Soooooo I'm sick of sharing a computer with my family and all the spyware my stupid little sister puts on it, and I'm looking to invest in a new one. Since I'm just a tad bit ignorant on the subject, I'm gonna ask you all for help :D Basically I'm looking for something that can play new games well, as well as having lasting quality. Right now, my graphics suck, my fps sucks, and basically everything playing newer games sucks I have to use DX7 on Empires, and it's still choppy. I usually use DX8 on other source games, but at times it gets unbearably unplayable. I also record music, but I think pretty much any computer can handle that with the right software. I visited a site linked at bestbuy.com to put together a gaming rig, and that came to well near 2000 bucks, which is something I won't have any time soon. If you guys have any tips on buying a good computer, like buying a cheap one but getting new parts to put in, I would greatly appreciate it And, if possible, keep it around 1000 dollars, but I will be grateful to any bits of information you all can give me. Just in case, my specs now are: Dell dimension 4600 desktop Shitty plug in and play monitor that only gets 75 hertz refresh rate Intel Pentium 4, 2.66Ghz processor ATI radeon 9800 graphics card, but somethings fucked up with drivers (ati drivers never worked, I have omega ones but it says I have a radeon 9000:confused: ) Yeah that's all I can think of at the moment. I desperately need a new system. Thanks all.
Your better building one from scratch. This one I have only cost me around £200-300 and there's not a game out yet it can't play.
LOL I'm not nearly stupid enough to ask people I don't even know for money :D Thanks, I had a feeling flat screens were a waste. All my friends who are in CAL and stuff have big monitors and get 120 hertz refresh rate, and it's smooth as hell. Sorry cosmicblu, I don't understand German, but since I'm so desperate I'll try translating it And dee, thanks a lot, I think that's the way I'm gonna go. How do you suggest I go about building my own? I mean, I have no idea how to put one together. Are there any companies that I can go to? Added: Ok, I just translated the site, and as I expected, it was all gibberish in english. God damn sucky translation sites Thanks for your help so far all I really appreciate it.
I guess I was lucky. My brother knows a lot about PCs. He built most of it, I just bought it all =p Humm, you could ask a friend who knows what he's doing or could prolly take it to some small electronics/computer shop and have them build it for you. As for actually buying stuff, if you don't know how to build, I would suggest having someone help you with that too and I'd suggest ebuyer.com to price stuff (what I usually use) Also, don't be picky with 2nd hand stuff. A few pieces of my PC are second hand have lasted me a good year or two (sometimes more). Just make sure you're buying something you know works well and preferably as new as possible or used as little as possible.
Alright thanks a shitload dee :D Now all I need are some recommendations on parts. Processor, graphics cards, sound cards, whatever the hell else there is
Processor, can't really say, as for graphics, wait for the DX10 ones to come out before heading for one, that way you can get the old generation for about $100-150 less. Soundcards, not exactly nessecary, but X-Fi is what I've heard... I'm not very good with building computers though... (the only one I did blew up after a year, freaking overheating AMDs) -Sheepe
Thanks sheepe Does anyone think I should invest in a physics processing unit? I hear a bunch of future games will have fully destructable environments and whatnot. I still don't know what parts would be best, so keep the suggestions coming :D
Ok Jn although I am relatively new to building custom machines ( have only built three and have yet to have any issues besides having to return a defective video card ) but I can assure you that I can get you a design that is powerful enough at a good price. I paid roughly $1200 for my machine a year ago, meaning it'd probably cost half that now AND it could play FEAR on medium ( for those of you that dont know, FEAR is THE known game for fucking up your computer when it gets picky ). Stay tuned as it takes me about an hour to research all the required information and then put that information into a good format ** Remember that newegg.com and xoxide.com are some of the best around, DO NOT use tiger direct. They are known for pulling tricks to cut costs on their end and have horrible reviews all over. ** First thing's first, is the case. This can be one of the hard parts cause there is so many damn good looking cases out there, good place to look at nice ones is www.xoxide.com, so head over to http://www.xoxide.com/pccases.html and find a good case you like. Remember, spending upwards of $300 on JUST a case is hopeless and even if it includes a cooling tower on it. When choosing a case make sure it has enough drive bays for your optical drives ( including future expansion ), enough bays for your hard drives ( this includes expansion ) and then make sure its the right size for the motherboard. Another thing to keep in mind is if you go with just a standard case with a window for say $60 that doesnt have all those damn lights and shit on it, you can mod the thing to hell and back. Trust me on that, modding is FUN because you choose the designs best for you. Go here for all the information you will need on modding a case, from electrical work to body work to invisible drive mods. http://www.xoxideforums.com/ My suggestion is to get a case thats large, has plenty of space and has LOTS of fans for good airflow. Stay away from the cramped LAN cases at all costs for a desktop machine as they are a bitch to work with ( working with a cheapo LAN case usually gets your hand cut to shreds by the days end ). Here's a list of good / excellent size cases that have great airflow and have good reviews on many sites ( the Lian-Li's are a tad expensive but you're paying for an extremely nice case that should last longer than you ). http://www.xoxide.com/lianlipc75.html http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811195024 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144007 ( This is the one I have, if you want an idea go to the computer rigs thread ) So as I said before the case is really up to you, just make sure you check the reviews on it. When you find one you like, post a link. So next up you need a motherboard. These can be kinda tricky as their chipsets and BIOS can cause unexpected issues down the line with other things or generally have shitty ones. Generally you want a rock solid motherboard with lots of good reviews, a good BIOS ( if you plan to overclock then your motherboard and its BIOS is going to play a key role in it ) and of course good options. Now I myself am an AMD fan so I'l go with an AMD / ATI setup for you, but if you want I can switch to Intel / Nvidia or so on. First you have your socket type, 754 is much cheaper than 939 but does not support any of the newer options as I am told (Dual Data Rate memory, has piss poor overclocking abilities and so on ). So 939 is the choice when choosing a socket. Next we have the North Bridge or as most call it the Chipset. Stay the fuck away from VIA chipsets like the plague, two systems I've built used VIA chipsets and they are the most annoying lil' fuckers you can deal with. Next up we have the choice between AGP / PCI-x16 for your video card, AGP is getting knocked out and PCI-x cards are sometimes cheaper than their AGP counterparts, so its a good idea to go PCI-x. We also have your interface type for optical and hard disks, IDE is no longer a good choice because S-ATA2 is much faster and more reliable. Just remember to get a motherboard that still has one IDE channel as Win-XP cannot read from S-ATA optical drives when installing ( trust me on this ). So in the end here is what I think would be a good board for you: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130484 MSI has a pretty good reputation and the reviews on the board seem solid. Next we need to get a video card for you, which can be pretty simple. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102007 CPU is next: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103539 ( Stock cooler is not always a good idea ) Then we have memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227210 Ok now with all that done you still need a hard drive, which are fairly cheap nowadays: Either you can go with this 320GB version: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136003 Or if you want more space, this 500GB version: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136014 Finally your PSU. Contrary to what people thing saying the video card or the CPU makes all the difference, the Power unit is what determines ALOT. If the rails are shitty you wont have a good system, if its a sucky PSU in general you risk frying all your other components. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104155 That should provide plenty of power for now and is a reliable PSU. Ontop of that if you wanted to go full out and wanted the most power you could possibly get and didnt care about the price then you would want the 1kw PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817703003 But at $500 its not a good choice for a 1k system. Now for the optical drives there are two ways to handle it. The first is the way I chose, one S-ATA multi burner drive and a backup IDE drive. This method allows you to have a backup IDE drive incase your S-ATA fails AND the important thing of that Win-XP cannot read from a S-ATA optical drive on installation. The other method is to get a mutli IDE drive, the problem with this though is that it doesnt have the speed that a S-ATA drive has for burning. But if you're not worried then no big deal. Method1: S-ATA: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827249006 IDE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106014 Method2: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106014 After that you have the optional items. New heatsink: http://www.xoxide.com/thermalright-xp-120-cpu-cooler.html Fan for new heatsink: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811999346 The upgrade will make your CPU run much cooler and the fan will probably be much quiter than the stock. Another thing to keep in mind is that although putting a computer together is relatively simple, I dont really know your experience in this kind of thing so I don't know how easy it will be for you. With that in mind heres a fair warning: If you're not willing to put the time into it and you just want an average computer that runs out of the box then I'd suggest you go with a prebuilt but if you think you can handle the issues that might spring up then I suggest going for it. Its very rewarding to spend the day or in some cases days building a computer to finally see it pay off with a really nice looking rig. Now the things I outlined are probably going to be well over 1k but should be below 1.5k easily and keep in mind this does not include all those 'fancy' extra's such as cold cathodes and the such. ** Quick cost summary, not very accurate but close enough...as in most numbers are rounded up** Case:$150 Mobo:$130 Video card:$240 CPU: $210 Memory: $195 Hard drive: $120 PSU: $100 Method 1: Opticals: $142 Heatsink and fan: $58 Total: $1345 These are all rounded and is not an accurate summary and I dont know which case you want and so on. Another thing to keep in mind is not one part in here is 'below average', these parts are all brand names that are extremely feature full. A way to cut costs could be to get Value RAM which would shave about $50 off, get a smaller hard drive which would be about $30, cheaper case could drop the price by about $50, cheaper video card could cut the price in half to $120 and so on. ( The above does not include a copy of windows by the way, only for the reason that sometimes people have left over versions on other computers and so on...add probably $120 for windows ) If you want a more detailed design or if you'd like me to make you an excel spreadsheet with all of this information loaded in then I can. Also if you know a few things that you're looking for or are looking in a specific area just tell me and I can change the layout to reflect that. Again, I cant do too much without at least an idea so I hope my post helped you out.
