Gaming Rig For $3K

[EROEIone2one]

I'm helping a friend build a brand new computer from scratch. No components shared with any prior machine (he has a laptop now), so everything from case to monitor to you-name-it has to be bought. Except software, some other friend is lending a hand on that front. Don't worry about software.

This is to be first and foremost a gaming rig. Everything else is of secondary concern.

The person in question has stated that he desires the computer to be built around the Nvidia GF7950 GX2. So that's what I'm going with, this component probably won't be changed - but a lot of other items are still up for debate.

Given the price point, I've already consulted with a few guy buddies who game (way) more than I do. A basic build has been discussed and refined, as well as a suggestion by my friend to post said intriem build here for the forum to examine. So, here it is:



Philips 200P4VS 20 IN. LCD Monitor

ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor

OCZ OCZ600GXSSLI GAMEXSTREAM 600W ATX12V V2.2 SLI POWER SUPPLY

OCZ Platinum Edition 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 500 (PC 4000) Dual Channel Kit System Memory

BFG Technologies BFG BFGR-7950GX2-1GB-OCE GF7950GX2 1GB Graphics Card

Maxtor 300GB 7200RPM 16MB BUFFER SERIAL ATA/150 3.5INCH Hard Disk

Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Music Sound Card

Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speakers/Sub

THERMALTAKE Armor VA8000SWA Silver Computer Case



From what I can see the above will cost about $2400. That total does not include tax, shipping, other fees, keyboard, mouse, optical drives, etc. Also does not include a few more fans/coolers my friend and I would like to include in the build to take advantage of the ThermalTakes airflow capabilities (ie, Asus StarIce Cooler).

There is a very small amount of wiggle room in that $3K figure. Anything over the cap would have to score very high in "bang for the buck" to be included.

Questions, comments? Tweaks possible to improve system performance? Stuff missing that should be included? Substitution appropriate to lower cost? Best places to get all this stuff in the Bay Area, CA (where we're from) or online? Already perused NewEgg for a lot of stuff. Any suggestions or input through PMs or this thread would be welcome. We'd like to start/finish the build within 2 weeks.

(Topic from SFF forum, not sure if that was the right place to post it so I brought it here)

 

[Powermoloch]

planning to overclock? if not, you really don't need a DDR 500 ram, a generic type of ram will do fine.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

Why not go AM2? Its not much more.

 

[TomtheBum]

if your spending 3 grand on this i would definetly not get a 20" monitor, go with a 24 windescreen, i personally am building a pc somewhat like your friend, i picked up the following:

Floppy drive - $5
Ultra x-finity 500 watt psu with forceflex cabling- $50
OCZ Gold Series 2 gb (2x1gb) 240 pin DDR2 667 $150
Antec SLK2650-BQE ATX Case $65
120mm fan and (2) 80mm fans $15
Saitek Eclipse keyboard PZ30AU $40
MS Razer Copperhead mouse (tempest) $45
Samsung dvd-r / cd-r 5" drive $33
Soundblaste X-FI Extreme Music 7.1 soundcard $90
Artic Silver 5 thermal paste $5

Now i want to get
2407 widescreen LCD Monitor $800
Logitech Z-5500 speaker system $240
ATI Radeion x1900xtx crossfire $500
ATI Radeion x1900xtx video card $500
74 or 150 gig raptor x HDD$105
Conroe Extreme Edition or E6800 CPU????
A-open i975xa-YDG Socket 479 intel 975x ATX MOBO prolly 250


Now that like $2,800 - the cost of the cpu, if your going with geoforce your ganna cut quite a bit of the top versus my 2 ati radeons. But im building top top end. MUHAHA hopes this helps

 

[OSX]

No, no, no.

CPU: Core 2 Extreme X6800
Motherboard: Intel 'Bad Axe 2'
RAM: 2 GB DDR2-800
PSU- PCP&C TurboCool 510, or whatever else you like
Case: I like the P180, though a Lian Li or something else would be good.
Video: GeForce 7950GX2, though a 7900GTX SLI would be better.
Audio: Whatever he wants
Monitor: ViewSonic VX2025 is always good.

