$4,000 To Spend

S

shivang222

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
302
hey guys..
i have a budget of $4,000 to get the best desktop i can... i can build it myself....
can u guys show me what you think i should get for that much money?
 
this is what i got so far...

intel lga 775 975X ATX mobo
qx6700
dual 8800gtx's
4gb ddr2 800
150gb raptor 10,000rpm
750w silverstone
dell 24inch

total: ~$4,000
 
I got dual Acer 22's for $320, if your thinking about a dual setup. But of course, I had exactly half the budget. 680i mobo, perhaps.
 
yea im not rly satisified with my mobo...
any good suggestions?
also im fine with the dells.. i love them..
 
what is wrong with the mobo, it is one the the best 975x mobo's out and yes you can overclock on it, just cause it is intel doesnt mean you cant OC
 
What PSU is that 750w Silverstone. Also, if you get an Intel motherboard, you'll have to drop the dual 8800s.
 
does intel chips do crossfire?

anyways what a budget if you can call it budget.

anyways with that price you can get the best of the best.

wanna lend me soem of that money :D
 
I don't really like that config. This is better I think

Core2Duo e6600 $300
p5n32-e $240
G.SKILL F2-6400CL6D-4GBMQ 4GB(2 x 2GB) ($369) 4gb in 2 sticks though a little slow
or get some nice ddr2 1000+ in 2gb or get some dh9s for cheap and OC the crap out of em.
8800 GTX - 1 only. Allows you room to easily upgrade with some new gpus on the horizon
RaptorX 150 $199
500gb hd $150
Seasonic M12 SS-700HM $200
Lian Li a10 $280

Only at 1738

and then I would run dual 24"($629 x 2)

$3000 - save the rest for a rainy day. If you buy the better parts now, I think you'll be pissed when Bearlake and yorkfield come along. Buy a little loer, save the money, and upgrade to let you machine evolve. You'll easily be able to buy a Bearlake board and use your old ddr2 ram for example until you want to upgrade to ddr3 and so forth. You won't be sorry methinks.
 
Get what was suggested for under 1.8K(i would suggest XBX2, Commando, or 680i as a mobo) + 30" screen and two 8800gtx, - thatd be nice for now;)
 
i'd say wait till summer for DDR3, vista to Mature, along with DX10 and the arrival of the R600
 
You know the performance boost of real world application of those raptors vs regular 7200 rpm 16mb seagates for example is almost non-existent, especially for gaming?

If I were you Id put two seagate 320gb in raid for the same money, if not cheaper, for 4 times the capacity, or simply one seagate and buy a 2nd video card.
 
Apoxi said:
+1 with flimflams suggestion.
Click to expand...

AlphexHunter said:
now thats good specs good job FlimFlam I would also go with that.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys.

AMD RULES said:
i'd say wait till summer for DDR3, vista to Mature, along with DX10 and the arrival of the R600
Click to expand...

The problem with ddr3 is it is going to be insanely expensive when it first comes out - ddr2 is expensive enough now for the faster speeds. I think 2 x 2gb sticks will become the norm, and a smart consumer would wait for the market to settle down.

With that being said the Bearlake hybrid boards wills allow for ddr2 and ddr3, You can always wait for the next best thing, but one should try to avoid buying during generational shifts. Incremental changes don't make much of a difference.

He could be using a single 8800 now which is why I suggested a single 8800 and not a dual setup. He'll be able to sell the 8800 and go with the next great Nvidia card or the r600. If I was waiting for r600 though I would hold off until the r600+ which will have onboard audio through hdmi. ;)

TigerLord said:
You know the performance boost of real world application of those raptors vs regular 7200 rpm 16mb seagates for example is almost non-existent, especially for gaming?

If I were you Id put two seagate 320gb in raid for the same money, if not cheaper, for 4 times the capacity, or simply one seagate and buy a 2nd video card.
Click to expand...

