Gaming Rig

[Gemmah]

With a budget of $1,200-$1,400 dollars, give your ideal gaming rig with specs(monitor not included). Looking for quality/cost, effectiveness, and some lasting power. No OC'ing in mind.(If possible, squeeze in a ATI X800 XT PE...vid. card. Hehehe..)

Thanks gang.

Happy Holidays to all!


(p.s. - A little over budget is fine, or so I'm told)

 

[meltdown75]

You should check out the system builder's guides. They are really good for what you're looking for. someone will post the link if i'm too lazy.

you should have a good setup with that type of cash though.

edit: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...AR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear
if you could afford the mid-level A setup, you'd have a sick gaming rig.

 

[nick1985]

i love helping people make rigs, but i refuse to help people who dont even try to do some research and come up with some of their own suggestions. We arnt your slaves, you gotta meet us half way.

 

[Gemmah]

No, it's not that Nick, not that way at all! I have done a lot of research, actually more than is healthy for my mind to process! That's the beast of technology, it's constantly evolving. I was looking more for a more personal perspective, from YOU, on the outside looking in. If you were I, if such was possible. I've been going over all sorts of configurations, but it generally balloons to $2k. I just thought if people added some helpful tips of where to downsize, or cut some corners would be helpful. I've been obsessing about it enough as is, sometimes it's refreshing to get other people's take on a certain dilemma.

I'd like these core elements, if it's possible in that range :

1.) Decent AMD 64
2.) Nice Vid. Card
3.) 1 gig RAM
4.) Therm. Shark Case - full tower (I like these)
5.) Decent HD
6.) A good PSU

 

[Gemmah]

Thanks meltdown. Oh, forgot to add, I'm new to the forums! /wave.......

 

[jvarszegi]

Originally posted by: Gemmah
No, it's not that Nick, not that way at all! I have done a lot of research, actually more than is healthy for my mind to process! That's the beast of technology, it's constantly evolving. I was looking more for a more personal perspective, from YOU, on the outside looking in. If you were I, if such was possible. I've been going over all sorts of configurations, but it generally balloons to $2k. I just thought if people added some helpful tips of where to downsize, or cut some corners would be helpful. I've been obsessing about it enough as is, sometimes it's refreshing to get other people's take on a certain dilemma.

I'd like these core elements, if it's possible in that range :

1.) Decent AMD 64
2.) Nice Vid. Card
3.) 1 gig RAM
4.) Therm. Shark Case - full tower (I like these)
5.) Decent HD
6.) A good PSU

What I'd do is post my best effort, say "this is $1650, I need to get it down to $1400, HE'P me!" and see what happens.

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: Gemmah
I'd like these core elements, if it's possible in that range :

1.) Decent AMD 64
2.) Nice Vid. Card
3.) 1 gig RAM
4.) Therm. Shark Case - full tower (I like these)
5.) Decent HD
6.) A good PSU

So far, you're looking good The best part about the various guides is that you can basically be rest assured that all of the recommended h/w has been tested & benchmarked out the wazoo. So you can guarantee that it will all be "nice" & "decent", but probably more like "good". btw welcome to the forums, I've been here a month now and I enjoy the community very much. *sigh* takes me back to my old BBS days. sniffle sniffle

 

[Gemmah]

Alright.

Ati x800xt - $500.70
Thermaltake Shark Case - $160.50
Corsair Twinx1024-3200XL 400MHz (2x512) - $260.00
AMD 64 3200+ (939 pin) & Asus A8V Dlx. Mobo - $328.00
NEC 16x/16 DVD Dual dbl. layer RW/Drive - $65.00
Lite on 16x-DVD/48x-CDrom internal drive - $23.90
Hitachi 160 GB Sata/7200 rpm - $89.90
Turtle Beach 7.1 channel sound card - $46.51
Altec lansing 3-pc speakers - $35.68
Thermaltake silent PSU 12v., 560W atx - $99.00
Microsoft XP Pro.(w/sp2) - $134.00
Sony 17" LCD (response time = 15ms, which is groovy) - $299.00
Belkin Surge Protector - $19.24
Some miscelleneous odds and ends - $80.00 buckeroo's

So roughly about $2,141, when all is said and done.

I know that I said no monitor, but that's a great deal to me. Without the monitor, it'd be around $1,800. Any thoughts or opinions would be welcome. I'm just trying to look for the best possible deal, around the $1400 region without the monitor. So, how would you shave $400-$500?

Edited : Thanks for the nice welcome, Melt.

 

[imported_Computer MAn]

Heres a basic plan

AMD 64 3500+ $317

6800GT $400

Epox EP-9NDA3+ $126

Corsaiir Value Select $150

Seagate 120gb hard drive $90

Antec 450w PSU $80

Thermaltake Shark $160

$1323

Not an X800XT but still a very good card.

