- Joined
- Aug 1, 2006
I have pretty much strapped down for the last two days on this forum as well as numerous others purely researching parts and at least getting a common sense of what is going on right now in the computer racket.
I am looking to build a new Conroe machine, but probably due to lack of extensive product knowledge I am unable to find the right combo to fit the crazy budgets I am hearing you Experienced Enthusiasts are claiming. I am strictly searching in Newegg.
I keep hearing people say give me $2500 and I can make you a better system than that 3500 dollar alienware. I'll be honest with you I have wanted to stoop to alienware many times. I cannot match them with the price that you guys are claiming. I need some help. Here are some of my thoughts and preferences on what I want as well as some dilemmas I am encountering.
Bottom Line (oddly on top) : MOST POWER I can fit into around 3 grandish that matches or exceeds Alienware's expensive stuff.
I am pretty much a gaming freak.
Right now it seems like there are two options for cpu/mobo combinations.:
Crappy Overclocking & SLI Or Decent Overclocking/Only Dual Sli via hacked drivers. I pretty much think that incorperating the e6800 into a feasible price range is impossible.
CPU/MB combo. I have been torn. Sometimes it seems more convenient to say screw it and Get an e6400 and a p5b or something, but deep down the fact that I am putting one foot in the grave as far as future quad-sli capability looms over me constantly. I really want to be as future-proof as possible. So then I jump the to the other side of the coin. Get one of the 590 boards. From what I have heard they are the only ones that can use two 7950's to form an actual quad sli system, yet they supposedly have hard fsb limits. (As far as retail quad-sli in its current state goes I know its not as feasible but I don't want to cut off my chances of having it in the future when the bugs get ironed out.) It's like do I wait for a new freaking motherboard to come out? What happened to the AWESOME DFI lanparty 590's or whatever they were?
Summary: I want Supported Sli capabilities and Conroe, but I would also like to get some more bang for the buck out of my cpu,ram,gpu. (Overclocking, but for performance, not 3dmarks)
Also concerning CPU's, for now I suppose I am willing to settle for a placeholder cpu until the quad cores (two 6800's) come out. They supposedly are able to drop right into the core 2 duo slot.
Ram. I know I want to start with 2 Gigs. Now as far as timing and speed go I only have a very rudmentary understanding. I tired to read the guides and they helped a little but without having practical experience with it its all still pretty foriegn to me. Basically on the boards I see ddr2 667 and ddr2 800 talked about as the common stuff. I looked at newegg and it goes all the way up to ddr2 1100. Why doesn't anyone use that stuff? No one talks about it or anything. I'm thinking from what I ascertained, that I'm going to want to go for ddr2 800 since I am interested in some OC. What do you think? Is it worth it? What about the higher speed RAM? Also, I have come to the conclusion that I'm most likely going to be picking from either G. skill, Corsair, or OCZ. Does brand matter other than MB compatibility? Is there anything else I need to know about it?
Video card. I know that DX10 is coming out soon so I am not going to even try experimenting with quad-sli right now. Right now I am willing to settle with a decent placeholder card (most likely evga for their step-up) I would like to get a 7950 but if it is more wise to stick with a 7900 or something for now I wouldn't mind. This is due to the fact that I plan on upgrading to a DX10 Card and Sli or even Quad sli for the future.
PSU I was looking at the silverstone ones but really I have no preference only a little more actual product knowledge as far as price and what have you so anything that wont kill my system and that can fit into the budget. (Also Future sli support is a plus)
Sound Card. This one is odd. I just know I like to listen to music now and then but mostly I play games. I am actually not buying speakers in favor of some good sannheisers. If I would seriously benifit in some way having a sound card for games or if music sounds significantly better, then I'd like to have one. Also if it takes a considerable amount of stress off the CPU.
HD- I was thinking of getting one of the 10000RPM 150gig Raptors. Is it worth it? I know I can get a lot more capacity with a slower one. What about cache? What part does that play? Would going for less rpm but more cache be marginally as good as a raptor? I justk now right now I have a 160gig HD that I never filled more than halfway, so I'm not sure I need 70 million hard drives.
