gaming pc for $1600

[POL-tec2002]

ok well my friend wants to build a pc for school and gaming.

here are the parts

pentium 4 3.2 E - $229
Abit IC7-G MaxII - $131
Corsair XMS 2gb (1gx 2) - $609
Sparkle 550W powersupply - $100
plextof 12x dvd +-RW - $125
What video card?
What case?
What Hdd

also what about the new amd 64's what would you do if you had this much money? I need help asap

 

[Chowdy]

Well, the Athlon 64's are widely considered the best processors for gaming, but there's limited upgrading as there are no PCIe chipsets IIRC and no DDR2 support. Videocard will cause a huge thread war, so i'm just going to say that either X800PRO+ or 6800GT+ will suite him fine for gaming.

 

[POL-tec2002]

o yea he wants to play doom III

 

[POL-tec2002]

ok how about the new intel stuff.
like this

ABIT "AA8-DuraMAX" i925X Chipset Motherboard for Intel LGA775 CPU -RETAIL $160.64

Intel LGA 775 Pentium 4 540 3.2 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache w/ Hyper Threading Technology - Retail
$245.00

2x Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model WD360GD, OEM Drive Only $226.00

also where do i get 1-2gb of ddr2? and a pci express video card?

 

[attack]

for the HDD, you've be better off getting 1 74gb drive, cheaper, and performs almost the same (slower overall sustained transfer, but much faster access times than 2 36gb raptors).

 

[POL-tec2002]

yes but the 2 36gb raptors will be in raid

 

[twump]

why do you want 2gb of ram? for gaming there is no need for it. 1gb will do just fine.



as said above the amd64's are the best for gaming but upgradeablity is not a strong point. i would personally wait on the pciexpress vcard. they are still to new and could have alot of bugs. i would personally get a 6800gt agp card.


as for the intel stuff i cannot help there since my last intel system was an 866mhz PIII

 

[SilverJag]

Not even a year ago 256 mb of ram was MORE THAN sufficient. A couple of months ago 512 mb of ram was BARELY enough for newer games. In a year or so he might need that 1.5 gb or 2 gigs. Just my suggestion.
(BTW, most of this concept was sarcasm.)

 

[KOXC2003]

Corsair makes over priced, crappy RAM, do not buy from them. Go with OCZ or ADATA, 1 Gb or 1.5 Gb.

 

[A1Killer]

since he wants to play doom 3 i would say go with the newer cards like chowdy said an x800pro+ or an 6800gt+ they would be great for gaming and other graphic intense stuff and raid dosen't do anything for speed just get a bigger drive. the 2 gigs will be good for about i would guess a year maybe 6 months or heck i could be wrong it could be less. ok for the case i would say one with at lest four 80mm fan holse 2 in front and 2 in back so you can have good sucking blowing. oh and get the best heatsink and gpu cooler he can afford lol that way he wont have to worry bout heat issuses if he wants to overclock

 

[Mortis03]

raid dosen't do anything for speed just get a bigger drive.

Raid 0 is a raid level for speed. A good raid card can go a long way over onboard raid offered on many mother boards. For more info do a search on raid0.

A1killer is right about the cooler. Even if he doesnt oc, running this beast full load for a few hours will make it hot. Presscotts especially. I would allot about $100us for rans/cooling.

 

[CordialSpam]

I say go for A64 system..and of course go for x800 pro or 6800GT for video card.
As for the case, any Thermaltake cases are pretty nice, look for the ones without power supplies or Antec cases.

 

[SimGuy]

AMD Athlon 64 3400+ ClawHammer ($369 @ NewEgg)
ABIT KV8 Pro ($101 @ NewEgg)
1 GB OCZ 3700EB ($300 @ Atacom)
eVGA 6800GT AGP8x ($399 @ NewEgg)
74 GB WD Raptor SATA ($176 @ NewEgg)
200 GB WD Caviar SE SATA ($125 @ NewEgg)
OCZ PowerStream 470W ($110 @ NewEgg)

Price WITHOUT case? $1580.00 USD.

What case? No idea really... he'll have to make that choice as it's more of a personal preference.

 

[73h n00bc4nn0n]

Of course with an operating system and virus software that price can easily reach $2000 with taxes and shipping and handling.

 

[SilverJag]

I'd go with an Antec TP 550 and the ASUS KV8 series mobo.
OCZ isn't really known for the BEST power supplies. New Abit motherboards aren't that great anymore due to horrible bios's and malfunctioning boards.

 

[Catalan]

Aspire X-Dreamer II(Black) $59.00 www.newegg.com
4x80mm Vantec Stealth Fan $27.96/5.53 www.jab-tech.com
Fortron FSP530-60GNA $75.50/6.99 www.newegg.com
EPoX EP-8KDA3J $99.00/5.00 www.newegg.com
AMD 64 3000+ Newcastle Retail $175.00/3.99 www.newegg.com
2x512 OCZ PC3500 EB DC Kit $299.00/2.99 www.newegg.com
eVGA GeForce 6800GT $399.00 www.newegg.com
Western Digital Raptor 74GB $175.99/2.00 www.newegg.com
Seagate 200GB 7200RPM 8MB SATA $129.00/1.00 www.newegg.com
NU Technology DDW-082 BLK $62.00/1.99 www.newegg.com

Total is $1530.94 shipped. If you want to OC his comp (we know you do) you can pick up a Thermalright 948U @ www.svc.com for $29.99 + shipping and a ThermalTake SmartFan II @ www.dealsonic.com for $7.95 + shipping.

 

[POL-tec2002]

whats the difference between the max 2 and max 3 motherboards

 

[attack]

I'm sorry I forgot to mention I was comparing the 74gb solo to a RAID 0 array with 2x36...the 74 has much faster access times (native, and because it's not RAIDed) and the bandwidth really isn't much more for the 2x36gb's.