Gaming Rig

I'm a active gamer.  Love fps and online mmo's.  I havent been able to play any of these at or even near max resolutions in over 5 years with my current rig.  I am wanting, rather my wife, is wanting me to buy a rig that will be able to play max resolutions and help to reduce lag for five years if possible.  Here is what I've come up with.  There are some questions at the end of this paste.


Chassis Model: Digital Storm 950Si
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Interior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 940 2.93GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe (Intel X58 Chipset) (Supports Dual SLI or CrossFire)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1333MHz OCZ
Power Supply: 1000W Corsair HX (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Card Reader: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1TB Western Digital (7200 RPM) (16MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x) (LightScribe Edition)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 1GB) (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion (PCI-Express Slot Based) (Recommended)
Extreme Cooling: Standard Factory Heat-sink and Fan
Liquid Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a H20: Stage 3 Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue)
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Yes, Overclock the processor as much as possible with complete stability
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: Yes, Overclock memory frequency (Includes Memory Fan Kit Installed)
Tweak Windows: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows XP Home (Includes Service Pack 3)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test Game: - No Thanks
LCD Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty

1) is the 2nd video card vital to playing games such as farcry, fear, crysis bio shock, stalker.....anyhow fps at max resolutions.

2) is the standard stock fan going to be enough cooling for an oc processor.

3) Does oc processors shorten their life spans.

4) Is one dvd/cd drive enough.

5) wth is a raid and do i need one if the computer will be used mainly for gaming.

6) is the 1000w power supply enough.

Thank you for your advice and help,

Bullseyehk

If you're concerned about longevity, I suggest you spend the extra cash and go with a couple 4870 X2 video cards. Each card has 2 GPU's on them and they will offer you better performance for a longer period of time They are already the fastest cards on the market and ATI will be updating their drivers soon which will boost the performance even more.

I just purchased a rig from DS today, and after reading a lot of reviews, I decided to get 2 Velociraptor 150's in Raid 0.  I read in a couple forums, that a slow HDD is a serious bottleneck to the i7.  Also, I decided to downgrade to the i7 920, because the OC potential should be as good as the 940 for half the price.  That is just my $0.02.

Sorry here it is now: 

Ticket Number: 214881
Total Price with Instant Savings: $3,742.00

After reading the liquid vs fan cooling thread I'm wondering if I need to add water cooling to this unit or not.Then theres the should i just max the 12 gig ram out on it. 

Oh and the multiple drives with xp / vista on it. 

Ah hell this thing is gonna make me work myself in the ground just to get.

If I'm buying just insane amounts of hardware for a system I need to last 5 years with the ability to play 1920 x 1200 all 5 years let me know lol...Good news is at least I will be able to heat my office with this rig.

Once again thanks for any help you may give,

Bullseyehk

if you want a system with every dollar put to good use then:

here you go Ticket# 215304 --- Price: $3546 (To see this build click here)

Copy of Specifications:
Chassis Model: Cooler Master HAF 932
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Interior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe (Intel X58 Chipset) (Supports Dual SLI or CrossFire)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1333MHz OCZ
Power Supply: 1000W Corsair HX (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Card Reader: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor (10K RPM) (16MB Cache) (Extreme Speed)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x) (LightScribe Edition)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260+ 896MB (216 Streams) (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion (PCI-Express Slot Based) (Recommended)
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 3: High-Performance Liquid Chilled FrostBite System For CPU
Liquid Color:UV Green: Glowing Non-conductive High-Performance Fluid (Requires H20: Stage 3 & UV Lighting)
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (UV) (Creates Glowing Effect For H20: Stage 3 UV Fluid)
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Yes, Overclock the processor as much as possible with complete stability
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Tweak Windows: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (64-Bit Edition) (For Enthusiasts)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test Game: - No Thanks
LCD Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty

hmm should i go ahead and look at buying this rig now or wait till january and see the specs on the new graphics card from nvidia.

also should i wait and see what Windows Live does.

