I used to have an XPS 420 that I modded a bit.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-P...0/CIMG3932.jpg

IIRC it had a Q6600 2.4Ghz quad core, 8GB ram, and a 896mb GeForce GTX260 Core216. It was pretty fast back in the day. I remember the only way you could overclock the processor because of the locked bios was by putting a strip of electrical tape over one of the processor pins. It would bump the clock up to 3ghz, but since you couldn't adjust voltages and the stock cooler wasn't that great it would get very unstable. :icon17:

Mad scientist....

The one i have now is an xps 600 but it's at the end of it's days.

What's your budget again? And how many monitors are you wanting to run...

1k-1500-ish....I've only got the one 24" lcd that came with my xps so i'll probably still with that one.

OK, one monitor makes it a lot easier to build a budget gaming rig. :tup:

cool cool :excited:

OK Kaien,

Since your budget is $1000-$1500, I decided it was high enough to go full Intel. I think at the $1000+ range there's no reason not to go Intel over AMD as you get the best performance. When you get under $1,000 I think there's a bit of a gray area where you could go either way, and then below $750 or so I think that's when AMD chips really shine.

So, for a $1,000-ish build with Newegg pricing:

Case: Antec 300 Mid Tower $69.99 (you could pick whatever ATX case you felt like using. I just used the 300 as an example)
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V/Gen3 $189.99
Processor: Core i5-2500K $219.99
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3-1600 (2x4GB) $45.99
HDD: WD Caviar Black 7200rpm Sata III $129.99
GPU: Sapphire 2GB Radeon HD 6950 Dirt 3 Edition $279.99 (I like this card of all the other 6950s because it has the BIOS switch that unlocks the shaders to 6970 levels, and it's got a great cooler allowing you to OC it past 6970 clocks if you so desire)
Power Supply: Corsair TX750 $129.99

Total: $1,065.93 excluding OS and accessories

That would be a pretty nice rig for single monitor gaming. If you wanted to spend more you could replace the i5-2500K with an i7-2600K and maybe get a second GPU to run in Crossfire if you plan on using a 3 monitor gaming setup like me, and/or add a SSD for your OS and programs.

The thing that pisses me off right now is that HDD prices have gone through the roof because of the drive shortage. A 1TB HDD used to be pretty cheap, now they run over $200. That's why I only chose the 500GB HDD for you... so you can just wait and add more space later at a cheaper price if you need to.

Anyone else have some thoughts?

SUb'd...I'll post pics of my setups soon

BTW, I've been using a mid tower and when I switched to a full, man there's no turning back. Cable management is awesome and easier to work with. Also, the quality of a Lian Li case is top notch. I've had the Antec Skeleton and while it looks cool, cable management is a nightmare and it's a dust magnet. All in all, I'm happy with the CoolerMaster HAF 932 that I got during black Friday for $90. Despite having monster fans, it's a pretty quiet case. I'd highly recommend CM HAF series cases for enthusiasts builds that require lots of cooling.

I really like my CM 690 II mid tower but it can be a bitch to route cables.

Good thing is it flows really well and keeps everything cool.

I don't have any pictures of my rig, but:

i7 920 @ 3GhZ w/ Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B Cooler
6GB of DDR 1600 Corsair Dominator lolRAM
EVGA 1st gen X58 Mobo
Sapphire 6970 2GB
Corsair 850W PSU
1x WD Caviar Black 640GB
1x 150GB VelociRaptor
2x 1TB External WD HDs
Stuffed in a Antec LanBoy (Used to be a 902)

Logitech G700
Logitech G930
Razer Anasi

1x 22in Samsung 226cw
1x 32in Sony Bravia IDon'tRememberTheModelNumber

The best part of all of this? With the exception of the external HDs and the video card, it was built back in 2009 for $1400. The first gen i7 is probably the best bang for your buck processor EVER. I can't remember a processor that has lasted me this long since the 2000+ way long ago.

I still play most games on high at 1920x1080 -- including BF3. Hell, I'm even able to record BF3 without lag. Same for Skyrim. And WoW/SC2/D3 basically can be running in the background.

And honestly, BF3 was the big hit my system was supposed to take. I can't see anything next year that will challenge my setup or force me to upgrade, although I might do it anyway just to get back to a 3x monitor setup. Though, finding something with input lag is a challenge.

I also might upgrade to go play with water. I don't need to at all... but... well, you know.

I was so close to doing the same but I wussed out on the thought of a possible leak and destroying other components...which seems like video cards depending on how your motherboard sits.

Yeah, this is what happened to me when I built this rig.

It wasn't just the risk, though. The extra time involved in doing things right was just too much at the time.

Damn that is so nice, it should rock the sh1t out of any game i what to play. So i should be able to get all the parts on newegg or there and somewhere else.

Sorry but i'm a bit drunk right now...

My Build:
Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58
CPU - i7-950
Memory - Patriot 6GB DDR3
PSU - Corsair 750TX
GPU - Radeon HD4850 (from my old old old setup)

Most of my stuff was bought a bit over a year ago except the graphics card. that was from a few years ago.

