Best Gamming Rig

[Black04]

sup everyone, over the summer i plan i building my first computer for gaming, downloading musics, and watching videos. i need help deciding what the best machine would be so i decided to ask here. so what is the best gaming rig you guys would build for ocing and one for not ocing? the only thing i would want is that its amd- and uses a geforce card. oh yea and im working with around a 2 stack limit it can go higher if needed.

[JoT]

#1 - Why do you want an nVidia card?
#2 - What is a "2 stack limit"?
#3 - What's your budget?

[Yuriman]

We need to know your budget, the best gaming pc you can make is about $6000, but I doubt you can spend that. Also, be open minded about your video cards, last generation the Ati cards were the best, and it may turn out that way this generation as well.

[ares350]

"2stack" is 2grand I beleive. check me on that, it could be 200, but that doesnt seem reasonable.

ummm first off, current gen, Id lean toward ATI. now at 2k your looking at new gen vid cards, in which case there is no compelling evidence that ive seen on which card is better. but regaurdless, at 2k, I guess youd dump 500 onto the top of the line of whichever.

overclocking, 2600+mobile on a dfi infinity/lanparty with a gig of 3700OCZ ram.

non overclocking, either a 3200 in a abit nf7-s rev2.0 or a a64 setup that Im not familiar with. pc3500 would suffice for the 3200xp, again, not familiar with what ram the A64 would want.

your pretty free to choose on this stuff, cause you still wont hit 2k without some raptor hard drives or something.

top it off with a nice dvd-rw and a fortron or sparkle 500w psu.

this is all a bit overkill, but if your wanting to spend 2k, this will get you closest.

it wouldnt be hard to spec out a system for 1200$ that would come within 1 or 2000 3dmarks of this 2000$ system. when you get closer and closer to the top, performance costs exponentially more.

[Black04]

k, im sorry about the confusion

1. I dunno i just thought they where the best because thats what im using now and i havent really had any trouble with it. I guess im just looking for the best card to play games such as Counter-strike, DoD, TFC, Halflife2, Everquest, WCIII, Starcraft and just any other game i might find in the next couple of years.

2. A "2 stack" limit is $2,000 dollars in u.s. (I can go over this if required)

3. I guess 2 is the same answer for 3 :)

Computer so far:

-Case- Cooler Master Wave Master Case
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-119-023&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

-Motherboard- DFI "LANPARTY NFII ULTRA B"
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-136-138&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

-CPU- AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2500+, 266 FSB
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-401&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

-Memory- CORSAIR XMS2 Extreme Memory Speed Series
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-514&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

-Control Panel- Cooler Master Aerogate II Controller Panel (I need fans that will fit in the case taht will hook up to this)
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-999-154&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

That is the stuff i am currently looking at. I still need a video card, soundcard, hardrives, dvd burner, cd burner, and speakers with subwoofer. any suggestions please or tweaks you might have

[Yuriman]

Lose the 2500+ mobile, get your cpu at excaliberpc.com because they garuntee steppings. Get the 2600+, mine does 2.5ghz with 1.625v, which is incredible. Also, go a bit cheaper on the case, it wont kill you to have one that looks as good and is cheaper.

For video card, you can get an X800pro right now for $400, or wait about a month for the X800xt, which has 16pipes as opposed to 12, making it quite a bit faster.

Of course, with $2000, I wouldnt get an AthlonXp, grab a 3400+ Athlon64(or 3200+) and a nice Nforce3 250 board. It will be quite a bit faster.

[JoT]

Originally posted by Black04

-Memory- CORSAIR XMS2 Extreme Memory Speed Series
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-514&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

Don't get that RAM, for a bit more than that, you could get a gig of BH-5.

Gah, I'll type more later, I only have one hand right now.

[LoN]

heres my $2000 college rig im still tweaking before i buy. not saying its the best for you but sometimes it helps me to see what other people are doing in the same pricerange, so i will post it for you.

Case:
ANTEC Black Solution Series ATX Mid-Tower Case with 350W Power Supply - $89

Power Supply:
Antec 480W Power Supply - $75

CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ - $270

Mobo:
CHAINTECH "ZNF3-250GB PRO ZENITH" nForce3 250 - $175

Videocard:
Radeon X800 XT Platinum edition - ~$500(or the best that comes out between now and when i buy)

Soundcard:
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS - $88

Primary HD:
Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive - $212

Secondary HD:
Western Digital 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive - $99

Optical drives:
Plextor Black 52x32x52 CD-RW Drive - $85
Lite-On Black 16X DVD-ROM, Model SOHD-167T - $26

RAM:
OCZ Enhanced Bandwidth Series Platinum Edition 184-Pin 2GB(1GBx2) DDR PC-3200 - $583

FDD:
SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive - $15

Keyboard/mouse:
Microsoft Black Multimedia Keyboard & Wheel Mouse Optical Bundle

that totals up to $2250 without a monitor.
like i said its not final, but perhaps it will help you out.

