$4000 Ultimate PC @ Sharkyextreme

[mcjimbo]

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/EGBG/article.php/3494656

Would you agree with this config?


AMD Athlon 64 FX System:

Case: Cooler Master TAC-T01 Wave Master - $128
PSU: Antec 480W NeoPower Power Supply - $110
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 Socket 939 OEM - $805
Cooling: Thermalright XP-120 w/Vantec Stealth 120mm Fan - $65
Motherboard: DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Retail - $215
Memory: OCZ EL Dual Channel Gold VX PC4000 1-GB (2x512-MB) - $263
Hard Drive: 2X Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB OEM - $298
Video Card: 2X XFX GeForce 6800GT 256-MB PCI Express - $748
Monitor: ViewSonic VP912B 19" LCD Monitor - $525
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum - $164
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital - $259
CD/DVD-RW: Pioneer 16x DVD+RW/-RW DVR-109 OEM - $63
NIC: Included - $0
Modem: US Robotics External v.92 USB Faxmodem - $38
Mouse: Logitech MX100 Optical Mouse - $55
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Natural Keyboard OEM - $20
Gamepad: Saitek P3000 Wireless Pad - $32
Operating System: Windows XP Pro w/ SP2 - $131
UPS: CyberPower OfficePower 825VA CPS825AVR - $70
Floppy: Generic Black Floppy Disk Drive - $8


Total: $3,997


Intel Pentium 4 System:

Case: Cooler Master TAC-T01 Wave Master- $128
PSU: Antec 480W NeoPower Power Supply - $110
CPU: Pentium 4-3.73 GHz Extreme Edition LGA775 Retail - $1,065
Cooling: Included - $0
Motherboard: ASUS P5AD2-E Deluxe Retail - $200
Memory: Crucial Ballistix DDR2-533 1-GB (2x512-MB) - $284
Hard Drive: 2X Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB OEM - $298
Video Card: eVGA GeForce 6800 Ultra 256-MB PCI Express - $488
Monitor: ViewSonic VP912B 19" LCD Monitor - $525
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum - $164
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital - $259
CD/DVD-RW: Pioneer 16x DVD+RW/-RW DVR-109 OEM - $63
NIC: Included - $0
Modem: US Robotics External v.92 USB Faxmodem - $38
Mouse: Logitech MX1000 Optical Mouse - $55
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Natural Keyboard OEM - $20
Gamepad: Saitek P3000 Wireless Pad - $32
Operating System: Windows XP Pro w/ SP2 - $131
UPS: CyberPower OfficePower 825VA CPS825AVR - $70
Floppy: Generic Black Floppy Disk Drive - $8


Total: $3,938

 

[ribbon13]

Hell no...

SLI + LCD == More money than sense.

 

[Lonyo]

Hell no... FX and EE = waste of money
And 1GB of RAM? Puhlease. Pathetic.
56k modem? $4000 machine?
AIR COOLING?!?!?!
I wouldn't pay $4,000 for either of those.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
Hell no...

SLI + LCD == More money than sense.

But it is the ultimate config available right now...of course, if I were to say ultimate it would be a pair of Ultras not GT's.

 

[Pariah]

$4000 sure doesn't go very far when you're dropping $1500+ on just the CPU and video card(s). Doesn't help either that they included everything and the kitchen sink which means they had to "skimp" on a bunch of the items.

 

[Cares]

I would definately look into water cooling with a $4000 budget. Also I would get 2x 1Ghz sticks of RAM with that much money. Save costs on the FX for a high end CPU like a 4000+ or something (you won't see much performance boost on an FX).

 

[MrControversial]

Who the f*ck still needs a 56K modem.

 

[Boze]

Ribbon, looking at your configuration, it doesn't really seem to me that you're in a very good position to be talking about more money than sense given your system's configuration, I mean... just half of your gear easily reaches that $4000 threshold you're referring to...

And to reiterate for Pariah, $4,000 is a drop in the bucket when you're filling out a top-tier machine; but as far as the 'More money than sense' comment, that's a faux pas... how much someone 'should' spend on a computer is really a function of their income, isn't it? If you make $100,000 a year and you have $50,000 in yearly expenses, then realistically you could afford a $10,000 machine, or maybe even more if you really wanted to go nuts and make an absolutely insane machine with only regards to performance.

