$2000 Computer Recommendations -- ASUS, NVIDIA, Intel
I am just about ready to build a new computer, as my previously reliable six-year-old dual Pentium III system has been giving me problems. Specifically, when I play on PokerStars, it spontaneously reboots several times a day. I have read that the most common cause of spontaneous rebooting is a defective power supply, so I replaced the power supply with an Enermax Liberty 400-watt unit, more than enough power for this machine. No joy.
The computer ONLY reboots when running PokerStars. After thinking about this problem for awhile, I realized that I only use my sound card when running PokerStars, so I replaced my old sound card with a brand new Creative X-Fi Soundblaster. It took me four hours to get sound from this POS, and then only from the front speakers. But that will suffice for PokerStars. I played about 12 hours yesterday, and no rebooting. I hope the problem is solved, but I have been researching components for a new computer build the last few days. Here are my current recommendations for a $2000 state of the art computer system. Motherboard and video cards by ASUS, System chipset and GPU by NVIDIA, and CPU by Intel. Monitors, speakers, keyboard, and mouse are not included. All prices are current prices at Newegg.
Case -- Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case -- $149.99
Power Supply -- ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT ATX12V 620W Power Supply -- 149.99
Motherboard -- ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard -- 189.99
CPU -- Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor -- $222.00
CPU Cooler -- Scythe SCINF-1000 120mm CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink -- $57.99
Memory -- Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory -- $273.49
Video Cards -- Two ASUS EN7950GT/HTDP/512M GeForce 7950GT GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Splendid Video Cards -- $539.98 ($269.99 each)
Hard Drives -- Four Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500YS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives -- $319.96 ($79.99 each)
DVD Burners -- Two SAMSUNG 18X DVDR DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write, LightScribe Technology Black SATA Model SH-S183L -- $89.98 (44.99 each)
Grand Total -- $1,993.37, with $65 in mail-in rebates.
You could reduce the price further with cheaper video cards, fewer hard drives, and only one DVD burner. I wouldn't recommend compromising on any of the other components.
I picked the Intel E6400 CPU because it has the best performance/price ratio, and because it is extremely overclockable. People are routinely overclocking this CPU to 3.2 ghz with the Intel stock cooler and standard voltage. Slight overvolting and high-end air cooling are yielding overclocks up to 3.8 ghz.
The Scythe Infinity CPU cooler is definitely high-end. I would recommend a conservative 3.2 ghz overclock. The E6400 has a 1066 frontside bus (FSB). But this is misleading. The FSB is quad-pumped, so the true FSB is 266 mhz. The E6400 has an 8x clock multiplier, and 8 X 266 mhz = 2.13 ghz.
So if you increase the FSB to 400 mhz, you get 8 X 400 mhz = 3.2 ghz. Now, here is the elegance of this overclock. The memory is DDR2-800, meaning 800 mhz. But that means the actual memory bus speed is 400 mhz. Voila! FSB = memory bus = 400 mhz. A 1:1 ratio of FSB to memory bus is very desirable, resulting in the lowest latencies and synchronization delays.
Obviously there are alternatives for all the components. If you want to know why I chose a particular component, or what alternatives are available, just ask.
William Coleman (ramashiva)
The computer ONLY reboots when running PokerStars. After thinking about this problem for awhile, I realized that I only use my sound card when running PokerStars, so I replaced my old sound card with a brand new Creative X-Fi Soundblaster. It took me four hours to get sound from this POS, and then only from the front speakers. But that will suffice for PokerStars. I played about 12 hours yesterday, and no rebooting. I hope the problem is solved, but I have been researching components for a new computer build the last few days. Here are my current recommendations for a $2000 state of the art computer system. Motherboard and video cards by ASUS, System chipset and GPU by NVIDIA, and CPU by Intel. Monitors, speakers, keyboard, and mouse are not included. All prices are current prices at Newegg.
Case -- Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case -- $149.99
Power Supply -- ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT ATX12V 620W Power Supply -- 149.99
Motherboard -- ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard -- 189.99
CPU -- Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor -- $222.00
CPU Cooler -- Scythe SCINF-1000 120mm CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink -- $57.99
Memory -- Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory -- $273.49
Video Cards -- Two ASUS EN7950GT/HTDP/512M GeForce 7950GT GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Splendid Video Cards -- $539.98 ($269.99 each)
Hard Drives -- Four Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500YS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives -- $319.96 ($79.99 each)
DVD Burners -- Two SAMSUNG 18X DVDR DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write, LightScribe Technology Black SATA Model SH-S183L -- $89.98 (44.99 each)
Grand Total -- $1,993.37, with $65 in mail-in rebates.
You could reduce the price further with cheaper video cards, fewer hard drives, and only one DVD burner. I wouldn't recommend compromising on any of the other components.
I picked the Intel E6400 CPU because it has the best performance/price ratio, and because it is extremely overclockable. People are routinely overclocking this CPU to 3.2 ghz with the Intel stock cooler and standard voltage. Slight overvolting and high-end air cooling are yielding overclocks up to 3.8 ghz.
The Scythe Infinity CPU cooler is definitely high-end. I would recommend a conservative 3.2 ghz overclock. The E6400 has a 1066 frontside bus (FSB). But this is misleading. The FSB is quad-pumped, so the true FSB is 266 mhz. The E6400 has an 8x clock multiplier, and 8 X 266 mhz = 2.13 ghz.
So if you increase the FSB to 400 mhz, you get 8 X 400 mhz = 3.2 ghz. Now, here is the elegance of this overclock. The memory is DDR2-800, meaning 800 mhz. But that means the actual memory bus speed is 400 mhz. Voila! FSB = memory bus = 400 mhz. A 1:1 ratio of FSB to memory bus is very desirable, resulting in the lowest latencies and synchronization delays.
Obviously there are alternatives for all the components. If you want to know why I chose a particular component, or what alternatives are available, just ask.
William Coleman (ramashiva)
posted by William Coleman at 4:28 AM
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