I built my computer two years ago at the cost of $1100 and it still runs great, over that time I added RAM and replace a burnt out nVIDIA graphics card with an ATI card. I went to a local computer store and they helped me a lot when building my first computer. Computer parts I suggest: -AMD processor -ATI graphics card -Definitely have at least 1 GB of RAM -as for choosing a hard drive make sure it has a good speed of reading and writing, when playing games faster hard drive is better. -buy a kick ass case because thats what everybody sees. as for a flat screen they are better than a CRT. They take up less space, they use less electricity, they are more expensive but its for a reason which can be found at www.howstuffworks.com under LCD monitors.
Wow. You guys rock. Phaser8 you're my hero As for a flashy case, I use the same logic I use when it comes to tuning cars. Id rather have a dull looking machine that can whoop everyones ass than a faggoty fast and the furious crapster that has 50,000 bucks worth of bodywork, but the only performance items it has are a cheap intake and a cat back exhaust :D I will definetly look in to those cases, and go from there. Thank you all so much. This isn't the end though, I could still use lots more tips and stuff :D SO KEEP EM COMIN!!! Edit: Ok first, I looked at some cases, and I wanted to know if the first one in this page http://www.xoxide.com/allcases.html would be any good. Not just becuase of the price, but the specs seem decent. Secondly, I tried looking for motherboards, and I have no fucking clue what I should be looking for All I was doing was looking for which one had higher specs, and I dont think thats the way to go. And, if it wouldnt be too much trouble, could someone make a list of what I should do first, then after that and so on? I would really love that. Anything that can make this any easier would be greatly appreciated :D Thank you all for taking the time to help me. I love you guys (and girl)
Jn check back on my post, I revised it as I edit the information in as I research it. As regards for a case you need to think on future expansion and possible 'modding expidtions' A large case is easier to work with, has more airflow ability, more modding ability and more room for more hardware. For the motherboard do NOT base it all on specs, look at reviews and make sure you read every single one of them. I had a friend who gave me a link to a motherboard he was going to buy, he didnt want to read all 400 or so reviews...just the first three or four. What he didnt know was that if he would've read the damn reviews and comments, he would've found out that the motherboard he bought had a piss poor stability record and would crash depending on certain hardware. So I advise you to do your research before anything else. On average it takes me about two weeks to thoroughly review hardware, this means going to review sites and reading every last comment left on that piece of hardware. It saves you frustration in the long run. As for the motherboard specs heres what you should know: Look for a motherboard with lots of good comments and reviews ( read them, every last one ) Try to get a motherboard with S-ATA2 as it allows 3GBs a second of transfer speed Make sure it still has at least one P-ATA channel, if it doesnt you probably wont be able to install windows. Do not get a motherboard with a VIA north bridge Make sure the DDR standard is that of at least PC3200 / DDR400 Make sure its got the right slot type for your video card ( PCI-x16 or AGP ) Make sure it supports the CPU you're buying Just tell us what kind of system you're looking for as in the following: Low range, mid range or high end machine Planning to overclock anything? Plan to mod it with custom dremel work or stenciling or other mods? Hard drive space you think you would need Most you're willing to spend Do you care if the fans make noise or would you rather go down the 'quiter is better path'? Uses for the machine I need details to get things right Another thing about the hard drive setup is you can choose to get say a 74GB 10k RPM drive JUST for the OS and keep all your data on another drive. By doing this you speed up loading times considerably but this route can be expensive. Oh and my thought on monitors, LCD's may be 'better' in some ways but in my mind their quality cannot be matched for the price yet. My CRT was $190 or so and its image quality is STUNNING. On LCD's unless you shell out a good $500 AT LEAST you wont get to see that good of quality. Again it all depends on personal pref.
