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Build me a gaming PC

I don't want to spend more than $700. Assume I already have a monitor and speakers, so forget those.

C'mon PC gamers, what should I get, how should I customize. I know jackshit about just everything hardware these days, so pretend I'm a little kid who just learned how to speak for the first time.

Where do I start...? My 2002 Dell P4 is just too outdated for me. 2009 is right around the corner...I need me an update.

Case + Power Supply: http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/A...st=Combo.131973

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115037

Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814150316

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813128358

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820231122

Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16822136218

DVD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16827106057

1-2 extra case fans (the case comes with one, but it's always good to have more. You should at least have an intake and an exhaust.: http://store.yahoo.com/yhst-6555626...yalod1cafa.html

Total comes to around $640 after 2 small rebates. Use code 20ANTEC during checkout to save an extra $11.00

Everything...I mean EVERYTHING listed here is top quality...no junk. I did lots of research and built a gaming machine with these exact parts and it is amazing. It will max out pretty much everything you throw at it. The motherboard is terrific and should give you an EASY overclock to 3.6ghz using the stock Intel cooler. If you want to push the chip to 3.9ghz or beyond, I suggest buying an aftermarket fan to keep the chip cool. You could overclock the video card an extra 10% too, but honestly man...the jump from your current rig is so tremendous that I think you will be happy with everything here at stock speeds. Dead Space, Team Fortress 2, Bioshock etc will look far better on here than they do on the PS3 or 360.

P.S. The video card includes Call of Duty 4

Does the price you are willing to pay include the a monitor? What resolution are you looking at running your games at?

He said he already had the other stuff...so I assumed he just needed a new gaming tower.

Everything I listed should be perfect for several years of gaming. It seemed the sweet spot as far as price/performance goes. When the rig I posted can't play modern games smoothly (I'd guess around 2012), you'll be able to pick up one of those high end GTX280 cards on ebay for around $80 (they cost $500-600+ now), pop it in, and you'll be set for several more years.

quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt He said he already had the other stuff...so I assumed he just needed a new gaming tower. Everything I listed should be perfect for several years of gaming. It seemed the sweet spot as far as price/performance goes.

Yea, change the Core 2 Duo to a Core 2 Quad.
Video card you have there is a piece of garbage if you want to run any of the newest games full blown settings your looking at dropping some bombs for GTX 280/8800s or gtfo. Serously. Try playing Crysis or Farcry 2 with that card max settings and watch it explode.

im too out of date to help much, but im in tentative agreeance with r5a that the 9800 vid cards arent the way to go. at least im unaware that anything but the GX2 rivals the topline 8800s.

glad to see you joining us once again connerman!!

quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt Case + Power Supply: http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/A...st=Combo.131973 Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115037 Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814150316 Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813128358 Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820231122 Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16822136218 DVD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16827106057 1-2 extra case fans (the case comes with one, but it's always good to have more. You should at least have an intake and an exhaust.: http://store.yahoo.com/yhst-6555626...yalod1cafa.html Total comes to around $640 after 2 small rebates. Use code 20ANTEC during checkout to save an extra $11.00 Everything...I mean EVERYTHING listed here is top quality...no junk. I did lots of research and built a gaming machine with these exact parts and it is amazing. It will max out pretty much everything you throw at it. The motherboard is terrific and should give you an EASY overclock to 3.6ghz using the stock Intel cooler. If you want to push the chip to 3.9ghz or beyond, I suggest buying an aftermarket fan to keep the chip cool. You could overclock the video card an extra 10% too, but honestly man...the jump from your current rig is so tremendous that I think you will be happy with everything here at stock speeds. Dead Space, Team Fortress 2, Bioshock etc will look far better on here than they do on the PS3 or 360. P.S. The video card includes Call of Duty 4

Cap, you are the fucking shit dude. You went balls to the wall here, and I'm absolutely loving it. I'd say by around Thanksgiving I'll have the funds accumulated necessary to make these purchases. I'll trust your instinct. Thanks again buddy!

quote:

Originally posted by Zild Does the price you are willing to pay include the a monitor? What resolution are you looking at running your games at?

I've actually got a good hookup with a friend who has an extra monitor. I have no idea what the hell type it is, but he said it'll do the job just as long as I equip myself with a good enough gaming tower to go along with it.

That being said, do you have any idea what kind of monitor I should be looking for if I wanted to blow my eyes out of their sockets? (this question goes out to everybody if you can answer it) My monitor still has the word 'Trinitron' in the upper left...didn't that label fade out like 5 years ago, lol?

quote:

Originally posted by r5a Yea, change the Core 2 Duo to a Core 2 Quad. Video card you have there is a piece of garbage if you want to run any of the newest games full blown settings your looking at dropping some bombs for GTX 280/8800s or gtfo. Serously. Try playing Crysis or Farcry 2 with that card max settings and watch it explode.

