I'm customizing a new computer.

[Power666]

Originally Posted by InsightGoalie

First thing I'm going to say, and myabe power will back me up on this, this is a terrible time to buy a high end PC. Nvidia is about to release their 9k series of graphics cards soon for starters. But, most importantly later this year Intel plans to release a new chipset. There old LGA 775 has been in use since the P4 and they want to update it. That would give you two options. You could either pay out the ass for a really good one of the new processors, or you could buy a very good Core 2 Quad at reduced prices. Basically if you wait until later this year the options will be better for you.

This is true. The Geforce 9800GX2 seems to be set for launch on March 11th with the Geforce 9800GTX arriving at the same time or by the end of March.

Intel does plan on moving to a new socket by the end 2008, and along with it there should be some impressive performance gains. Intel won't release any more new socket 775 processors in 2009 and supplies will dry up.

Originally Posted by underzr0

top of the line Rigs come around to $15,000

You're thinking small.

Originally Posted by E6600

Get a Mac Pro

Apple - Mac Pro

The cheapest configuration that'd be good for gaming is $2500. That's with four processors instead of the default eight and a Geforce 8800GT. There is plenty of processing power on that system but its likely out of his price range.

FYI - Mac Pros are effectively the same with as Intel's Skulltrail high end gaming platform without support for SLI.

Originally Posted by downphoenix

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Newegg.com - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $99.99 (Sweet looking case with the room and cooling you'll need)

Everyone loves this case but I don't like it. I've seen them in person and they were kinda fugly looking and I'm not too keen on how things are cooled.

Originally Posted by downphoenix

Motherboard: (Allows for up to 8Gb of ram, SLI for Nvidia graphics cards, and supports up to 1333mhz FSB) Newegg.com - ECS NF650iSLIT-A (V1.0) LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $79.99 (A solid motherboard that will do well for this machine)

I wouldn't get an ECS motherboard, pretty shitty quality. I've seen them go bad in the past.

Originally Posted by downphoenix

Sound Card: Creative Audigy Low Profile 5.1 Sound Card Newegg.com - Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE SB0570LPVP 5.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Low-Profile Sound Card - OEM $26.99

Unnecessary as onboard audio works fine.

Originally Posted by downphoenix

Vista Premium 64 Bit Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM $109.99

I'd stay away from Vista at this moment. There still isn't a compelling reason to make the jump.

[Deathmonkey7]

Originally Posted by underzr0

top of the line Rigs come around to $15,000

Who the hell would spend 15,000 for a PC? I spent $700 on mine and I can run crysis highest detail at an average of 21FPS. With about 100-200 more put into it I could make it run far smoother.

[InsightGoalie]

Originally Posted by E6600

Get a Mac Pro

Apple - Mac Pro

He said he wanted to be able to play games

[Power666]

Originally Posted by InsightGoalie

He said he wanted to be able to play games

The Mac Pro runs Windows remarkably well believe it or not. Like I said, it is basically the same thing as Intel's Skulltrail system but without SLI.

Originally Posted by Power666

The Mac Pro runs Windows remarkably well believe it or not. Like I said, it is basically the same thing as Intel's Skulltrail system but without SLI.

There is nothing on this planet that runs Windows remarkably well.

[Power666]

Originally Posted by PhoenixKfz

There is nothing on this planet that runs Windows remarkably well.

Touché.

Then again, it doesn't come with Windows pre-installed...

[Romanc]

Originally Posted by PhoenixKfz

There is nothing on this planet that runs Windows remarkably well.

Rewrite to "it's remarkable, but it actually kind of runs Windows"

[Red-Blue]

Originally Posted by Power666

Everyone loves this case but I don't like it. I've seen them in person and they were kinda fugly looking and I'm not too keen on how things are cooled.



I wouldn't get an ECS motherboard, pretty shitty quality. I've seen them go bad in the past.



Unnecessary as onboard audio works fine.



I'd stay away from Vista at this moment. There still isn't a compelling reason to make the jump.

What would you recommend, instead of these?

[Power666]

The real question is how high end you really want to go and if you're interested in things like overclocking (though if you're able to assemble a system yourself, I'd recommend against this), multipe video cards for SLI/Crossfire, multiple processor sockets, RAID etc. These features are what makes a $80 board different from a $500 motherboard.

On board audio on the motherboard will likely suit you perfectly fine. The benefits of a dedicated sound card are generally lost on modern hardware and most users. Don't waste your money unless you can actually justify having one.

As for an operating system, I'd stick with Windows XP SP2 for gaming. It has driver support, plenty of games and is faster than Vista. The big compelling reason to upgrade to Vista - DirectX 10 really hasn't panned out for gamers. DirectX 10 was supposed to eliminate several bottlenecks in the operating system to make games faster. That hasn't happened in most cases as Vista and DirectX 10 tend to make games run slower. Drivers were once thought to blame and while newer drivers have improved performance, it is still not up the level provided by Windows XP.

[chedabob]

Whatever you do, don't go with XP 64bit.