A High-end Gaming Rig For GTA IV

GTA IV was launched a week ago and brought with it some fairly stiff system requirements. This may have surprised some people, given the fact that earlier iterations of GTA could be used on mid-level rigs without issues. This intrigued us as we had been working on assembling a rig that could run some of the most powerful games available today making use of some of the best peripherals available

While GTA IV can be run on a lesser expensive setup very comfortably, we decided to go all out and assemble a machine  that would not only address the GTA IV requirements right now but would be good for future games that maybe very intensive on system requirements. 

CPU:Intel C2D E8600

Among enthusiasts, the war of choice between dual-core processors and quad-core processors rages on endlessly. Each side has its option of processors in the matter and while quad-cores will certainly be a safer investment in the longer term, the higher clock speed of dual-core processors and their extreme overclockability is what sets the trend for me.

The E8600 is Intel’s highest clocked dual-core CPU available right now offering a 3.33 GHz clock speed, with a 6 MB L2 cache and is built on Intel's 45nm process with a 10.0 clock multiplier. Since its price has gradually come down to Rs. 9,000 and given the fact that it overclocks very well out of the box, this is the ideal choice for our rig.

The P5Q Pro represents what we call the perfect balance between features-set and pricing. At its cost of Rs. 9,000, the board, which is based on Intel’s current generation P45 platform, supports DDR-2 1200 MHz RAM, ships with 2 PCIe 2.0 slots and supports ATI CrossFireX dual-GPU solutions for some great gaming performance along with full support for the entire range of Intel Core 2 processors with FSB’s ranging from 800 upwards to 1600.

RAM: Corsair Dominator 4 GB DDR-1066

The Corsair Dominator is a familiar figure for most enthusiasts. Ever since it was launched at the beginning of the year, this particular stick of RAM has gone from being an enthusiast level product to a premium offering that gives excellent performance at its current price point of Rs. 8,900.

For further details on this wonderful piece of engineering check out this link here.