Gaming high performance computer/setup

[bytes by the kilo]

I have been looking through the forums for some time and I still have not been able to piece together a good rig for me. I asked tech support at my job for some advice as well as a friend of mines buddy who makes "Rigs" for people.... but I still do not know what is right. Heres the breakdown.

I just bought the new alienware monitor which says you need to use nvidia as ATI cards wont work... thats first off

I want to spend between 1800-2400 bucks on a gaming computer and i wana make sure these parts work together and theres enough power to run it and its got a cooling system etc

Also I do not even know how to put this stuff together is it easy

************** Lets get to it!!! (thanks in advance!!)

What kind of case... I was given two choices one was 60bucks one was 120... I dont care what it looks like...

Whats the difference between i7 with 2.8 ghz and 3.2 and does that difference truly matter? Obv I would want the 3.2 but I am not sure if that will push me over the $2400 mark for no big improvement when I could have spent that extra 300$ or whatever on RAM

one friend believes i should get windows 7 ULTIMATE not the basic one...

and as far as video card ... I have NO idea... i read the forums but its truly difficult to decide which really intelligent poster is RIGHT... I want dual cards that are top of the line nvidia.... that are just POWERFUL mofos for gaming... and I would like wild RAM to support it...

then i need cooling and hard drives and power supply all of which i dont know about... but as I am really tight on money and unlucky with computers I heard this was the best way to do things ... even though I have no way to MAKE it once i get the parts I am sure I can pay someone 50 to 100 to set it all up for me...

i think its worth it!!! thanks guy!

 

[bytes by the kilo]

so heres a starting point!

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=9713809

OK so this basically looks TOTALLY fine for me... but i base taht on absolutely NOTHING except a friend. Is this setup with a dual video card or do i Need a quantity of 2 next to that and is the GTX 470 good... is the 460 good neough for much cheaper or is the 480 better enough to spend on for a diesel rig that may last an extra year or 3... and once again windows 7 ultimate or not? and i dont even know what some of the things are but essentially is this the entire list of things I need (aka im not missing a cooling system am i)

and is the processor at 2.66 not 2.8 or 3.2 going to hold me back... i am totally fine with spending a litle more if its WORTH it getting that extra .34 ghz
def need a cooling system and case.... any suggestions for this setup

also this setup has like 12gb ram on 3 slots i believe... is that overkill... my tech buddy said you can get all this crazy stuff but odds are you are never going to be using half of it half the time... (im just going to be gaming but i want it maxed out and running perfectly smooth constantly) and mentioned the solid state hard drive stores the data that gets sent to it if theres an overload in the RAM yatta yatta....

thanks again!

 

[sirmonkey1985]

hopefully some one moves this down to the general hardware forum where you will get a lot more help from people that regularly post in that section..

but as far as what you picked out.. if your going single gpu i recommend getting the GTX 480 instead of the 470..

also if you have a microcenter near you.. even if its 30-40 miles away i recommend getting the i7 920 there instead of off newegg.. they regularly have the 920 selling at 200 dollars or less.. i wouldnt worry about the processor stock speeds.. all the i7's overclock insanely easy so you can make up for the difference in performance.. that processor should have no problem doing 3.8ghz..

also if your already buying an SSD id recommend looking into maybe the WD 640GB drives.. they have the same performance as the old WD 150GB raptors but have double the storage of the 300GB VR even though they are a little slower..

but those are just my suggestions.. should get better help in the general hardware section if a mod is nice enough to move the thread..

 

[woody75]

I'd save a bit on RAM and go with either 6 gig total or do 6X2 instead of 3X4. That will save about $400-500 for option 1 or $300-400ish on option 2.

 

[Matrices]

To be honest, if you no idea how to assemble a computer, let alone any clue about any of the relevant parts, just buy a gaming PC from ibuypower.com or some place like that. People learn to build computers by researching, observing, and starting off with small upgrades. A $2k high-end computer is not where you want to start doing this.

 

[Dangman]

Combined your two posts to save time.

Whats the difference between i7 with 2.8 ghz and 3.2 and does that difference truly matter? Obv I would want the 3.2 but I am not sure if that will push me over the $2400 mark for no big improvement when I could have spent that extra 300$ or whatever on RAM
............
and is the processor at 2.66 not 2.8 or 3.2 going to hold me back... i am totally fine with spending a litle more if its WORTH it getting that extra .34 ghz

Don't bother spending the extra cash for a 3.2Ghz Core i7. Not worth the extra csh at all for that 400Mhz clock increase. Stick with the Core i7 930 (Not 920) and you'll be set.

one friend believes i should get windows 7 ULTIMATE not the basic one...

Ask your friend what exactly does Windows 7 Ultimate have that would benefit a gaming PC over a Windows 7 Home. I'm willing to bet he won't have a solid answer. Stick with Windows 7 Home 64bit.

and as far as video card ... I have NO idea... i read the forums but its truly difficult to decide which really intelligent poster is RIGHT... I want dual cards that are top of the line nvidia.... that are just POWERFUL mofos for gaming...

and I would like wild RAM to support it...
.............
also this setup has like 12gb ram on 3 slots i believe... is that overkill... my tech buddy said you can get all this crazy stuff but odds are you are never going to be using half of it half the time... (im just going to be gaming but i want it maxed out and running perfectly smooth constantly) and mentioned the solid state hard drive stores the data that gets sent to it if theres an overload in the RAM yatta yatta....

Just a FYI, unless you're running multiple MMORPG clients at the same time, there's really no benefit in gaming from 12GB of RAM. 4GB to 6GB of RAM is more than enough for the vast majority of gaming rigs out there. So your tech buddy was right.

so heres a starting point!
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...Number=9713809

That setup sucks for the money, performance, and quality. I would not get that build unless it was free.

Is this setup with a dual video card or do i Need a quantity of 2 next to that and is the GTX 470 good... is the 460 good neough for much cheaper or is the 480 better enough to spend on for a diesel rig that may last an extra year or 3... and once again windows 7 ultimate or not? and i dont even know what some of the things are but essentially is this the entire list of things I need (aka im not missing a cooling system am i)

First and foremost: WHAT MONITOR DID YOU BUY? As in, exact model and size number please. The answer to that question determines which video cards you need

And contact a mod to move this thread over to the General Hardware subforum. We're use to dealing with noobies and full on system builds over there.

 

[Dangman]

Looks like the OP has already made a new thread over in General Hardware:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1534148

I think it's safe to say this thread can be locked now.

 

[vietkangta]

"I want to spend between 1800-2400 bucks on a gaming computer and i wana make sure these parts work together and theres enough power to run it and its got a cooling system etc"

Go here http://www.digitalstormonline.com. Problem solved. You don't even need to run the risk of building the computer yourself, since you have 1800-2400 in cash to blow on a computer. Might as well get a prebuilt.