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Gaming Machine -- Build for a friend


CopyNinjaKakash

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My friend is having me help him put together a gaming machine of substantial clout. He likes MMOs a lot -WoW-(mostly because that all he can really play on his current machine) but is about to delve into the more high end spectrum ala crysis and other newer games. A good idea is running everything by you pros here on the street. So far in the last hour I have come up with this small start, I need advice for everything.

 

Case: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?...N82E16811129021 Always wanted one of these myself.

 

Power Supply: Something really meaty, like 750-1000 watt range I was thinking, any ideas?

 

Motherboard: EVGA, ASUS, Gigabyte or DFI? whatever it is, must be LGA 775

 

Processor: Trying to decide if should just get a budget one and OC it, or not go with the hassle and get a solid intel one I don't have to play around with at all to get crazy clocks, suggestions?

 

Memory: from what i understand you see diminishing returns at 4 gigs with most windows OSes and in games so.. i think 2 gigs is good for now. My jaw dropped when I saw how cheap DDR2 is these days so something like this would be good http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820227198 why not when its so cheap.

 

Video card(s): http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?...N82E16814130318 2 of these in SLI.

 

Optical drive(s): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827106057 I have had really good luck with this brand before.

 

HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136012 I have never bought one of these faster RPM drives before but I've seen the benchmarks and they look worth it, he doesn't have big storages needs.

 

He already has a decent keyboard and a good LCD, any ideas for Mice?

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Hey nice to see another mac user round here (writing this on my mini, soon to get a T7600 in it)

 

Any particular reason why SLI is needed? one will handle anything you throw at it.

Or get a 512MB GTS.

 

Processor wise thats your choice really but I'd go with something easy you don't want to spend ours ocing and stability testing. Id look at a high end dual if I were you.

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Guest element

6750 ? or 6850 if your friend is rolling in it. In all seriousness the quads aren't hard to clock. ( so i have been told)

 

I'm with s1ick is there a specific need for SLi ?

 

If not. Go with a 6850, P31 based DS3L Gigabyte mobo, 8800 of any sort, and some nice DDR2-667 or 800.

 

Wack it in the Antec 900, with some sort of corsair modular powersupply. All that would need is some where in the region of 450-550Watts. As long as it has more than 30-35 amps on the 12Volt rail/s that is.

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Guest SuppA-SnipA
Hey nice to see another mac user round here (writing this on my mini, soon to get a T7600 in it)

 

Any particular reason why SLI is needed? one will handle anything you throw at it.

Or get a 512MB GTS.

 

Processor wise thats your choice really but I'd go with something easy you don't want to spend ours ocing and stability testing. Id look at a high end dual if I were you.

 

read some reviews that the GT beat the 512 GTS...

psu, 750 - 100 is the right range, since the video cards are power suckers

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Guest RandallTank
read some reviews that the GT beat the 512 GTS...

psu, 750 - 100 is the right range, since the video cards are power suckers

 

hes not going to run quad sli, corsair 520 or 620 FTW

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read some reviews that the GT beat the 512 GTS...

psu, 750 - 100 is the right range, since the video cards are power suckers

 

Where did you find those reviews? If you benchmark both cards at their stock (default) speeds, the GTS 512 would beat the GT in any game, i'm sure.

 

8800GT 512 112/600/1500/1800/

8800GTS 512 128/650/1645/1940

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Hehe now i've started a GT vs GTS war. Personally I like the GT more from what I've seen. My reasoning for SLI was this:

 

Me: hey do you want sli in this computer?

friend: whats that?

Me: ::Explains what sli is:: (all he hears is "2 cards running together")

friend: yes.

 

Past that... I guess to future-proof it? But to answer your question, no specific need for SLI.

He wants to spend 1500-2500 which is way more than enough to build a solid machine in my opinion. I have narrowed the processor down to either Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115017 or Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115017 . I need some more recommendations for really good chipsets to buy a board based off of (i guess thats kinda how i shop) 965? X35? X38? isn't that N700 coming out soon or something?

 

Does everyone really think the 900 is just that good?

 

Edit: To s1ick: you are replacing the processor in the mini? i know it can be done but i dont know anyone who has the balls to actually do it. Tell me how that goes :eek:

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Guest anewb ie

Silly to future proof. Cheaper to build slightly simplier system today and a new slightly simplier system in the future that will run faster (and be cheeper) than the so called future proof system.

--

example:

A few years ago a 1800xt was about the fastest graphics card you could buy and it cost $300. Today you can get an hd3750 or 8800gt (which is faster than a 640 gts but slower than a 512 gts) for $250 or less. See now that it is the future you can buy a graphics card that is FASTER than 1800xt crossfire for less than a single 1800xt.

 

Ok so you don't like that example. lets look at cpu. A few years ago a opteron 165 was the fastest thing since slice butter. It cost over $400. Today you can buy a quad processor that has single cores fsater than the opty 165 for 1/2 the price. A year before the opty was $400 you could buy a single core san diego for $400. Of course today you could get an opty 165 for $80.

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It is pointless to future proof unless you like throwing money away. Spend $800-$1000 on a nice system. put the ohter $1500-$1700 in a solid mutual fund and spend $700 in two years on a new system (if needed).

--

ALso a quality 620-700 watt psu will run the system you want to build. 1K psu is just more coins down the drain.

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