 

[Howard]

2 weeks, huh? That puts you right in line for the official release date of Core 2 Duo, although it should be available before then. If possible, you should wait until then. Will he be overclocking?

Is there a particular reason why you chose the Philips monitor?

 

[JackBurton]

I would advise him to wait just a little longer for Conroe.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: EROEIone2one
Philips 200P4VS 20 IN. LCD Monitor

ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor

OCZ OCZ600GXSSLI GAMEXSTREAM 600W ATX12V V2.2 SLI POWER SUPPLY

OCZ Platinum Edition 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 500 (PC 4000) Dual Channel Kit System Memory

BFG Technologies BFG BFGR-7950GX2-1GB-OCE GF7950GX2 1GB Graphics Card

Maxtor 300GB 7200RPM 16MB BUFFER SERIAL ATA/150 3.5INCH Hard Disk

Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Music Sound Card

Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speakers/Sub

THERMALTAKE Armor VA8000SWA Silver Computer Case

(Topic from SFF forum, not sure if that was the right place to post it so I brought it here)

i'd change a few things:
1. no TT case. TT = for nubs. sharp edges. scratches easily, heavy as hell to even turn on its side. and crap materials. i'd go for absolute MINIMUM the P180, if not any of the Lian Li Cases.
2. logitech makes crap speakers. look into KLIPCHE, harmon kardon, or jbl... all 3 of those and some other brands i didn't list are much better than logitech
3. in a $3k system i'd drop a PCPC 510 or 850 in there with Crossfire or SLI...
4. maxtor hard drive's suck, use the search... and you'll learn
5. drop a 74 or 150 gb 16mb cache raptor in there...

 

[EROEIone2one]

Originally posted by: OSX
No, no, no.

CPU: Core 2 Extreme X6800
Motherboard: Intel 'Bad Axe 2'
RAM: 2 GB DDR2-800
PSU- PCP&C TurboCool 510, or whatever else you like
Case: I like the P180, though a Lian Li or something else would be good.
Video: GeForce 7950GX2, though a 7900GTX SLI would be better.
Audio: Whatever he wants
Monitor: ViewSonic VX2025 is always good.

Originally posted by: Howard
2 weeks, huh? That puts you right in line for the official release date of Core 2 Duo, although it should be available before then. If possible, you should wait until then. Will he be overclocking?

Is there a particular reason why you chose the Philips monitor?

Originally posted by: JackBurton
I would advise him to wait just a little longer for Conroe.

Core 2? Conroe? Can you guys explain what you mean? Granted, I do my fair share of gaming, but hardware isn't my strongest area. Hence the reason I'm here.

As to why the Philips was chosen, we wanted something that could give high FPS/high graphical quality settings at 1600 res, and the various benchmarking articles I read indicated that going higher in res with the GX2 would result in a noticeable FPS hit/or you'd have to turn down some eye-candy setting. And it would necessitate going larger than 20", the prices for those 24 widescreens are prohibitive when we're trying to keep it under that price point. Correct me if I'm wrong on this.

 

[EROEIone2one]

2. logitech makes crap speakers. look into KLIPCHE, harmon kardon, or jbl... all 3 of those and some other brands i didn't list are much better than logitech
3. in a $3k system i'd drop a PCPC 510 or 850 in there with Crossfire or SLI...
4. maxtor hard drive's suck, use the search... and you'll learn
5. drop a 74 or 150 gb 16mb cache raptor in there...

Klipsch was my first choice for 5.1, however I came across some reports concerning component durability (blown amps) after 1/2 year to 1 year. It's the same as recommending cars, really - I might be willing to take a chance, but when recommending for someone else I like to err on the side of caution.

Do you have any brand suggestions for 3, 4, and 5?

 

[Howard]

The Viewsonic VX2025WM is approximately the same size, though widescreen (resolution is 1680x1050, a bit smaller when comparing the number of pixels). It is much more well-documented than the Philips monitor, which is always nice if you want to do some research, and you should.