Raptors are great for a system drive though and it does make a difference in Vista.
 
no need for super high speed ram with an e6600 unless you want to lower the multiplier. then you'll just be paying an extra $100 for double the cache size and a tiny bit of more headroom (hopefully).
 
HomerRulez said:
does intel chips do crossfire?
Click to expand...

Yes.

$4000 is a lot to spend on a single rig. Although, saying that, that's the equivilent to what i'm spending here in the UK and my setup isn't going to be anywhere near as good as what you can get in the US for the same amount of money. $3000 is a descent amount to spend, i'd say, to get a high-end rig- because once you go beyond that threshold, more often than not, the price:performance ratio starts to suck. I'd go with something similar to what Flimflam suggested, too. That sort of setup would run me about £3000 in the UK, about $5500 in the US so it's definitely the best value considering the components.
 
Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower

$25.00 Mail-in Rebate
$149.99



Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive -

-$10.00 Instant
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$219.99
$209.99



Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive -

$10.00 Mail-in Rebate
$139.99



EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video

$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$569.99



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

-$20.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$189.99
$169.99



G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit

-$30.00 Instant
$429.99
$399.99



ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX The Ultimate Gaming $379.99

COMBO

* EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
* Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 -

-$39.99 Combo
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$922.98
$882.99

Subtotal: $2,902.92
Tax: $210.46
Shipping: $30.61
Grand Total: $3,143.99


whats even better is u still may be able to get a hooker... (900 bucks lol)
 
tdktank59 said:
Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower

$25.00 Mail-in Rebate
$149.99



Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive -

-$10.00 Instant
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$219.99
$209.99



Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive -

$10.00 Mail-in Rebate
$139.99



EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video

$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$569.99



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

-$20.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$189.99
$169.99



G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit

-$30.00 Instant
$429.99
$399.99



ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX The Ultimate Gaming $379.99

COMBO

* EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
* Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 -

-$39.99 Combo
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$922.98
$882.99

Subtotal: $2,902.92
Tax: $210.46
Shipping: $30.61
Grand Total: $3,143.99
Click to expand...

The A1 revision of the eVGA motherboard would be a better choice.

EDIT: Nevermind; you listed the Striker, did you? Silly me. One more thing, i'd get the Armor case with the 25cm fan on the side as an alternative to the one listed above.
 
How does this look?


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

$179.99


ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX The Ultimate Gaming Motherboard - Retail

$379.99


EVGA 768-P2-N835-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SUPERCLOCKED HDCP Video Card - Retail

$599.99 X2 = $1,199.98


SILVERSTONE SST-ST75ZF ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V 750W SLI Certified Power

$179.99


Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor Model

$970.00


G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail

$399.99

Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

$229.99


SONY 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write Black IDE Model DRU120C - Retail

$41.99


Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail

$79.99


Subtotal: $3,661.91

AND a DELL 24 INCH which im getting at like $450 ( b/c my dads company gets discount)

TOTAL: ~$4,000

i dont want a bigger screen b/c it dont have that much space in my room....
also.. i will never upgrade after buying.. so once i buy its final....
 
tdktank59 said:
Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower

$25.00 Mail-in Rebate
$149.99



Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive -

-$10.00 Instant
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$219.99
$209.99



Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive -

$10.00 Mail-in Rebate
$139.99



EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video

$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$569.99



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

-$20.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$189.99
$169.99



G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit

-$30.00 Instant
$429.99
$399.99



ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX The Ultimate Gaming $379.99

COMBO

* EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
* Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 -

-$39.99 Combo
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$922.98
$882.99

Subtotal: $2,902.92
Tax: $210.46
Shipping: $30.61
Grand Total: $3,143.99


whats even better is u still may be able to get a hooker... (900 bucks lol)
Click to expand...

I wish I could have to keep track of all those rebates. /sarcasm

Seriously, rebates suck. I try and find deals that don't even include them.
 
the grand total was without rebates lol i didnt even bother to add those up lol the rebates just happend to be there... i was picking it by the parts since i knew i wasnt going to hit the 4k mark...
 
