Building a PC Help...

[Ath22]

Right, well I've decided to get into PC gaming a bit and I've decided for my money I could build a better computer than what I could buy. Considering I've no idea what I am doing, I figured I would ask for some advice on here. My budget is going to be around 1100-1500, so I'm assuming that would be mid-level comp? The games I'm looking to play on the PC are probably going to be Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, maybe Crysis and other games of the like.

Any advice is greatly appreciated...

[DrFoo]

With that budget you can build an awesome computer even if that does include a monitor and a mouse/keyboard. I'm about to go to sleep but here's a quick run down on what I recommend:
Case - depending how much you care about noise/ease of installation/size can cost you from $50-$100 (Antec generally makes the best)
Power supply - $50-$70 for a 500+ watt ATX power supply from Corsair/Antec/Thermaltake (just make sure it has a PCI-Express connector and SATA connectors)
Motherboard - about $80-$100 for a decent ATX board from ASUS/ABit/Foxconn (make sure it has an LGA 775 socket that supports dual/quad core processors, SATA connectors, 1 or 2 PCI Express slots, and on-board audio).
Processor - $200 for a fairly high end dual or quad core Intel processor (Q6600 or E8500)
Video Card - $150 for a Radeon HD4850
RAM - $50 for 4 GB of DDR2-800 or faster RAM
Hard drive - ~$70 for a 400 GB hard drive or about $100 for a 750 GB hard drive (just make sure it's SATA and manufactured by Seagate/Western Digital/Samsung)
Optical Drives - I would just look for a couple of basic SATA DVD-Burners for around $25 each.

If you did the high end of what I recommend it would still only end up costing about $800 (or if you have to buy Windows about $900). You could upgrade the video card a bit but the 4850 (or nvidia's 9800gtx) are pretty much in the sweet spot for price/performance and to run 2 video cards at once you would have to spend more on a second video card (obviously), a better motherboard, and a better power supply for only a moderate performance boost.

I would just poke around newegg.com in the computer hardware section and keep asking any questions you have here.

[redline]

I pretty much had the same budget and ended up going with an E8400 and GTX 260 video card. RAM is so cheap now that I went ahead and went with 8 GB of DDR2. I was looking at 750GB drives, but a 1TB drive wasn't a whole lot more so I ordered one. Where I probably spent more than I should have was on the case and PSU, but I think it will pay off in the long run to have spent a little more on those components. About $1400 total, less $80 or so in rebates. Here's what I got:

EVGA 896-P3-1265-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130398)

XFX MB-N780-ISH9 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813141005)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037)

(2) OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P10664GK (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227298)

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284)

LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model GH22LS30 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136153)

Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043)

Antec TPQ-850 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371009)

[SynGamer]

First, nice budget! Second, disregard what redline suggested (no offense) for the graphics card, and CPU.

If you're budget is $1100-1500, get the best you can:

ATI Radeon 4870 1GB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000048%201068320729&Description=4870&name=1GB) - Any brand will do really, but try to find one with the best warranty to protect your investment. Heck, get two if you want, or wait for a deal down the road to get a second card.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041) - It has 12MB of L2 cache, 1333MHz FSB, and it's a Quad-Core. You could easily overclock this to 3.5+ GHz on air, higher with water.

Antec Nine Hundred (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021&Tpk=Antec%20900) - If you only plan on having 2-3 HDDs, get this case, it's cheaper and looks just as good.

[Ath22]

First, nice budget! Second, disregard what redline suggested (no offense) for the graphics card, and CPU.

If you're budget is $1100-1500, get the best you can:

ATI Radeon 4870 1GB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000048%201068320729&Description=4870&name=1GB) - Any brand will do really, but try to find one with the best warranty to protect your investment. Heck, get two if you want, or wait for a deal down the road to get a second card.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041) - It has 12MB of L2 cache, 1333MHz FSB, and it's a Quad-Core. You could easily overclock this to 3.5+ GHz on air, higher with water.

Antec Nine Hundred (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021&Tpk=Antec%20900) - If you only plan on having 2-3 HDDs, get this case, it's cheaper and looks just as good.

The budget is based upon what I was originally going to spend on a laptop! After looking around at what was to offer, I decided to just either build my own, or pay someone to build it for me with components I provide haha. Much better idea I think...

But thanks a lot to you syngamer, and DrFoo, and Redline. I'll continue shopping around and learning a bit more! And any other tips are helpful as well.

[redline]

First, nice budget! Second, disregard what redline suggested (no offense) for the graphics card, and CPU.

If you're budget is $1100-1500, get the best you can:

ATI Radeon 4870 1GB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000048%201068320729&Description=4870&name=1GB) - Any brand will do really, but try to find one with the best warranty to protect your investment. Heck, get two if you want, or wait for a deal down the road to get a second card.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041) - It has 12MB of L2 cache, 1333MHz FSB, and it's a Quad-Core. You could easily overclock this to 3.5+ GHz on air, higher with water.

