Day late and a dollar over?
Seems I always miss the start of a thread I would much like to be a part of lol. So in hopes that you haven't yet made up your mind allow me to enlighten you on the power of bang for your buck a bit beyond those that have already posted.....or so I hope.
The following photos is displaying the newest addition to my pandora's box of computers (The man cave). A basic rough up of what all you see here.
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition 3.2Ghz Six Core processor with a SpinQ Heatsink, 8 Gigs of 2000mhz Corsair Dominator GT DDR3 RAM, 1.5 TB 7200 RPM HDD, 1050 Watt Power supply, ATI HD5970 Black Edition 2Gig GDDR5 Video card (Memory clock at 4ghz and core clock over 800mhz?? Black edition being unlocked multiplier and plenty of rumors of the ability to overclock to 900mhz core clock....not that it is needed. Full Tower ATX Cooler Master Limited Edition Airbrushed Flaming Skulls Case. Keeping it cool is 7x120mm LED fans
All the pretty names and no explanation?? Nah...btw running Windows 7 X64bit Ultimate
Grand Total?? $2,632.08
1) **C283-3108** Cooler Master CSX Red Flaming Skulls Stacker 830 C
$299.99
9) **C283-2040** Cooler Master R4-L2R-20CR-GP 120mm Red Case Fan
$7.99 Each - $71.91 (I only needed 7 for the case but I got 2 for my other system)
1) **A79-1090** AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition 3.2Ghz CPU
$299.99 Each $299.99 Total
1) **A455-2898** ASUS Crosshair IV Formula AMD 890FX AM3 MB
$229.99 Total
2) **C13-6196** Corsair Dominator GT 4GB PC16000 DDR3 2000MHz 2x2
$149.99 Each $299.98 Total
1) **U12-40502** ULTRA X4 1050W POWER SUPPLY MODULAR
$199.99 Total
1) **P450-5972 XFX** Radeon HD 5970 2GB DDR5 PCIe Black Edition
$709.99 Total
1) **T925-3024** Thermaltake SpinQ VT Universal CPU Cooling Fan
$49.99 Total
Net Product: $2,161.83
Sales Tax: $137.35
P & H: $35.64
Total Shipment: $2,334.82
This was a purchase from
www.tigerdirect.com
Everything was UPS Ground, got there within a week. Missing from this is the HDD and the OS which I purchased at
www.NewEgg.com
1) Western Digital Caviar Black WD1501FASS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: ***N82E16822136592***
$109.99
1) Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
Item #: ***N82E16832116762***
$179.99
Subtotal $289.98
Tax $0.00
UPS 3 DAYS $7.28
Order Total $297.26
Paired with the order from
www.tigerdirect.com I paid
Net Product: $2,451.81
Sales Tax: $137.35
P & H: $42.92
Total Shipment: $2,632.08
Now....there are a few places you can cut corners to cut costs...but if you were looking at paying $2300 for one of those pre-built systems with less than ideal RAM than I'm sure that throwing down the extra $332.08 wouldn't be that bad. Most of that is the shipping anyway lol.
Downside to this is I didn't need to purchase a new keyboard or mouse as I have a KVM (basically push button switch from one computer to the other using the same monitor/speakers/keyboard/mouse) Not only does that save space, but also saves me the hazzle of buying kewl gadgets for two computers and linking power strips together to run extra stuff....like 2 G19 keyboards and 2x55" 1080p Panasonic Televisions.
I'm definitely an Enthusiast...to the one talking about the amount you spend on systems....guess you gota love it to have a smile on your face when you spend that kinda money.
Sum1 said he wanted 3-5 years out of this computer and trust me....you'll get it out of that setup....your on your own for the monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers, personally got mine wired into the TV for sound which is hooked up to a Bose Surround Sound 7.1 System. I intend to go projector pretty soon and really get things poping around me.
Currently I 4xBox EQ with this setup and I couldn't make this system lag if I wanted to with all my graphics up with only 4 toons. The processor and the Video card have unlocked multipliers. I got the RAM running at 1856mhz and didn't touch the lat settings....no idea why it didn't offer 1866 as an option, but board said it supported it. The motherboard supports up to 16 Gigs (4x4GB DDR3 240pin) but I opted at the price for the memory for the higher speeds to stay with only 8 Gigs. The case was eye candy though Cool Master is -TOP- of the line. The SpinQ heatsink was back ordered and hasn't even been installed yet and the system runs fine without it...just me playing with things. I intend to install it cuz I like it...never know I might decide to upgrade it.
