$4000 Budget Gaming Rig - Need Help

[ziplocc]

Ziplocc: Were you speaking towards me?..or?..the op?..lol..could go both ways =P.

I agree with you that if a rig is going to last you a while you should put as much money into it as you want. But asking for advice and just ignoring it is unacceptable. There has been so much valuable information that he's received, but he just ignores it. With the current state of technology, such as the new mid range offering JUST BARELY high end performance, with the 9800 a few months off, and nehalem due at years end (with a massive performance increase may I add), it just makes it ludicrous to buy the parts he is buying. two 8800 Ultra's?...you can save almost 800 dollars by just nabbing two G92 GT/GTS's..It will offer nearly the same performance for 800 dollars less, You might get 2-30 frames less depending on the titles, but does 20 frames really mean everything in a game where you're already getting 180 fps?...I'd bet the difference in crysis is just a measly FPS, around 2-4. Also to spend so much on ultras when the 9800 is close is insane. Investing so much into a rig that will lose upgradability at years end is also a concern...

It's his money....He can do with it what he wishes. I just dislike the fact that he was asking for advice and disregarded it since he was fixed on a system he had in mind, I don't mind having discussions with individuals who have opinions. But when someone is completely opinionated...and asking for advice..is a completely different story.

Very well-stated!

PS. As far as the discretionary parts, entirely @ the OP! - I understand you're probably doing CAD or similar hardware-intensive work that completely justifies your purchases (if not for the planned-purchase timing alone - which is excellent at that)..

 

[F34R1355]

can't quote what I am commenting to, but if you go back a page.
What I said makes sense. I said according to you Dell and Alienware use these components. I go on to say that they don't.
What you say makes no sense. You say they use these parts that is how you know they perform. Then you say that you want to use these parts so that you can build it cheaper and make it faster. If you use the same part the outcome theoretically is the same. (I do not say exact as that is impossible to do.)

 

[AdamJ]

For mouse and keyboard go here www.razerzone.com get the deathadder or the habu or the lachesis. for keyboard get the tarantula, lycosa or reclusa. for mousepad go here www.everglide.com get the everglide monstermat dkt edition. for AV protection get NOD32 www.eset.com. monitor just find one with a low response time(ms) and good contrast ratio and **** like that.

 

[F34R1355]

Kaspersky is a good anti-virus.

 

[monsterrocks]

Indeed, having photoshop, premiere, and after effects open at the same time takes a lot of system resources. I constantly have to mask, apply visual effects, and many other tasks simultaneous. Can't wait till I get that quad to make everything easier....ATM I'm planning for two sets of 2x2 kits. xp 64 bit and vista 64 bit (I'll be working in XP, vista is just for experience, DX10, and pertyness). I just have to make sure I pick up the best overclockable 2x2 modules. 2x2 is still fairly young in terms of IC's...So it's kinda hard to nab some with great overclockability in a 4 stick system. Thankfully I'm waiting till February/March..So I have time to read up on every single one available more thoroughly.

OCZ just came out with a good 8Gb kit. You do video editing and photoshop, so I am sure you know every lit bit there counts. By the way, that nice long post you put up...I couldn't have said it better myself. Here is a tweaktown article on the RAM. I have had great experience OCing with OCZ in the past, but with the rigs you build, you probably have a lot more experience with different brand than I do. ANyway, here is the link:
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/8614/index.html
It doesn't say anything about the price though, so it might be much more cost effective to do two 2x2Gb kits...just thought that the article might help.

 

[Kamrooz]

OCZ just came out with a good 8Gb kit. You do video editing and photoshop, so I am sure you know every lit bit there counts. By the way, that nice long post you put up...I couldn't have said it better myself. Here is a tweaktown article on the RAM. I have had great experience OCing with OCZ in the past, but with the rigs you build, you probably have a lot more experience with different brand than I do. ANyway, here is the link:
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/8614/index.html
It doesn't say anything about the price though, so it might be much more cost effective to do two 2x2Gb kits...just thought that the article might help.

