Need some advice

[rtfc3po]

I am getting ready to build a new gaming rig in the next 1-2 months.

Here are my considerations:

Budget = $2,000.00

Budget will need to include:

Case
Power Supply
Motherboard
CPU
Memory
Video Card or Cards
Hard Drives (3)
DVD/CD RW Drives

I have a 22" wide screen LCD with a native resolution of 1680 x 1050.

Games I currently play: Battlefield 2142, Battlefield 2, & Call of Duty 2

Games I plan on buying upon their initial release: Crysis, Call of Duty 4, Quake Wars Enemy Territory

Here is a list of the components I am considering.

Cases = Cooler Maser Stacker 830 or 832 /// Antec 900, P180, & P182

Power Supply = PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad

Mother Boards = Asus P5K3 Deluxe, Striker Extreme, P5N32-E SLI Plus /// EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1

CPU = Q6600 or E6850

Video Cards = 8800 GTS 320 MB, 8800 GTS 640 MB, 8800 GTX 768 MB

Memory = 2 or 4 GB DDR3 or DDR2 depending upon the motherboard of course.

Hard Drives = Will be running RAID 1 (Security) plus a third drive for storage.
I plan on using 150 GB Raptors for my array & a 500 GB drive for storage.

Operating System = I have a copy of XP Pro 32 bit. I would like to dual boot with a version of Vista for DX10 games when they are finally release.

I am a little unclear on the 32 bit vs. 64 bit operating systems & their pros & cons for my personal usage??gaming.

Now for the subject of over clocking?.I?m not 100% against it, I just don?t have much experience. If I do over clock I will have to do it in moderation, as I don?t have the budget for water cooling?.

Life expectancy: I would like to get 4-5 years out of this system.

All advice, information, is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[phaxmohdem]

Looks like some solid choices there.

- Cases, I would personally go for the P182 (Gunmetal ) case.. Though if you are an overclocker, the Stacker would probably allow you more airflow options and more room to work.

- Power Supply (Excellent choice, though, if not planning on SLI it is overkill and you can save some money by grabbing a nice, cheaper Seasonic and put the savings towards other things. (The rig in my sig is powered by a a Seasonic SS-700HM PSU, and it rawks)

- Motherboards... I'm on an AMD platform so I do not know too much about Intel-land, but for my money I buy ASUS boards, and they have not let me down yet.

- CPU I would probably grab me some sweet quad core action if this was my rig, and OC it a little.

- Video Card, given the games list you've give, I wouldn't go lower than the 640MB GTS. You'll likely upgrade the GFX card in 2-3 years anyway, but if longevity is your goal, spring for the GTX IMO. (I <3 Mine )

- Memory your call. If you decide to go with a 32 bit OS, 2GB is the sweet spot. I personally have 4GB in my rig, (can only use 3.25GB due to the OS) But once 64 bit is ready for me, at least I'll have the RAM to handle it.

- HDD's, again you've got basically what I"ve got. As for RAID-1, security is all well and good, but keep in mind, if your motherboard or RAID controller goes bad, your RAID array is worthless. I Just have my raptors in RAID-0, and back up my critical files to both an external hard drive, and my File server. The best way to protect your data is to BACK IT UP! (BTW, I'm very happy with my Hitachi 500GB drives, if you're looking for suggestions)

- I have tried Vista x64, and it worked well for games suprisingly. Not much of a performance decrease from Win XP Pro. (32 bit). However the deal breaker for me was my other apps such as Adobe Encore DVD2, and Other members of the Adobe Suite simply were not compatible and would either not run, or have problems. So I've gone back to XP 32 bit for the time being until my apps become compatible. Also in regards to RAM. When I had Vista Ultimate x64 installed on my box, just by booting it, I was already using 1.4GB of RAM. Therefore, I would strongly urge 4GB of RAM if you decide to go the Vista x64 Route.

Hope some of my mindless rambling helps you on your way to building a kick-ass rig

 

[rtfc3po]

Do you not like the 900? Just curious.

My budget is going to be tight as it is, so I don't think I will be able to go with SLI initially, BUT....I want to be able to switch to an SLI setup without having to buy a new motherboard & power supply.

I will defiantly have this system configured to Dual Boot. XP Pro 32-Bit & Vista 64 bit. So 4GB is what I am leaning towards......again budget is #1 priority so I may have to get 2GB & wait on Vista & 2 additional gigs of memory later down the road..... Not sure on what version of Vista to get?

RAID 0 with an external backup sounds like a wise decision. However I haven't heard of many RAID controllers going bad......

I built my current system in June of 2003:

P4 3.0GHz Northwood
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
2 GB DDR 400 (2 x 1GB)
ATI Radeon X850 XT Platinum Editon
120GB Seagate Barracudas in RAID 1 (7,200 RPM / SATA 1.5MB)
Antec TruePower 430W

System still runs great. Just getting ready for the DX10 era!

 

[phaxmohdem]

Haha, you and I are on the same wavelength as computers go. My Lan Party Box is VERY similar:

P4 3.0GHz Northwood
Asus P4P800SE Motherboard
2GB DDR400
ATI Radeon x800XL AGP
120GB Wetern Digital + 80GB Hitachi
Antec True Power II 480

LOL almost scary.

As for the 900, I think its definitely a bad-ass looking case, very versatile, and would probably cool as good or better than the stacker depending on how you set it up. The P182 is just my personal taste. I like clean simply looks. That said the 900 has a sort of simple elegance to it.... in a complex way

As For RAID controllers, I just mean that if the motherboard goes bad, or has to be changed out, your data is gone. In which case your screwed with RAID-0 or RAID-1, or any RAID for that matter (unless you have a seperate add-on RAID card). I guess I'd just go with what makes you feel good at the end of the day. If you don't need the extra 150GB space on your system drive, and sleep better with RAID-1 then by all means.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

The difference between xp 32 and 64 comes down to basically 2 things. A 32 bit system can only allocate 2gb ram to a single application, which at the current time is not a problem for games. The second being the drivers need to be 64 bit which is sometimes hard to find, if not impossible. Ive also heard people complain about the stability and rate of release of the 64 bit drivers

 

[RadiclDreamer]

http://www.microsoft.com/windo...64bit/facts/top10.mspx

 

[rtfc3po]

Phaxmohdem:

I have heard that "Great minds think alike"

Even if the RAID controllers goes out.......the data on the platters of the hard drive is not erased!


RadiclDreamer:

As mentioned above, I will be configuring a dual boot system. My primary OS will be XP Pro 32 bit & my second OS will be Vista 64 bit. I haven't made up my mind which version of Vista to go with yet? Any thoughts on that?

 

[rtfc3po]

***BUMP***