Advice on my Choices ?

[Rey17]

hey guys, i got a challenge for you ?

i just want to see what can i get for about 3,000 dollars and how good my computer is going to be ?

i have somethings which i want to have and i have made my mind up already about them.

The case : http://www.xoxide.com/sunbeam-transformer-case-black.html

The processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115051

The sound card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102005

the hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145167
2 of these hard drives are going to be raided for entertainment only.

another hard drive set: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288
raid these 2 hardrives for computer programs like office, itunes, quicktime etc

motherboard:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188025

now the graphics card, and RAMS are up to you.

i want either a 8800 series card which would be able to play crysis and some future games, or the 9xxx series. the one which i have in mind is the 9800 GX2

RAMS: DDR3 and i want 3 or 4 gigs of it. i want a fast RAM.

the price of the items which i already want is:

MotherBoard: $249.99
Case: $69.99
Processor: $539.99
Sound Card: $135.99
Hard Drives (1tb X2) $269.99 X2
Hard Drives (250gb X2) $69.99 X2


and another thing, i want a good PSW which has atleast 1000w of power....

lol lets see if you can build a good system for me ?!!!

and Thanks a million in advance !!!

[farlex85]

I would get a couple veloci-raptors (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136260) instead of those 7200.11s. Since you have such a large budget, I would definitely say the gtx 280 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+106792634+1067940782&name=GeForce+GTX+280) should be your choice. One is more than you could need right now, but you could get 2 just for kicks. As for ram maybe a couple of dominators (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609274)? Maybe something like this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817814012)for psu. I don't know, I personally would ditch the 790i for a x48 and get a couple 4870x2s and scratch the qx9770 for the qx9650 at most (they are practically the same w/ $500 difference) and unless your planning on using some LN2 or extreme phase I would just do a q9550. But that's just me.

[Rey17]

i have to agree on the gtx 280, especailly from MSI because the clocks speed are astounding and they look pretty fast too and they support the nvidia physix thing so thats good tooo !! so thanks for that !

and the PSU is one hell of a good find !! it looks good and it has good power too !! and thanks for that also !!

so are the things that i already stated above good enough ?......
and what is the difference between the 790i and the x48 ? is it like AMD or intel difference or something ??

[aCid888*]

why bother with that 790i when you can go TriFire with 3 4780s and beat the 280 into the ground lol

nVidia is good but the prices for high end cards rule them out if i was going to spend 3K on a rig...may as well burn your money or give it away than spend $650 on a 280GTX that is only goin to go down $200 in 2 months and be worth nothing in a years time because it needs 2 coal burning power plants to run

and while your at it look at the QX9650 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115034) and save yourself $300 while your OC the nuts off this and make it faster than the QX9770 anyway!

[farlex85]

i have to agree on the gtx 280, especailly from MSI because the clocks speed are astounding and they look pretty fast too and they support the nvidia physix thing so thats good tooo !! so thanks for that !

and the PSU is one hell of a good find !! it looks good and it has good power too !! and thanks for that also !!

so are the things that i already stated above good enough ?......
and what is the difference between the 790i and the x48 ? is it like AMD or intel difference or something ??

An x48 is a crossfire board, meaning you can run ati cards in tandem there, while 790i is sli for nvidia. x48's tend to oc better, but which one really depends on which video cards your getting.

why bother with that 790i when you can go TriFire with 3 4780s and beat the 280 into the ground lol

nVidia is good but the prices for high end cards rule them out if i was going to spend 3K on a rig...may as well burn your money or give it away than spend $650 on a 280GTX that is only goin to go down $200 in 2 months and be worth nothing in a years time because it needs 2 coal burning power plants to run

and while your at it look at the QX9650 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115034) and save yourself $300 while your OC the nuts off this and make it faster than the QX9770 anyway!

The 280 gtx will most assuredly not be going to $200 in two months. More likely it will be around $450, $400 at the lowest. It costs almost $200 to produce. And it uses about as much power as a 4870 actually, so it's performance per watt is top notch.

