Ultimate Gaming system.

[Rhinofart]

My boss just asked me to spec out the most kick ass gaming system money can buy. He wants to play Supreme Commander at max res max eye candy at the highest possible frame rates. He told me to price out a Quad everything system. He wants the QX 6700, and 4 Ultra Top End Video Cards. I will also need to recomend a Mobo for him. Anyone know of a good Mobo for this, and which Video Cards to purchase? Please let me know asap as he wante me to order it today.

 

[Assman]

qx6700
evga 680i
2* 8800gtx in sli (btw why does he need 4?)
ddr2 6400 cl4
win XP (don't go with vista for gaming, not yet)
8)

 

[Rhinofart]

He doesn't need 4. He just wants 4. I have been doing some legwork as well and here is what I have come up with so far.
qx6700 - $1294
evga 680i - $304
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 600MHZ 768MB (times 2) -$1654
Seagate Barracuda 320Gb Sata II HD (times 2) Raid 0 - $236
Seagate Barracuda 500Gb with External Enclousure - $257
BFG Quad SLI ready Powersupply 1000 Watt $449
OCZ Platinum XTC REV.2 PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB (times 2) $472

Just need a nice looking and functional case for it to go into. He doesn't LAN party or anything so it will be pretty much a static display on his desk.
Keep in mind these are Canadian prices off of NCIX and I am still under his budget of $7000.

 

[Assman]

TT Armor with 25cm side fan - THE BEST, plenty of space

 

[Rhinofart]

I just ordered it, and here it is:
SKU Product Description Qty Price Ext. Price
21594 EVGA Nforce 680I SLI Motherboard & Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Retail Bundle 1 $1,593.97 $1,593.97
1 x Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Quad Core Processor Kentsfield LGA775 2.66GHZ 1066FSB 8MB Retail W/ HSF
1 x EVGA Nforce 680I SLI LGA775 Conroe ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 2PCI SATA2 RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard

23201 BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC2 626MHZ 768MB 2.0GHZ GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV Out HDCP DIRECTX10 Video Card 2 $859.95 $1,719.90
18409 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 3GB/S 7200RPM 16MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive 2 $98.98 $197.96
18413 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB SATA2 3GB/S 7200RPM 16MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive 1 $172.98 $172.98
17167 Vantec Nexstar 3 External 3.5IN SATA Black Hard Drive Enclosure USB2.0 W/ Power Adaptor & Stand 1 $52.89 $52.89
21178 BFG 1000W Power Supply ATX V2.2 EPS12V 20/24PIN Quad SLI Crossfire Ready 1 $429.95 $429.95
15422 Antec Sonata II Black ATX 16IN Mid Tower Quiet Case 3X5.25 2X3.5 4X3.5IN 450W Air Duct 120MM Fan 1 $102.99 $102.99
19337 OCZ Platinum XTC REV.2 PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-15 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit 3 $224.98 $674.94
23236 Supreme Commander (PC Game - OEM DVD-ROM) ** Intel / EVGA Promo Bundle Only ** 1 $0.00 $0.00
11843 NCIX Heavy Duty Shipping Box 1 $5.99 $5.99
Shipping & Handling: $120.69
Shipping Insurance: $148.55
SUBTOTAL: $5,220.81
PST(7%): $365.46
GST (6%): $313.25
TOTAL: $5,899.52
Sorry about the ugly Cut & Paste Job.

 

[lx_flier]

Wait no raptor's! :x and you should of gone with patriot ram, a coolermaster stacker 830, and a nifty after market cpu cooler

 

[Rhinofart]

I have owned many Raptors in the past myself. I don't know if it's my luck (if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have none) but all of my Raptors went Kaput, and I haven't had a single hiccup with the Barracudas at all. I like the looks of the OCZ RAM and besides he won't let me overclock it :roll: He liked the Sonata case. Meh!! To each his own I guess. Hell I still like the looks of my Lian-Li case over any of the new ones out there.

 

[knowsitall]

i would of said go with the striker extreme.... you were going all out why not get the striker? cool as hell board.

 

[Rhinofart]

To be honest they looked pretty darn similar feature wise. Plus the EVGA combo that I got came with a Free copy of Supreme Commander!! Yay!! Now I get a copy of the game too!! LOL If it wasn't for me wanting that damn game I would have gone with the Striker Extreme. I am a fan of Asus boards, and have had nothing but them since my AMD K6-2 days!! I'll post pics of the build as well as screenshots of the benchmarks on my site compucorgp dot com when it all comes in.

 

[Phrozt]

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188013
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562QX6700 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115011
$1,209.99 (bundled)

BFG Tech BFGR88768GTXOCWCE GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Water Cooled Edition HDCP Video Card - Retail (it's watercooled to 650MHz core)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143085
$1879.98 ($939.99 x 2)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148140
$169.98 (84.99x2)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3750640AS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148134
$269.99

SILVERSTONE OP1000 ATX12V / EPS12V 1000W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256010
$345.99

Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133154
$149.99

Patriot eXtreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PDC22G6400LLK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220144
$328.98 ($189.99 x 2 - $50.00 for one mail in rebate)

ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118020
$69.99

Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2b 1pk - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116175
$139.99


Subtotal: $4563.90
Shipping: $100 (newegg is generally cheaper when it comes to shipping because of special deals
Total: $4663.90



My setup is a lot better for $1k less.

