enjoyinggaming

A gaming computer that laughs at Crysis!

Have you tried Crysis? I bet that it ran “ok, right? It was runnable, but you were either unable to play it with a decent framerate or only at low quality settings. The thing with Crysis is that, according to the majority of gamers, it’s the best looking game on the market currently. So, you want to run it with maximum quality settings, to see how great it does indeed look, at a high resolution.

To do so however, you need the computing power to run such a demanding game without lag. That’s where I come in to help you out. I’ve designed a computer that can run ANY games, at ANY resolution. Yes, that includes Crysis of course, yes at any resolution.

What if I have a small 17″ or 19″ minitor you say to me? If you want to run games with all the eye candy turned on, you do need a powerful gaming computer. Even more if you have a 22″, 24″ or 30″ monitor!

This computer was designed for a person who uses a computer mainly for gaming (Casually called a “gamer”) and who’s looking for a incredibly powerful gaming computer, with stunning performance, at a set price of $2500. This system will be more than excellent at running video games and will be outstanding for other uses as well. It is based on a Socket 775 platform, which allows for upgrades in the future. You will be able to swap your cpu, video card, ram for better performing ones if you want to do so in the future.

Here are my recommendations for what hardware to use to build a great gaming desktop computer. These are the parts that I believe that will answer your needs, for a gaming system with outstanding performance that is. For each part of the system, I will tell you my choice, the reason for it and a link to buy the item, for your conveniance. Of course, I’m open to suggestions, comments, questions so please post them.

Cpu: Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 3.33GHz Dual-Core This is a gaming system and that’s why I’ve picked the fastest cpu currently available on the market for gaming. Based on the new wolfdale core and 45nm technology, with further optimizations that makes it even faster than the original Core 2 Duo. You can buy it now, on Amazon, for only $284.84

GPU: 2 X MSI Radeon HD 4870 X2 OC in Crossfire X What I’ve done here is take two of fastest video card available and put them in Crossfire X. You’ll have 4 gpus, with 4GB of ram under your command, to frag all your ennemies, on your huge display. You can buy 2 of them now, on Amazon, for only $549.00

Motheboard: ASUS P5E Deluxe ATX X48 8 usb 2.0 connections and 2 firewire(6/1 on board, 2/1 with dongle), two PCI Express 2.0 16X slots for Crossfire X, X48 chipset for maximum performance, dedicated PCI-Express sound card and supports everything you want You can buy it now, on Amazon, for only $288.18

Memory: 2 kits of G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 2 kits of high-speed DDR2 Memory, for a total of 4 sticks of 8GB of DDR2 1066MHz. Make sure to update your bios and use Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit to ensure that you can fully use the 8GB. You can buy two kits now, on NewEgg, for only $199.98

Case: Antec 900 Case With Side Panel Window A serious case, with optimal airflow to cool all your components. This is the case I use for my own water-cooled overclocked computer and it makes a huge difference by dropping my temperatures compared to other cases. You can buy it now, on Amazon, for only $98.53

HDD: 2X Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB RAID 0 1.5 TB or 1,500 GB of storage, 2 hard drives set up in RAID 0, to increase transfer rates and decrease loading times for all your applications, games and for Windows. Need help with installing RAID? You can buy it now, on Amazon, for only $108.00

Optical: SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner Black SATA In Black to match your case, with writting speeds of 22X for DVD-+R, 8X for DVD+RW, 16X for DVD+R DL and read speed of 16X for DVD-ROM, 48X for CD-ROM and 32X for CD-RW. Comes with 2MB Cache and a SATA connection. You can buy it now, on Amazon, for only $26.45

PSU: SILVERSTONE 1200W -90A Single Rail 12V You have some serious hardware to power up here, especially with the Crossfire X setup, which will draw a lot of electricity, to give you all thoses FPS in your games. I didn’t skip here and I gave you a 1200W power supply with a 90A single rail 12V, to ensure you have a stable rig. You can buy it now, on NewEgg, for only $349.99

Ratings -On a scale of 10- :

Gaming : 10/10 Can it play Crysis? It can run circles around Crysis, even on a 30″ monitor! Let me put it this way, so it’s clear: This computer will handle ANY game, at ANY resolution.

Office : 8/10 This system is based on the fastest dual core processor; it will run pretty much any application quickly, it will run several cpu intensive programs (Image/Video editing, media burning) at once without latency(lag). Quick on multi-threaded optimized applications as well, great at multi-tasking. The speed and the 2 cores will help you a lot.
Overclocking : 8/10 While the video games will be hardly overclockable as, they already will run hot, with the Crossfire X setup, the cpu will be a pleasure to overclock, as it’s based on the new Wolfdale core, and the E8600 is based on its latest stepping! I’d recommend to upgrade from stock cooling to this after-market cooler and this thermal paste if you intend on overclocking the cpu, to maximize your results.
Power consumption : 1/10 With integrated audio, two hard drive but 4 powerful gpus , power consumption will be extremely high. The video cards will be the parts which will consume the most energy.
Value for the money: 9.5/10 It can play Crysis at 1920×1200 with fulldetails! Enough said. Gaming FTW!

Let me resume this computer for you, with every part and its price:

Components	Part model	$USD Price
CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 3.33GHz Dual-Core	$274.99
Motherboard	ASUS P5E Deluxe ATX X48	$288.18
RAM	2 kits of G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066	$209.98
Video Card	2 X MSI Radeon HD 4870 X2 OC in Crossfire X	$549.00
Hard Drive	2X Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB RAID 0	$108.00
Optical Drive	SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner Black SATA	$26.45
Power Supply	SILVERSTONE 1200W 90A Single Rail 12V	$349.99
Case	Antec 900 Case With Side Panel Window	$98.58
Total price	Entire Computer System	About $2500

Conclusion

Finally, you can have a computer that conquers Crysis at any settings or resolution! It is certainly the best gaming computer that I can design at this given time, without ridiculously increasing the cost. Can you find better parts or better prices? I challenge you to do so. If you think that you could improve this computer, while keeping the price under $2500, let me know how you would do it! After all, there’s a reason why this is called a custom computer.