Building a gaming p.c. need advice.

[patrick9]

I was looking at towers, alienware, or guardian style (I know I am a dork) However I am about to place a bid on a processor. AMD FX-60. Is this the best on the market. And how much should I pay? They are going for around 800 on ebay now. Also what graphic chip and so on will I need. I am very new to building computers and I will probably have someone install the parts. Lastly, how many ports do I need?

 

[SidVicious]

Beware of e-bay scams and DOA CPUs, beside, an FX-60 is a big waste of money, you can get an X2 4400+ or Opteron 170 for half that price, freeing up plenty of money to buy an high-end GPU. If you absolutely want/need the extra 400MHz, just overclock your CPU.

Spend some time reading video card benchmarks to find out which GPU offers the performance that you are looking for.

Building your own computer is easy, provided that you take your time, use your common sense, read the manuals and "how to" guides.

What do you mean by "how many ports do I need" ?

 

[patrick9]

Some have 8 ports some have 11 I don't even know what that means. Or what overclocking means. I just bought oblivion and my laptop can't play it. So instead of letting collect dust. I am going to bite the bullet and build a p.c. Something that people have been trying to get me to do for quite a while. What main components make up a computer. What do I need to look for. Obviously the processor. I definitely want over 2.ghz maybe 3 preferrably. over 1 gig ram. I wan't to play Oblivion to it's full capacity. If I don't I might as well guy a 360. which I do not want to do. Is there another processor that would be supior to fx-60. I won't finish building for 3 months or so. So if there is anything in the works I might be interested in waiting

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Considering you are looking on ebay for a CPU I'm guess you want power, but don't want to pay TOP dollar. Here are my recommendations:

CPU: AMD Athlon X2 4800+ ($632.00)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103544

Why? The three differences between the X2 4800+ and the FX-60 are:
- 200 mhz (2600 vs 2400)
- Multiplier locking (FX-60 does not have a locked multiplier)
- $383 ($1,015 - 632 (pricing from newegg for brand new procs with HSF))


Video cards: Two GeForce 7900GT ($577.98 = 288.99 x 2)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103544

Why? For the price of one GeForce 7900 GTX you can get two GeForce 7900 GT's.

 

[patrick9]

what do you know about nvidia quad sli is that available as a stand alone part or just build in to a computer. And what difference would that make? Also what other components do I need. All together what you mentioned sounds inexpensive.

 

[zeekle]

wow patrick you are jumping in the deep end here.

Quad SLI is only for prebuilt systems (IE dell/alienware)

For what you are looking for I agree with everyone else that has posted

1) no ebay
2) 2 gigs of ram
3) the FX is a waste ..... 4800 or 4400 is a better deal
4) decent power supply

Oblivion is a resource hog on most systems if you turn up all the eye candy.

 

[patrick9]

I am just now researching components. Chances are I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I just want to play full screen with no lag and the graphics as clear as possible. Do you beleive the configuration mentioned above would give me this. Also since I a new to computer gaming, what other games can test the power of gaming p.c.'s like oblivion.

 

[SidVicious]

Even though SLI may seem impressive on paper, it doesn't scale all that great in reality, an average 35% improvement over a single card is hardly worth spending money to get an extra video card.

As you can see Here a single Radeon x1900 XT yield higher minumum FPS than two 7900GTX's in SLI (smoother gameplay) and totally outperform the two 7900GT's that you are suggesting, its also is ~180$ cheaper.

 

[patrick9]

that takes care of the processor and video card. What else do I need, Anything else that can enhance gameplay. I am about to buy nzxt tower to begin.
So I am tryting to compile a list of what I need to meet my goals so
1. AMD Athlon x-2
2. Geforce 7900 gt x 2

 

[PJ101]

Opty 175
2 Gigs OCZ
ATI x1900xt or xtx
Pick your motherboard.. DFI or EPOX overclock nicely
Storage Drive = 250 GB
OS and Game drive = 74 or 150 gb raptor
Zalman 9500 to cool the processor
Nice case and 120 mm fans

Edit: If you are waiting to build you can see what Conroe and Nvidias 8 series have to bring

 

[ches111]

Hey Patrick,

I think people may be telling you too much. Given your comment in your previous posts you may not fully understand what you are about to do.

People are talking to you about overclocking an you do not know what SLI truly is. This is not a bad thing everyone has to start somewhere.

For a gaming rig you will need the following:

A Fast CPU/Mother board (this is not AS important as a fast video card but is still somewhat important).

A Fast Video Card - This is VERY important. SLI/Crossfire is a multiple video card configuration that is mostly reserved for all HIGH END systems. As stated by others here it is probably not a good option for you since SLI/Crossfire is not the easiest to setup/tweak. A very good Single card would work very well for what you need.

Fast memory in bundles of two. This is important to support dual channel. It will allow you cpu to access its memory at its best capabilites. Please understand that fast memory over slower memory does not too drastically impact everyday operation, it will make your benchmarks look better but overall this is mostly a minimal impact.

