Please help me make my ultimate gaming PC

[ashkon52]

Ive got a few dollars left over from this year and I am looking to finally build my very own gaming pc.
I have a budget of $5000 Australian.... so roughly speaking
$3000 U.S.

I want this computer for mostly gaming. I have been scanning the internet for articles but it seems that most of them are obsolete (anyone have any current sites?).
I've basically gotten more confused than before!!!!!!!
So many possibilities... PCI express...???

Firstly... what do you guys think... is it a good time to build a computer right now... should I wait until somtething in particular comes out... PCIexpress Athlon... ATI Pci express graphics card... Im not sure whats on the horizon... LCD Vs CRT....

Secondly... Im not sure... does brand name matter... say with graphics cards... ASUS, Gigabyte... etc. and RAM and all other components... no one ever comments on the brand... does it matter.

Thirdly.. I want to be PCI express compliant and have Athlon 3500+ 939.. im pretty sure of that.

Im so confused about CRT-LCD... should I wait... what is the best LCD... at this time I hope for a 19inch LCD.

So can anyone help...
looking for
CPU - Athlon 3500+ (what do you think)

What would you guys do???

 

[endyen]

If you want a 3500+, just make sure it's the 90 nano, winchester core. Even if you dont OC, they are cool.
I hear the A8N SLI, from Asus is available down your way, you might want to look at that.
I have a viewsonic LCD at work, but I prefer my CRT at home.

 

[Cybercraig]

Ditto what endyen said. If you go LCD make sure it has a refresh rate of 16ms or better.

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

 

[Lazerous]

If you have $3000 to spend you can probably afford an A64 fx-55. that would knock the socks off any game you want to play. 😀

AMD 64 3700+,ASUS K8N-E Deluxe-250gb,1.5 gb PC3200,Gigabyte GeForce 6800gt 256mb,Audigy 2 ZS , 2-36.7gb 10,000 rpm Raptors/Raid 0, Thermaltake butterfly 480 watt PSU , + asst. other amenities.....

 

[jammydodger]

I would look into the AV8 SLI as endyen said, SLI is a way of using two PCI-e graphics cards on a single board and combining thier power (one graphics card processes half the scene the other card process' the other half). So in theory you get twice the performance (in practice its not quite that much).
2xGeForce6800's (GT, Ultra...which ecver you can afford)would be incredibly fast).
You could get an athlon FX-55 but I really dont think the extra cost would justify the performance gains you would get compared to an Athlon64 3500+.

I would get a 21inch CRT monitor, the picture quality on LCD's is still not quite up to par with CRT's.

 

[endyen]

You do mean the A8N SLI right? I think the AV8 has a via chipset.

 

[jammydodger]

Yeh sorry, A8N SLI is what I meant. Was still half asleep this morning when I wrote the post.

 

[georgebeee]

I would have to agree the FX doesn't deserve the price. if you need the extra learn how to OC that 3500+ winchester core. should give you all the performance you need

 

[pitsi]

Here is my thoughts. Firstly, Athlon FX CPUS and SLI simply don't worth the money. It doesn't matter if you have a quite big budget, this doesn't mean that you should spend your money if you are not getting what you are paying for. Especially SLI is not that important as many want us to believe, but I think it's just for bragging rights.

About the CPU, you are right going for a 3500+. Only yesterday I discovered how easy it is to get one of these processors (and specifically a 3200+) at 2.4GHz (3800+ rating), as long as you make sure that it is 90nm. Regarding the mobo, you should get a PCI Express board (Nforce4 chipset) from either Asus, Abit or MSI. All are great companies and I doubt you will be disappointed by anyone. About the memory, you should get 1GB (2x512MB sticks) and if you plan on overclocking (there is no reason not to) you can get PC4000 so you have enough headroom. Either Corsair or Kingston and you will be ok.

And finally about the monitor. Others are right that the main thing you should look for is low response time. I bought Samsung 172x last week and from a personal experience I can tell you ghosting is simply not existant. Unfortunatelly it is <i>only</i> 17" but don't forget that if you get a 19" monitor like you said in your post, you will probably have to play games at 1600x1200 resolution which demands a lot of power. Also a 17" LCD monitor has the same viewable area as a 19" CRT monitor. Having in mind your budget I vote going for an LCD monitor and if you can find it there in Australia, my vote goes for the Samsung 172x.

I have to go now I hope this helps !!

 

[RichPLS]

Not quite so, My 19 CRT display measures 18.1" diag, which is larger than a 17" LCD.