I will heed your advice. Obviously I'm not building this rig tomorrow, so I've got some time to sort out what I want vs. what I don't. I appreciate the input though, I know so little about this kind of thing that any help is great.

quote:

Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN im too out of date to help much, but im in tentative agreeance with r5a that the 9800 vid cards arent the way to go. at least im unaware that anything but the GX2 rivals the topline 8800s. glad to see you joining us once again connerman!!

Hell yeah! Thanks for the input mate, I can't help myself with this shit at all; you PC experts are all I got. Once this rig is in my possession, I'll FINALLY give SA a shot. I've never even seen the game in action (in REAL life, I've seen plenty of youtube vids courtesy of you hahaha). Probably gonna pick up Fallout 3 and Red Alert 3 as well (I'm a sucker, all the Red Alert games hook me even if they are just more EA bullshit).



Thanks again ALL OF YOU! Please, if things change or something new gets released that is affordable and you think would be better outfitted for me, please post!

hehe, awesome! as always, hit me up for advice re forged alliance if you need!

quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt Case + Power Supply: http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/A...st=Combo.131973 Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115037 Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814150316 Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813128358 Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820231122 Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16822136218 DVD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16827106057 1-2 extra case fans (the case comes with one, but it's always good to have more. You should at least have an intake and an exhaust.: http://store.yahoo.com/yhst-6555626...yalod1cafa.html

Can't disagree with that.

Quad core is pretty useless. There are barely any games out there (or coming out in the near future) that make much use of it - except maybe crysis, but that can run smooth on the specs posted above so it's a waste.

I would've recommended a 8800GT for the GPU, but if you were planning to play Cod4 anyways, it's a good bundle.

quote:

Originally posted by Project-K Can't disagree with that. Quad core is pretty useless. There are barely any games out there (or coming out in the near future) that make much use of it - except maybe crysis, but that can run smooth on the specs posted above so it's a waste. I would've recommended a 8800GT for the GPU, but if you were planning to play Cod4 anyways, it's a good bundle.

yeah, thats what i reckon.

I don't know what yall are talking about saying an E8400 @3.6ghz + a 9800GT isn't high end. With that rig, I play Crysis on high (not "ultra") and get a rock solid 40-45FPS. It looks beautiful to me. And every other game I've tried is a silky 60FPS maxed out. No need to go crazy on the vid card when they drop in price so fast. A 3ghz Core 2 + 9800GT will be fine for gaming over the next few years.

Conner, if you want to splurge and go slightly over your $700 budget, I recommend one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814150314

It's a bit more future proof than the basic 9800 because it's factory overclocked and has more shaders and other fancy things enabled. It will probably give you a 20% boost in FPS for most games. The card als includes Far Cry 2

Having a look at that site I saw this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115041

12mb cache? I didn't know they did 12mb cache! Holy shit, I'm gonna buy one of these for my production rig in the future.

http://pcpptech.wikispaces.com/Entry+Level+Gaming

prices are in aud though.

Good sets of components though, work out the prices on newegg or w/e for you if your us, should be 30%+ cheaper.

quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt I don't know what yall are talking about saying an E8400 @3.6ghz + a 9800GT isn't high end. With that rig, I play Crysis on high (not "ultra") and get a rock solid 40-45FPS. It looks beautiful to me. And every other game I've tried is a silky 60FPS maxed out. No need to go crazy on the vid card when they drop in price so fast. A 3ghz Core 2 + 9800GT will be fine for gaming over the next few years. Conner, if you want to splurge and go slightly over your $700 budget, I recommend one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814150314 It's a bit more future proof than the basic 9800 because it's factory overclocked and has more shaders and other fancy things enabled. It will probably give you a 20% boost in FPS for most games. The card als includes Far Cry 2

That is high end. I'd go for a radeon 4850, but that is still pretty high end.

Connerman, the size of your monitor is important because that tells me what resolution you are going to be running natively. If you aren't going to be running at 1920x1200 or higher then you can get away with slower hardware. For that resolution you need at least a 24" widescreen. Unless you have that then you will be paying for hardware that you won't need.

That list is solid. Definitely not worth the extra money on the Quad Core, IMO. However, I would suggest upping the video card to an 8800 series.

Stolen from tomshardware.com


$500 Entry-Level System Components
Component Model Price (U.S.D.)
CPU Intel Pentium E2180 $70
CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper TX2 $30
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L $85
RAM Wintec AMPO PC2-6400 2x1GB $35
Graphics PNY VCG88512GXEB-FLB GeForce 8800 GT 512MB $110
Hard Drives Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3400620AS 400GB $65
Sound Integrated 8-Channel HD Audio $0
Network Integrated Gigabit Networking $0
Case Antec NSK4480B $80
Power Earthwatts 380W Included w/Case $0
Optical Lite-On 20X DVD�R SATA Model iHAS120-04 $24
Total Price $499

Upgrade the CPU and/or video card with the extra $200.

