Need Gaming Rig Suggestions: Budget<$2600

[Dfox]

I have been looking at Alienware for gaming computers, and find that they make very good gaming computers. Problem is that I think they overprice their things. I am looking for a gaming rig for $2600 or less. I would like to play the newest games and be able to do media work. Newegg scouring hasn't helped me because I'm not sure what I am looking for.

These things I want: (Based off on the things I liked from Alienware, please suggest something better if it is possible)
-i7 processor
-Nvidia GTX 200 Series Video Cards - Don't know which one to choose, I would like dual cards
-Liquid Cooling
-1TB of Hard Disk Space - Don't know if multiple drives or a single drive is better
-Blu-Ray
-21"-24" Monitor
-Wireless Capabilities (WiFi and Bluetooth)

Things I'm Not Sure about:
-RAM (I'm not sure how much I need, I'm thinking of 8-12GB. Is it that necessary?
-Power Supply (How many watts do I need)
-Vista or XP (Vista has the Win7 Coupon-Unsure)
-Sound Card
-Killer Xeno Pro?
-Case

What else would I need to build a gaming computer? Is there something I'm missing?
Hope you guys can help me!

Thank you,
Dfox

[EXreaction]

That is a very high budget and I would suggest you try and give some specifics of what kind of media work you are doing, how much gaming work you do, etc. Otherwise you'll just get a bunch of people finding parts you really don't need, like an SLI setup with multiple graphics cards (usually a huge waste of money).

For storage, you may be best off with an SSD for the main drive and using two 1TB drives in raid 1 for the data storage (raid 1 duplicates the data between them so if one dies you still have all your data left).

Why do you need Wifi and Bluetooth? Are you going to be connecting it to a wired network? Even if you are going with a wireless network, why bluetooth?

6 or 12GB is good for ram. I'd go with 6GB now and if you ever need more you can buy 6GB more (it should be cheaper the longer you wait).

No reason to get XP on that system.

Kinda sounds to me like you just want the most bad ass system around and am not too worried about what is in it. If that's all we can throw a list together for that purpose and get near your budget, but I wouldn't suggest that.

[KarmaKiller]

^Not only that, but when you say liquid cooling, what all do you want to cool? Is noise an issue? Why do you even want a water setup? Are you gonna be overclocking? Do you plan on mounting everything inside the case, or is a external radiator ok? How much of your budget are you willing to devote to just cooling?

There are lots of things to consider IMO.

[Dfox]

I would be doing heavy gaming and some video editing and photoshop stuff.
The computer will be connected to the internet through WiFi.
I would prefer dual graphics cards but you are the experts. So 2x 260's or 1 295?
I want a really good graphics card
And blue ray drive to watch blu ray

I really want a badass computer.

[Dfox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarmaKiller

^Not only that, but when you say liquid cooling, what all do you want to cool? Is noise an issue? Why do you even want a water setup? Are you gonna be overclocking? Do you plan on mounting everything inside the case, or is a external radiator ok? How much of your budget are you willing to devote to just cooling?

There are lots of things to consider IMO.

I want to cool everything? Is that possible? Yes, noise is an issue. I plan on overclocking and plan on mounting everything in the case

[Aaron_8015]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dfox

I want to cool everything? Is that possible? Yes, noise is an issue. I plan on overclocking and plan on mounting everything in the case

Getting liquid cooling on everything can take a large portion of your budget. There is no real point in liquid cooling your gpu's just cpu (even still a good aircooler will be enough.

Gaming Build Help!

The first build in this thread came to just under $1700. So you can add extra gpu, cpu cooler, blu-ray etc....

[EXreaction]

I don't think you'll be able to get an in-case liquid cooling system that will be able to handle your cpu and gpus. I really don't think liquid cooling will give you any benefits over a good air cooler.

[KarmaKiller]

Well everything can be a bit of a PITA.. I say this because to properly cool your CPU + 2 GPU's, your most likely looking at a dual loop setup. Which involves 2x Radiators, 2x pumps, 2x reservoirs, which can take up a WHOLE LOT of room, especially if you want the whole system to be internal. But there are many cases that will fit a setup like that, so it's not necessarily a problem, unless you wanted a smaller case.

Also something else I should point out, waterblocks can be pretty pricey, and especially when your talking about as many blocks as you'd need to cool the whole system.

I can start on a list, see what I can come up with.
I also sent you a PM.

[KarmaKiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron_8015

Getting liquid cooling on everything can take a large portion of your budget. There is no real point in liquid cooling your gpu's just cpu (even still a good aircooler will be enough.

Gaming Build Help!

The first build in this thread came to just under $1700. So you can add extra gpu or mabye cpu cooler....

If you wanna OC the hell out of it, then water cooling the GPU's does help. And especially with noise. You know those stock fans are loud.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EXreaction

I don't think you'll be able to get an in-case liquid cooling system that will be able to handle your cpu and gpus. I really don't think liquid cooling will give you any benefits over a good air cooler.

[Aaron_8015]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarmaKiller

If you wanna OC the hell out of it, then water cooling the GPU's does help. And especially with noise. You know those stock fans are loud.

Yes they can get loud, but thats why I wear headphones.

Is noise an issue with the OP? Will you be overclocking?