Building new system for a friend, tell me what you think

[dalearyous]

basically im building him a gaming machine. this thing needs to be fast.

geforce 8800gtx or gts?
core 2 duo (im AMD man but can't ignore the performance)
which core 2 chip should i go with?
2 gigs DDR2 ocz
audigy 2 sound card
fortron PSU
10k rpm Western Digital Raptor drive 74gigs, already have IDE 250 gig for storage
motherboard? need help with that one
already own case

any suggestions?

 

[trOver]

well i would go with the e6600 and oc it the 1000 buck version of the c2d, and as far as mobo goes i would not skimp on a system like that, so i would def. get one with a 680i chipset, such as the evga for 250 that im buying.

 

[w00t]

8800GTS is more worth it IMO the GTX is way too much
The E6600 is pretty nice IMO
They actually have X-fi now instead of the Audigy 2
Motherboard just don't overkill it.
I am not a big fan of raptor drives as they are expensive and don't offer a big enought improvement over a 7,200 drive.

other than that it looks pretty good

 

[Howard]

What's the budget? What monitor? Going to OC?

 

[dalearyous]

my budget is around 1500 for him. no monitor needed. OC'ing is an option definately although stability is major priority. for me i overclock cause i don't mind messing around with comp but he isn't going to be that patient i don't htink. yeah x-fi is what i meant, forgot about it. ill look into the e6600 but the system has to be directx10. i am a huge fan of the raptor drives just because of format and install of windows time. also game loads are awesome.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: dalearyous
my budget is around 1500 for him. no monitor needed. OC'ing is an option definately although stability is major priority. for me i overclock cause i don't mind messing around with comp but he isn't going to be that patient i don't htink. yeah x-fi is what i meant, forgot about it. ill look into the e6600 but the system has to be directx10. i am a huge fan of the raptor drives just because of format and install of windows time. also game loads are awesome.

recommend him a dell. if he is that impatient then anything he does that f*cks up the computer will be your fault - now you will be his 24/7 tech support for the rest of your life.

 

[Duvie]

Unless you are going to use SLI do not waste your money on the 680i...There are several boards that are quality for less...If you go E6600 I would look at the 975x chipsets...Asus probably...P5B-E

 

[dalearyous]

a dell...hah! he's not like that. he's a computer science major im just a little better with hardware than he is. man, a dell... can't believe you said that.

no i won't go SLI. imo you spend like what 800 dollars to get 2 vid cards, i'd rather spend 400-500 on 1...save the rest of the money and wait a year or two and then get another 400-500 dollar card that would outperform the original SLI setup.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: dalearyous
a dell...hah! he's not like that. he's a computer science major im just a little better with hardware than he is. man, a dell... can't believe you said that.

no i won't go SLI. imo you spend like what 800 dollars to get 2 vid cards, i'd rather spend 400-500 on 1...save the rest of the money and wait a year or two and then get another 400-500 dollar card that would outperform the original SLI setup.

you didn't give us his background, i was just trying to save you from years of frustrating and phone calls all the time with - that computer you built me won't work correctly. personally it has taken me 2yrs to get people from leaving me alone regarding computers....and i love it now

 

[dalearyous]

yeah no i understand, its just the principle of the matter.

when i build machines for people i don't know very well i tellt hem they get one free trip from me to fix something that they messed up. after that its all cost

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: dalearyous
yeah no i understand, its just the principle of the matter.

when i build machines for people i don't know very well i tellt hem they get one free trip from me to fix something that they messed up. after that its all cost

Good policy, otherwise people rely on you too much

E6400 or E6600 Conroe
965P or 975X-based mobo (Asus, Gigabyte, ABIT, etc.)
2x1GB OCZ is good
Audigy 2/Bluegears/X-Fi are good cards (though X-Fi is overrated IMO)
Seasonic S12 400W+ power supply - really good PSUs
Raptor... depends on if you want it or not. I'd personally get a nice Seagate or Samsung SATA II drive

 

[benplaut]

what res will he be running at?

 

[dalearyous]

good question. he has a 19" tube he runs desktop at 1280x1024. but i know he is looking at replacing it with a better tube. possibly lcd widescreen but unlikely.