Ok, first I am a post veteran of home builds, but I haven't payed much attention to the newest batch of hardware to come out the pipe except nVidia's massive trouncing of ATI in the GFX department with the 8800GTX and SLi. Other than that, I know Intel took the Crown when it comes to multi-cores and performance(if you aren't worried about price) but other than that, I don't know what in either camp has to offer, cause I just stopped paying attention to the Intel vs. AMD war.(opinions about nVidia and Intel are as various as they are numerous, pls don't flame)
Ok so my past Home Build was built in mid 2004 and was pretty decent for only $1250, and has lasted me up to this date and will likely last for several more years if I play nice. Aside from some heating issues do to my choice of case and bad airflow I just couldn't help(bad at cable bundling). Athlon XP 3000+, 1 gig ram, 250 gig hd, ATI 9700 PRO, good Asus mobo, 350 watt psu, dvd-rom... nothing too fancy. But my computer is starting to show its age, and I feel the old boy deserves some quiet retirement as my new pron storage device... kidding.
I am going to have $4,000 dollars comming my way soon, and while I would love to get a Dellieanware Laptop for nearly all of that, I kinda don't want to be left with only $52 in my wallet. Conversely, I can go home build again and build something decent, say $2-3,000 and spend the last on a M1 Carbine(love WWII weapons, already have a Garand). Now this is where anyone who cares to voice their ideas comes in.
I would like to hear a few ideas about a new system I could put together myself(or a decent laptop) that will last me for another 3 or so years, and will let me play games comming out that make my 9700 PRO gasp for air as it tries to swallow even the lowest graphics settings. Plus I am kind of tired of keeping my window off my case, and using a small house fan to keep the air flowing inside to keep the parts that need it cool. So I already decided to go water-cooling, and have 5-6 articles from magazines ready to be used, not to mention Tom's. Base line, I wanna step up to DX10 and dual-core atleast. Doesn't need to be tip-top of the line, and I don't want to OC. Like to have an 8800 something, and maybe in SLI, 2gig ram atleast maybe 4, and a multi-core that will play games with ease.
Opinions and builds appreciated, and wanted.
Ok so my past Home Build was built in mid 2004 and was pretty decent for only $1250, and has lasted me up to this date and will likely last for several more years if I play nice. Aside from some heating issues do to my choice of case and bad airflow I just couldn't help(bad at cable bundling). Athlon XP 3000+, 1 gig ram, 250 gig hd, ATI 9700 PRO, good Asus mobo, 350 watt psu, dvd-rom... nothing too fancy. But my computer is starting to show its age, and I feel the old boy deserves some quiet retirement as my new pron storage device... kidding.
I am going to have $4,000 dollars comming my way soon, and while I would love to get a Dellieanware Laptop for nearly all of that, I kinda don't want to be left with only $52 in my wallet. Conversely, I can go home build again and build something decent, say $2-3,000 and spend the last on a M1 Carbine(love WWII weapons, already have a Garand). Now this is where anyone who cares to voice their ideas comes in.
I would like to hear a few ideas about a new system I could put together myself(or a decent laptop) that will last me for another 3 or so years, and will let me play games comming out that make my 9700 PRO gasp for air as it tries to swallow even the lowest graphics settings. Plus I am kind of tired of keeping my window off my case, and using a small house fan to keep the air flowing inside to keep the parts that need it cool. So I already decided to go water-cooling, and have 5-6 articles from magazines ready to be used, not to mention Tom's. Base line, I wanna step up to DX10 and dual-core atleast. Doesn't need to be tip-top of the line, and I don't want to OC. Like to have an 8800 something, and maybe in SLI, 2gig ram atleast maybe 4, and a multi-core that will play games with ease.
Opinions and builds appreciated, and wanted.