I mailed an order and payment today for my new AVA Direct computer My current computer is a P4 3.0GHz Dell XPS (first gen), and even though I've upgraded it to 2GB RAM and a Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3850 512MB AGP video card, the new Age of Conan MMORPG is bringing it to it's knees. I was hoping to wait until the new video cards were released, but can't take the low framerates any more, hehe. I'd like to thank Joe Mundy at AVA for working with me on putting together this configuration.
Joe has said they should be able to hit a 3.6GHz overclock in this system, so I'm hoping for that I was originally going to get the Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, but Joe said they were only getting about 3.2GHz overclocks with a Q9450 on it, and suggested the eVGA 750i SLI FTW motherboard instead. I checked out three reviews for that motherboard, and all of them were good, and said the board was a great overclocker, so I decided to go with it.
The ThermalRight heatsink and Scythe S-Flex fan are the best cooling combo for air.
I will be replacing the 8800 GTS video card with a next gen card after they come out, but because I game on a 24" monitor at 1920 x 1200, I needed a current card to support that. If I end up going with a new nVidia card, I'll be able to use BFG Tech's Step-Up program.
I realize that I don't currently need 8GB RAM for gaming, but I plan on keeping this computer for five years (and AVA was having a sale on the extra 4GB <g>). When I purchased my Dell in 2003, it came with 1GB, which was a lot at the time. These days, 1GB barely runs the Windows Vista O/S. So the 8GB is for the future. I bet Windows 7 wants even more RAM than Windows Vista.
The Western Digital hard drives are the new, fast, 320GB platter drives. First drive for the O/S, page file and some data files. Second drive for games, graphics, music and video files.
The Samsung DVD burner is quieter than a Lite-On.
I really love the looks of the Antec P182 case, and it's great for cooling and low noise, especially by replacing the Antec fans with Yate-Loon fans.
Because I'll be overclocking with four sticks of RAM, I wanted to make sure I'd have enough power, and since you can't have TOO much power in a computer system, I went with the 1000W Corsair power supply. I know I'll never have to replace the PSU no matter what I add to the computer
I have a Logitech G15 keyboard that I'll move from my Dell to the new computer, and I ordered the Logitech X-540 5.1 speaker system, on sale at amazon.com.
GAMING PC, Core 2 SLI DDR2 Gaming System $2704.19
I'll update this thread as things progress. I should hear from Joe at AVA once my payment arrives, as to an estimated build and testing time frame.
Joe has said they should be able to hit a 3.6GHz overclock in this system, so I'm hoping for that I was originally going to get the Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, but Joe said they were only getting about 3.2GHz overclocks with a Q9450 on it, and suggested the eVGA 750i SLI FTW motherboard instead. I checked out three reviews for that motherboard, and all of them were good, and said the board was a great overclocker, so I decided to go with it.
The ThermalRight heatsink and Scythe S-Flex fan are the best cooling combo for air.
I will be replacing the 8800 GTS video card with a next gen card after they come out, but because I game on a 24" monitor at 1920 x 1200, I needed a current card to support that. If I end up going with a new nVidia card, I'll be able to use BFG Tech's Step-Up program.
I realize that I don't currently need 8GB RAM for gaming, but I plan on keeping this computer for five years (and AVA was having a sale on the extra 4GB <g>). When I purchased my Dell in 2003, it came with 1GB, which was a lot at the time. These days, 1GB barely runs the Windows Vista O/S. So the 8GB is for the future. I bet Windows 7 wants even more RAM than Windows Vista.
The Western Digital hard drives are the new, fast, 320GB platter drives. First drive for the O/S, page file and some data files. Second drive for games, graphics, music and video files.
The Samsung DVD burner is quieter than a Lite-On.
I really love the looks of the Antec P182 case, and it's great for cooling and low noise, especially by replacing the Antec fans with Yate-Loon fans.
Because I'll be overclocking with four sticks of RAM, I wanted to make sure I'd have enough power, and since you can't have TOO much power in a computer system, I went with the 1000W Corsair power supply. I know I'll never have to replace the PSU no matter what I add to the computer
I have a Logitech G15 keyboard that I'll move from my Dell to the new computer, and I ordered the Logitech X-540 5.1 speaker system, on sale at amazon.com.
GAMING PC, Core 2 SLI DDR2 Gaming System $2704.19
- INTEL, Core 2 Quad Q9450 Quad-Core 2.66GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 12MB (2 x 6MB) L2 Cache, 45nm, 95W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail
- THERMALRIGHT, Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU Heatsink, Socket 775/AM2, Aluminum
- SCYTHE, S-FLEX 120mm 1600 rpm Quiet Fan - Sleeved, for heatsink
- ARCTIC COOLING, MX-2 High-Performance Thermal Compound, Non-Electrical Conductive
- SERVICE, CPU Overclocking
- eVGA, nForce 750i SLI FTW, LGA775, nForce 750i SLI, 1333MHz FSB, DDR2-1066 8GB /4, PCIe x16 SLI, SATA 3.0 Gbit/s RAID 10 /4, HDA, GbLAN, FW /2, ATX, Retail
- OCZ, 8GB (4 x 2GB) Reaper HPC Edition PC2-8500 DDR2 1066MHz CL 5-5-5-18 2.1-2.3V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
- eVGA, e-GeForce 8800 GTS 670MHz, 512MB DDR3 1940MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, 2x DVI, HDTV/S-Video/Composite Out, Retail
- SERVICE, No GPU Overclocking
- WESTERN DIGITAL, 320GB WD Caviar® SE16 (WD3200AAKS), SATA 300MB/s, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache
- WESTERN DIGITAL, 640GB WD Caviar® SE16 (WD6400AAKS), SATA 3.0 Gbit/s, 7200-RPM, 16MB cache
- RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives
- MITSUMI, Black Internal 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive
- SAMSUNG, Super-WriteMaster SH-S203N Black 20x DVD±R/RW Dual-Layer Burner w/ LightScribe, SATA, w/ Software, OEM
- ANTEC, Performance One P182 Black Mid-Tower Case, ATX, No PSU, Steel/Plastic
- CASE FAN, NON-LED, Fans Maximum Package, Low Noise
- SCYTHE, Kama-Meter Fan Control Panel, 4 Channels, 5.25" Bay, Silver/Black/White
- CUSTOM WIRING, Standard Wiring with Round Cables
- CORSAIR, CMPSU-1000HX HX Series Power Supply w/ Modularized Cable Management, 1000W, 80 PLUS®, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, Multi-GPU Ready
- MICROSOFT, Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit Edition w/ SP1, OEM
- SERVICE, OEM System Recovery (both secure HDD partition and bootable CD/DVD)
- SERVICE, System Binder
- LOGITECH, Office Pro Keyboard, Black, PS/2
- LOGITECH, MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse, USB, PS/2, Black
- GAMING PC, Gold Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts & Lifetime Labor Warranty, Express/Priority Service)
- SERVICE, Standard Shipping (UPS, DHL, or Fedex)
I'll update this thread as things progress. I should hear from Joe at AVA once my payment arrives, as to an estimated build and testing time frame.