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Mid-to-high end system for my step brother

X

Xaneth

Junior Member
Looking to build a gaming system from my bro, but want to try and save a few $$ too. So far I'm up to $1900, but I would like some input on this build, and how I could trim a few $$ off the price without shaving off too much performance. Budget is negotiable, though I'd like to get it down to around a $1000 price tag, it may not be possible. System is for gaming:

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

Gaming, hopefully good for the next 2 to 3 years.

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

Negotiable, $1000 - $1500.

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

US (NewEgg.com)

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.

Intel proc, Intel chipset, ATI HD4xxx series, WD Velociraptor (RAID fan), Creative X-Fi.


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

New build, no.

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

Read through quite a few threads.

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

Most definitely OC.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?

Soon. If $1000, almost immediately, if closer to $1500 might be a month or so.


Parts I have so far:

Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80580Q9400 - Retail

ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPI - Retail

SAPPHIRE 100258-1GL Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail (X 2 in Crossfire mode)

Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio 70SB104000000 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface Sound Card - Retail

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (bare drive) - OEM (X 2 RAID0)

EVGA Killer Xeno Pro 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI-E 1x (PCI-E 2.0 Compliant) Network Adapter - Retail

Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model DVR-2910 - Retail

ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail

ZALMAN ZM1000-HP 1000W Continuous @ 45°C (Maximum Continuous Peak: 1250W) ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire ... - Retail

Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan - Retail

He's already got an LCD, not sure what size. Will probably upgrade with the Crossfire in place. Also curious about the onboard sound card that comes with the Asus Rampage board, SupremeFX II, and if it's worth investing in an X-Fi. Definitely want the enhanced Killer NIC for better gaming latency as well as offloading torrents away from the system's resources to an external drive in the future. I know the 4850's are a little cheesy, considering a single 4870... Price is at around $1900 with the current parts. Want to slim it down quite a bit, but as I said, I don't want to compromise performance too much.
 
Okay here is what I'd consider for your "Bro's" build.
$310 GPU/OS combo
4890 1gb/Vista Home Premium 64 bit (I'd consider getting an i7 w/mobo, since it'll be only a bit more than your CPU/mobo combo)
4890 1gb/OS combo link

$220 q9400
Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail

$160 x48 mobo, one of the better ones to get for the $, IMHO! Or go p45 mobo for about $100-125 and stick with a single GPU.
DFI LP DK X48-T2RSB PLUS LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard

$50 for boot HD (personally I think Velociraptors are just too much for what you get, IMHO)
Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - OEM

$100 for Storage drive, you're going to need this, I'm pretty sure!
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - OEM

$50 Fast DDR2 800mHz RAM, should OC well if you need to push them!
G.SKILL HK 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

$120 - $20 MIR = $100!!! One of the better PSU's that you can get for the money. Plenty of connectors for just about anything you throw at it!!
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail

$75 for one of the better Cases you can get, almost totally tooless!! Plenty of room and has cable guides and room to run cables behind the mobo tray!!
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

$180 Why not get a BR Burner in this budget?? You can go with a standard DVD burner for about $30 or you can get a BR ROM drive for about $100 or so. It's up to you.
LG Black 6X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 6X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA Internal Blu-ray Burner Super Multi Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive Model GGW-H20L - Retail

Total w/shipping ~$1296 - $20 MIR = $1276!!! Hard to beat for that. You could opt for an i7 build with 6 gb's DDR3 and with similar setup for about $100 more or so. It's up to you, but this build or PhII build or i7 build will all work about the same, in general. Your better off with a single GPU for now, IMHO. The complexities of X-fire/SLI don't always work out the best, but definately can be a good asset to have. I'd just rather have a single GREAT GPU than 2 lesser ones, IMHO.

P.S. Personally I think the onboard LAN and the onboard audio is quite good, unless you are a audio nut or something like that. I don't think its worth the extra cards. Remember that 2 x 2 slotted GPU's (if you go that way), won't leave really much room for much else.
 
I skip and save on the following:


Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (bare drive) - OEM (X 2 RAID0)

Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio 70SB104000000 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface Sound Card - Retail

ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Get a cheaper LGA775 motherboard. They run between $80-$120 for a QUALITY one.

EVGA Killer Xeno Pro 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI-E 1x (PCI-E 2.0 Compliant) Network Adapter - Retail
Your built-in motherboard NIC is fine. If you are worried about game lag, this is not going to be the solution.

Get ATi 4890 instead of 4850.