I would go to the E8400 for a CPU and a Radeon 4850 for the video card.

Just if you think I'm talking shit or curious.

I've built many systems. Three this year alone.

I personally use a 8800 GTX w/Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 and my other on backup iss a Core 2 Quad Q66600 w/9800 GTX.

I built a friend with a C2Q w/XFX GeForce 9800GX2

I use P5K/P5Q Asus motherboards on those two systems. Friend's was also a P5k.

Anyway, if your like any gamer who wants to go big and play games the way they are meant to be played (im talking native resolution, ultra settings, with full AA/AF otherwise take your happy meal and gtfo) let me give you my recommendations.

Right now? Core 2 Quad. Nothing else. Q6600. Get an after market cooler and OC it like a mother ******. Which is possible, very easily.

4 GB MINIMUM. Don't worry about timing. Brand is important. Mushkin uses great chips, I forgot which but their QC is terrible now and have a high return rate (I think it was Corsair) stick with OCZ/Mushkin or G.SKILL.

Don't be retarded and get stupid raid arrays or 300 dollar hard drives. Seriously. Your not a server or a fucking nerd retard. Take yourself any 320-500 GB drive and your golden. They are all fine and work around the same speeds anyway who gives a shit. Maxtor/WD recommended. Arguing RPMs and weather or not RAIDing gives you a boost in performance is so minimal gain, just eat a dick and fuck off if you mention the word raid. My 1 maxtor 320 gb drive that was 120 loads faster then any computer in a game. I get in 1st all the time then the boneheads that QQ about their raid arrays. funny thing is some of them are so fucking stupid they have more money then brains and bought a dedicated raid fucking card. jesus christ.

PSU. Base the wattage you need on what graphics card(S) you get. Any SLI-Crossfire shit, play it safe and give yourself 700-1000w. Research your PSU in depth, sometimes the rails and capacitors suck or the efficiency is terrible. Read before you buy your PSU is a must. Use google and check the usual review sites. Recommend Silverstone or OCZ. Forget any big name brand unless you want your house to burn down. PSUs are reviewed in detail, I cannot stress this enough READ FOR THE PSU.


GFX
Let me make this simple for you.

8800 GTX SLI. 9800 seires sucks. GT series sucks. Anything below 8800 sucks. No word of a lie.
Only ATI card: 4870 Crossfire. Not 4870x2 *2
GTX 280 is stupid. Waste of money. Do not get.


Do not Quad SLI or Quad Crossfire. The more GPUs you have, the worse the driver support / compatibility is. I don't care what you say, I've used Quad SLI and Non-SLI and everything, eat a dick.

Make sure you do a quick little glance over at hardocp/anadtech and select one of the graphics cards review (one of the new ones) you'll see which ones are the fastest.

Case: Do whatever you feel like, if it was me, who gives a shit if its shiny as fuck. Save yourself money, get a 100 dollar case, no psu, make sure its giant and fits your 10 cm long dick (graphics card). get some black turd case who cares it will be sitting on the floor or out of sight anyway. One of my biggest regrets is getting fancy cases, no one cares and it doesn't help your fps.

Mobo:
Asus boards dominate, like I said, they are sturdy as fuck. You will be happy. Support great, build great, stability and compatibility great. No I don't work with Asus but I've used lots of their shit (including companies they bought ala ASROCK) and I've never had problems it was all a dream.
Gigabyte is pretty good too but nothing near the market control as Asus.

Also like PSUs, do read your motherboard review.


Heres what you should budget for;

CDN.
GFX: 500-1000 (serously)
CPU: 300-320
Mobo: 255 max.
rest is all dependant and such. plus im lazy.

Just ask questions.

This is outstanding stuff. It's almost like I have TOO many suggestions. But the more the better!

i dont think that you need a quad core, unless you are encoding video, etc.

but newegg has the e8500 for slightly more than the e8400 and i think its a better all around c2d.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115036

20 bucks more...?


i am slowly doing what you want to do, ive collected the PSU and the case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16811119137
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16817341001

this xmas i will look more into mobo and processor. i think i will invest a bit more in the mobo, since as long as the mobo is LGA 775, i can upgrade to a quad when the price gets down a bit. my computers have all been so out of date that i do not need total horsepower immediately|

Quad Core is great.

If you ahve a good vid card, you arent going to notice where dual still wins over quad anyway.

I was running some programs that are using algorthims to look at DNA last night whilst playing fallout 3. And everything still ran great, didnt notice slowdown at all.

I can play any game out now on full settings (coupled with 4870) and I get better desktop performance...