Bottom line. AMD CPU @ 3.0ghz stands its ground with the Intel I7 running 3.33ghz. Unlocked multiplier...simply step it up. If you overclock it they run neck and neck with the exception of intels Cache....but $299 for a Six-core processor vs $1k+ I mean I personally feel that is a no brainer even for enthusiast. My last system I went Nvidia, Intel and Water Cooling. Ended up spending $4,600 for that build. Even went SLI. This was back in 2007, here in 2010 as we roll up on 2011 the stop signs have been pulled and the prices are knocking some reason into me....not worth the performance difference over the AMD system. Don't go intel. The case was a limited edition buy and I just wanted something that stood out. You don't have to spend more on your case than your motherboard like me, but you should get a nice case non the less (especially for cooling) I would suggest a Solid State Drive (SSD) for the systems primary HDD. Those things make your system run -insane- fast.
The memory is definitely worth the extra $$ if you ask me. Honestly I got the 2ghz memory on accident lol. Dunno think I was half asleep or something, could have sword I was in the 1866mhz's lol. But it worked out as I adjusted the board to go over its standard clock rate and "overclocked" the RAM (which basically just brought it closer to its intended run-at-rate. So they don't really run hot or anyting.
This build has been running without a break for about 2 weeks now on EQ with all setting on max and 4 toons in at all times without a crash on either the OS or the game.
It is your money and I know you don't want to build a system. But to be honest with you computers are like lego's almost. Difference is you go round and square pegs. You practically can't put anything in the wrong slot. How to's are so easy to look up on youtube it isn't even funny. I'm sure if you goggled "how to install motherboard" you would be given a video walk-through. It might not show your system but all ATX form factor boards have the same mounting pegs to place on the Chasis. Processor being another one some are worried about. Again...round hole - square peg. There is a corner missing on the pins on the processor that matches the board....release the latch, lightly set it over the holes moving it slightly this way and that and it should slide right in....You want instructions...hell I'd write you and entire walk-through if you wanted, but still think would be easier for you to just look it up on Youtube so you got a visual of what you are trying to do. After that everything slides in so freaking easy....need a reference? Open the side of the 3-4 yr old system you got and look at it, not much will change lol. (RAM came with its own fan...simply don't mount, the 120mm fansx7 is more than enough.
Simple things to notice are which way are my fans facing...they can't all blow in...or out...did you put in -all- the screws hand tight (you don't need an torque wrench I promise) Seriously if that is all that is stopping you from being the owner of a much better system at the same cost minus the bullshit....then please let us help you....Hell wait till I get home from this deployment in December, order the parts for it and ship it to me, you pay shipping both ways and ILL put it together for you lol. Goto the geek squad at best buy, your local "privately owned" computer shop and ask them how much it would cost. Your making it harder on you than it needs to be bro. Save the dough buying that second rate stuff and get the GOLD :-D
Anyway. I know this is like a freaking NOVEL...so yeah now I have to say about the gaming router. The idea of the gaming router is mainly for the QoS (Quality of Serivce), Port Forwarding, Static IP assignment, MAC address filtering, Port Triggering. Leave the game running at home, throw up a toon, EQBC remotely on the wifi at your local hotspot without the system stress of multiple boxes running at once. But even your WRT54G series has the options for port forwarding and some other things. I got a DLINK 4500 something or another 300mbs gaming router....its one of the dual band 5ghz -N-/2.4ghz -B-/-G- routers mentioned prior. I like running on the 5ghz band on my laptop because most of your cordless phones, wireless remotes (Xbox) etc run on the 2.4ghz band. less interference on the 5ghz band as it isn't as widely used at this time. This is great for the portable with the wireless N card. But past that...as everyone else suggested the wired will be fine. Gaming router allows you to allotcate bandwidth specifically for games. For Instance, I run a NAS (Network Accessed Storage) with built in Torrent downloader....open the network folder, drop the torrent in, it feeds and then seeds automatically anything in this folder for you. I can control the high side of this by limiting the bandwidth to that IP/MAC using the QoS settings. I could go on for day with my ramblings....thinking I'm going to cut this short or they are going to start thinking I'm actually working over here and come see what I'm doing only to find me writing a novel.
For those of you with an issue with my book or info I say /flame on!
Bored in Afghanistan gimmie a break :-D
OOooooOo for those of you interested in the $4600 system I built not gonna list all the specs but here's an open door look at it.
For those of you picking this image apart, yet only one video card was plugged in. I realized this -after- I took the picture...I was anxious as it was my first extreme build. It was a MozartTX case (the doublewide on Full ATX cases which also had a spot for a miniATX MB as well. Slots for 10x120mm fans of which I only had 4 of...two in two out. which is why I got the extra two when buying parts for the newest system.