Gaming PC for $1800? Your build?

I'm so excited I could pee myself. I have secured financing from the exchequer of the family fund (AKA "the wife") for a new PC. My frequent tribulations about dropping framerates in Age Of Conan have won her over.

So, I've got $1800 to spend. I already have a 9800 GTX, or will soon. Here's my current system:

CPU -- AMD x2 4400+
RAM -- 2GB DDR 800
GPU -- 9800GTX
HD -- 72gb Raptor HD
HD -- 200gb Maxtor HD
Mobo - Abit a8n SLI
IDE -- Lite-on 20x DVD-RW drive
PSU -- OCZ Gamestream 600w
OS -- Windows XP
Case - Crappy Antec case that needs to be replaced

What would you spend $1800 on? I game, that's it, so what I'm aiming at is running Age of Conan at 1900x1200 (24" LCD) with good framerates and high settings.

I figure I can carry over:
1) The Raptor for a Vista install, and put games/media on a new 500gb+ drive.
2) The video card (just bought it, thinking I could survive with just this as an upgrade on my old system).

For new components, I'm thinking:
1) CPU - Core Duo E8500? Looks like the best out there in my budget range?
2) 1000w PSU -- is that too much? Want this future proofed.
3) X35 mobo?

I dunno' -- I know how to build a new PC (always have) but it's been awhile since I've dug into tech out there. I wasn't planning on upgrading for another year or so but AOC is KILLING my system. You guys tell me -- is there any new shat on the horizon that I should just pony up and wait for?

And - thank you! - in advance This board has been hugely helpful.


Ben

Does age of Conan take advantage of a quad? If so Q9450, if not E8400. The E8500 doesn't offer enough to justify the added cost IMHO.

For the rest:
4GB PC1000 or PC1066 which ever you can find a deal on. Right now I like the G.Skills for ~$90

Motherboard
Interested in SLI? You have the budget and resolution for it. 780i board would be a good choice. Otherwise stick with P35.

GPU
Is your video card and EVGA. If so you may be in luck and can stp-up next month when the G200's drop. From the looks of things it is going to be a pretty significant increase in performance.

HD's
Keep you raptor for you OS and games. For storage the Western Digital 640GB are pretty nice.

Burner
Is it SATA. If so I proabably would just carry it over if its working fine.

PSU
Depends on you GPU choices. For a single card a corsair 620HX would be fine. If you go with two it will depend on the power draw of them. I am not to up to date on the higher power units so I'll leave that to others.

Case
I typically don't recommend cases because it is a pretty personal decision. Just look for something roomy ,especially if you go SLI, with 120mm fans for air flow and noise levels.

OS
Go with Vista 64. Love it or hate you might as well get started now. As time rolls on more and more games will make use of DX10 to a much better extent. Plus you need 64bit to take advantage of that 4GB of ram.

Monitor
Do you already have or does it need to be in the budget. My comments were based on yo already having it.

To chime in for a high power unit, I heartily recommend the PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750 Quad. It really is silent, and puts out a hearty 60A on the 12V. Otherwise, +1 to what Phidelt said ( although I'm still living in the XP world, till they pry it from my cold, dead, hands, or BF3 comes out Vista only )

If you plan on stepping up when the GTX 280/260's come out, make sure the PSU you get has 6 and 8-pin PCIE adapters, otherwise you'll be stuck using 2xMolex plugs for the supplied adapter.

That's a really good system man, I wouldn't waste time or money upgrading anything on that.

Wait for newer stuff to come out, I think your margin of improvement right now is going to be pretty small.

tom10167 said:

That's a really good system man, I wouldn't waste time or money upgrading anything on that.

Wait for newer stuff to come out, I think your margin of improvement right now is going to be pretty small.

Click to expand...

Really? I've been told that the gains from the CPU and 4 gigs of RAM would actually make a big difference? Is that not the case?

What's on the horizon that I should be waiting for?

You won't see huge gaming gains with a new CPU. Biggest thing is your load times will drop some but your FPS will only increase with a better GPU and you've already got one of the best out there.

I'd keep it the same or just upgrade to an E8400 or new quad on a P35 board.

E8400 - $200
Gigabyte P35-DS3L - $90
2x2gb PC6400 OCZ - $60

Total - $350

If you can, you should overclock your GPU/CPU....

Here's the thing; I run 1920x1200 and am thinking that an SLI / xfire board would be helpful for that.

What options are out there?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188025 High-End
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188024 Mid-Range

Also the 750i which is getting some pretty good reviews.

Get a better CPU and more RAM.

bnason said:

Here's the thing; I run 1920x1200 and am thinking that an SLI / xfire board would be helpful for that.

What options are out there?

Click to expand...

I don't personally run SLI but from all the posts i've seen on various sites, lots of people are having problems running graphics intensive games with SLI'd GTSs and GX2s, with that very resolution. I believe it has to do with the fact that the GX2s 1024mb of ram is actually 512x2 and that isn't the same as having a non SLI card with 1024mb of ram. The way I understand it is, it's useable in the fact that all of it gets used but not like a non sli card would use it. I'm sure one of these other fine young men can explain it better. This is the area in which the GTX/Ultra with their 768mb of ram and 384bit bus show how good they really are.

Axis