Putting together a new gaming rig

N

NeoNemesis

2[H]4U
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Mar 10, 2004
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I've finally decided to bite the bullet and lay my current machine to rest. It's served me well over the years but it simply can't handle any new games. My problem is that I know what I want but I don't know exactly what hardware I should get to meet those needs and was hoping for some guidance. I'm trying to keep this under $1300 because I'm also going to be buying a laptop in the near future.

Before I get started I'll briefly list the things I don't need and shouldn't be factored into the total cost: Monitor, Speakers, Hard disks, DVD drives as I intend to cannibalize those from my current PC.

CPU - Intel Q6600 Quad Core
Motherboard - No idea but if I go for XFire I would like the ability to upgrade to 4 GPU's sometime in the future.
Video cards:2xHD3850/2xHD3870/2x8800GT
Memory: Don't know
PSU: Not a neopower
Case: Something elegant, black and relatively small.

I've been doing some research on my own but I'm having trouble figuring out what works with what. Any help would be appreciated. Also, I can't shop from newegg but I can pretty much get stuff from anywhere else.
 
We'll need a bit more info from you... to help us help you...
Does that $1300 include tax/shipping, and is it post or pre-rebate?
Why not newegg? (just curious)
So you can buy from zipzoomfly, clubit, etc?
What size is your monitor?
What parts will you be re-using -- more detail please (interface types of all drives, number of drives, types of drives, speakers model #, etc)??
What games do you play and at what settings?
What else do you do with this system besides game?
What features do you need in a motherboard besides Crossfire? (raid? Firewire? etc...)
 
Technically my budget is 1500 but since I live in Canada I just deducted 15% tax. Unfortunately newegg doesn't deliver to Canada yet, and although I'm trying to set up a P.O. Box in the States, I don't exactly know when I'll get around to doing that (any retailer that sells to Canada is fine). My monitor, such as it is, is a 32inch LCD TV 720p. I'll likely be upgrading to a 40+inch 1080p in the near future. I don't have the space for both a monitor and a TV so I'm sort of stuck in that respect. I'll be getting a laptop to do all my work on so that isn't a problem, this is strictly a gaming rig.

With regards to motherboard, I have absolutely no clue. I don't really care if it has raid since I won't be storing any crucial data on it. I don't have anything that uses firewire so that isn't an issue either. A decent sound card would be nice but I can always pick up a different one later. What I'm really looking for is the AMD Spider platform with an Intel processor. Failing at that anything that supports CrossFire or SLi should be fine.

Things I'm hoping to reuse if possible:
- PLEXTOR DVDR PX-712A
- TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182F (samsung I think)
- WDC WD3200JB-00KFA0
- Logitech Z560s
- Logitech G15 Keyboard

Thanks for the help.
 
Ahh, Canada. So, go with NCIX.com and CanadaComputers.com instead of Newegg and ZZF, hehe. I'm sleepy, so I'll post a build for you tomorrow, unless someone beats me to it. ;)

btw, yes, thats a Samsung drive.

Hm... you have 3 IDE drives... most boards out now only support 2 IDE devices. You could put the IDE HDD into an external USB2.0 enclosure and use it as a backup drive, if you like (and you'll need a new SATA HDD). If not, you can get a PCI IDE Controller card.
 
I forgot to mention that I already have an IDE card. I haven't actually had a chance to use it yet since one of my 80GB HD's fried immediately after I bought the 320, I had almost completely forgotten about it actually.

I am thinking it might just be better to get a fast SATA drive like a raptor or something and use the other for storage.
 
Raptors aren't worth their price premium. Just pickup a single 'cuda or caviar.

Avg Transfer Rate, Access Time: HDD info, Price
112MB/s, 13.2ms: RAID0 'cuda's, 600GB total, $120 (ICH9R on P35-DS3R)
78MB/s, 08.2ms: WD Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB, $160
76MB/s, 13.7ms: WD Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB, $150
72MB/s, 15.4ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB, $65
68MB/s, 13.3ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB, $60
65MB/s, 13.7ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB, $80
65MB/s, 13.2ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3300620AS 300GB, $60
63MB/s, 13.4ms: WD Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB, $100
62MB/s, 15.3ms: Samsung HD501LJ 500GB, $105
52MB/s, 14.0ms: WD Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB, $70

As you can see, the 'cuda is twice the size and half the cost, for nearly the same performance. Stick them in RAID0, and you've got an even more cost effective solution. Though, the seek time of the Raptor can't be beat. If you have cash to burn, do so on a Raptor if you really want it. Otherwise, there are better cost effective solutions.
 
Hmm, given the price it seems more likely I'll go for a single larger drive or just stick with my 320 WDC. Thanks for the input.
 
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 - $279
CPU Cooling: ASUS Silent Knight Ultra Cooling CPU Fan - $56
Memory: 2GB DDR II 800 Reaper HPC Ed. - $52
Mother Board: ASUS Maximus Formula SE Motherboard - $252
Video: 2 x ATI Diamond Radeon HD 3870 512MB - $478
Case Antec Performance P182 Aluminum ATX Mid Tower - $138
PSU: 600 Watt Thermaltake Pure Power Supply - $88

Total System Cost = $1378

Alt Mother Board = ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Mother Board - $180
Alt CPU Cooling: = Standard Intel Fan - $0

Total System Cost = $1250

Any comments or suggestions about this system configuration are very welcome.
 
Thats one expensive motherboard, lol. Don't even consider the P5W DH or any i975X chipset for that matter.

I actually like the QuadGT better than the Maximus. It has 2 more internal SATA ports as well as a PCI-E 4.16X slot.
$240 - abit IX38 Quad GT LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX

Ditch the Asus SK and go for any of these instead:
$35 - Scythe SCNJ-1100P Ninja Plus Rev.B CPU HSF (optional $7 Thermalright LGA775 Bolt-Thru-Kit; recommended if using w/ quadcore)
$45 - Tuniq Tower 120 CPU HSF
$46 - Thermalright Ultima 90 CPU HS + FBA09A12M - Z ($3)
$55 - Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme CPU HS + Scythe S-Flex Fan SFF21E ($15)
 
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