[Rey17]

well im going to get the Qx9650 and O.C it more and make it faster than the QX9770 !! no problems on that.

and one more thing, im towards the intel and nvidia side so i dont want to get ATI even though i used to use it a looooooooooong time ago, meaning about 10 years ago lol !! since i started using nvidia i loved it so i think ill be keeping the 790i ultra and the Nvidia 280gtx card because im not going to be using Sli, tri sli or quad sli or tricrossfire or crossfire etc !!

i just one good card which has good clocks and stays cool !! thats it !!

until the time when games DEMAND SLI, then and only then ill use SLI or crossfire if i build another rig.

i still help with the RAM. i need 4gb of good timing RAM !!

i dont know how the timing thing works but ill ask from the pro like you !!

so show me a good, FAST and reliable RAM with good timings which will keep me going for about 1 year or 2

[Mussels]

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_537&products_id=6553


ram? :D

[calvary1980]

Buffalo Firestix, Team Xtreem, Transcend. best you can get but expensive.

- Christine

[Mussels]

actually i just realised the mobo in the first post is DDR3. So my suggestion can be ignored.

[calvary1980]

well putting all that in a crappy Sunbeam case is one thing but putting all that in with Corsair ram is a no no :p with the 3 brands I mentioned above you will get your moneys worth.

- Christine

[Rey17]

if you think that the sunbeam case is crap, then can you advice me on a better one, which has good cooling and looks good and that can fit all of these hardware and still have enough room in it !!

i want to make sure it has a fair amount of fans to remove hot air !!

the sunbeam one has i think 4 :
1 on top,
1 on bottom
2 on the glass side !!

so 4 or more fans is good enough for me !!

[calvary1980]

I like to list them in Tiers.

Tier 1 = Cooler Master Stacker 832, Cooler Master Stacker 832 SE, Cooler Master Cosmos S, Silverstone TJ07, Silverstone TJ09, Silverstone TJ10 ESA, Lian Li PC-P80 Armorsuit, Lian Li PC-P60 Armorsuit, Lian Li PC-V2xxx, Antec 1200, Thermaltake Xaser VI

Tier 2 = Cooler Master 690, Cooler Master Centurion 590, Antec 900, Antec P182, NZXT Tempest, Cooler Master Cosmos 1000, Cooler Master Cosmos 1010, Lian Li Lancool K7, Lian Li Lancool K8, Silverstone Kublai 02, Silverstone Kublai 03, Thermaltake Xaser VI MX

any case not listed is pretty much Tier 3, crap.

- Christine

[Rey17]

wooow thats alot of computer cases to see, which one do you think is the best out of them, meaning choose 1 or 2 from each tier and tell me ?!

[Rey17]

i just found a bunch of good airflow and good looking cases:

Xoxide X-Sentric 250mm Professional Series Case: (http://www.xoxide.com/moneual-lab-m550f25-case.html)

Raidmax Sagitta 2 Case (http://www.xoxide.com/raidmax-saggita-2-case.html)

NZXT Nemesis Elite Gaming Case - Black (http://www.xoxide.com/nzxt-nemesis-elite-case-black.html)

Aerocool ExtremEngine 3T Case - Black - 250mm Fan! (http://www.xoxide.com/aerocool-extremengine-3t-black.html)

personally my favorite are the bottom 2, i seriously cannot decide which one to choose. if i am only going to be overclocking the processor then i dont think i need a huge fan on the side which would actually freeze my computer lol

so i say the 3rd one is good looking and good quality !!

[calvary1980]

NZXT Tempest, Cooler Master Centurion 590, Cooler Master 690. I love the 2 Cooler Master cases because they can mount 8 fans, but I have been liking the Tempest lately it's affordable now and it's designed off the Antec 900 it can mount 6 fans but has fan filters it also has a pre-mounted bracket up top (http://www.aoaforums.com/forum/attachments/case-modifications/22170d1206057706-new-nzxt-case-tempest-crafted-series-276.jpg) for a radiator incase you decide to take the "plunge" it can only mount 3 or 4 kinds of radiators the only decent one being the Swiftech MCR220.

