Dream Machine Help - $10k Budget

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I chose the eVGA 680i board over the ASUS striker... it seemed to have everything the ASUS did and with great reviews... and $150 cheaper. eVGA has also been very responsive to issues that occurred. All new products have issues.

Please don't get the X1950's - The 8800 GTX's stomp them, and if you have to have AMD/ATI then wait on R600.

OCZ Flex RAM would also be the best choice for memory since it OCs so well and is liquid cooled if you run that set-up. Probably won't even need to OC.

SSD's are truely the next step for HDDs, and HDDs are really the only bottleneck in a system with the best possible parts. You would of course have to wait until the larger capacity SSDs are made available. - Running them in a RAID config would gain even more performance.

Also... waiting for 45nm from Intel would probably ease your concerns a bit as well. Since AMD is far behind the 45nm chips will reign supreme for at least a year.
 
Me or him? I figured if he has a job where he's getting a 10k bonus, chances are he's married. Marrying people is fashionable these days.

I'm sure as hell not married. I'm still in school.
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He is married. He said so. But when you suggested...

Have you considered buying something nice for your wife instead? That might get you more pleasure than a 10k PC.
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especially after he already said she was spending half of his budget and this was his way of ensuring he got something out of it... I just HAD to assume you were single. :lol: When you're an old fart like some of us, you'll understand.
 
Are the ACS EVGA's better than the BFG with the watercool loop pre-installed?
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If you've definitely accepted you're going water cooled, then go ahead and get the BFG. You're taking enough on with the rest of this system. You might as well enjoy one shortcut. :)
 
Nah... it's cash that I have... bonus from work... why is it a waste of money?
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You spend this kind of money on a system when you accept you are investing in a hobby. You have to love playing with it and tweaking it. If you're just looking for a good system to run things, then you can spend less than $4K and have a system you could set right next to the $10K system and you'd be unable to tell them apart without running benchmarks. You won't be able to see the incremental performance you are buying here. This is definitely NOT a bang for the buck system. And even with all you are about to spend, in 6 months it will be a very nice second tier system. If you really just want great game performance, then you are best off spending perhaps $5K now and save $5K to replace it a year from now.
 
I guess. It just seems like such a waste to buy the ABSOLUTE BEST PC when the next best costs half as much and has only slightly lower abilities. I guess it this guy has spent money on everything else thats more important and still has 10k go for it... but I bet he could spend it better. I may be younger than you guys (you're not old farts), but I still know plenty about wasting money.

Whenever I purchase something, I think: Would my Dad buy this? Because my Dad is a great role model and he puts my needs and the needs of his family above his. My Dad would not buy a 10k PC. The last time my Dad wanted to spend 10k he bought a whole bunch of stock in gold. Now he's using it to send me through college, we went on a trip around the US, he went on a cruise with my mom, he paid for my sister to get married, he invested more, and he bought my Mom a new car so she didn't have to worry about old cars breaking down on her while my Dad was at work. See what I mean? That is much better than a killer PC.
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I agree with John_C...

Its really a matter of what your intentions are... but I can't help but say "build it and they will come."

Once you have it, you might as well dive in.

The 8800GTX KOs are going to get hot. The water cooled have much more potential to overclock I would imagine.
 
Too funny... you're in Marietta? I'm over in Powder Springs... what are the odds... I hear ya on the benchmarking... I want great benchmarks, I want to seriously get into OC'ing, I want a cool PC to look at... and I want some bragging right... I put software RAID on my sucky PC with only two HD's and I can definately see that difference... should I just say screw it and go with a VOODOO PC?? or Falcon NW? or even Alienware?
 
You know, the Voodoo PCs are absolutely GORGEOUS to look at. The inside mirrors, careful cable use, etc. You can't get that look in a DIY.
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I guess. It just seems like such a waste to buy the ABSOLUTE BEST PC when the next best costs half as much and has only slightly lower abilities. I guess it this guy has spent money on everything else thats more important and still has 10k go for it... but I bet he could spend it better. I may be younger than you guys (you're not old farts), but I still know plenty about wasting money.

Whenever I purchase something, I think: Would my Dad buy this? Because my Dad is a great role model and he puts my needs and the needs of his family above his. My Dad would not buy a 10k PC. The last time my Dad wanted to spend 10k he bought a whole bunch of stock in gold. Now he's using it to send me through college, we went on a trip around the US, he went on a cruise with my mom, he paid for my sister to get married, he invested more, and he bought my Mom a new car so she didn't have to worry about old cars breaking down on her while my Dad was at work. See what I mean? That is much better than a killer PC.
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Now imagine if your dad was Bill Gates and he was choosing this as a hobby instead of buying a $10 million yacht or a house in the alps. Suddenly this system then becomes a downright cheap way to spend some time. It can be dangerous to assume others have the same financial objectives and constraints that you and your family have - it can lead you to be judgmental by applying a very narrow lens on the world. In my opinion, it is great to help people understand their options and the advantages and disadvantages of their options. But I try to avoid crossing the line and assuming I know what is best for others - especially others whom I do not know well where I cannot know their circumstances. :wink:
 
Too funny... you're in Marietta? I'm over in Powder Springs... what are the odds... I hear ya on the benchmarking... I want great benchmarks, I want to seriously get into OC'ing, I want a cool PC to look at... and I want some bragging right... I put software RAID on my sucky PC with only two HD's and I can definately see that difference... should I just say screw it and go with a VOODOO PC?? or Falcon NW? or even Alienware?
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Heh heh. well howdy neighbor. If you want to get into OCing in a serious way, you really do need to do it yourself. The enthusiast brands make decent systems, but they have to mass produce systems so they have to use the lowest common demoninator configurations to ensure everything runs. They are good for someone who wants a system with good components where you can take it out of the box, plug it in, and have it work.