How does this look?


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

$179.99


ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX The Ultimate Gaming Motherboard - Retail

$379.99


EVGA 768-P2-N835-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SUPERCLOCKED HDCP Video Card - Retail

$599.99 X2 = $1,199.98


SILVERSTONE SST-ST75ZF ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V 750W SLI Certified Power

$179.99


Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor Model

$970.00


G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail

$399.99

Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

$229.99


SONY 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write Black IDE Model DRU120C - Retail

$41.99


Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail

$79.99


Subtotal: $3,661.91

AND a DELL 24 INCH which im getting at like $450 ( b/c my dads company gets discount)

TOTAL: ~$4,000

i dont want a bigger screen b/c it dont have that much space in my room....
also.. i will never upgrade after buying.. so once i buy its final....
 
shivang222 said:
How does this look?


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

$179.99


ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX The Ultimate Gaming Motherboard - Retail

$379.99


EVGA 768-P2-N835-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SUPERCLOCKED HDCP Video Card - Retail

$599.99 X2 = $1,199.98


SILVERSTONE SST-ST75ZF ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V 750W SLI Certified Power

$179.99


Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor Model

$970.00


G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail

$399.99

Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

$229.99


SONY 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write Black IDE Model DRU120C - Retail

$41.99


Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail

$79.99


Subtotal: $3,661.91

AND a DELL 24 INCH which im getting at like $450 ( b/c my dads company gets discount)

TOTAL: ~$4,000

i dont want a bigger screen b/c it dont have that much space in my room....
also.. i will never upgrade after buying.. so once i buy its final....
Click to expand...

I'd get the 850w version of the Silverstone Zues to hold you over. Well, actually i'd get the Enermax 850w DxX PSU or the Silverstone Olympia 1KW- but it depends what fits your budget.
 
the only part im not too sure about is the mobo...;
what do you guys think about the asus striker extreme...
any better/ cheaper alternative?
 
HomerRulez said:
does intel chips do crossfire?

anyways what a budget if you can call it budget.

anyways with that price you can get the best of the best.

wanna lend me soem of that money :D
Click to expand...

no. If your going dual 8800s you do NOT want 975X. if your overclocking you do NOT want 975X.

I vote:
(Format: review - purchase)
EVGA 122 CK NF68 TR - Newegg - $220
I Own one of these. It is one of the most instable boards on the market (keeping in mind 99% of the boards on the market BSOD only when you take a hammer to them), Right up there with ICFX 3200, and P965 for overclocking. a grand total of 42 PCI-e lanes, supporting SLI 32X and supporting some sort of next gen SLI (which it would seems includes physics).
I can vouche: This board simply owns.

Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 - Newegg - $970
Why not the QX 6700? Hot! Very Very few applications can take an advantage of so many cores (and wont be able to for a long time to come!), and the X6800 is cheaper. The X6800 has an unlocked multiplier, making overclocking easy, and as you'll see in the mobo review link (and any other review of the 680i), With an X6800, its EASY to hit 4.0Ghz. Your very own C2D at 4GHz!!!

Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme - (Where to buy :confused: :( ) - ~$70
I own the Ultra 120 (not Extreme), 1.47V. Delta T has never gone above 32C. THAT is impressive.

2X EVGA e-GeForce 8800GTX - Newegg - $1140
Duh! Just at the review!!

Corsair DDR2 1066 5-5-5-15 - Newegg - $345
D9s? Yes. Overclockable? Yes. Good warenty? Yes. The nice thing about this stuff is that your chipset officially supports this, meaning we KNOW for SURE that your northbridge will be able to handle it. Go into bios, set memory settings to "unlinked", and punch in "1068" in the DDR speed, I should automatically come up with 1066.666, (2:1 with FSB, creating for 533MHz base).

The rest of the stuff is really up to you, 7200 rpm drive, a good case (lots of fans). A good DVD RW, you should stay plenty under the budget.
 
