GPUs handle things like that, you might just see some real FPS increases with a good GPU.

[Tambourine]

Thanks for your replies. Sorry about the lack of links, I don't believe I can post links yet. I tried it in the OP and was not allowed to do so.

So when I put the Dolphin mobo and CPU with the Puppy build, I don't have to worry about any other compatibility issues? What if I wanted a step up from the Dolphin CPU and got an i5? I saw on a review thread that the i5 2500 has no HT - will that then be a waste of my money, seeing as the i3 in the Dolphin setup is technically a quad core when you factor in HT?

Edit: And possibly more importantly, how do I make sure that all of these things are within the 500W budget of the PSU, especially if I'm making editions to the recommended setups?

[DeltrusDisc]

4 real cores is better than 2 cores running 4 threads, but if you could afford an i5-2500K for instance, then I would definitely leap for it. They can be had for amounts ranging from $170 to $200 now! For their strength, they are beasts for that price.

No issue on the link, NWN should have posted it! ^_<

[Tambourine]

Yeah I've been checking them out, I might try to get one. Does anyone know if there's a way I can make sure I'm within my PSU wattage budget? I've tried looking at specs for the items I'm getting but can't recall seeing anything about how much power they use.

[DeltrusDisc]

An i5-2500K and 6770 will suck up very little wattage. 500 watts is plenty.

[yaru]

Im sorry, Im new to this site, if i replied in the wrong area forgive me. but it says do not mix and match up the CPU and MB combo, so can i take a dolphins CPU and MB with the puppys existing components?

[DeltrusDisc]

Im sorry, Im new to this site, if i replied in the wrong area forgive me. but it says do not mix and match up the CPU and MB combo, so can i take a dolphins CPU and MB with the puppys existing components?

Take CPU+Mobo from Dolphin, combine with components from Puppy, yes, that is okay.