Opinions on a Gaming Rig

[Bulmers]

I'm planning on building a gaming PC shortly, but I'm not up to date on the in's and out's of what?s available today. So, I'm looking for a little help. I've been running around on the net trying to compare and contrast, but its nice to receive some opinions on the subject.

Processor - There are SO many out there these days that its hard to pick through the crop. I'm looking for something fast and capable of running games like Oblivion and EQ 2 with no problems. I can see myself going with AMD or Intel. This is the place I'm having most difficulty. I want to spend no more than $350 on a CPU.

Mobo - I've looked over tons of motherboards only to confuse myself. Being that this is a gaming rig, I'd like something that has SLI or Crossfire compatibilities. What is a good choice for a gaming computer?

Video Card - Who's doing better now-a-days? ATI? nVidia? I'd like to get two beefy video cards in my PC to make certain I can run the games of tomorrow. What?s a good choice when it comes to max frame rate and perfect clarity? I'm hoping to spend no more than $550 on the combined deal, but I have some wiggle room.

I'd appreciate any help with the above, or recommendations for other aspects of a gaming rig. Thanks!

 

[Bobthelost]

Right, first of all the best way to do it is to give the entire budget for the computer, intended use, information about overclocking (ie will you or not), size of monitor and then let us pick all the bits for you

CPU: If you're overclocking then it's intel for certain, a 6400 would be my choice. If you're not overclocking you're still either looking at a 6400 or 6600 from intel, AMD isn't really competitive at the higher end of that price range.

Motherboard: Overclocking means P5W from Asus or the Gigabyte 965P DS3. Not overclocking and you just pick the first one you like the look of.

Video: G80 is due out soon which will make life interesting in all sorts of ways. Also DX10 will be appearing around the new year. This means that any card(s) you buy now will not be able to run games at max frame rate with max eyecandy running.

Edit: Welcome to the boards

 

[acegazda]

What is your budget first of all?
Here's an awesome rig if you need it right now.
Case: Lian Li pc7b +2
PSU: corsair hx520 (hx620 if xfire)
CPU: C2D e6400
MoBo: Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe or Asus P5W DH
GFX: EVgA 7950gx2 (w/Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe) or 2x x1950xtx (w/Asus P5W DH)
HDD: 320gb Seagate 7200.10 and 74gb WD raptor 16mb cache.
Monitor: Dell 2401fpw
RAM: 2x1gb gskill ddr2-667
optical: NEC 3550a dvd burner
mouse: logitech mx518
keyboard: saiteck eclipse
OS: XP home
Total: ~$2470 or $2860 w/xfire
With the SLi option, there is a direct route to DX10. With xfire, you will play today's games @ their best, but upgrading ot DX10 will be expensive. EVgA has a step up plan that allows you to pay the difference of the previous card you bought for the new one, if anything. You could save the $$$ for 2x8800gtx. The upgrade will cost you ~$800 w/ step up.

 

[Bulmers]

I want to spend about $3000. I'm willing to go just a little bit over. I intend to use it mainly for gaming. Of course I'll be fitting a little school work in there also. Overclocking? Sure, I'd be happy to. And as for the monitor, I really dont want to drop below 19". Possibly bump up to 21".

 

[Quiksilver]

Does that $3000 budget include monitor, speakers, heaphones, mouse, keyboard, and any other periferals you might want?

 

[Bulmers]

Yes, it is all inclusive. Thanks for asking - I should have clarified. I dont plan to purchase a printer/scanner or anything of the sort at this time. Just the items I'll need to make the computer operational: Monitor, keyboard, mouse.

 

[acegazda]

Edited above to accomodate budget.

 

[Quiksilver]

I shall post what i came up with tomorrow, as of right now i'm sleepy and don't feel like typing it up right now. Btw it includes a 20.1" Monitor

 

[Bulmers]

Thanks! Appreciate the effort you have all put in. Thanks for all the input, and keep it coming. It's helping pleanty.

 

[Howard]

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 - $315
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe - $270
Kingston 2x1GB DDR2-667 1.8V - $215
Western Digital Raptor WD360ADFD 36.7GB - $105
Western Digital WD5000KS - $179
Samsung SH-182D - $29
Lian-Li PC-7B plus II - $85
Shipping from newegg.com - $

(2) Sapphire X1900XT 512MB - $335 x 2
Corsair CMPSU-520HX - $117
Free shipping from ZZF

Logitech G7 - $60 + $5 shipping

Dell 2007WFP - $320

will be finished tomorrow

SLI/Crossfire is really a waste for a 20" monitor. Do you prefer speakers or headphones?

 

[Bulmers]

I plan to attach speakers at some point.

 

[Quiksilver]

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600

ASUS P5W DH Deluxe

OCZ Platinum Rev.2 (2x 1GB) DDR2-800 (Sames you said you might overclock)

Western Digital Raptor WD360ADFD 36.7GB

Seagate 7200.10 320GB

Samsung SH-182D

Corsair HX520W

Creative Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

ATI Radeon X1959XTX

Antec Sonata II

Samsung 204B-BK

Logitech Z-5500

Logitech G5

Saitek Eclipse Keyboard

Artic Silver 5

Aerocool XtremeTurbine (I'm using this fan right now)

Scythe SCINF-1000

Add all that up it's about $2800 but you can most likely get it alot cheaper if you shop around at places like newegg, zipzoomfly, chiefvalue, frozencpu, performance-pcs, monarchcomputer, and others.

