Buying new computer - Need help!

[Tachyone]

Hi there!

I'm currently in the process of finding a new computer, and I've been to many many pages searching for one. I'll need it for High-End gaming, and since all my other computers have been horrible, I want this one to "rock"! I'm spending about 4500 USD (20k Danish Crowns) on the computer, no more and no less. I want as much computer as I can get for that money, without having to put a great deal of effort into the project myself, apart from ordering it =)

(Note: NO, my parents aren't paying for this. I worked a month to afford it.)

So far I've come up with two good computers that I'm considering, and I kindly ask you to recommend one computer or the other, giving specific reasons for your choice! Here are the monsters:

"Føniks Ultimo+"

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 (2,6 GHz, 12 MB)
RAM: Corsair 8 GB DDR2 PC8500 (1066 MHz)
GPU: SLI - 3x 896MB NVidia GeForce GTX 260 DDR3 PCI-E
Storage: RAID - 1 TB SATA 2
Motherboard: ASUS P5N-T Deluxe 780i SLI S-775

"Vision X-Force"

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad QX9650 (3,0 GHz, 12 MB)
RAM: Corsair 8 GB XMS3 DHX DDR3 DualChannel (1333MHz)
GPU: 1024 MB NVidia GeForce GTX 280 DDR3 PCI-E
Storage: 2x Samsung 1000GB S-ATAII (3Gb/s, 32 MB)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P45T-DS3

I'll get a Logitech DiNovo Edge keyboard, a Logitech MX Revolution Laser mouse, Vista 64-bit and a 24" monitor, and a 1000 Watts power supply with each computer, so I just need to choose between the X-Force and Ultimo+ builds.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me making this tough decision!

 

[DSF]

Is there a website you're ordering from, or are these from a physical store? Are you able to do any customization on them?

I honestly don't think either one is worth that amount of money unless they're covered in diamonds and built by Jesus.

 

[Tachyone]

Just saw the sticky.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Massive gaming. MMORPG mostly, and a little FPS.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

5500 USD

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

Both these builds are from Denmark, my country.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.

I like Intel and NVidia, but I'm no fanboy. I take the best I can get.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

No current parts.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

I have. My question is unique, so other threads can't answer it.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

I'll overclock, don't know how much yet.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?

As soon as I find out which one I'm getting, I order.

 

[Tachyone]

DSF, I can order online or drive 100 miles and get them in stores. I now edited the price, 5500 was for the whole thing, keyboard, mouse, and that stuff. 4500 will be spent on the computer+vista 64-bit+Norton Antivirus (or something similar). So around 4000 for the computer itself. From what I've been able to find online, these two are the best I could find with a max of 5500 in total. Alienware is for example much more expensive, and therefore, I'll get lower specs for the same money, not to mention the huge amount I have to pay customs. That was just one example, others have been closer, but these two seem to be the best.

 

[DSF]

Can you link me to the website?

You've said you don't want to spend less, but I don't agree with that philosophy.

Both of those setups are massively overpowered for most MMORPGS. The scaling in tri-SLI is very poor, meaning that three graphics cards are barely more useful than two, while costing 50% more and generating 50% more heat, plus the cost of a sufficient PSU.

I think you'll be much better served by spending 2500 or so now, and 2500 in a year or two.

Also, you could get a much better value by building it yourself from the looks of things. It would also be more rewarding.

The user MarcVenice (a General Hardware moderator actually) is from the Netherlands and might know of some websites where you could get good prices on computer parts. I dunno whether they ship to Denmark, but he could probably tell you.

 

[Tachyone]

There are two websites. www.fcomputer.dk is "Føniks", www.mm-vision.dk is "Vision". 1 USD = 4,7 Danish Crowns. Both sites are generally praised for their products and service by customers in Denmark.

We have hardware sellers in Denmark, good, reliable and cheap ones, but the price of a similar computer to these would only be about 500 USD cheaper. That is still a lot, bt then I'll rather get the benefit of being able to send the whole thing to repairs if the unthinkable happened and something went wrong

But I'm open to other alternatives. As said, I want the best I can get for 5.5k. If someone on the site could show me a better and cheaper build, that would be awesome. I currently only have this (very very very old) computer, so I'm hoping to order as soon as I can, so I can get some serious gaming going. I'd appreciate it a lot if you could help me with a build as well, or tell me which of these two pc's you'd prefer. =)

 

[DSF]

Taking a stab at the time difference, it's about 3-4AM where you are, right? I'll take a look before you wake up.

 

[Tachyone]

00:54 AM here right now...I go to bed very late (Work is from 4 PM to 11:18 PM). I'll be up until 5 AM or later. Thanks for taking your time replying, any help is appreciated (Really).

 

[DSF]

I'd say this would be a much more cost-effective build:
http://fcomputer.dk/index.php?...d=1484&specialsys=2424
Core2Duo E8400 (Or Core2Quad Q6600 for 90 DKK more)
ASUS X38 Motherboard
4GB (2x2GB) Kingston DDR2-800
ASUS ATI HD4870 (With the option of adding in a second later on since you have X38)
750GB Samsung HDD
Case is up to you, Antec P182 is very nice if you don't want a window.
Corsair 750TX if you think you'll Crossfire the graphics cards, 550VX if you're sure you won't.
20X Lite-On DVD Burner (Get a burner, not just a drive)

If you want to overclock the E8400, get the 2x2GB DDR2-1066. If you get the quad core, DDR2-800 will be fine. Don't pay the ridiculous price premium they're charging for the other quads, you should be able to OC the Q6600 past 3GHz, possibly as high as 3.6.

And from the fooling around I did, that's better than what you'd find on the other site. I don't really like the limited graphics card choices of Vision at all.

 

[Tachyone]

Great set-up you've built, and I certainly see that it would match the two other setups I've put together to an extent.

But one of the reasons I think my choice of CPU is justified is because I usually produce instructional videos of the games I'm playing that I send to friends or people who want them. And this used to take many hours on my old computer, which had good specs (My brother is getting that computer when I get my new one). My friends have told me video rendering/video capturing/file conversion and these sorts of things require quite some CPU power in a very graphically detailed game, so the idea was to get a "monster" computer to not only be rid of all potential lag there might be in games for the next couple of years, but also to be able to make some decent videos that my friends could use, which wouldn't take several hours to render and convert. Pretty much a computer that I would be happy I bought, since I use one about 60 hours per week. I used to hate that waiting time for video rendering so much, but couldn't let down the people I had promised help...

Does this make sense at all?

 

[DSF]

But since you're overclocking, I'd still say go with the Q6600. It overclocks about as well as the 45nm quads anyway. A Q6600 at 3.2-3.6GHz is going to slice through your videos much faster than your old computer did. At any rate, it won't be much slower than a 45nm chip at the same clock speed, and it will cost significantly less.