Building the "best" gaming system

[Retruglot]

I have a customer who wants me to build the "best" gaming system money can buy... So I thought I would come here and ask you guys: If you could build the best system (the PC box, not peripherals) for gaming, and money wasn't an issue who's and what components would you put in it? (This guy is hardcore Unreal Tournament player)

Motherboard:
CPU:
Fan:
Harddrive(s):
RAID?:
RAM:
PowerSupply:
VideoCard:
SoundCard:
Network card:
Case:


Thanks for your help!
Ret

 

[Ratch]

here are some of the items i would but. Whether they are the best, im not sure, but this system will bounce UT around and all the DirectX 8.1 games of the future.

Mobo:
Abit KX7-333 Via KT333/VT8233A ATA133/DDR333
Raid systems are of no use to me.

Processor:
AMD Athlon XP 2100+ (1.73GHz) Palomino Core

Graphics Card:
WinFast A250 Ultra TD

Hard drive:
80Gb Maxtor D740X ATA-133

Soundcard:
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum

Speakers: (you didn't mention these?)
Video Logic DigiTheatre 'DOLBY'

Ram:
512Mb PC2700 (PC333) DDR Memory

The case and network card im not sure about. I always though that these are 'all' good nowadays??

 

[Mnx4]

I agree with what ratch suggested. As for case, you should ask your customer if he/she has any space limitations...A 3COM NIC card would be the best for networking.

Time is the best teacher... unfortunatly, it kills all of its students.

 

[upec]

I would suggest you to get an Enermax EG651P PSU and Lian Li PC65 CASE.

 

[Retruglot]

Thanks for the input... I usually have to spend hours researching this stuff since I only build systems for people on the side as time permits... I really appreciate the recommendations! Now to verify the info in a spot or two and hit pricewatch for the material!

One question, I'm just starting to use RAID, in your experience, does it really make any difference in gaming? I notice my system boots faster, but I don't do a lot of gaming these days, so I'm not a good measure.... although I don't suspect it does a lot for gameplay (more for load time), I'd still like to verify this perspective with people like yourselves.

And yea, I didn't mention the speakers cuz I expect he'll work that out himself - prolly already has a kickazz sound system (knowing how he likes to have "the best of the best").

Any particular CPU fan? or just buy the retail box with the AMD fan in it? (he'll not be OCing it, I don't think it would improve much at the top end of the Palomino core anyway).

What is special about that case and PSU? I usually just use Enlight cases... but I haven't built a PC for awhile..

[ok, that was more than one question... ]

Thanks again,
Ret

 

[The_MaguS]

Why the hell would you go for an ATHLON XP if you want the best performance "regardless of price".

My advice? Get a 2.53 Northwood B, 1 gig of PC1066 RDRAM, and a Geforce 4600. Not much exp with recent harddrive, but I'm pretty sure an IBM Desktar/Maxtor Liquid Bearing/WD Special Edition would be the best.

Not much difference between onboard NIC and PCI nic, except for a fraction of a percent of CPU usage.

Get an audigy or equivalent, klipsch 4.1 or 5.1.

RAID performance is NOT noticable in gaming, so I can't justify getting one, as the gain in benchmarks I have seen is less than one frame per second (if any at all).

I dont see how case matters, but Aluminum is overrated and dents easily. Get the stealth black chieftec case that alienware uses from newegg. It's 50 bucks.

<font color=blue> There's no such thing as hell, but you can make it if you try.</font color=blue>

 

[jiffy]

I went with a WD 1200 over the Raid.
Trying to avoid Creative Labs this time around.
Gf4 Ultra for sure.
Hmm...If money is no object, I would get the fastest Intel. And a good stable chip on the mobo, what ever that may be.




Hey Baby, want to play with my computer?

 

[FatBurger]

CPU: P4 2.4
Motherboard: Abit TH7II
RAM: 2x Samsung 256MB PC800
HDD: IBM 120GXP (size doesn't matter...in this case)
Video: Gainward GeForce 4 TI4600
Sound: Hercules Game Theater XP
DVD: Pioneer 106s
CD-RW: Teac 40x

Pick the case, PSU, etc.

<font color=blue>Hi mom!</font color=blue>

 

[l3um]

CPU: 2.5 Intel
Motherboard: not fimiliar with intel mobos
Ram: 512> PC1066 RDRAM
Case: I like Lian-Li's cases. Maybe the PC70 server case.
Video: Gainward TI4600 Gold Pack
Sound Card: Hercules Gamers XP
HD: Money doesn't matter? Raid 0 WD 8mb 120gig
PS: Enermax...Watts depend on what your putting in.
NIC: 3com
CDRW/DVD: I like Lite-On...Cheap and Good quality. Plextor if you really want to.

