The Gaming PC is Back ON!!!!

[Professor S]

Ahhhh, well it looks like I don't need a new car all that soon, so I'm still shopping for that ultimate gaming PC for the best price. I recently visited a reputable internet company that gave me this build:

CASE: CoolerMaster Stacker 830 Mid-Tower Case W/ Side-panel Window

CPU: (939-pin) AMD Athlon™64 FX 60 Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology REG $4999

MOTHERBOARD: (Sckt939)ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe nForce4 SLI Chipset SATA RAID Dual PCIE MB w/GbLAN, USB2.0, IEEE-1394, &7.1Audio

MEMORY: 2048 MB (1GBx2) PC3200 400MHz Dual Channel DDR MEMORY (Corsair Value Select)

VIDEO CARD: NEW! Quad NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology Featuring Four GeForce® 7900 GPUs Totaling 2GB Memory Video

LCD Monitor: ViewSonic VA1912WB WideScreen 19" Color TFT Active Matrix SXGA LCD Display Monitor

HARD DRIVE: Gaming Hard Drive (10, 000RPM SATA150) (SATA150 - Western Digital Raptor 150GB 10, 000RPM 16MB Cache WD1500ADFD)
Hard Drive 2: Gaming Hard Drive (10, 000RPM SATA150) (SATA150 - Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10, 000RPM 8MB Cache WD740GD)

Optical Drive: (Special Price) LG GWA-4161 16X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
Optical Drive 2: SONY 16X DVD-ROM (BLACK COLOR)

SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

3 year warrantee


All this for $4,783 with free shipping and AoE 3 included. I think this is an amazing price (correct me if I'm wrong) but I do have a concern. It comes with a liquid cooled heat sink, but it only covers the processor and not those 4 cards. Otherwise it does have two other cooling fans plus the fans on the cards. How much will heat be an issue if the Quad SLI is only air cooled?

Also, I want to upgrade to 4 gigs of RAM, but they don't have that option. Can I upgrade myself?

Also, what about the Physics card? Is it worth it?

[Null]

Correct me if im wrong, but they arent really technically 4 cards. its kinda 2 cards, with 2 cpu's on each in sli mode to make quad. the motherboard has 2 pcie slots. so im pretty sure it is.

ANYWHO, there shoudlnt be a problem at all because the cards are meant to run with air cooled. they wouldnt make em with fans if they couldnt be cooled by such. so it would be normal, minus the heat from the processor fan. i see no problems with it.

and the motherboard also maxes out at 4gb ram, so yes you can add more, (make sure its the same kind for best performance)

Also, that list is a little missleading or old. because that processor you can buy for $1011.00. it costs no where near $4999.

and i added up that whole list from parts you can buy, it comes to around roughly a little under $4000 to put together yourself. But thats with an esitmate on the gfx cards because it doesnt say what exactly its talking about for thoes. like a brand or model number.
But obviously your paying something extra to have it premade and all, so no surprise there.

Also, a note on that Monitor, its the exact monitor im using. i - LOVE - IT!!!! of course some games *cough BF2* dont support widescreen, but pretty much every game from now on should. but thats a minor issue, because for the games that do have support for it it looks beautiful in widescreen. i'd never go back to a fullscreen monitor. :)

[Professor S]

So do you think this is a good buy? Every other pre-made gaming PC maker was at least $2,000 more for the same stuff. I know it would be cheaper to make it myself, but I am a dullard in this area (not really a dullard, but I've never made one and thats a lot of investment for a first timer)

One more thing, and I would like your opinion on this:

Should I wait for Vista?

[Null]

for a premade one, yea its in a decent price range away from building one on your own, you defiently save by making it your self. but its not marked up so much that i'd say your getting ripped off or anything. plus you get a warrenty and customer service that you dont get making it yourself.
i do find it funny they tell you the processor is 5k reg. tho to make you think your saving like a couple thousand. hehe.



as for vista... im really looking foward to it. it is going to be one of the best things to happen to PC gaming in a long time. its going to let games do a lot of very cool things and run much smoother at at less CPU power. (this is because of DX10 which wont be released on XP)

but the OS could end up being buggy or come out pretty solid. no way to really tell on that. since they delayed it a couple times i tend to think they're working the bugs out of it.

i mean you could get what you want now and when Vista comes out, wipe out the HD and install vista. or you could wait and buy the computer next year when vista comes out. i dunno..