OK, if you are not going to upgrade then go quad core.

However, why bother with paying near $1000 for the qx6700 when you can go one model down for the q6600 and get it for $800. Almost $200 more for .26 GHz. Nah.

Also, you may want to think about upgrading the vid cards in the future. You may kick yourself when some new ones come out. For example, say you go with the DFI LANPARTY UT ICFX3200-T2R which is a rd600 chipset - one of the few boards available since the ATI/AMD move changed everything for this Intel geared chipset.

It is a great chipset nonetheless. So if you went with one 8800 now, then you could upgrade to two r600s when they come out and go Crossfire. I know you don't want to upgrade, but this is popping a card out, and putting two in. You might be very happy by doing this, and also really help the lifetime of your system.

The question is is whether to go X-fire or SLI.

I would either get a 680i chipset or the rd600 (Radeon Express 3200)

If you are going to buy these sick parts, put them in a badass case, no a so-so case. You would be doing them an injustice by putting them in anything other than a Lian Li or Silverstone, my suggestions: Lian Li a10, g70, pc-v1200, or Temjin tj07!

If you stay with a 680i board, then here are two great new options - I have a p5n32-e, and I seriously do not know if the Striker is worth it especially with these two board out.

GIGABYTE GA-N680SLI-DQ6

ABIT IN9 32X-MAX

The rest loooks great. It is all your choice, but I think you should seriously consider a more robust case, give serious thought to SLI or Crossfire, and maybe save money for two r600s, look at the Gigabyte and Abit 680i boards, and also go with a q6600.

Good luck man!
 
The asus Striker is one of the best mobos out there

either get that or the evga one...

as for the cpu...

right now there is relaly no use for the quad cores in gaming... theres maybe a fps more

the only real use for the quads are for media editing and such.

So id get a 6600 and upgrade to a penryn later this year or wait a while the 6600 will kick eveythings ass up the yin yang for some time...
 
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad = $199 at newegg this weekend. 60amps on the 12volt
That would be my choice of power supply's for a monster box.

You may be able to save a bunch of money with the reported $300 quad core that's coming out in a few weeks. That's a big IF though, might be worth the wait to see.
 
Thought I'd add my two cents since I just built a high-end machine (although it was shy of $4,000.)

Mobo: Definitely go with an nForce 680i board. The platform has matured greatly over the last six months, and in many people's opinion, it's the best out there. The ASUS Striker provides a bit more opulence in the 680i arena, with extras such as the external POST monitor. However, there's an argument for sticking with a reference 680i board, as you'll find more support for them. The Striker is also known to be finicky with certain types of hardware, although I'm not sure if most issues are resolved by now. Both the Striker and the reference boards are excellent over-clockers, but again, you'll find more over-clocking experience with the reference boards. Either way, nForce 680i is the best of the best, and if you go with a reference board, choose EVGA for the warranty and excellent support.

Processor: The CPU is where you can throw away the most money for the tiniest performance gain. Most people here will tell you to stick with an E6600, and I agree. (If the Q6600 quad drops to $266 in the next few weeks, pick that up instead.) The E6600 is a great over-clocker, and comes with all the extras (such as a 4M L2 cache) found in the faster chips. Plus, by saving on the processor now, you'll have money to upgrade to a 45NM Peryn later this year.

RAM: Four gigs may be the way to go if you have $4K to spend, and if you're happy with the 2x2Gig sets, then by all means... Overclocking may be more difficult with these sets, however, as they have higher timings and less voltage maneuverability.

Note: Keep in mind is that 32-Bit Windows (XP and Vista) won't utilize four gigs of RAM. In fact, if you get two 8800 GTX cards, about 75% of the last two gigs will go unused. Evaluate what your needs are and determine if you really want four gigs in your rig. If you're building primarily for games, then two gigs is more than enough. If you plan to do content creation, or software development, or if you want to play with VMs, then four gigs is more useful. Just be prepared to run Vista x64 in order to utilize it all.

