Monday, June 15, 2009

3D Gaming Rig

As a follow up to the 3D Vision article on NVIDIA's new 3D stereoscopic technology, I have compiled components for a mid-range system. I have not built it, but this is merely my idea of what an ideal game system would be at this level. Of course, this is just a list of parts and would need to be assembled. If you don't have experience doing that, you shouldn't be building your own system as some of these parts can damage very easy if you don't know what you are doing. I have been building my own computers like this for over 7 years and know about the "gotchas" associated with doing that. Perhaps there will be a follow-up article on that if you guys and hot gamer chicks are interested in building your own custom gaming rig. :)

Here is a mid-level system, which will run great for most games, under $2000. I have included gaming keyboard and mouse, which are of course optional if you want to keep cost down.
Item Description Quantity Unit Price Total
Motherboard ASUS M3A78 AM2+ with Gigabit LAN, 8gb max ram 1 $79.99 $79.99
Power Supply OCZ GameXStream 1010-Watt Power Supply 1 $189.99 $189.99
Memory 8Gb OCZ Reaper (2 dual-channel 2x2gb kits) on ASUS QVC list 2 $57.99 $115.98
CPU/Processor+Fan AMD Phenom X4 9950 Quad Core with 4000 MT/S Socket AM2+ on ASUS QVC list 1 $149.99 $149.99
Video/Graphics Card BFG GeForce GTX 260 OC MAXCORE w/dual DVI and full HDMI support with supplied adapter 1 $159.99 $159.99
Mouse Logitech G9 Gaming Mouse 1 $66.99 $66.99
Keyboard Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard 1 $76.99 $76.99
Operating System Windows Vista Ultimate, 64-bit OEM 1 $189.99 $189.99
DVD/CD/BR player Lite-On Blue-Ray/DVD/CD Reader/Writer with Lightscribe 1 $89.99 $89.99
Hard Drive 1TB Seagate Barracuda drive 1 $89.99 $89.99
Monitor NVIDIA 3D-Vision Bundle – Samsung Syncmaster 120Hz 22” LCD + 3D Vision Glasses 1 $599.99 $599.99
Case/Tower Apevia X-Telstar ATX Mid-Tower 1 $89.96 $89.96
Cables XION SATA II 1.5' (18”) cable (90deg to 180deg locking cable for hard drives) 2 $4.99 $9.98




$1,909.82


I have not included speakers, but if you do not have surround sound, I highly recommend you invest in it, especially for a realistic 3D gaming experience. Onkyo offers a great product with 7.1 surround sound for under $500, the HTS5200.

1 comment:

  1. Hi brandon, thanks for visiting topgraphicz.blogspot.com

    I did a small research after reading this post. Unfortunately the total price for this build is still a bit too high in my country. It will cost about $2800 here. :-S

    Well, keep in touch ;)

    Great posts here ^^

    ReplyDelete