Ultimate gamimg PC... spec suggestions?

Status
Not open for further replies.

bigtrain.

Baseband Member
Messages
48
Hi everyone, my first post here, sorry if I sound like a n00b or say something stupid.... but we all gotta start somewhere, right? ;) I've also searched the forum for another thread like this but the ones i found were quite old and didn;t suit my situation too well, so I created a new thread.

One of my friends has taken it upon himself to build me the ultimate gaming PC... and he's given me some specs below... what do you guys think??

Supply:

ATX Midi Tower Case Black
1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2 RAM
AMD Athlon64 3500+ CPU
Sony 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive Black
Seagate 200GB 7200rpm Serial ATA150 HDD
Pioneer DVR-109 16X16 DVD-/+R/RW Dual Layer DVD Burner
Nvidia 256M Gigabyte 6800GT
Creative Audigy 2 ZS
Logitech LX700 Cordless KB+Mouse
Phillips 19” LCD Monitor
Microsoft Windows XP Professional OEM
Warranty: 1 year back to base

Total : $3500 (incl. GST)

The cost is not so much of a problem but I would like it to be a little lower. Because of this, I'v decided to take out XP Pro and use my current XP Home... that should bring me back to about $3000.

I'm quite happy with the CPU, HDD and DVD/CD drive, but have you guys got any suggestions for anything that would be better?

What I am having trouble with is the GFX card.... im still trying to toss up between the Nvidia 6800 series or the Radeon X850 or X800 series... what of these cards would give the most grunt?

Also, new motherboards are available that can house 2 GFX cards with PCI express... would you reccommend this or should I stick with just one good GFX card?

I'm also wondering whether it would be possible to upgrade the 2 x 512mb RAM slots to 2 x 1GB SDR... SDR is faster than DDR, isnt it? How much more cost is involved?

Thanks for any help.... I'm not too concerned about cost for the moment... I am willing to spend anything up to about $4000.
 
Well, the specs that I listed add up to $3500, I can post the individual component prices as soon as I dig them up...

As for the PC in your sig, damn it owns, but $5000 is over my budget for the moment... what can I cut?
 
First of all, theres no way that system should cost $3500. And XP Pro isn't $400/$500...its $150...

As for corrections; DDR2 won't work. AMD CPUs and Motherboards are only compatible with regular DDR memory. And no, SDR is crap compared to DDR. DDR stands for Double Data Rate, meaning it can effectively double the speed of the Memory to a default of 400Mhz these days, up from 200Mhz base clock speed.

The 6800GT series will destroy the X800, though it might be only a little bit better than the X850. Either way, the 6800GT has more features which give it the edge. I suggest going with the eVGA version of the 6800GT, or Leadtek.

Its better to have 2 x 1GB sticks than 2 x 512MB or 4 x 512MB sticks of RAM.

And if you're willing to spend $3500-$4000, you could build a PC twice as good as that. That shouldn't cost you more than $1500. I suggest ordering from www.Newegg.com.

We ARE talking about US Dollars right?
 
bigtrain. said:
Well, the specs that I listed add up to $3500, I can post the individual component prices as soon as I dig them up...

As for the PC in your sig, damn it owns, but $5000 is over my budget for the moment... what can I cut?

Don't get me wrong, what you posted is a dman nice Gaming PC. But, if yo're willing to soend $4000.00 on a gaming PC, why not just save an additional $1000.00 and build one like i'm building...

I mean if you can come up with $4000 certainly you can hold off and add another $1000 to it no?

I sold may last gaming PC that was about $3500 and used most of that for a downpayment on my new car. But then I got the itch about 6 months ago and i've bee saving for this beast ever since.

When it's complete... I'm going to guard it with my life... No one touches or I will break them in two pieces... LOL
 
*DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136157
or
ABIT KN8 SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127225

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103544

Corsair Value Select 2x1GB (2GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145579

2 eVGA 6800GT 256MBs (SLI)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130231

Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=HD-D740GD
Hitachi Deskstar 250GB 7200RPM SATA II
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=100594-2

COOLER MASTER CM Stacker STC-T01-UW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119042

Enermax 600Watt SLI PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817194001

Lite-On CD/DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106966

This system I have compiled for you should be killer. It comes to a total of $2308.48. That leaves you around $700 for an OS (xp pro - $130), monitor (any lcd for around $300), keyboard and mouse (anything for around $50), speakers (ah I don't know. doesn't really matter imo), and floppy drive (cheap) and sound card (no clue). What's left spend on games :)

*The DFI doesn't say it supports X2 but in reviews I see many set ups with the board and AMD X2's. So I assume it does but dunno. That's why I put the ABIT KN8 just in case. So does teh DFI Lanparty support X2 processors?
 
Well my friend told me that he build a PC with an AMD CPU and with DDR2 and it worked fine... maybe it's a mobo issue??

Also, I'm talking about Aus dollars, not American dollars.... that PC is in American dollars, isnt it baneful?

I like a lot of your suggestions, though. The RAM, CPU, PSU all look nice.

What I think I will modify though, is the HDD (my friend's one will owrk out a little cheaper). I also think I'll go for his DVD burner because it's dual layer... and again, a little cheaper

Has anyone any ideas on the sound card? I use my 2 speaker stereo system for soun, so I don't think anything with surround sound will be neccessary.... as far as I'm concerned this is one of the parts that I wont mind being a little less impressive

and flanker, out of curiosity, why do you recommend eVGA and leadTek over other brands?
 
hooray another Aussie on these boards! ^_^

(back on topic):

Sound: DFI boards come with decent onboard audio so u may not need 1, but if u want a decent card u could get any of the Creative Audigy 2 cards, the Audigy 2 Value costs about $100 (australian).
Also you could just get some high quality headphones, i have some Altec Lansing 502s and i love them.

eVGA and Leadtek make their cards better then any1 else (higher quality, last longer) and the cards come bundled with a few games and some software.
 
If that's the case then I think I'll stay with my friend's original suggestion with the Creative Audigy 2 ZS.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom