Computer Build Hardware Suggestions - Gaming Rig

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foolios

n00b
Joined
Oct 25, 2007
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I am looking to build a gaming rig and it's been a while. I was hoping someone could point me to two things:
1) The hardware that is recommended
2) A reliable place online to get the parts

Based on my limited knowledge, I am guessing at things like;

10,000rpm drives - Raid 0

SLI or Crossfire video cards(2)

650 Watt P/S

2GB Memory, not sure what memory is low latency or how to tell, I'm guessing numbers like 2 2 2 2 2 is best?

Windows XP Pro

Intel quad processor

No clue about what motherboard brand to go with. I have had bad luck with Gigabyte, I know that...

Thanks so much in advance!
 
got a rough draft build list yet? or do you need a starting point?

Please answer the following questions with as much detail/specifics as possible, as it will help us help you:

1) What's your budget and what is included in that budget (tax/shipping, keyboard, monitor, OS, etc; if you're not in the US, please specify country)?

2) What will you be doing with this system besides gaming (eg: media ripping/encoding, watching hd videos, CAD, etc)?

3) If you are gaming, what games will you be playing and at what resolution/settings (eg: cs:s @ 1680x1050 w/ no AA/AF)?

4) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to get?

5) What old parts do you plan on re-using?

6) What features do you need/want in a motherboard and briefly, why do you need/want them? (3 pci slots, raid, firewire, µATX, etc)
 
enginurd said:
1) What's your budget and what is included in that budget (tax/shipping, keyboard, monitor, OS, etc; if you're not in the US, please specify country)?
$1000 - U.S. - No need for monitor/mouse/keyboard/case

2) What will you be doing with this system besides gaming (eg: media ripping/encoding, watching hd videos, CAD, etc)?
Primary use will be for gaming. Don't know if I should go NVidia or ATI for gaming.


3) If you are gaming, what games will you be playing and at what resolution/settings (eg: cs:s @ 1680x1050 w/ no AA/AF)?
First Person shooters like the Half-Life Family of games for sure. MMORPG's secondary - Probably around 1440x900 resolution.

4) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to get?
It's a 19 inch now, I may upgrade down the road which is why I am not certain if I can hold off on the extra video card now or not, I've been told I'll only need the second card if I have a large screen or two of them.

5) What old parts do you plan on re-using?
I think I will stick with an intel processor for sure. I have no clue what motherboard or video card to match up with it. I want a combination that is proven. As for hard drive, I was thinking of going with a 10,000 rpm drive.

6) What features do you need/want in a motherboard and briefly, why do you need/want them? (3 pci slots, raid, firewire, µATX, etc)
Click to expand...
I believe the motherboard needs to support at least DDR2, I think there is now DDR3, but I do not know. I was also thinking of raid 0 for two 10,000 rpm drives. Not concerned with firewire unless the new faster version is already out. Never used firewire before and still don't. I believe my case is ATX but if that makes a difference for the board then I can always change it. I believe there is ATX and micro ATX and I would guess that ATX being bigger means more power for the mobo. Not sure.

THanks a bunch for the help.
 
Hmm... the best thing for you to do right now is research, research, research. Read the posts in General Hardware about other people's build lists to see what people are building these days and for how much.

To get you thinking, here are some responses to your preliminary "guesses" in your first post:

- 10,000 RPM drives (Raptors) are noisy and expensive... Too nosy and much too expensive for my taste (note that the expense is not in the actual cost, but in the space sacrificed.) Large platter drives are nearly as fast, and by buying one you don't need to RAID it.

- SLI and Cross Fire are only of benefit if you are gaming at a resolution of at least 1920x1200. Otherwise a single card solution is better. For CrossFire, consider two 3850s or 3870s, although a similar SLI solution of two 8800 GTs will perform better (especially with AA applied.) SLI'd GTXs or Ultras is a bad idea due to the fact that both cards are very much lame ducks at the moment, due to be replaced shortly. 8800 GTS 512 SLI will give you
the best performance with a current card, but it really only makes sense for 30 inch displays. Still, the best SLI solution form a price / performance ratio is probably two 8800 GT 512s.

- 650 watts is on target for a non-SLI'd setup.

- For the most part, DDR-2 does not feature such low latencies. DDR-3 is too expensive at the moment to consider. Unless you're willing to flush down money, you'll be looking for 5-5-5-15 or 4-4-4-12 RAM.

- Quad Core processor at the moment = Q6600 G0. For that proc, all you need is DDR-2 PC-6400 RAM (800mhz.) Faster RAM will go to waste performance wise and therefore will be nothing but wasted money.

- Motherboard: Consider the A-Bit IP350 Pro, Gigabyte DS3-R, or the Asus P5KE. For Crossfire, you'll want an X-38 board, and for SLI you'll want the Evga nForce 780i board.

Hope this helps...

Mark.
 
Ok the 2x 10,000 RPM drives (Raptors) RAID 0. I want to do. I can get each for $169 on newegg. That's totally doable so I might as well.

The monitor will be around the size of 20 inches, maybe 22 or so if I go widescreen. So from what I've read so far, I can hold off on two video cards, but I still want a sli or crossfire board for the future.

So, for the video since it won't be dual screen or giant display, I'll go with one video card:
8800 GTS 512
or the
800 GT 512
for this set-up for now?

I saw quadcores in the grand price range which is crazy. I'll look into the Q6600 G0 proc.
DDR-2 PC-6400 RAM (800mhz) sounds good.

For motherboard Asus P5KE or Evga nForce 780i? I'll look at them both, I don't like Gigabyte and I think A-bit is a daughter company of Asus right? Might be an economy type?

Thanks for the help.
 
G0 and B3 are different steppings of the same proc. G0 is a newer stepping which runs a good bit cooler than B3, on average. This results in G0 chips having higher OC headrooms. If you plan to OC, you want a G0. Unfortunately, newegg doesn't guarantee G0 stepping. For that, you'll need to buy from www.clubit.com (which sells for the same price, unless you want to save money buy purchasing an OEM chip.)

Mark.
 
Ok, so far for the video:
BFG Tech BFGE88512GTOC2E GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136012

For the processor:
Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

or

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor BX80562Q6600 - 2.40GHz, 8MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB, Kentsfield, Quad-Core, Retail, Socket 775, Processor with Fan
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2905631

I'm not sure why the second one has more cache(8mb) for the same price but I would think that makes it better. I need an opinion.

Memory:
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

The only motherboard I can find on newegg that seems decent is:
ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX The Ultimate Gaming Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131074

For power supply I am still looking at them, it appears that I will need one that has 4 6-pin connector for the PCI-e video cards, if in case I add a second one later on. I am guessing I will need at least 600Watts. I gotta match a lot of things still.

Drives:
2x - Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136012

Thanks for the help so far.
 
Read the benchmarks, reviews and opinions on Raptors before buying. Personally they don't look worth the extra money.
 
The two procs you listed have the same cache: 2 x 4 = 8. Again, if you are going to OC, the only store you should consider buying your proc from is www.clubit.com. They are the only ones to ensure you'll get a G0 stepping, which is a big deal.

Mark.
 
I don't intend on overclocking atm. I want something that can run real well as is for now. The local computer shop swears by raided raptors. The price difference is not an issue regarding the drives.

I am going to check your site for a motherboard. I am having difficulties finding one for my parts. Plus I'll need a power supply to go with that board and the video card.

Thanks!
 
It's not the price that's the issue, it's the lack of space. Why pay $400 for two 150 gig raptors for a total of 300 gigs when you can get 1TB for the same price, have it be almost as fast, and nearly twice as secure from failure since it's not raided?

Again, instead of working just with this thread, I highly recommend spending some time on General Hardware and similar forums to see what people are doing and why people are making the decisions they are.

Mark.
 
Almost as fast is somewhat an issue for it. From what I've read concerning new systems, the real bottleneck now is the hard drive. I figure why take the chance. I already have an external 500gb drive that I can use externally or strip and put into the case for storage.
I am guessing this will work just fine regarding the drives. My real issue now is finding a good motherboard and psu.
So far this looks the best for the PSU:
CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002&Tpk=corsair+620HX

For the Mushkin memory, I notice that the timings are 5-4-4-12
or
5-5-5-12
or
5-5-5-18

and for other memory like OCZ:
8-8-8-27
7-6-6-24
7-7-7-20

G-Skill:
From 5-5-5-15 to 9-9-9-24

Lower is better right? So in this case the Mushkin is blowing out the others right?
 
Ok, this is the new list. Thanks to all the info and help here. If someone finds anything wrong/incompatible or just not a good choice. By all means, please reply!

CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

MB
ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX The Ultimate Gaming Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131074
Manufacturer’s Website
http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1439&l1=3&l2=11&l3=397&l4=0

Video
BFG Tech BFGE88512GTOC2E GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143117

Memory
Mushkin 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail Cas 5-4-4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146731

Drives
2x - Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136012

ROM
LITE-ON 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 40X CD-ROM IDE DVD Burner included extra White bezel - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106079

PSU
CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002&Tpk=corsair+620HX

Ok, I don't know if I am forgetting anything besides the case. I still have to see if there's a case I'll like better. I think my biggest concern for the case is that it has plenty of airflow and a side fan opening in the case to blow outside air into the case at the video card and maybe help proc fan cooling. If anyone knows of a great one to recommend that would be appreciated. I have read that Antec and Luan are good, maybe Thermaltake?
As for the BFG video card choice, I chose that one because I've been told you can add an add-on card that gives you some kind of enhanced visuals for your games that only the add-on card can provide.

Thanks again for all the help. It's getting real close to final!
 
The Striker Extreme is a bad choice. It's extremely overpriced and has been known to be very temperamental to work with--especially in the subject of RAM pairing. It's also now obsolete with the release of the 780i boards. If you've decided on an SLI motherboard, only consider 780i models. They support the next generation of Core 2 Quads (Yorkfield,) should you ever decide to upgrade, and early reports show that they have worked out many of the OC and RAM compatibility kinks found on the 680i boards. Visit XtremeSystems, Intel forum and the Evga.com 780i forum for more info.

Otherwise looks good.

NCIX has a good deal on the XFX 780i for $270. Not sure if newegg has them in stock or not.

Mark.
 
If you're in the US, be sure to get it from ncixUS.com.

Mark's got you all covered. I'll add my usual cut-n-paste responses...

You won't notice the difference between CL4 and CL5, unless you're running benchmarks (and even then, its negligible), so don't pay a huge price premium for lower latency.

Go with this...
$85 - A-DATA 4GB(2x2GB) DDR2-800 ADQVE1B16K 1.8v

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, REALLY want it. Otherwise, there are much better cost effective solutions depending on your needs these days.

Old, but still applies: Western Digital's Raptors in RAID-0: Are two drives better than one?

You'd be better off with 8GB of RAM and using a RAMdisk utility to speed things up.
 
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