Help picking out parts for gaming rig

[Vip3r]

Hi everyone I'm going to build a new pc to replace my old pc I'm running now. First off this will be my first build but I have researched alot and know the process and parts I need for the build. My budget is around $1,500 USD. The pc is going to be for gaming entirely. I rather miss out on performance now and have a pc that is very upgradable for newer better parts. I have heard AMD is very good for gaming but I see that the Intel has a wide range of cpu's to upgrade. I cannot find much info on the x38 chipset for intel so I don't know if I should get it if I choose an Intel cpu. For cases I would like to go with a full tower atx case with alot of room, made of allunium, and has a window side panel. For video cards I would like to have a card that would run BF2 and mabey COD4 on highest settings with no or very little lag. I've been looking into mostly nVidia but I dont mind having ATI. I'm not going to do any overclocking at all but I want a very stable mobo that is upgradable for newer parts. I dont mind going with onboard sound but it would be nice to get an Xfi soundcard. I rather have a psu that is sielnt and has modular cables and mabey 80 plus efficent. I want to have 2 gb of DDR2 800 or + ram or mabey if budget allows DDR3. I hope this is enough info for the parts. Thanks

[taintedplay]

for that budget, a Q6600 G0 stepping
ballistix 800
evga ultra
gigabyte p35 ds3r
if you need a harddrive, a WD or seagate
im running on just a basic Ultra, but ive heard of the corsair 620 being really good.
Im not an expert on soundcards, but my onboard sounds **** nice.

For bf2, almost any recent card can run that, and a 8800gts (bout 300 bucks) can run that, but an ultra at if i remmeber 700 is the top of the line and will run all on max

[Invisible]

CPU ClubIT Product - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping Kentsfield 2.40GHz 8MB L2 LGA 775 Processor OEM HH80562PH0568M SLACR
Video I'm sorry but you'll have to wait until Monday when the 8800gt comes out
RAM Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
Case Newegg.com - Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan - Retail
Mobo Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Ultra Durable 2, Ultra Cooling Intel Motherboard - Retail
note: not sure if this is the right choice....but he wants 1600 fsb support...
PSU ClubIT Product - CORSAIR HX CMPSU-520HX 520W Active PFC NVIDIA SLI Certified Modular ATX Power Supply Retail
OS Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM


do you need a monitor?

Monitor
Newegg.com - CHIMEI CMV 221D-NBC Black 22" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor 330 cd/m2 800:1 - Retail


total comes around your budget WITH the monitor
if no monitor needed go with this
Newegg.com - EVGA 768-P2-N881-AR GeForce 8800Ultra 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

[Invisible]

Originally Posted by taintedplay

for that budget, a Q6600 G0 stepping
ballistix 800
evga ultra
gigabyte p35 ds3r
if you need a harddrive, a WD or seagate
im running on just a basic Ultra, but ive heard of the corsair 620 being really good.
Im not an expert on soundcards, but my onboard sounds **** nice.

For bf2, almost any recent card can run that, and a 8800gts (bout 300 bucks) can run that, but an ultra at if i remmeber 700 is the top of the line and will run all on max

he seems like a big first person shooter kind of guy...
if he is he should get a dedicated 24-bit sound card....prefferable containing an x-fi crystalizer!!! its **** sweet

[PP_Mguire]

X-FI freakin sucks dude and if you need any kind of support from Creative you can forget about it.

For BF2 and CoD4 what i have is perfectly fine and can max out with 8xS AA and 16xAF. You only need a really high end system for the upcoming games like Alan Wake, Crysis, and UT3. Its obvious you can get an awesome machine right now with that kinda budget.

[Invisible]

i'm sorry but plz dont recommend your own build....it has a maxtor and DDR ram and athlon x2 :/
besides he wants a $1,500 that he can upgrade in the future

[vernong1992]

plus he can easily fit a q6600 and an 8800Ultra in that budget...

[Vip3r]

thanx all for the advice I just have a one question do you guys think the 8800GT will be better then the Ultras, GTX's, and GTS's. I rather go with XP over Vista and which XP should I get home or professinal and if you guys pick pro should I get the 32bit or 64bit version? Oh and yea I'm a FPS guy, I need a new pc this old HP m1170n is not for gaming my specs are: ASUS PTGO1-LA motherboard, Intel Pentium 4 HT clocked @ 3.0GHz, 512 MB DDR 553 Ram (I think),Asus Ati Radeon X300 video card, Seagate Barracuda 200 GB 7200 rpm HD. (Please don't laugh at my specs.) Oh and were do you guys get your parts from. I've been looking at newegg and ebay

[veedubfreak]

The ultra is going to reign supreme for a few more months until nvidia releases their flagship 9x00. But im hoping the ultra will come down a little when the gt releases. I was looking around earlier and clubit has an msi ultra OC edition on sale for 569 AR.

[Prophet]

I'm hearing a lot of mixed reviews on that DQ6. I know he said he wont be overclocking it, but if he did choose to do so i have heard not many people can get a Q6600 past 3.2ghz. whereas on the maximus people have hit 3.8ghz easy and stable.