Need Help Building New Computer System !!

[RobWin]

To all my Geek Buddies on here I need your help now building my ultimate gaming computer system...I built my last one about four years ago to the max that was offered in the marketplace at the time but as all of you know technology advances so fast it is now outdated !!

My new system will be a base unit for my home office and from what I have been reading and researching lately there is definitely some major advances out there...some of the things I want on my new system are as follows and I need other ideas and alternatives from you guys on my new system, money is not going to be an object as I don't mind spending the big bucks for the state of the art equipment here since I don't do it that often but I do want to keep the cost under $5K !!

1. Liquid cooled tower case
2. Liquid cooled motherboard
3. Dual processors, the most advanced, my current system is Pentium 4 and is already outdated
4. I already have dual 24" Hi Def screens, so don't need new screens
5. Dual video cards maybe if needed for my VCR and Camcorder hookups since I convert my camcorder to movies on DVD
6. Has to be the most power for all gaming platforms, open GL etc.
7. (4) plus gig of ram memory, maybe (8) gig, I think thats the new max now
8. Has to be XP Media Center Edition as I do not want to go down the Vista road
9. 500gig hard drive @ 7200 rpm or better
10. Memory card reader
11. Surround sound hookups on motherboard, Onboard 8-Channel 7.1 Audio

Come on guys, lets get creative here and help me build the Mac Daddy System..

 

[suzecat]

Rob, sounds like you have a lot of bases covered. How do you plan to access the net (or is that 6?) ? How about dual HDs, internal and external for backup? (you said $ no object ) Remote access is cool.

 

[bb28]

Suzecat had a great suggestion. Dual hardrives, one for backup and maybe the primary one should be bigger if you do a lot of video editing.

 

[RobWin]

Suzecat had a great suggestion. Dual hardrives, one for backup and maybe the primary one should be bigger if you do a lot of video editing.

See, that's why I need suggestions from my peeps like you and Suzecat !!

That's a great idea, dual Hard Drives...

I also might have forgot to mention that I want the fastest processor speed that my budget can afford too...

 

[RobWin]

Rob, sounds like you have a lot of bases covered. How do you plan to access the net (or is that 6?) ? How about dual HDs, internal and external for backup? (you said $ no object ) Remote access is cool.

I will need that thar ethernet card too Suze, thanks for reminding me...

Already have my DSL routers/modems etc...Dual HD's is a great idea,

Remote access is the other reason I want XP Media Center since I have that now on my current system and I can access my puter from the bedroom or living room area of my house and watch videos on the really big screens !!

 

[same_old]

Sorry buudy I totally forgot to reply here.

Yes please stay away from Vista for at least another year till the teething stage is over.

CPU- probably a quad core would be good for you. something around 3.2ghz so you can have a few programs running.

Cooling towers/kit- thermaltake lead the way in this area.

Motherbaord-now a goos media motherboard would cover all your needs. Asus,ati are the better ones when it comes to motherboards.
I am better with gaming baords as opposed to media boards.


gfx card- your best off going a dx10 card such as the 8800's, nvidia 8800gt would be great for you. they range about $350 each.
www.nvidia.com

power supply- thermaltake once again safe and reliable, about 750-850 watt would be enough for you.

xp only recognises up to 3 gig of ram Rob, so anything more would be a waste. games run so much better only running 2 gig, corsair is good ram.
If you start vista then you can get 4 gig at 32bit or 8gig at 64bit.

Hard drives need to be nice and fast aswell, baracuda are great and fast HD's.all at least 7200rpm. reliable and quick.

Not sure about a memory card reader sorry, creative maybe??? creative for your sound also.

 

[same_old]

Ok here is the Nvidia site with there cards.

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the 8800GTS is around $200/$250, there specs are 512mb cards at 128bit,dx10 so you will be playing all the latest games for a long time to come. If you get 2 of these cards then you will be a very happy camper.


Better describes it for you

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[RobWin]

Ok here is the Nvidia site with there cards.

