Gaming Computer cost not a factor

Hi everyone ... here is my latest assignment. By the way, I have informed my Professor that I use this forum and he is fine with that ... in his words "you can use any resource available to you"

I am to design a gaming computer with absolutely no regard to cost! (Next assignment they change the cost part) ... but right now any system is a go ... what shall I start with?

Any advice is appreciated. So for a gaming computer am I more concerned about choosing the mobo first or the cpu ... or are both those wrong? lol

Thanks again for your thoughts!

 

Definatly want duel 6800 gts in sli mode,

 

Check out AlienWare and Falcon NorthWest for system specs. It should help your project a lot!

 

So you would start with the graphics card when designing a gaming computer? I understand that the graphics card would be of major importance but it surprises me to start with this hardware when deciding my build. I am very new to all this and I am trying to understand which hardware would be my starting point.

 

I would have to agree with the graphics card as the start but only because of the formats available...I looked for an AGP card to be happy with in around the $200 range and was very disappointed...I settled on the PCI-E x700 with 256 PRO due to the fact that I am an RTS nut...I don't need the faster memory speed...only really useful in FPS and the like...granted if they hadn't scrapped the XT version I would pay for the faster clock speed as it would only be about $50 but they didn't they went full gusto into the 800 series...where I would have to spend twice as much to get a PCI-E card....this forced me to change my MB and spend about an extra $30 there which I doubt I will regret (full system should be up and running Thursday)...everyone has their preferences but deciding how much you want to spend and what you are looking for allows you to plan accordingly...I'll post the full system specs when the machine is built...should be about Thursday...cannot wait...got the Venus 12 and gonna lap it down and overclock the crap out of my Athlon 64...

 

i vote dualie opertrons!!!

 

I agree with Unnamed, dual 74GB Raptors running at 10K RPM with 8MB buffer configured as a Stripe set is hands down one of the best configurations. 148GB space should be enough, even for top end 5-6 games, it is plenty. Remember on a performance system you should not store too much data anyhow, the less stuff you install better it is for registry also less HD space consumption also yields much better performance. YUninstall what you don't need/use. Get a HD casing (approx. $40 comes with both USB 2 and Firewire connections) to turn a 200+GB EIDE drive into an external drive to use as a storage...
considering you want a performance system, you will have kickass CPU such as AMD FX51/53/55, 1GB+ high end DDR RAM and 128MB/256MB Video card as well as 1or 2 optical drives. Whether you use multiple case fans or opt for a liquid cooling unit, you are looking for a power hungry system and the last component which will be the most important to gurantee smooth and reliable operation in a rig like this: PSU, bare minimum 400Watts, suggested 450Watts or more, but equally important thing is get a damn good and known brand, dont go cheap!
Good Luck.

 

Unamed, this is MA's board. It's completely in your interest to adhere 100% to what he says if you want to use this board.

This board caters to all users regardless of age, and as so needs to be clean enough for children. The requests made of you were not troublesome or irrational, simply asking you not to run your mouth for "sh*ts and giggles"

Moving on... I would also look into RAM DISKS as the drives running windows. These are (as far as I know) the fastest "hard drives" available, essentially 1000x faster than a standard hard drive i will look for alink to an awesome PC.

 

MA has gotten his hands dirty plenty of times. Your opinion on things is just that..an opinion. You have no clue what other people do with their time and money so stop pretending that you have the final answer, because you do not. This is not anal retentive-ness..it's a fact that your responses are becoming a nuisance as they are continually filled with anecdotal references to what you think is best because you did this and you think this because of xyz. Everyone has an opinion here. Let them speak it without having to have you respond rudely to them because "you know".. I have an itchy ban finger tonight. So chill out and eat some humble pie.

 

I want to thank you all for the wonderful information. I am sifting through it as I write up the design for this gaming computer. I have to say, some of the stuff is pretty greek to me, no I did not say geek to me! but I will research the "unknowns" on google.

Thank you all for your help. It is great to be able to get this much expertise in one place!

 

we just all enjoy salivating.... even when we have near the best, we want MORE damnit! I'm interested in seeing what you end up with in your preliminary design, so please post the specs when you figure it out

 

ahh there we go. no "crazy fast PC" thread can go without a link to here http://www.go-l.com/desktops/machl38/architecture/index.htm#puramanchor

these have Cache-Flow RAM DISK management, and other crazy things

 

Thank you for this link. The stuff on this website is amazing. The first thing to catch my attention was this: Boot-up Mirrored DataCaching Engine During the first stages of the boot-up process, using Boot-up Mirrored DataCaching Engine (BMDC), CacheFlow™ immediately starts caching OS and program files into RAM so when the Windows session starts, your disk activity is already kept at a minimum and your most probable next mouse clicks, will be requesting RAM based data instead. What a way to save time during the boot process ... I guess I am impatient