New Build

[TitanAura]

Q9450 and 9800GTX. :)

I'm also building a top-o-the-line gaming PC, which I also plan to use for video editing but anywho-
I did a little research on the 9800GTX and found complaints about it's literal size and how people had to remove other components in order to fit it onto the motherboard. If this is the case, what motherboards have the capacity to hold such a behemoth without sacrificing something in return?

[The Wise Monkey]

Hmm, 90% of modern motherboards should be able to support it with no problem, but you might have problems if you have a small case. My advice would be to get out a tape measure, and see if the card will fit in your case, bearing in mind any hard drives that you plan to use.

Oh, and I would recommend the Q9550 and the 9800GTX+ now that prices have dropped recently. :)

[TitanAura]

Hmm, 90% of modern motherboards should be able to support it with no problem, but you might have problems if you have a small case. My advice would be to get out a tape measure, and see if the card will fit in your case, bearing in mind any hard drives that you plan to use.

Oh, and I would recommend the Q9550 and the 9800GTX+ now that prices have dropped recently. :)

Well I've ONLY just started. Basically I'm building from the inside out. I'm looking at the Processor, video card, and RAM (I'm think of getting 3-4 GB of ram as seperate 1 GB chips... is that overdoing it?) first since those are the most important to me, since I want this for gaming and video editing (Adobe Premier is the bane of this Laptop XD) and then I'll find the appropriate components that complement them best. Obviously I'm finding everything before I start buying. I should also mention that it will be XP instead of Vista... tried it but it's not for me.

The Q9550 dropped in price? Awesome, I'll definitely get that instead if that's the case. A high end motherboard and case (I have a nice big empty space so any size will do) would be awesome as well but not required atm. I'm splurging on this PC so price is not a concern BUT I'm going by the "six month rule of delayed acquisition" for the same reasons Rob listed. Is everything I'm looking for fundementally listed in the "Recommendations: Top Notch" thread?

[The Wise Monkey]

Right, moved this into the BYOC section so you can get more feedback.

The recommendations are slightly out of date, but I will be changing those in the near future.

What is your budget?

[Damlite]

Generally this forum tends to advise purchasing components that have the best price/performance ratio, but a literal top of the line gaming rig can easily become very costly, so you need to specify what your budget is.

[TitanAura]

Right, moved this into the BYOC section so you can get more feedback.

The recommendations are slightly out of date, but I will be changing those in the near future.

What is your budget?

Ah, found this again. I was wondering where it went but my post count hadn't gone down lol. :P

Ok, so the Q9550 and the 9800GTX+ are what I want in place of the recommendations then since the prices have dropped (just reminding myself).

I am splurging, I will spend whatever the cost is to build it but I'm not rich, any cuts to the price I can make that won't affect the performance are what I want, aka the "best bang for your buck." Whatever was the previous version of a product or whatever. If the price peaks well above a $1200 range I'll want to see if there's anything I can replace for cost efficiency.

Here's the important stuff I'm putting major funding into:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad processor Q9550 (2.83GHz)
Graphics Card: 9800GTX+ *I don't know the other specs on this*
Motherboard: ???
Case: ??? (um, I really could care less how it looks, just so long as I can get a good disk drive for CD/DVDs and a couple of USB ports)
Ram: ??? (not sure how much I'll need to get the highest performance)

After that, I'm getting whatever performs adaquetely with these without significantly affecting the performance.

Other little whims:
I'll be using XP (what's the difference between Service Package 2 and Service Package 3? Does it affect compatibility? I have the SP3 package on this laptop).
I plan to get a widescreen monitor (once you watch LOTR on a widescreen there's no going back) that will double as a TV so that I don't have to purchase them seperately. Whatever's the best price for it's size. I also use the widescreen Wacom Intuos Tablet thus furthering the need for a widescreen.
I want a better-than-average sound card that has good midi support, but not required though.

*EDIT*
I know a good way of putting it. I'm basically trying to build my own variant on a Dell XPS computer. Right?

[TitanAura]

Question: Did the recommendations page get updated last night? That looks to be almost precisely what I want to pay. If those are the current recommendations then there's really only a couple of things I need to know.

Will all of those still work with Windows XP (*points at self* knows nothing about compatibility)? And which graphics card is better, the EVGA GTX260 core 216 or the EVGA 9800 GTX+? Based upon the reviews I've read, I'm leaning more towards the 9800 GTX+ which is approx. $100 cheaper.

[The Wise Monkey]

Yeah, I updated the list yesterday.

The 9800GTX+ is probably a better bet considering it is that much cheaper, but you could go for the 260 if you can afford it.

They will all work very well with XP.

[TitanAura]

BEAUTIFUL. I guess that fundementally decides my components. I'll be back after I get all of the parts and begin the "duuuuh, wears thith part gouuu?" process as I have barely any experience beyond upgrading RAM.

[The Wise Monkey]

Good luck! :)