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

the 8800GTS is around $200/$250, there specs are 512mb cards at 128bit,dx10 so you will be playing all the latest games for a long time to come. If you get 2 of these cards then you will be a very happy camper.


Better describes it for you

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Yea, that looks like the kind of card I need same_old...but I am curious where I would plug in my Camcorder to upload my movies, the card I have now has a plug attachment that has three pin plugs on it to plug the camcorder in to, just like on the front or back of your tv....also thinking that it may be a good idea to get a matching motherboard too, what da you think ?

 

[same_old]

Is it not a plug and play camcorder???, can you plug it in via USB or something.
I will keep looking for you, I will be home in a few hours so I can grab a rum and surf around for you.

 

[same_old]

Yes matching motherboard will make things run a lot smoother for you and the driver updates wont be such an issue. I know you can get extensions for your camcorder that will plug into the extra ports with the gfx card.

here is the bees knees of gaming motherboards.

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I've already spoent close to $1000 here for you.

Did you manage to look at the quad core CPU's??

 

[babs7262]

How about dual fans so it wont overheat?

 

[RobWin]

Yes matching motherboard will make things run a lot smoother for you and the driver updates wont be such an issue. I know you can get extensions for your camcorder that will plug into the extra ports with the gfx card.

here is the bees knees of gaming motherboards.

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

I've already spoent close to $1000 here for you.

Did you manage to look at the quad core CPU's??

That is exactly what I was looking for same_old, the water cooled system...that is one sweet looking mother...

 

[RobWin]

How about dual fans so it wont overheat?

Well my current system has six (6) fans in the case and it still gets too warm Babs, so I am going with a new water cooled case and motherboard with my new system....

 

[RobWin]

Did you manage to look at the quad core CPU's??

Show me what you are thinking about here same_old....

That sounds more like what I really want instead of the dual core...

 

[RobWin]

same_old, are you familiar with the "Scythe Ninja" heat sink cooling system ? What do you think about this one ?

 

[babs7262]

holy cow, thats huge! How big is your PC gonna be?

 

[RobWin]

holy cow, thats huge! How big is your PC gonna be?

I'm thinking about using this case Babs...

 

[RobWin]

Same_Old, what do you think about this system that I have started building here....

*Asus P5E3 Premium/Wifi AP Motherboard
*Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Quad-Core 2.5GHz 95W CPU
*OCZ DDR3-1333 Reaper 2048MB w/ Heatpipe Cooling (4) Units Ram Total 8 Gig
*XFX GeForce 9800GX2 1GB Video Card
*Asus Xonar D2X PCI-Express Sound Card
*Western Digital SATA VelociRaptor 10000 rpm 300GB Hard Drive Additional Information: Primary drive.
*Western Digital SATA VelociRaptor 10000 rpm 300GB Hard Drive Additional Information: Secondary drive.
*3Ware 9650SE-2LP 2-Port PCI-E SATA2 RAID Controller Controllers
*3.5inch 1.44 Floppy Drive (black) Floppy Drive
*Lite-On Blu-ray Burner SATA (black) w/ Software CD / DVD Rom
*Pioneer 20X DVD-RW SATA (black) CD / DVD Rom
*Silverstone TJ07 (Black) w/ Window and Liquid Cooling Package Case
*Silverstone ZM1200M 1200W Power Supply Power Supply
*Koolance CPU Waterblock CPU-340 CPU Cooling
*Koolance GeForce 9800 GX2 Waterblock (2) Liquid Cooling
*Video Case Fans Upgrade Kit (quiet) Additional Cooling
*Case Mod Package - Blue UV Cabling w/ UV Lights Case Mods
*Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit OEM SP1 Operating System
*Belkin Firewire b + USB2 PCI-Express Card
*ATech 28-in-1 USB 2.0 Internal/External Card Reader (black)

*Warranty: Lifetime Labor, 1 Year Parts Services



Please remit payment to:

Puget Custom Computers
6812 S 220th street
Kent, WA 98032

Subtotal: $7757.23
Shipping: $0.00
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Total: $7757.23
Payment Received: $0.00

 

[happygobrokey]

*3.5inch 1.44 Floppy Drive (black) Floppy Drive

love it. you should get five-and-a-quarter floppy as well as cassette tape for backwards compatibility. lol at my work, our printers for the diesel receipts are so old school, because they have to print by impact to copy onto the carbon paper. good times.

holy s*** @ the sticker on that build. shop around for sure, and haggle if possible. i heard you can even usually haggle at best buy, like throw in one of these accessories to go with whatever you're buying and they sometimes will. knocking a price down for a customer is probably tough to justify, but writing off a small additional product to close a larger item is just good business sense.

oh and don't forget coloured light tubes and chrome grills for the case. is it possible to get like a display screen to go on the case that could display the hardware vitals and statistics? maybe a carbon fibre spoiler and some NO2 tanks?

i don't know a lot about building computers, but everyone else's replies were sound. make sure it's got lots of usb ports too, and an esata helps for fast data transfers to an external drive. blu-ray maybe? it's all way too posh for me to even fathom. enjoy!

 

[RobWin]

love it. you should get five-and-a-quarter floppy as well as cassette tape for backwards compatibility. lol at my work, our printers for the diesel receipts are so old school, because they have to print by impact to copy onto the carbon paper. good times.

holy s*** @ the sticker on that build. shop around for sure, and haggle if possible. i heard you can even usually haggle at best buy, like throw in one of these accessories to go with whatever you're buying and they sometimes will. knocking a price down for a customer is probably tough to justify, but writing off a small additional product to close a larger item is just good business sense.

oh and don't forget coloured light tubes and chrome grills for the case. is it possible to get like a display screen to go on the case that could display the hardware vitals and statistics? maybe a carbon fibre spoiler and some NO2 tanks?

i don't know a lot about building computers, but everyone else's replies were sound. make sure it's got lots of usb ports too, and an esata helps for fast data transfers to an external drive. blu-ray maybe? it's all way too posh for me to even fathom. enjoy!

LOL Happy...

Yea, still need to have the floppy...just incase ya know, make sure all my bases are covered...

Already had in my list for the blu-ray...
*Lite-On Blu-ray Burner SATA (black) w/ Software CD / DVD Rom

I am going to build this one myself and save a couple grand I hope off that sticker price from Puget...

 

[same_old]

noooo, sorry it's taken so long to get back to you matey, been busy with the little boy.

Ok Ok, you want 8 gig of ram Rob and windows XP only recognises 4 gig mate??? you will have 4 gig with nothing to do.

Your gfx card looks fine, still will get more power out of 2 8800gtx ultra's though.

The only bad thing here is all your parts are new and microsft has officially announced they will not be supporting XP anymore.

All your parts, ram,gfx card etc will run a lot better with vista ( I know vista is still shit but we are now in the crossroads of changing over so we are in limbo somewhat until vista's teething stages are over).


That's all I can see thats needs addressing mate, I like how youve gone silverstone for your tower and cooling, they are the bomb.
The new ones out are oiled cooled towers....


you need to be careful with some of your newer componants.

 

[happygobrokey]

you can emulate xp and other versions of windows (or possibly even any other os except apple of course) from within vista, can't you? virtual machine or something, isn't it? and in so doing, possibly one would be able to access all the ram or at least the amount required to run the vista groundwork plus a full four (3.some-odd?) gigs working within xp environment?

i want to know more about this. i need a new laptop soon but everyone says vista's junk, so i might try to run xp or even linux (it's fun to use and very moddable, not that i can program) through whatever vista lappy i'm forced to buy. like i wouldn't go so far to get rid of vista entirely, but i might try about setting up a dual boot scenario or running this virtual machine if it actually works okay. i heard you can even run windows 3.1 under it just for old times' sake.