Case and Cooling.
This one is kind of complex. I was bouncing back and forth between air and water for a while. I would like to have the ability to no worry how hot a component is getting if I try to OC, on the other hand I dunno if there are any good economically feasible options and what they are, also since it will be my first wc setup I am worried about liquid around the components and leakage and what have you.
I read some air cooling can get as good as low-end wc. So I ask you this. If I'm looking into maybe OCing for performance if (if I can manage any significant boost) rather than what those guys who put liquid nitrogen on their CPU's do, is it even necessary to do WC? If I could get a good aircooler that keeps my system from exploding I'd be perfectly content. I hear people speak highly of the Tuniq tower but it seems not to exist in this corporeal realm any longer. If you think I should go the route of air which CPU cooler would be a decent stand-in for the late Tuniq. If WC should be my fate what system is best for the "more hardcore enthusiast than the normal gamers but still not as hardcore of an enthusiast as the guys who put dry ice on their motherboards" I saw some of the swiftech stuff (some of the only stuff newegg has that I hear mention of on these boards)
After-market GPU coolers? yay nay?
After-market HD coolers?
After-market chipset coolers?
After-market ferret coolers? (it gets hot in the SW)
as far as case goes, I want something that doesn't remind me of the eighties beige plain and vomit inducing bezels. It got pretty tight in my mid tower with my gforce6800u and all the cables wadded up and swinging dangerously close to the fans. Would I be better off with a full tower? If i opt to go with AIR cooling I would definately want a sufficient air-flow. Good 120mm+ fans.
Trying to think if there is anything else.
As far as optical drives go I think I'm just going to get your meat 'n tators NEC dvd-cd +-rw, but by all means I am open for suggestions.
Getting a Saitek and a Copperhead.
I apologize for the somewhat scattered thoughts there, but I tried to organize them in a somewhat less maddening manner. I have built a pc before, the one I am typing to you on, so I am not TOO green, but any help I can get is incredibly appreciated.
So tip, fill in some blanks, educate. Hopefully, piece by piece this thing will come together for me. I'm giving you three grand to beat alienware, falcon northwest, dell.
:hands monopoly money
I am looking to build a new Conroe machine, but probably due to lack of extensive product knowledge I am unable to find the right combo to fit the crazy budgets I am hearing you Experienced Enthusiasts are claiming. I am strictly searching in Newegg.
I keep hearing people say give me $2500 and I can make you a better system than that 3500 dollar alienware. I'll be honest with you I have wanted to stoop to alienware many times. I cannot match them with the price that you guys are claiming. I need some help. Here are some of my thoughts and preferences on what I want as well as some dilemmas I am encountering.
Bottom Line (oddly on top) : MOST POWER I can fit into around 3 grandish that matches or exceeds Alienware's expensive stuff.
I am pretty much a gaming freak.
Right now it seems like there are two options for cpu/mobo combinations.:
Crappy Overclocking & SLI Or Decent Overclocking/Only Dual Sli via hacked drivers. I pretty much think that incorperating the e6800 into a feasible price range is impossible.
CPU/MB combo. I have been torn. Sometimes it seems more convenient to say screw it and Get an e6400 and a p5b or something, but deep down the fact that I am putting one foot in the grave as far as future quad-sli capability looms over me constantly. I really want to be as future-proof as possible. So then I jump the to the other side of the coin. Get one of the 590 boards. From what I have heard they are the only ones that can use two 7950's to form an actual quad sli system, yet they supposedly have hard fsb limits. (As far as retail quad-sli in its current state goes I know its not as feasible but I don't want to cut off my chances of having it in the future when the bugs get ironed out.) It's like do I wait for a new freaking motherboard to come out? What happened to the AWESOME DFI lanparty 590's or whatever they were?
Summary: I want Supported Sli capabilities and Conroe, but I would also like to get some more bang for the buck out of my cpu,ram,gpu. (Overclocking, but for performance, not 3dmarks)
Also concerning CPU's, for now I suppose I am willing to settle for a placeholder cpu until the quad cores (two 6800's) come out. They supposedly are able to drop right into the core 2 duo slot.