PS, all the cases you just listed are Tier 3 lol. first of all 200/250mm fans are hard to replace (only a couple brands, expensive) and do not outperform a standard 120mm fan the only benefit of a 200/250mm fan is the areal effect but even that can be remedy with the Cooler Master Stacker which is the only case that has 4 Side Fans. here is a tip some of the prettiest cases like that NZXT Nemesis have poorest air flow.

- Christine

[Rey17]

but you have to consider that im only going to O.C the processor thats it !! so i need a case which will look good and have good airflow, i think the tempest does look good but when you compare it to the NZXT nemisis elite case, that case has a LCD screen showing the temp and fan speed and etc !!

so i need to consider a very good looking case, can you please look for more cases which will look good and have good airflow, please send the website next to the actuall name of the case so that i can go and check out the website along with the specifications !!

thanks !!

[calvary1980]

NZXT Tempest (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146047) Cooler Master Centurion 590 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119152&Tpk=centurion%2b590) Cooler Master 690 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137)

http://www.nzxt.com/ http://www.coolermaster.com/

you will have to use shopbot.com.au to find the cases in Aus.

- Christine

[Rey17]

wow nice !!

which one do you think is the best out of them ?!

i think the NZXT and the cooler master 690 are good !!
thnx, if you dont mind, keep looking ?!! while i do the same !!

[calvary1980]

690 is a good case, somethings it has over the Centurion 590 is the eSATA port and reset button. but the biggest problem with the case is there is no front intake well there is a fan but because the hard drive cage is facing the side and not forward it blocks intake. I like the Tempest.

- Christine

[Pinchy]

Just a heads up...Newegg doesnt ship to Australia (if you didnt already know ;))

[Rey17]

lol i already knew, there is a store nearby in australia which might be able to get me any case i want, its called computer net !! maybe you have heard of it maybe not ? its in south australia where i am so probably not.

i think the tempest is good too !! im searching for more cases

[Rey17]

but anywayz, the nemsis elite actually doesnt have any 200/250 mm fans, it uses 120 mm fans and it has 1 at the back, front and the side ? so i dont think that is that much of a problem ?

[Rey17]

just found this amazing looking case, but there is a problem to it

link: (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16811713001)

now read the reviews to see what the actual problem is, they say the PSU will be facing downwards or something, can you please read the review and tell me properly what the hell they mean !! lol

[BarbaricSoul]

Personally, I wouldn't buy a QX system right now. Now I'm not saying not to upgrade, but persoanlly, at this point in time, I wouldn't buy a $3000 set-up as nahalen CPU's are suppose to be released early next year(all nahalen CPU's from what I've read about them will be faster than any of the QX CPUs). My advise right now would be to go ahead and get your top of the line video card(the 4870 and the 280GTX lines are gonna be the top cards for awhile it seems), a very good PSU(PC power and cooling 750 watt would be my recommendation). Then get a e7200 for about $115, and DFI BloodIron motherboard for $115, and a 2 gig set of ddr2 ram for around $50. After Nahalem is released, buy a x58 motherboard, ddr3 ram(prices should be considerably lower by then), and the top Nahalem CPU.

You'll have a fast computer to get you by until nahalem is released, and you'll also be set to upgrade to nahalem without loosing alot of money in doing so.

[Rey17]

your right about most of the things, but but the x58 motherboard will be a lot expensive along with the nehalem processors, chipsets etc.... they are going to be fast but very expensive, it is very possible to overclock the QX9650 to more than the QX9770 and probably as near as the nehalem. im not that much of a person who likes to keep his computer with the latest parts all the time. i want to get something which will last me about a year or 2 years at the max, then obviously i will change. i want hardware like the GTX 280 which CAN play crysis at a decent Frame rate. around 60 on medium settings i think.
the quadcore still has not been used to its full poteintial, most of the programs aside from the 3dmark, they still use 2 cores out of 4. so until they start to use programs which USE 4 cores and a 4 core processor has become standard, which will take some time, until that time, i can keep that processor and overclock it to stay with modern technology speeds.
until a time where 8 cores have taken the better, i will change definatly. and Sli is stil the option to keep me going for 2 years without having the problem for changing graphics cards all the time !!!

so im sticking to the QX because there is alot that can be done to make to modern standard and even make it run for far more !! am i right ?

