Your dream system under $1000

**Bootsiuv** · 09-30-2007, 09:14

Hello fellow .orgers.

I've come here because I've begun the initial planning for the upcoming year of what I'm sure will be awesome PC games (As a PC GAMER subscriber, I'm feeling pretty good about PC gaming for 2008), and I have to decide if I should keep my current system and upgrade, or buy an all new rig.

I'm looking forward to playing games like Crysis and Hellgate: London, and I want a machine which is capable of doing it to at least a playable degree.

My only caveat....I only have access to $1000 for the upgrade or new rig.

My current rig is something of a joke between me and my friends. It's an E-Machines for one thing, which I've heard bad things about. I bought it in 2004 for $500 but have upgraded the Ram, video card, and sound card a few times already.

My latest acquisition is a VisionTek Radeon 1550X 256 MB video card. At $90, I think it was a great buy. Every game I own is now on high settings, but I'm sure the games of the future won't pan out the same way. As far as other important stats, it's a Celeron 2.7 GHZ with 768 MB of ram. Is the processor worth keeping for another year or two? Will a 512 MB video card and a gig of good ram allow me to play games like World in Conflict and Hellgate: London seamlessly? I've heard bad things about Celerons, so I thought I would ask the experts.

Anyways, my real question is as follows: If you had $1000 to build a "dream machine" (and I use that term loosely, as a real dream rig is $3000-7000 and I'm aware of that), what would you buy? Would you hang onto the Celeron 2.7 GHZ or does that lack the muscle to play the games of next year?

One last thing to remember though, is that a new computer will automatically give me Vista and DX10, whereas, if I keep my old rig, I'll be buying Vista the old fashioned way, and it isn't cheap. DX10 looks well worth it for a hardcore gamer like me though.

Sorry for the long-winded post.

Thanks for your time.

Bootsiuv

**Bootsiuv** · 09-30-2007, 10:51

After doing a little research, I think I'm just going to have to do away with the old....it's going on 3 1/2 years old, which is a good life for a computer methinks.

So, I'm thinking something like this....

Motherboard: EVGA 680i $205
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor (Is it really worth $100 to get the 3.0 GHz? I can probably overclock to 2.8 and play just about any game that will be out within the next year.)$175
Video Card: GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported HDCP Video Card $300
RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $105

That's roughly $800 right there. Should I look into an aftermarket cooling system, or will the processors own fans suffice. Remember that I plan on overclocking at least .5 GHz, so I assume at least a fan set-up will be required.

One last thing, what about a power supply. I can probably find a decent case (hopefully with fan controls) affordably enough, but I've never had to shop for a new power supply.

Thanks for your help.

Bootsiuv

EDIT: As far as sound cards go....I have a fairly new Creative Audigy which has sufficed for me so far (albeit, it is on the cheaper side of sound cards, I only bought it because GTA: San Andreas requires a sound card to run), and I'll likely recycle that one if I can, so I'm not including that. I will also be recycling the mouse, keyboard, game controller, joystick, and widescreen monitor, all of which are relatively new (less than a year, except for the joystick, but do any games actually even use a joystick anymore?)

**Xiahou** · 10-02-2007, 03:21

Sounds similar to my system that I built not too long ago- except I went for an AMD based system instead of Intel (to save more money).

You pick out a case yet? I went with the Antec Sonata2. The case itself is great, but out of an abundance of caution, I got a beefier power supply than it came with for it to feed my 8800 GPU. The case looks really nice though, and is extremely quiet.

For cooling, I'd say you're fine with stock until you decide to getting serious about overclocking.

**Evil_Maniac From Mars** · 10-02-2007, 03:51

Those seem to be all wise choices. For a case, I personally recommend the Apevia X-Plorer. It has a fan controller, room for one 120mm and four 80mm fans (you can get a six-pack of good Ultra 80mm fans for about thirty dollars), and good airflow. It's also quite a good deal for what you get. It doesn't come with a PSU - I'd recommend getting a better PSU than the sort that usually comes with the case anyways.

**Bootsiuv** · 10-02-2007, 04:34

Thanks for the input, guys....it is greatly appreciated.

As far as cases go, I have been browsing, and I do like the X-Plorer with it's built in fan controls, but that Sonata2 does look nice as well.

Originally Posted by Xiahou

For cooling, I'd say you're fine with stock until you decide to getting serious about overclocking.

Is it wise to overclock past .5 GHz? I always assumed it would generate too much heat, and I REALLY don't want to mess with water-cooling after spending this kind of money and doing something wrong and ending up with a very wet, very expensive paperweight. I'm interested in hearing your experiences with overclocking (my buddy overclocked my last system, and it overheated....I'm doing this one for the first time, but I won't be taking it lightly, and if I feel it's beyond me, I'll get it done by someone else).

I haven't really considered an AMD because I'm always confused as to what speed those things actually go at....the names are confusing for a faithful Intel user like myself.

**Lemur** · 10-02-2007, 06:39

As far as cases go, why not treat yourself to something nice?

-edit-

The kids at NewEgg, they can't get enough of it ...

**Whacker** · 10-02-2007, 16:59

Bootsiuv, two things never to skimp on. RAM, and a good PSU. There are many problems which are hard to diagnose which can often directly be traced back to a faulty or low quality PSU putting out bad power, or shoddy RAM. For your system that you've suggested, you're going to be looking at a 500-600 watt PSU to ensure enough power.

**Bootsiuv** · 10-02-2007, 18:14

Thanks for your help, folks....It is greatly appreciated. I'm considering going AMD for a change, but I'm really not sure what AMD makes that is comparable to the intel processor I've chosen.

Any thoughts? Is one superior over the other?