Custom Build Gaming System??

[hisland808]

I am looking to buy a custom gaming system that can handle extreme gaming and a friend gave me these specs:

ANTEC NINE HUNDRED CASE

ASUS STRIKER EXTREME MOTHERBOARD

INTEL X6800 CORE 2 EXTREME 2.93GHz PROCESSOR

PATRIOT DDR2 800 PC-6400 RAM (2GHz x 4) 8GHz TOTAL

2 BFG 8800GTS OC 640MB VIDEO CARDS RUNNING IN SLi MODE

2 WESTERN DIGITAL CAVIAR GREEN POWER 500GB HARD DRIVES (1TB)

BFG 800 WATT POWER SUPPLY

ASUS ARCTIC SQUARE CPU COOLER

OCZ RAM COOLER

ASUS DVD +/- RW WITH LIGHT SCRIBE

WINDOWS VISTA ULTIMATE 64-bit PER-INSTALLES

Can this specs be improved? Please advice.

[JRB3]

Welcome to TechIMO...

Yes, the specs can be bettered...

The main points IMO are that the dual core CPU needs changing for a Quad core and the graphics cards you want to SLI are outdated for an extreme gaming rig. The rest is fine/ doesn't impact greatly on performance.

You may want to research into graphics cards such as ATI'S HD4870 & HD4850 and Nvidia's 9800GTX+, GTX260 & GTX280.

Is your friend building you this rig? I wouldn't have much faith in him if he told me that list was for an extreme gaming rig.

[qrs321]

Are their price constraints?
Price wise I's get dual 4870's and an appropriate MB.
Also a QX6850.
You might want to get some WD velociRAPTOR 300gb drives in RAID 0 with another larger drive for storage.
Everything else looks pretty good.

[EXreaction]

First of all, huge waste of money. You are spending thousands on something that is going to be outdated in months. Then in a few years you'll feel bad about the pile of crap you have which costed you an arm and leg when a $400 machine can pass it's performance with ease.

I just spent $850 on a desktop that can handle any game I've tried except Crysis (it still can at 1600x900 at medium settings). That $850 also included a 24" LCD which alone costs close to $400.

[ShyguyXPC]

I am looking to buy a custom gaming system that can handle extreme gaming and a friend gave me these specs:

friend needs to do some current research... has no clue what he's talking about...

an extreme edition dual core with 2 older G80 based 8800GTS's... only an 800W PSU...

has no clue what he's talking about for the RAM or you made a typo... "PATRIOT DDR2 800 PC-6400 RAM (2GHz x 4) 8GHz TOTAL"

8GHz? RAM Capacity is measure in MB or GB not MHz... if he's thinking you need 8GB of RAM, he's Nucking Futz...

for an extreme gaming system, these specs are ALL OVER THE BOARD!!!!

First off, Ditch the Insanely Price Extreme Edition CPU's the only advantage these really have over non Extreme Editions is the Extra Cache memory... there might be one or two other difference but their moot points...

as others have said Grab a Quad Core CPU, either one of the "older" Core 2 Quad Q6600 or Q6700 models or one of the newer Yorkfield core base Quads, Q9300 or Q9450 should be enough...

You Don't really NEED 64-bit Windows, but its nice to have, as for the RAM, 8GB's is way overkill with out a doubt, 4GB should be enough, your looking at DDR2, by the time we gamers need 8GB of RAM, DDR2 will be on its way out & DDR3 will at least be the standard, as well as more affordable.

the video cards, if your wanting a dual card solution, the older G80 based 8800 series is outdated & gone, (you can tell their G80's by the fact they use 320MB or 640MB of memory, the newer G92 variants use more traditional memory configs of 256 or 512MB, or even 1GB of memory)...

I'd go for at least 2x 512MB 8800GT's or 512MB 8800GTS's (these GTS's are the G92 core based ones)... if you can afford it, grab 2 9800GTX's (also G92, but some extra enhancements over the 8800GTS's, otherwise more or less same cards), at least with the 9800GTX's, like with the 8800GTX & Ultra's, they have 2 SLI connectors on them, so they can support a Triple SLI setup...

otherwise if you can afford it, with the money you WERE going to waste on an Extreme Edition Core 2 Duo chip, you could grab 2 Geforce 9800GX2's & run a Quad SLI setup (each card is actually 2 cards grafted together, & fit in one slot, so in effect your running 4 cards in 2 slots)

thats for the nvidia choices...

as to ATI they have similar setups, but your choices would be more like a Radeon HD4850 (2 of these or even three), HD4870 (current top end card from ATI), run 2 of those, or grab 1 or two, HD3870 x2 cards which are more like nvidia's 9800GX2's...

anyways, your going to want at least a good 800-1000W PSU for those top end card setups.

Don't really need the OCZ RAM cooler, if there's proper cooling & ventilation in case already (plus its a good case, but even that one, might get a bit cramped with some of the components listed here, mainly the video cards), but case has good cooling.

There are much better CPU coolers to use than the one listed... also kind of lame he put together a fairly power hungry system only to put 2 "green" hard drives in the list... as qrs321 suggested might as well throw in 2 300GB Raptor drives in there with one large (500GB, 640GB, 750GB, or 1TB HDD) for storing things...

set the 2 Raptors up in a RAID 0 array for some insanely fast speeds.

ditch the DVDRW drive, might as well grab one of the Blu-Ray Burner drives on the market, that also burns DVD... then grab a 2nd DVDRW burner drive for a 2nd optical drive.


basically YES those specs can be significantly increased...

question is, what kind of Price or budget are you looking to spend...

thats the best information you can give us, so that some of us can go to town spending it for you with suggestions

[hisland808]

Thanks Guys!! I am glad that I checked with the real experts before doing something that I will later regret. I have definitely learned a lot from this forum. Keep up the awesome work!

[EXreaction]

8GB is a great amount of ram (8GB of ram isn't too expensive, I payed a lot more for 2GB of ram just a year ago).

Vista will be able to use it all and it will run much better with the extra.

[batmeat]

I would only go with Vista if you want to use DX 10. 4Gb is enough ram. Dump the video cards and go with ATI/AMD's Radeon 4870. (The 4870 is on par with the GTX 260 right now and costs a lot less). Your monitor is limiting factor on what video card you want. If your monitor doesn't support high resolution then their isn't a need for crossfire or sli and you can stick with a single card.

As per the hard drives, I agree with others....get some WD Raptor 150's in a Raid 0 config.

Dump the processor for a Quad core from Intel.

[ShyguyXPC]

Grab an Intel X48 board with 4GB of DDR3, & go for one of the Radeon HD4850 or 4870 cards for now, grab another if & when you need it for Crossfire, but make sure the PSU is powerful enough for the whole system too.

throw in an Intel Quad (non-Extreme edition), couple of Raptors in RAID 0, with one big data drive, couple of optical drives including a Blu-Ray Burner or just a Blu-Ray Player with DVDRW functions, Windows Vista 64-bit & WinXP Pro or MCE (32-bit) in a Dual Boot setup (Both DirectX 9.0c & DX10.1 capabilities this way).

and of course a nice case & LCD display (22" or 24" widescreen should be good enough for now), slap in an Auzentech X-fi Prelude Sound card, & should be good to go.

[qrs321]

I think shyguy pretty much summed it up but I'd without a doubt go for the 4870.