$4000 Budget Gaming Rig - Need Help

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Case: Thermaltake Armour Series Full Tower Silver
PSU: ???
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X35-DQ6 (Might wait for 780i; GA-780SLI-DQ6)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme Yorksfield QX9650
Memory: 2x Corsair Dominator DDR2 800MHz (2x 1GB) 3-4-3-9
GPU: BFG Nvidia 8800GT or GTX (If I get 780i Ill make it SLI)
Hard Drive: 2x Western Digital RaptorX 150GB 10K RPM, 16MB Cache
Optical: ???
OS: Windows XP Professional 64-Bit

And any reccemendations for cooling?


Also, should how do I put the hard drives in Raid? Als should I put them in raid? I've heard that if one of the heard drives fails so does the other? And if I do go raid which do I choose? Raid 0, Raid 1?
 
Nvidia to launch nForce 780 chipsets in December - TechSpot News I don't know how accurate that is. I personally would get a lower end (Q6600) Kentsfield that runs on a 1066FSB and OC it to the speed of the QX9650. The QX9650 does have SSE4 and is a good OCer but IMO it isn't worth the price tag. I know that you don't want to OC and that you would rather burn your cash so there isn't much I can do for you. Understand, a mild OC to 3GHz is not the same as a lot of the OCing that people do. It is safe, with a good heatsink, and easier than you think. If you make sure you get a mobo that is compatible then you can always upgrade the CPU in a couple of years when the price comes down to a reasonable level. Maybe if you wait for the 780i mobos the Yorkfield CPUs will come down in price to be a good choice but spending $1,100 on a QX9650 CPU is ludicrous. The performance gain is no where near equivalent to the the cost.

I know you can't picture it in your mind but the Dell 27" UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor will make an awe inspiring difference in your overall experiencecompared to a 22". If you make sure you get a mobo that is compatible then you can always upgrade the CPU in a couple of years when the price comes down to a reasonable level.
 
I know this is not what you want But I built three of these after the Q6600 price drop. Just for your information.

Q6600 G0 OC to 3.0G/1333 FSB

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DQ6

Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler

Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120mm Fan

Crucial Ballistix 2GB DDR2 800 4:5 divider 800Mhz effective

Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM

Add one of these WD7500AAKS 750GB

Silencer® 610 EPS12V Power Supply Go with 750 or better for SLI 1KW is too large.

Choose your video card preference
1 DVD ROM
1 DVD RW
1 Floppy Drive
1 Memory Card Reader

And of course add the Dell 27" UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
 
Hi in my personal opinion you should save some money, you can do a very nice gaming rig with no more than 2500, and then do another one in one year or two, I say this because high end is never worth, just look at the past: 2 7950GX2 (quad SLI)they were the mega supper high end, now well I think a GT can match or even outperform those, so going mid high end is the best bet, "always be a step behind everyone else" it will save you a lot of money
But it is your money and you can do what you want with it, but if you come here for advise listen to the advise,

I do what I could I am not the most experinced guy out there but i hope this helps

Case: Its a good case but with your budget i think you should go for something better a silverstone or a Lian-Li
PSU: Pc Power&Cooling 750w ot thermaltake 850w nothing higher is recomended
Motherboard: A X38 is a bad idea, if you are not overclocking or doing some extreme things then a 680i, a 780i (when realesed) or even a p35 can do the trick
CPU:First of all do you know what does the Extreme theme mean?? it means that the multiplier is unlocked so you can do a higher Overclock, if you are not overclocking there is NO REASON TO GET AN EXTREME cpu q6600 or q6700
Memory:High end memory is used for high overclocks so no real reson to get those. This G skill is one of the best 2gb kits right now (it has few compatibility problems and that things)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231065
Hard drive:some years ago there was a big diference between 10k drives and 7k drives, right now the newest 7k drives perform very much the same than the 10k, why?? because the Raptors are SATA 150 while the new 7k are SATA 300 and some other stuf that i don't know, so my recomendation is a new 7k drive, you can use one 10k for OS, but it is up to you, tomshardware has some Hard drives comparesions
http://www23.tomshardware.com/storage.html?modelx=33&model1=850&model2=280&chart=37
GPU:2 evga,XFX or BFG 8800GT GTX is outdated, Personally I would go with Evga so you can step up to one of the 8800GTS revison or to the 9800 series
Optical: any DVD burner, there is no a big diference between them(samsung or Lite on are my favorites)
OS: i think it is OK

If i had your budget i will go for some water cooling
If you don't like water go for some high end air cooling like thermalright ultra 120 extreme for the CPU and Hr-03GT for the video cards

About RAID:
RAID 0: faster write speed, double fail rate( if one drive has a fail rate of 1 in 1000 in raid 0 is of 2 in 1000) this is an example no real nombers two raptors = 300GB
RAID 1:Write at the same time in both drive AKA Safer way to save dat, reduce the fail rate two raptors = 150GB