[Rey17]

now i have been going through newegg and found really good cases:

Powertek PT-eviltek-case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811713001)
APEVIA X-TELSTAR-JR G-Type X-TSJGT-BK (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144209&Tpk=APEVIA%2bX-TELSTAR-JR%2bG-Type%2bX-TSJGT-BK)
RAIDMAX SAGITTA ATX-921WB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156087&Tpk=RAIDMAX%2bSAGITTA%2bATX-921WB)
NZXT TEMPEST (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146047)
RAIDMAX SMILODON Extreme (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156078)
XION Onyx XON-301 Black Steel (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811208020)
RAIDMAX SMILODON (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156209)
XION Solaris (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811208011) and yes i am showing this case because it is named Solaris !! lol :D
XION Onyx XON-301 Black Steel (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811208020)

My favorite out of all of these is the Xion Onyx because it looks STUNNING !!!! and it has 120 fans and a 140 fan on the side which is really good !!!!! and people have given good Reviews about this !!
so i think the best one is the Xion Onyx which i really want because its green !! and it is GOOD !!!

[Mussels]

QX's are a waste. you could buy a CPU for half as much in price that OC's to the exact same levels. The only difference between them and a normal chip is the unlocked multiplier.

SLI is also not as great, it has a huge flaw in that if you dont buy both cards at the same time, you're usually screwed for getting another one. I know many people with 8800GTS 640MB... and they cant get another one for SLI without paying huge sums of money.

[BarbaricSoul]

I understand what your saying. My system I feel will be good for another year without having to upgrade it. Considering your saying you want it to keep up for a year or 2, I think a OC'ed q9450 will do the same job as the QX for alot less money. Hell, my e8400 might be good for 2 more years, but that might be pushing it. IDK, personally I wouldn't spend over $1500 on a CPU/motherboard combo right now(which is more than my whole tower costs).

[Rey17]

ok, now its turn for some processor research, the same way i spent about 2 hours looking for a perfect case which now i have decided to buy no matter what lol !!

no i should spend a good 2 hours on processor research and see what is better. but keep in mind that i will get a quad core. and thanks barbaricsoul for giving me the headstart for where to start searching, comparing and loving lol !!

[BarbaricSoul]

Glad to be of help. Yeah, look into the q9450, it should do what you want it to do for the next 2 years

[Rey17]

now i think compared to overclocking and performance, the Core 2 Quad Q9450 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115042) is the best

so i have decided to get the one that barbaric soul said !! nice one !!!

so the motherboard: SET
graphics card: SET
processor: SET
Case: Happliy SET :D
RAM: not set !!
PSU: SET
HDDs: SET

now its the RAM's turn to be researched lol !!

[BarbaricSoul]

look into G-skill RAM, seems to be some of the best currently available. For DDR3 RAM, I would probably pick up this set- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231167

[Rey17]

Done, the timings and RAM looks fast !!! another nice find!!!!

and once again a big thanks goes to BarbaricSoul for helping me and a big thanks to everyone else who helped me out !! lol by saying that QX are crap !! just joking :D :D :D

anywayz now i think everything is set for me 2 go !!

thanks alot, im going to make a thread which has my rig and put it in my signature !!

[BarbaricSoul]

Well it made my morning being able to help you out.

BTW, see that little smiley face with the word thanks down in the bottom right corner.....

[Rey17]

LOOOL !!!

dont worry i have done that thanks thing to everyone who has helped me out lol !!

[BarbaricSoul]

:toast:

[aCid888*]

The 280 gtx will most assuredly not be going to $200 in two months. More likely it will be around $450, $400 at the lowest. It costs almost $200 to produce. And it uses about as much power as a 4870 actually, so it's performance per watt is top notch.

i mean a $200 price drop, not to $200 lol

the 280GTX i cant ever see being just $200 apart from in 4 years time when someone wants to sell their old parts