BEST rig to buy today that will still be good tomorrow...

[crazyivan1970]

Originally Posted by jamesdietz

Budget??I hoped to keep it below $3000.As mentioned I want this rig to replace my aging fully updated HP Pavillion 701 ( with an FX5700 graphics card & two wheezingCPUs its gone as far as it can go...with 20 fps at the best of times)I will spend more to get the job done,but all things considered I'd rather get below $3000.
BUT you bring up an interesting prospect ...maybe there's a dirt cheap replacement available now that will do the best possible job with IL-2 ( i.e handle graphics like flak & big formations on aircraft & perfect water etc.) then later I could afford to upgrade or replace for needs on SoW?

Few things that consider:

Things to build on with approx prices:
Case ~ 200
PSU ~ 150-200
HDD`s ~ Depends... couple of raptors raid0 is niceee but not enough benefits to justify cost. I say couple of SATA 7200 Rpm drivers for raid0 (prim. partition) and backup drive, whatever size you like.. knowing you.. probably 1TB no less 400 bucks all in all..
DVDROM ~ 50-100
Motherboard ~ 300-350 DDR3
Memory 4GB DDR3 at least 1600 ~ 300

Total of lets say $1500
_______________ 70-80% of your system cost

Things you dont want to buy Top of the line:
CPU - i would get Q6600 what is it, like 200 bucks?
Video - single 8800 GTX or If you like ATI 3870 X2 ~ 400 dollars range
Sound - PCIe Creative goes for like 60 dollars...

Total roughly 660
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So, there is no need to blow 3k on the system... especially paying top dollar for something that will be half price tomorrow... When SOW or whatever comes about, you`ll have a strong base to built on... then you can upp the video and CPU... Reality is...CPU and video cards that cost a fortune nowdays will be at least 50% cheaper by the time SOW is out, and possible much better CPUs and GPUs will be avail by then.. It is very easy to let go CPU that you paid 200 dollars for...and really painfull to let go one for 900+

But that is just my approach..

p.s. I honestly dont think that you can buy a rig today that will be good tomorrow