[vanny]

I am fairly educated in computers and love gaming! I was looking at the alienware area 51 alx for my next pc, but the $6000 price tag is not too appealling. I have talked to my friends and they instructed me to build my own. I want really top of the line, while being less than the alienware pc. What are the parts I will need and how to assemble this monster? Thanks a million, I need my gaming back!

[ColonelOne]

johnny, on 15 February 2010 - 11:47 PM, said:

I am fairly educated in computers and love gaming! I was looking at the alienware area 51 alx for my next pc, but the $6000 price tag is not too appealling. I have talked to my friends and they instructed me to build my own. I want really top of the line, while being less than the alienware pc. What are the parts I will need and how to assemble this monster? Thanks a million, I need my gaming back!

First thing you need to decide is whether you want an Intel processor or an AMD processor. AMD is faster and cheaper than Intel, but Intel is more reliable in the long run, although substantially more expensive. The top of the line Intel processor, core i7, runs just under $1000 while the top of the line AMD processor, Phenom ii x4 965, goes for about $200. I can help you from here if you decide what processor to run with.

For cases, I recommend Cooler Masters HAF922. It's big, well built, and comes loaded with 3 very large fans and room for all the hard drives and components that you could need.

[noop]

ColonelOne, on 16 February 2010 - 02:44 AM, said:

First thing you need to decide is whether you want an Intel processor or an AMD processor. AMD is faster and cheaper than Intel, but Intel is more reliable in the long run, although substantially more expensive. The top of the line Intel processor, core i7, runs just under $1000 while the top of the line AMD processor, Phenom ii x4 965, goes for about $200. I can help you from here if you decide what processor to run with.

For cases, I recommend Cooler Masters HAF922. It's big, well built, and comes loaded with 3 very large fans and room for all the hard drives and components that you could need.

False statement. Currently the fastest stock processor on the market is the core i7 extreme by Intel.

[vanny]

noop, on 16 February 2010 - 03:09 AM, said:

False statement. Currently the fastest stock processor on the market is the core i7 extreme by Intel.

But for the money, and the extreme gaming power, which is better?

[ColonelOne]

noop, on 16 February 2010 - 03:09 AM, said:

False statement. Currently the fastest stock processor on the market is the core i7 extreme by Intel.

Lol, semantics. Still good point, that's probably the one I was thinking about, the one that's $978?

Just checked, Intel core i7, 3.33GHz, AMD Phenom ii, 3.4 GHz

This post has been edited by ColonelOne: 16 February 2010 - 03:19 AM

[noop]

Ghz doesn't mean everything For the money, probably the AMD processor.

[vanny]

noop, on 16 February 2010 - 04:05 AM, said:

Ghz doesn't mean everything For the money, probably the AMD processor.

okay sounds good, even for a massive display of flight simulator on like 4 hd screens in full quality and all the junk that ususally bogs down even a regular alienware aurora alx?

[ColonelOne]

johnny, on 16 February 2010 - 04:30 AM, said:

okay sounds good, even for a massive display of flight simulator on like 4 hd screens in full quality and all the junk that ususally bogs down even a regular alienware aurora alx?

Well if you want we could try to find a way to run two processors in parallel....

[noop]

If you need absolute, max performance, and are willing to spend a little extra, you will want to go with a Core i7 processor. http://www.newegg.co...Core+i7&x=0&y=0

You will also need to buy multiple graphics cards and SLI/Crossfire them. May I ask how much you are willing to put into a pc? I could probably come up with a parts list if you would like.
noop

[ColonelOne]

noop, on 16 February 2010 - 05:19 AM, said:

If you need absolute, max performance, and are willing to spend a little extra, you will want to go with the Core i7 processor. http://www.newegg.co...Core+i7&x=0&y=0

You will also need to buy multiple graphics cards and SLI/Crossfire them. May I ask how much you are willing to put into a pc? I could probably come up with a parts list if you would like.
noop

Already started with an AMD one, though I bet yours will come out better. What do you think is the optimal amount of RAM for his uses?

[noop]

I wouldn't go with less than 4GB of RAM. I think 6-8GB would be best if you are going to be doing flight simulations. You need to check what type of RAM your board will support depending on which processor. When looking at RAM, keep latencies in mind.

[noop]

Here is a screenshot of the cart.



The harddrive is sort of small, 300GB, however it is 10k RPM, so it should be a bit faster than other drives. The other thing to note is that the graphics cards only support DirectX 10.1, not 11.

How does this look?
nooop

[ColonelOne]

Hey Noop, this is what I found, I went AMD over Intel, mainly to save money.

The case is Cooler Masters HAF922
The processor is the Phenom ii, 3.4GHz and overclockable
The motherboard is an ATX made by MSI
You'll likely want 8Gb of RAM, CORSAIR makes a good that can be overclocked if it needs to run faster.
Power supply is 1000W

For his uses I recommend two hard drives, one small and fast which would have your operating system and the second, larger, hard drive would house your games, user files and programs. This is a good idea because your operating system is what gets infected with virus's and trojans and all that slows down performance, with the OS installed on a single Hard Drive, if it gets infected the drive can be reformatted and the OS re-installed without losing any of your files. The drives I chose are a 1Tb Samsung and a 73.5Gb Fujitsu.

For a serious machine like yours, I recommend the optional 200mm side fan to help keep the components cool.

I'm still looking into video cards, I know that you'll likely need to get 2 video cards, as one video card sending HD video to 4 screens would cause an extremely noticeable lag during gameplay.

What do you have in the way of audio equipment that will be hooked up to the computer? Also, what do you need in terms of CD/DVD drives?

So far, before audio and video cards and CD drives, the total is $1082.92, which I don't think is that unreasonable.

This post has been edited by ColonelOne: 17 February 2010 - 05:03 AM

[noop]

ColonelOne, keep in mind he has flight simulator games which can take a pretty big dent out of hard drive space. It is a good idea to have a second larger drive for storage though.

Also, looks like I missed dvd/cd drive, good catch ColonelOne. Keep in mind the Intel processor can be overclocked as well if you are willing to spend a few more $$$.

[ColonelOne]

noop, on 17 February 2010 - 05:17 AM, said:

ColonelOne, keep in mind he has flight simulator games which can take a pretty big dent out of hard drive space. It is a good idea to have a second larger drive for storage though.

Also, looks like I missed dvd/cd drive, good catch ColonelOne. Keep in mind the Intel processor can be overclocked as well if you are willing to spend a few more $$$.

I figured having a smaller, but much faster, hard drive for the OS would really speed things up for him

[noop]

ColonelOne, on 17 February 2010 - 01:51 PM, said:

I figured having a smaller, but much faster, hard drive for the OS would really speed things up for him

True, but if he installs the game on the slower drive, it will bottleneck on that drive