High End Gaming/media accessories (companies)

[light_em_up]

Hey guys, im looking to pick up an entire new setup to aid in my working from home. Im asking for your help with any companies you know of that specialize in high end gaming/media and such.

Id like to keep the final tag under 2g but i can justify up to almost 3. just wanna hear some of whats out there I dont know of.

I was PISSED to find out that HP had gone and bought out Voodoo just a few months ago. Now their product line has been slashed and only 1 Desktop and 1 Notebook are available. LAME

Im not really a fan of Alienware, unless you can convince me otherwise.

It will def need to be a desktop, but im up in the air as to brands. If i cant find anything ill probably end up building one at memoryexpress.

For accessories ive been looking at the steelseries.com site. They have some great stuff! (Love the D3 stuff) I also like their Merc stealth keyboard, but ill keep searching a bit before i order it (I think it could have a cleaner layout)


What do you guys think?

[KRyn]

www.memoryexpress.com

Just build your own rig, so much easier and you can pick and choose the exact parts you want. That said, you should wait until the GTX600 Seriers and new Intel chip Seriers are launched. Should be around December.

[-relk-]

Originally posted by KRyn
www.memoryexpress.com

Just build your own rig, so much easier and you can pick and choose the exact parts you want. That said, you should wait until the GTX600 Seriers and new Intel chip Seriers are launched. Should be around December.

:werd:

You will save a ton of money if you build it yourself. On second thought, memory express will actually build it for you for ~$50 i believe. If you feel lost in what parts to get, throw me a pm and I can help you out.

But I also agree that you should wait until the new lines are out, should only be a couple months. Either way, you will get a kick ass machine for way less than buying name brand.

[bulaian]

Voodoo was actually bought out by HP in 2006

Definately go to Memex and get a custom one made. You'll save money and ensure that you get good quality parts, as opposed to a pre built one.

[wtf im nameless]

Like everyone else said, go to MemEx. I could spend 4-5x your budget building a "high end" gaming set up from MemEx alone, never mind a specialty shop. What your budgeting for is nothing more than a nice new computer system and Memory Express is the place to go for that. Unless you're talking about JUST the computer with no accessories or monitors or anything else, and even then it wouldn't be hard breaking 4 or 5k there.

[light_em_up]

Thanks alot guys, I kinda figured thats the route i would take i just wanted to see if their was anything else worth looking at.

I think 3k will build a very nice computer, yes its just the CPU, Ive got a decent 22" Acer monitor, dont need speakers.

All their prebuilt gaming systems seem to be under the 2k mark so i should be able to build something nice with another thousand.

Ok guys one last thing and Im sorry if i start an Epic debate.... Intel or AMD? I swore by AMD for years but Intel has come along way in the last 6 years or so.

Its mostly going to be running multiple programs at once, recording and editing software in the background while gaming.

To give you the just of it I need to build a machine for optimal FPS while running multiple programs. Not sure if running AMD or Intel would benefit that.

As you can tell i have a general knowledge on computers and thats about as far as it goes. I dont stay up to date on the release of new products or anything, so i appreciate the heads up.

Maybe forking over a fifty and having someone who knows what they're talking about build me one at M.E. is my best bet.

[wtf im nameless]

Originally posted by light_em_up
Ok guys one last thing and Im sorry if i start an Epic debate.... Intel or AMD? I swore by AMD for years but Intel has come along way in the last 6 years or so.

That would have been an epic debate when it was Pentium 4 vs Athlon64, ever since the Core2 Duo came out it's been Intel all the way.

I would build this:

Full size case, spend 180+ and get a good full size case that will last you many years.
Intel 2600k processor
Corsair water cooling, cheap, hassle free and quiet. get the $100 one
Asus Z68 Motherboard
The fastest ram they have, my Z68 is rated at 1600mhz ram but has no problems running the Gskill 2033mhz ram stably at the those speeds
2 x SSD drives in raid for OS, main apps and a couple games. I'd recommend 2 x 120gb
1 x Storage drive, I like the Hitachis or Western Digital Blacks
Big modular power supply, 1000 watts plus, I'd do 1200 watts, stay away from the OCZ ones
Asus sound card, spend the $50 on it to get the load off the board/CPU
Sata Bluray/DVD/CD writer
GTX590 video card, personally I put in a 570 for the time being and am waiting for the replacement of the 590 which should be out sometime Q1/Q2 2012... but a 590 today will keep you within your budget, a 570 + 690 when they come out will push you over 3k.
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Assembly and load OS

Total came to 2964.87 when I just built it on the MemX site, without any peripherals or monitors.

That's basically the same system I'm running right now, super fast and I love it.

[light_em_up]

Thanks alot for the helping hand, Everything noted and taken into consideration. Thanks for taking the time to build that up for me, it gives me a good starting point in what im gonna be going for and still leaves some room to customize and make it my own.

Cant wait to pick out a SICK case for it, Memex has quite a few options but do you know any sites that may specialize in cases and have more selection? Ive googled a few but if you know any good ones feel free to leave them behind.

[wtf im nameless]

I'd suggest nothing but full size so you have room to have the bigger graphic cards without having to unplug or move hard drives just to get access to them.

My favourite has always been Thermaltake, but if you want to see more MemX has most of the better brands, just look at the names and check the manufacturers websites:

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Category.aspx?C=1121

[RecoilS14]

The SSD's while nice and are faster, the cost isn't really justifiable.

