I had a question for the tech/gaming savvy peeps. If one had a total of $3,500.00 USD. What type of gaming system would he/she build? I will give a few hints. I don't want to do AMD/ATI products. Below are the products needed and my choices. Please let me know what I'm doing wrong here.
CPU = Duo 2 Core Extreme or should I wait for Duo 2 Core Quad in October (which one and why?)

Heat sink = Need suggestions please

Motherboard = Asus P5N32-SLI SE

Memory = 2GB Kit, Corsair XMS 2, DDR2 1066 MHz x 2 = Total 4 Gb of ram

Sound Card = Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS 7.1

Video Card = ASUS EN7950GX2/2PHT/1G Geforce 7950GX2 1GB X 2 = 2 Quad SLI Cards

Power Supply = PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW EPS12V 1000W

Case = Need suggestions please (I was thinking Lian Li) I don't see the need for liquid because my computer has its own air conditioning unit. However I will take suggestions/info about liquid cooling.

Hard Drive = Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB ATA150 or an ATA300 drive (which one and why?) Also should I do Raid 0 or not?

Mouse = Need suggestions please

If you feel you want to participate, please post your ultimate system specs below.

I appreciate the help in advance.

I would suggest...

AMD Opteron Dual core processors priced around 200-300USD - their speed in GHz inst as much as Pentium4 or Core2, but believe me, my Opteron with 1.8GHz kicks 3.0GHz P4 @$$/

For ram I suggest getting regular DDR PC3200 but keep it in dual channel mode - When getting 2Gb of RAM, get 4x512Mb, that works better than 1 whole stick of 2Gb. I suggest OCZ premium package that comes with2 512mbs.

For you mobo, the A8N-E is relatively cheap around 100-200USD and is pretty good already, although with out SLI. There is I think an A8N-E with SLI but I have to check that up again. (SLI is more expensive)

For GPU, the GeForce6600 is probably more affordable nowadays. You can get an SLI package if you want but youll have to get the more expensive mobo. If you want ATI and want to have crossfire, its better to get crossfire boards and a crossfire set of GPUs (Radeon X1600 or X1800 are pretty good for a lower price)

If you really want to kick it up a notch, the GF7950 is good or the X1950. So far the X1950 is the hfastest graphics card around, but you will probably need to buy extra cooling, liquid systems probably.

For your HDD, get SATAII in raid configuration - meaning 2 of the same kind it will work better.

Other items are up to you. Ofcourse, this rig would need lots of power so get a good power supply unit from Antec or something, around 650watts is sufficient.

------------------------------------ thats my suggestion------------

For a case, Antec sonataII is pretty good but not for LAN parties being one of the heaviest in the desktop case market. The Antec Super LANboy is good, its lightweight alimunim up to 9lbs. has a plexiglass transparent side with fan mountings, highly durable (can stand on it), and comes with a carrying strap.

Mice dont really matter... get a logitech G5/G7... relatively low prices if you had 3500USD. I would suggest aiming low prices for the peripheral devices and other parts and aim high for the following parts; CPU, GPU, Mobo, PSU, RAM.

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I built my own computer.. infact I have done so for wuite some number of computers... I always try to get the prices as low as possible for each part that I want making compromises to get additional budget on more important parts. I suggest reading notes from these sites about the avaibale products and their compatibilities and anything you need to know before buying.

www.asus.com
www.amd.com
www.ati.com
www.nvidia.com
www.firingsquad.com (Xfire ran tech community)
www.viatechnologies.com
www.antec.com

These are the sites I went to for help before. They have forums and web support if you ever have any questions.

Ok, I'm not going to go into technical stuff (I'll leave that to those keeping up with the latest tech, I'm not as up-to-date as I wish).
I WILL, however help you choose a gaming mouse and case.

For the mouse, I suggest either the Razor Diamondback/Copperhead (1600dpi/2000dpi) or the Logitech G5 gaming mouse. The Razor and Logitech basically perform the same, but they are different in design and functionality. While the Diamondback (the one I own) is sleek, lightweight, and has a good amount of extra buttons, the G5 (my friend has one) is bulky (in my opinion), has a good amount more buttons, and has a weight-adjusting system implemented. Basically, if you want a heavier mouse with more features, go with the G5.... but if you want one that's lightweight and only has about 4 new buttons, go with the Diamondback/Copperhead.

Now on to the case..... here are some I recommend.......

Cool Master CM Ammo 533
ASUS Vento 3600
Theraltake Armor (HIGHLY Recommended!)
Thermaltake Kandalf (HIGHLY Recommended!)
NZXT Nemesis Elite
Aerocool ExtremeEngine 3T

I don't know much about Lan-Li so I didn't mention them.
Hope this helps!

make sure you get a wireless mouse/keyboard.. they're lifesavers (I used to get cords tangled all the time, missing easy shots) but remember to charge your mouse at least once a week (overnight is best, my MX700 mouse runs a good 2 days solid (with a total of 20 hrs use in that) per charge, before I decide to put it on again. right now I'm tunning on fumes on it, and it's really freaking me out....)


I personally like the MX700 combo thta logitech has, it's very nice, the keyboard has been used for a good woak... year now, on one load of batteries. it also has the cool side scrolly thing on the keyboard and stuff. something else that's saved me in firefights....

also, be aware that not all games support more than 3 buttons on a mouse. I know from experience that ET won't let me use my forward/back buttons (cool things in the side, love 'em..) but with the higher-end logitechs, they have "quick scroll" buttons, that are useful fo switching two weapon slots (in CoD, I use it to swap from my SMG (slot 1) to my pistol (slot 3, I usually have a rifle/AT weap in slot 2) in firefights)

Im actually planning to ge tthe MX518 optical wired. It has lots of buttons, weights, and adjustable DPi, and weights, its like the G5 but cheaper.

Much thanks for the replies! Got my reading cut out for me.