suggestion for my 2k gaming system

[mgph]

Hi,

I'd like to build a gaming system which will cost me around 1.8k-2.0k. But there are too many complicated things when I think about that...ATI crossfire or Nvidia SLI ? Radeon 4850 crossfire or 4870 ? Geforce 9800GTX SLI or 9800 GX2 ? And also many other things such as power supply, motherboard (Asus or Gigabyte) make me crazy to decide which one is the best for gaming.
My plan is simple, want to build a gaming rigs which will last at least next 3 years and should be able to play high-end games like Crysis at max settings with smooth FPS(20-35). Please, if you don't mind, I'd like to request you to follow the below pattern to give your advice for me.

CPU ->
MB ->
GPU ->
HDD ->
Power Supply ->
Monitor(optional) ->

I realize that other specs are also important but these 5 are the things make me confusing most. Please forgive my bad English and any suggest would be appreciate.
thanks in advance!!!

 

[helios2052]

CPU: Quad 9400 (or similar) and overclock to 3.x Ghz

MB: Any x38/x48 board from Gigabyte or Asus

GPU: If you've got the cash, get a 4870X2

HDD: Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM hard drive

Power Supply: Would recommend "CORSAIR CMPSU-1000HX 1000W power supply"

Might be overkill, but at $1800-$2000 I assume that is the plan?

 

[captaincharisma]

for a 2k system i'm sure you can make that Hard drive a Tera byte drive

and go with 8GB of ram

 

[aevm]

Prices below are approximate, what I remember from Newegg.

Q9550 $330
GA-EP45-DS3R $120
HD 4870 X2 $550
WD6400AAKS $75
Corsair 750TX $100
Acer or Samsung 24" $400
Case: RC-690 or Antec 900 $100
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit $100
Mushkin 2x2GB DDR2-800 $53
SH-S223Q burner

Total about 1.9K. This will get you about 25 fps at 1680x1050 in Crysis. It will do a lot better in every other game I can think of.
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=775&p=4

 

[aevm]

CPU: Quad 9400 (or similar) and overclock to 3.x Ghz

MB: Any x38/x48 board from Gigabyte or Asus

GPU: If you've got the cash, get a 4870X2

HDD: Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM hard drive

Power Supply: Would recommend "CORSAIR CMPSU-1000HX 1000W power supply"

Might be overkill, but at $1800-$2000 I assume that is the plan?

That makes a lot of sense, if he's going to add a second 4870X2 later. If not, it is overkill, true. That is, with a single one of those 4870X2 cards, he can save $100 on the MB and $150 on the PSU (with GA-EP45-DS3R or Asus P5Q Pro, and a 750TX PSU). He should go with your plan if he has a 24" monitor or larger, and with mine for a smaller monitor.

 

[mgph]

Prices below are approximate, what I remember from Newegg.

Q9550 $330
GA-EP45-DS3R $120
HD 4870 X2 $550
WD6400AAKS $75
Corsair 750TX $100
Acer or Samsung 24" $400
Case: RC-690 or Antec 900 $100
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit $100
Mushkin 2x2GB DDR2-800 $53
SH-S223Q burner

Total about 1.9K. This will get you about 25 fps at 1680x1050 in Crysis. It will do a lot better in every other game I can think of.
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=775&p=4

Wow, even such specs can run Crysis at average 25fps only ? I mean, from what I understand is that 25fps is just the minimum speed to get smooth in games and HD 4870 X2 is the best in the market at now and even with that cards, that game cannot run at, lets say average 35-40 or 40+ fps ? Just wondering how this 1yr++ old game still demand the highest specs and thank you for your info.

Thanks so much for your info guys, you all helped me greatly to buildup my first computer ! I'll have a look at these specs at shops today whether I get discounts Btw, do you know any website that I can create, customize and sum up of my own pc ?

