car design and gamer PC for $2000?

[F3T0]

hey, this is my first post so i'll start off with "Hi" , next, i'm currently living in Akihabara (Tokyo, Japan) and i need to but myself a good PC because i'm studying vehicle design (mainly cars) with honda, and as such i use a few demanding graphics programs to calculate areodynamics as well as design the damn things. however i was at a friends house the other week and had a shot of both S.T.A.L.K.E.R and F.E.A.R, and since then i really want to kill things. so my question is this:

if you were in a massive electronics district with $2000 to spend on building a PC good for my line of work as well as gaming. what would you buy?

i've looked around these forums and i think that possibly some form of a core2 duo processor would be good as it can multi task better, 2gb or DDR2 ram, SATA HD of some sort (200GB?), DVD RW... i've been reading a lot about SLI and i think that it's worth investing in so possibly a set 320MB GEFORCE 8800GTS in SLI or just one 768MB GEFORCE 8800GTX for now and then i'll wait untill i can get another one....that may be overkill tho. i'm not sure....at all. also, i have absolutely no idea of what motherboard to get that will work well with what i want.

so please, any help or ideas is very welcome.

[jer888]

Originally Posted by F3T0 i've been reading a lot about SLI and i think that it's worth investing in so possibly a set 320MB GEFORCE 8800GTS in SLI or just one 768MB GEFORCE 8800GTX for now and then i'll wait untill i can get another one....that may be overkill tho. i'm not sure....at all. also, i have absolutely no idea of what motherboard to get that will work well with what i want. so please, any help or ideas is very welcome.

Sli is not recommended because it is only for people that have alot of money to blow and don't mind spending a bunch of money for a slight performance increase. Its better to buy one top of the line card, and then when the next gen of cards come out, your two cards arnt being beaten by one card. So buy the best you can now, then upgrade as needed. Only do SLi if you have alot of money and need the best performance possible. Plus, ONE 8800 GTX or GTS will run any game out there on high settings

[F3T0]

ok, thanks for that. so that means that there are more motherboards compatible with what i want, and that does save me money, and i'm 18 so i don't have money to burn.

[jer888]

well heres a start:

You may want to wait for the price drop for the core 2 duo's:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor = $313.00

Motheboard: ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard = $145.99

You didn't say anything about overclocking, so this should be fine:

Memory: CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory = $134.99

You COULD get a placeholder to wait until more DX10 cards come out, and the prices drop but it sounds like you need this for your work now and want to game so here she is:

Video Card: EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card = $539.99 After Rebate

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive = $79.99

Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick = $149.99 After Rebate

Optical Drive: LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner = $39.99

Display is more your choice, heres a suggestion though:

Moniter: SAMSUNG 225BW Black 22" 5 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor with Height Adjustments 280 cd/m2 700:1 = $319.99

The case is again up to you, heres a suggestion:

Antec Performance One P180B = $79.99 After Rebate

(you may be lucky enough to get a P182)

Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers all up to you

[glc]

If you are doing 3D design, you are better off with an ATI card. Nvidias are biased toward gaming.

[F3T0]

ok, so if i were to use all the above parts but replace the 8800GTX with a X1950XTX, and run it all on XP beacause Vista seems to be a bit of a hit and miss at the mo, would i have an ass whoopin' machine? bearing in in mind that i think i'll upgrade constantly over time but i don't want to have to buy everything over again, will the p5b (which everyone seems to be using) and the p965 chipset be a good base? also i've seen that a pentium D 945 (3.4GHz x2) is slightly cheaper yet faster than the Core2 Duo E6600 (2.4GHz x2) ... which one is better?

otherwise, although this is my first build and i am 110% n00b i'd like to get the most out of my system (but not burn it out) so i might do a slight overclocking at a later stage.

thanks for the help.

[F3T0]

also, $2000 could become $2500, but only if it's absolutely worth it because i would have to feed on nothing but rice for a month.

[dogdude16]

a core2duo is better than a Pentium D. Intel has discontinued making Pentiums and the ghz does not exactly say how fast or efficient a cpu is. The core2duo jer888 recommend is fine.

[Mr.Ferrari]

The Core 2 Duo "uArch" architecture can accomplish much more per clock cycle then a Pentium D can. Just a more efficient design...kinda like a honda :P.

Raw GHZ doesn't mean poop nowadays.

[F3T0]

mwahahaha, i see we have a Honda fan here! good stuff! if all goes well you'll be buying my designs in a few years. and whilst driving your bitchin' honda you can proudly claim that you helped it's designer with building the PC used to design it.

anyhoo, i think i have a good idea of what i'll be going for. i'll post a detailed list here once it's finished and ready to be certified (by the good people of this forum) as my "shopping list".

chotto mate kudasai so****e, domo arigato minasan.

