1920x1600 gaming system build

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supapuffy

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
64
hi everyone,

i've been researching the forums for a gaming system build that i plan on completing in the next few months.. here's what i've gathered so far, so i would like to have some input on alternative choices/brands/models for each component.. some of these choices may be affected by local store availability if the price difference is not too much

Budget: $1500-$2000 (not including monitor and OS)
Timeline: Summer 2008
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 32 bit
Monitor: NEC 24 inch 1920x1600 2470WVX or 2490WUXi depending on extra funds..

CPU: will not be overclocking too much, perhaps one standard fsb jump of 266->333 or 333->400?
1. Intel Q6600 G0 2.4 GHz (or should i wait for the next 45nm Q9450, not sure what the price on it will be...?)
2. Intel E8400 3.0 GHz

Heatsink/Fans: for minor overclocking
1. Thermalright Ultra 90 with some 90mm fans for case/HS

Motherboard: looking for something stable and reliable, would like to stick with intel chipset P35 since i doubt that i'll need crossfire unless it's really necessary for 3d gaming @ 1920x1600
1. Asus P5K Intel P35 DDR2 1066/800/667 (are the models with Heat Pipe & Stack Cool 2 useful/worth the extra cash?)

Memory: looking for 2x 2GB setup even though i will be using Vista Ultimate 32-bit initially
1. Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX
2. OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 (not sure which flavor i should get?)
3. G. Skill?

Video Card: casual gamer, but would like to be able to run games like TF2 and other upcoming games @1920x1600 on high settings... are the current single slot + dual GPU cards powerful enough at this resolution?
1. ATI 3870X2 (seems to be the king atm?)
2. nVidia 9800 GX2

Soundcard: probably onboard sound for now to save funds...

Speakers: depends on funds...
1. Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 speakers

Hard drive: don't think i'll need to have RAID setup initially, but may upgrade in the future if needed
1. Seagate Barracuda 7200.11, 500 GB, 32 MB cache

DVD Writer: nothing fancy here.. just basic needs
1. Samsung SH-S203B SATA DVD Write 20x CD Write 48x

Case and power supply: i think a mid tower with 650W PSU is enough for my use?
1. Antec P182 & TruePower Trio TP3-650


thanks for reading! hope you'll have some good suggestions for my build!
 
supapuffy said:
Timeline: Summer 2008
Click to expand...

Revisit this thread a month before you plan to buy everything, or be more specific with the build date. Buy everything at once unless you find a really good deal on some parts. A lot can change in a few months.
 
Good choice on the case, I have one I picked up with really good deal newegg had going a little while back. The PSU should be more than enough for your uses. I personally stick to Corsair for RAM and the 4 gig set you listed should be good. I have basically the same RAM except it's not the DHX. The RAM doesn't even get hot so there is no reason to pay extra for the practically useless heatsinks in my opinion. The hard drive should be a good choice. I have two of them in my main system and they seem to be pretty good. I have no complaints with them.

As for the heatsink, I would go with the Thermalright Ultima 90 with a 120mm fan. It cools better than the Ultra 90 and I think it's probably cheaper.

I'm partial to Gigabyte for motherboards. I have a P35-DS3R for my main system and a P35-DS3L for a third quad core folding system. Basically the same board except the R has some more features and a bigger heatsink on the northbridge. However, by the time you do your build, the X48 and P45 Intel chipsets should be out and we don't know what motherboards using them will be like.

No opinion on the speakers as that's personal choice or the DVD burner as most of them are basically the same. I generally go with Lite-On optical drives as they are cheap and I've never personally had a problem with them.

As for CPU, I would personally go with a quad core. Whether the Q6600 or the newer Q9xxx series is the better buy at the time of your purchase remains to be seen.

I can't comment on the video card as one of them hasn't even been released yet so we don't know how it's going to do. You will need a high end card to run a monitor at that resolution. I have an 8800GT and just got a 24" 1920x1200 LCD over the weekend and I've had to lower some quality settings for some games to run at the native res. For the most part, it's not really a problem for me. Oftentimes a higher resolution will offset the need for things like AA.

I don't have an opinion on the LCD. I just got my first one this weekend and don't really have much experience with any of them. That resolution seems to be a bit weird for an LCD, though. I thought that most LCDs in that range were 1920x1200 with a 16:10 widescreen aspect ratio. As I said before, I don't have much experience or knowledge of LCDs so what do I know.

Much of your build is going to depend on what products are out and what prices are like at the time you purchase the parts. The prices on those parts today may be a lot higher than they are in a few months or prices could be similar. In the case of the video cards, we don't even know what's going to be out around that time. Something new might come out which blows away all the current cards. You can get a rough idea of what you want to build but don't start pricing things out this early since things change a lot.

 
thx for the input

i guess it's kind of hard for exact recommendations when the cpu/video cards are not out yet.. guess i've just been eager to start purchasing parts as ddr2 ram prices seem to be quite low atm..

i'll monitor the forums to gather more info in the mean time
 
You do know that a new architecture is scheduled to be released by the end of the year, right?
 
yes, i'm aware of the new intel chipset+socket coming out next year, however i'm not sure if i want to jump onto the first iteration of the hardware when it's released.. however.. i'm not too familiar with the new architecture either... i guess i should research a bit into that too.. thx for the heads up
 
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