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PLEASE HELP in building a high end gaming PC

G

Geekwannab

Member
Any help is really appreciated
Budget : $2750 -3000

My current homebuilt PC is a P4 1.6 -Northwood with 512 Megs DDR2100(266),80 gigs HDD(IDE) Asus Geforce 4 4400Ti and also an Acer 8104WLMI


Here are my considerations:

CPU - Opteron 165 OEM

Cooling - SI 120 with panaflo (big FAN of less noise PCs(dont believe in noiseless PC atleast in my case as I will be OCing heavily) - maybe coolance EXOS 2 later or any good water cooling kit for ocing-heck a passive water cooled kit(like the resonator 1 plus) which will allow my opty to be oced to 3GHZ would be great

PSU - Enermax noisetaker or anygood silent SLI certifed PSU for my potential watre cooled rig>>
Mobo - DFI expert or Asus A8N32 or wait for DFI to come up with SLI x16 mobo- Any other Mobo with good OCing capability with an on board RAID 5 controller ??

RAM - 2 x 1GB OCZ 3200 Platinum REV 2 or any other good TCCD sticks which will allow insane FSB 1:1 maybe @3-3-3-7 or something like that(I am not a big fan of tight timings and BH5 sucks big time for OCing)

Case - CM Pretorian or TM Kadalf or wait for CM stacker 360

Video Cards - EVGA 7800 GTS x2 or 1x BFG 7800GTX 512 - I am leaning toward the 7800 GTX 512 as it gimme a better upgrade path

Sound card - Xi-fi fatalty FPS

HDD - 2 x WD400 KD(400GB) in Raid 0 (or) 2x Maxtor diamondmax 11 (500GB)- get one of these for RAID 5 in future

DVD burner - Already have an NEC 3500 and Liteon DVD-ROM

Monitor - Already have the Dell 20.1 1600x1200(cant remeber the model #)

Speakers - Logitech Z5500 - (on sale @amazon for 219)

What do you guys think???
 
you said budget $3000 but what you listed, I dont know but..doesn't sound anything close to 3K?
 
Take the ThermalTake Shark... It's just great, and looks terrific... As Rinaun says, it's cheaper and very nearly as good to spend the money on two 7800GTs... BTW consider a X1800XT, or wait just a little more, the new generation of GPUs is right around the corner...

BTW By the time the A8N32-SLI is fully available, the next-gen cards will be with us as well probably... 😉
 
CPU - Opteron 165 ($320)
Mainboard - DFI LanParty Ultra-D or MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum or any other high-end, *non-SLI* board ($125)
RAM - 2xOCZ 1 GB CL2 ($210)
HDD - 4x Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3300831AS 300GB in RAID-5 ($480)
Graphics - 7800 GTX 256 MB ($500)
Cooling - Vapochill Lightspeed ($850)
Sound - X-Fi Elite Platinum ($200)
Case - Lian Li PC-75B, because it's supposed to work well with the Vapochill ($225)
PSU - Seasonic 600W, because I think it has the power the Vapochill too...if not, get something smaller ($130)
Speakers - Klipsch 5.1 Promedia ($300)

Total comes to about $3340, a bit over budget, but that's the price of Vapochill. You can get them on e-bay for ~$500 though, which would leave you at $2990.
 
Originally posted by: Rinaun
get the two gt's, evga ones, 300 a pop on newegg, spend the extra cash on a X2 Proc.
Click to expand...


No offense but you obviously dont know much about OCing Opterons. Along with what 007ELmO said, your setup is nowhere near 3k. Maybe 2k IF that. If your going 3k, here is a system build that will turn heads:

CPU- RETAIL Opteron 170 (recent steppings show OC average of about 2.7-2.8ghz 24/7 on water)- $400 ish from either Monarch or Mwave

Cooling - Thermaltake Big Typhoon (best AIR system for all OCing) - $50
**both the exos2 system and resonator suck pretty bad for watercooling because they are for "new to watercooling" (noob) kits. Your best watercooling setup would proly be a Swiftech Apex *Heavy Duty (with storm cpu block)* kit - $275**

PSU - OCZ powerstream 600w SLI Certified - $200

Mobo- DFI Expert (A8n32 sux for SLI setups cuz no extra PCI slots) - $200

Ram - Either 2gb Mushkin Redline pc4000 or Crucial Ballistix z503 kit (only easy way you'll get your hardly non-realistic 3ghz) - $300

Case - Something big to fit your possible future watercooling setup. Yours mentioned should be fine - $150

Video Cards - Unless you plan on going SLI 512's in the future, Stick with SLI 7800gtx's. I say this because gaming benchmarks show that a single 512 7800gtx performs about as good as a 7800GT SLI setup in higher resolutions with AA and AF enabled. SLI 512mb 7800gtx>SLI 256mb 7800GTX's>512mb 7800gtx>SLI 7800gt. - 512 ($750ish newegg) SLI 256 ($900)

Soundcard- X-FI FPS - $300?

HDD - 2 x WD 16mb cache 400gbs (shown to preform almost as good as raptors) - $400 if im right

Speakers - Logitech z5500 (your $219)

This full setup should run about $2900-3200 depending on Graphics card setup.

Not to be mean or anything but you yourself seem not to know much about overclocking either. To address your "hope to get 3ghz in the future", your thinking is very unrealistic. Unless you have a phase change cooling system ($800) or the very hard to find 0530 TPMW opteron, it is HIGHLY unlikely you will get 3ghz 24/7 stable on watercooling (let alone air) especially with a 165. You can up your chances if you get a 170 but to be realistic, you would proly get about 2.8ghz 24/7 with the opterons that are shipping out currently. Also, pc3200 ram isnt very good for overclocking at high 1:1. Also im not too sure where u found out that BH5 sucks for ocing but if U knew anything about it, a good BH5 kit will stomp on a TCCD kit any day. Just my 2cents
 
Originally posted by: StarmanEB
Originally posted by: Rinaun
get the two gt's, evga ones, 300 a pop on newegg, spend the extra cash on a X2 Proc.
Click to expand...