[ares350]

thats a nice setup, the raptor hard drive as you can see is pricey. right now theres a 120gig IDE drive for 40$. if you got 2, in his setup it would save 220$ off the bottom line. but hard drives are tricky, I reccomend looking around for them about a month before the rest(or now if you plan to buy within a month) just finding a good deal and going with it. their prices are subject to HUGE fluctuations. there was a 160gig drive about a month ago for 20$. they come along every other week or so, grab it and enjoy the savings.

A64 right now is novelty. no nice way to put it. there are no 64 bit OS's, no 64bit games, no 64bit stuff at all. its gonna be 1-2years before you see anything, and it will take a bit longer to become main stream(windows doesnt mind, but program makers arent fond of alienating older PC's). youll get higher benchmarks, might get SLIGHTLY better performance. but thats a 450$ price tag on mobo and proc. your 230$ price between mobo and proc will be marginally slower, to the point you probably wont be able to tell.

if you want the best, that is it. but IMO it isnt worth it, save the money, put it in a 2 year CD. and 2 years from now upgrade to a A64setup.

if you stick with the mobile amd, use excalibur pc for the stepping choice. and I wouldnt go over 3700. at stock speeds, 3200 is the max. your "overclocking" anything over that. so 3700 is more than enough. remember you can overclock ram too. so good 3200 will overclock just as high as the motherboard will let you. also pay attention to timings, unlike intel systems that will just accept pretty much all the speed you want, AMDs are limited but focus more on timings. BH5 was popular, it did 250fsb and 2-2-2 timings. thats the best ram currently or ever made for a amd system. it runs 350-400$ a gig. BH6 is a close second and is 310$ a gig. Id get the BH6 just cause BH5 is no longer made, this means you have to buy it used. even if they say it was never used, it may have been, or tortured. BH6 can still be bought brand new. it requires more volts to get the same performance, but the DFI mobo will supply more than enough volts for your needs.

hope that helps...

[Black04]

Update**

New system

Motherboard - DFI "LANPARTY NFII ULTRA B" $142.00 Link (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-136-138&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)
CPU - AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2500+ $90.00 Link (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-401&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)
Graphics - PowerColor Radeon X800 PRO Video Card $479.00 Link (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-245&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)
Memory - CORSAIR XMS2 Extreme Memory Speed Series Link (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-514&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE) $285.00x2
Harddrive - Western Digital Raptor 74GB $219.00x2 Link (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-160&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE) $285.00x2 [/b]
DVD - NU Technology White 8X DVD+RW/-RW Drive $73.99 Link (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=27-154-008&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)
CD-RW - Rosewill 52x32x52x16 CD-RW Combo Drive $42.99 Link (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=27-190-002&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)
Case - Cooler Master Wave Master $135.00 Link (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-119-023&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)
Case Mod - Cooler Master Aerogate II Controller Panel $45.99 Link (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-999-154&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)

Total - $ 2,016.97

The only thing i need is fans for the case any suggestions?

[Yuriman]

The X800pro can be found for $400 at places like compusa and CC. Like said above, lose the 2500+. Also, you need a heatsink. Grab an Slk-947 or an SP-97.

[Black04]

what should i get instead of the mobile2500+?

[9mmCensor]

Whats your timeline on this rig, if its soon then fine, but if your thinking late summer, then things will possibly/likely be very different and will affect your choices.

Drop the Aerogate II Controller Panel its not really nessesary and grab a nice heatsink.

[JoT]

Originally posted by Black04
what should i get instead of the mobile2500+?

It would help if you were reading what people were saying :mad:

[9mmCensor]

Originally posted by Black04
what should i get instead of the mobile2500+?

Socket A is kinda old, and perhaps the new A64's will do better for you.

Originally posted by LoN
CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+

[ares350]

if he doesnt want A64, he would be fine with the 2500+. thats what Id reccomend, I havent seen performance benefits to an A64 justifying the more than double cost.

ram, you cant do 2 of them. the mobo's only have 3 slots, and they are 2x512 each set, making a total of 4 sticks, you cant fit them. you dont need PC4200, but you could use tighter timings than 4-4-4. go to 35 or 3700 and try for 2.5-3-3 atleast. you only need/can fit a gig. if you want 2 gigs, it needs to be 2 1gig sticks, not 4 512 sticks.

[ares350]

also be aware, dvd-rw can burn cd's too. Im not sure when the need would ever arise to burn 2 cds at a single time. also they dont reccomend you burn straight from one drive to another, too much for the ide cable to handle or something. so a single burning drive is plenty, and a second dvd drive or something only if you like to keep 2 game CDs in the PC for whatever reason. 1 drive will help keep things neater...

