reelbigfish, I'm not arguing =) I'm giving you my opinion based on personal and professional experience as well as benchmarks from sites all over the web.
I know, and I don't disagree, that is a killer rig. Either way Shackle builds the rig for his nephew it will be great. I think the one thing we all agree on is for gaming go with AMD!
Shackle, any updates on which way you think you are leaning? When it comes to actually building the computer, let us know and we will surely help. Also, I think one thing we are all forgetting is the HSF. I'd say the Thermaltake Big Typhoon, as it is super quiet and a great cooler for Intel and AMD, just make sure it fits in the case! This way he can overclock, but if he doesn't overclock it will still be super quiet.
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited February 2006
A big 'Amen, Brother' from me on the Big Typhoon. Advice concerning case to accept it is on the mark. Ensure that the case is deep enough so as to allow unobstructed airflow into the top of the heatsink's fan.
All good recommedations so far. I would definitly go with a dual core processor no matter if you go with Intel or AMD, but since this is a gaming rig I would definitly go with AMD. I would recommend NOT going with SLI, as it is quite expensive, and it is usually cheaper to upgrade to the next gen single card. Also, go with 1 hard drive or 2, but not in a RAID setup because this is for an inexperience user.
hey you got the money get the dualy. leo i agree with you with the premium cost thing. thats the main reson i decided last minute to BUILD mine. anyway i didnt have the money but he does. And also, there is the warranty that comes with the manufacturer for the whole thing. when you build, u get warranties for each part. also for unexperienced people like me, it may take forever to diagnose the problem and then it could get a bit messy. anyway it's his choice. we just make suggestions.
Which is the better overclocker? The A8N32 series or the DFI Ultra-D/SLI-D(R) series? I've had some very sour experiences with Asus in the past, and I am hesitant to ever go back.
//EDIT: Nevermind. I don't like the A832N's layout or the BIOS options. The inclusion of a second x16 lane is irrelevant to me.
Which is the better overclocker? The A8N32 series or the DFI Ultra-D/SLI-D(R) series? I've had some very sour experiences with Asus in the past, and I am hesitant to ever go back.
//EDIT: Nevermind. I don't like the A832N's layout or the BIOS options. The inclusion of a second x16 lane is irrelevant to me.
Hence why I have not yet bought it either. Its not worth the extra $40-50 to get 10 more FPS at best. I'd have to swap out my heatsink and fan for one that fits...and I really like my Zalman.
This is shackle's brother. My nephew is only a year younger than me, turning 18 in about a month (just to specify). He was once what you called a pro gamer before he stopped playing games about a year ago. I dont know about other games but I remember he was once in the top three best played in cali for SC. He's starting to get back into games and his team in cal league( dota, wc3ft) is number one in their division. Hes played bf2 and other newer games on my computer and wants to begin playing them competitively. Unfortunately, his computer can probably only handle up to wc3ft. He does prefer AMD over Intel and likes full tower cases.
Well ill be around to answer any questions and whatnot.
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited February 2006
Thanks for the info. That does temper what we recommend. This truly should be a no-holds-barred gaming rig.
What are your nephew's computer hardware skills? Has he built, upgraded, or repaired computers before?
Try to find out what kind of games your nephew is playing.
Also it would be good to know what his present pc hardware is.
If he likes overclocking or not.
12000 USD is some what overkill in my humble opinion.
Somewhere around 2000-5000 USD would be enough.
(Also when is your nephews birthday.)
Its going to be around Mars 18 as I read in the previous post.
Requirement:
He is going to play bf2 and other newer games.
He prefer AMD over Intel and likes full tower cases.
Which is the better overclocker? The A8N32 series or the DFI Ultra-D/SLI-D(R) series? I've had some very sour experiences with Asus in the past, and I am hesitant to ever go back.
//EDIT: Nevermind. I don't like the A832N's layout or the BIOS options. The inclusion of a second x16 lane is irrelevant to me.
The DFI Expert is the best OCing mobo (there is also a new NF4 SLI-DR Venus model). The Asus limits voltages (if you need them) on the Dualcore CPUs. Also.../
We initially started out by conducting tests at only 0X and 4X AA however looking at the benchmarks in the previous pages, we really didnt see any difference at all. We contacted nVidia about this and they suggested doing tests using 8X and 16X AA and thus we went back and benched all four games using that setting as well. Besides Quake4, we really do not see the X16 posting higher results in anything else. In fact, Serious Sam 2 and Call of Duty 2 consistently showed the older nForce4 SLI performaing better in most of the benchmarks.
That being said, we recently asked DFI why their latest limited Venus series of nForce4 boards was not based on the X16 chipset and we were told that the Venus board would produce results equal to or even faster than an X16 board. Also keep in mind that ATI has the faster solution with the x1900 and Crossfire at the moment and neither ATI nor Intel is making any noise about requiring anything above than an X8 slot.
We're not saying that X16 doesnt provide the bandwidth it promises. It sure does, but we think that two x16 slots are a bit of an overkill- at least for the current generation of graphics cards. Its time will come when graphics cards get fast enough to require that much bandwidth but we really don’t see that happening too soon and by that time, we're sure that two x16 slots will pretty much be the standard in all motherboards.
Comments
I know, and I don't disagree, that is a killer rig. Either way Shackle builds the rig for his nephew it will be great. I think the one thing we all agree on is for gaming go with AMD!
Shackle, any updates on which way you think you are leaning? When it comes to actually building the computer, let us know and we will surely help. Also, I think one thing we are all forgetting is the HSF. I'd say the Thermaltake Big Typhoon, as it is super quiet and a great cooler for Intel and AMD, just make sure it fits in the case! This way he can overclock, but if he doesn't overclock it will still be super quiet.
PSU Antec TPII-550 ATX12V 550W - $89.99
DVD PLEXTOR DVD Burner Model PX-740A/SW-BL - 80.99
HDD SAMSUNG SP2504C 250GB 3.0Gb/s 2x$100 - $200.00
MOBO ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe - $224.99
HSF ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED 92mm - $63.99
MEMORY OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 400 (PC 3200) - $221.00
CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 1GHz FSB - $630.00
VIDEO XFX Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 2x$295.00 - $590.00
SOUND Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 - $121.99
MONITOR SAMSUNG 214T-Black 21.3" 1600x1200 8ms - $679.99
SPEAKERS Creative Inspire P7800 7.1 Speaker - $86.00
KEYBOARD Standard Value Keyboard - $7.00
MOUSE Logitech MX518 - $38.89
Subtotal: $3,138.33
thnx gobbles i didnt get around to makin one on the website
//EDIT: Nevermind. I don't like the A832N's layout or the BIOS options. The inclusion of a second x16 lane is irrelevant to me.
Hence why I have not yet bought it either. Its not worth the extra $40-50 to get 10 more FPS at best. I'd have to swap out my heatsink and fan for one that fits...and I really like my Zalman.
Well ill be around to answer any questions and whatnot.
What are your nephew's computer hardware skills? Has he built, upgraded, or repaired computers before?
Also it would be good to know what his present pc hardware is.
If he likes overclocking or not.
12000 USD is some what overkill in my humble opinion.
Somewhere around 2000-5000 USD would be enough.
(Also when is your nephews birthday.)
Its going to be around Mars 18 as I read in the previous post.
Requirement:
Tbreak: nForce4 SLI vs SLI X16
Nuff Said