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Help Me build the ultimate system with 2.5-4K Dollars and a pile of hardware

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PerpetualBliss

Registered
Joined
Jul 16, 2003
Location
ALASKA
Wasn't sure were to post this and the motherboard is always my hardest decision so...

Help me build a system and get the biggest bang for my $. I am not a fan of any particular brand, I like what works well. I last built a system over two years ago and have added a few components since. I was really wanting to upgrade bad since I was in the habit of doing it every 12 months before. However, things seemed to have slowed down a little in the advancement of overall speed and performance in the past three years. Now that the E6600 has arrived and seems to be an amazing overclocker like the Northwoods are, it is time once again! :)

I’ve got $2500 and could go as high as $4000 dollars for my new rig. I need your help and experience in building the best system around my current hardware and available funds.

If funds allow I would like a new case something cool and quiet.

I was looking at the Pc Power and cooling 850w SSI PSU do you think it would be overkill, I want plenty of power and stability. I had an issue with a Antec 550 truepower not long ago and had to pull a fan and a hard drive to have enough juice to boot properly.

I like to Overclock, and my Mushkin DDR PC3500 BH5’s will volt high. However, it looks like I will need some DDR2. bummer I loved my BH5’s

Though I like to overclock, I Like rock solid stability also. So if you know of a good bios and settings for your configuration let me know.

I like to digital paint in Photoshop, do DVD encoding, surf, and what should have been listed first “Game”.

I was thinking of basing the system around the E6600. However, if you have a better suggestion please let me know.

I was looking at the 7950GX2 or two 7900GTX’s in SLI. What gives me the best performance and stability ATI is great also.

I think I might need some more storage for DVD encoding and back up. However, Power comes first.

I currently have on hand the following hardware:

One 3.4Ghz 30 capacitor Northwood P4 will do 3.7 stable on air (sell)
Two 2.4Ghz Northwood P4’s both do 3.6Ghz and 3.4Ghz 24/7 stable on air (sell)
Zalman 7000cu
Creative SB Audigy value ( must upgrade! )
First edition Antec True control 550w PSU
4 x 512 Mushkin PC3500 BH5 2-2-2-5
4x 512 Mushkin V2 Rev2 Pc3200 2-2-2-5
ATI X800XT PE (AGP)
2 x 74GB Raptors - 10,000rpm - SATA
2 x 36GB Raptors -10,000rpm - SATA
2 x 120GB WDJB1200- 7200rpm - HDD – IDE
300GB Western Digital 7200rpm HDD – IDE
250GB Western Digital 7200rpm HDD – IDE
Lighton DVD-rom (color – beige)
Plextor 708 DVDR (color – beige)
Lighton CDR (color – beige)
Lian-li PC68 case
NEC FP2141SB 21" CRT (Black)
DELL 2405FPW 24" Wide Screen, 12ms LCD (Black)
SONY KDF-E50A10 50” LCD TV with PC input
Griffin Powermate
Altec Lansing 221 speakers (Black and silver)
Denon AVR-1706 7.1 surround AMP
Definitive 5.1 speakers and powered Sub
Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones
Sennheiser 150 PC headphones with Mic
Wacom intuos 6x8” drawing tablet
Microsoft internet keyboard (Black)
Logitech Mx518 gaming mouse
Logitech MX laser remote keyboard and mouse
Logitech 3D Pro joystick
Windows XP HOME


I could sell some of the above on ebay to get a little more 4 if necessary. I am not attached to any of it (except my sound system and displays).

I usually shop at NEWEGG.COM let me know if you have any other suggestions.

Thanks Guys I am curious what you all will come up with!!!
 
You should have plenty of money to build a core 2 duo system using one of the top two processors (E6700 or X6800), 2x1024 GB DDR2 RAM, a new PCI-e video card or two and a new case and PSU. You have all the HDDs you need. I am in the process of specing out a new machine myself so I don't have any specific motherboard suggestions.

The Mushkin memory will not help. sell it all
The power supply is good but needs a 20-24 pin adapter for PCI-e motherboards. I'd get a new one for your new rig.
The AGP video card can go.
I would keep the 74 gig raptors to set up a RAID 0 array and use the two big drives for storage. Sell the 120's and the 36 gig raptors.
I'd sell the optical drives and get a new DVD burner.
nice monitors man.
 
I am looking to spend to about 3 to 4 myself. I am looking at an asus intel nforce 590, x6800, 2 gb ram corsair, and since th new mb supports it two 7950's. along with a couple hd's and silverstone case this should set me back about 3 to 3.5k
 
Well unless you need it right now, I would wait for DX10 cards to come out by the end of this year. Of course this means getting Vista, but it also means your SLI rig won't be out of date (in a big way, a new DX is a new generation afterall) as soon as you get it.

Maybe I'm making too big of a deal about this, but if you want this rig for gaming, you'll want Crysis, and you're gonna need a DX10 card or two to run that game the way it's meant to be played :p

If you want the current ATi alternative, get crossfire X1950XTs.
 
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