Yeah on a single monitor it would handle pretty much anything you could throw at it.

If you decide you want to try multi-monitor gaming, all you need to do is get a second GPU and upgrade the CPU if it turns out to be a bottleneck.

With regard to pricing, you'd just have to shop around. I don't know if you have any Microcenter stores near you, but I have always found good deals in store on hardware. For example, this past weekend I bought my Core i7-2600K for $279 ($90 off full retail price) and because I was buying a Motherboard with the processor, I received $50 off my ASUS P8Z68-V/Gen3.

I paid $429 for my CPU + Mobo. If I ordered now from Newegg, I'd pay $488. Not a big $$ difference, but it's still 12% less.

Now, you mentioned you were a few months away from building. I am sure prices will come down some in that time, since the Radeon 7xxx series cards should be coming out soon, and we should get more details on Ivy Bridge which may drive the pricing on the Sandy Bridge processors down. Any differences will probably not be too big, though... I wouldn't hesitate to do this build (although personally I would choose the i7-2600K over the i5) because it's more than enough to handle everything you can throw at it right now. It also helps that you've got a good motherboard that will support an upgrade to Ivy Bridge and multiple GPUs. :tup:

Also, if for some reason you decide you'd rather keep your build much cheaper, say under $750, but you still want the ability to enjoy today's games on one monitor, we can sort out a setup for that too. But it will limit your ability to upgrade... but that really might not matter to you if you could save hundreds of dollars. The build I did for my GF is pretty stout, and you can really beef it up for not much less... spend a little bit more on the processor and the GPU and you've got a very nice budget gaming system.

No real computer parts stores here. At most we've got best buy and the like here. Maybe in new orleans they would have something real.

someone buy my i7 2700k!!!! Give me a price I can't refuse. BNIB

Selling chips is tough without them being dirt cheap. Too many variables!

Here's mine:

- CoolerMaster HAF X Full Tower Case
- Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3 Mobo
- Intel Core i7-2600K @ 4GHz
- Corsair H100 Liquid Cooling for CPU
- 16GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333 (4x4 GB)
- 2X 1.3GB PNY GeForce GTX 470 cards in SLI (stock clocks)
- WD Caviar Black 1TB Hard Drive
- Lite-On Blu-Ray DVD Burner
- Onboard HD Audio outputting via Digital Optical to Yamaha home theater receiver
- Silverstone 1000W PSU
- Asus VG236H 23" 3D 120hz LCD Monitor @ 1920x1080
- Dual JBL Northridge E30 Bookshelf Speakers @ 70W, one on each side of the monitor

Iz fun but I am considering a pair of Radeon 7970s when they are actually available. :)


Current Games:

Battlefield 3
Skyrim (with tons of mods)

this is 370 retail price processor. Let me know what you wanna offer :)

Oh I'm fine with my 2600K, thanks. :) I was just making a comment that it's difficult to sell a used processor unless the discount is really substantial. At least that's what I've found... you never know if they've been overvolted to hell and back!

Brand spankin new still in the box :)

Well hot damn! :tiphat:

- i7 920 @ 4.0GHz, Corsair H80 liquid cooler
- ASUS P6X58D Premium mobo
- 6GB (3x2gig) OCZ Platinum RAM
- 2X 1G Gigabyte 460 GTX
- OCZ Vertex II 120G SSD for OS and a few games
- 2x WD Caviar Black 1TB - one as primary for games, other as backup
- Corsair HX850 modular PSU
- Some shitty Thermaltake case thats huge, but is far too cramped considering how big it was. Came w/ my old liquid cooling system built in, which was as bad or worse than an OEM cooler...
- Dell 2408WFP as main monitor, and an old Viewsonic 19" as my secondary

Just got my PC moved into my new apartment. I need to pick up another power strip before I start to tidy up the cables, but here's what I'm working with right now:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-X...0/IMG_0363.JPG

The desk is Ikea tabletop that wraps around the entire office. :tup:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Y...0/IMG_0369.JPG

I've been trying to get used to my new G13 gameboard. I like the LCD screen... I've got it monitoring CPU core temps and load.

Did you build the desk/table or did you pick it up somewhere?

Bought the pieces at IKEA and assembled it to fit our office space. They have a huge selection if desktops and legs to design your own. The gf liked white which just happened to be the cheapest. I would have gone with the more expensive cedar/pine type wood. They also have stainless or glass and a few other colors. Lots of leg options from fixed to adjustable height... lots of different modular storage options too. :tup:

Edit: the modular desk pieces are mostly under the Vika name, I believe.

Damn that's hot!!!

