I am able/willing to spend around $4000 to build the best gaming rig possible. Could someone help lay out/recommend specs for me? I'm not the most experience hardware nut. These are not set in stone (only the gf7950gx2 and the PSU because theyre already purchased). Ignore the rest and build me the best if you want
HDDS: Need suggestions. I dont want raptor's and a raid config. I had alot of problems in the past and its just damn loud. Right not theres deals on WD4000KS 400G for $150.. how good are these?
CDROM/DVDR's: I was recommended SONY DRU-830A and CDX230AE/U... are there any better than these?
COOLING: Definitely need help here... I had alot of overheating problems with my old rig.
Wow, where do you get $4000 that you can just go spend on a computer? If I were you, I'd buy 2 nice computers. 1 for gaming, and a second for gaming or for a server.
Wow, where do you get $4000 that you can just go spend on a computer? If I were you, I'd buy 2 nice computers. 1 for gaming, and a second for gaming or for a server.
Im in the online marketing business and a few of my sites got alot of hits last month so I got a exta couple grand to spend
um, I wouldn't spend it all at once. You actually mentioned some modest components for $4000, most of which I would consider very good deals. No 6800 extreme, no dual ati card system, not the platinum waste of money version of the x fi, etc.
I am also struggling finding a good Core 2 motherboard. I don't have the amount of money that you do, but most of them aren't that good. I think the Intel 965 chipsets are apparently the best, although they don't have sli. I wouldn't go quad sli though, as most games don't get any advantage of it - directx is less extensible than opengl.
If you do spend money, spend it on a nice monitor. The gx2 should support Apple's cinema 30 inch display. If you change your mind, and don't spend that much money, I got a Samsung 204 for $270, and I like it a lot.
Use four hard drives in RAID 5 - look it up on Wikipedia; it uses 4 hard drives, where any one could crash and the system will still be fine; it will give 1.5 tb storage and hopefully close to 3 times the speed
in case I wasn't completely clear, DO NOT USE SOFTWARE RAID!!! I had disasters with it, and wasted a lot of time. It wasn't ignorance, it was incompatible with linux. The motherboard bios would also occasionally fail to recognize that I had a raid system, and wouldn't boot. A good hardware raid system isn't cheap, but worth it, if you want to use raid.
if you don't need raid, maybe going with a raptor and a large drive for storage would be fine. If you are only gaming, I suggest the 150gb raptor.
well i like the system but if i were you i wouldnt have boughten the gf 7950 because dx10 is around 3 weeks away and well it will toast any card out right now...
in case I wasn't completely clear, DO NOT USE SOFTWARE RAID!!! I had disasters with it, and wasted a lot of time. It wasn't ignorance, it was incompatible with linux. The motherboard bios would also occasionally fail to recognize that I had a raid system, and wouldn't boot. A good hardware raid system isn't cheap, but worth it, if you want to use raid.
if you don't need raid, maybe going with a raptor and a large drive for storage would be fine. If you are only gaming, I suggest the 150gb raptor.
Seriously, you're spending too much, especially if you're going to eschew raid 0(or 0+1) raptors.
I suggest you drop that E6700 to an E6600, get some decent cooling (zalman all-copper heatsink and fan, or similar... water is a pain), and OC it. Don't drop lower than the E6600, though, because no OCing will give you more L2 cache.
As for your graphics card situation, just sit on enough of that money to buy a DX10 card or two when they come out. If you have surplus cash burning a hole in your pocket after all that, dump it in a bigger display.
I would suggest a nice fast 400GB HD backup with 2XIRAM's with 8GB's of RAM. I dont know if 2 IRAM can run in RAID but even if not there faster than any HD youll get. Just think of the possiblitys with both your OS and virual memory on the 2 IRAM's. If your wanting to game you can place almost any game in 8GB's and reduce your level load times.
loading is sequential, not random access. it is not that much faster. an idrive would be a waste of money better spent on a nice monitor, or even a nice plasma tv.
actually the plasma televisions do not have that great resolution. i would suggest
well i like the system but if i were you i wouldnt have boughten the gf 7950 because dx10 is around 3 weeks away and well it will toast any card out right now...
for an extra $300, perhaps. And no, it's 3 months away, not 3 weeks.
well i like the system but if i were you i wouldnt have boughten the gf 7950 because dx10 is around 3 weeks away and well it will toast any card out right now...
for an extra $300, perhaps. And no, it's 3 months away, not 3 weeks.
nVidia DX10 is 3 weeks away, bucko. And, since he's got an nVidia card in hand, my guess is that he's not enough of an ATi fanboy to sit and weep soft tears waiting for the ATi offering.