EDIT: forgot OS.. and so did you!

 

[Rhinofart]

You talking US or Canadian funds?
Also why the Watercooled cards? He doesn't have watercooling so no need for the cards to be watercooled. (essentially same as what I got - the watercoolers)
Mobo is the same
Your HD's are better spec wise. Oh boy like you will notice much difference in real world performance.
I think the BGF PS is better then that.
I agree on the case, but the Sonata is what he wanted.
The OCZ RAM looks way nicer then that Patrior stuff. Nearly identical specs, so I'll take the Eye Candy myself.
Aftermarket cooler. I agree, but again he said didn't need it. "It comes with a cooler that's designed for it, and besides. I'm not overclocking at all" :? Meh. What do you do??

 

[Phrozt]

That's US... it's from Newegg..

 

[Rhinofart]

Don't need OS. Already has Vista Ultimate. I know I know YUCK!! But he wants DX10 capability, and always has to have the "Latest (and sometimes not the greatest)" I would have stuck with XP -Pro myself.

 

[Rhinofart]

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

4,663.90 US Dollar = 5,405.55 Canadian Dollar

4,663.90 Canadian Dollar (CAD) = 4,024.00 US Dollar (USD)


So fairly close pricewise, and NCIX will have it here for me tomorrow. :lol:
And I won't have to pay the damn government the DUTY on it. So much for Free Trade eh?

 

[Phrozt]

yeah.. but I still have better components for cheaper... and you could get next day w/newegg.

As for his vista.. does he already have that on a machine? Because you can only reg a copy of an OS on one machine...

 

[Rhinofart]

Yes it is currently on his existing system which we are de-comissioning to put the OS on the new one. I'm going to use his existing system (FX-57, 2 Gigs of RAM, and 2 BFG-6800 ultras) as my workstation here in the office. Therefore reload it with our Corporate Windows XP x64 Edition. Thereby freeing up Vista for his new computer.

Yes yes, I know all about M$'s licensing, and yes yes, Everything here is legal and legit. It's astounding how much we pay to M$ for the privelidge of using their products.

I just ordered Office 2007 VLK with Visio yesterday with a 50 user pack for one of our branch offices. Damn! That's almost 3 months salary!!!

And yes, you guys down in the States usually get better pricing on components. GRRRRRR!!!! But I think the duty that I would have to pay to get it across the border would more then make the difference in the pricing reflected by NCIX and Newegg.

 

[Phrozt]

Heh.. I know all about that.. I was interning at a company where they were making massive upgrades and making sure licenses were legit.. it gets freaking ridiculous.

 

[Rhinofart]

That's for sure. When I first took over the IT department here I did a License Audit and fixed any...... shortcomings. Everytime I have to do a new roll out, or addition / upgrade to our corporate network/structure I feel MS should atleast take me out to dinner for rapeing me so bad. But then again I do have that sick satisfaction of handing the bill over to the Accounting Department.

 

[NightlySputnik]

qx6700
evga 680i
2* 8800gtx in sli (btw why does he need 4?)
ddr2 6400 cl4
win XP (don't go with vista for gaming, not yet)
8)

The parts are perfect.

Where I disagree is about Vista. If he wants to play Supreme Commander, Vista will at least let him enjoy Dx10 in the short future. Go, like I did, dual-boot. XP Home and Vista Home Premium, 64-bit for the later ideally. Or, in other word, XP for the oldies, and Vista for the future. That's what I did and I'm so glad I did it. There is already a few thing that I miss when I have to go XP. Superfetch is one of them, it make my Vista even more responsive than XP. Whenever one game suck at Vista, like new STALKER according to some review, I just go with XP. Your bos will thank you for this in a year from now when he'll play Supreme Commander with DX10 patch :twisted:

Also, if he has so much money, and doesn't like opening his PC for upgrade, go with 4GB DDR2.

 

[AndonSage]

Have him read this article (SupCom & Intel Core 2 Quad Gameplay Advantages) at [H]Enthusiast and he'll want Windows XP instead of Vista, or at least a dual boot.

Gary

 

[Rhinofart]

It is 4 Gigs. The RAM is 2 units of 2 Gigs each. I myself run a triple boot system. Win XP32, WinXP64, and Vista Business. I have to have a platform where I can do Quality testing, and compatability testing before anything goes onto my production network. We have the licenses for him to do a Dualboot (His Alienware gaming laptop finaly croaked & it had XP-Pro on it) so I may transfer over from that for his XP, and then install the Vista as well after reading that article that AdonSage posted up.