On the 10k hard drive note, they do make 36.7gb ones that are about $40-80 cheaper... also, PHASER8, I thank you as this has helped me as well... (I'm puttering about looking at getting a new computer, however I'm thinking of waiting for AM2...) -Sheepe Who sucks at building computers
Don't bother with a PPU at the moment. It's being pushed out far too early, and actually results in reduced performance. I have also not seen any games that acutally utilize the PPU for anything but pretty gibs. As for the case, don't skimp on it. A poor case can fry your hardware. Avoid a lot of plastic in cases, and look for something that has been reviewed well. This has been my case for the past few years, and it's never let me down. I highly recommend it, but it might be a bit too expensive for your tastes. On a final note, if you've never assembled or upgraded a computer before, don't try building one from scratch on your own. You will screw up. Get the help of a knowledgeable friend or professional if you're really determined to go through with this, even before you purchase the components. Trust me, buying incompatible hardware sucks.
So true on the hardware compatibility. I built a computer for my brother and he ordered a CPU online and then bought the rest at a local store, but when I started putting it together the CPU socket on the motherboard was one digit off so we had to return it then the video card wasn't compatible with the new motherboard so we had to return that. Horrible experience. After 3 days I finally got it together and then when installing windows it wouldnt recongnize SATA Hard Drive and the motherboard was suppose to come with a floppy with some software on it but it didnt so I had to ask around untill I found someone with the right goods. But after that I had no problems. Here is a good site which has a IRC chat if you need a quick answer to a question. The people are always willing to try to answer your questions. www.bleepingcomputer.com
When I started my first build it was straightforward as to how to put it together, screw that there, attach this here, put thermal grease on that and so on. But yeah one of the worst things for a new person into custom computers can fuck up is the correct hardware. It always happens. Thats why you make sure if you got a 939 socket CPU, you have a 939 socket motherboard and if your motherboard is a AGP8x/4x then make sure that damn video card is as well ^_^ The S-ATA issue with windows can be a bitch if you dont know how to go at it right, luckily I found help on the xoxide forums regarding that one Heres the thing, I can make sure you dont fuck up on the hardware itself by ordering the wrong components but you gotta be sure you can handle putting them together the right way and handling them the right way. I wish I could do some 'virutal' tutorial or something like that but sadly it doesnt exist yet. Its pretty easy for the most part, probably the toughest things you might encounter when trying to build a custom computer are the following: 1. If you have a small case and the case has anything but a slide out style motherboard tray ( the kind where it slides out the back of the case ) then you will have issues. This was the issue with the one I bought, the tray actually unscrews and can be pulled out. These require time and within probably 10 minutes after fidgeting with it you can get it in. 2. If you decided to buy a clear case ( which I advise against ) then more than likely you will have to deal with the pains and aches of putting it together. Most of the acrlyic cases you can get that arent assembled usually have pieces that wont fit very easily and sometimes will require you to drill your own holes. 3. Attaching aftermarket heatsinks and fans These can be frustrating at times, especially the monster ones. Depending on the motherboard and the size of the heatsink it may require you to bend some caps out of the way ( as long as you dont break it you're fine ). 4. Thermal grease can also be frustrating because if you apply too much then it will probably 'ooze out' when you put the heatsink on. Not enough thermal grease and you will notice your CPU running pretty hot. Usually the instructions included with the thermal grease will tell you how much to apply, if I remember right its about a pea sized amount. ( I put on a shitload more ) For thermal grease I recommend using Arctic Silver 5, has high ranking reviews as the best. http://www.xoxide.com/arcticsilver5.html 5. Wire management Trust me, if you got a window on your case or even if you dont have one you will want to make sure that the wires arent all over the place. They will block airflow and generally make it look shitty on the inside, not very nice at all. In my case I shoved all the wires that I could behind the main board. Expect to spend about two hours on wire management. Also its a very good idea to take your computer outside every month and use an air compressor to blow out all the accumulating dust, make sure if the compressor is rated over 60PSI that the airstream does not make direct contact with