Building a GAMING SYSTEM - Need advice please !!!

[ForzaItalia4]

I am looking to spend the least amount of money possible for the best gaming system possible. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE comment on anything any of you see that should be switched out or modified. I am picking out things to my liking, but if they are not worth the money, or if there is better for around the price that the item is listed at, then please let me know. THANKS!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811166004 $83

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540 $167 (Yes I do plan on future SLI)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103931 $90

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103588 $325

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130256 $285

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136003 $125

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145575 $200

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827151118 $55

$1330 TOTAL

If there's anyway to reduce the price and get a lesser item with nearly the same quality, let me know. I am open to suggestions and any help whatsoever, thanks!

 

[teh_squaterer]

First, get rid of the 7800 GT and get a 7900 GT. It performs as good as a 7800 GTX, yet it only costs about $15 more than a 7800 GT. Second, get a cheaper motherboard without SLI. SLI is NOT worth it at all, adding a second card does not boost performance by 100%, it will actually boost it by 20 - 30%. Getting a stronger card will be cheaper, more powerful, and it will have less compatibility issues.

 

[oompa]

For Video Card get a 7900 GT from newegg. Its about $300 and it will spank 7800 gt

 

[shadowduck]

I am looking to spend the least amount of money possible for the best gaming system possible. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE comment on anything any of you see that should be switched out or modified. I am picking out things to my liking, but if they are not worth the money, or if there is better for around the price that the item is listed at, then please let me know. THANKS!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811166004 $83

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540 $167 (Yes I do plan on future SLI)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103931 $90

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103588 $325

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130256 $285

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136003 $125

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145575 $200

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827151118 $55

$1330 TOTAL

If there's anyway to reduce the price and get a lesser item with nearly the same quality, let me know. I am open to suggestions and any help whatsoever, thanks!

Nice setup, except you dont need SLI. As others will atest on this forum, and Tom has proven, 2 mid range cards in SLI will NOT outperform one high end card. So trade it in your 7800GT for a 7900GT and trade in your SLI motherboard for a non-SLI Asus board. The Opteron is a good choice, and is exactly what I would recommend.

As for the hard drive and RAM, both good choices. If you do plan to overclock OCZ RAM tends to overclock better than other brands and 2GB will be around the same price. (Gold is like $220). As for the DVD-burner, Lightscribe is cool, but it requires special (pricey) discs if you really want to burn art on the disc. If you dont really care about this opt for an NEC DVD burner for $39.

So After the changes we have:
Case-$83.00

Asus A8N-E- $94.00

PSU
- $90

Opteron 165- $325

XFX Geforce 7900GT 256MB- $315.00

WD 320GB hard drive- $125

OCX 2GB Gold- $215.00 ($174 after rebate)

DVD Drive- $55/$39 depending

New Total- $1302.00

 

[ForzaItalia4]

First, get rid of the 7800 GT and get a 7900 GT. It performs as good as a 7800 GTX, yet it only costs about $15 more than a 7800 GT. Second, get a cheaper motherboard without SLI. SLI is NOT worth it at all, adding a second card does not boost performance by 100%, it will actually boost it by 20 - 30%. Getting a stronger card will be cheaper, more powerful, and it will have less compatibility issues.

Is this [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150139] the card you are talking about? If so, thanks a ton. I can see how by the specs that this card would killa 7800.

 

[ForzaItalia4]

I am looking to spend the least amount of money possible for the best gaming system possible. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE comment on anything any of you see that should be switched out or modified. I am picking out things to my liking, but if they are not worth the money, or if there is better for around the price that the item is listed at, then please let me know. THANKS!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811166004 $83

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540 $167 (Yes I do plan on future SLI)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103931 $90



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103588 $325

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130256 $285

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136003 $125

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145575 $200

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827151118 $55

$1330 TOTAL

If there's anyway to reduce the price and get a lesser item with nearly the same quality, let me know. I am open to suggestions and any help whatsoever, thanks!

