Building a $4k Rig

2x 500GB SATA II 32MB Cache

2x BFG 9800GX2 1GB

Sony Blueray DVD ROM

X-Fi Fatality Championship

Silverstone 1000Watt 12v Power supply

4x Gskill 2GB DDR2 800 (8GB RAM Total)

XFX MB-N780-ISH9 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI Intel Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 York field 3.0Ghz 12MB Cache

Total is about $3500 buying the stuff from newegg.

Question though the motherboard says it has 3 way SLi could i get 3 9800GX2 and SLi them? if so ill get 3 9800gx2's

Ummm.... first off I would just SLI to 9800gtx or 8800ultra as the 9800GX2 is wayy overpriced. But more than that I would just wait till next month with the Nividia GXT280 comes out... could be early july. But I would be willing to bet there is going to be a significant performance jump. Also if you are building this for gaming that Core 2 Extreme is overkill IMO. As far as Tri SLI I'm not sure if you can do that with the GX2s or not, but there is only like 5-10fps performance gain going from 2 cards to 3. Just stick with SLI and since you obviously want to piss away your money on a computer just send me some.

The 9800gx2 only has 1 sli connector, so you can only use 2 of those cards. Also if you MUST spend that much on a computer and want an SLI setup get a 790i board and some high end DDR3. Oh you also might want to pick a couple of 150gb raptor drives and run em in raid 0.

2x 500GB SATA II 32MB Cache

2x BFG 9800GX2 1GB

Sony Blueray DVD ROM

X-Fi Fatality Championship

Silverstone 1000Watt 12v Power supply

4x Gskill 2GB DDR2 800 (8GB RAM Total)

XFX MB-N780-ISH9 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI Intel Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 York field 3.0Ghz 12MB Cache

Total is about $3500 buying the stuff from newegg.

Question though the motherboard says it has 3 way SLi could i get 3 9800GX2 and SLi them? if so ill get 3 9800gx2's

skulper34

Why don't you get a motherboard that is able to have two processors?

Why don't you get a motherboard that is able to have two processors?

ho0p3r4life42

Because that would be a server board

Lol, get skulltrail, and then get two 8800gts, a 150gb raptop drive, ddr 3 ram, and water cooling. That should still costs less than 2k.Gamerkat

Skulltrail only supports DDR2 and if you're gonna run 2 high end CPUs it's gonna cost like 2k on the CPUs alone. It's really a server/worksation board with SLI/Crossfire support.

Tri sli is pointless.levi895

Then again... so is 8gigs of RAM.

Well yea, actually skulltrail in his case would be a waste. Really, anything would be a waste to someone who is just throwing dumb expensive parts in, like the two 9800 gx2s, and 8gbs of ram. If you get ram, in that type of system, just get some corsair ddr3. Then water cooling and monitor and all are a whole other thing to think about.Gamerkat

What is skulltrail? Also from what i know, DDR3 isnt that much siginificant improvement over DDR2 at the moment.

[QUOTE="Gamerkat"]Well yea, actually skulltrail in his case would be a waste. Really, anything would be a waste to someone who is just throwing dumb expensive parts in, like the two 9800 gx2s, and 8gbs of ram. If you get ram, in that type of system, just get some corsair ddr3. Then water cooling and monitor and all are a whole other thing to think about.skulper34

What is skulltrail? Also from what i know, DDR3 isnt that much siginificant improvement over DDR2 at the moment.

Skulltrail is some extreme motherboard codename for the motherboards that have two cpu sockets, and are supposed to be good for gaming. I dont really know alot about it other than if you got the money its what you look at.

If you want a good system for alot less, get a a Q9450, evga 790i mb, two 8800gts in sli, 4gb corsair dominator, 74gb raptop drive, big sata drive, blu ray drive, water cooling kit, nice big case with temp. gauges, and a 24 inch monitor, and of course the other little things you need lol.

all out no expensence spared pc i would go with the SLI 9800gx2. but i would go with a 790i mobo and 4gb of ddr3. DDR3 is the future, its just too expensive at the moment fo rhte majoirity of us. Also the extream CPU's are a waste unless your overclocking as the only good side to them are there unlocked multipiers. Get one of the CPU's everyone is recomending.

If you are gonig to get such ahigh-end system then getting 9800GX2 and even 2 cards seems really so stupid unless you are planning to upgrade them with eVGA trade-up program for example once the new GT200 cards are avalible..
They will be officaly released on June, 18th and we will have both GTX280 and GTX260 and they could beat 1 GX2 easily but dont think you are gonig to get these beats for cheap ..

Money isnt the issue here, don't really care, and dont want to OC , SO i just guess 2 9800GX2 would do fine, i might wait for the new cards, i don't know yet, but thanks for your replies!skulper34

You're joking right? Those CPUs are MEANT for overlocking, and only cost that much because of the unlocked multipliers. And money is no object? Is intelligence one? This rig won't last long and you still wont max Crysis, so whats the point of spending that much money on something so trivial? A 2k Rig will deliver all the power you need and if you still want to waste money either wait for new parts to upgrade or go burn your money in front of underprivileged children. Either one would be TONS smarter than spending that much money on a gaming PC.

