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Netskimmer

New Member
Sorry to double post but people in other threads keep saying that a good gaming PC will cost between $1,500 and $2,000. I think one or two people went as high as $2,500. At this point my setup will cost about $3,000, am I going overboard on my rig?
 

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
Sorry to double post but people in other threads keep saying that a good gaming PC will cost between $1,500 and $2,000. I think one or two people went as high as $2,500. At this point my setup will cost about $3,000, am I going overboard on my rig?

That's a matter of opinion. I spent $3,700 + on my rig. You could eliminate the Raptor. Eliminate the watercooling. Eliminate the retail copy of Ultimate and get the OEM. What do you want to spend? I'll take a look at your config and see if we can cut corners. :)
 

Netskimmer

New Member
I think I'm just nervous, the only two things on this list that are very expensive in my opinion would be the monitor and VGA card and skimping on those in a gaming rig just makes no sense. As for the new card, all the Ultras seem to run uncomfortably hot but I guess that is to be expected, this one seems to run a little hotter due to factory OC. I'm assuming that if I remove the stock cooler in favor of wc it would void the warranty but it may be worth it in this instance.
 

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
I think I'm just nervous, the only two things on this list that are very expensive in my opinion would be the monitor and VGA card and skimping on those in a gaming rig just makes no sense. As for the new card, all the Ultras seem to run uncomfortably hot but I guess that is to be expected, this one seems to run a little hotter due to factory OC. I'm assuming that if I remove the stock cooler in favor of wc it would void the warranty but it may be worth it in this instance.

It's hard to spend $3,000 on a PC - I understand that. I'm not a frivilous spender. I tried to keep my costs as low as possible, BUT, I didn't want to settle for less. Fortunately, my build didn't break me financially.

It's up to you. You're gonna find budget builders that think you're insane for spending that kind of money on a PC. Like I said - it's a matter of opinion.
 

b3rt_d4ni3l

New Member
Well, if you are don't like spending too much, you can try cutting a few things to bring the cost down.

If I may suggest a few things, don't buy everything at one time. Watercooling set can wait until you are more comfortable with your computer rather than doing everything at the same time and ended up losing everything (because of improper set up).

It is true that new quad-core processor is coming out but that does not mean you have to get it to be able to play the latest games. Sure everyone wants the latest and the best but unfortunately sometimes our money couldn't keep up.

That being said, the build in my sig would be more than sufficient to play all the latest games in high settings if not semi-high. Otherwise, if you rather stick to your build then I would say couple of things need to be improved, namely:

- the RAM, DDR2-800 rams are fine. Get the one with 4-4-4-12 timing is you need performance. Example:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145034

- SLI is not really needed. Performance gain is not that much but if you really want it that is fine.

- Intel Q6600 is fine for now and it should last you for 3-4 years I believe. As I said just now, you don't have to have the new quad core. They would also be quite expensive when they come out.

- Get Arctic Silver 5 rather than that thermal paste you listed in your build.

- For sound card, Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer would do just fine.

- For the OS, I would say just get the OEM version. The difference between OEM and retail is just the fact that retail will get you both 32-bit and 64-bit version of the OS. Nothing more, nothing less (retail got the pretty box too, I guess if you really wanna say :D :D). And looking at the fact that you only buying 2GB of RAM get the 32-bit OS then.

- I didn't see an optical drive listed other than the ASUS DVD-ROM. You are better off with a DVD burner I would say and one is enough unless you want to burn a DVD while playing games at the same time. :D

- As for the watercooling setup, I would say hold off to that until you got all your parts assembled and working nicely. I understand that you need to dis-assemble it again when you need to install the watercooling setup and I am sure you want to skip the hassle.

- For the raptor, I leave it up to you. People can get into an all out debate about the price vs. performance of raptor and it will end up confusing you. So which ever you like.


You could use my rig in the sig for reference. It cost about roughly $1700 w/o MIR and the accessories like Physics card and keyboard and mouse.

Hope this helps you. :)

Cheers, mate!

P.S. compare the prices between newegg and clubit because sometimes one would be cheaper than the other when shipping is taken into account.