Haha, this guy r5a is jokes.
I'll have to interupt you on a couple things though.
9800GX2 is a monster that runs excellent on higher resolution for example 1600x1200 & up including widescreen configurations. 88000 GTX is great but not near 9800GX2 by any means.
4GB is mainstream consumer where you take into account that software is demanding a lot on RAM especially Vista, internet software, etc. Basically the more RAM you have the faster data transfer rate between cpu & hdd. 8GB minimum or up is standard for enthusiatic's & professionals. RAID not great? RAID 0 is excellent for performance and it's so much faster than regular setup rather it's IDE133 or SATA150/SATA2. RAID 5 is excellent for system management but it's a little slower than 0 coz of the fault tolerance.
Mainstream motherboards are nowhere near to comparing any server motherboard. Server boards are loaded with options, amazing functionalities & system stabilities. Rather it's a Xeon or Opteron you can't go wrong plus you can load the RAM up to 32GB & up (the most I've seen for sale was 64GB!) & last but not least you have hdd components to choose for configurations of SCSI or newer technology SSI. Try 2 Seagate Cheetah's, 15000RPM in RAID 0, oh man, 2 beasts! I've got 2 WD Raptor's, 150GB each, in RAID 0 & really they do live up to the manufacturer specifications. With 8GB systems you need to aware of the 64bit computing. I've had my monster for a couple good months now & let me tell yeah, there's lots to learn. Drivers aren't so bad but rather good. Vista Ultimate 64 is very stable but I've had encountered problems just from my sheer ignorance to 64bit computing. 64bit is I'd say close to twice the speed of 32bit. Much of that considered opinion relies on RAM but it is essentially faster on 16GB+ configurations.
Conner, if your not a enthuasiatic or extreme gamer just settle for a case worth <=$1000. Take a quad proccesor, any mainstream motherboard, 4GB RAM, 2 Hdd's in Raid0, 2GPU's or 3-way SLI (but that'll be more $) and your set. But if your baller on dishing out cash for a top of the line system you need to start of from 4K.

quote:

Originally posted by bluE_Neon Haha, this guy r5a is jokes. I'll have to interupt you on a couple things though. 9800GX2 is a monster that runs excellent on higher resolution for example 1600x1200 & up including widescreen configurations. 88000 GTX is great but not near 9800GX2 by any means. 4GB is mainstream consumer where you take into account that software is demanding a lot on RAM especially Vista, internet software, etc. Basically the more RAM you have the faster data transfer rate between cpu & hdd. 8GB minimum or up is standard for enthusiatic's & professionals. RAID not great? RAID 0 is excellent for performance and it's so much faster than regular setup rather it's IDE133 or SATA150/SATA2. RAID 5 is excellent for system management but it's a little slower than 0 coz of the fault tolerance. Mainstream motherboards are nowhere near to comparing any server motherboard. Server boards are loaded with options, amazing functionalities & system stabilities. Rather it's a Xeon or Opteron you can't go wrong plus you can load the RAM up to 32GB & up (the most I've seen for sale was 64GB!) & last but not least you have hdd components to choose for configurations of SCSI or newer technology SSI. Try 2 Seagate Cheetah's, 15000RPM in RAID 0, oh man, 2 beasts! I've got 2 WD Raptor's, 150GB each, in RAID 0 & really they do live up to the manufacturer specifications. With 8GB systems you need to aware of the 64bit computing. I've had my monster for a couple good months now & let me tell yeah, there's lots to learn. Drivers aren't so bad but rather good. Vista Ultimate 64 is very stable but I've had encountered problems just from my sheer ignorance to 64bit computing. 64bit is I'd say close to twice the speed of 32bit. Much of that considered opinion relies on RAM but it is essentially faster on 16GB+ configurations. Conner, if your not a enthuasiatic or extreme gamer just settle for a case worth <=$1000. Take a quad proccesor, any mainstream motherboard, 4GB RAM, 2 Hdd's in Raid0, 2GPU's or 3-way SLI (but that'll be more $) and your set. But if your baller on dishing out cash for a top of the line system you need to start of from 4K.

That is insane! I can throw together a box that will play most games at 1920x1200 at pretty high detail for around $1000. This guy isn't running a server for a client's website or anything.

quote:

Originally posted by Zild That is insane! I can throw together a box that will play most games at 1920x1200 at pretty high detail for around $1000. This guy isn't running a server for a client's website or anything.

Yep, now is a great time for pc gaming graphics to cost wise.

quote:

Originally posted by Zild That is insane! I can throw together a box that will play most games at 1920x1200 at pretty high detail for around $1000. This guy isn't running a server for a client's website or anything.

Ofcourse you can. Buy an Dell XPS for less $1000 and it'll run in high detail but it won't be fast by any means. Enthusiastic & professional users demand speed and that comes with a price unfortunately.

Enthusiastic users don't buy dell

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