gubity

I'm having a very hard time deciding on what gaming computer to buy. I'm looking to get the best gaming pc out right now, that will not be obsolete within the near future. I want to play every and any game smoothley. I was thinking of buying the xps 720 h2c, but it doesn't exactly have everything I want. The h2c's ram is 4gig ddr2 at 800mhz, If I'm going to drop this much money wouldn't I want 4 gig ddr3 at something like 1250mhz? I also want dual 8800ultras with quad processors 3.0ghz or higher, highest I can possibly find, only one hardrive 150gb 10,000rpm, and a blu-ray drive. I don't know much at all about computers, I would research for myself, but there are so many things to search about and I want my pc now. help me decide please - thank you

gubity

I'll take any suggestions, just pretend you are building your dream computer, but I'll but it and you don't get to use it

Kesava

do you want actual links to parts or just a good list of the things you will want?

and whats your budget?

__________________
Following my advice will harm your computer.
Cpu:Intel Q6600 2.4Ghz @ 3.4Ghz
Hsf:Zalman CNPS 9700 LED
Ram:Generic 2 Gb 800 Mhz
Gpu:XFX 8800 GT 512mb @ 700/1750/2000
Mobo:Gigabyte P31-DS3L
OS:OSX 10.5.2
3dMark06:13518
MSN=kesava8@hotmail.com
AIM=kesava8

tlarkin

Couple of myths and caveats of building a gaming rig, just so you know.

SLI - is a waste of money, your video card will be obsolete in 6 months or less. If you always want to be cutting edge, it is best to just get 1 high end card every 6 months to a year, rather than run SLI. Parallel processing mode, is nice with data throughput at times, but its not a constant better performance. You may benchmark higher, but real world performance in game, one 8800 versus 2x 8800s side by side comparison, you wouldn't really notice a difference.

RAID 0 - does nothing for games, makes your system less stable and higher prone to crashing. You lose one drive, your whole array fails. Buy one high end top speed hard drive for performance. Like a Raptor.

4 gigs of RAM - probably overkill, but RAM is not super expensive. So maxing it out wouldn't be a huge waste of money. If you run Vista, and load a video game, I doubt you would ever get close to maxing out that 4gig of RAM. If you did, that game is very poorly coded. Also, overclocked RAM, is a myth and a marketing scheme. RAM is pretty much RAM. I used to work for a systems builder and Microsoft reseller back in the day. I used to build gaming rigs for people who liked to blow $4,000 on a gaming rig. I saw all kinds of stability issues with over clocked RAM, which is why I'll never touch the stuff. Again, it may benchmark higher, but it doesn't perform any better in real time.

My advice to you is to get a decent processor, you don't need top end. A lot of crunching will be done by your gaming video card. So, like a quad core, 6600 or whatever from intel be fine, probably more than fine. Decent motherboard. I typically use Asus, because I have been using them for over a decade with little to no issues at all. Abit is good and I also have a MSI board that has treated me well. This comes down to some personal preference. If you go AMD, get a board with a VIA chipset, they tend to rock with AMD systems. Get one high end gaming card, this will be the bread and butter of your system. The new video cards are slated to come out after new years sometime (first quarter 08). You may want to hold off till then if you want the top of the line.

Power supplies, I typically only buy Antec. Been using them for over 10years with no issues. I never had an Antec go bad on me yet. I hear people give them some shaky reviews online now, but then again some people complain about dumb things in my opinion. Like the main power cable is too long? Ever hear of a zip tie?

Are you looking to build this or buy it?

Bradan

lol@via chipset. ur kidding?

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tlarkin

Nope, my AMD 64 3500+ w/ Asus motherboard and the VIA chipset is not only awesome, but got some good reviews across the board. My system is about 3 years old now though so it is out dated, and I will be building a new one come after the new years for Fallout 3 and Starcraft 2.

I have had good luck with VIA chipsets and AMD processors. They perform well and do not crash on me for janky driver support.

gubity

I'm looking to buy this system, because I have no clue about computers when it comes to building one and what everything actually is. The xps 720h2c was around $9000 with everything at max configuration plus a 30" dell monitor, my budget is $9000. I would rather be given a link to a website where I can build the pc. Thanks for all that information, helped me out alot. I don't know if I want to be buying a video card every 6 months, I really don't know what to do because I know better stuff is always going to be coming out and I don't want to be wasting my money, but I really want a high end gaming pc. money is only money i guess, you only live life once.

tlarkin

Good god man, your budget is $9,000? Dude, seriously, if you are that serious hire someone local to build one for you, be under half that. That also includes their labor.

For a top of the line gaming rig, I don't really see spending over $2000 on it, and to me that would be kind of high. You see all these gamers that all a lot of technologies like I listed, which don't actually perform better enough to constitute the price difference. It is not anywhere near the difference between a ford festiva and a Porsche. It would be more like the difference of a standard Porsche versus a Porsche fully loaded. Then again, cars aren't the best analogies for computers, but most people can at least related to cars.

Kesava

that monitor seems rather expensive.... is 1200 a normal price for a 30"?

__________________
Following my advice will harm your computer.
Cpu:Intel Q6600 2.4Ghz @ 3.4Ghz
Hsf:Zalman CNPS 9700 LED
Ram:Generic 2 Gb 800 Mhz
Gpu:XFX 8800 GT 512mb @ 700/1750/2000
Mobo:Gigabyte P31-DS3L
OS:OSX 10.5.2
3dMark06:13518
MSN=kesava8@hotmail.com
AIM=kesava8

gubity

Thanks for the links, but I'm looking for something a little better...thinking of buying this pc with max config. but only one video card? 8800ultra, I don't know