Maximum PC

One4 you are the man

Hey One4, I think its time to update your list again
I just noticed your high end powerhouse rig isnt even running an 8800 series card.

Heh, I know it's overdue. Look for an update soon!

Just wondered if this was still a good PC for the price or have things moved on since?

First post BTW - found the guide very useful, best I've read on the net...thanks!

That is still a good set of components, though for the money I'd look at getting a kit of DDR2-800 rather than 667. Newegg is currently selling OCZ's 2GB Platinum Revision 2 for $180 shipped after $20 MIR.

I'm shooting for this week in getting the list updated, just need to catch a free moment.

Wow thats some expensive RAM!!!

lol - what a difference a day makes! Newegg is only charging $180 today.

~Updated 2/26/07~
Component list and pricing updated today.

SWEEET!

I say thank you because i am currently looking into building a new rig, and i am trying to familiarized myself with as much of the technology as possible. The Guide really helped fill in a lot of blanks i had! And i already feel a little more confident about building a rig.

Is the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 that much more powerfull than say a AMD x2 6000? im kinda a AMD kinda guy but if there is that big of a perfermance difference (say in intensive games) then id be willing to switch to the blue team.

The two chips are about neck and neck in most performance benches (see XBitLabs' Writeup), though if you're willing to overclock, there's more headroom to be had in the E6600 than the 6000+ X2, allowing it to pull away. There's also an existing upgrade path with the Intel part, including quad-core, whereas the 6000+ X2 is as good as it currently gets on AM2 setups.

"ENTHUSIAST DREAM MACHINE"
Asus Striker Extreme 680i SLI ($427)
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 Quad Core ($965)
2GB (2x1GB) Corsair Dominator DDR2-1142 ($440)
Western Digital Raptor X 150GB/16MB ($210)
Seagate Barracuda 750GB/16MB SATA ($310)
Creative X-Fi Elite Soundcard ($269) ---Vista drivers currently in BETA
Plextor 18X DVD Burner ($106)
Lite-On 20X DVD Burner w/ Lightscribe ($40)
Evga 8800GTX KO x2 ($1,312)
Silverstone SST-TJ07-BW ($346)
PC Power & Cooling 1KW Quad SLI PSU ($592)
Windows Vista Ultimate DVD OEM ($199)

Im trying to purchase the above system, however I am not PC savy; I dont know which items to get...HELP!!!!

Western Digital Raptor X 150GB:
Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFDRTL 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive($259.99)
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFDRTL 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive($239.99)
Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive($209.99)
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive($204.99)

Seagate Barracuda 750GB:
Seagate Barracuda ES ST3750640NS 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive($299.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3750640A 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive($249.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular recording) ST3750640AS 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive($249.99)

Lite-On 20X DVD Burner w/ Lightscribe:
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe($45.99)
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe($41.99)
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache E-IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner with LightScribe Technology($34.99)

Evga 8800GTX KO x2:
Is there a bridge/chip or cable required to get the two cards to talk?

PC Power & Cooling 1KW Quad SLI PSU:
What items are these?

Also, do I need "Ageia PhysX PCI-Express Processing Unit w/ 128MB GDDR3" or something similar?

Thanks,

Ken

http://www.maximumpc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23907

Let's try this one instead.

Just a question for One4yu2c....when are you going to update this again?

How's right now sound? List has been updated!

On a related note, with DDR3 on the horizon, there's some great deals to be had in DDR land, and even better for those open to mail-in-rebates. If you want to try your hand at MIRs, I'd look hard at either of Crucial's Ballstix kits (Tracers come with pretty flashing lights):

2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-1066 - $135 shipped (after $85 MIR)
2GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers DDR2-1066 - $150 (after $85 MIR)

Wow...that was prompt.

You should probably change the high end powerhouse mobo to the A1 revision instead of the older AR.

I would make a few changes here in saving money, Mobo would be a DS3 and ram i would change to CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (4 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) and this should save enough to trade the cpu for an e6600 .. then tune it in to run at the next level of Highend which that 8800GTS 320Mb will run at GTX speeds when super clocked and score as well in most tests.

Hi One4yu2c!

Thanks for the updates

I have a question about the sub-$1000 rig. For someone who isn't planning on getting Vista, or play DX10 games, would getting the X1900GT be a better choice?

Thanks again!