[Hedworx]

I was in the process of getting a list together of all of the parts that I needed for a new gaming system. I was doing some searching on here and see things like '___ is coming out in a month' and '___ will be coming out the first part of next year'. Now my question is: What products are coming out that would be worth the wait in ordering?

I use several different programs, but I will be building it to handle online gaming. I want to be able to turn the graphics up pretty high without lagging my frame rates. I play Aces High II, Rfactor, Nascar 2003, Call of Duty series, etc..... My budget is in the $2500 range. I will continue to use my current computer, so my new build has to include keyboard, mouse, monitor (which I've already chosen, but have to include in the budget)....

If someone could look at what I have chosen so far, and give me some idea of what to wait for and what is coming out in the near future, it would be appreciated. Also, are there any known compatibility or fitting issues that I would need to look into before buying one of these components?

Case: Antec P182 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811129025
MB: Asus Striker Extreme http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131074
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 750 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817703009
Processor: Inte Core 2 Quad Q6700 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115027
OS: Windows Vista 32 Bit Ultimate
Video: EVGA 8600GTS 512MB http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130286
Audio: Creative Xtreme Fatal1ty Pro Series http://www.newegg.co...N82E16829102005
RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC (2x1GB) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820227231
HD: WD Raptor 150GB 10,000RPM http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136012
HD: WD 250GB 7200RPM http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136055
Drives: (1) LG CD/DVD player (1) LG CD/DVD writer

Thank you.

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Well there is always something new around the corner, its interesting for the septators to watch but can be an annoyance when we want to build.
Coming out by the end of this year, Phenom (AMD new CPU), Penryn (Intels new CPU), the 780i from nVidia (new motherboard/chipset), new mid range GPU's from ATi/AMD.
Intel is likely to release there first round of graphics sometime in the first half of next year, it's very vague at this point when they will come to the market.
While there will be a few Penryn CPU's on the market, they are only going to be the ultra high end, 1000$ CPU's, in January there will be an entire family, ranging from budget to enthusiast.

As for the build you have mentioned above.
Don't buy into a raptor, scrape the two hard drives you listed and purchase a single 750GB or 1000GB drive for similar performance and price, but with a much larger capacity.
Save some money and get the xtremegamer version of the card.
Get the Q6600 over the Q6700 if you plan on overclocking.
Get vista premium, I doubt you'll notice the differences between Ultimate and Premium.
Striker is a waste of money, this board will save you a bit of money.
Then you should have saved enough money to get the 8800GT opposed to the 8600GT, the 8800GT is a significantly better card.

I personally wouldn't order anything any earlier then the 19th of November right now, mid to late January we should see remaining processors be released, but thats a bit of a stretch to wait in my opinion.
Hope this helps
James

edit: fixed a bad link

Edited by james_8970, 12 November 2007 - 10:43 AM.

[james_8970]

Well there is always something new around the corner, its interesting for the septators to watch but can be an annoyance when we want to build.
Coming out by the end of this year, Phenom (AMD new CPU), Penryn (Intels new CPU), the 780i from nVidia (new motherboard/chipset), new mid range GPU's from ATi/AMD.
Intel is likely to release there first round of graphics sometime in the first half of next year, it's very vague at this point when they will come to the market.
While there will be a few Penryn CPU's on the market, they are only going to be the ultra high end, 1000$ CPU's, in January there will be an entire family, ranging from budget to enthusiast.

As for the build you have mentioned above.
Don't buy into a raptor, scrape the two hard drives you listed and purchase a single 750GB or 1000GB drive for similar performance and price, but with a much larger capacity.
Save some money and get the xtremegamer version of the card.
Get the Q6600 over the Q6700 if you plan on overclocking.
Get vista premium, I doubt you'll notice the differences between Ultimate and Premium.
Striker is a waste of money, this board will save you a bit of money.
Then you should have saved enough money to get the 8800GT opposed to the 8600GT, the 8800GT is a significantly better card.

I personally wouldn't order anything any earlier then the 19th of November right now, mid to late January we should see remaining processors be released, but thats a bit of a stretch to wait in my opinion.
Hope this helps
James

edit: fixed a bad link

Edited by james_8970, 12 November 2007 - 10:43 AM.

[Hedworx]

Thanks for the reply and suggestions. The things you suggested are some of the same things that I wasn't real sure about and needed some direction. The only one I would have to go against is the sound card, and only because I need a game port, which I didn't mention before. Is there such a thing as a game port card so that I don't have to worry about one on the sound card? I've never seen one.

One question I had with the case, is I've heard some video cards not fitting.