[light_em_up]

Currently in the back of my friends truck, somewhere in the United States.......

Brand New :

~Thermaltake chaser Mk1 case

~Steel Series : Sensei Remote, Merc stealth keyboard, D3 Headset

~Blue Snowball USB mic

Ill decide on what to put inside the case when he gets back lol.

PS, everything added up, after sales and discounts came to just under $400 , pretty decent! :clap:

[nonofyobiz]

check out Overclockers Club (http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showforum=125)

There is alot of help on there and they can suggest the best rig to build. Just tell them your price range and what you want and where you want to get parts etc.

IMO u don't need WD Caviar Black for storage, just go with green.
and ya, dual SSD seems costly. You gotta make sure you don't get something out dated with these. I don't really keep up either but before I know a new thing was coming out and blah blah, u know how it goes.


man I'd looove to have 3k to build a computer lol

ooooh get this!!! http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/id/10181319.aspx

[wtf im nameless]

Originally posted by nonofyobiz
IMO u don't need WD Caviar Black for storage, just go with green.

It's storage, personally I'd never store my stuff on one of the cheapest most unreliable drives you can find... but I guess that's just me. Maybe if you don't care about losing what's on your storage drive you can get away with buying the least expensive drive.

And for the people saying SSD is over priced or a waste of money, it's the best bang for the buck performance increase I've ever done to my PC. It made it feel like a whole new computer. Keep in mind he didn't say he wants it just for gaming, he said he wants to work from home too. Windows is 10x better with an SSD, even better with 2 in raid.

[nonofyobiz]

Black = performance line = greater power consumption, which you don't need or benefit from with a storage drive. Point to something that says caviar green is less reliable.


I agree on the ssd's,.but do u need 2 of them?

[wtf im nameless]

Originally posted by nonofyobiz
Black = performance line = greater power consumption, which you don't need or benefit from with a storage drive. Point to something that says caviar green is less reliable.


I agree on the ssd's,.but do u need 2 of them?

You won't find data on the newest drives because they're not old enough yet, but here's a couple things the blacks have that the greens don't, it's up to each person to decide if these are worth the extra $100. Does this guarantee higher reliability? No. But I've had green drives fail myself, instead of going with Blacks I went with Hitachis and have yet to have a single one of them fail in my server or desktops

WD Black technologies not found in their green drives:

Dual actuator technology
A head positioning system with two
actuators that improves positional
accuracy over the data track(s). The
primary actuator provides coarse
displacement using conventional
electromagnetic actuator principles.
The secondary actuator uses a
piezoelectric motor to fine tune the
head positioning to a higher degree
of accuracy. (2 TB and 1.5 TB models
only)

StableTrac™ — The motor shaft is
secured at both ends to reduce
system-induced vibration and
stabilize platters for accurate
tracking, during read and write
operations. (2 TB and 1.5 TB models
only)

ShockGuard™ instantaneously protects the hard drive against damage from bumps and vibrations while it is running. This technology enables WD Caviar drives to achieve industry-leading shock specifications

Either way, I just put WD on there because they are a popular brand, I only run Hitachi for my storage drives and there are reviews that show they have the lowest failure rates, but again these drives change so much and so often that these can't be considered scientific tests.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hdd-reliability-storelab,2681-4.html

And does he need 2 SSD drives? No, but he's looking at a $3K computer. If he's not running triple screens specifically for gaming he won't need more horsepower than a GTX590 can provide so spending the money on SLI would be a waste. He is however using it for work as well, so he will see a noticeable difference with 2 SSDs in raid. If the budget were 2k instead of 3k I wouldn't have suggested two SSDs in raid.

[light_em_up]

Hey guys sorry i haven't checked back in awhile,

Biz, thanks for the overclockers site its got ALOT of info.

Im liking your little debate here its showing me more info about the systems and helping me decide :D


And i should have been more clear when i said "working" from home. Most of my work IS gaming.. Sorry that prob changes some opinions lol.


Thanks so much for everyone's input so far

[-relk-]

Originally posted by light_em_up
Hey guys sorry i haven't checked back in awhile,

Biz, thanks for the overclockers site its got ALOT of info.

Im liking your little debate here its showing me more info about the systems and helping me decide :D


And i should have been more clear when i said "working" from home. Most of my work IS gaming.. Sorry that prob changes some opinions lol.


Thanks so much for everyone's input so far

What kind of job do you have? Professional gamer?? :eek:

[clem24]

Originally posted by -relk-


What kind of job do you have? Professional gamer?? :eek:

That'd be pretty cool. There are lots of product testers and QC guys that need to play games/do stupid things that normal people would, etc... Although I think I'd be so sick of games if that became my job ahahahaha. I wonder if porn stars get bored of sex..

[light_em_up]

I do mostly testing, but ive been stepping out of my box and doing commentary and play/walk-through's.

Some games with LONG boring drawn out story lines get very annoying for sure. For the most part i wouldn't have it any other way though. Its days like today where i wake up and look outside and say "damn its good to be a nerd". ;)

Ill be recording and editing ALOT of video, and my current pc just doesnt have the sufficient memory to be recording hours of footage at once.

I may be good at computer games but that doesnt mean i can build a PC :P.