Building a gaming pc: Need your help!

T

the_undrtaker89

1,262
Yeah, so I need help choosing parts, because I'm no computer buff, I know a little, but not enough to build a computer from scratch.

Really all I want is a computer that will be able to Bf2 on medium/high settings. And I'll say I have about a $1700 budget, but I can be a little flexible. The biggest problem I'm having is choosing a cpu and a video card...anyways here's what I have so far.


ASUS Extreme AX800XL/2DTV Radeon X800 XL 256MB 256BIT DDR PCI-E Dual DVI VIVO Video Card $414.80

AMD Athlon 64 3700 $404.15

DFI LANParty UT NF4 ULTRA-D Motherboard ATX S939 NFORCE4 Ultra
DDR 2PCI-E16 SATA RAID Sound LAN 1394 $ 179.42

OCZ Premier PC3200 1GB 2X512MB DDR400 CL2.5 3-3-7 184PIN DIMM
Dual Channel Memory Kit W/ Ramsink $153.15

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS Hard Drive 3YEARS MFR Warranty $179.61

NEC ND-3540A DVD+RW 16X8X16X DVD-RW 16X6X16X DUAL LAYER+R 8X DUAL LAYER-R 4X IDE OEM BLACK W/ SW $70.59

Logitech MX-510 Performance Optical Mouse $32

Total so far....is around $1200, I'm so screwed......:guilty:

+
Antec sonata II $129

SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER 710N II 8MS 17IN 1280X1024 .264MM 600:1 VGA BLACK LCD MONITOR $372.68
 
dude, you can get a half decent optical mouse for about £10 over here. and do you REALLY need that DVD rewriter???

and seriously dude, a 250GB HDD is OVERKILL. when are you ever going to fill that??

and you can budget on the case dude :lol: no-one is going to care if your case looks like the rear end of a elephant. if the components are fast, they will pay more attention to that.
 
really all you need is a fast MOBO, a fast CPU, a nice monotor and a decent GPU and everything else can be bought as you go along really. replace the DVDRW with a CDRW and DVD reader, an optical mouse that costs £XXXX isnt going to be instantly better than a simple corded optical costing £XX. cheap out on the asthetics side of things, buying them when you need them. if you have a 80GB+ HDD knocking about you could use that until you can fund the larger drive, and then run the 80Gig one as a slave :)

oh yea, i forgot. decent ram is definately a good thing to have too 👍
 
amp88
... :lol: ...

There are people who can easily fill 250 gigs (and more)... :P
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Usually Uni students with highspeed connections and lonely evenings...

..Or old men with high speed connections and lonely evenings...

That or some serious (clean) amatuer video.
 
Hmm.. I just cleaned my 500 Gig raid on the server today - so now I'm up to a healthy 80 gigs available... 250 will only do for so long....

Motherboard... Get an Asus anything.. They may be 3% off in benchmarks but I still have to have an Asus board fail on me !...

Ram.. Get 1 Gig of Kingston or whatever.. If it has the slightest ring of "Brandname" it'll do....

CPU... Get the fastest AMD your pocket will .. eerrrhhhmm.. allow.. An FX53 like I have should be available these days...

Optical Storage - I just bought the cheapest POS Lite-on 16x Dual Layer DVD writer for my HTPC as I figured I wouldn't need it much. Of course I've tested it with both DL and Rewriteable discs... Haven't failed me yet.. Look out for firmware updates if you buy noname brands though !...
 
Indeed, or those people who want maximum quality from their media.

Capping TV at 384x288 uncompressed uses about 300MB/minute (18GB for an episode of Top Gear).
Capping at 768x576 uncompressed uses about 1.3GB/minute (78GB for an episode of Top Gear).
Copying CDs uncompressed uses anything up to 60/70MB per track (call it a gig an album).
Editing that home video of your cousin's/brother's wedding can use a huge amount too.
Scanning that picture your mum wants you to copy at high res uncompressed can take 100MB/pic.

Of course, on a gaming system you don't need a huge amount of space, but hard drives are getting pretty cheap these days, so why not get more than you need?

Back on topic...do you really need that LCD monitor? CRTs are cheaper and almost always give better image quality in games...
 
Yay! replies!

I guess I could downgrade the mouse, but cheap ones usaully become glitchely like the one I got. And I can easily fill 250gb, most of my files are measured in Gbs. I thought that crt wasn't really that better than lcd? and i thought lcd was better for your eyes? I can stare at a lcd moniter for a while.:indiff:

So can anyone suggest better and cheaper hardware then? Keeping in mind that I want to be able to play bf2 at pretty decent settings.......:dopey:


O and I need a tower that can supply at least 400W. I'll look for a cheaper one.
 
amp88
... :lol: ...

