Thinking about a new gaming rig, or maybe a laptop...

Tikker · Post by **Tikker** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 11:34 am

I'm probably 6-12 months away from pulling the trigger, so looking for some thoughts

I've decided that my current gaming rig will be retrofit into a hot HTPC machine, so trying to decide on a new gaming machine

I will do a lot of video stuff with this box as well, so I'm REALLY leaning towards a dual core system of some sort

lots of ram, nice vid card, yada yada yada

I'm also semi tempted to go laptop so fire away

my price limit is probably $3200 USD, but if I can get a really future proof system for $2k, I'm cool with that too~

Post by **Lyion** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 12:09 pm

I'd wait until next year for Vista. I just did a home equity and had some extra dough not tied up into my house that I was considering for a mongo gaming rig, but a buddy told me to wait next year, when he expects hardware prices to go down steeply with Vista.

Naethyn · Post by **Naethyn** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 2:30 pm

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

the ferrari of computers

Tikker · Post by **Tikker** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:41 pm

hrm

fair enough

what are some good sites to search for watercooling/passive cooling?

I don't want to spend a fortune, but I need to cool a p4 2.5, a 6600gt, and in theory I guess, maybe a newer, quieter PSU

mofish · Post by **mofish** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 4:05 pm

Check out the new dual core pentium coming out soon, called Conroe. Supposed to be an 'x2 killer.' Dunno anything about it, except that it has 2 MB of L2 cache.

Ive built 4 x2 systems in the last 6 months or so. None of them HTPC or 'quiet' though.

AMD coming out with their AM2 socket soon. Only real difference will be the use of DDR2 RAM. And the benefits of that are up for debate, because the AMD CPU does not require the DDR2 bandwidth like the Intel chips do.

Havent started my education on water-cooling yet, but these guys are supposed to be good :

http://www.dangerden.com

Tikker · Post by **Tikker** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 4:12 pm

Naethyn9 wrote:http://www.falcon-nw.com/

the ferrari of computers

worst fucking website ever

Ralf

that's the kind of website you should avoid building

Naethyn · Post by **Naethyn** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 10:28 pm

Tikker wrote:
Naethyn9 wrote:http://www.falcon-nw.com/

the ferrari of computers

worst fucking website ever

Ralf

that's the kind of website you should avoid building

I agree that some sites are overdone on flash and this may be also, but I think it enhances this site. Did you actually take a look at it? Or did you load it, see its flash, and call it crap because of past experiences you have had.

Tikker · Post by **Tikker** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:44 am

it sucks because you have to jump thru 5849543 screens to get actual specs on the laptops and the fucking muzak made me want to gauge out your eyes for linking this bullshit

Tikker · Post by **Tikker** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:48 am

and you have to enter personal infoz before you can see prices

so fuck you and your fucking gay website

Post by **Lyion** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:00 am

I've bought from and recommended this vendor to friends:

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com

If I upgrade, I'll go through them.

Donnel · Post by **Donnel** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 10:12 am

I just bought a dell

>.>

<.<

shh it's not common knowledge that I'm a newb.

Donnel · Post by **Donnel** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 10:18 am

No but really I got a good deal on it and it's a sweet system and exactly what I was looking for.

Code: Select all

XPS 400
PentiumÂ® D Processor 820 with Dual Core Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB), Genuine WindowsÂ® XP Media Center 2005 Edition with re-installation CD Qty: 1
Unit Price: $1,229.00 
XPS 400 PentiumÂ® D Processor 820 with Dual Core Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB)
 
Memory Featured Upgrade a $60 value! 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
 1GB52P

Monitors FEATURED UPGRADE!! 19 inch E196FP Analog Flat Panel
 E196FU

Video Cards 256MB PCI Expressâ„¢ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) nVidia GeForce 6800 NV6800
 
Hard Drives 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cacheâ„¢ 160S

CD or DVD Drive Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 48x CD-RW Drive
 DVDCDR
 