Videocards: Simple, get two GeForce 8800 GTXs. In fact, if you have extra $$$, buy factory overclocked cards. With $4K, you have to splurge somewhere :)

Soundcard: Get a X-Fi Fatality, or if you're more into music creation, get an Elite Pro. Note that if you want to use Vista, most of the features in your X-Fi card will go unused for the foreseeable future. Microsoft completely rewrote the audio stack in the new OS, and Creative is having a hell of a time supporting the new architecture.

PSU: I like the Silverstone Zeus 850 Watt supply as it's very powerful and quiet. Note that nVidia recommends a minimum of 750 Watts for two 8800 GTXs, and I'd be wary of anything less than 800W. Of course, the 1K boxes are most powerful, but they're very loud and some aren't as efficient as they could be.

Case: A matter of personal choice. I personally like Lian-Li and Silverstone more than Coolermaster or Thermaltake. With $4K though, you'll want to concentrate your search on those four brands.

Cooling: I don't know if you've decided on air or water. If water, getting quality parts is important, as you don't want anything leaking on your hardware. Look at www.dangerden.com for components. For air, it's a simple choice between the Tuniq Tower or the Thermalright Ultra 120. Note that most people buying the Ultra 120 are buying separate fans to go with them, so you might want to stick to the Tuniq for a bit less work. Note that the Tuniq may be difficult to find at times from Newegg and ZipZoomFly.

Hard Drives: Get a pair of 150GB raptors and, if you have the cash, three Western Digital 500GB Caviar SE16s. Raid-0 the raptors for your programs and Raid-5 the caviar's for your data. 1.3 TBs of fast, usable disk space is nothing to scoff at.

Optical: Doubt you would have the money left over if your cap is $4K, but I believe LG or Hitatchi is releasing an HD-DVD/BluRay computer combo drive. I'm sure it'll be $1000, but hey, for the best of the best, why not?

Monitor: Dell 2407 or 3007. One is $650 and the other is over $1000. Both are excellent choices, just note that you may be upgrading your graphics hardware sooner v. later if you get the 30 inch. (even with two 8800 GTX cards.)

Speakers: Get the best 5.1 surround system you can afford, or if you have the means, hook up your PC to your home theatre system. For computer-specific speakers, the Logitech Z-5500 is a very popular high-end choice.

Those are the big items on the list. Mouse, keyboard, etc... just get what you think is best. For comparison, here is what I built (note some parts were from my old pc, saving me some cash...)

Mobo: EVGA nForce 680i A1
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (stable OC'd to 3.6 Ghz, vCore at 1.44)
Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120
RAM: 4 Gigs (4x1 GIG) G.Skill PC-6400 5-5-5-15 (stable at 4-4-4-12, 800Mhz, v. at 2.0)
Video: 2x evga / nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX.
Sound: Creative Labs X-Fi Platinum Edition
HD: array 1 / raid-0 2x 500 Gig WD Caviar SE 16, array 2 /raid-0 2x 250 GIG WD
Optical: (1) Lite-on 16x Dual Layer +- w/ lightscribe, (2) 8x DVD+ burner from old PC
Case: Silverstone TJ-09 w/ two TriCool LEDS mounted at the top
PSU: Silverstone Zeus 850 Watt.
OS: Windows Vista x64 Ultimate
Monitor: Dell 2407
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 5.1 THX
Mouse/Keyboard: Microsoft Laser Desktop 6000 V2

Good luck with everything!

Mark.
 
Thanks Mark. That really helped.
How does this look?

Case: Thermaltake Armor Black Full Tower Case with 25cm fan
(I chose this case because I heard it gives great cooling.)

CPU: QX6700
(I want the best. Anyway, I probably will buy it this summer - July/August - so if anything better exists I will get it. As for now, the most expensive gives me a better idea of the price.)

