[darkphantom]

reading all the replies. If I'm thinking correctly, the OP is probably as lost as some of the other members reading this. I think we took it a bit overboard....however, you guys do have nice setups. I just need to send in this GTX280 for the step up to the GTX295 soon....it'll be hard without a PC for a week or two

However, I think Nvidia is releasing the GTX300+ soon along with the GTX290

[ragingclue]

Originally Posted by d_crome

Definitely agree - the new i7's are hit and miss depending on the stepping - the D0's are the ones to go for, where as a C0 doesn't have that overclocking headroom but it's still very solid.

Unfortunately it looks like Intel is reverting to it's old ways of locked chips and limiting overclocks (remember the old P2 and P3 days??) with the new i5 CPU's - and not only is it a new CPU, it's a new socket too - so you'll have 2 different sockets for 2 different CPUs....just more fuss and confusion.

It's really going to open the door for AMD again - just like they did back in the day with the Athalon XP chips - making them unlocked and a single socket so you COULD overclock and UPGRADE easily. All AMD need is just ONE good i7 equivalent chip - they've been playing catch-up for the past 3 or 4 years now since the conroe's came out - so now with Intel stepping off the accelerator as it were, there's a chance for AMD once again.

Competition is great for everybody - just look at where ATi are now since Nvidia slowed down - they're right back in the game.

Coolermaster do make some nice cases aswell, if you want an alternative to Antec that's definitely it.

I still think that for gaming anything beyond a C2Duo is overkill - a highly clocked dual core is all you need with a badboy of a GPU. Today you can get an E8400 for $120, an ASUS P45 MB for $80, 4 gig DDR2 for $20 - right there for $220 you have a serious gaming platform. Slap on a 4850 for $80 and you have quite a respectable gaming system - slap on a 4870 or GTX260 - you have a serious gaming system - slap on a 4890, 4850X2 or GTX285 and you're seriously not going to "NEED" an upgrade anytime soon.

1T HD's are $70, Blu-Ray $80, Case $50 (antec 300, CM690), a good 700W PSU (OCZ $60) and a nice 22-inch display ($130) and you have yourself all the PC that anybody will need.

Not bad for $690...

This is a good post for sure.

SOME games are starting to utilize more than two cores, but for the most part, an E8400 E0 (They are all E0 stepping now, thank God) at 4.0GHz will be more than enough. My favorite setup that I have is my E8600, which clocks very nicely. It's a bit pricey, and the E8400 and E8500 are better bang for your buck for sure. If you're OC'ing, the RAM is one thing that I would not skimp on for sure....

If you're going quad, but don't want to fork over the $$ quite for an LGA1366 system, go with the AM3. They're really AMD's best effort in quite a while, and you can get DDR3 support as well. DDR3 has come down a ton in price too.

Best advice would be to go to overclock.net, and do a whole bunch of research, look at recent build logs and proposed builds, and make your decisions based off of that. Truth is, just like these cars, it's all about what flavor you want and how much you're willing to spend. For under $1k, you can build a system that will fly through everything out there right now, and for $3k you could build a monster that is a few months further ahead.

Things you don't want to skimp on are the case, PS, and hard drive, simply because when it's time to upgrade the system in a year or two, more than likely these will still be great (especially the case). Mobos, procs, RAM, and GPU's come and go, but those other items can save you from having to build an entire new beast from scratch.

[d_crome]

Originally Posted by darkphantom

reading all the replies. If I'm thinking correctly, the OP is probably as lost as some of the other members reading this. I think we took it a bit overboard....however, you guys do have nice setups. I just need to send in this GTX280 for the step up to the GTX295 soon....it'll be hard without a PC for a week or two

However, I think Nvidia is releasing the GTX300+ soon along with the GTX290

Well - I do agree with you - however I believe the OP wanted a "bad ass gaming system" - and hence the craziness ensured!!!

Keep an eye out for the new 300 series from Nvidia - it may not be as good as hoped from what I'm reading.

[Heinzftw]

Originally Posted by d_crome

Well - I do agree with you - however I believe the OP wanted a "bad ass gaming system" - and hence the craziness ensured!!!

Keep an eye out for the new 300 series from Nvidia - it may not be as good as hoped from what I'm reading.

Back when I was in my teens I built computers from scratch for friends & family for $$$. It was my job while playing football and was pretty easy.

Marty i'm still waiting on how much you can sink into your rig

[marty_mcfly]

i already built the rig

antec 1200
intel i7 920
evga x58 sli
evga gtx 295
tagan 1100w psu
western digital 1tb hd

[darkphantom]

how much did you spend?

also, why not grab another 1TB and go raid 0?

the system I built for my brother is flawless just might be a bitch to get the raid drivers if your mobo didn't come with any

[marty_mcfly]

Originally Posted by darkphantom

how much did you spend?

also, why not grab another 1TB and go raid 0?

the system I built for my brother is flawless just might be a bitch to get the raid drivers if your mobo didn't come with any

i dont understand all that raid stuff

[darkphantom]

Originally Posted by marty_mcfly

i dont understand all that raid stuff

oye, don't be a wuss! you've gone this far, might as well do the extra step! anoter $70 won't hurt

[Heinzftw]

Originally Posted by marty_mcfly

i dont understand all that raid stuff

Get cables and a few other things and hook up the two IDENTICAL hard drives together under system enter RAID-0.

[d_crome]

Raid 0 = Two HD's or more with files spread OVER the two drives.

Benefits = Faster File Access.
Drawbacks = 1 Drive Fail means BOTH fail - data is spread over BOTH drives and you're now up the creek unless you have some good back ups.

Raid 1 = Two HD's or more with the SAME files on each drive.

Benefits = 1 HD fails, doesn't matter, you have mirror copy on your other drive, redundancy is your friend.
Drawbacks = Loss of capacity - i.e. you have 2 1T HD's, but now only 1T of storage as they are BOTH the same HD.

With HD's cheap as can be these days, Raid 1 is the way to go - the speed of Raid 0 but without the risk.

[ragingclue]

Originally Posted by d_crome

Raid 0 = Two HD's or more with files spread OVER the two drives.

Benefits = Faster File Access.
Drawbacks = 1 Drive Fail means BOTH fail - data is spread over BOTH drives and you're now up the creek unless you have some good back ups.

Raid 1 = Two HD's or more with the SAME files on each drive.

Benefits = 1 HD fails, doesn't matter, you have mirror copy on your other drive, redundancy is your friend.
Drawbacks = Loss of capacity - i.e. you have 2 1T HD's, but now only 1T of storage as they are BOTH the same HD.

With HD's cheap as can be these days, Raid 1 is the way to go - the speed of Raid 0 but without the risk.

And I believe RAID 5 offers striping to improve performance, along with the redundancy offered with RAID 1. I'm not sure but I think you have to have 3 identical drives to run that setup.

[d_crome]

True - but given a 1T can be had for as little as $70 these days, that's not bad at all.

[darkphantom]

I don't think I've ever had a hard drive fail on me......ok maybe once....but that was a 8yr old piece of shit that was60GB with a bent pin...