Ok guys

I'm going to build this one myself, but with so many choices, I need some experienced help.

My old machine is a PIII 1ghz so there is no comparison - it's 5 years old. It's a Dell, and not a single component has died on it, so for that I am truly grateful. However, I simply can't game on it anymore!

So, for $2000 (just under, remember shipping!) from newegg.com, I want the best gaming machine with a monitor I can get. Here are my preferences

AMD
Sli - 2 Nvidias
19" LCD ala Viewsonic 8ms latency or less
around 150-200gb

no speakers for now, I'll be using headsets 99% of the time

all around a great machine that will allow me to get back into games. Emphasis is on speed and graphics, not huge monitor. I would be happy with 1280x1020.

I just want to be able to compete. I have a 4mb cable line that is really not being used the way I want it to be!

Thanks!

you should probably wait a month or two for the new line of proccesors to come out, and by that time their will probably be a new line of graphics cards out to..
right now i would probably reccomend a 3800+-4400+, 2 7900 gtx or gt in sli, and a gig or two of ram

So, you're saying it's an awkward time to buy & build because we're really close to a new line of AMDs?

Yummy.

Motherboard: ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe $185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131004

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ $460
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103546

Ram: CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) CL 2, great deal at $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145575

2 of these bad boys: ATI 100-435801 Radeon X1900XT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO (special combo price with motherboard) $463x2 = $926
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814195002

PSU: Antec NeoPower NeoHE 550 $119
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103941

Pick your own case, hdd, optical drives etc.

So far $1830 bones.

well, theirs two reasons..once the new am2's come out, the price of the x2's will drop...so you could save $100 or so on the x2, or buy a am2. also i think the 8000 series of nvidia is expected to come out within a month or two, so you might want to wait for that

Of course we are all guessing at this point, but I don't think it will be true that prices will drop that much, if at all.

The 939 cpu performance is not looking like it is going to be all that different from the AM2. It'll add support for DDR2 of course. But there are so many people out there using the 939 platform that the demand for CPU upgrades is still high enough to justify keeping prices where they are.

I have a 939 motherboard, and an Athlon64 3700+ cpu. Since the AM2 systems are not looking like they are going to be THAT much of a performance increase, my next upgrade will likely be an AthlonX2 cpu. NOT an upgrade to the AM2 platform. That will be next year, and I think there are a lot of people in the same position.

And then once demand goes down, so will supply (especially since they will stop producing the 939 cpus), which will also force prices to stay relatively high. Look at the barton (socket A) prices as an example.

But I do agree with your main point, the one about waiting and getting the am2 system. That's what I'd do anyways if I was in the market to buy a whole new system.

well, two things that will keep me from waiting

1 - I'm impatient
2 - I'm not concerned with waiting for the top of the line stuff to drop in a couple months because to me, there isn't a huge difference between the two. I'm not *that* cutting edge, I just don't want to worry about FPS and drive space for a couple years. I don't see a major diff. between what is the $2000 last-gen machine now and what will be in a couple months - it won't make that much of a difference to me. I really just have a few games that I would like to play and the rest of the machine will slowly migrate to become my web design machine running photoshop and such.

**NOTE** Should I be concerned with running 2 GPUs if I'm not going past 1280x1020 single monitor? Will the FPS increase significantly or am I wasting money in this case?

I think I'm going to pull the trigger tonight or tomorrow based on what I've gotten from this thread.

Thanks for the help guys, keep it coming!

Me personally? I'd stick with one card. Any game played on a single X1900XTX or a single 7900GTX is going to look amazing and run very well.

Two cards is for extremist who want bragging rights.

Fun? Sure.
Performance increase? Looks like it.
Necessary? Not really.

If you have the cash to blow and want the best of the best, go for it!

Some good reading. It does seem to give significant performance increases, even at 1280x1020.

http://www.digital-daily.com/video/ati_x1900xtx_crossfire/index04.htm

That is great information. There, I've already saved myself about $500 with that single article.