Indeed I will be going with 8gigs of ram, but probably not gonna pick up those OCZ modules. I make sure I purchase based on the IC's used in the modules as well. Here's a nice site for future use for you..

http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/

Unfortunately, they can use D9GMH/D9GKX IC's due to chip densities for the 2gb modules. But I try to stick with micron whenever possible. Normally I'd go straight for D9GMH/D9GKX, but since they don't have that flavor in 2x2's..I'll have to research around and see the strengths and weaknesses for the other micron 2x2 ic's.

 

[StevieD]

Way 2 go dude....we is in the same boat.......... And not only that, Im trying to talk her into letting us have a young nanny also 😍 ....but she is not liking that idea 2 well she is claiming that I want a nanny for one reason.... 😀

Wow, I wish I had thought of a nanny. Only problem is the kids are grown way past the nanny stage. Maybe the W won't mind "doin another one" and then I could justify the nanny.

 

[monsterrocks]

Indeed I will be going with 8gigs of ram, but probably not gonna pick up those OCZ modules. I make sure I purchase based on the IC's used in the modules as well. Here's a nice site for future use for you..

http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/

Unfortunately, they can use D9GMH/D9GKX IC's due to chip densities for the 2gb modules. But I try to stick with micron whenever possible. Normally I'd go straight for D9GMH/D9GKX, but since they don't have that flavor in 2x2's..I'll have to research around and see the strengths and weaknesses for the other micron 2x2 ic's.

Thanks for that site...I can't tell you how many times I have needed something like that before, so that link helped a lot. I hope you end up finding your RAM that you need sometime. Once again, thanks!

 

[neoxblu1]

It I have to update than I will, If it takes spending another 3 grand next year... not problem, ill want one of the fastest up to date of everything, and if you think im stupid cuz im wasting wen all new stuff are coming out, well than ill up date again mobo, video card, ram, w/e it takes.

 

[TemjinGold]

OP: A couple of things:

1) You mentioned you wanted something to basically stay cutting edge for 3 years. I can tell you I was in your state of mind ~10 years ago, all ready to spend a load of cash. One thing my pride learned the hard way is that you seek the impossible. No matter how much money you are will to throw into the rig, it will not stay cutting edge for more than a year.

2) You have a lot of money to spend and you want a nice rig but, as others have pointed out, you're not putting that money into the right place. Is extreme performance what you seek or simply parts to brag about? If you want extreme performance at any cost, you should look into a couple of MTRON SSD hard drives in Raid 0. These things are NOT cheap (~$2k per drive for 64gb) though, even for your budget. However, a rig is only as fast as its weakest link and conventional hard drives will ALWAYS be the weakest link in a decent rig.

3) For the type of money you don't mind spending, you are actually better served going Alienware or Falcon-Northwest. They will use the same types of parts that you are lusting after but the difference is they have the knowhow to OC stuff and set up fancy cooling systems that (from your posts) you don't seem to have. Yes they are a couple hundred more per system than building yourself but for someone like you, that shouldn't matter.

Anyway, I'm not here to judge or talk you out of anything as you are obviously a very different kind of customer than I am now. If you truly want to pursue this path, that's my best advice.

 

[sgunn911]

Man there sure are a lot of judgemental people here. Why call someone an idiot because they want to build their dream system? An idiot would be someone who just went out blindly and bought the most expensive parts without reserching first. This guy is obviously taking time to do just that by posting here for comments, comparing parts and configuring different systems.

There is something to be said for purchasing some components even if they are "overkill". How about buying a component that has more than what is needed now so that it can be used later when the technology catches up instead of having a useless part and having to buy a new component later when it can be used to it's full capability? Buying one expensive part sometimes can be better than buying two parts.

Secondly, $4,000 for a computer is nowhere near "flaunting your cash", I don't have any idea why any of you would think that. I have built dozens of computers for customers that made $4,000 look like a economy computer. Just about any of even the commercially built top end computers that are customized with the higher end parts will all run over $4,000, from HP, Dell, Alienware, Sony, etc. They all leave the $4k in the dust.

Maybe it's just me, but posting comments just to take a shot at someone and that has no value towards the subject of the post whatsoever is just ridiculous. Jealousy is an ugly thing and has no part on this website.

 

[Wanker79]

No, and idiot would be someone who neco's a thread that's been dead for 7 months.

 

[L1qu1d]

LOL