Hello Maingear

[Brian]

Hello all,

I have been in the market for a new gaming rig for a couple of weeks now, and I have narrowed my choice of companies to two: Maingear and Puget Custom Computers.

I am glad to have found you guys, I really like what I'm seeing here and hearing about you guys out there on the net.

But both of you seem to be great companies with great reputations. Plus I really like the fact that you both have forums, because I will need help configuring my system. For a gamer, I know very little about hardware so I will have alot of questions.

Price is very important, and although I don't have a configuration set up yet it does seem that you have a slight edge over Puget in this reguard.

So, here is what I want. A gaming rig under $2000, the closer to $1500 we can get it the better. So no fancy extras. It must be ready for DX10, and upgradable for years to come. I would rather skimp now and upgrade later.

Is the Prelude my best choice?

[rcb]

Hello!

I would definitely say the Prelude is your best choice. I also was trying to choose between those two resellers, back in Feb, and I'm glad I went with MG. I did so b/o what I read onHardOCP's reviews.

Just for fun I configured a Prelude at about your price point:
Asus P5N-E 650i mobo
E6600 Core 2 proc
Stock cooler
2GB PC 5300 RAM
200GB HD
20X Dual layer DVD recorder
GEForce 8800GTS 320MB vid card
XiFi XtremeGamer sound card
Vista Home Premium
1yr warranty
Total:$1696.22

I would advise you to call MG and ask the techs about how upgradeable your rig will be, if you decide to go with them. They won't try to pressure you into anything and will give you excellent advice.

Good luck with your decision :)

[Brian]

Hello!

I would definitely say the Prelude is your best choice. I also was trying to choose between those two resellers, back in Feb, and I'm glad I went with MG. I did so b/o what I read onHardOCP's reviews.

Just for fun I configured a Prelude at about your price point:
Asus P5N-E 650i mobo
E6600 Core 2 proc
Stock cooler
2GB PC 5300 RAM
200GB HD
20X Dual layer DVD recorder
GEForce 8800GTS 320MB vid card
XiFi XtremeGamer sound card
Vista Home Premium
1yr warranty
Total:$1696.22

I would advise you to call MG and ask the techs about how upgradeable your rig will be, if you decide to go with them. They won't try to pressure you into anything and will give you excellent advice.

Good luck with your decision :)

Thank you rcb!

I like that configuration so far. OnHardOCP's reviews not only led me here as well, but they steered me clear of CyberPower and iBUYPOWER. I shudder when I think how close I came to going with one of them...

I like that config. It gives me a good idea of what I will be facing. I have a few weeks to finalize my config...plenty of time to tweak it a little here and there. Thanks!

[theDreamer]

Great suggestion rcb, the only changes I would make would be this:
~Sound card - do you need one? If no on-board can be perfect for you, plus you can always pick one up somewhere else down the road. It will also save you a few bucks.

~CPU cooling, while I think stock cooling is plenty, always having the extra cooler on it can do wonders to overall cooling of your room & computer. Plus it leaves you open to if/maybe you want to OC someday. Many say they never will, but will always try it once then get addicted. :)

~Finally, I normally do not recommended the 320mb version of the 8k series cards. Few reasons, you can easily just upgrade to the 640mb version for just a bit more; plus if you ever want to go SLi, the 320mb is not the best.

Maingear is a great choice in a company, from reading these boards I can see the success that they have & how much they try to take care of each customer personally with the best experience possible.

Also, :welcome:

[Brian]

~Sound card - do you need one? If no on-board can be perfect for you, plus you can always pick one up somewhere else down the road. It will also save you a few bucks.

Yes, I am leaning toward trying the on-board sound at first...and seeing how much of a drain this has on the CPU.


The second weak point on this motherboard is its on-board audio. Even though it is 7.1 it uses a low-end codec, Realtek ALC883, which provides a low signal-to-noise ratio for its inputs – only 85 dB. This means we do not recommend you to use its on-board audio for capturing and editing analog audio, or you will have a lot of noise on your final file. Also the maximum sampling rate for its inputs is of 96 KHz, while its outputs supports up to 192 KHz. The signal-to-noise ratio for its output is of 95 dB, which is ok for the average user.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/458/9


Many say they never will, but will always try it once then get addicted. :)

I am wary of overclocking...but I hear it's a lot safer and easier than it used to be. Overclocking could end up saving me money down the road, correct? Wouldn't have to upgrade as often. If so, upgrading the cooling may pay for itself.


Finally, I normally do not recommended the 320mb version of the 8k series cards. Few reasons, you can easily just upgrade to the 640mb version for just a bit more; plus if you ever want to go SLi, the 320mb is not the best.

Agreed.


Also, :welcome:

Thanks! Glad to be here!

[Brian]

Asus P5N-E 650i mobo
E6600 Core 2 proc
Stock cooler
2GB PC 5300 RAM
200GB HD
20X Dual layer DVD recorder
GEForce 8800GTS 320MB vid card
XiFi XtremeGamer sound card
Vista Home Premium
1yr warranty
Total:$1696.22

Ok, I tweaked this a little:

Asus P5N-E SLI nForce 650i SLI
E6600 Core 2 proc
GeForce 8500GT 256MB PCIe
2GB PC 5300 RAM
160GB HD
20X Dual Layer DVD±RW
Zalman CNSP8000 Ultra Quiet Heatpipe Cooler
Onboard Audio
Vista Home Premium
Total: $1,297.98

I left out the monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse because I have a Dell, and want to cannibalize it a bit if possible. Or find cheap replacements locally over the summer.

I dont need a big HD. My wifes comp stores all our media files. I dont need a powerful vid card...I'll upgrade next year, or when I can no longer play games on medium to low settings.

Will the onboard dual gigbit LAN be good enough for on-line gaming? Or do I need to get a Network card? I am anxiously awaiting Age of Conan in October...

I included the upgraded cooling so that I can learn to overclock someday without worrying about overheating anything.

Any thoughts?

[solar]

Will the onboard dual gigbit LAN be good enough for on-line gaming? Or do I need to get a Network card? I am anxiously awaiting Age of Conan in October...

The onboard nic will be all that you need. The only reason you would buy a network card in this day and age is if your onboard nic is broken or the motherboard didn't come with any or maybe some special type of situation.

There is a gaming nic that you can buy now called the Killer NIC, but it is so over priced that it isn't even worth it for the small or little to nothing gains it offers. The only reason I see someone getting it is if they have money to burn and space on the motherboard when buying a high end gaming machine. If you are on a budget then there is no reason to get this card and not sure if maingear even offers it.

Hardocp has a couple articles on killer nic if you want more info.

[Brian]

The onboard nic will be all that you need. The only reason you would buy a network card in this day and age is if your onboard nic is broken or the motherboard didn't come with any or maybe some special type of situation.

Awesome. Thanks Solar.

[Brian]

Does anyone know if the mobo in my build supports quad core?

[RottynDawg]

It does indeed...good upgrade opportunity down the road.

[noodlesnspam]

not to be rude or a maingear fanboy considering i currently do not own anything from maingear but, puget is not on the same level of maingear.

If you want to buy puget, you might as well buy dell. dell is decent for mainstream non-ethusiast buyers; everything is avg to decent quality with nice warranty and ok to slightly above average customer service depending on who you get on the phone with.