AO: Help me design a great gaming pc

[Steelrat]

Ugh. Skip the 360, pick up a PS3. Have you checked into the specs comparing the two? The 360 is a bit lacking. What will be even more entertaining, is to see how much the 360 will pale in comparison in the future when developers and 3rd party support can fully take advantage of the power of the PS3.

Linux anyone? All bets are off.

Well, I am pretty much obligated to buy the Microsoft product for various reasons. Here are some more reasons I like the 360:

-MS Live network is established and works well. I'm all about online play.
-I love Halo
-I hate Sony
-I prefer the movies on the HD DVD format right now. Serenity, anyone?
-No one has harnessed the full power of the 360 yet, so the whole argument about which is better is kind of academic at this point.
-I hate Sony.

[FlawleZ]

Well, I am pretty much obligated to buy the Microsoft product for various reasons. Here are some more reasons I like the 360:

-MS Live network is established and works well. I'm all about online play.
-I love Halo
-I hate Sony
-I prefer the movies on the HD DVD format right now. Serenity, anyone?
-No one has harnessed the full power of the 360 yet, so the whole argument about which is better is kind of academic at this point.
-I hate Sony.

Hrm. Interesting.

-I love Sony
-I loved Halo but grew tired of it after countless hours logged on the first game.
-HD DVD is nice, but why? You're going to spend a lot more money buying the add on for the 360 to play HD DVDs when Sony's PS3 will play Blu-Ray (which is superior) right out of the box.
-Of course the 360 hasn't seen its potential yet. However the PS3 DOES have the hardware advantage on paper. In reality, it doesn't matter what hardware you have, its the software development that really matters.
-I use Microsoft products however, Microsoft is arguably a Monopoly and they skimped on the 360's hardware just to beat Sony to the punch on the release date.

Only time will tell but I'm favoring the PS3 with it having more horsepower.

[Banshee23]

Hrm. Interesting.

-HD DVD is nice, but why? You're going to spend a lot more money buying the add on for the 360 to play HD DVDs when Sony's PS3 will play Blu-Ray (which is superior) right out of the box.
-Of course the 360 hasn't seen its potential yet. However the PS3 DOES have the hardware advantage on paper. In reality, it doesn't matter what hardware you have, its the software development that really matters.
-

The movies on Blu-Ray don't look any better than they do on HD-DVD... And the game demos that have been shown for the PS3 don't look any better that the 360's games (which are still on DVD9). The only thing it's got going for it is the higher storage capacity that HD-DVD which means longer cutscenes (just what current games need...). And from everything I've read it seems to be that the PS3's GPU and CPU won't perform much better that the 360's if at all? (I've actually seen speculation that the Cell now might end up underperforming the 360 cpu's). I don't see much reason at this point to shell out the insane amount of cash Sony wants for the PS3, it's just not worth it at this point.

[Indi86]

I was in your same posistion about a year ago and wanted a computer that was ahead of the curve. I was also trying to determine if I should build the computer myself or have someplace build it for me. I discovered www.monarchcomputers.com and found that they were able to give me a built computer with a 3 day burn in and warrenty for $100 over the price of just parts on newegg. I am sure members in the other posts have made great suggestions for parts, so I will not comment on that.

[kruger]

Indi86, that is not a bad price to build a computer. However, building a computer is kinda like building a Mag. You get to pick all the parts, force them to work together, and have the satisfaction of fraggin' the bad guys with it. It is not necessarily the destination, but the trip that is the adventure here. There are lots of ready built gaming puters out there that will just scream. But the satisfaction of doing it yourself is all part of it.

[FooTemps]

Wait until after march... hardware won't suck as hardcore (have you seen the new DX10 card!? IT HAS ITS OWN WATERCOOLING STOCK AND NEEDS TWO MOLEXES!!!)

[Recon by Fire]

I got my new gaming PC in and loaded my favorites: DoW; BF2; BF2142....and even Company of Heroes. Even with the settings turned up to high, she performs like a champ. No fears that the 450w power supply wasn't good enough for the SLI-video cards, it does just fine with no difficulty. System was assembled and benchmarked and came out OK, so all is good to go!



...with NEC flat panel 19" and Logitech goodies all around.



Even came with a nifty night-light!

[FlawleZ]

I got my new gaming PC in and loaded my favorites: DoW; BF2; BF2142....and even Company of Heroes. Even with the settings turned up to high, she performs like a champ. No fears that the 450w power supply wasn't good enough for the SLI-video cards, it does just fine with no difficulty. System was assembled and benchmarked and came out OK, so all is good to go!



...with NEC flat panel 19" and Logitech goodies all around.



Even came with a nifty night-light!

What are your specs? What video cards are you running?

[Recon by Fire]

Intel Pentium D 945 3.4GHz Dual Core 64Bit
ASUS P5NSLI Motherboard
2GB DDR2 533Mhz Memory
256MB GeForce 7600GS PCIe (x2 SLI)
250GB 7200RPM Harrd Drive
DVDRW/CDRW 16X
Raidmax X-1 Case


I kept "behind the curve" and kept the cost down under $900.

[Steelrat]

Aw, screw all this. I'll just buy a Dell.

[jenarelJAM]

Intel Pentium D 945 3.4GHz Dual Core 64Bit
ASUS P5NSLI Motherboard
2GB DDR2 533Mhz Memory
256MB GeForce 7600GS PCIe (x2 SLI)
250GB 7200RPM Harrd Drive
DVDRW/CDRW 16X
Raidmax X-1 Case


I kept "behind the curve" and kept the cost down under $900.

Wow, just about an hour ago, I was talking to my friend, and we put together a computer that would have been for me, using almost exactly those components.
I think total, it came to $1200, including tax, shipping, windows xp media center edition, and a widescreen monitor :P

I think it was a 300gb hd
And the case was only $100 with a $40 rebate
And the Vid card was a 7600GT
Oh, and we knocked down the ram to 1gb to save $100 or so. Otherwise :P

[ProX9]

Aw, screw all this. I'll just buy a Dell.

Someone hacked his account, ill send him a message on pbn.

[FlawleZ]

Wow, just about an hour ago, I was talking to my friend, and we put together a computer that would have been for me, using almost exactly those components.
I think total, it came to $1200, including tax, shipping, windows xp media center edition, and a widescreen monitor :P

I think it was a 300gb hd
And the case was only $100 with a $40 rebate
And the Vid card was a 7600GT
Oh, and we knocked down the ram to 1gb to save $100 or so. Otherwise :P

The 7600GT is FAR superior to the 7600GS. Well worth the money.

[FlawleZ]

Intel Pentium D 945 3.4GHz Dual Core 64Bit
ASUS P5NSLI Motherboard
2GB DDR2 533Mhz Memory
256MB GeForce 7600GS PCIe (x2 SLI)
250GB 7200RPM Harrd Drive
DVDRW/CDRW 16X
Raidmax X-1 Case


I kept "behind the curve" and kept the cost down under $900.

Not bad at all. What did the two 7600GS's come to?

[Indignant]

Someone hacked his account, ill send him a message on pbn.

whose? ryan's?