Looking at anandtech or tomshardware at any videocard comparison to see graphs of the cards at different resolutions.

I like Vista, the graphics drivers are pretty up to date and there’s not many problems, but some games have major problems. I play The Witcher and it crashes constantly so I have to keep saving every few minutes. But other games I have no problem with. DX10 sure looks awesome though. I can’t wait till everything is more stable. AoC might not be till who knows when so… I don’t know what to tell you as far as should you lay out money now or wait. I guess if you’re happy now you might want to wait.

Muchos gracias, ciao.

Do you guys recommend going SLI with two TigerDirect $80 crap specials, or should I spend the $200-300 on a single “kick ass” card? NVidia or ATI? I’ve got a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, so it appears that (according to the posts), I’m still okay there. AoC supports DX10 so it looks like I have to go to (eek!) Winblows Eyesore…er Vista.

Also, any mobo and ram recommendations would be sweet.

I’d love to hear from people who have “taken the plunge” and have somehow managed to get Vista to play DX10 games decently. Much appreciated.

…I guess the other option is to buy another XB360 (I know it’ll be cheaper)

420 watts is actually workable for a single-GPU, Core2Duo system with only two or three drives, but I wouldn’t buy anything that low power that wasn’t a well-known name brand.

If you were building this system from the ground up, yourself, I’d say a resounding no to the 650i. It just doesn’t have the number of PCI and PCI express ports for a lot of normal users, and while a decent 650i board can be found in the ~100 USD range on its own, a 680i would be only show a ~30-40 USD difference in price. That makes it a ‘no-brainer’ to jump up a grade : replacing the motherboard later if you need the extra slots is several times the cost.

At the prices you’re seeing for prebuilts, however, it’s harder to say for sure. 100 USD now hurts. If you can’t see yourself using more than 2 PCI Exp x16 slots (or slap a pair of 8800 Ultras in there), 1 PCI Exp x1, or 2 PCI slots, the 650i isn’t going to hurt much. If you might, then going to the P5N32-E now would probably be for the best.

Most nVidia 7600 or higher cards, and most 8600 or higher cards, provide at least the capabilities for dual monitor output. There are a few exclusions, but I doubt custom builders use them for gaming machines : they typically surrender a DVI or D-Sub connection for HDMI output.

It also has “CoolerMaster Liquid CPU Cooling System (Superior Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA)” and yes the OS.

Motherboards are the thing I know least about. Switching to the 680i looks like a $100-$200 addition (still yet to price components separately):

• (3-Way SLI Support) MSI P6N Diamond nForce 680i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard [+$120]
• (3-Way SLI Support) Asus P5N32-E nForce 680i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard [+$102]
• (3-Way SLI Support) Asus Striker Extreme nForce 680i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard [+$210]
• (3-Way SLI & QX9650 Support) EVGA nForce 780i SLI Mainboard FSB1333 DDR2 3 x PCIe x16 SATA RAID w/ USB2.0,IEEE1394,&7.1Audio [+$132]
• (3-Way SLI & QX9650 Support) Asus P5N-T Deluxe nForce 780i SLI Mainboard FSB1333 DDR2 3 x PCIe x16 SATA RAID w/ USB2.0,IEEE1394,&7.1Audio [+$159]

Case size is not an issue. RAM separately is a good point: I usually do that.

On the monitor, I already have the 19″. Unless that video card supports two monitors (or I get a second video card), getting a bigger monitor is a separate expense. A tempting expense, but a separate consideration.

I always choose quiet components: the biggest heat sinks that fit, quiet fans, rubber grommets, I have an Antec Solo case which has rubber and vinyl sound deadening. Once you actually do it once, you do notice the difference in sound level. Plus aftermarket heat sinks just usually work better anyway.

While I’m not too focused on the ‘silent’ PC — most people have headphones or speakers, after all — I strongly advise against sticking with the stock CPU fan and heatsink for the Artic Cooling Freezer 7, at least. It’s a very minor cost difference, much more quiet, and can add significantly to the lifespan of your machine. Changing out the other fans probably isn’t worthwhile, as CoolerMaster tends to build decent boxes at that price range, but it’s a good thing to keep in mind if the box does end up being too loud.

Note that the CoolerMaster Cosmos has all the important buttons and wiring on the front top of the case. That’s great if it goes on the floor, but not so great if you want it sitting next to your monitor. It’s also a biiiiig case.

Processor and graphic card are both well-chosen. It’s hard to go wrong with that pair.

Motherboard I’m not so convinced by. It’s not a bad deal, compared to the MSI options, and it leaves a lot of upgrade paths for you. I really wouldn’t advise it for a home-built system — it’s expensive for what it does, and there are better chipsets out there — but of the options it’s the best for its price.

Seriously consider purchasing the bare minimum of RAM from them, and getting higher quality stuff and installing it yourself. You can get cheap RAM cheap or you can get really good RAM for 50 bucks. The difference in cost and performance isn’t major, but the time involved is minimal. Likewise, if you’re really going to hound for the space, stick with an 80GB primary drive and used the saved money to hook in a second one.

Consider a separate sound card. They’re a bit of expense, but the difference in hardware and software sound’s performance can be surprising, especially in CoH. The Creative Labs X-FI XtremeGamer 24-BIT they’ll add it actually a fairly good deal, less than the price of putting it in yourself, but just the 30 dollar option is an improvement.

That machine looks to be ~100-200 USD more than you’d pay by home-building the thing from scratch, depending on how exactly you plan to match the components. Might be worth it, might not, depending on how much you value your time.

You might be able to find a better deal pre-built system, but most of the time you’ll find yourself making compromises or paying roughly the same price.

No disrespect towards Solidstate but as for running quiet, unless you care, don’t worry about it. My latest machine is so quiet I can’t hear it running and I did nothing special. Stock cooling for the CPU and GPU as well. Unless you are overclocking or the machine is overheating, no need to worry about upgrading the cooling (in my opinion). I take a wait and see attitude on cooling. If it runs hot – then go out and buy an aftermarket cooler.

Go widescreen for a monitor, for sure. Love it.

Did that price include the OS? If so, then good price. If I built you a machine from Newegg without OS, it would probably run around $800, perhaps even less. If you want me to price something out for you to order from Newegg, let me know. Building a PC is easy.