Ideal AH machine for around $1500

[iTunes]

Hey guys
Anyone know if I can buy the above off the shelf? or would I have to find someone to build it? Looking at buying something that would be good for AH in that sort of price range.

[BaldEagl]

Sure you can buy one for that price but you'll get a lot more machine for the money building it.  Building is easy.

[iTunes]

Sure you can buy one for that price but you'll get a lot more machine for the money building it.  Building is easy.

If you know of any reputable builders then I'd be happy to place my business with them, Wouldn't know where to even start on building!

[Getback]

If you know of any reputable builders then I'd be happy to place my business with them, Wouldn't know where to even start on building!

I would just check your local shops if you want them to build one. Someone, I think mia had a very nice one built for around $1900. However, like Baldegle said, you build a super computer for around $1500 if you do it yourself.

[The Fugitive]

Check out Llama's site. Some people were impressed with the computer he brought to the AH Con http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,250773.0.html

[BaldEagl]

Here.  I put this together a couple of weeks ago.  I'm going to recommend this to my brother at Thanksgiving because he's looking at a new machine.  This is a little over your budget but it includes a monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse.  It will at least give you an idea what you can get in your price range:

 
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[llama]

Check out Llama's site. Some people were impressed with the computer he brought to the AH Con http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,250773.0.html

Thanks, Fug. Salute!

As it happens, with parts and labor, the system I built out comes pretty darn close to the $1500 limit. Actually, it's a little under.

-Llama

[TilDeath]

I built the following box for a friend and I know how this system operates.  The build parts were re comended by Brian Yuhas (ranked 53 in the world in OCing).  Tons of potential for OCing or years of AHII with no problems.  All the parts are from top manufactures and know in the industry.  The motherboard is expandable, meaning if you should go TRI SLI you have 3 PCI 2.0 slots not just one no to mention a FSB or native 2000 (depends on memory).  NZXT has the quality, fit an finish of a Lian Li case without the cost (I own this case) the E8600 world renown for OCing ability, Mushkin memory is a leader in the OCing world, Tagan power supplies are used in very high end machine builds consistently,  eVGA currently the world record holding video card for frame rates in 3DMARK06 and Vantage,  I am sure you herd of WD this is a 32MB cache hard drive.


The following system will scream fast.  Not hic cup at the furball of 50 persons all seetings to max in the game and still keep 60FPS.

NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower (110.00)

EVGA 132-YW-E180-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard 8 Phase Digital PWM, 100% Solid State Caps, VDroop Control  (330.00)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Wolfdale 3.33GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor (270.00)

Mushkin XP 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 99165 (130.00)

ABS Tagan BZ Series BZ900 900W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Patent Piperock Modular Power Supply (180.00)

EVGA 896-P3-1260-AR GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card (270.00)

Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (130.00)

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model iHAS220-08 (30.00)

1450.00 Total and I do giggle at newegg pricing


Optional Fan instead of the Stock fan

OCZ OCZTVEND2 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler (50.00)

1500.00 at Newegg.  I can beat the Newegg pricing but not quoting since pricing changes daily

I would get a Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse locally.  If you happen to have a microcenter local this weekend they will have monitors on sale 22" LCDs for 99.00 on up

[Max]

Wouldn't know where to even start on building!

iTunes if you've ever swapped out a vid card or memory stick, you can build a computer. It's so easy even I tackled it. A Phillips head screwdriver and 4-5 hrs is all it takes.

[OOZ662]

Less than an hour if you've ready up on it, not including the "sit and stare at the monitor while Windows installs" sort of time.

I've been looking at iBuyPower recently...their computers are currently cheaper than I could get the equivalent parts at Newegg and they don't force you to buy an OS. There's an option to receive a preformatted drive only.

[TilDeath]

Less than an hour if you've ready up on it, not including the "sit and stare at the monitor while Windows installs" sort of time.

I've been looking at iBuyPower recently...their computers are currently cheaper than I could get the equivalent parts at Newegg and they don't force you to buy an OS. There's an option to receive a preformatted drive only.

iBuypower is a good site, but I can still beat their prices, also if you do any upgrades to the basic box thats where they will get ya.

[Pudgie]

Tildeath,

Since I see that you have used a mobo based on a Nvidia chipset instead of an Intel chipset in your recommended $1500 AHII-capable (& future expandable) box, you got my curiousity going as to why Nvidia over Intel in this regard, notwithstanding the obvious SLI capabilities?

Are Nvidia-chipset equipped mobos the best way to go for general/high-end gaming boxes?

I ask this due to reading your posts you seem to have technical knowledge of the products & give well informed answers-I appreciate this. I'm also trying to plan my next upgrade path & this is a good question to answer.

Sorry if my post is hijacking this thread-I tried to stay relative to the subject.

  

[TilDeath]

Tildeath,

Since I see that you have used a mobo based on a Nvidia chipset instead of an Intel chipset in your recommended $1500 AHII-capable (& future expandable) box, you got my curiousity going as to why Nvidia over Intel in this regard, notwithstanding the obvious SLI capabilities?

Are Nvidia-chipset equipped mobos the best way to go for general/high-end gaming boxes?

I ask this due to reading your posts you seem to have technical knowledge of the products & give well informed answers-I appreciate this. I'm also trying to plan my next upgrade path & this is a good question to answer.

Sorry if my post is hijacking this thread-I tried to stay relative to the subject.

  

Thanks for the nice comment.  Well the answer for me is simple.  We compete in Overclocking competitions, own a component review site and sales in addition a store and sell mid to extremely high end machines and have been building for about 27 years.  The reason I choose nVidia over Intel is simple, for the OC stability.  And since this is what I am most familiar with this is what I recommend and build and spec out.  I know what processors work better with which motherboards, the memory and video cards, for instance a Q6600 (G0) on a 790i board you can usually get a good and stable 4.2x gh out of it with Mushkin or OCZ memory for a 24/7 box (with proper cooling).  The same processor on a 680i board we have only been able to get a stable 3.76gh same parts other then the motherboard. 

Also the bios seem on the Intel chipsets seem to be a lil quirky (again to me).  When your pushing a 2.6 or 3.0 stock to around 20 you kinda look at things in a different way.  One other thing guys tend to overlook which is about the most important component in a system build is the Power Supply.  Some here believe in a single 12v rail.  I prefer multiple rails.  Simply put when you spread the output voltage across more then one rail, there is less "noise" meaning constant power not hard low or high peaks.  Every world record OCing a rig is on a multi rail PSU.  But we all have our own beliefs and thoughts, it is what makes us each unique.

[Pudgie]

Thanks for the reply!

Good info to know.