Ram. I know I want to start with 2 Gigs. Now as far as timing and speed go I only have a very rudmentary understanding. I tired to read the guides and they helped a little but without having practical experience with it its all still pretty foriegn to me. Basically on the boards I see ddr2 667 and ddr2 800 talked about as the common stuff. I looked at newegg and it goes all the way up to ddr2 1100. Why doesn't anyone use that stuff? No one talks about it or anything. I'm thinking from what I ascertained, that I'm going to want to go for ddr2 800 since I am interested in some OC. What do you think? Is it worth it? What about the higher speed RAM? Also, I have come to the conclusion that I'm most likely going to be picking from either G. skill, Corsair, or OCZ. Does brand matter other than MB compatibility? Is there anything else I need to know about it?
Video card. I know that DX10 is coming out soon so I am not going to even try experimenting with quad-sli right now. Right now I am willing to settle with a decent placeholder card (most likely evga for their step-up) I would like to get a 7950 but if it is more wise to stick with a 7900 or something for now I wouldn't mind. This is due to the fact that I plan on upgrading to a DX10 Card and Sli or even Quad sli for the future.
PSU I was looking at the silverstone ones but really I have no preference only a little more actual product knowledge as far as price and what have you so anything that wont kill my system and that can fit into the budget. (Also Future sli support is a plus)
Sound Card. This one is odd. I just know I like to listen to music now and then but mostly I play games. I am actually not buying speakers in favor of some good sannheisers. If I would seriously benifit in some way having a sound card for games or if music sounds significantly better, then I'd like to have one. Also if it takes a considerable amount of stress off the CPU.
HD- I was thinking of getting one of the 10000RPM 150gig Raptors. Is it worth it? I know I can get a lot more capacity with a slower one. What about cache? What part does that play? Would going for less rpm but more cache be marginally as good as a raptor? I justk now right now I have a 160gig HD that I never filled more than halfway, so I'm not sure I need 70 million hard drives.
Case and Cooling.
This one is kind of complex. I was bouncing back and forth between air and water for a while. I would like to have the ability to no worry how hot a component is getting if I try to OC, on the other hand I dunno if there are any good economically feasible options and what they are, also since it will be my first wc setup I am worried about liquid around the components and leakage and what have you.
I read some air cooling can get as good as low-end wc. So I ask you this. If I'm looking into maybe OCing for performance if (if I can manage any significant boost) rather than what those guys who put liquid nitrogen on their CPU's do, is it even necessary to do WC? If I could get a good aircooler that keeps my system from exploding I'd be perfectly content. I hear people speak highly of the Tuniq tower but it seems not to exist in this corporeal realm any longer. If you think I should go the route of air which CPU cooler would be a decent stand-in for the late Tuniq. If WC should be my fate what system is best for the "more hardcore enthusiast than the normal gamers but still not as hardcore of an enthusiast as the guys who put dry ice on their motherboards" I saw some of the swiftech stuff (some of the only stuff newegg has that I hear mention of on these boards)
After-market GPU coolers? yay nay?
After-market HD coolers?
After-market chipset coolers?
After-market ferret coolers? (it gets hot in the SW)
as far as case goes, I want something that doesn't remind me of the eighties beige plain and vomit inducing bezels. It got pretty tight in my mid tower with my gforce6800u and all the cables wadded up and swinging dangerously close to the fans. Would I be better off with a full tower? If i opt to go with AIR cooling I would definately want a sufficient air-flow. Good 120mm+ fans.
Trying to think if there is anything else.
As far as optical drives go I think I'm just going to get your meat 'n tators NEC dvd-cd +-rw, but by all means I am open for suggestions.
Getting a Saitek and a Copperhead.
I apologize for the somewhat scattered thoughts there, but I tried to organize them in a somewhat less maddening manner. I have built a pc before, the one I am typing to you on, so I am not TOO green, but any help I can get is incredibly appreciated.
So tip, fill in some blanks, educate. Hopefully, piece by piece this thing will come together for me. I'm giving you three grand to beat alienware, falcon northwest, dell.
:hands monopoly money