Edit: Forgot about the opticals you'll have to add them

 

[meltdown75]

Personally it seems like you have it bad for the vid card... don't quote me on this but unless you are trying to get competitive scores in 3dmark et al., you could have a lesser card which fits your needs just fine. That $500 is an awful tough pill to swallow when I'm looking at the rest of the config... Also are you doing burning on the fly? Just wondering why you have 2 optical drives instead of just the NEC. Your PSU is beefy. You could most likely downgrade it and still have ample juice. Everything else looks pretty good... personally I like Asus but I haven't had much experience with other companies. If I put a new system together right now, I'd probably try a different mobo mfgr just to see what all the hype is about. My A7N8X is dependable and solid and pretty user friendly as motherboards go. Oh yeah and that case is pricey. I'd rather spend $50 on a cheap case and mod it with another $50 but thats just me.

edit: i just checked out that case though, and it is sweet. i couldn't make a $50 one look like that

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: Computer MAn
Heres a basic plan

AMD 64 3500+ $317

6800GT $400

Epox EP-9NDA3+ $126

Corsaiir Value Select $150

Seagate 120gb hard drive $90

Antec 450w PSU $80

Thermaltake Shark $160

$1323

Not an X800XT but still a very good card.

Edit: FOrgot about the opticals you'll have to add them

:thumbsup:

You probably can't get an X800XT in there with that budget, I'd stick with the setup above.

 

[Gemmah]

Thanks, CM. Good advice. Although, about the RAM and Mobo. I'm a little leery of using an Epox one, have you used one before? Also on the RAM, isn't the low latency variety supposed to enhance the quality of the 64 chips (or just for OC'ing purposes?), or is that just heresay and spin doctoring?

 

[jvarszegi]

Originally posted by: Gemmah
Alright.

Ati x800xt - $500.70
Thermaltake Shark Case - $160.50
Corsair Twinx1024-3200XL 400MHz (2x512) - $260.00
AMD 64 3200+ (939 pin) & Asus A8V Dlx. Mobo - $328.00
NEC 16x/16 DVD Dual dbl. layer RW/Drive - $65.00
Lite on 16x-DVD/48x-CDrom internal drive - $23.90
Hitachi 160 GB Sata/7200 rpm - $89.90
Turtle Beach 7.1 channel sound card - $46.51
Altec lansing 3-pc speakers - $35.68
Thermaltake silent PSU 12v., 560W atx - $99.00
Microsoft XP Pro.(w/sp2) - $134.00
Sony 17" LCD (response time = 15ms, which is groovy) - $299.00
Belkin Surge Protector - $19.24
Some miscelleneous odds and ends - $80.00 buckeroo's

So roughly about $2,141, when all is said and done.

I know that I said no monitor, but that's a great deal to me. Without the monitor, it'd be around $1,800. Any thoughts or opinions would be welcome. I'm just trying to look for the best possible deal, around the $1400 region without the monitor. So, how would you shave $400-$500?

Edited : Thanks for the nice welcome, Melt.

nick1985 always tells newbies to get value RAM in order to cut costs, and I wish I'd followed that advice. I got a gig of Corsair uber-memory for $280 instead, and wasted lots of money. On the plus side, I can overclock later to my heart's content, but I don't know what the f*ck I'm doing with OCing anyway yet.

Here's some advice that will sound odd: ditch the sound card. Your motherboard should have built-in barebones audio anyway, and you can limp along with that until you can afford a nice card later.

You can save 60 bucks by getting this case:
CoolerMaster PAC-T01-EK Praetorian Aluminium Mid Tower

I picked it for myself because of recommendations from others, and it's a beaut. It doesn't have a whiz-bang window in the side, but it has lots of nice features:
- A cage to hold the power supply at the top (nice if your PSU is heavy, like mine)
- Four fans, including one in the top of the case (this case is highly rated for its airflow design, although I'm no expert)
- Two fans directly in front of the drive cage, to keep the drives cool
- Slide-out mobo tray
- A decent amount of space for the size (although it could be even better in this regard). You could, for instance, have up to 9 hard disks and an optical drive in the case without having to make modifications.
- Nice, elegant look (this might be a minus if you're either officially "Phat" or into "bling-bling")

I've had both Nvidia and ATI cards in the past. I guess that video card tech is constantly changing, but I wouldn't spend $500 right now for an X800XT.

 

[Gemmah]

Yeah, you're right Meltdown, I fell in love with that card..lol. Oh...to dream. The peak Mtexels/s, gb/s, antialiasing, all that good stuff was just amazing. At least Nvidia still has the openGL on them.

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll probably go with a set-up similar to what CM said.