There are people who can easily fill 250 gigs (and more)... :P
Click to expand...

hmmm

Flerbizky
Hmm.. I just cleaned my 500 Gig raid on the server today - so now I'm up to a healthy 80 gigs available... 250 will only do for so long....
Click to expand...


servers are the only things i have seen that have used incredible amounts of storage space. if youre playing games then you just need one thats FAST, not big.


and those home users that can fill a 250GB HDD, go buy the music/DVD's you cheap bastards :P :P :P


the_undrtaker89
O and I need a tower that can supply at least 400W. I'll look for a cheaper one.
Click to expand...

buy a newer PSU??? 💡 they arent overly expensive these days, you could get a cheap case and a nice PSU for less than a stupid seethroughblue with flashing neons and 364563453W of power case


sorry..getting out of hand now :guilty:
 
chinko
and those home users that can fill a 250GB HDD, go buy the music/DVD's you cheap bastards :P :P :P
Click to expand...

Not every home user who has more than 250GB of hard drive space is a pirate, look at my last post and you'll see some ways that space can be eaten up...
 
amp88
Not every home user who has more than 250GB of hard drive space is a pirate, look at my last post and you'll see some ways that space can be eaten up...
Click to expand...

yea sorry i noticed that :guilty: but if you think with space in mind, is losing what a tiny biy of clarity in your video really going to kill you? :)


but my point was, if its a dedicated gaming system, then speed > space in terms of a HDD. how much do games use these days? about 5GB excluding un-needed extras and mods??:grumpy:
 
I would say that you should be putting your money towards 5 key places of your build......

The Processor ......I agree with you AMD 64 bit rules! I have a 3200 but I think your 3700 is a good choice for gaming, or your could go for dual core 64 or their FX series.....

The Graphics Card .......get and SLi setup with X2 6800's that will blow you away! but you may have to sell you car! .....or you could wait for the 7200 (the thing thats ment to be the equivalent chip thats in the PS3)...but who knows when that will arrive...

LCD Screen .........there know point in having an amazing computer without being able to experiece it......get like a 19" but not one of those fancy brands like samsung, they are rele overpriced......I got one that was branded quest (and unknown brand) but the panel is made by LG .....its really good and only cost $355!!! for a 19" with 3 year warrenty! ........get a bigger screen with an unknown or less flashy brand.......

RAM .......after about 2GB adding more RAM gives the computer negilable increased in performance but I would recommend that you get about 2GB.....1 GB is ok but you will just want that extra juice.....

Case ......and case that doesnt overheat and that sacrifices quietness for performance......there is no point trying to make a high spec pc quiet......you just want it cooled effectively......

Other things like good surround sound speakers, keyboard, mouse......etc etc they are a must.....

P.s. If your all about gaming just get a DVD drive you dont need CDRW or DVDRW stuff.......put that money to use elsewhere......

Hope thats helps.......

ROBIN
 
chinko
yea sorry i noticed that :guilty: but if you think with space in mind, is losing what a tiny biy of clarity in your video really going to kill you? :)
Click to expand...

Nope, most (sane) people would obviously compress the video anyway. I just like to cap it uncompressed and then deal with it how I'd like afterwards. Compressing on the fly isn't something I like to do.

chinko
but my point was, if its a dedicated gaming system, then speed > space in terms of a HDD. how much do games use these days? about 5GB excluding un-needed extras and mods??:grumpy:
Click to expand...

Yeah, you could run a fast games machine from a <20GB 15k rpm SCSI drive if you wanted. If I were building a PC specifically for gaming and wanted top performance I'd get a small, quick SCSI drive for the games and a slightly bigger IDE/SATA drive for other files.
 
amp88
Nope, most (sane) people would obviously compress the video anyway. I just like to cap it uncompressed and then deal with it how I'd like afterwards. Compressing on the fly isn't something I like to do.
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compression on the fly takes forever. i ripped a 4 minute song from a Metallica DVD, and it took the best part of say, half an hour to burn to an AVI file using the DIVX codec pack and IMTOO DVD ripper :grumpy:
 
Robin 2223
I would say that you should be putting your money towards 5 key places of your build......

The Processor ......I agree with you AMD 64 bit rules! I have a 3200 but I think your 3700 is a good choice for gaming, or your could go for dual core 64 or their FX series.....

The Graphics Card .......get and SLi setup with X2 6800's that will blow you away! but you may have to sell you car! .....or you could wait for the 7200 (the thing thats ment to be the equivalent chip thats in the PS3)...but who knows when that will arrive...

LCD Screen .........there know point in having an amazing computer without being able to experiece it......get like a 19" but not one of those fancy brands like samsung, they are rele overpriced......I got one that was branded quest (and unknown brand) but the panel is made by LG .....its really good and only cost $355!!! for a 19" with 3 year warrenty! ........get a bigger screen with an unknown or less flashy brand.......

