Help picking out my new gaming rig!!!

[Gabb]

For a $2k budget, I would suggest:

Case - Thermaltake Armor or Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 or Antec 900
Motherboard - Gigabyte P35-DS3R
CPU - E6750 or Q6600
RAM - 2 x 1GB G.Skill DDR2-800 HZs
Graphics - EVGA 8800GTX
Power Supply - Corsair 620HX
Hard drive - Seagate 7200.10 320GB 16mb cache(x2 if you want to RAID them)
Optical Drive - Sony NEC Optiarc DVD Burner
Optional Sound card - Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty or X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1(Cheaper)
Optional aftermarket CPU cooler - Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme edition(No fan included) or Tuniq 120(Cheaper)

Actually this list, comes under a total of $2000. It's more like $1700+.

I like your suggestions although I think your Soundcard suggestion is a bit overboard, all the Xtreme Gamer series cards really have is X-ram ( which no game really uses so its useless ) and a higher pricetag

Anyways I was wondering Ive seen a lot of people recommend the first case you gave the hyperlink too. I know its a full tower one ( so was my NZXT one the zero which got really good reviews ), however I saw the Terhmaltake at Frys on display and was very dissapointed. It looks really cheap and flimsy, I dunno if I should go with it...

Also why is quad core slower then the dual cores when it comes to gaming tests?

 

[b1gapl]

I like your suggestions although I think your Soundcard suggestion is a bit overboard, all the Xtreme Gamer series cards really have is X-ram ( which no game really uses so its useless ) and a higher pricetag

Anyways I was wondering Ive seen a lot of people recommend the first case you gave the hyperlink too. I know its a full tower one ( so was my NZXT one the zero which got really good reviews ), however I saw the Terhmaltake at Frys on display and was very dissapointed. It looks really cheap and flimsy, I dunno if I should go with it...

Also why is quad core slower then the dual cores when it comes to gaming tests?

Well I only suggested the sound cards as optional. I didn't mean, they should get them for the budget. Depends if they're audiophiles.

Games now, are not optimized for quad cores, that's why. We're just going into dual cores now....but pretty soon, we'll be seeing games supporting more cores, making the quad cores more future proof....then again, we're just getting into the potential of full dual core gaming. For me though, I would be getting the Q6600, as it's the same price as a dual core e6850.

 

[MaV II DARK II]

Could anyone point out a nice mouse and keyboard?

I may also need a monitor since i have a 17 inch

 

[b1gapl]

Depends on how much, you're shelling out for a monitor...but here are some really good choices:
Samsung 216BW 21.6" 5ms
or
Samsung 226BW 22" 2ms

Any mouse and keyboard will do really, like this set:
Newegg.com - Microsoft S82-00032S Black 105 Normal Keys 16 Function Keys USB + PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard Mouse Included - OEM

For the mouse, if you want a gaming one, I would suggest the Logitech MX518.

 

[MaV II DARK II]

Depends on how much, you're shelling out for a monitor...but here are some really good choices:
Samsung 216BW 21.6" 5ms
or
Samsung 226BW 22" 2ms

Any mouse and keyboard will do really, like this set:
Newegg.com - Microsoft S82-00032S Black 105 Normal Keys 16 Function Keys USB + PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard Mouse Included - OEM

For the mouse, if you want a gaming one, I would suggest the Logitech MX518.

That mouse looks awsome!

I heard the new nVIDIA 9 series graphics cards are going to come out soon, do you have any idea when that is?

 

[b1gapl]

I've been hearing two possible periods. Either the last quarter of this year, or the first quarter of '08.

I own that mouse, and it's the best mouse, I've ever used....ever..

 

[MaV II DARK II]

Thats way too long to wait

I guess ill just stick with the 8800 and possibly upgrade later on...

Is there going to be a HUGE leap in performance between the 8800gtx and the new 9 series coming out?

 

[b1gapl]

Oh yes....the 9 series (9800GTX in particular) is supposedly capable of 1 teraflop of performance. Which is like 2-3 times faster than a single 8800GTX.

 

[MaV II DARK II]

Oh wow thats alot

Technology always keeps getting better and better

Do you think its wise of me to just buy the 8800 GTX and upgrade later?

 

[b1gapl]

That's up to you. For me, I'm waiting on the 9800GTX. I'm not in a rush either. If you want to save some money, the 8800GTS 640mb will hold you over for a year or two. Then just upgrade to the 9 series.