Dell PC for Gaming?

[PZEROFGH]

doesnt a soundcard "kind" of help performance cause it doesnt go throught the cpu or something like that..?

 

[joshd]

not really, but having a sc gives u loads of extra features, like eax, etc.

i have the audigy 2 zs. it is a good card, and its not that expensive. i say get the sc.

 

[PZEROFGH]

i say save your money and dont buy the soundcard

 

[HAVOC]

The creative X-FI cards are coming out in September. Wait until then... PIck up one of those....

 

[GuitarFreak1857]

creative labs is comming out with the X-Fi soon so the prices in the Audigy may go down. that's how it was with the duel core relases so id wait n see, computer hardware prices are pretty unpredictable though. but getting a sound card as oposed to using the onboard is a better idea and you get better sound and 3D sound so i'd get the audigy2.

 

[PoisonPorkchop]

The X-Fi looks purdy, but WTF does it do?

 

[PZEROFGH]

it produces sound?

 

[jseber1982]

yea i saw the title to this thread and kinda chuckled to myself and shook my head

 

[Nukem]

Your Proposed system

Thanks for all of the good suggestions. Here is what I think I'll go with:

SONY Black IDE Combo Drive Model CRX320EE/B2S - OEM - $31

SONY Black IDE DVD Burner Model DWQ28A - OEM - $41.99

Lian Li PC-60BPlus Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail - $129

1-Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM - $183

2-Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM - $234

DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - $198

1-Leadtek WinFast PX7800GTX Geforce 7800GTX 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - $499

OCZ ModStream OCZ52012U ATX 520W Power Supply - Retail - $129

2-G.SKILL 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail - $294.02

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4800CDBOX - Retail - $885.09

TOTAL - $2,624.10

Please advise on the power supply. Is there one on newegg.com that would be recomended that is ATX12v (2.01)? Also - as I was reviewing I realized that a sound card was not in the specs - any thoughts? Is the onboard audio any good? I was looking at the SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS.

I like this setup because I can add the second video card at a later date to take advantage of the SLI at a later date and save $500 now. Will this setup allow me to upgrade to the DDR600 at a later date? If not is it a big deal - should I wait until the RAM is fully supported by AMD?

How does this compare to the original Dell specs I posted on page 1 in terms of gaming/media power and longevity (inferior, equal, slightly better, much better)?

Thanks!

Can I ask a stupid question here??? What are you going to be doing with your system? If you are using it solely for gaming then by all means... go for it... but in truth here... unless you are all for the flash/bang bragging rights of having a top-of-the-line system, you don't need some of those things that you have... I play all the latest games with an X800 PRO, 1 gig corsair value ram, an 80 gig IDE hard drive, etc, etc, etc... and it works just fine for me and looks good to boot... I built mine for about 1600.00 USD and that was with X2 18" LCD monitors. But it took me some time to shop around and get some really good deals... So think about it before you go off and spend some money on something if you really aren't going to us it...

Now please don't take this the wrong way... I am looking for updating my system, so don't get me wrong... I just think that 2700.00 for a system is a little much. Do you really need a Lian Li case??? Do you really need a Raptor HD??? Do you really need a AMD 4800??? (maybe a 3400?)

Now again this is my opinion, but you know what they say... Opinions are like @ssH0l3s... Just do me a favor and think about what you are wanting to do with it first...

Nukem

 

[jowens]

Nukem,

Thanks for your input - I respect your views. To be honest with you I am not sure exactly what is needed as I have never built a system before. I have always ordered from Dell which seems like the way NOT to go on this forum.

I am looking to build a system that will last me 4 years before I need to buy a new one. That is why I am leaning toward the higher end components. If any of it is a waste I don't want to spend it just for bragging rights as that would be foolish. I will be doing mainly gaming (BF2, MVP Baseball, Roleplaying type of games), Digitial Video Editing (Pinnacle) to create DVDs of home movies and photos, and some word processing, excel and internet browsing and I-Tunes.

I am very open to suggestions to build a system that will accomplish the above goals. I do not want to be tight on the budget and have slow downs, lower graphic settings etc with the new generation of games coming out. I will not be overclocking anything as I do not know how to do it and wouldn't be comfortable doing so. My budget tops out around the $3k range. If I can accomplish for less great - I don't need to spend it.

Any input is appreciated.