Antec Nine Hundred (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021&Tpk=Antec%20900) - If you only plan on having 2-3 HDDs, get this case, it's cheaper and looks just as good.

The GTX 260 (216 cores) and the Radeon 4870 are so very close in terms of price and performance, I don't think he could go wrong with either one. Keep in mind, Ath22, that your GPU choice will dictate what motherboard/chipset you get too, depending on if you want to go with Crossfire or SLI.

As for Quad-core vs. Dual-core, it costs almost twice as much but if you can swing it, why the hell not! :lol:

[SynGamer]

The GTX 260 (216 cores) and the Radeon 4870 are so very close in terms of price and performance, I don't think he could go wrong with either one. Keep in mind, Ath22, that your GPU choice will dictate what motherboard/chipset you get too, depending on if you want to go with Crossfire or SLI.

As for Quad-core vs. Dual-core, it costs almost twice as much but if you can swing it, why the hell not! :lol:
The 4870 has 1GB of GDDR5 (5, not 3) memory as well as 800 processing cores versus the GTX 260's 216...hence why i suggested it.

[mav451]

I have no idea why you guys are recommending the 45nm quads. The Q6600's have been under $200 basically since the e8400's were released...which is nearly 8 months ago.

[Ath22]

Do you guys prefer AMD over Intel? I was looking into them and to me it looks as if AMD has an advantage over intel. However, I also realize its a bit of user preference.

[mav451]

AMD had the crown during the A64 years. C2D brought it back to Intel. Unless you want less performance, I'd go with Intel.

<< I've been pure AMD since 2001 through 2008 (when I bought my first Intel, e8400).

[Ath22]

Another n00b question... Will the stuff I buy come ready to insert into the case, or do I have to buy some cables and such to install it? That would really suck...

[SynGamer]

Another n00b question... Will the stuff I buy come ready to insert into the case, or do I have to buy some cables and such to install it? That would really suck...
If you buy everything new, it should have everything you need to install the parts. If you buy OEM, like an OEM Hard Drive, then all you will get is the HDD and no cables.

[SOSTrooper]

If you buy everything new, it should have everything you need to install the parts. If you buy OEM, like an OEM Hard Drive, then all you will get is the HDD and no cables.

I think the most important components to get in retail packages are CPU, motherboard, and possibly video card. Retail CPU comes with the CPU fan, so you don't have to buy a 3rd party fan. Retail motherboard comes with the most vital cables such as SATA to connect your drives. Retail video card comes with DVI-VGA adapters and other misc. cables you may need. But you can't really buy bare video cards anymore, most come in retail package or white box WITH all retail accessories.

[Ath22]

Alright thanks!

[Ath22]

Mid or full tower?

[mav451]

I personally wouldn't cheap out on your case. However, I'm a power user, and I enjoy the perks of a well-built case with plenty of room (possible 10x internal HDs) and removable mobo tray. Not sure what stage you're at, in terms of needs. The CM690 is a solid, but really cheap case. I personally wouldn't buy anything cheaper, b/c other brands/knock-offs the quality drops of severely.

So in a nutshell, if you're not gonna stick with the case for long, a quality mid-tower should suffice.

[Ath22]

Well, from what I have heard, cheaping out on a case = bad idea so I was thinking of this one: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3424761&csid=_25

with a 500w power supply... http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=905179&csid=_25

good?

and for the motherboard i believe i'm correct in saying that with an ATX case i need an ATX motherboard so any suggestions?

[Ath22]

I stumbled upon this little bundle...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3714946&csid=_22

[BigPopov]

If this is pretty much solely for gaming, get a dual core CPU. If it's for multitasking/other stuff in addition to gaming quad core is probably a better move. (dual core will be clocked higher, no game will really utilize a quad right now)

I love Antec cases but I've built machines with Rosewill (newegg brand) and Centuron cases. There's nothing wrong with them if you need to skim money here and there. I love to search Newegg by "Best Rating," and then within my price range.

[Ath22]

well i have my laptop for doing other stuff as well. so i figured that i'd game/surf the web on the desktop.

[BigPopov]

That PS has no SATA connections from what I see. Your power supply is the most important piece in the system, if the PS goes haywire it can take out all of your other components. Spend a little more than $60.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341001 is a great product ($100 and a $30 MIR)

Both a mid and full tower case will hold either an ATX or mini ATX motherboard.

[Ath22]

And overclocking is not an issue for me...lol...I'm a n00b so i don't think I will be capable of overclocking for a while...

[Ath22]

That PS has no SATA connections from what I see. Your power supply is the most important piece in the system, if the PS goes haywire it can take out all of your other components. Spend a little more than $60.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341001 is a great product ($100 and a $30 MIR)

Both a mid and full tower case will hold either an ATX or mini ATX motherboard.

alright thank you!

[Ath22]

heres my shopping cart at newegg with everything i think i need. what do ya'll think?


http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx?Submit=view

[BigPopov]

You need to create a wishlist, shopping carts are locally stored.