Gaming PC.

[Roland]

Out of curiosity, boredom, and the need for a new PC, I took a few days to browse around the web, searching for reviews, parts, etc. to build my (eventually) up-and-coming "Gaming PC". Having used this PC as an all-purpose PC, I've finally decided that, with this one's horsepower, it will be suitable as a workstation, leaving me free to get a powerhouse PC for gaming only. Here's the current lineup:

• Case: Thermaltake XASER III V2000A (Silver) $158.00
  <>
  
• Power Supply: Thermaltake Xaser Silent Purepower W0010+PFC $69.99
  <>
  
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP $204.00
  <>
  
• Processor: Intel P4 2.8GHz HT 800MHz FSB $215.00
  <>
  
• Memory: Corsair TWINX1024-3200LLPT $285.75
  <>
  
• Hard Drive: Western Digital WD2000JD $188.00
  <>
  
• Video Card: MSI NVIDIA GeForce FX5900SP-VTD256 $339.00
  <>
  
• Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum $162.00
  <>
  
• Floppy Drive: Mitsumi D359M3 $8.00
  <>
  
• CD-RW Drive: Lite-On LTR-52327S $34.99
  <>
  
• DVD-ROM Drive: Lite-On XJ-HD166S $31.99
  <>
  
• <>
  
• Price Total: $1,696.72<>
  [st]
  Sporting a beautiful case, complete with 12 bays (and built-in temperature / fan control), and made from 100% aluminum, she's a real beaut to the eye. Matching 480W power supply (with PFC, whatever that is - only cost a couple bucks more, so why not? :P) completes the housing. Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHZ (with Hyper-Threading, and an 800 MHz FSB) CPU gives me adequate power, is EASILY overclockable (attaining speeds of well over 3.4 GHz without any added cooling, to boot!), and matches the Corsair XMS DDR3200 (400 MHz x2, or 800MHz memory bus, as well as being dual-channel, which the mobo supports :D) 1GB system RAM, complete with Platinum heat spreaders and extra low-latency. Sound card (complete with 7.1, remote, etc.) and video card (I'm an NVIDIA fan-boy, and damn proud of it. :P ATI can kiss my rear, thank you very much) are both top-notch, fitting with the "gaming" theme, rather than a more conservative "all-puporse" theme. Hard drive coming from Western Digital (yes, I'm a fanboy of them, too - always have been, and always will be. I have yet to have a single problem with ANY of my WD drives. The same can NOT be said for Seagate and Maxtor) sports Serial ATA (since the mobo supports it, times 2! :D), and a whopping 200 GBs - PLENTY of space for a minimal OS install, a few utilities, and LOADS of games. Basic floppy, CD-RW, and DVD-ROM drives complete the deal, focusing on bare-bones necessity rather than flashy features (which would go un-used anyway). A killer package, IMO, for under $2,000 (~$1700, all told).
  
  The video card, and even the sound card, are a wee bit pricey (video especially), but I figured if I'm gonna do it, I might as well do it all-out. And, for under $400, it's a good deal, and a good deal less than new-age cards usually cost. The sound card is about twice as expensive as the next step down, but it features a remote, and some better features - and is still a whopping $100+ less than the next step up, which has loads of features I'll never use - let alone understand. ;) I decided to go with Corsair over Kingston, spending an extra ~$48 on a gut feeling. Go figure. :P As for the case and power supply - well, I've always loved those Thermaltake XASER cases, and I got the power supply to match. So long as you're not grabbing the cheapest one on the market, PS's are more-or-less equal. Major differences are sound, cooling, etc., but wattage and sound were my biggest concerns - both of which the Thermaltake passed (especially since it was the ONLY place that actually LISTED the sound level :P). Video card has an acceptable sound level, too - even less than the power supply. So, while it won't be the quitest beast on the block, it will be tolerable enough for me to leave on constantly - if I so choose.
  
  OS setup will probably be either dual-OS (Windows 98 and Windows 2000), or just 2000. Depends, really, on how I set the drives up (may tack on a secondary, smaller drive for Windows 98, and DOS compatibility). I like 2k, mostly for its stability, but it also has good gaming compatibility. :) And, I've accustomed to it - I don't think I could deal with the constant 98 crashes, and the fact that 98 is due to be phased out by this time next year doesn't help it any. :P So, most likely a 2k OS, with a minor 98 partition for DOS games (or just a plain old DOS partition, but doubtful ;)).
  
  I just felt like sharing. Feel free to share your thoughts - I'm always interested. I figured if I'm going to open my own business doing custom-built computers and computer repair, I might as well start getting back into the market to see what's available. :D