Honestly I would... if I could save up alittle more cash I'd slaughter these guys. I'd go all out and custom build a water cooling kit like PCGeek did for the graphics cards and get the GTXs easily to 600/1.6Ghz (that alone would ensure victory.) Only problem would be money.

oops didn't see it went to the next page :-P

Hey Blue what do you say we kick their asses :-D

It's probably going to be in September when I get the money for the basic build and cooling. I'll have to use my x850, (unless I get enough to get a 7800 GTX on top of the other costs), but I'll totally blow away their CPU scores. Just talking about it gets me wound up. lol I've been planning this build for over 3 months now and I still have to wait longer. It's going to be great when I get it built.

XRIS, we have currently identical machines. I bet mine cost more though cuz i live in Canada. Freaken $2500 canadian, I didn't buy the parts online either. But yeah, you should totally challenge them, they should've used phase change cooling, I don't know what the hell it is, but it sounds crazy.

Jopaus my system actually cost me under $800 hahahaha I got some crazy deals on this thing. When I built it I wasn't to crazy into overclocking, but once I started I found it to be very addictive. I have my box running cooler than most watercooled boxes and OCed higher than most professionals could have. I mean I'm a professional technician, not a professional overclocker... yet. I got my 3200+ running at 2.6Ghz stable, I just run it at 2.5ghz to keep it alive longer hahahaha.

The box I'm looking to build will looks something like this:

A64 4000+ San Diego $575
Thermaltake Venus 12 w/ Arctic silver 5 (purchased)
DFI SLI-DR $200
1GB Mushkin Redline PC4000 $200 (Purchased)
2x GeForce 7800Ultras or 7900s or whatever it'll be called. about $1200
2x 74GB Raptors $350
Sound Blaster X-Fi Sound Card... about $200
Raidmax Scorpio 668 Full Aluminum Tower (purchased) $100
Antec 480watt neo power (purchased) $100
16xDL DVDRW (purchased) $50

Jopaus,

Check this cooling out.

http://pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1793&page=1
http://epowerhousepc.com/product_info.php?products_id=455

Blue check out this insanity on phase cooling http://www.bleedinedge.com/reviews/processor_reviews/3700sd/37...go_04.html that one blows my mind.

Edited due to the fact that my brain stopped working correctly hours ago.

This is the machine that I am planning to build. (I still haven't made my mind up on whether or not I want a dual core 4800+ or an FX57. I've heard rumors that I might be able to phase cool a 4800+ processor with a Mach II GT, so I might go that route instead.)

Mach 2 GT $899
2x Raptors $246
CD RW/DVD ROM $35
DVD ROM
650 Watt PSU $176
DFI NF4 SLI $196
2 x 512MB OCZ DDR 600 $261
FXF7 $900 (I'm hoping for a price drop. lol)
Lian Li Case $199
Lian Li Case for cooling $175
CPU Mod Kit $65
Case accessories $118
Shipping $61
Tax $246

$3612 give or take some rounding on prices Notice that it doesn't include mouse, keyboard, monitor, or videocards. I'm guessing it will be around $4800 and will totally waste their "ultimate gaming machine" lol

I'm actually emailing them now, and going to post a link to this thread and hopefully they'll take us up on our challenge Blue :-D. That'd be SO sweet.

Like I said before... early 07 we'll start seeing multi threaded apps everywhere so the 4800 would rock then compaired to the FX57... as for now the FX57 would rock the 4800... it just depends on when you're gonna upgrade next.

I think you've convinced me to get the 4800+. I also just found out that I can use phase change cooling with the 4800+.

If they say they are up for the challenge and it isn't going to cost me expensives, I would be more than happy to oblige them in some friendly competition. If they paid for the parts, I would even build them a monster with parts from their sponsors. LOL If I have to pay for it, though, I am putting in the best stuff from the name brands that I trust.

I already thought of what I'd put in the box if I had to build it today:

A64 FX57 @3.4Ghz minimum w/ Mach II
DFI SLI-DR mobo
1GB mushkin redline PC4000 2-2-2-6 1T 3.5v
2x BFG 7800GTXs @ 550/1.5Ghz Custom water Cooled
2x 74GB Raptors Raid 0
Thermaltake Shark Case
OCZ 600w PSU
16x DL DVDRW

That would eat them for lunch. w/o the mach II it's only like $3500... alot of people would say that's alot, but you have to realize it's the BEST computer you can build right now.

Not the best. SCSI steals all the marbles for storage performance. It takes four Raptors in RAID 0 to even get close to the performance of a single, good SCSI drive. If you want the best in storage (money out of the picture), SCSI is the *only* way to go.

Performance wise, our 486 (66 MHz) Intel machine that packed a 1.5 GB SCSI HDD w/ SCSI controller outperformed pretty much everything for several years. The HDD performance alone made it seem several times faster compared to say even 300 MHz machines of the day.

Anyone who would spend over about $2500 for a pc either lives with their parents and has no responsibilities, is rather wealthy and gives none to charity, or hasnt had a run of bad luck with no savings account...lol

Keep guessing. You haven't described me yet.

Those who spent $3000+ are those with a serious need for speed (bragging rights), obviously. They don't have a hole in their wallet and are looking to make one.

http://www.gamepc.com/labs/print_content.asp?id=x15vs740gd

Here's a comparison between SCSI and Raptors.

Just to save you the trouble of continuous guessing, I'll just tell you. I'm a broke college student with kids that intends on becoming a well-known computer genius with knowledge of all hardware (hands on knowledge), software, current technologies, and next generation technologies. I am not rich. This is my hobby and my career all wrapped up into 1 tiny package, and thus what I spend my money on, other than all of the bills. Just because most people have other hobbies or a low-paying job, does not mean that they couldn't spend this much on a computer if they put their minds to it.

Funny, on the two benchmarks performed on that site, the Raptor didn't win a single one except price. The one that stood out the most to me was CPU Utilization. The SCSI drive uses 4.6% less CPU usage. When you consider what else is going on when a hard drive is in use, that could make a huge difference in overall performance.

I am actually glad that this subject was brought up. Since the SCSI drives and the Raptors are about the same price, I might go with the SCSI drives instead. Is there any reason why I shouldn't go with SCSI? I'm not worried about the price of the controller.

Ok, wow, I guess I was wrong. The controller is over $100. Can anyone tell me why it would be worth it to buy 1 SCSI drive instead of 2 Raptors??

The really good SCSI (lots of storage) drives cost over $400 on top of the $250+ SCSI controller. It gets pricy really fast so if you are on a realatively tight budget, go with SATA in RAID.