Computer-construction tips please!

[Jivinjeffjones]

Fallout 3 is coming, which means I must get a system which will kick its ass. Furthermore, my tried-and-trusty laptop is apparently dying. So time has become an issue in finding a replacement.

Having surveyed the premade systems out there and been outraged at their prices for inferior machines, I've decided to make my own. I have friends who have the requisite expertise to put it together for me, but I'm concerned about buying good (and compatible) components. I don't have a helluva lot of knowledge in the field, and it's hard to know which reviews are trustworthy.

I started the same thread at MBTIcentral, and then realized the extreme folly of not consulting a handy population of INTPs. I should mention that my goal isn't so much to get a "good-enough" system for the least amount of money. I want the best system I can get for $5000-6000. At the moment I'm looking seriously at the preliminary list offered by Athenian2000 in post #3:

(Processor) Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 $1,030
(Motherboard) ASUS Striker II Extreme $450
(Memory) 2x OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $700
(Hard Drive) 2x Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD (RAID 0) $340
(PowerSupply) Corsair HX1000W $310
(Video) 2x ASUS EN9800GX2/G/2DI/1G GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB (SLI) $1,120

Anyone have any quibbles, further suggestions, recommended reviewers or tips to help me not fuck this thing up? I'm also living in one of the more isolated parts of Australia, if that makes a difference.

[Archvile]

Too bad Charred heart isn't around any more, he would have been the right guy for stuff like this...

[firch]

SLI can be flakey so if you decide to not go down that route you could use a motherboard costing half that with a cheaper PSU and throw in a Creative X-Fi soundcard and you could spend some of the money you saved on watercooling which if done right will leave you with a much quieter system.

Another thing, with the system you specified it would make no sense to use a 32 bit Windows OS.

[nonperson]

Not really my area but you appear to be missing a sound card. My people suggest a Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Gamer which retails at about £55 here in the UK.

And if you are overclocking the processor why go for such a mega-CPU? How about a Core 2 Quad Q6600? Or do you intend to overdose on amphetamines before every game to keep up?

[turt]

You can purchase the Skulltrail platform which will allow you to use two quad core chips (of course you have to use FB-DIMMS)
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...rt-1,1768.html

The quickest SATA HD is now the 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor and the top graphics card is the Nvidia GTX 280. I would also suggest the PCP&P Turbo-Cool 1200w.

[walfin]

Another thing, with the system you specified it would make no sense to use a 32 bit Windows OS.

Yeah quite right, go 64 bit.

Anyway why go intel? AMD Phenom is still cheaper I think, n Intel isn't really thaat much better.

[bonsai]

Unless you have money to burn, I'd highly recommend against spending over $2,000-$2,500 for a gaming system. You're depreciation rate on super high end items will burn like hell. Not to mention you can get 90% of the performance for 50% of the price.

Spend $2,000 and still get a system that will own Fallout 3. Then in a year spend $2,000 on a new "top of the line" system and still come out under your budget.

Why anyone would consider $5,000 a sound investment on a piece of technology that will be "old" and worth half that amount in one years time is beyond me.

[Ellipsis]

Originally Posted by bonsai

Unless you have money to burn, I'd highly recommend against spending over $2,000-$2,500 for a gaming system. You're depreciation rate on super high end items will burn like hell. Not to mention you can get 90% of the performance for 50% of the price.

Spend $2,000 and still get a system that will own Fallout 3. Then in a year spend $2,000 on a new "top of the line" system and still come out under your budget.

Why anyone would consider $5,000 a sound investment on a piece of technology that will be "old" and worth half that amount in one years time is beyond me.

I agree with Bonsai. Bleeding edge=Bad

Although I would also be tempted to spend that much cash on technology (if I had cash). But frankly $5000 is way too much...$2000 is probably a better idea (but in my opinion going closer to $1500 for a build it yourself system would not turn out too bad). I would put the $3000 into a "continuing development fund" to buy minor upgrades every 6 months to a year for a long time. (the other advantage of this is the ability to auction off components on Ebay just as they approach obscurity thus instead of selling off a "three year old computer" you would be selling off individual components only a year or two "out of date" thus maximizing your returns. (A $3000 fund like that could probably keep your computer pretty up to date for the next 5 years (with component re-sales))

Since you don't have too much knowledge and are living somewhere where shipping might be a challenge on the wallet...you might just want to make $2000 model and upgrade again in a few years.

[Denzien]

I would change the hard drive option to use the newer 2.5" VelociRaptor drives, which are quieter, cooler, faster and use the SATA 3.0 interface.

As far as the video cards, it's starting to get really interesting as ATI released a very nice card for only $200. Of course, NVidia followed suit, but their card is marginally less powerful.

That processor is way too much money; the Core 2 Duo processors reportedly overclock very easily, so you can spend 1/4 of the cost and get equivalent performance.

Just do some research on www.tomshardware.com or www.anandtech.com



Actually, with the exception of the power supply and hard drives, I think the setup you have detailed is very overkill. Let me see if I can dream up something better. (or not)

[firch]

Don't forget the monitor. Bigger is much more immersive.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=766061

Beware of monitors that have sluggish response times, especially the large ones.