I am building a new gaming rig to replace my five (5) (!!!) year old PC on which I can barely do anything resemble gaming. The proposed hardware profile is somewhere between the Grand Experiment and the Sweet Spot basic profiles provided in the July PC Build Guide at Tech Report with some bits from Tom's thrown in.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 ^1
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R
Memory OCZ Platinum 4GB DDR2 1000 57.99 after rebates!
Graphics Diamond Radeon HD 4850
Samsung SH-S203N
Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB*
Audio Asus Xonar DX **
Enclosure Antec Sonata III w/500W PSU
ZALMAN CNPS9500 heatsink + fan
rig less optional parts: 8 Item(s) ($776.44)
rig with HDD, soundcard: 10 Item(s) ($956.42)
^1 My reasoning for the beefy processor is simple. I believe very strongly that parallel processing is where computing is going. Period.
* I plan on using my current pair of 250gig SATA drives depending on the total cost of the system
** I may be able to use my old Creative Labs X-Fi card again depending on the cost of the system
That is the basic plan. I want the fatty quad core vs. a cheaper dual core for the aforementioned belief in parallel processing and the dividends it will pay in the future. The memory is a no brainer as the Mushkin modules are cheap, reliable and 4gb is a comfy quantity. The Mobo paired with the CPU is just the what the system guide suggests. If there is a better, or even just an alternative, at or near the same price I would not mind hearing about it for the sake of having the information. This thread pretty much sums up my choice for the 4850 for the system's GPU - excellent performance for the price with all the DX10 features that I think are a necessary feature of my GPU purchase. Samsung makes a good optical drive and I see no reason to argue with the choices of the Techreport editors though more information or choices is always good if the other products are competitive.
As far as storage and sound cards go it is just a matter of budget. With the incredibly cheap cost / GB on hard drives I may just get one (or two?) for the system, though I do not feel it entirely necessary. For sound card I am not really sure how much of an impact a sound card can have on performance (audio or system speed) or how my older X-fi card compares to newer cards. I am a bit of an audiophile so if I am using tin cans to play good music through (but how 'good' is most digitally compressed audio? I digress...), ie if I am making an obvious mistake, I would like to know about it.
Other than that, critique away, suggest other bits and pieces and otherwise straighten me out. I long ago lost track of all the latest hardware trends and have been trying hard over the past few weeks to pick up all the information I could to make as educated a purchase as possible.
My budget is limited to around a thousand dollars so please keep that in mind. I prefer the performance : cost ratio be as optimal as possible unless the performance gains are so significant as to justify the expenditure.
Editorial note: I read recently that Intel may be slashing CPU prices soon? This is good news if it is indeed news for it will free up a bit more financial headroom for other bits.
Perhaps the only thing that I am missing in all of this is the liscense of Windows Vista that I would be purchasing to go with the system, the particular flavor of I haven't the foggiest and will post about once I have educated myself.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 ^1
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R
Memory OCZ Platinum 4GB DDR2 1000 57.99 after rebates!
Graphics Diamond Radeon HD 4850
Samsung SH-S203N
Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB*
Audio Asus Xonar DX **
Enclosure Antec Sonata III w/500W PSU
ZALMAN CNPS9500 heatsink + fan
rig less optional parts: 8 Item(s) ($776.44)
rig with HDD, soundcard: 10 Item(s) ($956.42)
^1 My reasoning for the beefy processor is simple. I believe very strongly that parallel processing is where computing is going. Period.
* I plan on using my current pair of 250gig SATA drives depending on the total cost of the system
** I may be able to use my old Creative Labs X-Fi card again depending on the cost of the system
That is the basic plan. I want the fatty quad core vs. a cheaper dual core for the aforementioned belief in parallel processing and the dividends it will pay in the future. The memory is a no brainer as the Mushkin modules are cheap, reliable and 4gb is a comfy quantity. The Mobo paired with the CPU is just the what the system guide suggests. If there is a better, or even just an alternative, at or near the same price I would not mind hearing about it for the sake of having the information. This thread pretty much sums up my choice for the 4850 for the system's GPU - excellent performance for the price with all the DX10 features that I think are a necessary feature of my GPU purchase. Samsung makes a good optical drive and I see no reason to argue with the choices of the Techreport editors though more information or choices is always good if the other products are competitive.
As far as storage and sound cards go it is just a matter of budget. With the incredibly cheap cost / GB on hard drives I may just get one (or two?) for the system, though I do not feel it entirely necessary. For sound card I am not really sure how much of an impact a sound card can have on performance (audio or system speed) or how my older X-fi card compares to newer cards. I am a bit of an audiophile so if I am using tin cans to play good music through (but how 'good' is most digitally compressed audio? I digress...), ie if I am making an obvious mistake, I would like to know about it.
Other than that, critique away, suggest other bits and pieces and otherwise straighten me out. I long ago lost track of all the latest hardware trends and have been trying hard over the past few weeks to pick up all the information I could to make as educated a purchase as possible.
My budget is limited to around a thousand dollars so please keep that in mind. I prefer the performance : cost ratio be as optimal as possible unless the performance gains are so significant as to justify the expenditure.
Editorial note: I read recently that Intel may be slashing CPU prices soon? This is good news if it is indeed news for it will free up a bit more financial headroom for other bits.
Perhaps the only thing that I am missing in all of this is the liscense of Windows Vista that I would be purchasing to go with the system, the particular flavor of I haven't the foggiest and will post about once I have educated myself.