Gaming comp - suggestions?

[chewy82]

guys i dont post much here and i thought maybe if i did i might get some informative feedback. it seems like most of the people here are pretty knowledgable so if you can just take a minute of your time to reply back on some recommendations.

i wanna be around 1200-1700 area in terms of budget.

first off i want to go AMD
at least 1gb RAM
300+ gb storage (something fast and reliable)
pretty good video card that can play pretty much all the current games and future games later on

i guess thats pretty much the important things. i dont know how to overclock and all the other good stuff. im a newb yes. if someone can just help me start out on how and what to buy i would appreciate it. thanks

 

[MadModMike]

guys i dont post much here and i thought maybe if i did i might get some informative feedback. it seems like most of the people here are pretty knowledgable so if you can just take a minute of your time to reply back on some recommendations.

i wanna be around 1200-1700 area in terms of budget.

first off i want to go AMD
at least 1gb RAM
300+ gb storage (something fast and reliable)
pretty good video card that can play pretty much all the current games and future games later on

i guess thats pretty much the important things. i dont know how to overclock and all the other good stuff. im a newb yes. if someone can just help me start out on how and what to buy i would appreciate it. thanks

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
2GB (1GBx2) Corsiar XMS RAM
250GB Western Digital Caviar 16MB Cache
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
ATI Radeon x1800XT (or a heap x1900XT if you can find it)

That's a damn good system, and should be below your $1700 maximum.

~~Mad Mod Mike, pimpin' the world 1 rig at a time

 

[ShortyNumber45]

Ok, that budget is pretty nice, let's start with the CPU. Most folks here will prefer an opty 'cause it OC like hell but if you hate OCing an X2 will be nice either 4200 or 4400. Next is mobo, an NF4 board would be great I prefer Asus A8N Deluxe. On Ram, Corsair Expert or Low latency will do the job well. Next Hadrdisk, The best and the most reliable I think is the Maxtor 300GB SATA 16MB Cache. And the last but not the least the VGA, a GF 7900 GTX will satisfy all your needs.

 

[MadModMike]

Ok, that budget is pretty nice, let's start with the CPU. Most folks here will prefer an opty 'cause it OC like hell but if you hate OCing an X2 will be nice either 4200 or 4400. Next is mobo, an NF4 board would be great I prefer Asus A8N Deluxe. On Ram, Corsair Expert or Low latency will do the job well. Next Hadrdisk, The best and the most reliable I think is the Maxtor 300GB SATA 16MB Cache. And the last but not the least the VGA, a GF 7900 GTX will satisfy all your needs.

lol I wasn't even thinking of Dual Core, thanks for posting that. But a 7900GTX? I think that alone is gonna be his entire budget lol.

~~Mad Mod Mike, pimpin' the world 1 rig at a time

 

[Grimmy]

7900 GTX?

8O . o O ( Imagines a giant HSF with teeth chomp on the cash, then sees it spin around in the fan, then out the back of the PC in shreds)

Say... that would be great if it did that for my other bills.

 

[ShortyNumber45]

Ok, I'm gonna change that to a 7900 GT this report says that 7900 series cards could be cheaper than expected.

 

[chewy82]

on the topic of low latency memory. is it that much of a difference if there is lower latency. is that something i can mess with like change the latency if i wanted to. also is it safe. i dont like the idea of overclocking because first i dont know how to and second is it safe for your system...?

thanks for your input guys, greatly appreciated

 

[swifty_morgan]

The fastest chip you can afford......

The best motherboard for the money..... doesn't have to be expensive. If you are not going to do sli, things will stay cheaper. asus/dfi/msi

100 - 150 bucks

A western digital 10,000 rpm raptor for your main drive. You can always add a storage drive later.

125 - 150 bucks

Stock cooling works great most of the time, so no wasted money there.

A gig of memory to start. You can always add another stick in the future. 2.0 latency, no mor than 2.5.

100 - 150 bucks

DVD rom drive, your choice. Most of them are pretty good, even the cheaper ones, however, make sure it can see +/-

50 bucks

10 dollar floppy...

Antec power supply, or equivelant, at least 500 watts.

100 bucks

Video card... the best and fastest you can afford. Shader model 3.0..... nothing less.....


610 bucks
... leaves you a grand for your chip and video card........ good luck

oops, forgot...opsys..... 90 - 150 bucks.....make adjustments...lol

 

[MadModMike]

Ok, I'm gonna change that to a 7900 GT this report says that 7900 series cards could be cheaper than expected.

As we all know (or should by now) no company listens to MSRP's. I wouldn't be surprised to see:

7900GT: $449
7900GTX: $599

Newegg.com will probably have those as their listed prices

~~Mad Mod Mike, pimpin' the world 1 rig at a time

 

[HumbleGod]

A gig of memory to start. You can always add another stick in the future. 2.0 latency, no mor than 2.5.

I'd say the days where 1 gig suffices are passing us by. For a modern gaming rig, you really ought to go with 2gb if you can afford it.

 

[k2000k]

MadModMike ordinarily I would agree with you, except for the fact that ATI is going to severely cut off prices on their cards. Nvidia is going to have to be cheaper than last round if they want people to buy their 7900 vs 1900. Though I agree with you that we might not necessarily see a $299 7900GT initially.

My guess.
7900 GT-$350-399
7900 GTX $450-499