Let me ask another question though... WHY do you want to get into O/Cing in a big way? What are you hoping to get out of it?

If you think you'll see a difference in the games you play, you'll likely be disappointed. You can get an affordable system and overclock slightly and it would look the same.

If you are a perfectionist who enjoys playing under the hooding and trying to make everything work as well as it can just because that is your personality, then you need to build custom and feed your need.

If you just want bragging rights but really don't want to have to mess with it... then buy an insanely expensive machine from an enthusiast company that satisifies your "I did because I can" need.

But the real first step is understanding what itch you are trying to scratch.
 
Are the ACS EVGA's better than the BFG with the watercool loop pre-installed?
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I'm not sure but EVGA is about to release over-clocked and water cooled cards. Not sure exactly when but soon.

Puget systems have builds that included the water-cooled BFG cards in sli. So if you look at Falcon NW, Voodoo PC or Alienware, look at Puget as well.
You might also look at:
ABS
Chopper Computers
Cyber Power PC
DELL
Digital Storm
HyperSonic-PC
i Buy Power
Overdrive PC
Polywell Poly
Puget Systems
Radioactive PC
ThunderBox PC
Velocity Micro
VooDoo PC
and www.widowpc.com.
 
I've got to ask. What kind of job do you do? a $20,000 bonus is pretty nice.
The biggest work bonus I ever received was about $2500 and that was years ago when the economy was good.
Of course I'm just a blue collar man but still.
 
I've got to ask. What kind of job do you do? a $20,000 bonus is pretty nice.
The biggest work bonus I ever received was about $2500 and that was years ago when the economy was good.
Of course I'm just a blue collar man but still.
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It is reasonably common to have bonuses of 20%+ in senior management positions (where people typically earn $100K+). While many don't realize it, roughly 10% of the people in the US earn more than $100K per year.
 
Dual Clovertowns will stomp on the C2D QX6700. 4GB RAM should do nicely as well. If you're not an experienced overclocker, I wouldn't recommend anything more than standard liquid cooling, or you're just going to frustrat yourself & fry components.

Also, I'd get 2 PC's, not 1. GET a NAS PC for storage, and use TweakUI to set your My Docs, desktop,etc to the NAS PC.

If I had $10k to burn, this is what I would do:

MAIN PC

Dual XEON 53XX clovertowns
4GB RAM
4x SAS 15K Drives in RAID 0 (NOT SATA)
PCI-X SAS RAID controller (LSI Logic. Adaptec's been suffering un quality lately)
Soundblaster X-Fi (Be careful about this, though, because it's 32-bit PCI)
Dedicated gigabit NIC (on-board NICs use the processor)
2x8800 GTX (The second will probably go on a 4X PCI-E slot, but that's OK)
22" 1650x1080 Widescreen ($300. It's a good deal)
AND
40" (or more) HDTV LCD Television. (You can hook both to your comp. If you need a redic monitor, a full-size HDTV is best.)


NAS PC

Gigabyte DS3 Motherboard
Intel Celeron processor (As cheap as you can get. You don't need anything big here)
PCI-E SATA RAID card
6x500GB SATA drives (2.5TB Total available)
(You can go as high as 8x750GB for 5.25TB total)



Two clovertowns will still beat out a kentsfield, no matter how you OC it. You can OC clovertowns, too. Plus, you'll have access to 771 processors that will probably out-core 775 in coming releases.
 
The chances of him being even .1% as wealthy as Bill Gates are very very low. My family is right in the middle class and is a pretty good representative sample of the mean (and perhaps the mode) American income.
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The chances of him being even .1% as wealthy as Bill Gates are very very low. My family is right in the middle class and is a pretty good representative sample of the mean (and perhaps the mode) American income.
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You missed the real substance of my point and are arguing about individual trees when I was trying to discuss the forest. That's OK though. I'll just suggest one last time that not everyone is at the mean - some are above and some below and that does make a difference. And with that, I'll drop it.

Now... back to our scheduled program already in progress... :wink:
 
I'm surprised (or maybe I read too quickly) that nobody suggested a big and safe UPS to protect this investment.
Also, a big external HD would be good for your backups.

Personnally, I'd make a good 5k system, and keep the rest for upgrades every six months. I'd only buy one 8800GTX and only 2G of ram. Odds are that in 6-12 months you'll buy another single GFX that will be faster than your twin-8800

Spending 10k now will get you the fastest system for the next 3-6 months, but the second strategy (spend 5k now, and buy upgrades every now and then) will guarantee you a faster system over the next 1-2 years.

You could even use part of the 10k to buy an awesome Digital SLR and digital videocam.
Some of that money could also be used to buy a PS3 since you mentioned you like games and you only have a xbox360.
 
Theres an idea. Good call, mate.

One problem though... Your post implies that an Xbox "isn't enough". You need to leave now. [/friendly ribbing]
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The chances of him being even .1% as wealthy as Bill Gates are very very low. My family is right in the middle class and is a pretty good representative sample of the mean (and perhaps the mode) American income.
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I didn't know america still had a middle-class 😉
 
Since you want to know... I manage a team of people that buy stuff... we negotiate multi-hundred million dollar deals with suppliers. We have tens of billions of spend. We blew our numbers away this year. I am not Bill Gates rich - don't get me wrong. But my bonus this year (due to some other special circumstances) is more than $100k before taxes... so $10k on a computer is not as big a deal as we are making it.

I agree that I have to figure out which itch I am trying to scratch. Honestly... my initial reason was that it just takes way too long for my POVRay animations to render, and way too long to DIVX a DVD or vice-versa.

I've gone from 8 Dual Core Opterons to Dual Quad Core Xeons and now looking at OC'ing...

Darn it... I just don't know what I want... 🙁
 
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