Sound Card Sound BlasterÂ® AudigyÂ®2 ZS (D) Card w/Dolby 5.1, and IEEE 1394 SBA2

Speakers Dell AS501PA 10W Flat Panel Attached Spkrs for Analog Flat Panels AS501PA

ADDITIONAL DISCOUNTS AND COUPONS

Dell EPP and FSS Customers: Free Ground Shipping on Select Dimension Systems over $549.
Expires on 2006-03-30 12:59:59 - $99.00 

The New AT&T Employees receive additional 5% discount (before tax, shipping & handling)
Expires on 2006-04-29 04:59:59 - $58.99 

Dell EPP/FSS customers receive 4% off systems priced $800 to $1600 with 1/2yr At-Home service. 
Expires on 2006-09-26 22:59:59 - $49.16 
 
 
Sub-Total $1,120.85 
Shipping Discount -$99.00
 
Shipping $ 0.00
 
Tax $78.70 
Total $1,199.55

Tikker · Post by **Tikker** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 12:12 pm

lyion wrote:I've bought from and recommended this vendor to friends:

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com

If I upgrade, I'll go through them.

haha weird

looking at one of their intel laptops, and everytime I select the 7800 vid card, the specs below continue to say 6800

would rule to order it up, and have them substitute other parts too

but the websites not bad

Naethyn · Post by **Naethyn** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 2:16 pm

Tikker wrote:and you have to enter personal infoz before you can see prices

so fuck you and your fucking gay website

I am able to create a machine tailored exactly to what I want and showing a price without giving any personal information. Maybe your just having trouble operating a flash driven interface. I guess you have proven a weakness in flash. Not everyone is apt enough to figure out how to use it.

Tikker · Post by **Tikker** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:27 pm

I think I found the case for the HTPC

Antec HTPC case

Adivina · Post by **Adivina** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:34 pm

Naethyn9 wrote:
Tikker wrote:and you have to enter personal infoz before you can see prices

so fuck you and your fucking gay website

I am able to create a machine tailored exactly to what I want and showing a price without giving any personal information. Maybe your just having trouble operating a flash driven interface. I guess you have proven a weakness in flash. Not everyone is apt enough to figure out how to use it.

Who are you and what gives you the right to come here and be snippy with NT vets? ><

Ginzburgh · Post by **Ginzburgh** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:34 pm

I wonder how the new intel based apple machines will be (for gaming) now that they can run both OS X and XP.

Adivina · Post by **Adivina** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:37 pm

True Ginz I didn't even start to consider that.

Harrison · Post by **Harrison** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:39 pm

No thanks, I don't even want to open that can of worms onto my well being.

Ginzburgh · Post by **Ginzburgh** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:41 pm

My friend got a new power book and he gets like 50FPS in ironforge playing WoW.

He spent $$ on it though.

I am really do for a home PC upgrade too but have little cash to spend

Menlaan · Post by **Menlaan** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:45 pm

I need to buy a whole new system too. I might go with one of the mid-range cyberpower ones. Think I'll have a shot at hell at playing Vanguard with it?

Menlaan

Adivina · Post by **Adivina** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:46 pm

I would love to build myself a new gaming rig, but at this point doing so would just be out of vanity. I built mine last year (I think?) and it runs everything I play, including EQ2 beautifully. Honestly my next project is gonna be saving for a nice laptop seeing as next year I will have my bachelor's degree and will need a portable solution for meeting with clients.

Ginzburgh · Post by **Ginzburgh** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:50 pm

I just got a IMB Thinkpad Z60M from work. I think I might load up EQ2 on it tonight to see if it runs it better than my home PC does. My home PC runs it so bad I can't even see my tunic wtf. I look like I'm wearing no shirt all the time. Not to mention I get like 10 FPS and get ganked 25 times a day because it takes me two minutes to turn around when I'm being attacked by another person.

And I'm suppose to be saving for a ring...

Harrison · Post by **Harrison** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:58 pm

Save yourself some money and punch her in the throat with your dick.

Adivina · Post by **Adivina** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:59 pm

heh heh, yeah one of the requirements of my work laptop will be that it can play EQ2 <3