My $2k Ultimate Gaming Computer - Opinions?

[AuDioFreaK39]

I'm building this computer for a friend. He has a budget of around $2k, so these are the parts that we picked out after several long days of research:

Total cost: $1,920

NZXT LEXA BlackLine Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 - 610W Continuous 40°C Power Supply

ASUS P5K PREMIUM/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz - G0 Stepping

Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler

(2x) Patriot eXtreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) (4GB total)

EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB

(2x) Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3400620AS 400GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s (800GB total / RAID0)

ASUS 18X DVD±R DVD Burner - Black SATA Model DRW-1814BLT

ASUS Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A3T

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound


This computer will be used primarily for Crysis and CounterStrike / Source. Let me know what you think, and if the list needs any adjustments. We are trying to keep this under $2000 shipped. Thanks in advance.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

get a p182 or a lian li case with 120mm fans instead of that case. quality and more elegant looking
the $190 silencer 750 seems like a better deal
scratch that dvd-rom, you'll never use it

everything else looks fine

 

[Polish3d]

No no no, don't get 4gb of ram at the expense of a better video card. Or even a quad core at the expense of a better vidcard.


I would ditch the second 2gb of ram, and get an 8800GTX instead. Especially if you're planning this PC for Crysis. Get the second 2gb later when you can afford it

 

[MarcVenice]

Erm, what about dropping 1 HD, raid 0 is pointless, and won't net you any extra FPS in games. A better videocard will. A enermax liberty 500W will power that system just fine btw, so will a corsair 520w, with plenty of headroom to spare, saves you another 50$ or so. Don't go with that ram, go with 4gb of ddr800 instead.

The extra performance you get from that more expensive ram, and using raid 0 is NEGLIGIBLE, especially compared to the performance increase you will get when putting all that money towards a better videocard. With a 9 multiplier on a q6600 you can do 9x400 = 3.6ghz, even with g0 stepping you'll have a hard time hitting 3.6ghz on air. That's 1:1 with ddr800.

Last but not least, do you absolutely need the wifi etc on the p5k premium. You could get a p5k for 100$ less, without all that mumbo jumbo, and save yourself another 100$

 

[SpeedZealot369]

Less money on parts (especially memory, you don't need 4gb) and get a 8800gtx

 

[ZombieRitual]

If you're running Vista 64x then the 4GB ram is a good idea, the Anandtech article described 4gb as the sweet spot for Vista 64 (and my own new build running Vista 64-bit with 4bg of ram and a q6600 runs very smooth). Dropping down to DDR2-800 though does sound like a good idea and will save you a good 100 bucks or more depending on what you get. Also, you didn't say if you were overclocking or not. If you aren't then there's no real need for the aftermarket cooler; that'd be another 70 bucks you can put towards your GPU.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

i have 3gb and vista 32-gb is running at my pcs memory maximum. raid 0 does make sense. i'm using right now and my system feels overall a bit snappier, and plus you don't lose any hdd space. but then again i've always had good luck with hdds. knock on wood

 

[Pyramix]

Looks like his mobo only supports DDR2 1066. I'd suggest a better video card as well.

 

[MarcVenice]

4 x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2 1066*/800 / 667 MHz, non-ECC, un-buffered memory
Dual channel memory architecture
"* The chipset officially supports the memory frequency up to DDR2 800MHz. Tuned by ASUS Super Memspeed Technology, this motherboard natively supports up to DDR2 1066MHz
Please refer to www.asus.com or user manual for Memory QVL."

so 4gb @ ddr800.