The Core 2 Duo (codenamed Conroe) is a dual-core CPU from Intel due for official release on July 23. It offers a significant performance advantage clock-for-clock compared to the Athlon 64 X2/FX/Opteron dual-core CPUs, and also delivers better performance per watt, although neither are relevant for a gaming rig. What IS important, however, is that the C2D just performs better. It is also the stimulus for AMD's price cuts on July 24 for their desktop CPUs.

The C2D E6600, clocked at 2.4GHz with 2x2MB of L2 cache, will sell for $316 in bulk, which means somewhere around $340, I'm guessing, not including over-the-top markup by retailers due to high demand. According to user reports, C2Ds should reach over 3GHz easily (making them the fastest desktop CPUs ever), even when air cooled.

Originally posted by: EROEIone2one

2. logitech makes crap speakers. look into KLIPCHE, harmon kardon, or jbl... all 3 of those and some other brands i didn't list are much better than logitech
3. in a $3k system i'd drop a PCPC 510 or 850 in there with Crossfire or SLI...
4. maxtor hard drive's suck, use the search... and you'll learn
5. drop a 74 or 150 gb 16mb cache raptor in there...

Klipsch was my first choice for 5.1, however I came across some reports concerning component durability (blown amps) after 1/2 year to 1 year. It's the same as recommending cars, really - I might be willing to take a chance, but when recommending for someone else I like to err on the side of caution.

Do you have any brand suggestions for 3, 4, and 5?

3. I don't think PC P&C PSUs are worth what they cost. The GameXStream will be perfectly fine.
4. Maxtors do have a reputation for failing more often than Seagates and WDs. Perhaps a 150GB Raptor for faster load times (you'd have to check benches to see how much faster) and a 250GB-500GB WD or Seagate drive for storage?

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: Howard
The Viewsonic VX2025WM is approximately the same size, though widescreen (resolution is 1680x1050, a bit smaller when comparing the number of pixels). It is much more well-documented than the Philips monitor, which is always nice if you want to do some research, and you should.

The Core 2 Duo (codenamed Conroe) is a dual-core CPU from Intel due for official release on July 23. It offers a significant performance advantage clock-for-clock compared to the Athlon 64 X2/FX/Opteron dual-core CPUs, and also delivers better performance per watt, although neither are relevant for a gaming rig. What IS important, however, is that the C2D just performs better. It is also the stimulus for AMD's price cuts on July 24 for their desktop CPUs.

The C2D E6600, clocked at 2.4GHz with 2x2MB of L2 cache, will sell for $316 in bulk, which means somewhere around $340, I'm guessing, not including over-the-top markup by retailers due to high demand. According to user reports, C2Ds should reach over 3GHz easily (making them the fastest desktop CPUs ever), even when air cooled.

Originally posted by: EROEIone2one

2. logitech makes crap speakers. look into KLIPCHE, harmon kardon, or jbl... all 3 of those and some other brands i didn't list are much better than logitech
3. in a $3k system i'd drop a PCPC 510 or 850 in there with Crossfire or SLI...
4. maxtor hard drive's suck, use the search... and you'll learn
5. drop a 74 or 150 gb 16mb cache raptor in there...

Klipsch was my first choice for 5.1, however I came across some reports concerning component durability (blown amps) after 1/2 year to 1 year. It's the same as recommending cars, really - I might be willing to take a chance, but when recommending for someone else I like to err on the side of caution.

Do you have any brand suggestions for 3, 4, and 5?

3. I don't think PC P&C PSUs are worth what they cost. The GameXStream will be perfectly fine.
4. Maxtors do have a reputation for failing more often than Seagates and WDs. Perhaps a 150GB Raptor for faster load times (you'd have to check benches to see how much faster) and a 250GB-500GB WD or Seagate drive for storage?

3. I don't think PC P&C PSUs are worth what they cost. The GameXStream will be perfectly fine

You missing the boat on the PSU.
I sure as hell would not go with that PSU.
Just my opinion!

