[Ryker]

Ok I need some help on some items with my new gaming rig I have a good amount of money that I want to dump into this rig and I want it to last me at least 3 years befor I add or replace for newer parts.
I know that I can spend about $3000.00 on this monster if not more depending I’m not made of money but Ill pay for the best rig I can make side not I don’t want to spend to much for parts so if any one knows a better price some where else that would help, though I want good parts not cheap knock offs. Ok to start with here is some of my parts list.

Case--- http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811129028

Mother board--- http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131290

CPU--- http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103249

Hard drive--- http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136011 I'll get two of theses for the 300 gigs on raid 0

Video card--- http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130344 Not sure if its worth two on theses or can even fit two in case need help on that question

Memory---Ok so I know I need Memory not sure on the best one yet need help there

PCU---Ok I know that the case has two PCU's in it not sure if they will be able to hold it all or are worth it

OK so right now I’m at $1,849.95 going to add about $500.00 more for other parts needed plus any additions that might help.
If any one could help me and tell me what I need or need to replace or change. Like I stated befor I want good parts but if cheaper like parts are some where else that could be attained I would like to know lol Money doesn’t grow on trees and I work hard for my money if I could save some that would be great. Thank you all for your help.

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Hi there, welcome to Geeks to Go!

This is quite the build you've got going here! I do think we could build you a really quick computer for a fair bit cheaper, though. A few comments:

For this amount of money, you'd definitely be better off going with an Intel build. The latest Core 2 Quads are very good, I would choose them over the AMD Quads at this point in time. Do you intend on overclocking at all?

That case seems rather expensive, two PSU's in it? Wow, that's interesting. I haven't seen that one before. I would suggest getting a nice case that doesn't come with a PSU, and we'll add a good one in later.

RAID 0 is a difficult one to suggest - if you have one hard drive fail on you, you lose all your data. Also, for best results, you'll want to use a hardware solution.

The Raptors are aging now, there is a new Velociraptor coming out, I couldn't see it on Newegg just yet. If you can't get a hold of the Velociraptor, then get the Samsung F1 hard drives, they are the current kings of performance.

Two 9800 GX2 cards in SLI? If it's affordable to you, it does look like a tough choice - except I think the official drivers to support this won't be out until the 25th... Doing some research on this yields some interesting results. I have to admit I wouldn't recommend this just yet, as there are some issues that need to be ironed out. Even so, a single of these cards is still a top-of-the-line choice.

Memory can be decided once a motherboard is decided upon, so you can match it to the specifications. A quick set of 2x 2GB DDR2 800MHz or 1066MHz will be more than sufficient.

Cheers

Troy

[Troy]

Hi there, welcome to Geeks to Go!

This is quite the build you've got going here! I do think we could build you a really quick computer for a fair bit cheaper, though. A few comments:

For this amount of money, you'd definitely be better off going with an Intel build. The latest Core 2 Quads are very good, I would choose them over the AMD Quads at this point in time. Do you intend on overclocking at all?

That case seems rather expensive, two PSU's in it? Wow, that's interesting. I haven't seen that one before. I would suggest getting a nice case that doesn't come with a PSU, and we'll add a good one in later.

RAID 0 is a difficult one to suggest - if you have one hard drive fail on you, you lose all your data. Also, for best results, you'll want to use a hardware solution.

The Raptors are aging now, there is a new Velociraptor coming out, I couldn't see it on Newegg just yet. If you can't get a hold of the Velociraptor, then get the Samsung F1 hard drives, they are the current kings of performance.

Two 9800 GX2 cards in SLI? If it's affordable to you, it does look like a tough choice - except I think the official drivers to support this won't be out until the 25th... Doing some research on this yields some interesting results. I have to admit I wouldn't recommend this just yet, as there are some issues that need to be ironed out. Even so, a single of these cards is still a top-of-the-line choice.

Memory can be decided once a motherboard is decided upon, so you can match it to the specifications. A quick set of 2x 2GB DDR2 800MHz or 1066MHz will be more than sufficient.

Cheers

Troy

[Ryker]

Hummm well all good points Ok then maybe I'll start over. Ok lets say I have $3000.00 to spend on a kick a$$ gaming rig. What would you put in it if you where building it, I would like to know some ones elses ideas on what to put into a 3k gaming rig.

[max-a-million]

hey troy,

personally i dont think you can go past the Intel Q9450 for a processor at the moment. its priced at around AU400 at the moment, and is based on the new 45nm technology, 12mb L2 cache, 2.67mHz. it also runs quite cool, and gives about a 12-15% advantage over the 60nm core 2 quad processors (like the q6600)

depending on whether you are going to run a SLI graphics configuration or not, i think the gigabyte ga-ep35c-ds3r motherboard is super. it is only set up for a single graphics card, but comes with all the bells and whistles expect firewire.

in terms of graphics cards, the 9800gts woudl be my choice, its quite expensive at about AU750, but looks super!

case wise, i wouldn't worry too much, as long as your buying a well known brand, such as coolermaster, antec, or thermltake, it doesnt really matter. my main advice would be to make sure that it is not a mirco atx case. this will ensure that cooling does not become an issue, with that little bit more space.

what monitor setup are you thinking of going with? i woudl suggest a dual 22" setup, it would look superb (thats what im heading towards haha)!

max-a-million
____________________

[Troy]

Hi max-a-million, thanks for the tips.