P.S.S. Sorry for the extremely long post :D :D
 

Netskimmer

New Member
How did I know that 5 min after I made my purchases someone was going to make a new post? [sigh] Well, I have everything but the VGA water block, the Swift Tech website wasn't displaying the proper totals when I went to check out so I think I'll just get one somewhere else. I did switch to the Arctic 5 paste. We'll see how the E4500 OCs, if I don't like it I'll just upgrade as I planned to before. As or the rest of it, thanks for trying, it's just my luck.:rolleyes:

I had thought about getting the system up and running before I install the water cooling. How much of a pain would it be to clean the old thermal paste/padding from the CPU if I run it with the stock cooler at first?
 

taylormsj

New Member
I havent read the whole thread but ive seen you looking at an ultra, id suggest getting the cheapest GTX, and try overcllocking it a lil bit, the performance gain cant be worth the extra money in my opinion
 

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
I had thought about getting the system up and running before I install the water cooling. How much of a pain would it be to clean the old thermal paste/padding from the CPU if I run it with the stock cooler at first?

Use an alcohol pad to clean the TP.

I'm curious. After reading the lengthy post above, do you regret you're decision? :eek: :p
 

b3rt_d4ni3l

New Member
How did I know that 5 min after I made my purchases someone was going to make a new post? [sigh] Well, I have everything but the VGA water block, the Swift Tech website wasn't displaying the proper totals when I went to check out so I think I'll just get one somewhere else. I did switch to the Arctic 5 paste. We'll see how the E4500 OCs, if I don't like it I'll just upgrade as I planned to before. As or the rest of it, thanks for trying, it's just my luck.:rolleyes:

I had thought about getting the system up and running before I install the water cooling. How much of a pain would it be to clean the old thermal paste/padding from the CPU if I run it with the stock cooler at first?


Sorry I typed slow... lol :p
If you already buy it, then don't worry about it, mate! :)
You're going to have one beast of a rig!! :D :D :D

Cleaning the thermal paste is pretty easy. Make sure you use a lint-free cloth (like the one to clean for your glasses) and some alcohol (not the one you drink but something with high percentage... can't remember the number exactly)

Good luck putting it together!

P.S. Post the pics when you are done... I wanna see it. :D :D :D
 

Netskimmer

New Member
I have good news! My bank wouldn't let paypal withdraw that much money from my account so newegg voided the purchase. I know I have far more than I spent in that account, I double checked to be sure after I got the email, but I rarely spend so much at once so I assume its a fraud protection kind of thing. The bank is closed for the day so I'll have to call the bank tomorrow and make sure but I can't imagine what else it could be. I'll probably have to just authorize such a large payment before I make the purchase. In the mean time lets look at the parts in question.

I guess I'll just go with the eXtreme Gamer ed. like Bert suggests.

I'll stick with the raptor.

As for the OS, is there no advantage to getting the 64bit considering I'll have a 64bit CPU? I was also thinking in terms of future upgrades as 64bit will be inevitable at some point.

If I should avoid SLI, should I try to find a mobo that doesn't support it but is still good quality and good for OC or would the price difference between the two be negligible?

Should I go with a smaller power supply if I'm not going SLI down the road?

There is also a debate as to whether I should go with a GTX or Ultra. I've read that the ultras aren't just supped up GTXs, that they have better chip sets. Will an OC GTX give me enough performance to run games wide open? I don't mind paying extra but only if the cost is worth the performance increase and the games will actually use the better card to it's fullest so the performance is not going to waste.

Mem: OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227178
145.99
vs
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16820145034
98.00

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115031
$129.99
vs
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping Kentsfield 2.40GHz
http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1938460
$267.99

P.S. the q6600 on clubit is oem so if I get that one I won't be able to build the system without installing the WC.
 

taylormsj

New Member
A GTX will run your games no probs, as far as im aware its identical, the same chip, as an ULTRA, although ultra is overclcoked more and maybe the stream processor overclcoked too. Id go for a cheaper GTX
 

b3rt_d4ni3l

New Member
Good for you, Netskimmer!! :D

As of now, the only advantage of using 64-bit is the ability to use more than 3GB of RAM as a 32-bit OS can only recognize up to 3.12GB. Otherwise, there might be some compatibility issues also with 64-bit OS especially with older games.

Comparing the RAMs, I would get the Corsair one. The performance of DDR2 1066 RAM is not that significant compared to DDR2 800 RAM. And after the rebate, the Corsair RAM will come down a lot.

If you are going with q6600 processor, you would need to buy HSF. The one I have (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro) is going for $19.99 in NewEgg.

You could hold off altogether for the watercooling if you want while saving some money.

As for not going for SLI, you have several options:
1. Keep the current mobo so that always have that option open whenever you see the need to go SLI.

2. Change your mobo to one of GIGABYTE's P35 mobo. The one I am talking about is the GA-P35-DS3R (the one that I have). Changing to this would bring down the total cost of your computer.