[matrixzen]

That seems like nice setup. Personally I wouldn't spend that much on a video card but since you got money to blow I guess it's all good. I'd save close to $200 and get a Radeon 9800 Pro. Something you should consider.

[walkitiki]

Keep in mind that most expensive does not always guarantee the best performance. Also, I don't know exactly why people need so much hard drive space, I have 160 and haven't used up close to that, I don't really know what I'm trying to say other than that you could probably cut money from one section and put it into something more useful. Allocate efficiently.

[ares350]

alot of that stuff could have money cut while sacrificing minimal performance. thats the curse of computers, the next step up is always 10-20$ more, and up and up and up.


I figure if you do video editing, you can use up all that space. but it seems active programs like games and software, can be easily fit on a single 74gig drive. maybe get the second one as a cheap IDE drive for storage. there is no reason to store movies, or music on a raptor drive.

[Black04]

After erading the posts i decided to try and cut back some. and after talking to my friend he told me that i didnt need those 2 raptor drives unless i was planning on running a server so i decided to replace them with normal drives witch saved mea bout $250. im plaing on building it in the middle of the summer so it will prolly be even cheaper according to my friend or more expensive if i buy the new parts that are commin out.

UPDATE!!


Motherboard-
ABIT "NF7-S" nForce2 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU -RETAIL -$84.00
CPU-
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ "Barton", 400MHz FSB, 512K Cache Processor - Retail -$187.00
Memory
Memory-
Mushkin 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 "222 Special" Dual Pack - Retail -$345.00
Video Card-
ATI RADEON X800 PRO Video Card, 256MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -RETAIL -$475.00
Hard Drives-
Western Digital Special Edition 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD800JB, OEM Drive Only -$67.00x2
CD RW-
Rosewill 52x32x52x16 CD-RW Combo Drive, Model C523216, Retail -$42.99
DVD(+/-)-
NU Technology White 8X DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model DDW-082 -$73.99
Case-
Thermaltake Silver XASER III LanFire Aluminum ATX MID Tower Chassis with X Large Side Window, Model "VM2000A" -RETAIL -$97.00

Total - $ 1,438.98

[ares350]

my opinions on it.

cpu, if you want to overclock, get a 2600+ mobile, the people talking about 3200's were if you went A64, but if you doing XP( a good call IMO) and OCing, go mobile., itll save you 87$ and get higher clocks.

memory, great memory, very expensive :( but if you got the cash, why not. but no reason to pay that much, go to mushkins website, and use the code ANAND(caps needed), gets 10% off; makes it 301$. thats a 45$ savings.

hard drives, as I said earlier, keep an eye out. youll find bigger drives for less cash at CC and stuff. check www.slickdeals.net daily and the cyber deals forum on here. if nothing comes along then sure, get what you listed, but I bet a better deal will come along by the time you purchase; Ill gaurentee it even. last week 120gigs for 40$. that would have gotten you an extra 80gigs for 50$ less.

cd drives- again, do you need 2 burners? why. a dvd burner burns CDs too. you shouldnt burn straight from one to another. really ask yourself why you need 2 drives, specially 2 burning drives. a single dvd-rw should take care of 99% of anyones needs. you could cut that cd-rw saving 43$.

awesome case, I have it, its nice. that particularly priced version doesnt come with a PSU. Id reccomend this for 75$.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-968&depa=1
should have no problem supporting the vid card.

with all that I saved you 175$ not including the hard drives. and the computer will perform better.

hope that helps you a bit.

[Jsmooth65]

the system in my signature cost me about $1500, and its a smoker. thats with the wc setup and without a monitor, btw. it seems to have the qualities that you desire.

[Mr.Radar]

I defineately think that anyone building system over a $1000 should definately consider the A64. It's simply the best performer out there right now. And even if you do get a Socket 754 (or whatever it is) board, there will still be CPU upgrades for about a year or so from now, and if you get Socket 939, you'll have CPU upgrades available for the next 2 or 3 years. Socket A is dead, it's reached it's limit. There will be no more CPUs released for it (of course current CPUs will stay in production for a while but I'd be shocked if AMD released a new core/model for Socket A). Though, if you do go A64, be sure to get an nForce 3 250 based board because they have PCI/AGP locks, which means higher OC's.

