building a gaming pc

DamoKen

Hi all, I know this is a subject that's been covered a few times, however I 'm interested in builiding a rig that is not constrained to death by a budget so I'd like some advice on parts/manufacturers from any who've used them.
Firstly to budget, trying to sell a machine I got only a few weeks ago, if that goes ok and with what else I can throw in, should be able to go to 2000, maybe over if for a good reason but just don't want to spiral out of control.

Ok, well as the title suggests primary interest would be gaming, system intensive titles like Far Cry & HL2 (when I get it). Obviously want to be able to use it for other things such as java development, standard crap like watching dvd's etc as well though so want to bear that in mind.

Without starting another AMD V Pentium debate, for the dual role of primary=game, secondary=normal apps, which of the 2 is better suited?

Also, I've been looking at the new AMD 64bit versus the Pentium Extreme Edition, both look impressive, but impressive enough for that price or maybe a cheaper processor with a better graphics card? Could always upgrade when the price comes down I suppose.

Next to cards, x800 pro or GeForce6800, have to say I'd be more inclined to the ATI as the current geforce card forced upon me is fairly crap, don't think much of the driver support either, crashed my machine when I updated, had to rollback to the older drivers, unlike the ati driver update which showed a marked performance improvement.

On monitors, TFT v CRT?, space wise the obvious winner is TFT, but don't want to blow a fortune on a powerful rig to be left down by the screen, what would the main specs be to watch out for apart from resolution (though I've seen monitors with really high resolution specs and terrible reviews).

Ok, don't want this to turn into an epic (already has by the look of it), anyway, any advice on the above as well as motherboards, psu's, hdd etc and the best combinations etc would be well appreciated. Been reading plenty of online reviews but be nice to get some sage advice without the quagmire of sites.


Also, has anyone bought from Alienware, and if so are they worth the prices you pay?


Cheers

Damo

Stephen

for a (primarily) gaming machine I'd go with an Athlon 64 CPU, ATI X800 Pro/XT graphics card and a gig of RAM. P4EE's are ridiculously expensive. CRT monitor too, I love TFT's but only the very expensive high end ones are good for games.
Make sure you get a quality power supply unit (antec/enermax/zalman/thermaltake are good), i've seen so many posts here about power hungry high-end machines being let down by flaky power supplies. (Qtec, *spit*)

silverside

amd 64 3000
Motherboard (ASUS)
gig ram (Crucial)
sonata case (antec)
2 X 160 GB HD's (one will do) (Samsung)
x800 (if you can afford it) or 9800pro otherwise
17" TFT with dvi input (Viewsonic)
soundcard etc to taste

IMO midrange (64-3000 or pentium 3.0 ) is plenty fast enough, spend the extra money an FX51 or extreme edition would cost on other niceties.


thats what I have and i works fine, others may differ on brands esp. if you want to overclock.

TFT is fine for games once you get a decent brand/refresh rate. Worth the money IMO. Resolution is standard so get DVI input, 16ms refresh, and a good brand (Hyundai/Viewsonic/etc), read reviews.