Help bring me down to Earth, please

[Q-BZ]

I'll preface this with, yes I know I can save a lot of money if I build it myself.

That being said, I know my skills are lacking as is my time.

I'm willing to pay within reason because good work, craftsmanship, and labor (especially vs. what I can do) are well worth it to me.

Here are some configs I've been messing with and I'd ideally like to upgrade before too long to start enjoying the new games.

I'm working off a 4 year old AGP based system.


Here's the ridiculous fantasy through the roof system that I know I really shouldn't even consider seriously:

GAMING PC, Core 2 Duo DDR2 Gaming System $4359.76 (?!?)


INTEL, Core™ 2 Extreme QX9650 Quad-Core, (awesome but dang expensive! )

# ARCTIC COOLING, MX-2 High-Performance Thermal Compound, Non-Electrical Conductive
# SERVICE, Overclocking, Quad-Core CPU, 10-20% Performance Increase
# ASETEK, LCLC CPU Liquid Cooling System, Socket LGA775/AM2, OEM
# AVA, Coolant, Pitch Black
# GIGABYTE, GA-P35C-DS3R, LGA775, Intel P35, 1333MHz FSB, DDR2/DDR3-1066 8GB/4GB 4/2, PCIe x16, SATA 3Gb/s RAID 5 /8, HDA, GbLAN, ATX, Retail
# CORSAIR, 4GB (4 x 1GB) XMS2 Dominator PC2-9136 DDR2 1142MHz CL5 (5-5-5-15) 2.1V SDRAM 240-pin DIMM, Non-ECC, Heatsink
# eVGA, e-GeForce™ 8800 GT KO 675MHz, 512MB GDDR3 1950MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, DVI /2, HDTV/S-Video Out, Retail
# WESTERN DIGITAL, 150GB WD Raptor® X, SATA 150MB/s, 10000 RPM, 16MB cache
# RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives
# MITSUMI, Black Internal 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive
# LITE-ON, LH-20A1L Black/Beige 20x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner w/ LightScribe, SATA, Retail
# COOLERMASTER, CM Stacker 832 (RC-832) Black Tower Case, EATX, No PSU, Aluminum
# CASE FAN, NON-LED, Fans Maximum Package, Low Noise
# SCYTHE, Kama-Meter 4-Channel Fan Controller Panel, 5.25" Bay, Silver/Black/White
# CUSTOM WIRING, Split Loom Wire Management with Round Cables, Black
# THERMALTAKE, Toughpower 850W Power Supply w/ Modularized Cable Management, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, Quad +12V, Quad SLI Approved
# MICROSOFT, Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 64-bit, OEM

I know. I had a good laugh doing that, especially when I saw how much that 9650 added to the price!






Here's something a little more realistic:

QTY UNIT PRICE TOTAL
+ GAMING PC, Core 2 Duo SLI Gaming System 1 $3012.40 $3012.40

# INTEL, Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 Quad-Core (SLACR G0 stepping), 2.4GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB (2 x 4MB) L2 Cache, 65nm, 95W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail

# ARCTIC SILVER, Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound, Polysynthetic Silver

# SERVICE, Overclocking, Quad-Core CPU, 10-20% Performance Increase

# ASETEK, LCLC CPU Liquid Cooling System, Socket LGA775/AM2, OEM

# eVGA, nForce 680i SLI 775 T1, LGA775, nForce 680i SLI, 1333MHz FSB, DDR2-1200 8GB /4, PCIe x16 SLI /2, SATA 3Gb/s RAID 0+1 /6, HDA, GbLAN /2, FW, ATX, Retail

I may still go for a P35 or X38 board instead of this regardless of anything else.

# CORSAIR, 4GB (4 x 1GB) XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500 DDR2 1066MHz CL5 (5-5-5-15) 2.1V SDRAM 240-pin DIMM, Non-ECC, Heatsink

# eVGA, e-GeForce™ 8800 GT KO 675MHz, 512MB GDDR3 1950MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, DVI /2, HDTV/S-Video Out, Retail

# eVGA, e-GeForce™ 8800 GT KO 675MHz, 512MB GDDR3 1950MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, DVI /2, HDTV/S-Video Out, Retail

Obviously I'd only get one card if I go with a P35 or x38.

# WESTERN DIGITAL, 150GB WD Raptor®, SATA 150MB/s, 10000 RPM, 16MB cache

# RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives

# MITSUMI, Black Internal 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive

# LITE-ON, SHD-16S1S Black 16x48x DVD-ROM Drive, SATA, OEM

# COOLERMASTER, CM Stacker 832 Black Tower Case, EATX, No PSU, Aluminum, SLI Certified

# CASE FAN, NON-LED, Fans Maximum Package, Low Noise

# SCYTHE, Kama-Meter 4-Channel Fan Controller Panel, 5.25" Bay, Silver/Black/White

# CUSTOM WIRING, Split Loom Wire Management with Round Cables, Black

# LOGISYS, Dual Cold Cathode Case Lights Kit, Blue

# THERMALTAKE, Toughpower 750W Power Supply w/ Modularized Cable Management, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, Quad +12V, SLI Ready / CrossFire Certified

# MICROSOFT, Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 32-bit, OEM

^^ There's a few things on that config I'm not sure about, not the least of which is: I think I'd probably skip SLI and get a P35 or x38 Intel board and get one 8800GT or something like that.

I'd rather spend the money on one great card.

I was looking at AVA Direct, Velocity Micro, and Digital Storm, among others.

My 4 year old AGP system was an Alienware that has really done well by me. Back then I had a friend that worked there and that helped the pricing a bit.


Basically I'm all over the place and I don't know where to land and more importantly: When.

I need to sound off on folks and break this whole thing down. I'm suffering from information overload.

Thanks for your time.

 

[leSLIe]

the question here is how much are u willing to wast... ergh... spend, yes spend.
Do u have enough dough?

 

[Q-BZ]

the question here is how much are u willing to wast...

Probably true. I know it doesn't take much to cross that line.

ergh... spend, yes spend.

LOL, I think you got it right the first time!

Honestly? I'm trying to find the sweet spots here on some of this for performance/value for the dollar.

South of 3 grand would be ideal. That's why that first config was laughable fantasy.

2 grand or less would make me ecstatic.

I'm considering all options from refurbed Dell Precison 390's on up to the kinds of things I set up in my first post.

Do u have enough dough?

To a certain point, yes.

My primary goal is gaming. I know I want quad core and something like the 8800GT looks like the perfect "sweet spot" videocard for me to jump on to.

Heck, who am I kidding? Any of this stuff out today is leaps ahead of my realible but aged 4 year old AGP system. Way too easy to overthink this stuff!

 

[ashmedai]

Craftsmanship isn't really an issue with PC building since it's basically assembly work. Custom modding is a different story, of course.

Even if you've never built a computer before - if you're not completely useless mechanically, you should be able to do it. A good guide can help you through it, but it's largely a matter of "glance at manuals, plug things into the only place they fit." There are often two video card slots and four memory slots, and you should populate them in a specific order, also if you're using a PS/2 keyboard or mouse you need to keep those ports straight. That's very nearly all there is to it.

Very general build:

Q6600 & overclock it
1x2GB or 2x2GB of memory. CPU clock is key, so there's no real reason to go after pricey memory.
EVGA 8800GT or 8800GTX depending on budget.
SLI-capable motherboard if you want that as an upgrade option later.
Hard drive. Raptor + larger data drive if you want to be fancy about it.
Corsair HX620W power supply or similar

Many variations on this abound, especially in the GH section. I would also look at using a chunk of that budget on a nice large display, 24" or so (unless you already have this ).