If Money wasn't an issue - PC rig

[Silmar]

If cash was not much of an issue what would you suggest for the ultimate gaming rig? I am considering an Intel 3.4 with 2Gb of DDR2 (not sure of the RAM, Mobo make), Raptor IDE drives, soundcard unsure.

The video card is the the real sticky one, should I await the 6800 PCIe or go the x800 PCIe.

Should I even be looking at Intels? and go with AMD? At the moment I have an x800 XT AGP by the way.

Love your suggestions.

 

[GnomeCop]

if money were not an issue... being super rich, I would have much better things to be doing even though I enjoy building PCs.
I would probably just buy an amd - sli voodoopc or an amd falcon nw.

 

[Mik3y]

intel for a gaming rig? blasphemy! intel's are behind amd man, especially in gaming. ddr2 currently sucks and lags behind ddr. as for the ultimate rig, it'd be:

? AMD Athlon 64 FX-55, 1MB L2 Cache, 64-bit Processor
? Thermalright Heatsink for P4 & K8 CPUs, Model "XP-120"
? Panasonic Panaflo 120mm L1A Ultra Quiet CPU Fan
? DFI "LanParty UT nF4 SLi-D" nVidia nForce 4 Ultra Chipset Motherboard
? OCZ EL Platinum Rev. 2 Dual Channel Kits 2GB (512MB x 4) DDR PC-3200
? Dual nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme Video Cards in SLI Configuration,
256MB DDR, 256-Bit, TV-Out/DVI, PCI-Express
? 2 Arctic Cooling VGA Coolers, Model "NV Silencer 5"
? ATI HDTV Wonder Remote Control Edition PCI TV Tuner
? Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro PCI Sound Card
? 2 Western Digital 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drives in Raid 0 Array
? 2 Zalman NP (Noise Prevention) Heatpipe HDD Coolers, Model "ZM-2HC2"
? Cooler Master Wave Master Black Mid-Tower Case, Model "TAC-T01-EK"
? Enermax Noisetaker Series 600W Power Supply
? Cooler Master Musketeer 2 Black Controller Panel, Model "LLC-U03"
? Cooler Master Aerogate III Black Controller Panel, Model "ALD-V03"
? 2 NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drives, Black, Model "ND-3500A BK"
? Mitsumi USB Digital Card Reader/Writer w/ Floppy Drive
? Logitech Cordless MX Duo USB/PS2 104keys
? Logitech Laser Cordless Mouse, Model "MX1000"
? Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX Certified Personal Speaker System
? Samsung Syncmaster 243T-Black 24-inch Widescreen LCD Monitor

total would come out to about $7000.

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Why would you buy any Intel chip for a gaming rig? AMD beats every Intel chip at gaming. If money were no object. FX-55 on phase-change with 2gigs ram ( 2 one gig sticks at PC 3700 for some higher FSB HTT) with dual 6800ultras water cooled and overclocked SLI on the Nforce4 with dual Raptors (not in Raid 0), Creative Audigy 2(4) ZS, 7 speaker surround sound (your choice there), one 22CRT monitor and one 20LCD 12ms monitor (I simply like the CRT in gaming better), Windows XP Professional. Logitech or Microsft laser/infrared mouse and wireless keyboard, Netgear broadband router (wireless preferred for all over the house fragging) and broadband DSL or Cable. Lots of chips and soda

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
intel for a gaming rig? blasphemy! intel's are behind amd man, especially in gaming. ddr2 currently sucks and lags behind ddr. as for the ultimate rig, it'd be:

? AMD Athlon 64 FX-55, 1MB L2 Cache, 64-bit Processor
? Thermalright Heatsink for P4 & K8 CPUs, Model "XP-120"
? Panasonic Panaflo 120mm L1A Ultra Quiet CPU Fan
? DFI "LanParty UT nF4 SLi-D" nVidia nForce 4 Ultra Chipset Motherboard
? OCZ EL Platinum Rev. 2 Dual Channel Kits 2GB (512MB x 4) DDR PC-3200
? Dual nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme Video Cards in SLI Configuration,
256MB DDR, 256-Bit, TV-Out/DVI, PCI-Express
? 2 Arctic Cooling VGA Coolers, Model "NV Silencer 5"
? ATI HDTV Wonder Remote Control Edition PCI TV Tuner
? Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro PCI Sound Card
? 2 Western Digital 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drives in Raid 0 Array
? 2 Zalman NP (Noise Prevention) Heatpipe HDD Coolers, Model "ZM-2HC2"
? Cooler Master Wave Master Black Mid-Tower Case, Model "TAC-T01-EK"
? Enermax Noisetaker Series 600W Power Supply
? Cooler Master Musketeer 2 Black Controller Panel, Model "LLC-U03"
? Cooler Master Aerogate III Black Controller Panel, Model "ALD-V03"
? 2 NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drives, Black, Model "ND-3500A BK"
? Mitsumi USB Digital Card Reader/Writer w/ Floppy Drive
? Logitech Cordless MX Duo USB/PS2 104keys
? Logitech Laser Cordless Mouse, Model "MX1000"
? Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX Certified Personal Speaker System
? Samsung Syncmaster 243T-Black 24-inch Widescreen LCD Monitor

total would come out to about $7000.

Great description brother. They only things I would change would be adding phase-change to the FX-55 and watercooling for the video cards for some serious overclocking goodness.

 

[Silmar]

Has this been released yet?
DFI "LanParty UT nF4 SLi-D" nVidia nForce 4 Ultra Chipset Motherboard

Seems hard to get here in Australia

 

[Mik3y]

Originally posted by: Silmar
Has this been released yet?
DFI "LanParty UT nF4 SLi-D" nVidia nForce 4 Ultra Chipset Motherboard

Seems hard to get here in Australia

it'll come out in december or january, if i remember correctly. so you're willing to spent a limitless amount of money on a rig? hopefully i can do that some time during my life.

 

[Silmar]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
it'll come out in december or january, if i remember correctly. so you're willing to spent a limitless amount of money on a rig? hopefully i can do that some time during my life.

Im guessing that will be PCIe then? Do you know if it will utilise DDR2 or some other kind of RAM?

Also the best AMD chip which I can purchase in Oz is AMD Athlon64 FX53 (2.4GHz). Isnt 2.4Ghz rather slow? I have been away from the hardware scene for quite some time as you can see

Limitless would be nice but $7000(AUD) is around the max figure, Ill be reusing my screen also

 

[Mik3y]

it will be PCIe, and will not be utilizing ddr2. i dont ddr2 will become mainstream anytime soon, since it has no benefit over ddr. anyways, 2.4ghz is not slow. it's faster hten a P4 at 3.6ghz. cpus are made different with different lengths in pipelines, and the smaller the piplelines, the lower the frequency it is required to do the same work as a cpu with a longer pipleline and a higher frequency. disregard ghz when buying a cpu. try to resort towards benchmarks.

 

[bigal40]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
intel for a gaming rig? blasphemy! intel's are behind amd man, especially in gaming. ddr2 currently sucks and lags behind ddr. as for the ultimate rig, it'd be:

? AMD Athlon 64 FX-55, 1MB L2 Cache, 64-bit Processor
? Thermalright Heatsink for P4 & K8 CPUs, Model "XP-120"
? Panasonic Panaflo 120mm L1A Ultra Quiet CPU Fan
? DFI "LanParty UT nF4 SLi-D" nVidia nForce 4 Ultra Chipset Motherboard
? OCZ EL Platinum Rev. 2 Dual Channel Kits 2GB (512MB x 4) DDR PC-3200
? Dual nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme Video Cards in SLI Configuration,
256MB DDR, 256-Bit, TV-Out/DVI, PCI-Express
? 2 Arctic Cooling VGA Coolers, Model "NV Silencer 5"
? ATI HDTV Wonder Remote Control Edition PCI TV Tuner
? Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro PCI Sound Card
? 2 Western Digital 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drives in Raid 0 Array
? 2 Zalman NP (Noise Prevention) Heatpipe HDD Coolers, Model "ZM-2HC2"
? Cooler Master Wave Master Black Mid-Tower Case, Model "TAC-T01-EK"
? Enermax Noisetaker Series 600W Power Supply
? Cooler Master Musketeer 2 Black Controller Panel, Model "LLC-U03"
? Cooler Master Aerogate III Black Controller Panel, Model "ALD-V03"
? 2 NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drives, Black, Model "ND-3500A BK"
? Mitsumi USB Digital Card Reader/Writer w/ Floppy Drive
? Logitech Cordless MX Duo USB/PS2 104keys
? Logitech Laser Cordless Mouse, Model "MX1000"
? Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX Certified Personal Speaker System
? Samsung Syncmaster 243T-Black 24-inch Widescreen LCD Monitor

