Building a new monster rig

[Kryhs]

Hi all, it's been about 3 (4?) years since I made my current monster so I think it's time for a new one. Now, I mostly game, game, game, and my current PC has still been able to run most games effortlessly, but new games like F.E.A.R. are making it show it's age. Basically I just need information. What is the best of the best right now? Should I wait just a bit for something that will be out soon? (Obviously I can't keep waiting for the next "big thing" or nothing will ever get built...)

RAID hard drives?
Intel or AMD?
ATI or nVidia?

I suppose I lied a little bit about the "unlimited funds" line. I don't want to spend an insane amount getting 2 video cards and linking them. That's just crazy.

Anyway, I pretty much want something to last me for a good 3-4 years like this guy has. Thanks!

 

[jlbenedict]

I say buy now.. On the AMD side, Socket 939 is very mature. Faster performance for your dollar than on the Intel side.

RAID - Negligible performance. Today's hard disk drives perform incredibly well.


Best of the best - Hmm.. that would be a high end AMD X2 cpu, or you can opt for the dual core Opteron, that also runs on the Socket 939 platform.

2 Gigs of ram, minimum ; plus its the sweet spot.. RAM prices are very reasonable now (DDR could possibly rise once AMD releases AM2, and DDR2 demand will increase).

 

[Kryhs]

How about 64bit? And I also asume I want to get a Raptor for my OS/games and a large standard HD for storage?

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: Kryhs
How about 64bit? And I also asume I want to get a Raptor for my OS/games and a large standard HD for storage?

I, personally have never used a Raptor. The general majority is that their performance isn't worth their price premium. But, if money is no object, I don't see why not..

All AMD X2 cpu's are 64 bit. You will be ready for Windows Vista when its released.
64-Bit apps are slowly rolling out.. Of course, since its fairly new, they are not in abundance as regular ole 32 bit apps are.

 

[Kryhs]

You'll have to pardon my ignorance about AMD, I've used Intel all my life and from what I hear I've been abused

 

[jlbenedict]

Currently, in this technology era, AMD is supreme over Intel; especially with the performance/dollar ratio..

Now, don't take this as I'm an AMD spokesperson.. its just based on facts.
Other forum users will agree with me on this. Intel is not bad; trust me. AMD needs Intel just as much as Intel needs AMD for competition.

Since you are a gamer.. your best bet would be an AMD platform at this time.

 

[Kryhs]

I'll probably ask lots of questions one at a time, so if that gets annoying just say so and I'll save them and post them all at once

Is there a "one" mobo to get? Like when I built my last PC the Abit IC7-G was THE mobo to get.

 

[n7]

d00d, just give us a budget.

You said unlimited funds, but you don't want SLI/Crossfire, so your funds are obviously quite limited.

 

[jlbenedict]

Ask as many questions as you would like.
Others in the forum will have no problem assisting..

As for motherboard selection..What are your intentions?

Are you an overclocker? Do you need every known periph to be onboard? Do you need a board with very limited gadgets?

 

[Kryhs]

No, they aren't. SLI just doesn't sound NEAR worth it to me, regardless of funds. Unless you happen to be a millionaire... Maybe I've just been misinformed though. Is the performance worth double the cost?

 

[n7]

First off, there's no question of AMD or Intel with games.
If you didn't know that or don't want to believe that, there's this site called anandtech.com that does reviews, as well as ton of others that prove that.

Here's some preliminary ideas:
A64 X2 4400+ CPU
2 GB 2-3-2 RAM
X1900XTX video card
WD Raptor 150 GB for main drive would be nice, maybe with a 400 GB storage drive or however much you want...
BenQ DW1655/1650 = great DVD burner
X-Fi sound card

Just some ideas to look into.

 

[Kryhs]

I won't overclock. Other than that I just want speed, good fsb, 4xRAM slot "in case," 16x PCI Express, no onboard sound...

Suppose I kinda just selected my own mobo didn't I? Unless my specs are uber common.

 

[n7]

Those specs are indeed uber common

 

[Kryhs]

My current RAM is PC4000, is that type of spec even an issue anymore?

Edit: And it's Corsair, the, at the time again, leader of the pack.