Also what in the set up above what are the 2 drives for and how do they work together.  saw one as the os and one as storage.

wife wants me to get a computer but only when i feel comfortable enough to buy it.  figure ds is where its gonna come from.  she wants a laptop to and i said i can get her one from ds as well..she said noway after i told her the price..for whatever reason she thinks laptops only cost $400 or less.../sigh

we can change your setup to run 2 drives if you like but we do that with veloci raptors, cause veloci is faster, we would use that for os/apps/games and the 500GB for storage of personal/media files.

but a veloci raptor will set you back $250.

like you said lets wait till JAN, and see what is going on then

laptop for $400? if you only check or email, surf for a short time, and want a small screen, sure why not.

looks like january for sure.  and may get what i wanted with some minor adjustments...and all it going to cost me is a set of living room furniture.

is there any real diffrence in performance between the 1066 ram and the 1333 ram.
or for that matter the nvidia 893 and the 1k cards?

Hey mate!! Im also waiting until Jan. For me its very hard to wait but its worth it considering there might be new stuff coming out and the prices might also drop!!! have a great day to you all!!!

for 1920 x 1200 one 4870x2 is enough to do very well.

yes you can put 2 x 4870x2 in one system, but you will notice a difference at 2560 x 1600 or higher.

no 2 x 260+ is not much different from 2 x 280.

for 20 bucks more you can have better pc:

here you go Ticket# 229999 --- Price: $3961 (To see this build click here)

Copy of Specifications:
Chassis Model: Cooler Master HAF 932
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Interior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA X58 3X SLI (Intel X58 Chipset) (Supports Triple SLI or CrossFire)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz OCZ Platinum Edition (High-Performance)
Power Supply: 1000W Corsair HX (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Card Reader: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor (10K RPM) (16MB Cache) (Extreme Speed)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x) (LightScribe Edition)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 2x SLI Quad (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 1.792GB) (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Asus Xonar D2X (PCI-Express Slot Based) (Recommended)
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 3: High-Performance Liquid Chilled FrostBite System For CPU
Liquid Color:UV Green: High Glowing Non-conductive Fluid (Requires H20: Stage 3 & UV Lighting)
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Red)
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Yes, Overclock the processor as much as possible with complete stability
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Tweak Windows: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (64-Bit Edition) (For Enthusiasts)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test Game: - No Thanks
LCD Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty

the xonar sound card is better then the on board.

I kept the 2 x 295 but for your resolution you only need 1 x 295 the second is overkill.

ticket # 230476

This what your suggesting overall?

Hey bullseyehk if you want to discuss your order or have any questions or when your ready to place this order, so we can get the ball rolling, give me a call, you can reach me at my personal extension listed in my signature. Would love to get the ball rolling for you on a new gaming rig man. I love to game myself, so trust me, im right there with you on wanting to game to the extreme.

yes

Originally posted by bullseyehk wife ordered new furniture today so this is getting closer..she did have one concern though in regards to this new monitor..she does not want me to have to upgrade for about 5 years if possible so she was asking how one card was gonna run max settings on a 30" computer at 1920 x 1200.  I know this was answered above but she has to be reassured and she said i'm not going to be the one to make her feel better about it lol.is there a major diffrence is  performance between the 1600 and the 1866 ram chips?Thanks again

Keep in mind that 30' monitors don't display 1920 x 1200 very well. They only look good at their native pixel resolution, typically 2560 x 1600. If you plan on playing at 1920 x 1200, then save yourself some money and get a 23" - 25" monitor that has a native pixel resolution of 1920 x 1200.

Also, don't worry about ram speed very much. I seriously doubt you'll notice the difference between 1600 and 1866 ram chips. Save your money for something else.

2500x1600 does not require 3 gpu's one will work fine unless you are gaming then you want 2 high end cards like the gtx260 gtx280 gtx285 or 1 gtx295. The only game that wwill need more is crysis which isnt worth spending an extra 3-500 dollar to play on ultra high settings. Nobody knows how long tillupgrades will be needed most pc games are based off of console games (xbox/ps3) so until the next gen of consoles come out there will be no need to upgrade if u are a gamer. Proffesional user can use upgrades much more depending on your proffesion and how graphic intensive it is. Anyways any Pc you buy today will be outdated in 3 years guaenteed thats the name of the game. PC gaming is expensve but well worth it to me. 

Edited by DeathBringer666 - 25 Jan 2009 at 3:35am

What game are u talkiin about? http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-gtx-280,1953-16.html One gtx 260 can get you 40fps in some games alone. Do u even play games?   2x295 or 3 gtx285 is for bragging rights for benchmarkers, anything higher than 60fps you will never notice.

Edited by DeathBringer666 - 25 Jan 2009 at 3:51am

Looks like sli handles all of those games just fine to me?  

Edited by DeathBringer666 - 25 Jan 2009 at 4:08am