What drive are you using? Sequential went out with the VCR and the Cassette tape. Your correct that the money would be better spent on a plasma but he may have one. He really didnt even list a monitor or plasma. I was thinking he already had 1.
To the nearest $10, this is what I think you are looking at. You should find the best prices at pricegrabber and techbargains. You can use my site, ntung.com, because it has search buttons for both.
US$500 cpu (http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php?masterid=22879557&search=E6700&op[]=page,209,1)
US$130 700w power supply (http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__OCZ_OCZ_OCZ700GXSSLI_GamerXStream_700W_Power_Supply,__19777088/search=power+supply)
US$600 graphics
US$140 sound card
US$200 150 raptor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136012&ATT=22-136-012&CMP=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r)
US$300 1ghz ddr2
US$40 DVD
US$170 Galaxy II liquid cooling (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835128015&ATT=35-128-015&CMP=OTC-Froogle)
US$120 case
Total: US$2200.
I would certainly consider the other poster's suggestion to go to the E6600. Dropping the water cooling if you don't overclock much will allow you to get an LCD and the hd television.
nVidia DX10 is 3 weeks away, bucko. And, since he's got an nVidia card in hand, my guess is that he's not enough of an ATi fanboy to sit and weep soft tears waiting for the ATi offering.
really? okay, I guess I'm not up to date. anyway, what's purchased is purchased. No need to regret it, the gx2 is a fine card. I also dislike ati.
What drive are you using? Sequential went out with the VCR and the Cassette tape. Your correct that the money would be better spent on a plasma but he may have one. He really didnt even list a monitor or plasma. I was thinking he already had 1.
I mean sequential access. When loading a game, the random access feature of memory or the idrive doesn't matter. it's not that much faster.
Not that much better. And you need to buy 8gb of ram? Spend it on the DirectX 10 care mentioned earlier, or even an Intel extreme edition. No offense, and I don't mean to simply take a contrary stance, this is just what I heard. Also, 8gb of ram might only hold 2 games, depending on what you play (sc3 is 4gb). anandtech uses the 74gb raptor, the 150 should be even faster.
What drive are you using? Sequential went out with the VCR and the Cassette tape. Your correct that the money would be better spent on a plasma but he may have one. He really didnt even list a monitor or plasma. I was thinking he already had 1.
I mean sequential access. When loading a game, the random access feature of memory or the idrive doesn't matter. it's not that much faster.
Not that much better. And you need to buy 8gb of ram? Spend it on the DirectX 10 care mentioned earlier, or even an Intel extreme edition. No offense, and I don't mean to simply take a contrary stance, this is just what I heard. Also, 8gb of ram might only hold 2 games, depending on what you play (sc3 is 4gb). anandtech uses the 74gb raptor, the 150 should be even faster.
True but thats using only 1 IRAM. The bandwith limit is the real hold up and 2 IRAM's would double the thoughput. That would farther place the IRAM ahead. Stepping back a page look at what 1 IRAM does to the boot time.
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/s [...] i=2480&p=7 This isnt even taking into consideration the wear and tear taking off the HD. The HD is way less likly to fail due to the massive number of seeks the IRAM will be taking in place of the HD. You could place 2GB's on each IRAM and get the added bandwidth at half the price.
the differences you mention are consistently around 5 seconds or less, and that is the older raptor without any raid. As I said, it is sequential, it will not double. I've never had an hard drive fail; they come with good warranties and have been manufactured for years and years. Better watch out for your battery dying on the iram, then you lose your entire operating system. not worth it.
