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Gaming PC Help For Mac User

E

ExFilms

Junior Member

I am a filmmaker and love my dual g4. But now I'm addicted to massive multiplayer online games. Therefore I have to buy a PC. I was told this was the place to go for help so i'm hoping you can comment on the choices I've made for my system. If anyone notices a potential compatiblity issue or could suggest a better component for roughly the same cost, I would be most grateful.

Thank you in advance...

(prices and specs from newegg.com)

ANTEC LIFE STYLE SERIES SONATA PIANO BLACK Model# Sonata w/ ANTEC TRUE380 380W Power Supply
Special Feature:
Piano Black Color
TRUE POWER 380Watt ATX12V (single fan for enhanced quiteness)
2 x Front USB
1 x Front IEEE1394 Firewire
Front Audio Jacks
9 Drive Bays- 3 x 5.25" 2 x 3.5" Ext. and 4 x 3.5" Int.
1 x 120mm Fan Mounts (1 rear )
Motherboard: Std. ATX 12" x 9.6"
Dimension: 5.4"(H) x 17"(W) x 19.9"(D)
Weight: 19.5lbs

$104.99


ASUS Motherboard for Intel Pentium 4 / Celeron Processors, 800Mhz FSB Model# P4C800-E DELUXE Retail
Specifications:
Supported CPU😛478 Pentium 4 / Celeron
Chipset: Canterwood 875P + ICH5R
FSB:800/533/400 MHz
RAM:2 Channel (dual channel) DDR400/333/266 Max 4GB
IDE😀ual Ultra DMA ATA100/66 up to 4 Devices
RAID: Dual Channel 133/100/66/33 up to 4 Devices & SATA
Slots:1x AGP (8X) 5x PCI
Ports:2xPS2, 1xCOM,1xLPT,1x Audio, 1xLAN,2x IEEE, 8xUSB20
Onboard Audio:AD 1985 6 Channel Codec
Onboard LAN:Intel CSA Gigabit LAN 1000/100
Onboard SATA: Dual Channel Serial ATA up to 150MBs
Onboard Firewire: 2 1394 Firewire ports

$199.99


ATI RADEON 9600 PRO 128MB 8X AGP DVI/TV RETAIL
Specifications:
Chipset:ATI RADEON 9600 PRO
Memory:128MB of double data rate SDRAM
Bus:AGP 4X (1.5V), 8X (0.8v) or Universal AGP 3.0 bus configuration (4X/8X).
Operating Systems Support: Windows® XP Windows® 2000 Windows® Me
4 parallel rendering pipelines
2 parallel geometry engines
Technology Features: SMARTSHADER? 2.0, SMOOTHVISION? 2.1, HYPER Z? III+ TRUFORM? 2.0 and VIDEOSHADER?
Max Res: 2048x1536 60HZ at 16.7M Colors
Ports:VGA + DVI + S-Video

$178.00


Intel Pentium 4 / 2.8CGHz 512k socket 478 Hyper Threading Technology 800 MHz FSB - RETAIL
Specifications:
CPU: 2.8GHz
Type: Pentium 4 Northwood
Cache: 512K
BUS: 800 Mhz
Socket: 478
Retail box (with Heatsink and Fan)

$268.00


CORSAIR MEMORY XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series, (Twin Pack) 1GB(2 x 512MB) 2x(64MX64) TWINX1024-3200C2 With Black Heat Spreaders.Retail
Specifications:
Speed 400 MHz
Organization 2 x 64M x 64
Memory type DDR

$225.00


Seagate 80GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Cuda 7200 ST380013AS - OEM
Specifications:
Size: 80 Gigabytes
Interface: Serial ATA
Seek time: 9ms
RPM:7200
Data Transfer: 150MB/sec
Cache 8MB

$111.00


SONY CRT MONITOR CPD-E540B Black RetailThe Multiscan® E540 21" computer display is ideal for spreadsheets, detailed graphics and gaming.
Specifications:
CRT size: 21" Viewable image size: 19.8"
Maximum resolution: 1920 x 1440
Recommended resolution: 1600 x 1200 @85Hz
Aperture grille pitch: 0.24mm
Dimensions (WxHxD): 19.6" x 19.7" x 19.0"
Input Connector: DB15 VGA

