Powerhouse in the Making

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cwiz

MechEng Extraordinaire
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Hey all,
I'm looking to build a beast of a machine. I've been looking at alienware's Aurora ALX but I'm pretty sure that I can get comprable performace without spending 7-9 grand. Money's not that big of an issue, but I've read several posts that alienware is a rip off and noone likes getting ripped off!

I built my last computer about 5 years ago, but haven't kept up with the technology since. Can someone gimmie a hand figuring out how to put together a cutting edge system?

I'm pretty sure I want:
WinXP 64-bit
Duel Core AMD processor
2 Gig's of duel channel low latency ram
RAID 0 Config
Multiple SLI 3d accelorators (Is there a diminishing return? or does 2 or 4 piggiebacked cards really cook?)
Physics Processor (do these really make a dif?)
7.1 Soundblaster card of some sort (I want to wire it through a reciever)

I dont know what kind of mother board I need.

Any advice would be awsome, thanks guys
 
winxp 64bit: not good driver support for most things out there. you won't be able to run much. most ppl just use 32bit windows on their 64bit machines.

dual core amd processor: sounds like a great idea! if you want to overclock, the best deal right now is the opteron 165 denmark. if you don't want to overclock then 4400+ or 4800+ will be good enough. if you're TOTALLY loaded, then why not hit up an FX-60 (not very good performance/price ratio..since its very pricey)

ram: 2X1gb is good. if you plan on overclocking look into getting ram that is higher clocked (e.g. ddr500) just incase the ram you pick doesn't overclock.. if you're not gonna OC then just look at timiings.. gskill and ocz are my brands of prefrence. (corsair tends to be overpriced IMO.. but lots of ppl here love em.. )

raid 0 : sure, why not! hehe.. couple of raptors in raid 0. and a big HD for big file storage.

SLI: you get 20-50% increase by paying an extra 100%. waste of money. only if you have a lot of money to blow.. (if you get the fx-60 you'll probably want this too, hehe). top cards now are the 7900gtx from nvidia, and x1900xtx from ati. ati's version of SLI is called crossfire, but since its newer it isn't as efficient... (not like SLI is efficient or anything..)

soundcard: the X-FI is what ppl swear by hear.. by i don't think it has optical out... that would probably be what you should be looking for..


so whats your budget? maybe we can help you out.

i'm not sure if physics cards have been relseased yet...
 
WHOA! not that its a nice rig, but u got A LOT of money to blow, tell us ur budget, i cant wait to play around with that budget, see what i can get for u.
 
I would like to keep it under $4000 as I still want to get a HD plasma and bumpin sound system to use with it. u guys can probably put me on the moon for that much, but lets see. :)
 
Wait u mean $4000, is that with the HD Plasma and the sound system, or is that just the Computer it self? WHOA, we bout to rock you biatch.
 
just the computer bro, i'm graduating and just got a job! mech engineering wOOt
 
Woooh 4k nice.

How about the best cpu out there sounds good eh?
AMD FX-60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103608 $1000

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540 $150

Some super fast G.Skill RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231032 $180

I like 2 of these over 2 7900 GTX's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150148 2 for $680

2 of the fastest Hard Drives in RAID
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136012 2 for $550

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102188 $110

Fortron 600 watt power supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104014 $140

COOLER MASTER Stacker 810- This bad boy is huge
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119092 $160

Now just add some DVD drives and stuff $60

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832102357 $110

Grand Total: $3080
 
looks pretty wicked, the biggest problem i was having was finding the right motherboard.

as far as the sound card goes, the Sound Blaster X-FI looks like it just has the headphone jack receptors instead of co-axial... if i'm going to be hooking into a reciever, shouldn't i go RCA to RCA instead of headphone jack to RCA? some of my friends do that and they get the buzz in the background. any comment?
 
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