[Jonbo298]

Its a decent price for it being built and sent to ya. I personally won't be doing 4 video cards since I'm gonna try and hold out until AMD releases its Socket AM2 and starts taking advantage of DDR2 Ram and wait hopefully for the DX10 cards to be shown and released soon enough. But thats just because I currently dont have anywhere close to nearly $5k to upgrade.

[Null]

yea see, thats another thing about vista and DX10, you'll need a DX10 card.
But if you wait on it till vista, theres no saying you'll find this deal again.

[KillerGremlin]

This is a perfect example of why building a computer sucks. You can only have the latest and greatest for so long.

But if you think this is bad, I have to decide on what type of Laptop I want for college this summer....and I want it to eventually be able to support vista. blah.

I don't know how much better DDR2 will be, I doubt the price/performance will be justifiable right when it comes out. Your machine is pretty sweet, it will be better than a 360 graphics wise. I'd say go for it, upgrade later if you have to. If you're serious about this, then don't think about it for too long, and don't think about the future. You'll be obsolete in a week.

[Professor S]

. I'd say go for it, upgrade later if you have to. If you're serious about this, then don't think about it for too long, and don't think about the future. You'll be obsolete in a week.

I'm not worried about being obsolete so much as just being able to run the nest few generations of games. I'd like this PC to last at least 5 years or more as a gaming platform.

[Null]

This is a perfect example of why building a computer sucks. You can only have the latest and greatest for so long.

But if you think this is bad, I have to decide on what type of Laptop I want for college this summer....and I want it to eventually be able to support vista. blah.

I don't know how much better DDR2 will be, I doubt the price/performance will be justifiable right when it comes out. Your machine is pretty sweet, it will be better than a 360 graphics wise. I'd say go for it, upgrade later if you have to. If you're serious about this, then don't think about it for too long, and don't think about the future. You'll be obsolete in a week.



i dont get what you mean, what is an example of why building a pc sucks? i cant think of anything that sucks about building a pc. you can only have the latest and greatest anything for so long. what is that supposed to mean?

and it wont be obsolete in a week man, i know your exagerating but its not even close if you know anyting about computers. parts come out with newer things all the time, but that doesnt mean thoes newer things are going to do you a single bit of good.

say you have the top of the line gfx card now, and in 2 months a newer one comes out, in all likelyhood that newer one would show you no better performance then the one you currently have, either because its there but you cant notice it because your current already runs the games perfect, or 2 because there are no games out to take full advantage of the newer card. its the same way with all parts.

i personally like having the same computer and only buying an upgrade now and then as opposed to setting the whole console aside and buying an entirely new game console every 4 - 5 years.


I'm not worried about being obsolete so much as just being able to run the nest few generations of games. I'd like this PC to last at least 5 years or more as a gaming platform.

it would. the only hitch being DX10, you'd have to upgrade windows. and GFX card if you wanted to take full advantage of Vista's DX10. it would still run the games just fine with thoes card. you might be missing a few things that DX10 can provide tho.

in that sense, it might be a better idea to wait a bit longer for a PC with Vista and DX10 cards. a machine then at the same cost, you'd probably end up with the new AMD chips at a better computer that would last exactly what you want. maybe in 5 years a little GFX update and you'd be good to go again.

[Jonbo298]

I can attest to the upgraded and still using PC from 3 years ago. 9800Pro on an Athlon XP 3100/3200 (OC'd from 2500 speeds). It doesnt do the best but going from 512 of ram to 2 gigs made a big difference in terms of less lag. I can't run it at the highest settings but I can still play newer games at higher settings still. Not max but still very nice for a card from 3+ years ago.