I just realized I didn't bring my old 2.1 Logitech speaker system from my parents house. I need to pick that up today or go buy a newer system when I go to Microcenter. I live in an apartment so I don't want to be a douche with a crazy sound system while playing BF3 or streaming BPM. :icon17:

Boy, that takes me back. NewEgg and I had a prolific relationship. Then, I just got tired of it and took an alternate route.

http://SSEquine.net/macdesk2.jpg




What I found was....


http://SSEquine.net/MacPC.jpg

Very clean setup, Mac! :icon17:

I like Macs for functionality and ease of use, but I'm a gamer and a tinkerer so it's PCs for me. I have been toying with the idea of getting a Mac Mini just for the hell of it. No idea what I'd use it for, but I'm a nerd and having it would make me happy.

Honestly, get the old 2.1 system and spend the money headphones & headphone amp.
In an apartment, headphones will make gaming a lot more fun and you will not piss off the neighbors, plus you can play late at night.

I understand the attraction to computer tinkering, have been through it repeatedly since 1976 (I actually built an Altair way back when).

As to gaming, I boot my Mac Pro into Windows 7 for that. Mostly MW3 multiplayer, occasionally BF3. Macs run Windows as well as PC's run Windows, and I can boot back into OSX to get my work done.

After building my first PC way back in 2000, decided to jump back into it since my Gateway laptop is slowly dying a slow death and the old PC died back in 07. I mostly game on my Xbox so I wanted to keep this build on a budget of $1000 or so and resuse as much as I could, like the keyboard, mouse and an ancient Cambridge Soundworks 5.1 speaker setup. Thus, here's what I started with:

Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge @ 3.1 GHz
Gigabyte GA-P67A-U03-B3
8GB of Patriot Viper Extreme Division 2 RAM
Sapphire Radeon HD6790 1GB
Western Digital SATA3 HDD 1TB
Rosewill RX750-S-B 750W PSU
Lite-On DVD Burner
Windows 7 64-bit
CoolerMaster Storm Enforcer case

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6...095268da_b.jpg

I stuck with the older P67 chipset since it still has some capability I'm not utilizing and it had the best bang for the buck as far as future expansion on the motherboard goes. The hard drive is more than enough for now, especially since my Cavalry external USB HDD is also 1TB and is only about 25% full accounting for all my music, pictures and video.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6...dfbf53e8_b.jpg

Amazed at how easily everything went together. The Enforcer case has loads of room and plenty of extra bays for more drives and such. I missed two generations of SATA cables and not having to fold up flat ribbon cables in a cramped case was a relief!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6...7c116998_b.jpg

My old grey box case had a bunch of holes dremeled in it for extra fans since that old Athlon T-Bird was OC'd to within an inch of its life so I never bothered with a window. This one looks cool and has extra fan locations already, got me thinking about some extra, unecessary lighting for the case.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6...8d8a49a3_b.jpg

Interior lighting from the PSU's first power-on, was not expecting that to be honest!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6...786af1b0_b.jpg

Big 200mm intake fan on the front that came with the case.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6...b3b51d75_b.jpg

After borrowing a 17" hand-me-down LCD from a buddy for a few months, I picked up a nice 24" Samsung LED from Worst Buy for about $250, looks great and I finally have a display that the GPU doesn't get bored with! Not including the monitor and the fact that I plan on getting a new keyboard and maybe one of those fancy RAT mice, the computer hit my wallet for ~$925, under budget! Runs like a champ too, just wish my computer at work was this fast, I spend a lot of time watching Catia load models and crashing when I load too many models.

While I wait for my house to be rewired this is where all my gear gets mounted, currently it is all tucked away until I can use it.

That's a nice setup Titan! :tup:

Thanks! Once I've got updated periphials, I'm going to keep my eye out for a reasonably priced blu-ray burner, a $20 DVD burner is a good start and keeps the budget nice and low but I wouldn't mind catching up with the times. The 8GB Patriot RAM kits I would assume can only go down in price so I'll probably double the RAM at some point too. Crap, if I keep this line of thought going, I'll end up with another Radeon 6XXX and run a Crossfire setup, maybe a SSD for booting windows, new speakers, oh, how good are sound cards these days? Would I be better off saving the money for better digital speakers (mine are old school ;) and just run the audio through the mobo's digital out? I noticed Maximum PC's Dream Machine was running on-board audio this year.

Very nice! I have a pretty weak/standard layman's setup that covers internet usage and WoW decently enough:

Phenom II 955 Quad Core 3.2GHz CPU
1TB 7200rpm Hitachi HD
8GB DDR3 RAM
GTX460 (768MB GDDR5) Graphics Card
500 Watt Power supply
Gigabyte motherboard
Cheap Dell monitor
Nothing else really note-worthy

I built my M4 carbine.
I paid off my debt.
I experienced owning a supercar and am about to down-size into a 370Z.

I am in saving money-buying land-building a house mode, now. I probably won't build a killer PC until I have the house built, so I hope this PC lasts me for a few years. I want to build when I am 30. Less than a month from 26, now. Goal is to have moved by the end of next year and have paid off the land I buy (25-50 acres I am looking for) by the time I am 29, and by 30, put 20% down on a house and build.

You are fine with that PC for a while as long as you stick to one monitor. The 955 is a good chip and the GTX460 should be able to handle BF3 on medium-high settings. So you should be good to go. :)