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And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[ashkon52]

THANKS ALOT FOR ALL YOUR HELP guys... much appreciated

SHOP.... www.itwarehouse.com.au

NOTE: AUSTRALIAN $$$$

Midi Tower:Cooler Master STC-T01UW CM Stacker Silver Front USB (6x)/Audio/Firewire All $232.00

CPU:AMD ATHLON 64 3500+ (2.2GHZ, HYPERTRANSPORT, 64BIT, 512K CACHE SOCKET939) + RETAIL BOX AMD $416.00

Memory / DDR2:KINGSTON 1GB 533MHz DD2 NON-ECC UNBUFFERED CL4 (PC4200)DIMM MEMORY All $479.00

DVD Burners😛IONEER DVR-108 16x DVD Burner DUAL LAYER (White) All $120.00

Hard Drives 3.5":Western Digital CAVIAR RE 250GB 7200RPM 8M SATA 8.9msR 10.9msW 1200Mbts RAID All $280.00


Asus A8N-SLI-Deluxe Skt939 AMD64 board, 2x PCI-x16, DDR, 3PCI, SATA RAID, IEEE1394, 2GigaLAN, Audio AMD $389.00

Graphic Cards:ASUS ATI X800XT 256MB TV-OUT DVI VGA PCI EXPRESS 520MHZ All $1,139.00

LCD Monitors - 17":Samsung 172X 17" LCD Monitor All $755.00

Sound Cards:Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS EA $164.00

Speakers:Logitech Z-5500 5.1 500W RMS THX DIGITAL speakers All $499.00

Total: $4,473.00 AUD or $3,424.50 USD

What do you guys think
I cant find a PCI express 6800 card
Im not sure if the CPU is winchestor 90nm
what do you guys think of the new 8ms LCD's
Do you guys think 19inch LCD is game worthy at this stage.
Besides the A8N SLI... I cant find any other PCI express motherboards...

 

[Cyrus]

|| Memory / DDR2:KINGSTON 1GB 533MHz DD2 NON-ECC UNBUFFERED CL4 (PC4200)DIMM MEMORY All $479.00 ||

Asus A8N-SLI doesn't support DDR2. Don't buy it, get 1 pair of good DDR1 PC3200, e.g. Corsair TwinX.

 

[jammydodger]

The FX is not worth the money, but I disagree about the SLI. I have'nt seen enough benchmarks of SLI cards to be sure but I reckon a fast SLI setup will last you a long time. In theory it should provide twice the gaming performance!

 

[tweebel]

Does the case come with a power supply?

You might wanna buy 2 120GB drives and put them in RAID0 for almost no extra $ and twice the speed.

If the website doesn't give extra info on the CPU, phone them or get it somewhere else, the 90 nm core is worth it.

If you can't find the 6800 which isn't strange, they are rare, you could also buy 2 6600GT's and put them in SLI.

I think 19 inch LCD panels are always 1600*1200, so in order to get decent graphics you will always have to play games at 16*12... Most 17 inch panels are faster and you don't have to play at 16*12 to get nice graphics. I'd go with a fast 17 inch panel.
The Logitech set is great but LOUD!
Good luck!

 

[ashkon52]

Thanks guys.... you have been very helpful... fantastic tips here....
*teary eyed*

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Don't cry, pay-pal us, I mean me, money :tongue:

______________
OK it's your choice:
You can have the boat, or you can have the Mystery Box!
...Hey wait a minute! A boat's a boat, but a Mystery Box could be anything. It could even be a boat

 

[Ned_Flanders]

You might wanna buy 2 120GB drives and put them in RAID0 for almost no extra $ and twice the speed

Huh? Go read up on RAID again please :tongue:


______________
OK it's your choice:
You can have the boat, or you can have the Mystery Box!
...Hey wait a minute! A boat's a boat, but a Mystery Box could be anything. It could even be a boat

 

[ramble235]

I recently bought a 19" Sony SDM-HS94P that has a native resolution of 1280 x 1024.

Its only 12ms so no ghosting and has offers a nice 400 brightness.

I paid $499 US after discounts and rebates at Best Buy (do you have those in AU?) and Im very pleased with it.

Oh yeah, its also dual input, analog and digital

 

[Starfishy]

I looked at about 12 different monitors before choosing the one I chose. I went with the BenQ FP931, it's an LCD and is 19". I wish that I could say it was worth it, but the truth is I hate LCD. CRT is the way to go, unfortunately when you let your wife wear the pants in the family, and she see's something that looks "pretty" you are screwed.

I picked what I thought to be the best 19" LCD available to me... but it is still week in comparison to the CRT's.

 

[tweebel]

What is my mistake there?

 

[jammydodger]

The only time you will notice a speed increase with RAID0 is when editing very large files (like for video editing). When it comes to random access of lots of small files RAID0 is actually slower than a single drive.
Im using 2x120GB drives in a RAID0 array and the only time I notice a speed increase over my other computer (non RAIDed 80GB PATA) is when loading BFV levels and editing my holiday video.

 

[Somban]

Just a couple quick suggestions. Go for 2X512 Crucial Balistix ram. I personally love this ram and it runs at extremely low settings even when ocin'. The monitor I would choose would definatly be the Dell 2001FP. You can find this monitor for $700 USD now. For the video card I would review the VGA charts and see which one is the best price vs. performance you are looking for (look at the PCI charts). Good luck to ya.

Somban