What kind of system would you build?

[Goldir]

Hey everyone!  It has come time again for me to upgrade my system, and since I am pretty much going to gear it towards two things: The playing of PS, and my C++ programming class.  I know it takes a lot of CPU power and such to build and compile PS.  What I need to know is this:

What kind of system would you build, using current technology and components, if you wanted to build a power system.  I am doing the financing thing with this one and my budget is around 4K.  The financing was arranged through Dell, so I will probably have to use them to do it. Think "Ideal system for PS" when you come up with Ideas. 

p.s. I posted this in General because it relates to system requirements for PS.  Also, useful information may come out of it for things like ideal video card etc...

[Nurahk]

A wise man once said "Avoid Dell like the plague" <.<

And PS really doesn't have high requirements, especialy when you are talking about $4k.  I spent around 2.5k on my computer a year or so ago, and it runs PS as well as any other machine.

The thing about DELL is that sure, you get the financing, but you better build a damn good computer because upgrading is annoying.  Added to which, it's quite hard to sell your old parts when you do update because a lot of the stuff in DELLs work only for DELLs.

[Karyuu]

DaveG used to compile and work on PS using a laptop that I believe was a bit below our minimum requirements

Get parts from newegg and assemble the machine yourself. You get warranty on each separate component and you know precisely what quality you're getting. If you're desperate for system tech support then I can see how "custom-building" from an established distributor may be a good idea, but they really overcharge.

2GB RAM, a dual-core processor, and a 512MB video card is yummy yummy. Unless you're also adding in a new monitor, it shouldn't bring you over $1,500 - my system cost me no more than 1k.

(This isn't a General Discussion topic, however. You know the minimum requirements for the game and they are extremely easy to attain.)

[Goldir]

True enough.  Unfortunately, all of the other High Performance Desktop manufacturers don't provide the financing.  I notice that in the last month Dell changed their website options again.  Now you can't get the 667 FSB DDR2 unless you get an XPS system, with which you pay a massive premium just for the spiffy XPS logo.  I would love to get one of the new quad cores, but in order to do that you have to buy their $4500 system. Also, they removed the option to add the IGEA Grafx Accelerator from all their systems except the XPS.  I hate being railroaded.  It isn't guaranteed I will go through Dell, but until I can find a better site that doesn't require I go to my bank for a personal loan, they look like the only option to get myself into massive debt and have fun doing it.

I was thinking on a system with overamped specs because, while PS may not have high requirements now, in about 2 years who knows what it might need?  Especially with Window$ Vi$ta coming out.  That OS will eat half your RAM before you even take it out of the box.  

Another issue that worries me is that even though you need the Nvidia Toolkit to compile PS, it seems to have issues when dealing with Nvidia Cards.  Mostly with particles (whatever that means, I am ignorant when it comes to video hardware and capabilities) Does ATI have SLI as part of its capabilities?  I will ask my Computer Hardware instructor, since I have to go to class in half an hour anyways.

Also, could a moderator please move this post to the Hydlaa Plaza?  I have a feeling this sucker is going to go off on a tangent, so it may as well move to the chatter board.

EDIT: Whups!  Karyuu beat me to it.  Thanks!

[miadon]

A good case that lets alot of airflow is also important to keep your parts cool and running efficiently and for longer.

[ThomPhoenix]

