Some thoughts about a gaming system

[imported_MR2]

Have a client that wants a new gaming system. Plays "CPU intensive" strategy games and not FPS Games. He wants a dual AMD64 system, but I'm not sure it is worth it. I think for the price of dual 3GHz he can easialy get a 4GHz and that games need to be written for dual CPU use.

With the type of games he plays, I think a excellent 128MB Video card will work over a good 256MB card. Thoughts?

Client has several (5) IBM 9.1GB LVD SCSI SCA drives. I was thinking that with a pair of SCA adaptors and a dual channel SCSI card I could stripe them for a OS drive. Then add another good SCSI Drive for his D:Games drive. Or should I go with a pair of Raptors?

If we go with the dual CPU, I guess a server board with onboard SCSI will work. Any recommendations that will also accomidate the excellent video card?

Needs a fast DVD and CD - probably go with a DVD burner. Any SATA ones yet?

Standard audio and GB NIC. Not interested in the nice bling-bling add-ons.

Noise sems to be a factor, so I guess we will be looking at quieter fans/power supply/systemboard/HDD.

Budget is $1000-1500 USD for system, not periphials or monitor.

Thank you all for yourfor your thoughts and time.

 

[coejus]

There is no dual socket 939 motherboard, and there never will be. AMD considers that the Opteron's territory.

 

[BOLt]

His inital suggestion sounds redundant and ridiculous.

Get him an AMD Athlon 64 (or FX if you can budget it), socket 939, 90nm; a PCI-e motherboard; an ATI X800XL, or XT GPU (or if you prefer NVIDIA, go for the BFG 6800 GT OC PCI-e). For optical drives, the only SATA optical drive maker is Plextor, and if you have money to burn, Plextor is amazing. If you need to be a bit more efficient with your money, just go with a NEC ND-3500A or ND-3520A DVD burner. I'd add a Lite-On 167T DVD-ROM drive to facilitate CD and DVD copying, but again, that's if you've got money to burn.

For cooling, 120mm fans are a must because they can push the same amount of air as a 92mm, or 80mm fan, but do not need to spin as fast and therefore create less noise. I'd put it in a Lian-Li V1000 series case or higher if you can budget that too (BTX tends to have better cooling, both passively and actively vs. ATX case). If not, just go with a reliable brand case and you're good to go.

I'll let you work out what you can afford to put in and what you must cut costs on. For 1K to 1.5K USD, you can make a damn good system considering you've already got hard drives. BTW, I am not familiar with SCSI drives, since I think they are overrated and NCQ SATA drives work just as well for a fraction of the cost, but if it's possible, just RAID the SCSI drives and forget about Raptors or whatever. Seriously, sometimes I doubt whether spending an extra $XXX on hardware is appreciable by any means.

Good luck.

 

[coejus]

If a quiet case is a concern, the Antec Sonata or SLK3700BQE are no-brainers.

 

[stevty2889]

Dual CPU's don't make for a better gaming system, as almost no game will take advanatage of it. The best gaming CPU right now would be the Althon 64 FX-55. Most likely super fast drives, like raid-0 raptors will make very little if any differance. A 6600GT should be plenty good for strategy games, probably even an overkill, they are usualy not the most demanding games.

 

[PingSpike]

Sounds like your client doesn't have a clue. Just duct tape an old duron onto the pci slots and charge him for two A64s.

Seriously, aside from the fact that a dually board for A64s doesn't exist it would be a pointless endeavor as the game has to be written to take advantage of a second cpu...and virtually none of them are.