 

[The-Noid]

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1947261&enterthread=y

That is my guide I wrote to provide an idea of what should be bought for computer parts and also how to overclock them. Hope it helps.

 

[dBTelos]

To add to QuickSilver's post, better to up it to a HX620W now. That way you don't have to get a new PSU if you add on another x1959XTX.

 

[Bulmers]

Originally posted by: acegazda
With the SLi option, there is a direct route to DX10. With xfire, you will play today's games @ their best, but upgrading ot DX10 will be expensive. EVgA has a step up plan that allows you to pay the difference of the previous card you bought for the new one, if anything. You could save the $$$ for 2x8800gtx. The upgrade will cost you ~$800 w/ step up.

I want a setup that will run games flawlessly, but I know that buying the top thing on the market is going to gouge my pocket book. Will today's cards run x10 games with much trouble? I probably wont buy these cards until x10 is released anyway just for the price drop... but is it worth it to save up for the new video cards for when x10 is released?

Also, I understand the difference between SLi and Crossfire is nVidia and ATI, but does it run much deeper than that?

 

[acegazda]

Today's cards won't run dx10 games at all. You need a directX capable video card to play directX 10 games. That's why I said get a 7950gx2 in the meantime. If you can wait though, do so.

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: acegazda
Today's cards won't run dx10 games at all. You need a directX capable video card to play directX 10 games. That's why I said get a 7950gx2 in the meantime. If you can wait though, do so.

This is not correct, first of all the Timeframe for Native DX-10 games will be 1.5 - 2 years. secondly DX-9 will still play DX-10 stuff.. you just won't see all the eye candy..... also DX 9 will have a software development layer that will allow this....

Developers develop games for the mainstream, not a limited few that are early adopters.

Vista could end up being Like ME or BOB... a total flop... we will see.....

 

[acegazda]

Originally posted by: Mr Fox

Originally posted by: acegazda
Today's cards won't run dx10 games at all. You need a directX capable video card to play directX 10 games. That's why I said get a 7950gx2 in the meantime. If you can wait though, do so.

This is not correct, first of all the Timeframe for Native DX-10 games will be 1.5 - 2 years. secondly DX-9 will still play DX-10 stuff.. you just won't see all the eye candy..... also DX 9 will have a software development layer that will allow this....

Developers develop games for the mainstream, not a limited few that are early adopters.

Vista could end up being Like ME or BOB... a total flop... we will see.....

maybe they'll come out with some program that lets you do that, but on the back of the game box of dx10 games, one of the requirements is going to be "A dx10 compliant gfx card"

EDIT: Proof of my side of the arguement

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: dBTelos
To add to QuickSilver's post, better to up it to a HX620W now. That way you don't have to get a new PSU if you add on another x1959XTX.

better throw a "sic" in there.

 

[dBTelos]

Huh?

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: acegazda

Originally posted by: Mr Fox

Originally posted by: acegazda
Today's cards won't run dx10 games at all. You need a directX capable video card to play directX 10 games. That's why I said get a 7950gx2 in the meantime. If you can wait though, do so.

This is not correct, first of all the Timeframe for Native DX-10 games will be 1.5 - 2 years. secondly DX-9 will still play DX-10 stuff.. you just won't see all the eye candy..... also DX 9 will have a software development layer that will allow this....

Developers develop games for the mainstream, not a limited few that are early adopters.

Vista could end up being Like ME or BOB... a total flop... we will see.....

maybe they'll come out with some program that lets you do that, but on the back of the game box of dx10 games, one of the requirements is going to be "A dx10 compliant gfx card"

EDIT: Proof of my side of the arguement

Read your arguement it says just what I did......

You need to understand Marketing 101 : "Make them think that they need it"....

Spread just enough dis-information to get what you want.

To crap upon Legacy would be their undoing.... Vista's Licensing is such where i will not buy it... it effectively allows transfer to one other machine..... During the Lifetime of XP I have had 10 different Machines... based upon that alone... Billy and Ballmer can fall off the Planet for all I care...

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: dBTelos
Huh?

You generally use "sic" when you quote something and there's a grammar/spelling mistake. Like so:

Source: The quick brown foxx jumps over the lazy dog.

Quote: "The quick brown foxx (sic) jumps over the lazy dog."

re: x1959xtx

 

[Bulmers]

If I were to wait until x10 comes out, what temp ATI card would you recommend? I just need something to hold me over until x10 and cards are released.

Also, I've read that the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe has BIOS issues with the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe. Do any of you know if that problem has been fixed? I'm just beginning my tech studies and dont have the expertise (I think) to hotflash. I've read the below link... is that something I will have to do to get the ASUS P5W DH to work with the Intel Core 2 Duo?

I appologize for my noobishness.