total would come out to about $7000.

:thumbsup:
Just add a 250 gig h.d. and you would be set

 

[spunducky]

my new system specs (i really was on no budget but im not gonna shell out 900+ for a damn fx55)
thermaltake tsunami dream case black = $120
intel p4 3.4 lga 775 overclocked to 4.0 with a 1066 fsb = $280
asus p5ad2 premium mobo onboard wifi and 24bit 8 channel sound = $280
crucial ballistix ddr2 667 (512x2) overclocked to 710 = $360
western digital raptor 35gbx2 = 70gb raid 0 = $200
6600gt (waiting for 6800 ultra to come out for pcx) = $200
ultra x connect 500 watt power supply = $100
danger den tdx 775 watercooling kit = $260
fluid xp+ (non conductive liquid really works) = $50
asetek harddrive watercooling blocks = $120
pioneer 16x dual layer dual format dvd burner = $100
lite on dvd / cd combo 52x burner = $50
samsung floppy = $10
mx1000 laser mouse = $65
microsoft biometrics keyboard =$65 (nice girlfriend cant look at my comp without my finger
radpads gs mousepad = $10
various cables, sleeving, fans, heatshrink, molex pins, tools = $100+
dell 21" trinitron flatscreen crt (from previous computer)

 

[Mik3y]

Originally posted by: spunducky
my new system specs (i really was on no budget but im not gonna shell out 900+ for a damn fx55)
thermaltake tsunami dream case black = $120
intel p4 3.4 lga 775 overclocked to 4.0 with a 1066 fsb = $280
asus p5ad2 premium mobo onboard wifi and 24bit 8 channel sound = $280
crucial ballistix ddr2 667 (512x2) overclocked to 710 = $360
western digital raptor 35gbx2 = 70gb raid 0 = $200
6600gt (waiting for 6800 ultra to come out for pcx) = $200
ultra x connect 500 watt power supply = $100
danger den tdx 775 watercooling kit = $260
fluid xp+ (non conductive liquid really works) = $50
asetek harddrive watercooling blocks = $120
pioneer 16x dual layer dual format dvd burner = $100
lite on dvd / cd combo 52x burner = $50
samsung floppy = $10
mx1000 laser mouse = $65
microsoft biometrics keyboard =$65 (nice girlfriend cant look at my comp without my finger
radpads gs mousepad = $10
various cables, sleeving, fans, heatshrink, molex pins, tools = $100+
dell 21" trinitron flatscreen crt (from previous computer)

why are you picking a pentium for your ultimate gaming rig??? it's still slower then the athlon 64 3400+ or 3500+ in general. the a64 3400+ performs better then the P4 3.6ghz and 3.4ghz extreme edition on almost every game. pci-e is not faster then agp and ddr is by far worse then ddr.

 

[Concillian]

If money were absolutely not an issue?

Dual Opteron or Xeon processors with SLi with 6800 Ultras, preferrably Opterons, though it will be a while before the Opteron boards are out..

Alternatively FX55 + 2 6800 Ultras SLi.

