$2700 gaming tower

[[LYL]Homer]

I'm a late arrival, but here are my 2 cents - overclocking seems to be implied but not stated outright, and there's this:

What I mean is I don't want to spend an extra $100 on a product that I could get for less at no cost in performance.

Sounds like this is a gaming rig, and gigahertz counts over cores. Sounds like you're trying to get every little ounce of performance out this system, but if you set your goal 5% lower you could save 20%. Your call on this. I'm giving some budget allowances in some instances instead of specifics because there are multiple choices. I do this more to give you a reality check on your budget.

280 E6850
180 motherboard - diminishing returns above this budget allowance
40 HSF - Personally I find the stock HSF fine for 500mhz overclocks.
85 RAM
280 8800GT 512mb
50 case - a $25 (AR) Centurion 5 will run just as fast as a $110 (AR) case.
140 PSU - there are good psu's and there are also overpriced/overhyped ones.
170 Raptor 150 RAID 0 will fail, sorry, it's reality and it's just a matter of when
100 500gb storage drive
30 DVD burner
185 sound card, sounds like you're an audiophile and it's worth $100 premium
270 Logitech Z-5500, sounds like you're set on these
200 Vista Ultimate 64bit
60 shipping
============
$2070

I was shocked to read the title of the thread - that $2700 is needed to buy a gaming rig (minus monitor even), or even $2200. The audio system alone is at least $455, 64bit over 32bit adds about $30, 4gb ram vs. 2gb is about $50. I also think you could drop to a 600w SLI psu and be fine for $70 especially with 8800GT instead of GTS or GTX. Get really tight and you can find great $120 motherboards that overclock great too, but it might not have the latest chipset with all the features you don't need.

Overall this feels like a $1500 system that's bloated up $600 but maybe that's just me. And not to be too much of a downer, it'll be depreciating from the moment you order it!

Love,
Homer

 

[engiNURD]

Homer, are you actually recommending an E6850?

 

[[LYL]Homer]

Yep, do you do anything that actually needs 4 cores? (And has multi-threaded software?) Most of us are barely using dual-core technology. If this is the case with you too, then higher clock-speed on the chip is better than more cores. Quad-core sounds cool and all, but so far isn't useful for the vast majority of users.

So do you actually intend to overclock? If so, what is your expected speed?

 

[engiNURD]

Yep, do you do anything that actually needs 4 cores? (And has multi-threaded software?) Most of us are barely using dual-core technology. If this is the case with you too, then higher clock-speed on the chip is better than more cores. Quad-core sounds cool and all, but so far isn't useful for the vast majority of users.

So do you actually intend to overclock? If so, what is your expected speed?

Whether you OC or not, an E6750 is $85 cheaper and not much slower. All you get for $85 is 333Mhz (by going with the E6850). Thats definately not worth it, IMO. If you do OC, both the E6850 and E6750 have the same OC potential, around 4Ghz, so why spend the extra $85? Sure, the higher multiplier of the E6850 makes it slightly easier to OC, but at the cost of $85 over the E6750, I highly doubt its worth it.

 

[junglicious]

I would like to thank everyone for your time and input. To my best ability below are the replies to each input

well I've said my bit but I really think you should try lopping off the price of everything else and getting yourself 2 8800s. Its certainly going to perform better in 90% of games then a single with a decked hard drive system and 16gb of ram. 2 8800s + 4 gigs 800 + no raid + E6750 (or even E6550) > single 8800 + 4 gigs 1000/1066 + raid 0 + E6850 (or Q6600).

also the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme looks like its the best CPU cooler. I'm running the Ultra 120 non-extremeon an antec tri-cool @ high speed and managing no more then 62C @ 1.52V C2D

I do not plan to do SLI this time and will only be using one card. I got the Q6600 in hopes of future proofing, having some programs (near future) that will utilize 4 cores, and because I do a lot of multitasking.

I have the Ultra 120 w/fan already.

Finally the Prelude is in

Yes, after reading and being inform that the Creative xfi pro has issue with vista 64 and no drivers to fix the problem yet.

silverstone fTW........................

Its like a hardware contest lol. I already bought the 620HX. I heard that they are made by the same copy i.e Seasonic?

I'm a late arrival, but here are my 2 cents - overclocking seems to be implied but not stated outright, and there's this:



Sounds like this is a gaming rig, and gigahertz counts over cores. Sounds like you're trying to get every little ounce of performance out this system, but if you set your goal 5% lower you could save 20%. Your call on this. I'm giving some budget allowances in some instances instead of specifics because there are multiple choices. I do this more to give you a reality check on your budget.

