The Million Dollar Ultimate Gaming Rig

bash · Post by **bash** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:22 am

Freind of mine's son wants the ultimate gaming rig. Son wants Alienware something but dad is confused, turns to me (who once knew about such things but not anymore) for recommendations, says money is no object but Alienware is too expensive.

Dad is not capable of properly building a system, imo, so I hesitate to suggest that route since I'll be the one getting the calls at all hours of the day and night for the next three years when he screws something up. SO... what off-the-shelf box from Alienware or anyone else for that matter can I recommend to him to send him on his way that will qualify as this week's ULTIMATE GAMING RIG (echo) (echo) (echo)?

Any help appreciated.

Tricord · Post by **Tricord** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:29 am

That doesn't make a lot of sense, since the ultimate gaming rig depends heavily on personal preference AND changes every few days because new and better hardware pops up all over the place.

Vertigo Zer0 · Post by **Vertigo Zer0** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:38 am

Being that the terms "too expensive" and "money is no object" are mutually exclusive, your friend has to first decide what's the upper end of what he's willing to spend before anyone can recommend anything.

Pun · Post by **Pun** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 11:04 am

if you want off the shelf and money is no object, you might wanna check out Falcon Northwest

$3200 buys you a Socket 939 3500+ with two 6800GT's running SLi. That would pretty much play anything out today with ease.

Of course, you could probably build the same box for 2 grand or so.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 11:33 am

punisher wrote:if you want off the shelf and money is no object, you might wanna check out Falcon Northwest

$3200 buys you a Socket 939 3500+ with two 6800GT's running SLi. That would pretty much play anything out today with ease.

Of course, you could probably build the same box for 2 grand or so.

Even better then that, Trix and I speced out a 3700+/1GB memory/7800 GTX/960 GB worth of HDD system for $2000 (no monitor tho or second video card for SLI, but the mobo is a SLI mobo).

Vertigo Zer0 · Post by **Vertigo Zer0** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:05 pm

This guy can't put together his own system, and Bash doesn't want to get calls from this guy for the next 3 years so he needs to point this guy to an off-the-shelf system that comes with tech support.

Bash, ask this guy how much he wants to spend, then look up Falcon Northwest and configure him a high-end Talon or low end Mach V, depending on the amount. Print out the config, give it to him and let him call up and order it. This way you're out of the loop and he's got a great system with great tech support.

Just make sure he knows Falcon provides hardware support, not software support. You get a recovery DVD so you can restore your system to its factory-fresh state, but that's about it. It's a gaming PC company, not Dell. If he needs somebody to tell him how to set up his e-mail, point him to a Dell XPS.

bash · Post by **bash** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:27 pm

I asked him twice for a budget and first time he set no figure, second time he said a million dollars. He's being a dink so I'm doing the minimum. Thanks for your help, folks.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 12:55 am

I have a totally excellent PII 400, with 128MB of PC100 RAM, and a Matrox G400 - which I'll let go for half a Mill.

Hell, I'll even chuck in the dual 13" monitors!

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 5:27 am

Vertigo Zer0 wrote:....If he needs somebody to tell him how to set up his e-mail, point him to a Dell XPS.

Dell doesn't even know how to set up your email-- that is what your ISP is for.. good reasoning to buy a POS like DELL

Nice!!

Falcon Northwest
Alienware
VoodooPC
Moncarch
and the list goes on...

will_kill · Post by **will_kill** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 6:37 am

Mobius wrote:I have a totally excellent PII 400, with 128MB of PC100 RAM, and a Matrox G400 - which I'll let go for half a Mill.

Hell, I'll even chuck in the dual 13" monitors!

HEY! That's what I have!(well minus the dual monitors and the Matrox G400). And!..what's PC100 RAM?

Seriously tho' Mobi', what do u think is the best upgrade for a slow system like mine...I have to use default sound and video cause it's so darn slow

Apoligies in order fer' off topic?

JMEaT · Post by **JMEaT** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:47 am

Dell XPS

Mr. Perfect · Post by **Mr. Perfect** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 4:46 pm

First find out what games the kid want's to play. There's no point in spending $4000 and encuraging the asshat manufacturers who are charging $500 for a single componet if this kid is going to be playing Counter Strike an hour a day. Get something that will blow away his intended games, not everything on the face of the planet.

Capm · Post by **Capm** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 5:05 pm

You can price out a system at Alienware that doesn't cost a kings ransom - its not like their starting price is 6000 bux you know.

The Aurora is a good one to start with - starting at just under 3000 with default options except XP Pro instead of home, and the back-to-school package that has the 19" LCD and MS Office... Its a hell of a lot better than a dumbas.s dell.

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:42 pm

JMEaT wrote:Dell XPS

someone please take JMEaT into the back room and beat him with that proprietary XPS

TechPro · Post by **TechPro** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 10:30 pm

BUBBALOU wrote:
JMEaT wrote:Dell XPS
someone please take JMEaT into the back room and beat him with that proprietary XPS

x2 (just because he suggested a Dell)

will_kill · Post by **will_kill** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 10:52 pm

TechPro wrote:
BUBBALOU wrote:
JMEaT wrote:Dell XPS
someone please take JMEaT into the back room and beat him with that proprietary XPS
x2 (just because he suggested a Dell)

I have a t-shirt that asks 'got dell?'(got it from goodwill

).

CritterB · Post by **CritterB** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:06 pm

Check out Monarch computers. We have been getting a lot of them at work and they are good performers for a decent price. Plus they have backed up everything they have sold to us. One had a bad mobo and they paid for shipping, fixed it and sent it back. I'd recommend them with no hesitation. They also have a ton of customization options.

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:46 pm

Matrix uses Monarch a lot, I will probably order at least some of my parts from them next time I build a new computer.

JMEaT · Post by **JMEaT** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 11:49 am

Damn you all. Dell kicks ass.

Nexus_One · Post by **Nexus_One** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 3:35 pm

I've actually been doing a lot of research on this lately, and I've found that Polywell has a pretty damn good price for high end systems.

Falcon is overpriced, as is VooDoo.

Alienware is cheaper than either one of those companies, and has a reputation among pc magazines as being better.

Monarch recently has had some rather badass systems tested, but the price they quote the magazines isn't what they ask on their website, the website tends to be several hundred more.

Dell is just overpriced and underpowered, they only seem to use P4's, which are going out of style with a quickness as 64 bit proc's take over.

I would seriously check out www.polywell.com if I were that dad.