A Dutch tech-website publishes a "Best-Buy-Guide" every two months, I've taken the liberty of translating the January edition for you.
I've also added comments based on my experiences and my system:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ € 121,83 (I compile PS on an "X1" 3200+)
Motherboard: MSI K9N Neo-F € 61,50      
Memory: 512MB x 2 (1GB) PC5400 DDR2, CL4 (Corsair) € 100,16 (Use 2 GB when you start to use 3D devving tools, 1 is enough for MSVC and games)
Graphics Card: Asus GeForce 7300 GT Silent € 77,49 (Enough if you focus on playing PS, good for other games too)
Hard Disk: Hitachi Deskstar T7K250, 160GB € 53,53 (I'd prefer a 250+ GB HD, depends on how much you install and download)
DVD-Burner: Samsung SH-S182M 18x € 25,-   
Case: Antec NSK4400 € 67,88   
Monitor: Acer AL1916WAs € 179,10 (Good, but I personally recommend the Samsung Syncmaster (7/9)30BF series. Karyuu uses it too )
Speakers: Logitech S200 € 15,56   
Keyboard: Logitech Cordless Desktop LX300 € 41,42 (Personally I hate cordless because of batteries, I have a basic corded set and a MX510 mouse myself)
Total Price: € 743,47 (All black is usually a bit more expensive, some shops can be more expensive, and you have to account for shipment costs)
My estimate: €800,-

edit:
-You do NOT need Nvidia Toolkit to compile PS.
-Particle issues are mostly fixed with latest driver & decent (new) card. Some Nvidia related issues were also fixed in CS, but aren't in PS yet.
-Ati's "SLI" is called CrossFire.

[Xordan]

If you want a bit of portability too (so a laptop), then you can't beat a Dell XPS M1710. Dell's XPS series is pretty damn good really. I've just bought one for $3200 and it's excellent. If don't, and you've got $4k to spend and want the support then you can get a desktop system like this from dell (I configured it at $4,054):

PROCESSOR   Intel® Core™2 Extreme QX6700 (8MB L2 Cache,2.66GHz,1066 FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM & TV-TUNERS   Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition with re-installation CD
UPGRADE TO WINDOWS VISTA   Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium from XP Media Center Edition
MEMORY   2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs
HARD DRIVE   500GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
OPTICAL DRIVE   Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ dbl layer write capable
MONITOR   20 inch UltraSharp™ 2007WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel
VIDEO CARD   768MB nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX
SOUND CARD   Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeMusic (D) Sound Card   
SPEAKERS   Dell AS501 10W Flat Panel Attached Spkrs for UltraSharp™ Flat Panels

If you don't want the support, then building it yourself might be a better way to go. Dell can sometimes be cheaper than a self-build, because they buy in bulk, but you lack the ability to truly customise what you want.

Edit: You need the nvidia toolkit if you want to have any shaders...

[emeraldfool]

I wish I was more computer literate... (Well, actually, I wish I had the attention-span to become more computer literate )

Whenever I shop for computers, my general train of thought is always "This is a new model, therefore it must be good!" ... It never ends well. To this date I don't think I've had a single program that ran perfectly. Ever. 

[Nurahk]

Xordan, keep that it a cool room eh

Only problem I see is that Media Center is the devil and Vista is annoying

Damn nice laptop all the same.

[Xordan]

Vista is an optional upgrade I quite like Media Center myself <.< Looks better than XP home, and once you remove all the crap and tweak it a bit then it's great! Dual-boot with Gentoo linux too

[Nurahk]

Heh, fair enough, it's the crap that bothers me about Media, too much annoyingness

Dual boot makes everything good though

[ThomPhoenix]

You need the nvidia toolkit if you want to have any shaders...

Linux or Windows?

And about Dell XPS: I like to build my own systems to make sure it's all quality stock and not some "Dell-only" hardware. Plus XPS is really expensive.
I'm also still planning to do a casemod some day. Nothing too technical, just some special lighted coolers

[Nurahk]

True, Thom, but building your own laptop is a bit more annoying than building a desktop.  Atleast, in my limited knowledge.

[neko kyouran]

ooh ooh, I gots a story about dell from my work place:

we had a raid 5 setup.  it was bought through dell.  all 5 hard drives died within the same day.  come to find out, dell made it using all refurbished hard drives, and the controller card was refurbished as well.  when they sent us new parts, they were also refurbished parts.  we then dropped all ties with dell.

[miadon]

I hate Dell stuff, too much off their own junk stuck in it.