Help Building My Own Gaming Desktop

happy_schman

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Mar 24, 2006
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I want to play Far Cry and Black and White 2 but it (B&W) won;t work at all (pixel shader) and Far Cry looks messed up and runs at around 12 fps. I think I have "Intel (R) Extreme Graphics 2 for Mobile".

I've decided to sell my laptop and instead buy a desktop. After checking out the prices I was able to find some good deals but in the end decided that building my own would be better. ($$$)

My budget is around $2000. Somewhere around there. I don't know much about computers but after looking around I have an idea of what I'd like.

-2GB Ram
-At least 250GB Hard Drive
-Not sure what kind of monitor. LCD, 17" is goo enough
-Good sound card

I also want to be able to upgrade my computer later on. Help please :D

Thanks in advance. :wink:

By the way. I live in Canada. If buying parts from newegg would be a looot cheaper though I could have it shipped to someone who would then ship it to me.
 

sandmannight

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Mar 22, 2006
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you can get a nice computer for 2k.
get a opteron 165 and overclock it
dfi ultra mother board
2gb ozc ram
7900 gt
and you can afford a sweet monitor big hardrive and a good case and cooling system
 

HumbleGod

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Jan 9, 2006
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Here's the steps I took.

1. Go to Newegg's page on CPUs. Decide what filters to use (AMD or Intel, etc.)
2. On the product listing, choose "Sort by best rating"
3. Work your way down the list, reading reviews, comparing specs, checking prices. Decide what's important to you (dual core? processing speed? value? etc)
4. Make a preliminary decision.
5. Repeat for every other component you need.
6. Post your planned build in another thread here, ask for advice. Revise components list as needed.

Good luck!
 

oenomel

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Jan 23, 2006
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Assuming you aren't looking to OC

I would start with..

AMD 3800x2
Abit KN8 SLI
2 x 1gb ram (look for low latency DDR400)
7900gt vid
name brand psu at least 450watt

That gives you some future OC room, poss 2nd 7900gt, even a cpu upgrade. Converting to US u have about 1700 to spend. Leaves you room for the rest per taste. Don't know about CAN tax and such.

You could always look for alternative windows options if the budget is THAT tight.
 

oenomel

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Jan 23, 2006
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I'm curious about the Canadian pricing....

Do you guys suffer the VAT that Europe does? Is it included in the advertised pricing?
 

oenomel

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Jan 23, 2006
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#1) Is it as bad as the VAT?

#2) Is it built into that site's pricing?

#3) Have you found a little match.com tramp to shuttle stuff to you?

#4) If you haven't found one......could I rent one to you :wink:
 
"Will dual core be used more in the future?"

Yes....

Already drivers for graphics cards are optimized/patched for duallies, and a few games (Quake4, for starters) have patches for dual cores that get some nice gains in performance...; games in the future will be more appreciative of a 2nd core, as will WInodws Vista, I'm sure, as the single core processors will eventually be phased out, and likely put only in cell phones! :)
 

unreal_nl

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Feb 6, 2006
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Lol phone with a heatsink :) Nah multicore is making its way up into the games. And think in a year or 2 all games are multicore optimized ;)
 

happy_schman

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Mar 24, 2006
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With vista coming out should I just wait a while? And the graphics card get cheaper I'm guessing. How often do new ones come out? I'm in no rush to get a computer.
 

abeck_23

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Jan 26, 2006
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check out Price Network.ca

If you can wait a while then wait, when AM2 & Conroe come out just build a sweet Socket 939 system, prices will hopefully go down for S939.

AM2 will be worth getting in like 1-2 years after its release, IMO.
A nice Socket 939 will last you too, I've been gaming on a Socket A and dealt with it, and now have a sweet Socket 939 system.

Try to wait out for the next gen GPUs too
 

Coops07

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Nov 17, 2005
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Being a fellow Canadian as you are, I know how you feel not having a big company like Newegg around. Heres the 2 places to shop. Canada Computers or my favourite, NCIX.
Pros about NCIX:
1. You only pay 7% GST because they are not in province
2. They price match so you save money
3. They have sales every week
4. They often have deals such as free shipping
5. Good customer reviews on most products

You can save a lot of money going there and you'll find that the price matching + lowered tax saves a lot of money which = more money you can spend on better parts. Hope thats helps :D