I Plan On Building My New Machine Soon i Just Joined The U.S.A.F And My First Paycheck Will Be The Start, No Intel Fanboy Knocks Or Jokes Please. After The Unfortunate Event That I Was Forced To Sell My Last $2800.00 Gaming Machine Due To A Failed Video-Card I Did Not Have The $$ Nor Job To Replace. (Shipping Has Been Added To The Total Rounded Up To The Nearest Dollar)


Hardware As Follows:
GIGABYTE GA­MA770­S3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard ­ Retail =
$91.00


AMD Opteron 1220 Santa Ana 2.8GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 103W Dual­Core
Processor – Retail = $160.00

Thermaltake CL­P0401 110mm Full­Range Fan CPU Cooler ­ Retail = $67.00

Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240­Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1150 (PC2 9200)
Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory – Retail (2­Kits) = $202.00

SUPER TALENT FSD8GC25M 2.5" 8GB SATA Internal Solid state disk (SSD) – Retail =
$256.00

Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard
Drive – OEM (2 Drives) = $340.00

Pioneer Beige 8X DVD+R 4X DVD+RW 2.4X DVD+R DL 8X DVD­R 4X DVD­RW 8X DVD­
ROM 24X CD­R 24X CD­RW 24X CD­ROM 4MB Cache SATA 4X Blu­ray DVD Burner – OEM
= $458.00

ZOTAC ZT­88XE760­FPP GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384­bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI
Supported Video Card ­ Retail = $408.00

Creative Sound Blaster X­Fi Xtreme Audio VARPAK 7.1 Channels 24­bit 96KHz PCI Express
Interface Sound Card – OEM = $57.00

TRITTON AX360 Coaxial & Fiber Optic Connector Circumaural True 5.1 Digital Audio
Gaming Headphones = $109.00

PC Power & Cooling S75QB EPS12V 750W Power Supply 100 ­ 240 V UL, ULC, CE, CB, RoHS –
Retail = $170.00

Highly Modded And Custom Painted Mac G5 Case

20" - 28" LCD Monitor (8-Bit Panel)

Total Hardware Price (Before Monitor And Case) = $2658.00
Maximum Spending (Hardware, Case And Monitor) = $3500.00
Case Allowance = $140.00
Monitor Allowance = $702.00

I wont comment on the AMD side as im not to knowledgable about them compared to intel.

Raptor is prolly not worth it considering you want it for gaming youll want more space not speed off the drive. Seagate 400-500gb or WD same size for best $$/Gb

8800GTX is a waste of money... the new 8800GTS 512mb go close to it if not out do it in some cases for heap less money.

Dont know much about those headphones but if always not likey the idea of 5.1 in headphones. If you have the room your best with something like Z-5500's Logitech surrounds... if you want headphones id look at some nice Sennheisers HD555's or higher.

How the hell did you manage get a machine spec'd like that to 2600 dollars? It seems like you're just choosing parts based on hype rather than function and necessity.

I just noticed also... RAM is overkill 800mhz stuff will be fine

and an 8gb solid state disk? why?

wow doggie.

I just looked at the parts. Blu Ray? 8GB SSD ? 2 Raptors ? 750w PSU?

But only 2GB of RAM. Midrange AMD CPU.


There is something wrong with the priorities of the build. Blu Ray is nice, but the price is still bleeding edge. So is the SSD. 2 Raptors, why?

And why skimp on the RAM and CPU?

What is the purpose of this machine and why the parts?


Oh, and why a sound card? Have you tried onboard sound? If you are going to use this unit in your barracks I doubt you are going to have room for a big arse monitor and lots of speakers.

Can I ask... why not Intel?

First Off, The S.S.D. Is For Quick Booting And O.S. Access (Will Be Running Windows For Gaming Only And Linux For Everything Else) I Want Alot Of Speed Vs. Alot Of Storage Because I Want Game Levels To Load In A Snap And Besides W.o.W. (The Only Non-F.P.S. Title I Play) I Only Finish One F.P.S. At A Time, And Only About Two Others Do I Actually Play On-Line (Deathmatch Etc.) Thus I Will Not Need More Space Than I Have Alloted, And If You Read It Right Its Actually 4GB Of RAM (2 Kits Of 2GB) And The RAM Speed Is A "Why The Hell Not?... As Low As Memory Prices Are At The Moment" Thing, As For The CPU Im Die-Hard AMD (Quote: "Intel May Be Faster But AMD Is Plenty Fast Enough" ) And That Particular CPU Is Known To OC Into The 3.4 - 3.6GHz Range On Air And The Phenom Bug Just Ruins It On The Quad-Core Side (Phenom) Until The L3 Bug Is Fixed (Witch May Happen Before I Even Build The Machine) And The Blue-Ray Is Mostly For Backup (With The Exception Of The Occasional Movie At My Desk), I Find Optical Disks More Versitile, Tougher And Less Likely To Be Stolen Than An External Hard Drive. As For The Video-Card It Was Simply A Good Deal.