No offense but you obviously dont know much about OCing Opterons.
Click to expand...
Np tbh ive never worked with opterons only 64 regulars not X2. I jsut thought they were better because ive alway thought opterons were more of a server based proc.
 
Ahh sorry Rinaun, didnt want that to come out as a flame or anything. Yea Opterons are very overclockable and can OC easily to X2 speeds for half the price. Your right as they have always been made as server procs but can also be used as PC procs, only reason they werent up until recently was because prices have always been high.
 
Originally posted by: 007ELmO
you said budget $3000 but what you listed, I dont know but..doesn't sound anything close to 3K?
Click to expand...


Please see my wish list.. The total comes to $2,957.82

High end gaminghttps://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/WishDetail.asp?position=HISTORY&ID=1827258&WishListTitle=High+end+gaming

Thanks for bringing it up though...made me spec olut the system @ newegg
 
Also, pc3200 ram isnt very good for overclocking at high 1:1
Click to expand...

You don't need to overclock at 1:1 on an AMD system to get good results. A number of articles discuss this, and from what I've noticed on my own systems, there's a point of diminishing returns with RAM speed that kicks in at about 230 MHz where further increases in memory clock speed (at 1:1 or otherwise) do not produce nearly as much benefit as the transition from 200 MHz to ~230 MHz did. Any RAM that can overclock to about 225 MHz while maintaining a good latency setting should be fine for using in a high performance system.
 
Originally posted by: StarmanEB
Originally posted by: Rinaun
get the two gt's, evga ones, 300 a pop on newegg, spend the extra cash on a X2 Proc.
Click to expand...


No offense but you obviously dont know much about OCing Opterons. Along with what 007ELmO said, your setup is nowhere near 3k. Maybe 2k IF that. If your going 3k, here is a system build that will turn heads:

CPU- RETAIL Opteron 170 (recent steppings show OC average of about 2.7-2.8ghz 24/7 on water)- $400 ish from either Monarch or Mwave

Cooling - Thermaltake Big Typhoon (best AIR system for all OCing) - $50
**both the exos2 system and resonator suck pretty bad for watercooling because they are for "new to watercooling" (noob) kits. Your best watercooling setup would proly be a Swiftech Apex *Heavy Duty (with storm cpu block)* kit - $275**

PSU - OCZ powerstream 600w SLI Certified - $200

Mobo- DFI Expert (A8n32 sux for SLI setups cuz no extra PCI slots) - $200

Ram - Either 2gb Mushkin Redline pc4000 or Crucial Ballistix z503 kit (only easy way you'll get your hardly non-realistic 3ghz) - $300

Case - Something big to fit your possible future watercooling setup. Yours mentioned should be fine - $150

Video Cards - Unless you plan on going SLI 512's in the future, Stick with SLI 7800gtx's. I say this because gaming benchmarks show that a single 512 7800gtx performs about as good as a 7800GT SLI setup in higher resolutions with AA and AF enabled. SLI 512mb 7800gtx>SLI 256mb 7800GTX's>512mb 7800gtx>SLI 7800gt. - 512 ($750ish newegg) SLI 256 ($900)

Soundcard- X-FI FPS - $300?

HDD - 2 x WD 16mb cache 400gbs (shown to preform almost as good as raptors) - $400 if im right

Speakers - Logitech z5500 (your $219)

This full setup should run about $2900-3200 depending on Graphics card setup.

Not to be mean or anything but you yourself seem not to know much about overclocking either. To address your "hope to get 3ghz in the future", your thinking is very unrealistic. Unless you have a phase change cooling system ($800) or the very hard to find 0530 TPMW opteron, it is HIGHLY unlikely you will get 3ghz 24/7 stable on watercooling (let alone air) especially with a 165. You can up your chances if you get a 170 but to be realistic, you would proly get about 2.8ghz 24/7 with the opterons that are shipping out currently. Also, pc3200 ram isnt very good for overclocking at high 1:1. Also im not too sure where u found out that BH5 sucks for ocing but if U knew anything about it, a good BH5 kit will stomp on a TCCD kit any day. Just my 2cents
Click to expand...

Yep, you are right.. I dont have "hands on" on overclocking or water cooling( My knowledge about them are pure bookish(or googlish 🙂) ,hence my hcoice of water cooling kits(exos2 and resonator1). I have read horror stories about leaks and stuff , hence my choice. As far as the RAM i read in a lot of forums that TCCD is the best for overclocking ,even tin he article here @ anandtech about OCing 3800 X2 , there were getting better results with the TCCD
 
Thanks for all your opinions... Any more thoughts about the RAM (I am really looking to get 275-280 FSB out of the RAMs at 1:1..money is not a problem)
 
Nvidia releases their new 90nm G71 in January, I would just wait until then they are supposed to be much faster and use less power.

Also, WD just release a 10,000 rpm 150GB raptor. those are both very high performance upgrades worth waiting for, especially with your budget. I would go with 1 raptor and 1 400GB storage drive.

I have the Logitech z5500 speakers and just recently upgraded the 2 front channels. Check this THREAD if you are interested at all in getting better sound than the z5500's offer.

 
I just got the A8N32, which I think is an awesome overclocking performance mobo right now, but if you can wait a few months to build, you might want to grab an M2 mobo for future proofing.
 
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