Quote:
Originally Posted by Racerboy
I wouldn't wait. You can use your 'old' nVidia card for PhysX processing. That's what I plan on doing with my current GTX280.
Don't skimp on your parts! Shell out the money, it will be worth it (latest system I built was around $3000 - but it flies and I hate to wait on anything to load or crappy frame rates on high game settings). I've been building my own systems for over 15 years. There isn't one pre-built system that can compare to a custom built one. Period. You get what you want, not what some corporation was able to buy the cheapest for. The motherboard is the heart and soul of a system - get the best (I prefer Asus - currently their Crosshair III Formula as it is just awesome).
Processors - AMD or Intel? I prefer AMD. You have to be a serious hard-core gamer to realize the difference between the two. I prefer the underdog...plus they are WAY cheaper. I have an AMD 955 Black Edition quad-core oc'd to 3.8GHz and it's stable (with a Zalman cooling it of course). You just can't go wrong with AMD. Picked up the X4 955 BE for $225 on NewEgg.com.
Case - Antec 1200. It'll keep things nice and cool and plenty of room for expansion (and GTX280 size video cards fit with no problem and room to spare)
Power Supply - Galaxy Evo 1.2kW. Has enough room to expand your system for many years and it's modular.
CPU Coolers - Zalman. The only way to go if you're going to oc.
Memory - OCZ. Never had a problem with them.
Video Card - BFGTech nVidia GTX___. They give lifetime warranty on their video cards and I've never had a problem with them.
Case Fans - replace your stock case fans with good quality aftermarket ones. Look for ones with the 4 pole plug so you can monitor speed and PWM them for speed control (power savings and heat control).
Hard Drives - WD VelociRaptors. If you like speed and hate waiting for things to load you'll love these. Put them in a RAID 0 and you'll wonder why you didn't do it before (my system is backed up by a custom-built server running Windows Home Server so I'm safe to use RAID 0).
My .02 worth.
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Unfortunately I am one of the people who ended up with a bogus GTX280 but it only became apparent about a month ago. I can use it for older games and regular stuff like web surfing but it chokes on games like Crysis or Far Cry 2.
It's the only card I have and I don't want to bother with sending it back to BFG for a replacement (I use my home PC for work). It also doesn't make sense to replace it by buying a new card because as soon as Fermi is released, those prices will all drop and many of the 200 series cards are being phased out.
Fermi will be out sometime in the next few months (maybe January) so I am willing to limp along until then.