 

[aeiouandxyz]

cpu: q9550 $320

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041&Tpk=q9550

mobo: asus maximus II formula $270

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131319

ram: g.skill ddr2-1066 $85

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

vga: diamond radeon 4870x2 $549-$50=$499 after mir

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103066

psu: abs tagan bz series 800w $219-$50=$169 after mir

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817814014

case: antec 900 $140-$30=$110 after mir

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021&Tpk=antec%20900

dvd: LG black 6X blu-ray $130

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136154

hd: seagate 1tb 7200 rpm 32mb cache $130

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148274

the total comes out to $1843 before mail in rebates. the 800w psu gives you room in case you decide to add another 4870x2 or 4870 for crossfire. the maximus II is also a x48 chipset which have 2 x16 pci-e lanes.

 

[mgph]

Would you mind giving any suggestion once more from the followings ?

CPU -> Q9550

MB -> I'd like to buy DDR3 support MB. Can you suggest which one is the best for me ?
Asus Maximus Extreme / Striker 2 Extreme / P5-Q3-Deluxe
Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 / GA-P35C-DS3R
And other MB brands(DSI, MSI,..) which can support DDR3

GPU -> Asus HD 4870x2 2gb

RAM -> Team Xtreem PC3-15000 ddr3-1800 1x4gb

Casing -> NZXT Tempest

PS -> Thermal TakeTough 750W

Thanks in advance !!!

 

[aevm]

Q9550 or Q6600 are by far the best choices for your budget IMO. The Q9650 would be a little faster but the price difference is not justified IMO. If you can afford the Q9550 get it.

I have the GA-P35C-DS3R. It's a good motherboard, but I wouldn't buy it now. The USB ports are slower than normal, the PCI-E slots are 1.1 (2.0 would be better), and it overclocks less well than similar boards like GA-EP35-DS3R. Actually, the main problem I have with it is that it only has one PCI-E slot, and I need a second slot for a cheap 8400GS or whatever so I can add a third monitor.

If you insist on DDR3, sure, go for it. You're paying more than it's worth, for both RAM and motherboard, but that's just my opinion. Asus and Gigabyte are the leading MB brands. DFI and aBit make some pretty good stuff too, but they're less popular.

I like the NZXT Tempest a lot.

The Toughpower 750W is good, but I like the Silencer 750W more and it's usually cheaper. A modular PSU is not really such a big advantage if your PC is loaded with lots of things and most cables are in use anyway.

 

[steve303]

Why is everyone suggesting Quad core for this, E8400 could overclock to 4.0 Ghz. How can any quad be better for this, even on $2000 budget. This is not for video editing software that is optimized for quad core. No games are going to be optimized for quad core in the next few years right?

 

[lucuis]

He wants it to last at least 3 years, any quad core would perform better down the road once apps/games are more commonly threaded for 4+ cores. Pretty much any game coming out from now on using using 4 cores more and more.

 

[ke7diz]

go ddr2 not ddr3
the reason is cas latency witch is how long it takes to do things.
yes ddr3 is faster but with cas it takes longer to do the same thing so slow ddr2 with low cas will outperform faster ddr3 with high cas, add on that ddr3 is more expensive and that 775 is a dieing socket, ddr3 makes no since

go fore the quad with the budget
otherwise the suggestions a good

honesty i think 2k is way to much to spend on a comp 1k-1.5 is the range that your getting your moneys worth the best parts are always way over priced spend your money on something els

 

[aeiouandxyz]

+1 for ddr2 and the qp650 is not worth the $549 premium. the performance difference between the two does not justify the cost. the q6600 is an excellent overclocker and the q9550 is faster clock for clock because of newer microarchitecture. get the q9550 if you have the extra dough. the difference between the x48 and p45 mobos is the x48 has 2 x16 pcie 2.0 lanes and the p45 has 1 x16 pcie lane or 2 x8 pcie lanes. if you dont have plans to crossfire, i would go for the p45 because of the higher native fsb. duals have been able to get to 500 fsb on p45 boards. asus and gigabytes currently have the best offerings on p45 mobos.