The computer will be great, though not as good as if you went Intel. But, I understand biases, I actually prefer AMD too. But, otherwise it will be screaming along (even with the AMD). I am interested how exactly you will be using the SSD drive? Are you going to install the OS there?

Let us know how the thing performs, some benchmarks etc...

Well if buying immature or superfluous technology is your style, go ahead.

No disrespect intended and nothing personal.....but I gotta say it:

Why the hell are you capitalizing every single word? God damn thats about as irritating as those people who capitalize every other letter....

Also, if you cannot afford to replace things like video cards and this is your first pay check wouldn't it make sense to perhaps save some of that money in stead of blowing it on computers? If you absolutely must have a computer get something cheaper:

For example, ditch the Blu-ray...it is completely unnecessary. You state that you go with smaller hard drives (the raptors) because you do not need much space, and then you try to justify the Blu-ray drive for data back-up! This simply does not make sense!

That graphics card is absolutely not a good deal! I got a Sapphire HD 3870 for $189.00 from newegg, which is a better card! For the price of that card you have selected you could get two 3870s and put them in crossfire (provided you had the right motherboard). That would be a way better graphics solution.

I suggest you go back and do some more research. I also encourage you to reconsider your stance on AMD and Intel. Both produce some good processors, but there is no reason to be devoted to one company over the other, what have they done for you?

Objective fact: Intel has the best processors available in the market regardless of whether your considering the low end (core 2 duo), high end (core 2 extreme), or price for performance (e8500/q6600).

Good luck

Also, with regards to your signature....4 x 512 is approximately 2 GB not 1 GB

On a scale of 1-10, performance-wise, a 7.
Same scale, practicality/rationality, it's a -3.
-Ditch Blu-Ray.
-Drop the Raptors for Seagate 7200.11 hard drives. Just as fast, and more capacity if you ever want it, and about the same price.
-Ditch the 8800GTX. Figure out how big a monitor you want, and get a graphics card accordingly. 22 inch or under, go with an 8800GT. Over that, I'd look towards the 3870X2.
-AMD??? Why??? If you're spending that kind of money, get a good heatsink (like a Tuniq Tower or Thermalright Ultra 120, not a Thermaltake V1) and a Q6600 and overclock it.
-If you go Intel, get a motherboard depending on what you're gonna be doing in the long run. If you get an Nvidia card and are considering SLI in the future, get a 680i/780i chipset board. If you're not going SLI, look at an Intel P35 board. For Crossfire, I'm pretty sure the X38/X48 chipsets are still the best.
-For RAM, get some decent DDR2 800 or 1066 RAM. You won't need higher speeds than that.

And most importantly...
-If you didn't have the money to fix your last computer when something bad happened, you might want to save some of your money in case you have other expenses that come up.

Yeah The Sig Is A Typo (The 256x4), Yes The OS(s) Are Going On The SSD
4GB For A Minimal Install Of Windows XP x64 Edition, And The Other 3GB Or So For The Linux Boot And Swap Partitions, Blu-Ray Is For Backup Of Important Stuff Witch I DO NOT WANT TO KEEP ON A HARD DISK DRIVE, EXTERNAL OR INTERNAL! And As Said Before The Occasional Movie At My Desk, The Raptors Are Faster Simply Put And Because I Can!, As With The Video Card... Point 1:I Dont Like ATI's Drivers. Point 2:Im Going With Maximum PC On The Video-Card "Go With The Fastest SINGLE Card You Can Afford" Ive Read Them For Years There Advice Is Logical Listen To The Podcast On Occasion They Explain Why To Avoid Multiple Cards For The User That Dosent Have A 30" Panel, I Dont Like Intel Chips, Had A Few They All Ran Like Ass And Got Too Hot, The First REAL Machine I Had Was An AMD, Stuck Withem Ever Since. The RAM Is For Overclocking Witch I Plan To Do, However I May Take Yalls Advice On The RAM And Go For A Sloer RAM But If I Do That Im Going With Some CAS3 DDR2-1000, And I Want MAXIMUM Air Cooling For My CPU (I Dont Trust Nor Like The Clutter Assosiated With Liquid Cooling) Um Im In The USAF I WILL Have The Money To Fix This One...... Oh, And A Final Note I Type Like That For Three Reasons... 1. Because I Can, 2. Because If I Dont It Dosent Look Right To Me And Drives Me Insane And 3. So Pepole Will Ask Questions

Just curious.....why did you bother posting on this site if you were not going to take anyone's suggestions?