Mobo: EVGA nForce 680i
(This should be appropriate.)

GPU: 2X EVGA 8800GTX's Superclocked at 621Mhz
(This company seems reliable and I like the clock speed.)

Memory: G.Skill 4Gb (2 X 2Gb) DDR2 800 5-5-5-15
(I want 4gb because I don't want to upgrade. Also, I will be running the 64-bit Vista)

Hard Drive: Western Digital Raptor 150gb 10,000rpm
(I don't use much space. Currently, I am only using 30gb so space should be fine. Also, speed is a priority.)

Disk Drive: Sony 16X Dvd Burner
(I haven't heard anything of this drive. It should be all right.)

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro
(This sound card has good reviews and looks good.)

Cooling: Is it necessary? There seems to be two good options: Zalman or Arctic Cooler

PSU: Silverstone Zeus 850w
(Everyone keeps pointing out how great a PSU this is.)

Monitor: Dell 2407 (24inch)
(There doesn't seem to be any better, and I get a 25% discount from them.)

OS: 64-bit Microsoft Vista Ultimate
(I need 64-bit to accompany the 4gb of memory.)

Thats my machine so far, but I probably will buy it around July/August.
It is a bit over $4,000 so I may go for the Dell WFP2007 (20inch). I'm not sure about that though.
I will post my changes.
 
Well, to best answer, I'd like you to share your answers to these three questions.

1: What do you intend to do on your system? What do you want to use it for?

2: What do you intend to store on your system?

3: Do you plan to overclock?

For reference, my answers to these are...

1. I'm a software developer who, for the last umpteen years, has been an avid gamer. My system has four gigs of RAM and Vista x64 for my software development and design work. Running VMs is very important, as is compiling speed. I also spent a lot of money with the idea to play this and next year's games in outstanding quality at a very high resolution.

2. I also use my computer as a media server. I have hundreds of gigabytes of movies and music stored on the machine, which can be all be streamed to my home theater. That's why I have 1.5TBs of storage.

3. Yes, and how. I bought a mid-range Core 2 Duo for $300. It's not the cheapest Core 2 Duo, but it's the cheapest with all the features found in the high-end units. Thanks to a $50 air-cooler, I was able to overclock to 3.6Ghz, which is about 700 Mhz faster than the fastest Core 2 Duo for $1000. Now that's value! Keep in mind that all other things are equal with the E6600 & up Core 2 Duos (excluding Quads,) so Mhz is directly comparable.

Finally, If you don't plan to upgrade or overclock, perhaps it would be wise to evaluate if building your own rig is worth it. As an alternative, if you're a college student or you know someone who is, you may be able to buy a Dell XPS H2C from the higher education website for under $4000. That will give you an overclocked QX6700, which is worth something since you'll get better performance today w/o waiting for software that takes advantage of four cores (which you won't see for a while.) You'll also get one number to call if something breaks, which saves you from the task of having to be your own computer repair support.

Anyway, please share your answers to those questions, and consider the last point. Good luck!

Thanks,

Mark.
 
I want to game and be able to run them on highest settings for the next year or so. Also, I store songs and some TV shows, but thats about it. Currently, I am only using about 35Gb in my computer. Finally, yes, I do plan to overclock once I learn how (should I get a cooling system?).
Initially I wanted a dell, but the price they give is outrageous. Even though I get 25% off on all their systems, for $4,000 I can get a better system building it myself.
 
shivang222 said:
I want to game and be able to run them on highest settings for the next year or so. Also, I store songs and some TV shows, but thats about it. Currently, I am only using about 35Gb in my computer. Finally, yes, I do plan to overclock once I learn how (should I get a cooling system?).
Initially I wanted a dell, but the price they give is outrageous. Even though I get 25% off on all their systems, for $4,000 I can get a better system building it myself.
Click to expand...

For cooling, i'd get a Tuniq Tower. Good installation mechanism, one of the best coolers available: you can't really go wrong.
 
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