 

[Gemmah]

" nick1985 always tells newbies to get value RAM in order to cut costs, and I wish I'd followed that advice. I got a gig of Corsair uber-memory for $280 instead, and wasted lots of money. On the plus side, I can overclock later to my heart's content, but I don't know what the f*ck I'm doing with OCing anyway yet. "



Yeah, I'm in that same boat jvar. Although, I read that getting the low latency was the best option for the AMD 64's especially. So, is it just for OC'ing purposes? Is that the general crux of it?

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Gemmah
" nick1985 always tells newbies to get value RAM in order to cut costs, and I wish I'd followed that advice. I got a gig of Corsair uber-memory for $280 instead, and wasted lots of money. On the plus side, I can overclock later to my heart's content, but I don't know what the f*ck I'm doing with OCing anyway yet. "



Yeah, I'm in that same boat jvar. Although, I read that getting the low latency was the best option for the AMD 64's especially. So, is it just for OC'ing purposes? Is that the general crux of it?

lot latencies mean jack on an athlon64

 

[jvarszegi]

Originally posted by: Gemmah
Yeah, I'm in that same boat jvar. Although, I read that getting the low latency was the best option for the AMD 64's especially. So, is it just for OC'ing purposes? Is that the general crux of it?

You got me. I'm just starting to learn about overclocking now. I have done a lot of online reading lately, though, and other more knowledgeable people seem to think that the difference is unnoticeable until you overclock.

As I understand from my reading, the A64 has an on-chip memory controller. That means that if you keep your Socket 939 motherboard and upgrade to a faster 939-compatible processor a year and a half from now, you may want to get faster DDR500 RAM to go with it, or whatever is the rage at the moment, instead of using your PC3200 RAM and hobbling the processor. I've noticed some people starting to get faster than DDR400 RAM already, and it seems to me that this is an attempt mostly to ensure longer viability for the memory. It seems to me (although I'm sure someone else will correct me) that the best reason to get fast DDR400 RAM now is if you plan to overclock your brand-new A64 processor quite a bit.

 

[imported_Computer MAn]

Originally posted by: Gemmah
Thanks, CM. Good advice. Although, about the RAM and Mobo. I'm a little leery of using an Epox one, have you used one before? Also on the RAM, isn't the low latency variety supposed to enhance the quality of the 64 chips (or just for OC'ing purposes?), or is that just heresay and spin doctoring?

Originally posted by: Gemmah


Yeah, I'm in that same boat jvar. Although, I read that getting the low latency was the best option for the AMD 64's especially. So, is it just for OC'ing purposes? Is that the general crux of it?

1) I have never used the Epox but Ncik1985 has and he highly recommends it.
2) Low Latencey is really only needed if you wish to OC your system
3) And jvarszegi there is no official spec above PC3200 for DDR1 so all the faster memory is is PC3200 thats guarenteed to run at a higher speed

 

[jvarszegi]

Originally posted by: Computer MAn
3) And jvarszegi there is no official spec above PC3200 for DDR1 so all the faster memory is is PC3200 thats guarenteed to run at a higher speed

That's EXTREMELY helpful; it clears up a lot of confusion for me. I'm still not perfect on my memory knowledge, that's for sure. I notice that nick1985's graphic lists PC3600 memory, making me more confused... some more reading is in order.

 

[live2game]

I would get the MSI K8N Neo2 He has the advantage because He uses PC3600 not just your regular PC3200

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Dump the corsair and get some crucial or some kingston, that should shave a bit off

 

[Insidious]

You could save some $$ with a home edition of XP instead of Pro. I think the major differences are security stuff for folders in a networked environment which is not where you generally find "gaming" systems.

-Sid

(YMMV)

 

[Gemmah]

Yes Insidious, I was wondering about that. It seems negligible to me, as I'll not be doing any networking at all. I think that one could get by if the purpose is generally for gaming, as you said. Sound advice. Also, thanks for the advice on the value RAM, Nick. Still a little worried that you get what you pay for, especially wherein RAM is concerned, but I do see your point.

Here's a scenario :

If you had to pick between these two configurations, which would it be?

1.) 3200+ and 6800GT

-or-

2.) 3800+ and ATI 9800 Pro


(I was just thinking that with saving on the OS, RAM, Opt. Drive, etc. - it would free up some $$ to go with one of the aforementioned scenario's above)

Thanks for the feedback everyone, much appreciated.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Gemmah
Also, thanks for the advice on the value RAM, Nick. Still a little worried that you get what you pay for, especially wherein RAM is concerned, but I do see your point.

infact you do get what you pay for. corsair/kingston/crucial/mushkin as well as kingmax buffalo and Gskill and several others are top quality RAM producers. even that "value" RAM comes with life time warranty, so you DO get what you pay for.

 

[Gemmah]

Wow, I didn't know that. NOW I understand what you meant. That rocks, and changes everything. I'm a student at the moment, and this is a lot of money for me to lay down, that's why I'm trying to cover all my bases, and make intelligent decisions. Thanks for the help, Nick.