Although to refer to the OP's topic... for the most part I agree with this ocnfiguration, however, building a machine of this caliber, I just... I don't know... it seems absolutely stupid not at least have the following few items:

Western Digital Raptor 74 GB hard disks x 2 in a RAID 0 configuration

I thoroughly enjoy my two Raptors, just because the loading times of a lot of programs seems to go down significantly... I personally enjoy the extra performance and will be building any new machine with these drives.

OCZ Powerstream 600

Just another $20 over their 'recommended' power supply, and you get another 120 watts. I also hear tell this is one of the best power supplies available on the market right now.

Name brand floppy disk drive

I know this is sort of nit-picky, but uh... c'mon... you can get a name-brand floppy for $6.99 from Newegg (like Sony or NEC).

Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW

I really can't imagine anyone not recommending this monitor... or its big brother the UltraSharp 2405FPW. I know that ViewSonic and Samsung are making some excellent displays these days, but its pretty difficult to beat the price, performance, value, and service combination that comes with these beauties.

 

[prometheusxls]

Well, IMO for $4000 you can get a better system. Most games are CPU limited anyway. If you can only have 1 you are better off with dual opeterons than with a SLI IMO... Also 1Gb will be a limiting factor. at least 2GB, there are 2 of everything else.

take off: modem, k/m, game pad, floppy, lcd, speakers, battery system, air cooling, maxtor disks

Add: 1additional GB ram, water cooling (the zalman cooling tower), WD raptor drives for sata (or 15K RPM SCSI drives), then sell for $3000-3500 and let people make up their own minds on the peripherals. I don't want all that crap.

 

[Cares]

Originally posted by: MrControversial
Who the f*ck still needs a 56K modem.

When your cable/DSL goes down Your ISP will usually give you a dial-up access number temporarily.

 

[Duvie]

AMD system...

NO on the power supply
No on the Harddrives (I would have raptor for OS and large drives for data, and/or go scsi...
NO on LCD
NO need for the FDD or the 56k modem....


INtel system...

I dont know enough about them, but I would say

NO to the overpriced (performance dont match) cpu
NO to the power supply
NO to the harddrives again
NO to overpaying for Asus bloat!!!


I know it is about lots of money, but money can be spent better elsewhere. I would get a Wildcat Realism 800 card, scsi drives, maybe multiple monitors....

 

[silverpig]

RAID0? No thanks. I'd rather have a 74 GB raptor and a single large 250 GB drive (or maybe 2).

I'd also go dual cpu before going SLI.

I'd also have gotten some kind of tv card... hauppage 250/350.

 

[Pariah]

And to reiterate for Pariah, $4,000 is a drop in the bucket when you're filling out a top-tier machine;

That's not what I meant. $4000 is not a whole lot when talking about highend PC's. My point was given that budget they spent a disproportionately large chunk of it on just the CPU and video card forcing them to skimp on practically everything else. In exchange for a very minor hit in CPU performance they could have a much more balanced performing system that would perform overall much better for the same $4000 than what they built.

 

[ribbon13]

Originally posted by: Boze
Ribbon, looking at your configuration, it doesn't really seem to me that you're in a very good position to be talking about more money than sense given your system's configuration, I mean... just half of your gear easily reaches that $4000 threshold you're referring to...

My system isn't for leisure. It is what makes me money. But this thread isn't about my rig, now is it?


Changes:
Seasonic S12-600
DFI Ultra-D
X850 XT PE
3500+
Two Patriot PEP1G3200LL
Water cooling.
NEC FP2141SB-BK



Interestingly enough, since you bring up my rig, I'll have to point out that you can get the K8WE, two Opteron 244, 2 gigs of ram (2x512mb per CPU), a PCP&C Turbo-cool 510 AG, and suitable chassis, with all the trimmings for well under $4k

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: silverpig
RAID0? No thanks. I'd rather have a 74 GB raptor and a single large 250 GB drive (or maybe 2).

