Gaming rig build ~$1000

G

GAMMA_BLADE

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 28, 2004
Messages
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I have $1000 maybe more to spend on a gaming rig. Suggestions? I haven't kept up with gaming rigs in a while.
 
2wiced said:
wait for the 9900gtx or new ATI card.
Click to expand...

Why? For $150 a factory overclocked 8800GT provides a huge percentage of what the current gen does, and there's no guarantee the next gen will be anything more than yet another incremental improvement of both vendors' existing lineup.

I just built a standby/aux/temp gaming box for $800 with that 8800GT (MSI's dual-slot solution), an intel E2180 OC'd to 2.6ghz (because I'm not feeling adventurous), DS3L mobo, 2GB ram, x-fi gamer, decent case, two 250gb hdd, dvd writer, etc. I did recycle an old PSU though. For less than $1k I don't feel pain at 1920x1080 in anything but Crysis, which won't run the way I want it to even if I spent $1200 on video cards alone.

If I had to do it again I'd have spent the extra $20 for an overclocked GTS because I'm anal that way, and probably spent another $50 on the CPU because even though I can't tell the difference between 1MB cache OC'd and 4MB it's another one of those obsessive/compulsive things.
 
Yeah have the mods move this thread over to General Hardware. You'll get better/more advice there.
 
For a case/mobo/gpu/cpu/ram/cpu-HSF of about $710, take a look @ my saved "wishlist": http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=7368772
Case: CM RC-690 from svc.com for $70(same price as the 590 on newegg).
Mobo: EP35-DS3R - P35 chipset, $130.
Gpu: OC'd MSI 88GTS - $225, has $30 MIR. XFX 88GTS(stock 650mhz core) - $240 w/ free shipping, has $20 MIR. EVGA KO 88GTS - $240, has $30 MIR. BFG 88GTS - $255, has $30 MIR.
Cpu: Intel E8400 wolfdale - $200 w/ free shipping right now. Who knows, maybe you want a quad.
Ram: WINTEC AmpX cas 4 - $45. Replaced former G.Skill that went back to $87(IR went away).
Cpu Hsf: Xigmatek HDT-S1283 - $37 tower heatsink comes with 120mm fan which cools nearly as good as a TRUE.
Idk why but I have the AC MX-2 Thermal Paste on there, I might buy that even though of all this I just have the Xigmatek right now($100 or so short of me being able to buy all of this right now).
-----GA-P35-DS3L for $90 - Alternate mobo if you don't need the EP35-DS3R's features and out of the box wolfdale support.
------Corsair XMS2 cas 4 - $69 but has $40 MIR. Alternate, more popular ram choice for DDR2-800 cas 4 ram.
 
The DS3R is a good mobo, but if you don't need the added features over the DS3L, the two overclock the same.

MSIs factory OC'd cards are ugly, they frequently run too hot for my taste. Also MSIs warranty service isn't nearly as good as that of XFX, BFG or EVGA. I suggest an 8800GT (akimbo maybe) from one of the three affordmentioned companies.

Getting a 45nm dual core would be nice, but I just dont know if you can fit it in the budget. an E8300 maybe? If not, drop down to an E6550.

picking ram is just a mess. Pricing is irratic, there are far too many different types for me to keep track of. There are memory gurus out there and if you hang around on the memory subforum they'll point you in the direction of the stuff that clocks the best.

heatsink/fan unit is up to you. the AC Freezer 7 pro is an old standard and at $20 its a pretty good buy.

also, the new cards from ATI and Nvidia really do look pretty awesome. The HD4870 is looking to outperform the current HD3870 by a factor of 2, and the current rumored MSRP is $300. Its due out for Computex which is early June. Nvidia has a counter which is the GT200 and/or the G92b (a shrink to the G92) which will probably cover the cost spectrum from top to bottom. The GT200 is a wild card at this point. I've seen speculation that its another dual GPU solution, I've seen speculation that its some massivly powerful new core all together. Something (maybe both, maybe one) is going to be on sale by the end of augest for Nvision 2008.

GPU review has the estimated hard numbers on the HD4870. Here they are compared to those of an 8800GT. One thing to note is that it is rumored that the ROP design was broken on the R600 and RV670 forcing some ROP functions, namely AA and AF, to be done on the General purpose shaders. Even when AA and AF are turned off this could have hurt performance significantly. If the RV770 does indeed have a fixed architecture then presumably none of that massive 1000GFLOPS of shader computational power will be wasted. This would 1FLOP on an Nvidia GPU will be the same as 1FLOP on an ATI GPU, meaning, the HD4870 could well outperform the 8800GT by a factor of 3 in shader intensive apps. Again, to see that performance gain you would have to be looking through some seriously red colored goggles.
 
Edited my (above) post to include mobo link for DS3L, and Wintec $45 and Corsair ram. The price of my main choice of 6 products(and thermal paste) is just over $700. Remember to never go for an overclocked GPU over a higher-end non-OC'd GPU, for example if you have @ least $180-190 to spend on a GPU, go for @ least a 88GT of any kind rather than a OC'd 9600GT. That's why I'm going for an 88GT/S for around $220, we can always OC ourselves. I also added links to XFX's 650mhz core 88GTS, EVGA's KO 88GTS, and BFG's 88GTS.
 
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