The rest doesn't matter so much.
OCZ power supply
Find a gig of OCZ PC3700EB somewhere
A nice gaming LCD, 17-19"

And I'd finally construct my ultimate silent watercooling project with the radiator, pump, and reservoir in the crawlspace under the house and piped via PVC through the walls into my computer room where there would be a small manifold of QC/DC fittings for my three computers. Maybe one silent fan in each of the PCs, but otherwise the only sound would be the water rushing through the tubes.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: Mik3y

why are you picking a pentium for your ultimate gaming rig??? it's still slower then the athlon 64 3400+ or 3500+ in general. the a64 3400+ performs better then the P4 3.6ghz and 3.4ghz extreme edition on almost every game. pci-e is not faster then agp and ddr is by far worse then ddr.

Because he's not you and he can pick and choose any parts he wants.

WTF are AMD idiots always telling people they are wrong in what the pick and choose. It's REALLY getting old and freaking lame.

They are both great. Just because AMD wins in gaming benchmarks by a few frames doesn't automatically make the Intel a bad chip. Hell you can't even tell the damn difference between 150 and 155 FPS!

Disclaimer: I use AMD in all of my machines except my server. So don't give me Intel fanboi bs.

 

[Silmar]

ok so the LanParty mobo is 1-2 months away. How about the nVidia 6800 Ultras SLi thingy?

 

[Mik3y]

i know they are btoh great. is it so bad to give him GOOD advice as to how he can get more for his money? why spend more for less? i know you know that amd is still the better overall performer. he came here to the forums asking for advice and for us to critique his compilation, so why the hell would you care about personal opinions? advice is advice. if you dont like it, why bother getting into the middle of it?

 

[compudog]

If money were not an issue I would go and configure something like this...

 

[DrCool]

I think compudog makes a good point..

a company like alienware will always have access to the latest and greatest much sooner than any one else. so if you want purely the latest and greatest.. that would be the way to go.

if you really want the experience and enjoy working with computers, it's going to take alot of hard work and research to build the rig you want.

 

[Silmar]

Unfortunately Alienware is unavailable in Australia. It seems most of the core components people have been suggesting are still vapourware. If I wait 1-2 months for this SLi thingy and 6800PCIe (and from reading the video forum btw this card looks like a bag o cr*p), and nforce4 isnt there always something new coming out? Or is this really one of those times in the PC industry when you should wait?

These items are available in Australia now, any good?

Neo2 Platinum MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum Nforce3 AMD 64bit Socket 939$340.00

Corsair Micro CMX1024-3200C2 CORSAIR XTREME MEMORY SPEED 1GB DDR RAM PC-3200 400MHz CAS2 Lifetime

AMD ATHLON64FX-FX53+BOX AMD ATHLON 64FX - FX53 (2.4GHZ, 1MB CACHE, HYPERTRANSPORT, 64BIT, SOCKET939)

Cooler Master TAC-T01EK Cooler Master TAC-T01EK Wave Master Black No PSU Front USB/Audio/Firewire 1 year

OCZ Technology OCZ520ADJ OCZ 520W Sustained, Universal Connector (ATX,BTX,SATA,P4,EPS12V) 3 Adj Pwr Rails, Ultra Quiet 5 year

Western Digital WD740GD Western Digital Raptor WD740GD, 74GB, SATA 150, 8mb Cache 10,000RPM 5 year

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Originally posted by: LikeLinus

Originally posted by: Mik3y

why are you picking a pentium for your ultimate gaming rig??? it's still slower then the athlon 64 3400+ or 3500+ in general. the a64 3400+ performs better then the P4 3.6ghz and 3.4ghz extreme edition on almost every game. pci-e is not faster then agp and ddr is by far worse then ddr.

Because he's not you and he can pick and choose any parts he wants.

WTF are AMD idiots always telling people they are wrong in what the pick and choose. It's REALLY getting old and freaking lame.

They are both great. Just because AMD wins in gaming benchmarks by a few frames doesn't automatically make the Intel a bad chip. Hell you can't even tell the damn difference between 150 and 155 FPS!

Disclaimer: I use AMD in all of my machines except my server. So don't give me Intel fanboi bs.

uhhh you need to read his post. If cash was not much of an issue what would you suggest for the ultimate gaming rig? This is his question. How is suggesting an AMD64 cpu based system that is universally accepted as the superior gaming cpu based system idiotic.