Let's not forget we're helping Ryker here...

Sounds like some good choices, though. Head on over to http://www.newegg.com/ and build him a nice gaming rig for $3000 USD, and post it for a critique. I'm working on some other projects right now, so if I contribute a build it won't be until a little later this week. I often like to justify each part (in my head) before I post a build, so it usually takes me a good hour to contribute.

Cheers

Troy

[Ryker]

Hummm I guess no one can help.... Drat....

[kamille316]

Hello Ryker!

Here's a list I made from Newegg.

I totally agree that you should switch to Intel instead of AMD, AMD is usually recommended if you're tight in budget and performance is sacrifice (for the cost). Right now, Intel is leading the CPU market.

Motherboard - EVGA 750i FTW, pick this one if you're going SLI
CPU - Since you selected a Phenom before, I assume you want Quad Core? Are you going to be multi-tasking a lot? If you're just gaming I suggest going with a Dual Core instead. Here's a Quad core if you're interested -> Q9450

For memory go with Mushkin 4GB, (note that you will need a 64-bit OS, Vista or XP, to fully utilize 4GB of RAM). There are other good brands such as OCZ, Corsair, G.SKILL, Patriot, etc. I picked this Mushkin because it can run at a lower voltage, meaning it doesn't heat up as much as others.

The case you selected is too expensive and having 2 PSU is overkill and that would make the case way too heavy (you can't just leave the computer in one spot, you would need to clean it frequently of dust and its ideal to clean it outside). Also I am not sure how you're going to hook up 2 PSU's so I suggest getting a better PSU.
If you really like the case that was included on that combo, you can grab the Antec P182, it is similar however I find the inside of this case to small because of the compartments they include. You can also grab the new Antec Twelve Hundred, I have heard that there's quite a lot of room inside.

For Power supply, go with the Corsair 750TX, Corsair is one of the great brands for power supply.

For the DVD-burner, I suggest the Samsung drive. If you want one with Lightscribe then get this other Samsung drive.

Hope that helps,
Kamille

[james_8970]

Don't get raptors or Velociraptor, the advantages don't really outweigh the disadvantages and to be honest, the F1 drives are excellent performing drives, however they have far more capacity for a cheaper price tag. I personally ordered one the other day and I cannot wait for it's arrival.
$3000 is a large sum of money to spend on a computer and I have a few questions to ask before recommending anything. Do you have a monitor already? If so, what's the model number. While the 9800GX2 are great cards, even one is overkill if you have a small monitor, never mind two. The only point in time that I'd ever consider buying two (and even then it's hard to recommend), would be if you gamed on a 30" monitor with the resolution maxed out. In addition to what has already been said, there should be some new GPUs coming out this summer that, by the looks of it are going to be great performers. If you can wait, I highly suggest you do. A high end computer can easily be built for $2000 and unless you have intentions to watercool the computer, there really is no reason to exceed that amount (unless you really want to of course).
Lastly, do you have any intentions of overclocking this build?
James

Edited by james_8970, 26 May 2008 - 03:45 PM.

[Ryker]

Ok I like whats been said so far I want SLI ready for what may come out later. I like Antec cases I have the P180 love Antec they know how to build well made cases( weight dosent matter my case dosent move much besides every 7 days for its cleaning) I like the Antec Twelve Hundred lots of room for things as they get bigger. Most people dont realize that the case dose matter so dose its design for air flow, cables and other. I've been an AMD fan for a long time but Im willing to change for the better item as long as it dosent have problems. My curent monitor is a HP f2105 its a little older but still runs like new I may need a new one soon. I would like to overclock as much as a can as long as it dosent ruin any thing later. I dont want to water cool some thing about water and power dont mix well lol. I want this to be a kick [bleep] gaming rig mostly but I do render high end pictures and stuff with high need of ram and speed. Hard drives really dont matter a whole lot I just want them to be fast . I need as much ram as I can get 4 Gb and up if can be done. So with that said I would like to thank all the people that have brought up there ideas they will help me make a bad [bleep] gaming rig. All ideas are welcome thank you all

Edited by Ryker, 27 May 2008 - 10:52 AM.

[Troy]

Hi there,

In addition to the excellent comments made so far by james and kamille, I'd like to add that if you want to run SLI now, it would be a good choice to choose 2x 8800GTS (512MB) cards. Judging from the Newegg selection, I would choose something like two of these ones. If you are intending to overclock or otherwise modify the cards, or want a lifetime warranty go for the XFX card. Otherwise the MSI version has a 1 year warranty and identical specifications.

Cheers

Troy