Another note about SLI is if you are going there thinking that you can just SLI when your GPU is not that strong to play games anymore, chances are there are a single GPU out there that can beat your SLI config. What I am saying is that judging at the rate new gadgets come out lately, by the time you need go SLI there are better GPU out there that can outperform your SLI config (kinda repeating myself there :p). In the end, you ended up always buying 2 of the latest cards just to make sure your comp is capable of handling the games.

EDIT: Another long post from me... :eek: :eek:
 

oscaryu1

VIP Member
I have good news! My bank wouldn't let paypal withdraw that much money from my account so newegg voided the purchase. I know I have far more than I spent in that account, I double checked to be sure after I got the email, but I rarely spend so much at once so I assume its a fraud protection kind of thing. The bank is closed for the day so I'll have to call the bank tomorrow and make sure but I can't imagine what else it could be. I'll probably have to just authorize such a large payment before I make the purchase. In the mean time lets look at the parts in question.

I guess I'll just go with the eXtreme Gamer ed. like Bert suggests.

I'll stick with the raptor.

As for the OS, is there no advantage to getting the 64bit considering I'll have a 64bit CPU? I was also thinking in terms of future upgrades as 64bit will be inevitable at some point.

If I should avoid SLI, should I try to find a mobo that doesn't support it but is still good quality and good for OC or would the price difference between the two be negligible?

Should I go with a smaller power supply if I'm not going SLI down the road?

There is also a debate as to whether I should go with a GTX or Ultra. I've read that the ultras aren't just supped up GTXs, that they have better chip sets. Will an OC GTX give me enough performance to run games wide open? I don't mind paying extra but only if the cost is worth the performance increase and the games will actually use the better card to it's fullest so the performance is not going to waste.

Mem: OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227178
145.99
vs
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16820145034
98.00

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115031
$129.99
vs
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping Kentsfield 2.40GHz
http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1938460
$267.99

P.S. the q6600 on clubit is oem so if I get that one I won't be able to build the system without installing the WC.

Memory link down, and the price for the XMS2 is horrible!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145590 <- way cheaper, and same thing

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341002 <- Go with that power supply
 

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
A GTX will run your games no probs, as far as im aware its identical, the same chip, as an ULTRA, although ultra is overclcoked more and maybe the stream processor overclcoked too. Id go for a cheaper GTX

Keep the Ultra. It's much faster than the GTX, and not much more expensive.
 

Netskimmer

New Member
The water cooling system is already paid for, everything else is up in the air though. If I'm sticking with 32bit should I get Vista or XP?

The ram and ps oscary suggests look good...

If I am not going SLI I don't see why I couldn't go with the gigabyte mobo as long as it can support the 45nm chips should I want to upgrade later and has descent oc ability.
 

oscaryu1

VIP Member
The water cooling system is already paid for, everything else is up in the air though. If I'm sticking with 32bit should I get Vista or XP?

The ram and ps oscary suggests look good...

If I am not going SLI I don't see why I couldn't go with the gigabyte mobo as long as it can support the 45nm chips should I want to upgrade later and has descent oc ability.

An P31-DS3L or P35-DS3L support 45nm processors and are at an great price right now! Your choice. Vista is getting better, and XP is the same.
 

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
If I'm sticking with 32bit should I get Vista or XP?

Get Vista. Get the OEM if you do not plan to install a 64 bit OS. Currently, the only advantage to a 64 bit OS is the ability to install above 3GB of memory.

The ram and ps oscary suggests look good...

The RAM is good. Many argue that SLi is only useful when running resolutions above 24". You probably don't need it. If you're certain you do not want to run SLi, the PSU is good as well. OCZ is among the best.

I don't see why I couldn't go with the gigabyte mobo as long as it can support the 45nm chips should I want to upgrade later and has descent oc ability.

The Gigabyte board is highly recommended for those that do not want to run SLi. Click here for a good review of this board. It appears to OC pretty good. It does support 45nm chips.
 
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oscaryu1

VIP Member
Get Vista. Get the OEM if you do not plan to install a 64 bit OS. Currently, the only advantage to a 64 bit OS is the ability to install above 3GB of memory.



The RAM is good. Many argue that SLi is only useful when running resolutions above 24". You probably don't need it. If you're certain you do not want to run SLi, the PSU is good as well. OCZ is among the best.



The Gigabyte board is highly recommended for those that do not want to run SLi. Click here for a good review of this board. It is appears to OC pretty good. It does support 45nm chips.


64bit - 128GB
32bit - 3.25GB

SLi is not needed, you could just get an 2900 or something MADE for bigger resolutions.

Would you happen to have an link to that product mep? I'd like to see it.
 
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