Nice setup, except you dont need SLI. As others will atest on this forum, and Tom has proven, 2 mid range cards in SLI will NOT outperform one high end card. So trade it in your 7800GT for a 7900GT and trade in your SLI motherboard for a non-SLI Asus board. The Opteron is a good choice, and is exactly what I would recommend.

As for the hard drive and RAM, both good choices. If you do plan to overclock OCZ RAM tends to overclock better than other brands and 2GB will be around the same price. (Gold is like $220). As for the DVD-burner, Lightscribe is cool, but it requires special (pricey) discs if you really want to burn art on the disc. If you dont really care about this opt for an NEC DVD burner for $39.

So After the changes we have:
Case-$83.00

Asus A8N-E- $94.00

PSU
- $90

Opteron 165- $325

XFX Geforce 7900GT 256MB- $315.00

WD 320GB hard drive- $125

OCX 2GB Gold- $215.00 ($174 after rebate)

DVD Drive- $55/$39 depending

New Total- $1302.00

Thank you for the reply.

What if I got a SLI motherboard, a 7900, and planned on upgrading SLI 7900 later on? I understand games out right now will run very smooth with my setup including the 7900, but when the future comes (over about a year and a half or so) will one 7900 run everything on max settings or near max? I could spit out that extra 80 for a sli mobo no problem, but the main question is, is SLI 7900 worth it in the future? Or in the future should I just upgrade to a better card then? I know that the 7900 card will be cheap then, which is the only real reason that im considering this. THANKS!

 

[teh_squaterer]

First, get rid of the 7800 GT and get a 7900 GT. It performs as good as a 7800 GTX, yet it only costs about $15 more than a 7800 GT. Second, get a cheaper motherboard without SLI. SLI is NOT worth it at all, adding a second card does not boost performance by 100%, it will actually boost it by 20 - 30%. Getting a stronger card will be cheaper, more powerful, and it will have less compatibility issues.

Is this [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150139] the card you are talking about? If so, thanks a ton. I can see how by the specs that this card would killa 7800.
Yes, this is an excellent card for the price. You should definitally get it.

 

[shadowduck]

If would be a better use of money to upgrade the card when the time comes then get another 7900 in the future. Video card prices actually do not fall that much. Look at the 7800s 6 months from now, they won't be rock bottom cheap. However the 7900 is going to run all games currently or in the foreseeable future very nicely. If you want the best card right now, look at the $600 7900GTXs which have 512MB of RAM (2 GPUs on the same card)


EDIT-
My poor typing needs correcting.

 

[ForzaItalia4]

I hear all over this forum that onboard sound is very efficient. If that's the case then I am fine with onboard, it saves me a good amount of cash as well, although i know a soundcard would probably help sound a whole lot.

 

[doomturkey]

I would suggest replacing the XMS with this, tighter timings for the same price:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227210
Everything looks good though.

 

[mdd1963]

"SLI is NOT worth it at all, adding a second card does not boost performance by 100%, it will actually boost it by 20 - 30%. "

That is by no means accurate...

For instance, FEAR goes from 49 fps to about 95 fps at 1024x768/4xAA/16xAF....

For most popular games at high res, the jump is much more than 20-30%.

 

[mdd1963]

"I hear all over this forum that onboard sound is very efficient. If that's the case then I am fine with onboard, it saves me a good amount of cash as well, although i know a soundcard would probably help sound a whole lot."

Indeed, since the advent of 6,7, and 8 channel sound integrated on most mainboards, I've not bought a soundcard since the year 2000!

 

[mdd1963]

"2 mid range cards in SLI will NOT outperform one high end card."

A pair of SLI'd 7900GTs will indeed frequently spank a single 1900XTX or a single 7900GTX at most typical playing resolutions....

Considering the unit's $299 cost, SLI is indeed a viable solution...

IN fact, a pair of SLI'd 7900GTs ($600) will sometimes even spank a 1900XT Crossfire ($1000) rig...

 

[ForzaItalia4]

Please post any sort of evidence, I've heard 20-30% about SLI up until now. If I see this kind of evidence I'll probably go SLI. thanks in advance