280 E6850
180 motherboard - diminishing returns above this budget allowance
40 HSF - Personally I find the stock HSF fine for 500mhz overclocks.
85 RAM
280 8800GT 512mb
50 case - a $25 (AR) Centurion 5 will run just as fast as a $110 (AR) case.
140 PSU - there are good psu's and there are also overpriced/overhyped ones.
170 Raptor 150 RAID 0 will fail, sorry, it's reality and it's just a matter of when
100 500gb storage drive
30 DVD burner
185 sound card, sounds like you're an audiophile and it's worth $100 premium
270 Logitech Z-5500, sounds like you're set on these
200 Vista Ultimate 64bit
60 shipping
============
$2070

I was shocked to read the title of the thread - that $2700 is needed to buy a gaming rig (minus monitor even), or even $2200. The audio system alone is at least $455, 64bit over 32bit adds about $30, 4gb ram vs. 2gb is about $50. I also think you could drop to a 600w SLI psu and be fine for $70 especially with 8800GT instead of GTS or GTX. Get really tight and you can find great $120 motherboards that overclock great too, but it might not have the latest chipset with all the features you don't need.

Overall this feels like a $1500 system that's bloated up $600 but maybe that's just me. And not to be too much of a downer, it'll be depreciating from the moment you order it!

Love,
Homer

I do intend to do some OCing on the system, just not at first. I read that some people have done 3.6 stable w/air, but I might just shoot for 3.0 first since that is "easy". I got the IP35 pro because I heard/read good things about them and the Q6600 for OCing. I got 4gb of ram for vista 64 and at arond $83 for the Patriot Extreme is not a bad deal. I have the Armor tower already and it was around $70 after MIR, really nice case and lots of room. I do like music, music is what moves the soul. I got the Prelude because I heard the Creative xfi pro has some driver issue with vista 64. Prelude gets a good review for construction and sound. It was either the Z-5500 or the Klipsh promedia 5.1, I went with the Z-5500, would serve me better. I wanted to try Raid0 just for the experience since I have not done raid since I was in school. I back up most of the time and keep all important documents on a different HD. I have close to 1tb of storage that I will include in the build from my previous setup, that I will use for the backup and important data. I have not yet had a HD fail on me after years with computers so I hope it doesn't happen now or in the future. I might even shoot for 2tb for all the movies, music, photos, programs, projects I have. I'm getting 2 DVD burners, I have one already but I'll give it to one of my siblings. I do the occasional direct DVD copy. This system was originally around $2700 (tower only) not including tax or s/h. Members on here and another forum have help me brought it down around $500. Tax alone will cost me close to $200 and I don't even know how much s/h will come out too. The monitor I will probably buy locally so I can try it out and not have to pay for s/h or to return it. It comes out to around the same price as buying on net. I got the GTS G92 in hopes that something will be release in Feb or late March for the step up. If worst comes to worst I can always sell the card and buy the top next gen card. With the 620HX its around $130+tax after MIR with free s/h from ZZF. I heard nothing but good things about that PSU, decent noise at full load, modular. My first choice was however the PC Quad 750 but thought that might be a little too much for my system.

Yea, computer invistment is like buying a car. Once you buy it and drive it out the lot you already lost $2-5g depending on the car as well. Thats why I wanted to buy my stuff after the holiday prices and in the new year so what ever will go down has gone down already, hopefully. I'm also waiting for people to report back for the 2008 CES and see if any of my purchases will change.


After thinking to myself for awhile (couple months). I came to the conclusion that I do like to get the best bang for the buck, who doesn't? But since I have not built a computer in 3-4 years, I thought I'd add have some bells and whistles. I bought a new desk, Onyx Matrix desk and Hutch, which also goes great with my Corepad XXXL with a lot of room left. I will mount the 32" on the wall to give me a more cleaner looking desk.

 

[junglicious]

I am now debating, probably shouldn't even worry, about the storage setup. Here are my debates:

3x250gb WD, raid 0
2x320gb SG, raid 0
Raptor 150gb
Raptor X 150gb

Anyone with experience or benchmark results with these? I been reading many forums. Some say go for raid 0, some say go for the Raptor. I will only be installing Vista 64, games, and programs on the main drive(s). I have other HDs for storage.

 

[Dangman]

I am now debating, probably shouldn't even worry, about the storage setup. Here are my debates:

3x250gb WD, raid 0
2x320gb SG, raid 0
Raptor 150gb
Raptor X 150gb

Anyone with experience or benchmark results with these? I been reading many forums. Some say go for raid 0, some say go for the Raptor. I will only be installing Vista 64, games, and programs on the main drive(s). I have other HDs for storage.

Least amount of complications: Raptor
Best bang for your buck with minor complications: 2 x 320GB Seagate 7200.10 RAID 0 setup.

IIRC, two 320GB 7200.10 perform about the same as or slightly better than a single Raptor while offering 4x the storage space. And plus: RAID 0 sounds "1337"

 

[junglicious]

Least amount of complications: Raptor
Best bang for your buck with minor complications: 2 x 320GB Seagate 7200.10 RAID 0 setup.

IIRC, two 320GB 7200.10 perform about the same as or slightly better than a single Raptor while offering 4x the storage space. And plus: RAID 0 sounds "1337"

Thanks for the heads up. I never notice raid 0 being "1337". I found out that the Raptor X (AHFD) is the "Gamer" edition and the Raptor (ADFD) is the "Server" edition.