[QUOTE="skulper34"]Money isnt the issue here, don't really care, and dont want to OC , SO i just guess 2 9800GX2 would do fine, i might wait for the new cards, i don't know yet, but thanks for your replies!Penguin_dragon

You're joking right? Those CPUs are MEANT for overlocking, and only cost that much because of the unlocked multipliers. And money is no object? Is intelligence one? This rig won't last long and you still wont max Crysis, so whats the point of spending that much money on something so trivial? A 2k Rig will deliver all the power you need and if you still want to waste money either wait for new parts to upgrade or go burn your money in front of underprivileged children. Either one would be TONS smarter than spending that much money on a gaming PC.

Jesus man, this comment clearly demonstrates ignorance without willing to support. If you don't have anything positive to say its best not to say anything at all, get it?. Check what you have typed before hitting that submit button.

For the TC, if money is REALLY no obstruction, just wait for the Geforce GT200's (260 and 280). Both easily beat the 9800GTX or GX2.

Furthermore, if you like, you can get the DDR3 4GB of RAM and maybe have a little left for a QX9650. But its up to you.

Edit...woah, didn't know you could edit now! :D

@jasper051992

I think Penguin has a valid point.

@skulper

Some advice, dont put those two SATA disks in raid. A clan mate of mine bought a similar rig and is mostly looking at BSODs. Current Nvidia mobo chipsets are crap. And they also tend to dislike 2x2G ram setups.

This is silly.If somebody is saying that money is no object than just tell them what is the best and there is no need to get all over your ass trying to tell somebody to spend more on charity.:|

Seriously you have no idea about the financial position of the TC,maybe a few grand is just spare change for him,you know there are many people in the world for whom a few thousand dollars is indeed spare change.Shocking I know but true.

@jasper051992

I think Penguin has a valid point.

@skulper

Some advice, dont put those two SATA disks in raid. A clan mate of mine bought a similar rig and is mostly looking at BSODs. Current Nvidia mobo chipsets are crap. And they also tend to dislike 2x2G ram setups.

Hastur

Nonsense, tell them to update their chipset drivers. Raid 0 increases performance and is perfectly fine if set up properly. I would advise the OS to be installed on a HD not in raid such as a Raptor 10K or 15K RPM.

As for the 2X2G thats nonsense as well. I run 4 2Gig sticks on a 780i Motherboard. Most people lack the intelligence to check RAM compatibility before purchasing RAM for their motherboard. Not all RAM sticks are compatible with every motherboard.

As for Nvidia chipsets being crap? You have no idea what you're talking about. Guess which chipset boards currently hold the top performance and OCing records? Nvidia does.

DO yourself a huge favor and wait for the next line of video cards.McJugga

Or..

If you don't want to wait, buy EVGA cards and use the 90 day step up program to upgrade your cards when the new ones come out. They are rumored to be released in July. Either way if you do wait, someone will tell you to wait for the next line of cards in July as well.

[QUOTE="McJugga"]DO yourself a huge favor and wait for the next line of video cards.Gaxan

Or..

If you don't want to wait, buy EVGA cards and use the 90 day step up program to upgrade your cards when the new ones come out. They are rumored to be released in July. Either way if you do wait, someone will tell you to wait for the next line of cards in July as well.

Heh, thats one of the reasons i don't wait because if someone tells you to wait for the next line of somthing, it comes out, and they want you to wait for somthing new again. Its a endless cycle lol.

Honestly 8 gigs of ram???

This rig is a major overkill

dont go with gx2
just get 3 9800gtx its cheaper and better

2x 500GB SATA II 32MB Cache

2x BFG 9800GX2 1GB

Sony Blueray DVD ROM

X-Fi Fatality Championship

Silverstone 1000Watt 12v Power supply

4x Gskill 2GB DDR2 800 (8GB RAM Total)

XFX MB-N780-ISH9 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI Intel Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 York field 3.0Ghz 12MB Cache

Total is about $3500 buying the stuff from newegg.

Question though the motherboard says it has 3 way SLi could i get 3 9800GX2 and SLi them? if so ill get 3 9800gx2's

skulper34

Honestly 8 gigs of ram???

This rig is a major overkill

cloud8900

Or maybe the guy actually HAS the money and is seriously willing to purchase it?jasper061992

We are not disputing that....we are just saying its a waste!

don't bother with three 9800gx2s, no point

get a good case and premium cooling, maybe liquid,

howabout 4gb DDR3 insead then add more if you need it

If you've got the money why not splash out on some samssung or OCZ solid state hard drives and RAID 0 them, no seek time and virtually instant read/write

Skulltrail is a waste of time at the moment, just check this review out

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-skulltrail-part-3,1770-25.html

i also think this guys is bsing, and we are wasting time with him, hes just dreaming of having a pc like this,Riki101

I could afford a to spend $4,000 on a PC but i would rather keep $2000 and go for a cheaper alternative. spending $4,000 on a pc is a huge waste of money. Around $2,000-$2500 will get you top of the line and anything more then that is huge overkill.

So this guy either has so much money that $4,000 means nothing to him or he is just dreaming and doesn't understand how hard most people have to work to make $4,000.

The 9800gx2 only has 1 sli connector, so you can only use 2 of those cards. Also if you MUST spend that much on a computer and want an SLI setup get a 790i board and some high end DDR3. Oh you also might want to pick a couple of 150gb raptor drives and run em in raid 0.

andyroo08

Seagate Barracudas are just as fast as the WD Raptors. But yeah I agree for a 4k rig you better have DDR3 and a 790i nForce board.

I could afford a to spend $4,000 on a PC but i would rather keep $2000 and go for a cheaper alternative. mattisgod01

The PC in my sig cost $1200 building it myself.