The 3500+ is faster than the any Intel processor in almost all gaming tests so what is your point? I am not an AMD fanboy but I am certainly not making an idiotic suggestion. If he wants to go with the 3.4 and overclock to 4 he could easily go with the 3500+ AMD and overclock to 2.6 and still crush the Intel in gaming.

 

[sharkeeper]

If money was not an issue the (lucky) individual would not be playing games and certainly would not buy a personal computer.

Cheers!

 

[Maezr]

one of these wouldn't hurt: http://www.go-l.com/monitors/athens/features/index.htm

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: michaelpatrick33

Originally posted by: LikeLinus

Originally posted by: Mik3y

why are you picking a pentium for your ultimate gaming rig??? it's still slower then the athlon 64 3400+ or 3500+ in general. the a64 3400+ performs better then the P4 3.6ghz and 3.4ghz extreme edition on almost every game. pci-e is not faster then agp and ddr is by far worse then ddr.

Because he's not you and he can pick and choose any parts he wants.

WTF are AMD idiots always telling people they are wrong in what the pick and choose. It's REALLY getting old and freaking lame.

They are both great. Just because AMD wins in gaming benchmarks by a few frames doesn't automatically make the Intel a bad chip. Hell you can't even tell the damn difference between 150 and 155 FPS!

Disclaimer: I use AMD in all of my machines except my server. So don't give me Intel fanboi bs.

uhhh you need to read his post. If cash was not much of an issue what would you suggest for the ultimate gaming rig? This is his question. How is suggesting an AMD64 cpu based system that is universally accepted as the superior gaming cpu based system idiotic.

The 3500+ is faster than the any Intel processor in almost all gaming tests so what is your point? I am not an AMD fanboy but I am certainly not making an idiotic suggestion. If he wants to go with the 3.4 and overclock to 4 he could easily go with the 3500+ AMD and overclock to 2.6 and still crush the Intel in gaming.

I really advice that YOU read the post. The original post is made by Silmar. The post that Mik3y quoted and which I replied to was made by Spunducky.

He says, and I quote, "my new system specs (i really was on no budget but im not gonna shell out 900+ for a damn fx55) "

Thanks for the laugh though

I'm all for making suggestions to someone purchasing, but dogging someone based on their ALREADY purchased system is pointless. To some people money isn't an issue and they would rather have a P4.

Also as stated, saying "crush the Intel in gaming" really is a bit of a generic BS statement. The difference in frames is so insignifigant because of the such high performance of those chips..it's really pointless. Believe me, In REAL WORLD playing, you will NOT be able to tell the frame rate difference between the A64 and the P4. It's more bragging rights than anything.

I think i answered Mik3y post also. I got no problem with you telling the first guy about the AMD chip, just kinda dogging on someone who already owns the computer is what I was getting at. That is all.

 

[Silmar]

Hoping the cpu wars are coming to end in this thread

Would you guys then recommend I wait it out for the following;

nforce4 mobo - if moving to AMD?
6800 Ultra SLi PCIe - Any date on this? Would X800XT PCIe suffice or can this not be dual mounted?

 

[Gioron]

The first nForce 4 boards out of the gate likely won't have SLI, so it'll be an even longer wait for those (but maybe only a month or two more). Also, SLI will only work on nVidea cards (although ATI is working on their own version of SLI), so it won't work on the X800 XTs. The rest of the nForce 4 chipset features aren't revolutionary, but they are nice. I just bought an nForce 3 comp with an AGP version of the X800 XT and am very pleased with it. I don't think the wait is worth moving to nForce 4 but if it were out a couple weeks ago I would've gotten it instead of nForce 3. If I was throwing money away, I'd mainly upgrade my processor from 3500+ to FX-55 and add a couple more hard drives to the mix (to get a raptor RAID-0 array for the main system, and a large RAID-1 array for data storage). Of course, I also went with Shuttle's SFF solution, so I wouldn't have room for extra drives, but if I really thought they were worth it, I would've got a roomier case.