Granted, RAM helped me a ton in lessening lag which is nice. Its a step up until I can fully sell off this machine and upgrade to the stuff coming soon to "Future proof" myself for about 3+ more years hopefully and do minor upgrades here and there.

[Professor S]

in that sense, it might be a better idea to wait a bit longer for a PC with Vista and DX10 cards. a machine then at the same cost, you'd probably end up with the new AMD chips at a better computer that would last exactly what you want. maybe in 5 years a little GFX update and you'd be good to go again.

After hearing your explanation about Vista and DX10, I completely agree with you. I don't want to be dumping hundreds into a $5,000 PC 6-10 months from now because I was impatient.

I'll wait, save, and get the sick-ass monster PC I've always wanted.

Thanks for the help everyone.

[KillerGremlin]

i dont get what you mean, what is an example of why building a pc sucks? i cant think of anything that sucks about building a pc. you can only have the latest and greatest anything for so long. what is that supposed to mean?

I always find it mildly depressing when I build a PC because as I build it I read up on all the cool stuff coming out in a year or two that I won't have. :p

and it wont be obsolete in a week man, i know your exagerating but its not even close if you know anyting about computers. parts come out with newer things all the time, but that doesnt mean thoes newer things are going to do you a single bit of good.

say you have the top of the line gfx card now, and in 2 months a newer one comes out, in all likelyhood that newer one would show you no better performance then the one you currently have, either because its there but you cant notice it because your current already runs the games perfect, or 2 because there are no games out to take full advantage of the newer card. its the same way with all parts.

I never said his system will be rendered useless, I just said it'll be obsolete. I guess obsolete carries a strong stigma that it is also useless. I just meant something better will be out. Something better is always around the corner though. It's not something that should hinder you from building a machine though, I did tell him to go for it and not think about the future too much.

i personally like having the same computer and only buying an upgrade now and then as opposed to setting the whole console aside and buying an entirely new game console every 4 - 5 years.

concured



DX10 will add a lot of performance boosts. DDR2 maybe not so much, at least not right away. I think everything he's picked out will be fine save for the fact that he won't have DX10 on his cards. It will still run the DX9.0L or whatever windows has as its alternative.

You won't be able to run Halo 2 without vista though. Because that game totally needs DX10 to run.

[Null]

I always find it mildly depressing when I build a PC because as I build it I read up on all the cool stuff coming out in a year or two that I won't have. :p
thats called not thinking ahead. there are times when to upgrade or build and times when to wait a bit longer.


I never said his system will be rendered useless, I just said it'll be obsolete. I guess obsolete carries a strong stigma that it is also useless. I just meant something better will be out. Something better is always around the corner though. It's not something that should hinder you from building a machine though, I did tell him to go for it and not think about the future too much.

i dont know what your considering obsolete then, buy a car now, a newer model comes out the following year, doesnt mean its obsolete, doesnt mean it does anything better at all, its just newer.

however, buy a car when theres a major change coming the following year, say they perfect the electrical car that charges it self and never needs fuel... coming out next year and you buy your brand new car this year. thats just poor planning. ;)

[MrCoffee]

tell you waht, you buy me one of thoughs gaming PC's with the same setup as you have there and i will buy you a wii.

[Jonbo298]

The reason I mentioned AMD and DDR2 was the fact their new socket coming out sometime soon will take more advantage of the faster bus speeds and overtime you'll see a larger difference in terms of speed, etc...Just right now its hard to see since I dont think there is many processors at all that take full advantage of DDR2's speeds yet. Hence why sometimes it seems slower then DDR1.

[Jason1]

*reads specs*

Stonecutter, you are a sick, sick person.

[Professor S]

*reads specs*

Stonecutter, you are a sick, sick person.

/me reads post

/me reads entire thread

Where is Stonecutter's post?

[Jason1]

Ah, my mistake...you used to be called something different did you not, professorS? For some reason I was thinking you used to be Stonecutter...I am obviously severely crippled in the head.

[Null]

its close to what it was.

actually i've fogotten what the name was too now, its on the tip of my tongue, i know i always got the 2 names mixed up before once and a while.

[GameMaster]

Strangler! I choose you!