...and the kitchen sink?

Gentlemen!  And perhaps ladies!

I'm looking to build a new system to replace my current Dell, the most misbehaving computer this side of cheap consumer PCs!  I've read !ender_'s fabulously detailed post on builds and configurations, and while some of the more technical stuff may have gone over my head, I think I have a decent enough grasp on the situation to put up at least some witty repartee with you forum denizens.

Budget: $3000 including shipping

I'm looking for a rig that will last me a few years and will allow me to take full advantage of the upgraded graphics coming with WoW's next expansion, as well as letting me enjoy next year's games at a 'high' graphics setting.  I'm also looking for a rig to keep my feet warm, because it's so cold in my room all the time! 

I am a WoW player, and it does take up about 60% of the gaming time on my computer.  I am looking forward to Dragon Age 2 as well as Guild Wars 2, Diablo 3, etc.  As far as total usage, I'm looking at about 80% gaming 20% movie watching, I tend to keep a lot of movies and TV shows and store them on my external 1 TB hard drive, so storage space is not an issue.

One special consideration is that I will be purchasing a surround sound speaker system, so I think a sound card is in order.  If anyone can offer good places to find speaker setups I would be grateful as well.

Thanks dudes!


Edited by barca - 29 Oct 2010 at 10:36pm

Everything I put there sounded like a bad excuse.  It's 300 GB of fansubbed anime and then a copy of The Lion King and the South Park movie, both of which I have on DVD. When an anime series series isn't licensed for R1 it is okay to keep.  I put "movies and TV shows" because there's a pretty bad stigma associated with anyone that watches anime.


Edited by barca - 29 Oct 2010 at 10:24pm

Thanks for the swift response, and thanks for being understanding!

I would have to say that my gaming habits have been shaped by the piece of junk I currently play on.  I gathered from your Buying/Posting guide that 2x 470's will give you the lion's share of power provided by 2x 480's, would there be any advantages taking the step up to the 480's?  Longevity, bragging rights, perhaps a sweet fireball as my system overheats?

I like the idea of using an SSD for the OS, but I'm not sure I have 80 GB of applications that I would need put on the SSD, a 40 GB as you suggested may be more prudent.

One other thing I noted is that the motherboard in these builds is EVGA X58 LE Edition SLI, in most of the builds you did for the buying/posting guide, the higher end systems use the SLI 3.  Is there a significant advantage or is it a choice of convenience based on the SLI 3 being on backorder?

After reading that I feel like I sound impertinent, please please please don't take it that way!  I am very grateful for the help, as my knowledge of the internal workings of gaming beasts extends to basically "don't stick a non-grounded screwdriver inside" and "remember to clean out the dust every other week".

EDIT: Yes, when I was 11, I DID stick a non-grounded screwdriver into a computer, and yes I fried the video card.


Edited by barca - 29 Oct 2010 at 11:32pm

Originally posted by !ender_ lol which part was rude?

Well, you are certainly the master and I the grasshopper in this situation, I figured questioning you was bad form!  :P



Edited by barca - 30 Oct 2010 at 12:00am

Oh, cool.  I am glad I could be of some service, then!

On a side note, I was speaking to one of my guild mates in WoW, and he said I should consider a cheaper card, something just to run WoW or SCII for now, and wait for the next generation of Nvidia cards out in a couple months (?).  I know from your post that waiting is a dangerous game, and I do need the system now.  Do you have an opinion on this particular situation, or is it a blanket "no waiting" policy?

I agree with you about waiting, I will go with what I can get at the moment.  After spending some time playing with builds I have come up with a couple.  The first is well below my budget, fairly close to what you provided for me.  The second is running up pretty close to my budget, and includes the increased power supply and dual 480's.  I will have to think on this for a day, probably, is there any pure functionality reason that either system would have issues, or is it just about personal preference at this point?  Would there be heat issues?  Would I have to  make any special care considerations, air flow, etc.?

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=452748

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=452752

Thanks a lot for your time, you've been a great help, and I'm already getting that dreadful "the wait" feeling.


Edited by barca - 30 Oct 2010 at 1:06am

"i would expect that a 6870 would floor a 5870 but that is not the case"

Gotta look at the prices on them though lol.  ~$260 6870, ~$400 5870.

One small reason to go with creative rather than another brand is that MOST developers are likely to be testing their software/games on systems that have either onboard sound or most likely a creative sound card, so the chances of driver problems are a bit lower.  This isnt an absolute case, just something that should factor into the thinking.

Why not go with 2x6870s and save $115 while getting the same if not a bit better performance.



I'd also highly recommend the Corsair power supplies.


Edited by venom - 30 Oct 2010 at 9:56pm

Just got the Logitech Z5500's  I like them soound great and the Digital connection is all that I could ask for.