I'd also go dual cpu long before going SLI.

I'd also have gotten some kind of tv card... hauppage 250/350.

Definitely.

 

[Sqube]

I'll only comment on the AMD machine, as I don't know what's really going on in the Intel world:

I disagree with the following:
Processor (FX-55? Drop it down and overclock)
Motherboard (Not a fan of SLI; get the highest-level board that doesn't include it)
Video Card (Not a fan of SLI; get an X850 XT PE and pocket some cash)
RAM (With the money saved from not getting the FX-55 and not going SLI, you can get 2 gigs)
Mouse (Just not a fan; go MX510 or MX518, depending on what you like)
Gamepad (I don't disagree with this much; I just prefer a controller with 4 shoulder triggers)

 

[razor2025]

Complete bunch of retards. They probably went to pricewatch and looked up the most expensive parts.

CPU - Why FX and EE? If they want FX55, they should just get A64 4000+, same performance, just without the ability to up the multiplier? (But, who wants to do that? FSB OC is the way). Oh and 4000+ is $200 cheaper. Throw that money on something else.
As for EE, that's even more stupid choice. Piss4 570 is $300-400 cheaper, and has the same performance if not better. Why throw away that much on stupid marketing and useless Lv2 cache?

Mobo - Good choice, although where are they getting these prices? Almost all of the SLI boards are sub-$200 now.

HDD - why Maxtors? Why not Raptors? With $4k, you can easily get a RAID 0 setup with 2x Raptor 74GB. 148GB is plenty of space for gaming rig. If RAID 0 is not your cut of tea, you can just invest in 1 Raptor 74GB and a larger SATA/PATA drive. Raptor is about $180, so that leaves $120 for you to pick a good "media" drive. Speed > Capacity, especially when it's on a gaming rig (which I assume is what they're after). If they want super server-box, they're looking at the wrong interface.

Modem - The only time I can even consider modem on a $4k computer is if you live in the boonies or in middle of nowhere. If you can afford $4k PC, you can afford broadband.

LCD - They can pick a much better bang-for-the-buck LCD. The Hyundai L90D+ is running $380, that's $150 cheaper than that Viewsonic and it has great reviews by the gamers. If they're dropping $500+ on a LCD, they might as well go for the Dell 2005WFP.

 

[mcjimbo]

Wow a hot debate, i knew most of you wouldn't agree with the config.

Definately thought PSU was underpowered.

I would definately go for 600 Watt PSU, 6800 Ultra's SLI, Raptor 74gb in Raid, 2 gig Ram and Watercooling and leave out some of the crap they put in there. Water cooling would also be nice...

 

[beany323]

You could probably look at Maximum's Zero point pc and get a better deal.

.02

 

[tren001]

Sharkyextreme's $1000 and $2000 computer guides are much more relevant and useful for real consumers. For $4000, they are really just finding the most expensive components to make up the numbers.

That said, I believe they could have done a better job. For one, if you are spending big bucks, why blow like $500 on gaudy cases and overly powered PSUs? I would say spend the money on the things you actually LOOK at all the time. They $500 viewsonic seems pretty crap; they should save money on other components and go for a good dual-LCD setup (say one good widescreen panel like 2005FPW and one super-fast 4:3 panel for gaming).

 

[imported_Mitchell]

No on the MB, PS, COOLING, MONITOR and UPS.

I would go with different brands on a few other things.

 

[sharkeeper]

This is what happens when review sites sell out.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Excelsior

Originally posted by: silverpig
RAID0? No thanks. I'd rather have a 74 GB raptor and a single large 250 GB drive (or maybe 2).

I'd also go dual cpu long before going SLI.

I'd also have gotten some kind of tv card... hauppage 250/350.

Definitely.

Yeah...but what if your primary usage for the PC is gaming? then dual cpus are useless. Each computer should be made to target specific uses. Obviously if you guys are into multitasking and heavy cpu tasks, a dual opteron system is better than FX55; and SLI is useless then.

 

[ribbon13]

Soon SMP is going to be a standard feature for game engines.

 

[Insomniak]

At that price point, it better be toting around 2GB of RAM.