 

[n7]

Okay, you gotta help us out more.

Please post all the specs of your current rig, & how much you want to spend total on the new one, & what that includes (monitor or no, etc.).

 

[jlbenedict]

Give us a budget.
$1500
$1200
$1000
??


Those seem to be the magical price points that are very common among the forums.

 

[Kryhs]

Current PC:

Abit IC7-G
P4 2.6GHz
2x 512 Corsair PC4000
ATI Radeon 9800XT
WD 200GB
SB Audigy 2
Antec 500W
Nice 21" (not flat screen ) Philips monitor

I guess the budget could be ~$4000 but that does need to include a monitor as I will still use this one.

 

[jlbenedict]

a $4000 budget?

Damn....
You could go $2000 and budget me a $2000 rig also

 

[VERTIGGO]

If you're buying immediately, the difference between SLi GTXs and one X1900XTX is like $300. Even if you are comparing one GTX to two, the overall difference is like $3500 and $4000, which is hardly double. Graphics is always going to eat a hole in the pockets, but it really depends on how much visual immersion you require: Whether you are satisfied with 1280 x 1024 with normal settings, or you want massive widescreen with high quality filtering.

I will admit, I bought an X1900XT for my A8N32 because I deploy this summer, so I will be upgrading as soon as I return anyway. It's a budget vs. need thing, and all I needed was high quality 1920 x 1200 on current games, because I won't be using it for more than 6 months.

 

[Kryhs]

Originally posted by: jlbenedict
a $4000 budget?

Damn....
You could go $2000 and budget me a $2000 rig also

I told you it's pretty much unlimited :laugh:

 

[Kryhs]

As a point of reference, I run Half-Life 2 at 1280x960 with I believe 2xAA and 2xAF, everything else pretty much turned all the way up. I do enjoy my games looking nice. This monitor supports up to 1920x1440, but nothing I own will run at that... Then again that may be overkill. A good reference game I guess is UT2k7, I want that game, and games like it, to look so good that... well... hmm... guess I just want it to look really good. :thumbsup:

 

[Kryhs]

I'm looking at a list of 19" LCD monitors and it seems that the max resolution is 1280x1024. That seems kinda low... I run the desktop on this thing in 1600x1200.

 

[djnsmith7]

I like to try & keep things simple...Here we go...


ASUS A8N-SLI-Deluxe or Premium board

AMD X2-4200+ or better (X2-4400+ has 2x1 MB Cache)

Evga or BFG 7800 GTX (Can upgrade to SLI later)

2 GB of RAM (Corsair or OCZ)

Enermax Liberty 500 Power Supply

2 200 GB SATA HD's (1 is for backing up the other HD)


Most of these components can be found at NewEgg.com & ZipZoomFly.com...

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: n7
First off, there's no question of AMD or Intel with games.
If you didn't know that or don't want to believe that, there's this site called anandtech.com that does reviews, as well as ton of others that prove that.

Here's some preliminary ideas:
A64 X2 4400+ CPU
2 GB 2-3-2 RAM
X1900XTX video card
WD Raptor 150 GB for main drive would be nice, maybe with a 400 GB storage drive or however much you want...
BenQ DW1655/1650 = great DVD burner
X-Fi sound card

Just some ideas to look into.

We have a winner.

Save the rest of your money for your next upgrade. It would not be worth to spend more ATM, as the price performance ratio drop drastically for parts above these specs.

 

[n7]

MSI K8N Diamond SLI - $214.99
A64 X2 4400+ - $461
TT Big Typhoon - $48.99
Mushkin 2x1 GB 3-3-2 DDR500 - $330
Powercolor X1900XTX 512 MB - $609.00 - 20MIR or dual eVGA 7800GTX if you want to go SLI
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty - $265
2x BenQ DW1650 - $46.50
WD Raptor 150 GB - $286.00
Seagate 400 GB 16 MB SATA II - $270
Seasonic 600W - $153.99
Dell 2405FPW - $879.20
Case - personal preference
Speakers - up to you too

$3611.17 + S/H & the case & speakers, etc.

There's a rather nice one for ya

I had a lot of fun picking out that stuff