Suggestions on buying a high-end gaming rig

[193d DCAT1]

Any suggestions on where to buy a high-end gaming rig (for BF2 and the future)? I have built computers in the past, but these days I have more money than time for that sort of thing. I would like to try to keep the total cost under $2500 (without monitor).

What do you all think about the relative merits of dual core processors and SLI - are they worth the money?

I currently have an five year old Dell (upgraded) that barely gets 30 fps in BF2 and often drops down to 15 fps in crowded areas with everything on medium at 1280x1024:
2.6 GHz Pentium 4 (upgraded from 1.3 GHz)
1.5 GB memory
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB (AGP)

[CaptJordus]

Re: Suggestions on buying a high-end gaming rig

You really don't have 3 hours to construct a PC and install windows?

If you dont, 2500$ should be a pretty good Dell XPS system. Or you can search the internet for random companies that will just put together ATX systems for you.

[imported_[LMS] Stanic]

Re: Suggestions on buying a high-end gaming rig

Alienware if you are lazy. Best bang for your buck is building it yourself.

[Adonlude]

Re: Suggestions on buying a high-end gaming rig

I have had a Dell and an Alienware. Both were good but Alienware is pretty expensive and I dont know if it is worth it. Recently I have been looking at Ibuypower.com and I like their huge range of customization options and their low prices, check them out.

Some other names to google:
Emachines
Falcon
Black widow
voodoo
cybercomputer (may be owned by ibuypower, not sure)

[cheesewz]

Re: Suggestions on buying a high-end gaming rig

Alienware if you are lazy. Best bang for your buck is building it yourself.

I concur, if money is no object but time is, go with Alienware or Voodoo. If you want a lower budget build (someone else), look at Velocity Micro. They tend to be a little bit cheaper than Alienware, Voodoo or Falcon Northwest. But as Stanic says, the best bang for your buck is building it yourself.

I built my rig last summer (the day the 7800 GTX came out) with all of the bleeding edge parts for $4k. I could have easily shaved that down under 3k, but was just doing a "money is no object exercise" for gratification. I think that SLI is totally worth it. Look at the BM's for my system with and without SLI. Here are my specs.

When I built my rig, I couldn't find any of the high end makers who could put together all of the specs I wanted. But if I settled on alternatives for components, they couldn't come anywhere close on price. The bleeding edge Falcon Northwest was about 10K. The cheapest alternative that was close to mine was about 6500 bucks, far more than the 4K+ I spent.

[knghtwhosaysni]

Re: Suggestions on buying a high-end gaming rig

CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives)
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price 1 LITE-ON Black ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner With LightScribe and 5X DVD-RAM Write Model SHM-165H6S - OEM
$54.99

AMD-compatible Motherboards
1 DFI LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR Socket 939 ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 CrossFire ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$165.00

Video Cards
1 SAPPHIRE 100150 Radeon X1900XTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - OEM
$589.00

Sound Cards
1 Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
$121.99 $121.99

Combo
1 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4800CDBOX - Retail
$898.00 -$30.00 Combo
-$25.00 Instant $843.00 CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model TWINX2048-3200C2PRO - Retail

Combo
1 Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
$458.98 -$8.00 Combo
-$4.99 Instant $445.99 OCZ ModStream OCZ52012U ATX, BTX, SATA, P4 and EPS12V 520W Power Supply - Retail

Subtotal: $2,219.97

Still need a case, mouse, keyboard, and speakers. Although I would really suggest waiting a couple weeks for the 7900 series to come out.

[lil_jimmy_norton]

Re: Suggestions on buying a high-end gaming rig

CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives)
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price 1 LITE-ON Black ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner With LightScribe and 5X DVD-RAM Write Model SHM-165H6S - OEM
$54.99

AMD-compatible Motherboards
1 DFI LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR Socket 939 ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 CrossFire ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$165.00

Video Cards
1 SAPPHIRE 100150 Radeon X1900XTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - OEM
$589.00

Sound Cards
1 Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
$121.99 $121.99

Combo
1 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4800CDBOX - Retail
$898.00 -$30.00 Combo
-$25.00 Instant $843.00 CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model TWINX2048-3200C2PRO - Retail

Combo
1 Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
$458.98 -$8.00 Combo
-$4.99 Instant $445.99 OCZ ModStream OCZ52012U ATX, BTX, SATA, P4 and EPS12V 520W Power Supply - Retail

Subtotal: $2,219.97

Still need a case, mouse, keyboard, and speakers. Although I would really suggest waiting a couple weeks for the 7900 series to come out.

Ugh, I'd stay away from the Ati chipset MOBOs for awhile. People have been having tons of problems out of them.

[imported_[LMS] Stanic]

Re: Suggestions on buying a high-end gaming rig

Ugh, I'd stay away from the Ati chipset MOBOs for awhile. People have been having tons of problems out of them.

NVIDIA


2x7800GTX 512mb's on a Asus Sli32

[sackynut]

Re: Suggestions on buying a high-end gaming rig

cyberpowerinc.com

ibuypower.com

great cheap builders! make sure u get good shipping tho...