Building High-End PC. Suggestions Needed

[effowe]

I'm going to be putting together a new PC soon, and I want the highest-end system that I can build. Money will not be an issue. Here is what I've been looking at..

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 FX55 939

Mobo: Not sure what I should get. I obviously need socket 939. I've also seen some stuff about PCIexpress. Should I get a mobo with this, and if so, are cards coming out now that support this? I would also like integrated gigabit ethernet.

Memory: I hear Corsair is pretty much the way to go. I've also seen new DDR2 chips out now. Does my mobo need to support this? I'm planning on getting at least a gig of the fastest ram I can.

Storage: I want to get a mobo with built in SATA support, as I have one of these drives laying around. Im planning on getting a second one and running RAID0, which is the non-mirrored variety (i think). Is this a good idea?

Video: I have always been an ATI guy, but ive seen the GeForce6800 beat out the new ATI X800 in some benchmarks. If I want the highest end video I can get, what do you suggest?

Cooling: Overclocking is something that I've always wanted to try. My motherboard needs to support this, and I know that the FX55 has unlocked multipliers. What sort of heatsink/fans should I get to accomodate a nice overclock? I don't want to go the water-cooling route, as it looks bulky, and I really dont trust water running around all this equipment. Sound shouldn't be an issue.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. This will be the first system I have built, and I don't want any compatibility issues, just the highest end PC I can get now that will last me 3-4 years.

Thanks Alot,
effowe

 

[Mojoed]

Originally posted by: effowe
I'm going to be putting together a new PC soon, and I want the highest-end system that I can build. Money will not be an issue.

Well, if you're set on building your computer yourself, disregard THIS.

 

[Corporate Thug]

http://www.voodoopc.com/systems/rageSLi.aspx

FX 55
Asus A8N SLi nforce4 board
2 gb of ram
2*400 GB HDD in raid0
2*6800 ultras in SLI config
Audigy 2 platinum
16 X pioneer dual layer burner

 

[effowe]

Just wanted to add a quick sidenote. I will be building this, buying individual parts. I am not going to be purchasing a prebuilt system.

Word,
effowe

 

[jpeyton]

You need to hold out for the NForce 4 SLI motherboards.

For the rest of the parts:

AMD FX55
Thermalright XP-90/120 Heatsink
2GB OCZ EL Platinum Rev2 PC3200 2-2-2-5
2x Nvidia GeForce 6800GT/Ultra PCI-E
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
Logitech Z-5500 Speakers
Logitech Cordless MX Duo
2x Pioneer 16x DVDRW
2x Maxtor DiamondMax 10 SATAII/NCQ 300GB 16MB Buffer
Lian Li PC-V1000B
OCZ PowerStream 520W
2x Viewsonic VP201B 20.1" 16ms UXGA LCD

 

[imported_NoGodForMe]

You can see what I just built here.
http://www.nogodforme.com/MyBabyTera.htm
Yeah, it's already outdated, he he, but you can get some ideas from it.

 

[newParadigm]

no no no no no


Iwill DK8ES Dual Opteron Dual PCIe mobo
2x Opteron 250's
8GB's PC3200 Registered RAM (1gbx4) ::EDIT::Go with OCZ Etreme Latencey Series ::EDIT::
2x PCI-E gF 6800 Ultra's SLI'd
Some Sort of M-Audio Card
Klipsch Promedia Spkrs/Creative Gigaworks
2x DVD-RW's
MegaRAID SCSI 320-2
6x Seagate 73GB 15k SCSI 320 ST373453LW

 

[imported_NoGodForMe]

I don't think the PCI 6800 SLI Ultras are in retail yet. It took 3 months before the 6800 Ultras appeared after the first reviews, and they're still hard to get right now. I bet he'd have more luck getting the water block version, because it's priced so high, most won't go for it. That's what happened to me, www.outpost.com had it, yet all other models were sold out.

When do you want to build this system?

 

[effowe]

Originally posted by: NoGodForMe
When do you want to build this system?

Thanks for all the help and suggestions so far. I am planning on having the full system ready to go come the first of the year. I will be buying parts up til then whenever I have money available. I know I'm going to be getting the FX55, but I can hold out on getting other parts such as the mobo or video cards if any new things are coming out soon.

Late,
effowe

 

[tjaisv]

Originally posted by: newParadime
no no no no no


Iwill DK8ES Dual Opteron Dual PCIe mobo
2x Opteron 250's
8GB's PC3200 Registered RAM (1gbx4)
2x PCI-E gF 6800 Ultra's SLI'd
Some Sort of M-Audio Card
Klipsch Promedia Spkrs/Creative Gigaworks
2x DVD-RW's
MegaRAID SCSI 320-2
6x Seagate 73GB 15k SCSI 320 ST373453LW

that's definitely highest-end! what's the retail date for that Iwill board?

also check out the arstechnica.com God Box, it's not SLI but it has all the other best components in it