BF2S Forums A new rig for 3000$ (USD)

I've designed this, quickly, and came up to $1926 before taxes

AMD64 AM2+ ASUS M3A32-MVP DX WIFI AMD790 PCIE      235$
AMD PHENOM QC 9600 2.30G/3600/2M/AM2+ BLK              233$
KINGSTON HYPERX 800MHZ DDR2 NO-ECC 1024MB CL4       45$ x4 (i need to look further into this)
ASUS PCIE RAD EAH3870 G 512M TVO BOX                       225$ x2 ????
C.LABS PCI X-FI PLAT CHAMP FATAL1TY                            195$
DVD+/-RW LG GH20NS10 SATA DL 20/20 OEM BL                34$ x2
CASE EATX ANTEC P190 BLACK 1200W                             399$
CASE MOD TT BIGWATER 760I 2x5.25 H2O CL-W0121        165$

Last edited by Soldier-Of-Wasteland (2008-04-02 00:35:19)

I was thinking that in a few months, prices and parts will change/improve, but then I might just have to tweak it a little, mostly the core of the system.

Intel is moving to a new platform at the end of 2008.

kylef wrote:

I prefer ATi and AMD myself; however nVidia and Intel are top of the market now. I'll take a look into prices later for you - but check out some reviews of, say, an E8400 (CPU). I hope you will be pleasantly surprised!

I have an e8400 and its an outstanding processor you can also get an 8800gtx from evga for $300.

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:

Intel Q9450
thermaltake 760i watercooling
Asus P5E X38
4x 1GB ddr2 ram 800mhz minimum
9800GX2     //// 2x HD3870x2
Thermaltake toughpower 750w
Creative X-FI xtreme gamer
vista x64 OEM
Samsung Spinpoint 500GB HDD
Antec P182

I'd stick with this. The only other thing I would mention is maybe go SLi a pair of 8800GTS's instead, and get some 1066MHz ram.

PBAsydney wrote:

What do you mean before taxes? You have to pay taxes to build a rig? Or is the price displayed in stores prices before taxes? Because that's stupid IMO.

Because here, there's the 5% gst tax, and the 6.5% provincial tax. So if I am building a $3000 rig, with taxes its gonna come up to roughly $3390.
And the price I set is just so that I don't eventually get the most expensive parts. I will buy them in store, I don't have a credit card anyways, I am banned from them

aimless wrote:

GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:

Intel Q9450
thermaltake 760i watercooling
Asus P5E X38
4x 1GB ddr2 ram 800mhz minimum
9800GX2     //// 2x HD3870x2
Thermaltake toughpower 750w
Creative X-FI xtreme gamer
vista x64 OEM
Samsung Spinpoint 500GB HDD
Antec P182

I'd stick with this. The only other thing I would mention is maybe go SLi a pair of 8800GTS's instead, and get some 1066MHz ram.

I took your advices and tweaked them a lil..

MOBO    INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q6600 2.40G/1066/8M/S775          $276
PROC     S775 ASUS P5E GREEN X38 PCIE                             $241
MEMY     KINGSTON HYPERX 800MHZ DDR2 NO-ECC 1024MB CL4     $45 x4
VIDCD    BFG PCIE GF8 8800GTS OC 640M BOX 8800GTS           $439 x2
SOUCD  C.LABS PCI X-FI PLAT CHAMP FATAL1TY                   $195
CASE     CASE EATX ANTEC P190 BLACK 1200W                    $399
COOL     CASE MOD TT BIGWATER 760I 2x5.25 H2O CL-W0121       $165
OPTI      DVD+/-RW LG GH20NS10 SATA DL 20/20 OEM BL           $34 x2
OS      MS-WIN VISTA ULTIMATE X64 DVD OEM EN                   $219

                                                                       $2621 (cnd)

I took out the hdd since I already have new ones here (a couple of 500gb sataii seagate)
The processor, that's the closest one they had to the Q9450.

So I could use that as a template, and next fall check out what has improved, and tweak a bit more

You seriously want some OCZ RAM if you have that budget. Reaper or Platinum XTC should do the job better than crappy Kingston.

Also, stupid idea with the Q6600 if you are going to upgrade in 6-7 months - it will be obsolete by then. Get the Q9450. Seriously. It thrashes the Q6600.

Also, Gigabyte are awesome motherboards. Anyway, SLI'ing is not an option yet, the P35s/X38s/X48s are much better chipsets. So either wait for the new ATi to come out and crossfire them or get a 9800GX2 ( which I do not recommend right now ).

I would recommend getting a Lightscribe optical drive.

Soldier-Of-Wasteland wrote:

PBAsydney wrote:

What do you mean before taxes? You have to pay taxes to build a rig? Or is the price displayed in stores prices before taxes? Because that's stupid IMO.

Because here, there's the 5% gst tax, and the 6.5% provincial tax. So if I am building a $3000 rig, with taxes its gonna come up to roughly $3390.
And the price I set is just so that I don't eventually get the most expensive parts. I will buy them in store, I don't have a credit card anyways, I am banned from them

Hmm, seems much simpler here, the store just adds the 24% VAT and the 20% extra for the store to get some income, so the price you see is final.

nukchebi0 wrote:

Soldier-Of-Wasteland wrote:

I will ask again in time
We have to refurnish the kitchen here first. After that I will invest in a new computerbox. Just wanted a head start since I am quite behind with the parts right now. I might get a mac pro next year too

Can I have your extra cash?

hmm.. ya... sure.... heheh I am clear of my studen loan in 3 weeks, i make about 900$/month in payments... all of which will stay in my pocket starting next month. I also dont have a car, and quit smoking (1 year on april 13th), i was smoking 3500$/year of cigarettes. So now I have some money to buy me toys

Thanks you all guys too for the tips too! Might be useful for someone else too who'd like to build somehting right now.

Wouldn't two 2GB memory sticks @ 1066 be faster than four 1GB memory sticks @ 1066 as they're in a single dual-channel as opposed to a dual-dual-channel?

in less that a year, computer hardware is expected to increase 70% in performance. just wait it out.

also. the upcoming ati 4870 is supposed to be 60% faster than the 3870... that is HUGE.

Last edited by bf2gammer (2008-04-02 18:00:55)