[F3T0]

lol, the forum has blocked my japanese!

[F3T0]

ITEM BRAND/MODEL SUPPLIER PRICE / FRT

Case: not sure, some sort of "performance" case with fans 'n' all = +-$80

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply 100 - 240 V = $169.99

Mobo: ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard = $145.99

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor = $313.00

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10, 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive = $150-ish

RAM: Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) = $119.99

Pri Optical: LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R (and 1000000 other things) 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner = $39.99

Sec Optical: BD Drive when they'll be nice and cheap...willing to wait 3 years.

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card = $74.99

Video Card:

FDD: why would i need a floppy drive? is there any use for them anymore?

Keyboard: i'll use my cheap DeLL thing for now.

Mouse: i have an optical USB mouse already.

Modem: i'm using broadband.

Lan: whatever works. any recommendations?

Monitor: SAMSUNG 225BW Black 22" 5 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor with Height Adjustments 280 cd/m2 700:1 = $319.99

Speakers: any you would recommend...keeping within my budget.

OS: good ol' Win XP with SP2.

Extras: maby some extra fans to be safe...otherwise that's it.

[F3T0]

i've left the video card blank because i am not sure... i'm told that ATI is better for graphics but they don't have a 8800GTS/GTX equivalent out as of yet....and don't feel like forking out $500+ for something that is going to have it's price cut in a few months.

[freakitchen]

F3T0 - please use the EDIT button on your posts if you have something to add after you submit one. Thanks.

Your parts list is a good one. The only thing there that I'd change is to swap the Kingston RAM for Corsair - which is consistently high quality. Go for 2x1GB of Corsair Value Select DDR2-667, if you're not planning on overclocking this system.

[glc]

FK, we are looking at a 3D design box, hence my ATI recommendation. A good ATI placeholder would be a X1650 Pro or XT.

[freakitchen]

Ah, missed that one, thanks. Edited my post accordingly

[F3T0]

ok, crosair it is then. i'll also take your advice for the ATI card and go for a X1650 of some sort.

as for overclocking, i've never tryed it before but i do want to get the most power out of the money i'm spending so i'm sure that i'll try at some point. having said that, would i be better off with 800Mhz RAM? the case i think i will go for has plenty of cooling so heat build up is not likely to be a problem and as such neither would overclocking.

thanks for all the advice, and sorry about the sequential posting, my bad.

[glc]

Overclocking a production workstation is not wise, you are risking stability and data corruption. Buy the speed you need to begin with.

[jer888]

any reason you need that extra sound card? unless you are a EXTREME audiophile, or are planning some extreme 7.1 surround sound for your computer, you should be fine with the onboard audio. You might as well at least just try the onboard audio, and if your fine with it, then thats money saved towards an upgrade

[F3T0]

i just thoiught that it would be nice, but i get where you are coming from, it's not needed.

however i have come accross a slight dilema whilst shopping for my parts; i can buy my E6600 processor and P5B-E motherboard and 2Gb corsair RAM (800MHz ones) seperately at a higher cost (83,646 JPY) or get a package at a lower cost but i'm unsure if the packages are any good. they are as follows:

1) Intel Core 2 DUO LGA775 E6600 2.40GHz Retail / Asus P5B / 2GB GeIL PC2-6400C4 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit @ 76,748 JPY.

2)Intel Core 2 DUO LGA775 E6600 2.40GHz Retail / DFI 975X / 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit @ 82,505 JPY.

3)Intel Core 2 DUO LGA775 E6600 2.40GHz Retail / Gigabyte 965P DS3 / 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit @ 83,408 JPY.

4)Intel Core 2 DUO LGA775 E6600 2.40GHz Retail / Intel 965P LT Motherboard / 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C5 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit @ 80,180 JPY.

and these 2 are a bit more expensive but i think that the parts may be better, feel free to prove me wrong:

5) Intel Core 2 DUO LGA775 E6600 2.40GHz Retail / Asus P5B Deluxe / 2GB GeIL PC2-6400C4 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit @ 84,584 JPY.

6) Intel Core 2 DUO LGA775 E6600 2.40GHz Retail / MSI 975X PowerUP Edition / 2GB Corsair PC2-6400C4 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit @ 91,744 JPY.

so...what should i do? go for one of the above or stick to the P5B-E ? i'm all ears.

Thanks.

[glc]

The package with the DP965LT looks good to me - it can NOT be overclocked though. Motherboards do not get any more stable than that.

[F3T0]

alright, i will go for that. i'm now redy to build my pc, thanks a lot for all the help. i'll undoubtably be posting about some sort of BIOS buggery in the very near future, but untill then, i leave thee be.

O.T: glc, does your screen name stand for the "GLC", as in Goldie lookin' chain? or am i mistaken?