What's this?...ERROR ERROR ERROR...*CRASH & BURN*

 

[Retruglot]

Ok boys and girls... I've built this system based on a culmination of your recommendations and my research and it fails to even give me a video signal!! I am at a loss here... and kinda wondering if the Mobo might be bad but am too lazy to change it at this point to see... so I thought I'd inquire, do you guys know of any issues like this with the Abit KX7-333 Via KT333/VT8233A ATA133/DDR333? I could find NO help or tech support page on the abit website, which was a little surprising.

The rest of the system is like this:
Processor:
AMD Athlon XP 2200+ Thoroughbred Core

Graphics Card:
WinFast A250 Ultra TD

Hard drive:
WD 1200 (the 120 gig "Special Edition" w/8mb cashe)

Soundcard:
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Platinum

Ram:
Samsung 512Mb PC2700 (PC333) DDR Memory

Kingwin case with 5 fans..
Enermax (I think) 431w powersupply
Coolmaster Fan w/copper heatsink
floppy, CD rom drive, and burner...

I've moved the RAM from bank 1 to 4 with no help, I've cleared the CMOS (as recommended by the book), I've tried 3 different monitors, 3 different video cards (including a PCI one), double checked the case -> Mobo plugs, the floppy and the CD drives light up, the fans (10 total) all fire up, the hard drive spins, the keyboard flashes (however I cannot toggle the caps or number lock lights)... everything appears to be in place... but I'm getting no video!! nothing.. no signal whatso ever... the only peculiar thing is that I don't get any beeps from the PC speaker either, not even one (I checked that plug 3-4 times in different positions). The yellow and green LEDs are lit up on the Mobo... I even took the processor off the board to see if I could get something.... nothing... I have another processor I could try in it.. hell, I even have another Mobo on hand...

What do you suggest? Before I tear out the mobo and build again?


Thanks,
Ret

 

[o1die]

You need the new bios version. I would install an older athlon or duron cpu to flash the bios. The bios id is 9k under downloads at abit's website.

 

[dweilbacher]

You may need to check the version of the motherboard. While the Abit KX7-333
is a great board, it is one of the KT333 boards that does not currently
support the Tbred processor. A XP2100+ would have worked fine, but the
XP2200+ does not work on this board.

Abit is aware of the problem and I assume that newer board revision will
support the Tbred. They are offering to modify the board (you pay shipping)
to correct the issue.

You can read more about this here:
http://www.amdmb.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=139387

Abit KX7-333R, Abit Siluro Ti4400, XP1800+, 512MB Crucial DDR2100, WD 120 GB HD, Santa Cruz.

 

[Retruglot]

Thanks dood.. the flash didn't work as it said that it would.. nevertheless, they are in the FedEx people's hands for now... hopefully I'll get them (2) back soon.

That thread was very helpful.. so if anyone is interested in this Abit issue, I'd recommend taking a moment to read it through.

Ret

 

[tannji]

a little input to the original question.... and altho you have already built this system, keep this mobo in mind for the next "gamer"


Motherboard:Asus A7a (nforce 2 version, turbo southbridge)
CPU:same
Fan:same
Harddrive(s):same
RAID?:if needed, not necessary, especially in this board
RAM:2 sticks of corsair, or quality equivalent
PowerSupply:enermax 400
VideoCard:gainward, leadtek, or visiontek fg4 4600 128mb
SoundCard:none!
Network card:none!
Case lian li or similar non aluminum, if you prefer

this mobo has onboard usb 1.1, 2.0, firewire, dual nics, and dolby 5.1, analog and digital. it also supports the newest ddr ram, (400) has dual memeory bus, hyper transport, and manages a lot of the data thru-put independant of the pci bus. Asus has enabled the chip-side overheat protection, (which i can tell you works like a charm = )
if all the above isnt enough, my experience with asus and the nforce chipset has been wonderful, no system hangs, no lockups, no bsod's, no incompatibilities, wonderful unified drivers, sound = or better than SB live and audigy platinum, (i have both for comparison) the install was the smoothest ive ever had, and it is by far the most stable mobo ive ever used....

but what do i know.... = )

tannji


PS.... it is anticipated that this board will out perform the equivalents from via by about 20%.... and throw out any bias against onboard nic, sound, ect.... they dont apply in this case..... cheers
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by tannji on 07/18/02 00:00 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Retruglot]

Thanks Tann for the input... The Nforce2 seems to be the way to go in the future...