I can tweak other items now, perhaps upgrade processor, hard drive, or memory.

Thanks, DonNagual!

Here she is...

Core:

ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe Socket 939 ATI CrossFire Radeon XPRESS 3200
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core
CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 433 (PC 3500)
ATI 100-435801 Radeon X1900XT 512MB (1)
Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
LITE-ON Combo Drive Black IDE Model SOHC-5236V BK RTL - Retail
CHENMING 501AWBU-F-0 BLK Black 1.0mm SECC ATX Mid Tower

Monitor:
Wise Wing W902DB Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor DVI

Sound:

Creative Sound Blaster Live! 24bit 70SB041000000 7.1 Channels

Input:

Saitek PZ30AU Black USB Wired Standard Eclipse Keyboard - Retail
Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000 B7G-00004 USB Laser Mouse - OEM

Total (with shipping): $1991


Whaddya think? The best finds were the 160gb caviar vs. the 120gb for a measly $2 more, and the 19" LCD vs. the 17" LCD for $14 LESS

I rely on reviews pretty heavily, so all these components have to pass muster with the users

Let me know your thoughts & thanks!

Just a thought:
AMAZING MACHINE!!!!!

That mobo seems way too expensive. Why not get this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131584
Plus why don't u get a good CRT monitor for gaming? I use one myself and I think its better to have a flat CRT than an LCD for gaming. I think CRTs still rule for gaming. Try this, the cash u save from the mobo can probably be pumped into this(and then some)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116282

Good piont on the Mobo. I probably should have gone with the cheaper board in retrospect.

Regarding the monitor, I could have considered going CRT too, but I hadn't heard anyone saying CRTs are better than LCDs, so I didn't even consider it. I guess that is one of the pitfalls of asking advice from bleeding edge gamers & OC'ers.

I did scale down some other components obviously to keep it within the budget, but all in all, I think I did pretty good, plus, I managed to get AOE III in the bundle which I've been dying to try. I'm satisfied.

Thanks for the input

Just to be clear, my suggestion on the cutting edge amazing motherboard was based solely on your budget. In otherwords, if my budget was the same as yours, what would I get? It would not be the budget level motherboard, it would be the one I suggested. It has much higher performance, power management, cooling, overclocking abilities, dual x16 slots (as opposed to dual x8 slots) etc.

Now, if your wanting to spend LESS than the budget you originally came with that is perfectly fine. And the cheaper motherboard suggested above by Rage_3K_Moiz is an EXCELLENT choice for those who don't have the kind of budget you originally came to us with.

And you'll note I DID steer you away from dual GPUs. To me, THAT would have been a waste of money.

CRT monitors?
-Bulky size / heavy weight
-High power consumption
-Not digital

and the technology on LCDs has come LEAPS and bounds over the years. Amazing picture. My 19" is incredible for gaming. I'll never go back to a CRT myself.

why not raid?

it sounds like this order has already been placed.

but with that budget, couldn't someone build a comp with a pair of scsi hard drives in a striping array, with a scsi 360 controller and the mb to run it all? or would the benefit of scsi 180 be enuff to beat the proposed system, whcih would make a wider range of mb and mb prices possible?

raid w/ scsi 360 would really drop seek time. Then, figure out what processor, vid card, and ram would fit within the budget. wouldn't the the hard drive times be the limiting factor in the system proposed so far?

Good question indeed. It makes me wonder.

But yeah, the rest of the components will be here tomorrow (Monday).

I hope I don't see a big bottleneck in the HD, I did spend very little on storage. If I do I'll probably just get a RAID setup.

me personnally i would steer away from RAID... if one of your HDDs on RAID goes bust then you are screwed.

Not quite accurate. There are many types of raid setups, but the majority of them do exactly the opposite of what you have said.

For example, if one disk of a "RAID 1" setup fails, you still have all your data safe on the other hard drive. That is one of the basic purposes of this type of raid setup.

btw..dont forget an O.S.

Damn, that rig pwns.