RAM .......after about 2GB adding more RAM gives the computer negilable increased in performance but I would recommend that you get about 2GB.....1 GB is ok but you will just want that extra juice.....

Case ......and case that doesnt overheat and that sacrifices quietness for performance......there is no point trying to make a high spec pc quiet......you just want it cooled effectively......

Other things like good surround sound speakers, keyboard, mouse......etc etc they are a must.....

P.s. If your all about gaming just get a DVD drive you dont need CDRW or DVDRW stuff.......put that money to use elsewhere......

Hope thats helps.......

ROBIN
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions, I made changes now, but I still got a budget. How's my motherboard? I want it to last a while....
 
Flame-returns
I would personally pick a Gigabyte, simply for their pure reliability and excellent spec. A DFI is also decent.
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DFI, ASUS, and ABit are probably the best for reliability, despite my bad experiences with ASUS and their RMA process.

I agree with Robin about the LCD screen, I have an awsome Hyundai 19" LCD that I got for $350, but the screen was made by Samsung. :)
 
Firstly, I just built a PC with very similar specs to the one in your first post, and it runs BF2 very well with plenty of detail (it's been a while since I've played, so I don't remember my settings).

Firstly, see if you can get the AX800XL for cheaper. I got mine for well under $400. Also, the processor should also be a bit cheaper.

Secondly, if you decide to get a radeon based card, I'd recommend not going with an asus board. While I was researching for my comp, I found on newegg.com that people were having issues with X800 series radeon cards on AMD based asus boards. I wound up going with the MSI K8N Neo4-F mobo, and it's been a great board so far.

And good luck with your first build!
 
I'd get the 7800GT just because its one of only two current DX10 cards. It also performs well against todays cards, so you're sure to get some mileage out of it. Most probably until DX11 comes out and then we all have to upgrade to DX11 cards. :P

You're also buying an SLI board, so I don't know why you're even considering that ATI card. nVidia won't support ATI's crossfire on thier nForce chipset, so getting an SLI board and an ATI card is waste of money.

chinko
servers are the only things i have seen that have used incredible amounts of storage space. if youre playing games then you just need one thats FAST, not big.
Click to expand...
The storage space has nothing to do with how fast a drive is. A 200GB SATA drive will perform the same as an 80GB SATA drive, and much better than any ATA drive. He's also getting a SATAII drive. So, besides either an SCSI drive or WD Raptor (both of which cost a damn fortune), he can't really get any faster.
 
the_undrtaker89
SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER 710N II 8MS 17IN 1280X1024 .264MM 600:1 VGA BLACK LCD MONITOR $372.68
Click to expand...
Ditch the 17 inch samsung, spend an extra $80 and get a 19 inch Hyundai L90D+. Best gaming panel for the money hands down. Only reason I say this is because most of the manufacturers have stopped giving a damn about the image reproduction of their 17 inchers and many of them look like crap nowadays...

The Hyundai uses a samsung panel with hyundai's own electronics board. The combination is pretty impressive for color and handles ultra high framerates with no ghosting 👍

Aside from that, switch the case for an Antec Sonata II. It's got one of the most reliable power supplies on the market, the case has an insanely good cooling setup and it's overall design was meant to minimize any noise the system may generate.

For an idea of how cool it is, my bro's dual core system runs several degrees cooler than my single core 3500+ which has 3 case fans vs the Antec's 1
 
Aside from that, switch the case for an Antec Sonata II. It's got one of the most reliable power supplies on the market, the case has an insanely good cooling setup and it's overall design was meant to minimize any noise the system may generate.

For an idea of how cool it is, my bro's dual core system runs several degrees cooler than my single core 3500+ which has 3 case fans vs the Antec's 1
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had that up orginally, and I just went to see some reviews on the present tower and I heard that it's too noisy and poor power supply.

Ditch the 17 inch samsung, spend an extra $80 and get a 19 inch Hyundai L90D+. Best gaming panel for the money hands down. Only reason I say this is because most of the manufacturers have stopped giving a damn about the image reproduction of their 17 inchers and many of them look like crap nowadays...

The Hyundai uses a samsung panel with hyundai's own electronics board. The combination is pretty impressive for color and handles ultra high framerates with no ghosting 👍
Click to expand...

I'm going to have to not go with you on that one, I've heard too much about this moniter's problems, I'm going to look around and if I can't find anything I'll consider it.

I'd get the 7800GT just because its one of only two current DX10 cards. It also performs well against todays cards, so you're sure to get some mileage out of it. Most probably until DX11 comes out and then we all have to upgrade to DX11 cards. :P

You're also buying an SLI board, so I don't know why you're even considering that ATI card. nVidia won't support ATI's crossfire on thier nForce chipset, so getting an SLI board and an ATI card is waste of money.
Click to expand...