I built an I7 920 system with a BLU-Ray burner for $1250, see my thread
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...295604&highlight_key=y

Its plenty fast and handling most games at MAX settings. Been playing Left 4 Dead with everything maxed out and its easily handling it at a constant 60 FPS.
 
Thanks for the input all!

I have the O/S covered, so no worries there.

The Killer NIC does improve lag times in game. I have a buddy on FIOS who improved his lag by around 10 ms, and gained 10 fps video-wise. This is of course on 20/20 Mbit service, and my bro is up in Anchorage, so any extra bandwidth is going to help him out.

As for the drive solution mentioned, I want to eliminate that bottleneck, so it's either Velociraptors or SSD for O/S and an additional 7200 for storage purposes.

Thanks for the tips on the mobo, I was curious about the DFI boards, because I understand they are highly OC-able. Question about that, LT vs. UT?
 
I don't think having the faster SSD/VelociRaptor will help during game playing. Initial start up will be noticeably faster as well as Windows bootup time. Howevere, most application are cached into the RAM after they're loaded from the harddrive. Someone correct me if I am wrong there. You will not see a performance gain during the game or application use.
SSD is not anywhere near the price point for mass use yet. SSD drive or a Raptor drive can be added on later as well.

You will have to decide to cut corners somewhere to get the best value/performance ratio. You can't have it both ways of performance and low price.

ZALMAN ZM1000-HP 1000W is another thing you can cut down on. Use a power calculator to figure out your REAL NEED. I saved 50% on the price of a PSU. If I ever need more power, the money saved can buy me a brand new bigger PSU in the future. Things always get better and cheaper in the future. You should have plenty of room with a 650-750W at MOST.

Definitely buy everything that is on sale. Keep checking Fatwallet/Slickdeals etc.
 
Kewl, thx. Yeah, that was another thing I'm not exactly clear on, power. Want to make sure to have enough to support Crossfire without skimping on it. 750 enough for Crossfire (as I haven't set up Crossfire yet).
 
OK, so I've got it down to:

Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80580Q9400 - Retail

LANPARTY UT X48-T2R LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B - Retail

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ... - Retail

SAPPHIRE 100269SR Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (bare drive) - OEM (X 2 RAID0)

Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model DVR-2910 - Retail

ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail

Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan - Retail

Which has it down to around $1494. Would be nice to trim it down a bit more, I may look at a more inexpensive case. Definitely want the third party cooler for OC'ing, just don't trust the retail fan. Also unwilling to compromise the I/O using the Velociraptors. Going to drop one of the graphics cards, since I'm pretty sure he's not running a 30" wide or anything, but the system has the capacity to upgrade to Crossfire later at least.
 
Originally posted by: Xaneth
OK, so I've got it down to:

Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80580Q9400 - Retail

LANPARTY UT X48-T2R LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B - Retail

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ... - Retail

SAPPHIRE 100269SR Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (bare drive) - OEM (X 2 RAID0)

Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model DVR-2910 - Retail

ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail

Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan - Retail

Which has it down to around $1494. Would be nice to trim it down a bit more, I may look at a more inexpensive case. Definitely want the third party cooler for OC'ing, just don't trust the retail fan. Also unwilling to compromise the I/O using the Velociraptors. Going to drop one of the graphics cards, since I'm pretty sure he's not running a 30" wide or anything, but the system has the capacity to upgrade to Crossfire later at least.
Click to expand...

Personally "IF" I'm going to do a RAID 0, I'd rather go with 2 x 640gb AAKS WD HD's for ~$140 over 2 x 150 gb Velociprator's at $360. You get ~95% of the performance of the Velociraptors and well over $200 in savings. I'd rather spend that $200 in savings on a better GPU, since this is a gaming rig that your building. You are also getting 490 gb's (before formatting) of extra space that you don't get with the Velociraptors. Most games these days are 5-15 gb's installed, so the added space is definately needed. This is why I recommended a small HD for the OS and a large one for data. Of coarse this is just my opinion, but I thought I should explain my viewpoint a bit more.
 
The WD6400AAKS seems like a pretty good drive, but it's definitely not ~95% of the performance of a Velociraptor. Not only are the seek times half as slow, the write performance is more than half as slow. I at least want to use a VR for the O/S since I want snappier performance for apps and the O/S itself. I may opt for a single 300 GB VR and add the HD103UJ Spinpoint 1 TB drive for capacity, as it has better performance reviews and stacks up against the VR somewhat.
 
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