objects such as capacitors as more than likely the force will rip them right off ( I dont know the exact pressure required but its better to play it safe, even 50 PSI is plenty ). Also when using an air compressor DO NOT jerk around with it and start spraying it on your skin, it will force air bubbles into your blood stream and could possibly kill you. I have a dad who used to work in the safety department at a fairly large production facility and I've heard plenty of horror stories from him when some idiots in the repair shop were fucking around. Another thing to keep in mind is those 4 pin standard molex's for general power in your computer can be rough on your hands. Plugging them in can hurt but when you have to unplug them is when they really take a toll on your hands, especially if you use alot of force and your hand flys back into a sharp metal piece. Thats one other thing, be careful of sharp metal in the case. The expensive ones generally dont have it but the cheapo's they will be everywhere. It may not look sharp but if you were to run your hand over it, it'd cut you like a razor. Be safe and put duct tape on the sharp edges and corners until you're done messing around inside the case. Also static electricity is the #1 killer of electronic components, best bet is to go to radioshack and spend $10 on an electro-static wrist band that keeps you grounded at all times. Theres nothing worse than frying your $400 video card because you had a small amount of static charged up in you. For those of you who use S-ATA drives, they have TWO power plugs on them ,a S-ATA molex and a standard molex. DO NOT use both, use either one or the other. Plugging both into a power line will more than likely fry your hard drive. Some video cards these days also require their own power connection ( I am pretty sure thats the case with PCI-x as well ). Make sure to run the video card on its own line if you can, if not then put it on say the line of the hard drive. I havent looked into this one but for precautions I keep all my fans on one line, which keeps them off the HD-D and other lines. I do it as a just a precaution as I've been told by a few people that fans generally create 'noise' on the line their plugged into. ( Speaking of fans thats another thing, when using your air compressor UNPLUG the fans before hosing them off. Because the fans use a motor to power them the minute you start to spin those blades at high speeds with compressed air they act like generators and it is not a good idea to be sending unregulated power back through the system. ) If you get an upgrade on your heatsink and heatsink fan, be advised that the large 120MM fans and the 80MM Vantec tornado's pull way too much amperage for the mainboard fan headers. You will fry them if you try to plug them in, that is why they usually have 4 Pin molex's. If you put it on a fanbus controller make sure that the controller cannot be turned off. Remember when plugging in S-ATA devices that they only fit in one way, do NOT force them to fit. Also keep in mind most motherboards have a RAID S-ATA plug set on them, they are usually colored red and off to the side of the others. These are for RAID setup's only and cannot be used with optical drives. Remember to read all instructions that come with your equipment, if you have a doubt on something start asking those who know more about the subject you're stumped on. Do not guess at all, if you dont know then find someone who does. Better to have a few hours gone off the completion time of the machine instead of having a fried device. Also if you have trouble try to get pics of the issue or if you dont know what that thing is called get pics and highlight it. Most of us techies can build a computer with their eyes blind folded and know most parts in and out Did I mention read the manuals? If you need any help just let me know, I'l be glad to answer your questions.
Yeah I noticed it one day cause I got LED fans...was blowing off one of them and then all the sudden all the others started to light up O.O
Mmmm... the compressor idea is good, I'll look into that... also, does any know if Ultra Products are any good? (sadly, I've already bought the case+Power supply+120mm fan... but meh) Also, my parents are looking for an upgrade for our old computer (just a mem upgrade) how do I find out the current RAM type? (its a P2) -Sheepe
I would hold out a little bit with the video card, if your into the Pure Power of a rig, you would wait untill Direct X10 Compatable cards come out, as of now not one exists that will support them (Even the new nVidia and ATI ones, and those put my poor 6600 TF to shame, which can run FEAR on medium/high at a steady 25 FPS :p...) Processor, go with an AMD 64, the frequency is up to you, but AMD 64's are really good, I noticed the performance diffrence alot in games that use alot of physics and AI, it doesn't slow down even if your running a 32 but OS... ASUS has VERY GOOD motherboards, I have an A8N-SLI Deluxe, and Im happy with it, has alot of room for expansion, has good reviews and didnt kill my wallet...