This is my first build and I've never overclocked before, so I wasn't planning on it for this pc. I'm not much of a tinkerer (if there is such a word) and don't want to get in over my head. If it's easier to do now than before, then I may give it a shot, but I don't want to buy a card that I 'have' to OC. Is the Q6700 a better buy even if I don't OC?

If you don't mind I'd like to submit a new list a little later and get your opinion on it before I buy. Maybe after the 19th.

Thanks again for the reply.

[james_8970]

You're going to have to clarify what you mean by a game port, because right now, I havn't a clue what you are talking about.
Sometimes the cases arn't large enough to fit some of the more modern cards as they are much longer. You shouldn't have that issue with your case.
There is a huge price gap between the Q6600 and Q6700, the Q6700 will perform better if you don't plan on overclocking.
If you wanted to OC, I'd suggest several hours of reaading to grasp the entire subject as you don't want to fry anything.
I don't mind at all, submit a new list or give me a new question whenever something arises.
James

Edited by james_8970, 11 November 2007 - 01:27 AM.

[Hedworx]

The best I can describe the 'game port' is that it's a 26 pin female plug. I'm sure it's not only used as a game port, but that's what I plug my steering wheel and pedals into. If you click on the link to the sound card, it shows the port on the right side (looking at the picture).

Since I'm spending the money mainly for gaming, I don't mind saving money in some places to better the performance elsewhere where gaming would be affected. I want to get a good video card without having to OC. I guess this will be best selected after the new ones come out.

Is the memory that I selected decent memory? I haven't seen a whole lot about it and there are so many to choose from. The Corsair Dominator is advertised on every other page of the pc magazines. There is also a set for around $500.....are you kidding me. It had me confused because the timing numbers where higher. I thought the lower numbers where better (4-4-4-12)? Do I have it backwards here?

I appreciate your help. I feel more confident in building my own when I know I have somewhere to go when I have questions.

[james_8970]

The 500$ par of memory is likely DDR3, it's a new form of memory like DDR2 was to DDR. Basically it has potential for higher density chips (more GB per chip) then DDR2, can operate at much higher frequences (GHz) and requires less electricity to function (more efficient).

OC is always an option and never required, just a way to enhance performance.

Memory has dropped in price, if you want 2GB of RAM, you can get a good set not for around 60$ after mail in rebates.

James

[wannabe1]

You might want to check out the Antec Nine Hundred extreme gaming case. I've been testing this case and it is an outstanding value...in my opinion. It moves more air through the case than any other I've tried...a real benefit if you're going to use the machine for gaming.

[Hedworx]

Thanks again James. I'll reply back here with other questions as they arise and also when I do decide to start ordering.

As for the Nine Hundred....It was down to it and the P182 when I was looking for a case. I had read good reviews on both and decided on the P182 because it was going to be on suspended brackets under my desk and wouldn't be seen. Now that I have someone (wannabe1) that has tested it and gives good feedback, I am now back to stage one on deciding which to get. Thanks wannabe1......lol. My concerns with both is that I have read reviews where the video cards didn't fit. As of right now I don't know exactly what card I'm getting, so I can't use that as the decision maker at the moment. I'll keep both the Nine Hundred and the P182 in mind. Any more info on how your testing is going would be great. Have you used the P182?

[wannabe1]

I haven't used the P182, but I AM impressed with both the performance and appearance of the 900. As for room for vid cards, they'd have to be massive to not fit in this case. I'm running two ASUS EN8600GT's in SLI configuration and there's way more than enough room in there for them. One of the front case fans is directly in front of the cards and really keeps them cool. (the ASUS cards are fanless).

About the only complaint I have with this case is that there is not a lot of places to "hide" any extra power supply leads to keep the build pretty. A modular PSU would eliminate this, but I'm testing a Corsair TX750W PSU in this case...it's not modular and has a more than adequate number of leads.

[stettybet0]

I know that James and myself also use the Antec 900 and love it. It is massive; a 8800gtx fits in it just fine.

[james_8970]

While I do enjoy my Antec 900 case, generally speaking those who have used both the Antec 900 case and P182, tend to edge towards the P182. For one, the P182 is much better for water cooling and modding if you want to go that route. I plan on doing water cooling on my case after finals and because of all the fans, there really is no place to mod the case to mount the radiator.

The P182 also has a few extra features when compared to the Antec 900, such as a removable motherboard tray and improved cable management (Antec900 is terrible for cable management, so bad I'm modding my case just for it).

As wannabe1 said, there is a lot of room in both cases, I for one have a HD2900XT in my Antex 900. The 8800GTX is the same size, and if GPU manufactures make hards any larger.....lets just say it would not be smart.

James

Edited by james_8970, 17 November 2007 - 03:45 PM.