It's Complicated

All,

I need your help. I'm trying to build a gaming rig for under 3,500.. Sounds simple.... BUT ITS NOT! At least not for me. I was hoping you could provide guidance and direction for a lost soul. I have a few must haves as well as a few questions....... For clarification purposes, i play WOW, Oblivion, and uhhhhhhh Age of Empires II. That's right, AOE II. Its a classic. (any recent game on moderate settings with smooth fps would suffice)

1. normally we would say 295 but for wow I guess 285 is better since it does not utilize sli.

2. 6GB

3. 1000w for 2 x 285 or 3 x 285 but for 3 x 285 1200w might be a better choice depending on your setup.

4. i7 920 2.66GHz OCed

here you go Ticket# 261927 --- Price: $3377 (To see this build click here) Price after current promotion $3177

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 Classified 3X SLI (Intel X58 Chipset) (Supports Triple SLI or CrossFire)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1333MHz Mushkin (Highly Recommended) (Digital Storm Certified)
Power Supply: 1000W Corsair HX (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Card Reader: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (1TB Western Digital (7200 RPM) (16MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital (7200 RPM) (16MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: 1x (1TB Western Digital (7200 RPM) (16MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed)
Optical Drive 1: Blu-Ray Player & DVD Reader (Play Blu-Ray & Read DVD Media)
Optical Drive 2: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x)
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 1GB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 3: High-Performance Liquid Chilled FrostBite System For CPU
Liquid Color:UV Redish Pink: Medium Glowing Non-conductive 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, Ship Within 5-10 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty

I would probably by the monitor separately.

I would suggest an Acer 24" Full HD LCD Monitor. It is 16:9, 1920X1080 and can double as an HDTV. You can find them all over the net for under $300...

Edited by issues1975 - 21 Mar 2009 at 10:07pm

It has an HDMI connector, which is all you need for most HDTV set top boxes. You should be able to hook your HD cable box/HDR right to it. Of course it doesn't have any internal TV function or speakers but it would work just fine for viewing and you can buy an adapter to hook the sound into your pc or any stereo...

Edited by issues1975 - 22 Mar 2009 at 1:58am

Originally posted by DST4ME @issues1975, nice config but try and build to the persons needs, he will get more out of a 285 for wow then he will from a 295. raiding is a bad idea due to data loss, now he already went the wrong way of wanting 3TB of space how ever can you imagine how much data loss he would occur if the raid failed on the 2 x 1TB raid? or if just one of the drives went bad? also when choosing liquid, try and make sure you match the lighting to it, eg, if you pic UV liquid then pic UV light otherwise the UV liquid is pointless just some info other then that your build is nice