@Louis, nice and all that about your system feeling a bit snappier, but when you're building a gaming rig, the first thing you want is a SUPERFAST videocard, then you want a decent/good CPU, the rest is all water in the wine when it comes to FPS in games. Even raid0. So if you can save 60/100$ buy not going raid 0, and still have plenty of HD room, then that's what you should do if it means you can get a faster videocard.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
4 x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2 1066*/800 / 667 MHz, non-ECC, un-buffered memory
Dual channel memory architecture
"* The chipset officially supports the memory frequency up to DDR2 800MHz. Tuned by ASUS Super Memspeed Technology, this motherboard natively supports up to DDR2 1066MHz
Please refer to www.asus.com or user manual for Memory QVL."

so 4gb @ ddr800.

@Louis, nice and all that about your system feeling a bit snappier, but when you're building a gaming rig, the first thing you want is a SUPERFAST videocard, then you want a decent/good CPU, the rest is all water in the wine when it comes to FPS in games. Even raid0. So if you can save 60/100$ buy not going raid 0, and still have plenty of HD room, then that's what you should do if it means you can get a faster videocard.

well raid0 doesn't give any fps increases, but it WILL allow you to run all your programs faster and your system will overall be faster including virusscans and spyware scans. he's not going to save any money by getting 1 less hdd, he's just going to have less hdspace/$.

i agree with getting 2-3gb of ram and getting a better video card instead. the HD2900st is starting to show its shiny armor under that rusty coat called vista.

please see thread titled "HD2900xt sets new 3dmark06 record, previous record help by 8800ultra Sli"

 

[Phantomaniac]

I don't think there is any sort of guarantee that you will get a G0 stepping Q6600. According to reviews, newegg is still shipping B3s.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: AuDioFreaK39
I'm building this computer for a friend. He has a budget of around $2k, so these are the parts that we picked out after several long days of research:

Total cost: $1,920

NZXT LEXA BlackLine Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 - 610W Continuous 40°C Power Supply

ASUS P5K PREMIUM/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz - G0 Stepping

Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler

(2x) Patriot eXtreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) (4GB total)

EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB

(2x) Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3400620AS 400GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s (800GB total / RAID0)

ASUS 18X DVD±R DVD Burner - Black SATA Model DRW-1814BLT

ASUS Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A3T

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound


This computer will be used primarily for Crysis and CounterStrike / Source. Let me know what you think, and if the list needs any adjustments. We are trying to keep this under $2000 shipped. Thanks in advance.

If you only need an 8800GTS, save $800 and get Dell's $649 9200 with Q6600 in it. Add your own 8800GTS/320. Add your own RAM. Add your own hard drives. Take that $800 you have left and put it in the bank for the next upgrade.

PS: Didn't see a cost for the operating system. Don't forget that. Included in the Dell already...

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Frackal
No no no, don't get 4gb of ram at the expense of a better video card. Or even a quad core at the expense of a better vidcard.


I would ditch the second 2gb of ram, and get an 8800GTX instead. Especially if you're planning this PC for Crysis. Get the second 2gb later when you can afford it

yeah, i see ultimate gaming pc and then i see 8800gts 320...shouldn't that say 8800 gtx or if you must go with the gts, get the 640 mb version...

 

[drakore]

Drop the Quad Core, get an e6750 or e6850. Yse the extra money for a 8800GTX. Drop that board get something like a P5K vanilla or GA-P35-DS3R. Corsair 520HX for PSU.

You probably don't need 4GB of ram for gaming.

Arctic Cooling MX-1 instead of AS5. Non conductive and performs better.

Do you need 2 dvd rom drives? Get the Pioneer DVR212D instead of the ASUS one.

Agreed Raid0 is fairly useless.

 

[dmw16]

Aside from what others said, that is one UGLY CASE

 

[Jaanpunjab]

Get your PSU at zipzoomfly. I'm pretty sure every PSU I've looked at is cheaper at zzf and includes free shipping. I would say either get Corsair 520 or 620.

Definitely go for a better video card too, either a GTX or Ultra. Just get some cheaper RAM and drop one of the HDD's and that should give you enough room to upgrade the vid card.

You can save some money on that mobo too. There are lots of less expensive options unless you/he just really want that wifi.