Sorry for bad english and hope it helps
Edenruro
 
I forgot to add a 24" monitor at least, i don't know why you don't want one of these.

the DELL 27" that Zorg suggests is an excelent monitor and trust him it changes your gaming expirience

sorry for bad english again 😛
 
If you have a 4000$ budget why not get compressor and/or liquid cooling? would be kind of a waste not to with such a high budget
 
I will split the money in half and with the second half I would buy a nice 7.1 audio system. At least it's more future proof than any present day powerful PC and you can feel HUUUUUGE difference when playing games, listening music or watching movies. That's my second most coveted wish for when becoming millionaire. Take it. Listen to it. Love it.
 
But the thing is I am not going to update my system In the future, might as well get the Best I Can now cause I wont be changing anything.

Zorg mention That I can OC a Q6600 to 3.0GHz, well doesnt that mean I can OC QX8650 to 3.5GHz, and QX9650 to 4.0GHz? Even better...
So why would you say Q6600 is better?

Q6600 Overclock to 3.0GHz, Ok that means I can overclock a QX8650 more... and QX9650 even more...

Arent I Right?
 
As a matter of fact I did address that in my post.
Really if you want to play the game you can OC the Q6600 to 3.6G and the QX9650 to 3.9G. If you think it's worth the money get the QX9650. It is a better processor, and it had damn well better be because it costs almost four times more than the Q6600. I would put my cash into the monitor, but if you have never used a large monitor you probably will never know what you are missing.
 





10% increase is nice. Would you say the same thing if 10% cost you 80% more?



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Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.​



 


The SilverStone TJ 09 is ugly?

I guess beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.



Do you like flashing blue neon?
 


You've said in your posts you wouldn't consider Vista, yet you want at least 4GB ram - if you are not going to change your computer for 3 years, does that include the OS??? You need a 64bit OS to use that amount of RAM.

I'm not sure I would want to run XP64 for that long...

And I do not understand the obsession with an Extreme CPU, coupled with a 22" monitor. It's like putting a F1 engine in a regular road car - it is a total miss match...
 
That suggestion is about as far off the mark as possible.
 
Whatever you choose be careful putting it all together! Some of your posts make me thing it might be your first home build, if it really is take your time and read up plenty of online guides before you end up resting the underbelly of your mobo flat along an alloy case and switching it on. Most people start with something a little cheaper so if something does go wrong its not such a disaster :) Good luck.

Personally I would get a 8800GT then wait for a really good DX10 card to come along (their havent been any yet imo). Even the 8800 ultra OC is not going to be able to handle top o the line DX10 games in 1-2 years time. Remember its still a new technology and similar to how when DX9 came out there were no great cards that could properly handle it for some time. If you want 3 years of top of the line gaming then I doubt there is any GPU that can help you.



haha classic

Its probably the same reason that some people would prefer a lowered honda civic to a Audi S5. Athough I love the elegant understated look of my silverstone I can see why some gungho teen would prefer the ostentatious glowing thermaltake cases ( even with their low quality workmanship ).
 
Why would Thermaltake Armour Series Case be low quality? It has good air flow, elegant design, its huge, and nice blue colors.

Whats the difference from Thermaltake Armour Sieres compared to

SilverStone TJ09?
 
Vista sucks so bad that I will never get It unless I am forced to because the new games require Vista. Which will probably happen one day, and I'll hate it.

Vista is CRAP compared to Xp Pro.
 
Sorry I was a little ambiguous. I have not used that particular model. I am only going from past experience having owned a couple of thermaltake cases a few years back. Generally I found them layout less user friendly for efficent wiring and also the build finish to be of lower quality both inside and out. Inside i found them to be razor sharp in some places resulting in several cuts, generally but not always I have found SS and LL cases to have a smoother internal finish. Air flow and internal size are fine in TT cases I have no problem with that. Externally I think both lian li and silverstone typically have a stylish understated look that blends in well to a living area or home theatre system. Thermaltake cases tend to be styled in a loud and agressive manner. While they may look 'cool' they really stand out in the spaces mentioned above. Really its personal preference when it comes to looks tho, however to call a lian li or silverstone case 'ugly' like you did is a little out of line when you are talking about buying a case that looks more like a glowing borg cube than anything else :)
 



:lol: :lol: :lol: "glowing borg cube" :lol: :lol: :lol:

I love it. Now that is a classic. :sol:
 



As i mentioned plenty of times....

I am not going to upgrade in the future... That is why I want all the best parts now CUZ...


I wont be changing anything.
 
Well Lian Li and SilverStone both have the ugliest cases around...

They dont have sleek design like Thermaltake Armour Series (Silver).

They dont glow in color, They just look plain ugly...
 
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