gaming system

[Jack Rabbit]

Since you do not need an OS or monitor your budget pretty much allows you to get top of the line gear.

I have never done a CF rig so others will have much better advice about mainboard. My last RAM purchase was a failure so go with the Mushkin everyone else likes.

DVD drive is practically irrelevant unless you want to go into the music business. They cost next to nothing. Do not worry too much about this choice.

The 8400 is a great buy right now. Do not worry too much about this choice.

The 4870s are all pretty much the same so just get the ones that offer the most clock for dollars. Do not worry too much about this choice.

Killer heat sinks are par for the course. There are lots of reviews and most will do the job just fine. Do not worry too much about this choice.

You may want to look as some of the options about hard drives. Segate and Western Digital are both good choices. To start with I suggest getting something in the belly of the price/gig curve; the one that gives you most storage for dollars. Later on you can think about fancy things like RAID or 10k drives.

Look through the case and build log sections for cases. Case choice is mostly down to personal preference about aesthetics. The Cosmos, Centurion, 900/1200, P180 and various other popular cases are well documented. You can pick one you like and that will give you the room to move to water cooling when you want to.

Do not forget to put some money aside for that games you want to play on this rig. Solitaire and minesweeper would be a real waste.

And do not forget something to back up to. You might want to budget for a spare drive and an external USB/e-SATA enclosure or NAS.

3.0Charlie has a great list but I do not see a case in there. But there is a $375 monitor which you may not want so there is plenty of room.

$0.02

[WolfBane]

Wow ok would this be a good system for a first timer and could i water cool it at a later time?
Also how many fans would i need to buy to keep it cool?
as for the monitor i will use this one i have for the time being , So what could i buy instead of the monitor to make this system even better ? al;so do i need a fan for the 6 pipe heat sink ?
Now what case would i put this in ? i do not like cases with front doors (pta lol ) i was looking at the antec 1200 would this case be a good one?
or what do you guys suggest ?

[3.0charlie]

I forgot to add that a case is missing; I find that this choice is rather personal. My list was to prove that spending $2000 on parts was rather easy for a killer gaming rig.
Fans? Depends on the case.
The 2 Noctua fans that are in the list are for the HSF (the TRUE).
Parts to be added? Maybe another HDD.
Water-cooling? Of course it can be done.

[WolfBane]

The 2 Noctua fans that are in the list are for the HSF (the TRUE) What does this mean ? (The true)????
Also as for now what you have suggested looks fantastic !!! As i can only consider your knowledge as i have really none lol , but it really looks good to me , now on the cpu , Would the 8400 work or should i buy a quad core 9450 ?
also on the sound card i was thinking the AuzenTech X-FI Prelude 7.1 Sound Card PCI 32BIT Eax 5.0 on ncix for like 160 bucks

Right now don't really want to go over 200 but if you guys twist my arm a bit i am sure i could up the system to maybe 2200 bucks total ???? I dunno lol

So would the antec 1200 case work and have enuff room for crossfire and watercooling????

[enaberif]

Personally the brand of optical drive DOES matter.

I worked in a rma dept for awhile and the return rate on LG and Samsung was astounding and which is why I only recommend the pioneer drives for.

[fawconpunch]

Originally Posted by WolfBane

So would the antec 1200 case work and have enuff room for crossfire and watercooling????

The Antec 1200 is huge. You can fit watercooling in a 900, you surely can in a 1200.

[3.0charlie]

The 2 Nonctua fans are for the after-market HeatSinkFan, the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme.
I have chosen the E8500, but the E8400 would do as well. The Q9450 is a great chip too. But for gaming I would go for the E8500.
I don't know much about sound cards - sorry.
Case? Why not the Coolermaster Cosmos S? http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...e=COOLERMASTER. You have to know that it's a great case for a water-cooling setup...

[WolfBane]

Wow now your talking a case!!! i love that case alot better than the 1200 , ok so what i have so far :

1.ASUS P5Q-E ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN eSATA 1394 Motherboard In Stock 30299 $165.99 $165.99

2.Diamond Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 PCI-E 2XDVI-I Video Card 2-5 Business Days 30819 $309.99 $619.98 (2 cards)

3.Mushkin Ascent PC2-8500 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit In Stock 30218 $169.99 $169.99
4.Pioneer DVR-215DBK DVD+RW 20X8X16 DVD-RW 20X6X16 DL 10X SATA Black OEM DVD Writer No S/W In Stock 30176 $27.99 $27.99
5.Thermalright ULTRA-120 Extreme 6 Heatpipe Cooler LGA775 Heatsink *Fan Not Included
In Stock 23531 $47.99 $47.99 6.Coolermaster Cosmos S Black E-ATX Aluminum Case 7X5.25 4X3.5INT Front USB & Sound Reg. Price: $242.82 SKU: 28494
Shipping Weight: 40 lbs
Part #: RC-1100-KKN1
7.AuzenTech X-FI Prelude 7.1 Sound Card PCI 32BIT Eax 5.0 $180
8.Noctua NF-P12-1300 120MM Ultra Quiet Cooling Fan 1100-1300RPM 63-92M3/H 12.6-19.8DBA Molex
In Stock 27129 $12.99 $25.98 (2 fans)

9.Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 3.5IN 500GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive In Stock 27144 $75.99 $75.99
10.Corsair HX1000W CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX 20/24PIN ATX 80A 12V Afc Modular Power Supply W/ 140MM Fan In Stock 28797 $249.99 $249.99
11.Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.16GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail *IR-$30* In Stock 27785 $279.79 $279.79

total so far :$2087 thats rounding every thing off to upper dollar !!!

So would this work ?
Also what else would i need ? thermo paste ??
wiring ? any other fans ?
Also would i need a system for fan speeds or to see what my temps would be by looking at the case???

[enaberif]

Drop that 1000w power supply for the PC P&P 750w which is $134 after rebate or the Corsair TX750 for $104 after rebate.

[3.0charlie]

Do you think that 750W will be enough for dual HD4870s?