[Black04]

k im gonna take all your advice but now im stuck on deciding between a processor. originally i wanted an AMD64 but my friend said he had one and that it didnt show much advantage over a xp3200+ 3400+ and that he wish he could switch them. Thats when i started reading on the over clocking forums about how Mobile 2500+ chips can easily be oc'ed upto and even past 3200+ and they are much cheaper. My friend then looked over my system again and told me that i should just get a 3200+ because if i wanted to oc i would probably have to get water cooling and also that since it would be my first time it wouldnt be worth it. so now im stuck between witch to get AMD MOBILE 2500+, XP 3200+ 3400+, or AMD64 and since i wont be able to build the system until the middle of july maybe i should go with the AMD 64, but im confused and dont know what to do... maybe i should just switch to pentium

[Jsmooth65]

i'd stop listening to this friend of yours, cause he's driving me nuts. amd64 is the future, stop livin' in the past, man! heheh Check my 3dmark01 score and then check some socket A scores and you tell me which is faster. also, if you're going to spend a bunch of money, why would u get second rate stuff? dont make much sense to me

[ares350]

well I donno, Ive seem many(its damn near gaurenteed if you get average or better chips; theres always the crap ones) overclocked mobiles top 20,000, and a few top 7000 on 03. now your limitation may be in the 512 of ram(ussually its a gig in the ones I see). but then again, 01 is graphics heavy I hear, so its not such a good representation of cpu power.

however, I still dont see the 220$ extra price to get what is the same benchmarks in reality; maybe 1-2000 higher. the future upgradeability is one perk, ill give it that. but thats it, there is no current performance benefit...

[Jsmooth65]

03 is the graphics intensive bencher, 2001 scores change significantly with processor and memory

[Black04]

Think you coud explain this 3dmakr thingy and bench marks or point me to a site explaining them because im new to this stuff and dont understand what it means. all i know is Oc'ing and that 2-2-2-# is good ram because the numbers are low and the same

[ares350]

3dmark is a benchmark, basicly it runs the PC through a series of tests to see how well the system can display certain things. essentially "scoring" your PC as to how powerful it is.

theres lots of inconsistancies, lots of cheats ect that can effect your score. just so you dont get the idea that a PC is just as good as its benchmark. but in general if you want to compare 2 systems, easiest way is to compare benchmark scores; and theoreticly the same benchmark score would mean similair performance under actual use.

with that said, thats why I said his score of 21000 isnt too much higher than the common 19000 and 20,000 scores that most overclocked mobiles get.

you would be above this with the x800, but to keep things simple, these scores are based on 9800pro.

[Th0r]

Yeah, nvidia has been known to cheat a few times with 01 and 03... Nvidia is on the dodgy side at the moment...

I would get a AMD64, because of its 64bit instruction set.. making it future proof...

[OKJEFF4]

Fanboys go home. Stop pushing this guy to get an X800. The Geforce 6800 series isn't even out yet and cards like the GT may be the next big "bang for your buck" thing. The 6800 has plenty of advantages over the X800. For one, the X800 is using the same old Radeon 9700 architecture that came out two years ago.

This means ATi has had alot of time to tune the drivers for that architecture, which right now I bet is giving the X800 a great advantage. Now, we have the Geforce 6800, a radically different and new architecture all together. Right now its drivers suck and over time I think they will improve the cards performance significantly, where as the X800 wont. Atleast not nearly as much. Another reason could be PS 3.0 support, Linux drivers, or maybe the guy just has a nVidia preference? The cards' performance are identicle in just about every benchmark you see besides the one on HardOCP.

This is probably because HardOCP is either zealous with ATi or is being payed off. Note that they have daily news on that site, and link to just about everything, but recently ATi was questioned about "cheating" in their drivers for various games but HardOCP didn't post a thing about it, not even a link. But anyway, that's my 2cents on the whole videocard issue.

[Mr.Guvernment]

by the time the summer comes along likley PCIe vid cards / mobo's will be out - possibly DDR 2 as well

AMD new socket no?

for the top end parts - cpu / vid / ram - i dont see the point right now in spec'ing out a system with all these new stuff right around the corner!

[ThePCGuy]

AMD Geode line of processors, http://www.amd.com/us-en/ConnectivitySolutions/ProductInformation/0,,50_2330_9863_10837,00.html.

Although its not a powerhouse that will work for black's system, I just wanted to post that Socket A has another line of cpus coming. Just a thought.

- Jim

[Black04]

Alright thanks for all the feed back guys. I think ill just have to make this dissison myself and from what ive read i think the best thing to do is to wait till these new parts are commin out, so does anyone have a date around when they are supposed to be released?

[ares350]

not an exact date yet, it will be good stuff though. thats one reason why I wouldnt spend cash on A64 stuff, its not quite futureproof. no PCIx or whatever else quite yet, but still expensive. just a transistion part.

but if you can wait for the PCIx and other stuff it will be worthwhile.

[Jsmooth65]

geez. theres always going to be new stuff right around the corner. i was told 3 months ago when i built my rig that nforce3 250 was coming out in march and socket 939 would be out by may. besides, being a guinea pig for new stuff often times is not very beneficial for first-timers. the support just isnt there.