Building new computer this summer

[bigred]

I'm building a new computer this summer with the profits from my poker bankroll. I'm guessing I'll have somewhere from 1500 to 3K in money for this pc. I'm planning on doing at least dual monitor (but I'll probably use my gf 6800 gt and my bro's pci gf2 mx to support 4 monitors).

What I realized after glancing at anandtech really quickly is that I'm beyond out of date with computer hardware. Apparently they have dual video graphic technology now (I believe it's called SLI technology), NQC or something hard drive technology, dual core processors coming out, pci express cards, oh my.

I don't really want to start a long thread so much as ask someone who knows what they're talking about with the new tehcnologies to find me on irc and let me do a little q and a with them sometime. It would be much appreciated.

Ps. I'm a cs major and have built previous computers so I don't need help with that so much as just what is out there and available now.

[Laeelin]

I'm in the same type of situation bigred, feels strange to not know what is out there...

I ended up getting a nice laptop ( dell 9300 with geforce 6800 go and a 17' monitor [ the monitor + videocard sold me ] )

I still need to build a new desktop though

[Spook]

I have built more PC's than most. I've done it for myself, I've done it for friends, I've done it for a living.

Save money, save time, save hassles. Check out Dell's website, search the net for deals on them, and get a comparable system for 25% less than you could build it. Free support too.

However if you're really wanting to do it yourself, check out http://www.sharkyextreme.com browse down the left side of the site till you come across the links to their buyer's guides. They recomend components for a system there, and the value system should stand up fine for your needs. Plus you can probably get by without several of the things they will mention (OS, DVD burner, possibly cheaper video).

[vqc]

I suggest visiting www.extremetech.com for day to day updates on comptuer technology. They also have a build it yoruself section which is realyl good to look at.

[Laeelin]

someone from here gave me a link to http://www.gotapex.com


That got me this for < $1500

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800
40GB Hard Drive
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
8X Max DVD ROM Drive
Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps)
WordPerfect® 12 - Word processor only
9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (80 WHr)

Basically I put my money in the parts that you basically cant upgrade (better video card, better monitor, larger battery ) and cut the price down on easy to upgrade parts ( ram, hard drive, DVD/CD rom )

[eeeee]

I am a little out of date too, but went shopping at Fry's recently. What got me worked was the motherboards with TWO PCI-express slots (16x) and the new vid cards almost all had two video outs. So the main barrier to four screens is the cost of the four screens, not the video processing.

But I wound up with a laptop -- 17" screen, 1900X12something WUXGA -- four tables plus! Next one is a desktop.

[Aceofone]

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