 

[SpeedZealot369]

Make SURE you get a 24" widescreen for that kind of budget.

High end cpu's, especially conroe are not worth the extra cash IMO, since cpu's overclock very well, and conroe is no different

I'm not sure if getting an x-fi platinum over an x-fi music would be smart, but that's what I would do (I love those breakout boxes )

Get some nice ddr800 memory to go along with the conroe

That video card is a damn good choice in my opinion, it will handle 1920x1200 perfectly well in any game.

Consider getting a raptor or raided 0 harddrives.

All that should be well in the budget

-SZ

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: OSX
No, no, no.

CPU: Core 2 Extreme X6800
Motherboard: Intel 'Bad Axe 2'
RAM: 2 GB DDR2-800
PSU- PCP&C TurboCool 510, or whatever else you like
Case: I like the P180, though a Lian Li or something else would be good.
Video: GeForce 7950GX2, though a 7900GTX SLI would be better.
Audio: Whatever he wants
Monitor: ViewSonic VX2025 is always good.

If you're going 24 inch you may want to get GX2 I agree or, I would get Crossfire but that's just because I have a penchant for ATI image quality, not sure how good Xfire is these days.

 

[jkresh]

another vote for conroe (e6600 or 6700 and a nice overclok), dells 2407 would be a great match (have the 2405 and found it to be a worthy succesor to sgi's 1600sw (17.3 inch wsxga (1600x1024) from years ago)

 

[Baked]

Pretty sure you guys have to give him the link in addition to the full brand and model of the product suggested. I don't think he knows what a P180 is.

 

[Bill Brasky]

1. no TT case. TT = for nubs. sharp edges. scratches easily, heavy as hell to even turn on its side. and crap materials. i'd go for absolute MINIMUM the P180, if not any of the Lian Li Cases.

I completely agree with that. But if you do go with the P180, spend 5 min. planning your cable management before you start because it can get messy quick.

I also think a raptor for an OS drive is a must. As a gamer, he would probably appreciate the slightly faster load times, which come in handy on large pub severs.

Oh yeah, wait for conroe

 

[akshayt]

Intel E6600/6700
Intel Bad Axe or other good 975 mobo
4 X 1GB DDR 2 800mhs or faster ram
Radeon X1900XT and 1900XTX Crossfire,or 1950XTX crossfire
2X Raptor 150gb + 2 X 300gb Seagate SATA II NCQ
Razor Copper Head and Logitech G15
any other thing you can imagine.

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: akshayt
Intel E6600/6700
Intel Bad Axe or other good 975 mobo
2X 1GB DDR 2 800mhs RAM
7950GX2 or X1900XTX crossfire
Hard drives depend on how much space you need, a Single Raptor 74 is enough for my gaming machine
Razor Copper Head and Logitech G15
any other thing you can imagine.
24" Widescreen LCD- It's the thing you'll spend hours staring into, well worth the cost.
600W PSU Seasonic for silence (irrelevant with those GPU choices though), Enermax are great value and good quality, FSP, PCP&C, OCZ etc all worth looking at.

Corrected and expanded.

 

[Blain]

In a 3k machine I would not use an X2 4200 or Maxtor HDs.

 

[OSX]

The 7950GX2 would be better replaced with a 7900GTX SLi, or something involving X1900XTX's. He can afford it.

 

[Iron Addict]

If i had 3g's to spend.. i'd get i-Ram...

 

[ForumMaster]

just one question, why are getting an SLI board? the A8N-SLI is fine, but why not wait and get either conroe or AM2 cpu's? if you insist on getting the current tech, get a 24" screen. with that budget, you'll want it. maybe a dell? those are good or the viewsonic one that Howard mentioned. it is a really good one.

since you are going for a high rez monitor, why not get dual x1900xt's and an A8R series board?

don't get maxtor as they have a reputation for failing. i've had a few go on me. get a nice raptor and a seagate for strorage.

 

[sportzforlife3]

wait till july 24, and get that cpu for 50% off...

 

[OSX]

or wait till july 24, and get a better cpu for the same price.