Sorry I'm completely ignorant when it comes to matching hardware up together. I could use a little help, thanks.👍
 
The only things I have issue with are the RAM and the Monitor.

Forget the aforementioned L90D+, there is a better monitor out there for $4 more. It has a better contrast ratio, dot pitch, and viewing angle. It can be found here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824112173 and it also happens to be the monitor which I will be getting soon.

As for the RAM, if you're looking for gaming, you're looking for speed. The timings one the set of RAM that you have up there are ok, but not great. I would shoot for 2-2-2-5, which just so happens to be what I have in my system right now, which is a set of Dual Channel 512mb Corsair XMS Speed Series RAM. That is what you want. It can be found here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145523

You might also want to think about getting a WD Raptor HDD instead of the Caviar. The difference in RPM speed makes a HUGE difference in load times for everything. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144160
 
VTGT07
The only things I have issue with are the RAM and the Monitor.
Click to expand...
VTGT07

Forget the aforementioned L90D+, there is a better monitor out there for $4 more. It has a better contrast ratio, dot pitch, and viewing angle. It can be found here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824112173 and it also happens to be the monitor which I will be getting soon.

As for the RAM, if you're looking for gaming, you're looking for speed. The timings one the set of RAM that you have up there are ok, but not great. I would shoot for 2-2-2-5, which just so happens to be what I have in my system right now, which is a set of Dual Channel 512mb Corsair XMS Speed Series RAM. That is what you want. It can be found here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145523

You might also want to think about getting a WD Raptor HDD instead of the Caviar. The difference in RPM speed makes a HUGE difference in load times for everything. [url="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144160"]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144160[/url]
Click to expand...


I couldn't find that moniter anywhere. Um...what do those numbers mean? I'm guessing lower is better?
 
VTGT07
As for the RAM, if you're looking for gaming, you're looking for speed. The timings one the set of RAM that you have up there are ok, but not great. I would shoot for 2-2-2-5, which just so happens to be what I have in my system right now, which is a set of Dual Channel 512mb Corsair XMS Speed Series RAM. That is what you want. It can be found here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145523
Click to expand...
How greatly do timings affect performance? I was under the impression that so long as you had some sort of namebrand RAM, you're good to go. Corsair is too expensive for my liking, unless a noticable performace increase is justified. :indiff:

You might also want to think about getting a WD Raptor HDD instead of the Caviar. The difference in RPM speed makes a HUGE difference in load times for everything. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144160
Click to expand...
Yes, but the Raptor only comes in 40GB/80GB versions, plus they cost a freaking fortune. He said he could easily fill a 250GB drive, so he'd have to get 3 of the 80GB Raptors to make up around 250GB. Unless you're super rich, it isn't really worth it. Just go with the Caviar SATAII drive.

FYI: The 80GB Raptor goes for around $260AU. That's $780AU for 3 of them. The Caviar 250GB SATAII drive goes for around $170AU.
 
Shannon
How greatly do timings affect performance? I was under the impression that so long as you had some sort of namebrand RAM, you're good to go. Corsair is too expensive for my liking, unless a noticable performace increase is justified. :indiff:
Click to expand...
The lower the latency value the faster the RAM will be and the better it will perform. Although, we are talking about milliseconds here ...
Yes, but the Raptor only comes in 40GB/80GB versions, plus they cost a freaking fortune. He said he could easily fill a 250GB drive, so he'd have to get 3 of the 80GB Raptors to make up around 250GB. Unless you're super rich, it isn't really worth it. Just go with the Caviar SATAII drive.
Click to expand...
Ah .. I missed the part about him being able to easily fill the 250. Even so, run two hard drives. Windows and program files on the Raptor and your data and everything else on the Caviar.
the_undrtaker89
I couldn't find that moniter anywhere. Um...what do those numbers mean? I'm guessing lower is better?
Click to expand...
Oops, I didn't realize you were in Canadaland, Newegg doesn't ship there.

And to answer your question, yes, but also see above.
 
VTGT07
The lower the latency value the faster the RAM will be and the better it will perform. Although, we are talking about milliseconds here ...

Ah .. I missed the part about him being able to easily fill the 250. Even so, run two hard drives. Windows and program files on the Raptor and your data and everything else on the Caviar.
Click to expand...
.

I see..... and I got a budget, I'd rather buy just what I need.

Anyways, I got a 19" lcd daytek moniter right now, and it hasn't had any problems at all, but I'm not sure daytek even makes moniters like this anymore...... So I'm wandering what I should choose, Viewsonic, samsung, sony,or whatever else. I'm not too sure about Benq cause my friend bought one and he got a coupld dead pixels dead center in the screen.

Plus, I'm not sure about the compatiblity of all this hardware either...
 

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