$466.00


Sony CDRW/DVD Combo Drive Model CRX300E/B2 (BLACK) OEM
Specifications:
Black Bezel
Speeds: 48x CD-ROM, 24x Re-Write 48x Record and 16x DVD-ROM
Interface: ATAPI EIDE
Buffer:2MB
Access time: 120ms/140ms CD/DVD
Buffer Underrun Protection Power-Burn
OEM Bundle with NTI Software

$64.99


ANTEC Case fan With BLUE LEDs Lights Light up your case with these bright blue LEDs, Great for Modified cases, with transparent sides, or just to add an eerie glow to your PC.
Specifications:
Size 120 x 120 x 25.4 mm
Weight 154.2 gm
Fan Speed 2,200 rpm (avg.)
Volumetric Airflow 70 CFM
Static Pressure 0.11 inch H2O
Acoustic Noise 36 dBA (at average rpm)

$19.99


Subtotal » $1,637.96









 
 
If u want a top-of-the-line mobo, go for a Gigabyte + some ATi vid cards have issues with some ASUS mobos

twin packs are a waste of $$$z

Get 2 hard drives and put them in a RAID 0 config

Add an Audigy2 to the mix and upgrade ur vid card to a 9700pro or a 9800pro since u're going all out anyways!
 
Since money doesn't seem too much of a concern, I'm surprised you held back on the video card... as mentioned, Corsair TwinX doesn't like Asus boards, perhaps look at the ABit IS7/IC7 and variations of it... also you may want to get an SATA Raid-0 going.
 


Thanks guys! I had no idea that memory brand could be a problem. I found out that Asus recommends Winbond memory so I will switch to that.

One of my first future upgrades will be a second sata drive for raid array. I was trying to cut cost by going with a step down from top of the line in regards to processor and vid card. I figured I could save a few hundred bucks there and still have a pretty decent system. Then I could upgrade cpu and vid card when the prices come down a bit.


Would it be better to go Asus mobo and an Nvidia video card? Or Gigabit mobo and ATI?

Thanks again for all your help, its really appreciated!

 
I would opt for the Abit IC7(-G if you can use Gigabit ethernet) and go for an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. Stick with Corsair PC3200 but as stated earlier it is unecessary to get the LL Twinpack.

And if there is ever a chance that you will want to overclock your system, you could get the P4 2.4C. Most overclockers using that chip are hitting 3GHz with a 1GHz FSB. :Q That's a heck of a lot of gaming power right there.

And the Audigy 2 would be a solid investment if you are an audiophile and appreciate good gaming sound.

You know... this system could actually be a better film maker than your Mac. 🙂 Just add some SCSI drives and you'd be all set.
 
Your specs should be fine. From what I understand the ATI conflicts with ASUS boards are with older vid cards. You will be safe with your 9600 but it wouldn't hurt to go to a 9800 (or even a 9500 Pro/9700 if you can find one!) over the 9600.

I've got 2 512MB sticks of the Infenion recomended on the Asus site for a P4P800 (cheaper, 865 board) and it works dual channel like a champ. I've overclocked my 2.8 to 20% for several hours and the system never hiccuped at all. I turned it down as I seriously don't need it overclocked... yet 🙂

System looks good.
 
I'd say since you stated your primary concern is gaming, the Radeon 9700 Pro or 9800 Pro would be absolutely mandatory when you have such a high budget, almost more important than a fast CPU (and it still won't approach the cost of a high-end new Mac no matter how much top-of-the-line stuff you cram in there ;-) ). Other than that, looks like you've got a very nice gaming platform set up. I have the Sonata case and it's nice and quiet, just make sure not to put any optical drives in the top bay or it will break off your front door when you try to close it, as I found out 🙁.
 
Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
they sell emulators for macs. would save some $$

click me
Click to expand...

Virtual PC doesn't do anything in the way of gaming, last time i used it, it didn't even have graphics card support, just basically no gaming on it
and i'd change the graphics cards (if you want roughly the same cost, i think the radeon 9700 non pro goes for about 200), otherwise 9700pro-9800pro
 
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