What are the hot custom parts nowadays?

[PherdnutChiken]

I'm totally in over my head here. Sometimes it seems like everything gets good reviews from customers and I'm having trouble gauging what a high end vs. cost effective setup will be and what the most popular stuff is.

[SPRINGCHIKEN]

well what going to be playing mate?

[Yin Yang Chiken]

Pherd how is the new comp coming??

[renegade_chiken]

gimme a budget and what you want it geared toward and I can tell ya what you should get

[Snake-Chiken]

gets the mashmallows on standby

[PherdnutChiken]

Well you guys gave me a lot of good stuff to chew on over at the SOASE forums YinYang, but now that I'll be funding the GF's needs for this broadway audition (plane tickets, coaching lessons, etc...) I'm not sure what kind of money I'll have for it. My folks might be willing to give me a loan as they like my new website idea and are really excited about me being back in school again.

I think I may have 1,500 to 2,000 to spend eventually. I want something that's going to work well for the next couple of years so I might be willing to splurge a bit on a solid FX card. I think Kharma was right on avoiding the CPUs he was talking about as I'm a bit of a tech lightweight and just want things to work right. So far I've liked what I've read about your Mobo/CPU pairing the best. A lot of people at New Egg mentioned it too.

As to what I'll be playing? Everything. I want it run most/all games at higher FX settings. I'm still working out how to start this strategy site and I want to use the PC for image capture from a TV as well as graphic design for the site. It's going to be my home base for a while.

I'm loving this "student" thing. Just about everything in downtown Chicago has some kind of a student discount and software is so freaking cheap. I can get the complete Adobe CS with Illustrator for 400 bucks. The student version of Office was like 150 IIRC and the license is good for two computers.

[renegade_chiken]

1,500 - 2,000 will build you a really nice PC, more than what I spent on mine 2 years ago and it still kicks ass.

Ill put something together.

And why are you even thinking about paying for adobe <.< Torrent prz

[renegade_chiken]

Alright, I will make a build that is geared toward gaming. However, it will be single core. I will make this setup socket 939 to allow for expandability in the future but it is proven through benchmarks and games that single core > dual core when it comes to games.

Gimme a few to throw it together

*edit*

Done, here is what I would do...

AMD Athlon 4000
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103529

ASUS A8N32-SLI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131568

Kingston HyperX 2 x 512MB Low Latency
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820144161

eVGA 7800GTX 256MB (with factory overclock, and yes, its fine, it wont fry)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130248

Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 200GB NCQ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148066

Antec NeoHCC 500watt SLI Compatible
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103940

Ending price: $1,362.99

You have a large amount of room for case styles to choose from. I havent even reached 1500 dollars yet and you specified up to 2 grand for a PC. I can pimp it up a bit if you need me to or if you just want to spend more money

http://www.xoxide.com/pccases.html

For cases

Some personal favorites...

http://www.xoxide.com/cooler-master-praetorian-730-silver.html
http://www.xoxide.com/stacker.html

[PherdnutChiken]

Actually, no that looks quite nice. That was the exact mobo CPU duo YinYang recommended and I feel good about it. Better than anything I've ever gotten to game with. Also leaves room for a legit OS. Call me Captain Boy Scout, but I really don't want to build a business with illegit software.

[renegade_chiken]

if its business, its understandable. for personal use? yeah, dont waste the money. All good if its for a company as you get major discounts anyway

[Yin Yang Chiken]

hmmm this is what I would do for a gaming rig.......

mobo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540

cpu

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103539

memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145523

two video cards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143029

hard drive(s)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144160

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136010

for a grand total of $1399.99 plus shipping

twice the amount of video memory and pipelines, the best ram memory money can buy, very low latency, overclockable cpu (you will never notice those missing .2ghz clock cycles) and enough very fast storage to burn!! Damn I might have to max out the credit card, this looks good to me!!

[PherdnutChiken]

Yeah, the BFG seems like the best bang for a higher end FX card from everything I've heard so far. Anyway, my GF is supposed to be getting her inheritance soon. That's when I get some money back. It's also my birthday in a month. Maybe I can convince the family to throw some parts my way. It would be nice to get a kickin' monitor, but I can suffer a decent CRT for now.

Good news: With the help of GF and roommates I've just set up an office space underneath my loft bed in the largish closet of a room I have. Good for working/gaming but I don't get the free wireless from next door anymore. I think I can now justify getting DSL and may be stopping by to knock the rust off of my HW2 skills some time next month.