The 'Perfect' Gaming Setup 105
1up is running a fun piece looking at how to take your gaming setup from merely functional to truly outstanding. From the article: "So you already took the plunge on a hot new HDTV. You've got an Xbox 360, but you're hungering for more HD gaming goodness, and you don't care how much it costs to get there. If that's the case, you're ready to enter the extremely hardcore domain of rolling your own home theatre gaming PC. This is not a project for the light-hearted. If you've never built a computer before, you're better off experimenting on the one you already have first with simpler exercises, like RAM and video card upgrades. Get comfortable, expect mistakes, and don't be afraid to see your own blood - computers can be pointy on the inside."
By component, avoid mid-range parts if possible (Score:2, Informative)
Dont be so quick to consider just saving in the short term will do fine. If you want to be constantly bleeding cash for parts, fine. Just dont be disappointed by the low quality.
Start with a very highend setup(proven components that are built solidly) and keep the configuration relatively unchanged until you cannot go further with that setup. Only add components infrequently as needed(should be about 1-2 cycles/2-3 years after) and in the largest possible increments and/or highest quality as possible.
Repeat as necessary given that you have a system that will last a long while with parts that were made to last a long time, and that things just wont break 15s after the short warranty's up.
For gaming, that should keep you going for a good while.
Re:Widescreen Gaming Rig built around a 37" Westy (Score:3, Informative)
Having just installed it, I can really recommend the Zalman Reserator 1 Plus kit. It has everything you need, everything is designed to fit together without leaks, and it goes together really easily. You literally unscrew a bunch of mount points for the old heatsinks, put on your new ones, add your new heatsinks and gunk, push the tubes on, drop the clamps in to position, fill with distilled water and its supplied coolant, then go. It's maybe a half hour job at the outside and keeps a 4200+ X2 running at about 5000+ equivalent speeds at 45C under load. It's also effectively silent.
If you really need to cool an N-Force motherboard's overheating and thus overfanned north bridge, an extra $25 part does that too.
Granted, for SLI, you'll need an extra VGA block (also about $25) and I'm not sure how that works out heatwise. The one problem with water is you get a long time before the water reaches its final temp so it's really hard to tell what it actually runs at under load and whether there's headroom for a second card on a single radiator.