Build a Gaming Rig Challenge

Inspired by this article...

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1 ... 160,00.asp

If you were to build a rig today, what would you include in it? Please do two setups.

1. Under $2000 mid range PC
2. Under $1000 budget PC

If possible, please include Brand/Model, Price and a link where component can actually be purchased (must be in stock).

No monitor required. Please be sure to cover:

CPU
Motherboard
Memory
Graphics Card
Sound card
Hard drive(s)
Optical drive(s)
Case and Power Supply
OS

Optional if you have cash left over:

Keyboard
Mouse
Mousepad
Headset
Any other component you feel is worth having.

I just did this a week ago and deleted the links (dreaming) but yeah I think I did ok with a budget, so I'll bring it back.

Walking Target wrote: CPU
Motherboard
Memory
Graphics Card
Sound card
Hard drive(s)
Optical drive(s)
Case and Power Supply
OS

hahahah yeah like ill buy an OS XD

.conflict wrote:

Walking Target wrote: CPU
Motherboard
Memory
Graphics Card
Sound card
Hard drive(s)
Optical drive(s)
Case and Power Supply
OS

hahahah yeah like ill buy an OS XD

Then just put $0.00 and mention which you would use.

Walking Target wrote:

.conflict wrote:

Walking Target wrote: CPU
Motherboard
Memory
Graphics Card
Sound card
Hard drive(s)
Optical drive(s)
Case and Power Supply
OS

hahahah yeah like ill buy an OS XD

Then just put $0.00 and mention which you would use.

Is windows and $0.00 acceptable if you use an HDD (such as Seagate FTW!!!) that has a hard drive ghosting program that copies your HDD when you install it? (Completely legit/legal)

I just was involved in building 2 computers one for my brother and another for death bringer. both were what I would consider high end and cost less then 1500. Now days you have to really be blowing cash to spend more then 2k oh and that was with a monitor. If you are wanting this cause you plan to build one I can list the parts.

Yeah if you dont mind listing the parts with approximate prices, that would be a good start.

Sweet gonna put togeether a build tonight! I did this six months ago for a $1700 rig, turned out pretty pimp, I'd have to agree with Fearsome, if you go over $2000 your just blowing cash lol. Nice idea WT this'll be fun.

well here is a decent system at what I would call high end with balanced parts, if money is burning a hole in your pocket you can take it up as high as you want with the CPU. Its about 1400 but has maybe 200 in mail in rebates. This is probably close to what I would build now.

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wis ... er=8495848

Since I hate every sound card out there I can't recommend one, but I can get you some good cans http://cgi.ebay.com/Audio-Technica-ATH- ... dZViewItem

Well I finally tracked down my list, from an old favorites export file.

Here it is I made this in January and added some speakers and a headset.

I'll have to sit down and piece together a rig for under 1k.

EDIT: Still waiting for wishlist to be public.......

**Being Amended**

Total cost = $1650
Computer:
Case:
Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811133154

Power Supply:
Rosewill RX850-S-B ATX12V v2.2 & EPS12V v2.91 850W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817182072

Mobo:
MSI K9A2 Platinum AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813130136

Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103228

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136012

RAM:
CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820145043

Video Card(s):
2 - XFX PVT84JYDF3 GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150260

Sound Card:
Razer Barracuda AC-1 7.1Gaming Soundcard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829153001

CD/DVD Drive:
SAMSUNG 20X DVDR DVD Burner Black SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827151153

Peripherals:
Keyboard:
RAZER Tarantula Black USB Standard Ultimate Gaming Keyboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6823114001

Mouse:
RAZER Black 5 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Optical DeathAdder High Precision Gaming Mouse
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6826153007

Headset:
RAZER Barracuda HP-1 Razer HD-DAI(High Definition-Dedicated Audio Interface) Connector Circumaural Gaming Headphones
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6826153002 8) 8)

No monitor required Epoch. Whats the price on this build once that's out?

Also, which would be better, 8800GTS w/ 512MB in Fearsomes build, or 2 x lesser card SLI? Pros, cons?

the 8800gts by a mile. i would never put 2 8600gt's into a new system ever.

The best thing to do is look up VGA charts. I had a hard time finding a direct comparison but in one benchmark. But these 2 if thought through should paint a clear picture in over all performance SLI gains are never good enough to over come simply spending that extra money on a better card.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_ ... &chart=378
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_ ... &chart=318
The 8800 GTS 512 MB (it should be 512 not 640 or 320) is a hot card for the money. Next step down would be the 8800GT 512mb then 3870 512mb, then 3850 512mb. Basically the only reason you should even do SLI or CF is if you have so much money that you want to blow 1000$ on 2 8800 ultras, or you already have an old system and you want to add a card to give it a little boost.

I could be a good thing to go into more of the differences between these 2 computers presented. I would not do an AMD CPU unless I was building a sub 1000$ computer. Intel simply wins hands down at the high end.

I also would not buy a raptor hard drive they are good drives and all but the hard drive I listed will beat it with many times the space in many specs except seek time. Raptors are an aging drive. And the money you spend on them could be saved, in a year or so SSDs will come down in price and make the high performance hard drive a thing of the past. Imagine very fast perfectly silent low power consumption storage. Sorry but the old Hard drive is going to be dead in that market. But hard drives still will win in price per GB of storage.

I wouldnt take the rosewill PSU I have had them before and it turned out to be a problem in a system. They are a cheap company and it shows. Also for that price I would want a modular PSU and I would not trust their specs.

Epochs ram is better then mine but more expensive. Not sure if his price is for 4gb or 2 gb, mine is 4gb

If you want an upgrade path you need to swap my mobo out for an SLI mobo.

yeah, fearsome knows his stuff. i agree completely.

This is the kind of discussion I hoped this thread would start. Thanks both of you.

Word thanks for the feedback Fearsome. I was hoping some one would tell me whether I did well or not . For some reason I've had an aversion towards intel....don't know why but maybe its time to change lol. I do keep hearing people say the intel beats the pants off AMd in higher performance brackets. I can't wait until SSD's are cheaper thats really gonna change the face of home computing so fast and silent *drools*. wow those graphs change everything lol one 8800 far surpasses two 8600 in SLI. Gotta love sites like toms hardware. Well sweet again thanks fearsome for the insight. Time to do some more research and get back to the drawing board. That case you chose is sweet, 4 fans over the mobo, 2 exaust, and a blow hole fan, which seems to be pretty standard nowadays. And its signifigantly chjeaper than the collermaster stackers which are one of the only other cases with 4 fans over the mobo thats ive been able to find. Is that a fan filter on the bottom of the case? That would be pretty cool to have a bottom intake fan as long as you had a good filter on there.

I agree this is an awesome thread, very interesting to see what people would put together.

When dual core came out AMD was on top with its processors and they were better than the pentium D's which had a lot of heat issues and were not very fast.

Then Intel got their but in gear and their act together (they were a bit embarrassed by being outdone by AMD) and came out with better dual cores, the E6600 and the x6800. These duals, particularly the 6800 blew everything that AMD had out of the water.

They then took the same principal as those and made the quads that are out now. AMD is now playing catch up.

Intel is looked down upon I think because their processors initially are quite expensive and the Pent Ds were really pretty bad as often happens when new technology comes out. Also the company has been around a long time, long enough for people to form opinions and become entrenched in that view.

I built my computer a little over a year ago and its not a budget machine. Yes I admit I probably spent more than I needed to but I saved over $1500 compared to what a similar machine would have cost from Dell. I went with top end for just about everything mainly because I am fortunate that I had the money to do it and I was sick and tired of my old slow Pentium 4 machine slowing my gaming down with its 20 fps and the external hard drive I was using to play the game with. I was going to have a gaming computer or else!

I purchased the x6800 processor when I built my computer because I had the money to invest in a top end machine. Yea I probably spent more than I really needed to but I wanted a fast processor that I didnt need to mess around with overclocking and one that would still be in the higher end processors as new ones came out. I think its still the fastest dual around. There are many that think quad is overkill for gaming at this point and is more advantageous in video editing. It will be interesting to see what happens when the games start to be designed with multicore processors in mind.

I also purchased raptors and put them in a raid 0 configuration because I wanted the access speed. Yes slower drives probably would have been almost as good but again I was hell bent on a top end machine.

I illustrate all of this so that people thinking of building a computer dont make the same moves (I wont call them mistakes because I dont regret what I bought or spent) I did when they can get something that will do the job for quite a bit less.

Fearsome's rig reposted in case the wishlist expires:

1 NZXT Zero Black/Silver Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: Zero
Item #: N82E16811146029
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
In Stock
Mail-in Rebate
$159.99 -$10.00 Instant $149.99

1 Thermaltake A2315 iBox 5.25" Drive Bay Accessory Box - Retail
Model #: A2315
Item #: N82E16811999142
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
In Stock
$6.99 $6.99

1 GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: GA-P35-DS3L
Item #: N82E16813128059
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
In Stock
$99.99 -$10.00 Instant $89.99

1 EVGA 512-P3-N841-AR GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Model #: 512-P3-N841-AR
Item #: N82E16814130325
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
In Stock
Mail-in Rebate
$304.99 -$15.00 Instant $289.99

1 CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: CMPSU-620HX
Item #: N82E16817139002
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
In Stock
Mail-in Rebate
$189.99 -$20.00 Instant $169.99

1 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail
Model #: BX80562Q6600
Item #: N82E16819115017
Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy
In Stock
$275.99 $275.99

2 CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4 - Retail
Model #: TWIN2X2048-6400C4
Item #: N82E16820145034
Return Policy: Memory (Modules, USB) Return Policy
In Stock
Mail-in Rebate
$84.00 -$10.00 Instant $148.00

1 Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA-300 Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: ST3500320AS
Item #: N82E16822148288
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
In Stock
$119.99 $119.99

1 Logitech G9 Black 5 Buttons Tilt Wheel USB Wired Laser Gaming Mouse - Retail
Model #: 910-000173
Item #: N82E16826104079
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
In Stock
Mail-in Rebate
$89.99 -$15.00 Instant $74.99

1 SAMSUNG 20X DVDR DVD Burner with LightScribe Black PATA Model SH-S202N - OEM
Model #: SH-S202N
Item #: N82E16827151155
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
In Stock
$29.99 $29.99

Subtotal: $1,355.91

Ahha now that I think about it that was it Paradox. I remeber now that AMD WAS better for alittle while. I guess I just haven't been keeping up with the times, which is nearly frickin impossible these days. I mean christ its only been a year since I was checking out computer parts and now its seems like everything I know is old news lol. don't pay attention to market for a second and yoou'll be buy obsolete parts lol its great.

I just put one together actually, heres the specs:

ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
Thermalright ULTRA-120 Aluminum Heatpipe Heatsink for K8/P4 CPU Cooler
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel 4-4-4-12 Memory
EVGA 512-P3-N841-A3 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Western Digital Caviar RE WD1600YS 160GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
SilenX iXtrema Pro 650w 14dBA A-PFC ATX Modular PSU
Antec P182 Gun Metal Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

UltraSharp 2007WFP 20-inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand Monitor
Standard Slim Dell Keyboard Keyboard
My ol, trusty Logitech MX518 Mouse
Icemat Siberia Headset - Black Headset


All I am waiting on is the PSU, which is arriving Monday.
:D

Sounds nice, care to give us a rough total price for that rig and where you are ordering from in case someone else wants to look into getting something similar?

I'm actually thinking about getting a new computer as well. Or rather a second one, so I'm in need of a full set including a monitor. What is a really good gaming monitor these days? Is the one you listed there something you've specifically checked out? The UltraSharp 2007WFP 20-inch Widescreen.

I remember hearing that most flat panels have an inherent delay before the picture is displayed, not related to the usual response time as measured how long it takes to switch a pixel between black and white. Anyone knows more about this?

Samsung 226cw IMO

22" inch wide screen LCD. It has a 2ms response time (you cant buy any monitors with less than this). Make sure to get the CW not the other model which I have read is made for Samsung by another company the Samsung made model is better. They were about the same price as I recall.

If you plan on still using the other computer for gaming I would recommend that you get the same or very similar monitor because even changing the monitor to one thats a different size takes some getting used to for aiming. If you switch back and forth a lot it could mess with your aim.

If your considering a and LCD, what you'll be looking for in a gaming monitor is as follows.

-High native resolution
-High contrast 700-1000.1 (DC 3000.1)
-2ms response rate
-Widescreen (why not?)

Other than that make sure to comb the reviews regarding models fitting your desired specs to check for inherent model defects like backlight bleeding, bad color matching, or dead pixel problems. Also make sure you use a DVI-D cable to ensure best quality. If I were to buy a new monitor for gaming I would probly go with this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6824116095

It's a 19" widescreen with the resolution of a 22" widescreen, with great contrast ratio and 2ms response time. Amazing price too, considering the specs.
My 2 cents

Paradox wrote:Samsung 226cw

I have this monitors little brother, the 906bw. Just the 19" version with a little bit of a backlight bleeding issue, but I don't notice it unless the screen is totally black. Blasted varying panel models, samgsung screwed the pooch on THAT manufacturing decision lol. Still a damn good monitor.[/quote]

people doing this challenge should include prices so we can get a realistic idea here z0mgz $1

graffitiknockout wrote:people doing this challenge should include prices so we can get a realistic idea here z0mgz $1

mine was Sofa King expensive.

All I'm looking for right now is a MIDI mixer for my computer

MIDI mixer huh...hmmmm thinking....thinking....thinking. Been a while since I've done anything with midi, but couldn't you just bypass this and use a piece of software? Your basically referring to a sound board right, so you can control the imput from multiple external devices? Lol 5 years pass and I don't know shit anymore geez lol . Just curious cause it got me to thinking about procducing techno again, a somewhat lost and forgotten dream of mine. Now that I have a comp again I think I'll start looking into this again. Thanks for the random source of inspiration lol. Best kind imo. Woohoo now I can pour over reviews for music hardware oh boy oh boy oh boy!! On the software end of things Reason 3.0 and Protools is just about all I'll ever need.

EDIT: Wow Reason 4.0 (drools) is out I really am behind the times lol.