I thought one Raptor would be more simple than dealing with a raid system. I really don't need the storage space as I have almost 1tb for storage. All I need is a fast storage or storage system for my OS, programs, games. All data like photo, music, movies, projects, and documents can be on the storage drive. The reason I wanted to try raid 0 is because I read that in some or most cases it does help.

I going to finish up this build in a couple of days and so far the Raptor X does look tempting. Any more advice would be much appreciated for the final inspections.

 

[engiNURD]

The Raptor X has a window... thats the only difference, lol. These are my drives. Most were tested on my DS3R, the rest on my Ultra-D.

Avg Transfer Rate, Access Time: HDD info, Price I paid (except for raptor - twas a gift)
**note, these figures come from HDTune, a synthetic benchmark for HDDs.

112MB/s, 13.2ms: RAID0 'cuda's, 600GB total, $120 (ICH9R on P35-DS3R)
78MB/s, 08.2ms: WD Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB, $160
76MB/s, 13.7ms: WD Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB, $150
72MB/s, 15.4ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB, $65
68MB/s, 13.3ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB, $60
65MB/s, 13.7ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB, $80
65MB/s, 13.2ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3300620AS 300GB, $60
63MB/s, 13.4ms: WD Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB, $100
62MB/s, 15.3ms: Samsung HD501LJ 500GB, $105
52MB/s, 14.0ms: WD Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB, $70

As you can see, the 'cuda is twice the size and half the cost, for nearly the same avg transfer rate as the Raptor. Stick them in RAID0, and you've got an even more cost effective solution. Though, the seek time of the Raptor can't be beat. If you have cash to burn, do so on a Raptor if you really want it. Otherwise, there are better cost effective solutions depending on your needs these days.

 

[junglicious]

The Raptor X has a window... thats the only difference, lol. These are my drives. Most were tested on my DS3R, the rest on my Ultra-D.

Avg Transfer Rate, Access Time: HDD info, Price I paid (except for raptor - twas a gift)
**note, these figures come from HDTune, a synthetic benchmark for HDDs.

112MB/s, 13.2ms: RAID0 'cuda's, 600GB total, $120 (ICH9R on P35-DS3R)
78MB/s, 08.2ms: WD Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB, $160
76MB/s, 13.7ms: WD Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB, $150
72MB/s, 15.4ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB, $65
68MB/s, 13.3ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB, $60
65MB/s, 13.7ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB, $80
65MB/s, 13.2ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3300620AS 300GB, $60
63MB/s, 13.4ms: WD Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB, $100
62MB/s, 15.3ms: Samsung HD501LJ 500GB, $105
52MB/s, 14.0ms: WD Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB, $70

As you can see, the 'cuda is twice the size and half the cost, for nearly the same avg transfer rate as the Raptor. Stick them in RAID0, and you've got an even more cost effective solution. Though, the seek time of the Raptor can't be beat. If you have cash to burn, do so on a Raptor if you really want it. Otherwise, there are better cost effective solutions depending on your needs these days.

Lol, I like that, "cash to burn". If I had cash to burn I wouldn't be on this site and probably have it done for me by a computer specialist. So is seek how fast the hd finds the file, read for reading a file, and write for saving or making changes to a file? I am looking for something that would load app quicker. I'll go ahead and think about the two, raid0 and raptor. Raid0 was my first choice however.

While I am consider this I might switch to Home 64 instead of Ultimate 64. I mean do I need the features of Ultimate that I can not find a 3rd party software to do and maybe do better?

Thanks again for the heads up.

 

[engiNURD]

Yes, the seek time is what makes random access faster. Vista itself will make loading your most commonly used apps faster. If you don't need the features of ultimate, go with premium and save some cash. Most people just need remote desktop from ultimate... and there are other programs that will provide the same functionality for free.

 

[junglicious]

I'm ordering the final parts tonight. This is what I will have:

Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan

ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

EVGA 512-P3-N841-A3 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600

Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PDC24G6400ELK

WD Raptor X 150GB

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B

AuzenTech Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler
Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm Case Fan

Logitech Z-5500 505 Watts 5.1 Speaker

CorePad C1 XXXL improved premium cloth mouse pads

Things I have changed is Home Premium 64 from Ultimate 64 and Raptor X 150gb from cuda 320gb raid0, I'll do raid0 on my other hd I have. I'll just have replaceable movies on raid0 so if it fails, nothing is lost. I just want to see the performance deference of the two storage setup. I'm holding off on the Z-5500 and the Prelude setup until prices go down on the Z-5500 or a better deal comes. I want to see how the onboard sound would work to my current speaker system, X-530. I will also be trying out the new Sharp 32" LC-32GP3U. I will post some pictures and benchmarks, before and after OC.

Thank you for all your help so far, much appreciated.

 

[engiNURD]

The X-530 sounds the same to me with onboard and with an Audigy2 ZS, lol. They're not great speakers. If you want good speakers, go for the Klipsch ProMedia THX 2.1 or 5.1 speakers.

Don't forget to post some pics.