Well, to keep the ball rolling, I sent the 2 motherboards back to Abit to be updated for use with the Thoroughbred core (XP2200+).. I finally got an opportunity to stick the thing back together to no avail. I flashed the BIOS to the June version (which I believe is the newest one, but I am not sure since the Abit site is outta sight for some reason) by putting an XP1800+ in.. but no help.. I sent 2 boards back and when I recieved them I could not tell what had changed about it... I'd seen somewhere (on this thread or another) that someone got theirs back and could see some solder changes and had a Ver 1.2 on it... mine still say 1.0 and DO NOT SUPPORT THE THOROUGHBRED CORE!! shooo... I'm getting frustrated..

I have had this customer waiting for FAR too long... My next step is to contact Abit (if at all possible) and if they are not interested in helping me I hope that NewEgg will help a brotha out on a trade in... (since that is where I bought all the parts from to begin with).

With that said, and the Nforce2 not out yet, what would you people recommend today? I've seen some recs on the SiS chipsets... ? (its been 2 months since the last request, so I'm sure things are much different now, eh? heheh)


Thanks again for all the assistance!
Ret

 

[pitupepito]

what I would do is wait and see what kind of system set up does Anandtech.com offers for high end computer gaming.

 

[Stain]

Or he could turn to Sharky Extreme's latest, besides Sharky is much cooler than Anandtech. :tongue:

<A HREF="http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/EGBG/article.php/1439071" target="_new">http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/EGBG/article.php/1439071</A>

 

[Retruglot]

Thanks Stain.

Does anyone have any experience getting a Thoroughbred core 2200+ to work on a motherboard?

Sharkey's seems to likes the ASUS A7V333... but is there any one on here who knows it works with this board? I've seem the ASUS sight says so, but then again, so does the Abit sight.


Thanks again,
Ret

 

[andlcs]

I would go with:
Pentium 4AB 2533MHz o/clocked at 2800MHz
Asus mobo w/ intel i850E
1GB PC1066 RDRAM
Cooljag coper cooler w/ delta fan 7000rpm
MSI GeForce ti 4600
SoundBlaster Audigy platinum
3com lan
intel KCYCABRILLO case w/ enermax 500W power s.
A big screen monitor like 24"
2 hds (raid mode 0) 80GB/4MB cache/UDMA 133
Since this is a gaming system I would use a widescreen high resolution tv, and a thurstmaster wheel usb

 

[nja469]

Work w/ the 2200+

The Abit AT7 - Asus A7V333 - MSI KT3 Ultra - Soyo Dragon KT333 Ultra. There are others, but these are the better, feature-filled boards with the VIA KT333 chipset.

"Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one"

 

[Crashman]

Why did you pay so much for VIA crap, a problematic soundcard, and an overpriced, underperforming CPU? You could have had a P4 1.8A at 2.4GHz, a top notch Intel or SiS chipset board, and the Game Theater XP for HUNDREDS less!

<font color=blue>By now you're probably wishing you had ask more questions first!</font color=blue>

 

[Retruglot]

Heheh.. your passion is noted, but not convincing.

$100 for a mobo doesn't seem like "too much" to me. I don't percieve the 2200+ as underperforming.. maybe slightly less than the P4 2.5, but I believe the longevity lies in the ability to go with the future AMD processors... which historically are the better bang for the buck and have toppled Intel from the "fastest" spot
(although not at the moment).

If you are implying that I could OC the P1.8a to 2.4, then that would be the ONLY way it would have been "hundreds less". Everyone knows that the Intel stuff (proc, ram, mobos) is WAY over priced. But I'm not looking to OC, just to get good stuff to start with.. and yea, their are plenty of perspectives on the Via chipsets, but they generally do a good job. This system isn't being built to OC, its being built to be strong and stable at baseline.

Thanks tho,

Ret

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Retruglot on 08/04/02 02:40 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Crashman]

History is doomed. AMD has given up on the power users for now. And I'd put a P4 1.8A at 2.4 against a stock 2200+ for longevity AND stability. Not to mention the problems I've seen with VIA chipsets. Oh, and the future of your platform? AMD is supposed to have a new socket by the end of the year.

<font color=blue>By now you're probably wishing you had ask more questions first!</font color=blue>

 

[Retruglot]

That could put a damper on the plan... where did you hear that about the socket change?



Thanks,
Ret

 

[Unolocogringo]

It is on AMD roadmap from their site. The new Athlon(Hammer) will require a new motherboard. This is the end of the socket A.

I aint signing nothing!!!