A hard drive - Faster is better only for load times of the game levels you will be playing.

A good Power Supply - This is something you need whether or not you are building a gaming rig or not. It should be appropriately sized for the equipment you have now and possibly a little more for future equipment.

This info above is a good place to start. Take that and research your needs. Once you think you have a system in mind come back by and ping it off of the forums.

 

[SciPunk]

http://sysbuild.corsairmemory.com/report.aspx?id=2

 

[bilbo3660]

I also recommend that you visit the corsair website for an excellent article on building a gaming machine. You shouldn't wander around asking for recommendations on components without even knowing what components make up a system. You don't want to spend a couple grand on a gaming system based strictly on forum recommendations - do you? Read some component reviews at sites like tomshardware, anandtech, xbitlabs, etc.

 

[patrick9]

Thanks for taking the time out to tell me all of this. I really appreciate the help I have been getting, Also the knowlege all you have passed on. I will study the information given buy you and many others, as well a research myself since I know where to start. Thanks again for the breakdown of all the components.

 

[patrick9]

I am looking at this Rig feel free to let me in on any suggestions or anything else I might be leaving out
NZXT Guardian Tower
AMD Athlon x2 4800+
GeForce 7900ct x 2
2 gig system ram (what would work well with this set up?)
A8N-SLI Premium
Zalman CNPS7000B CU LED
Twin x2048-3500llpro
Creative Labs soundblaster x-fixtememusic
western digital raptor 36gb 10,000 RPM SATA HDDVD=/-RW

 

[llama_man]

Nice looking system, BUT (you knew there was going to be a but)...

1. Do you REALLY need an SLI setup? As previously mentioned, in general 2 cards each costing x will be outperformed by a single card costing 2x. PLUS, only using one slot now gives you the potential for either putting another GFX card in later, or using that slot for something else (like a physics card, when they come out).

2. Oblivion tends to run better on ATI cards than NVidia, due to the number of pixel shaders (there are numerous threads about this on the boards so I won't repeat all that here). In light of this and point 1, a Radeon x1900 would probably be better for you than 2 7900s. Probably cheaper too. If you get a Radeon, make sure to buy a crossfire motherboard instead on an SLI one (Crossfire is the ATI equivalent of SLI).

3. Your harddrive is excellent as a drive for your operating system, but you might find that 36Gb isn't enough storage for all your needs. A lot of users on these boards have 1 fast drive for their operating system and games, and a second cheaper, slighlty slower drive for all their storage (ripped CDS and DVDs etc). Modern games can sometimes be several Gb in install size, plus you need room for your operating system, SWAP file etc. If I were you I'd get a cheap large cpacity drive to go with your fast drive. A 200-250Gb drive offers the optimal size-to-price ratio normally.

 

[PJ101]

The corsair memory you have listed is system memory...

Twin x2048-3500llpro

2 gig system ram (what would work well with this set up?)

So.. basically that corsair is top line and is your 2 gigs of memory

 

[waylander]

If you can afford SLI/Crossfire then go for it. It isn't for everyone and we all know that 2 x GPU does not give 2 x performance but so what? Some just want the best and there is always a cost associated with leading edge technology. If I had a friend that worked at McDonalds then I would tell them not to SLI, if I had a friend who was a doctor then I'd say go for it.

If you want NVidia SLI then get the A8N32 SLI Deluxe which gives both PCI-e slots as x16 instead of x8 (it came out 2 months after I built mine but oh well).

If you get Crossfire remember that one of them has to be a master card and the other can be a regular one.

The rest of your system is fine but don't forget a quality power supply, check Toms review of PSUs and get at least a 500W PSU.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[kcaudle]

I just retired a good gaming system (asus p4p800??,512mb mem, P4 3 ghz and a powercolour radeon 9800 vid board) and replaced it with a asus a8n-sli (MB), athion 3500+ cpu, 1gb mem and a asus geforce 7600gt.

New system is, I would estimate, 30% faster in gameplay (UT)??? ..... maybe more. You can buy the system off the shelf for $1200 canadian .... can you build one as good for less? Not unless you already have some parts on hand ...... XP alone is what ...$125-150???

FYI: I am trading up the 3500+ for a 4200+ X2 ...... the athlon single core is weaker than the P4 3.0ghz on multitasking ..... important when not in game play!!

KC

 

[llama_man]

If you're buying hardware at the same time you can buy an OEM copy of Windows. In the UK that costs £50 (about US$85 at the moment due to the exchange rate)

 

[SciPunk]

A lot of users on these boards have 1 fast drive for their operating system and games, and a second cheaper, slighlty slower drive for all their storage (ripped CDS and DVDs etc).

Ditto ! Some will argue that if you are trying to save money an additiona hard drive isn't needed, especially for a gaming system. But keeping your data on a seperate drive from your OS is a great idea. If your OS drive breaks down, you still have all your data. You can format your OS drive, install a new OS, swap in a new drive, etc etc... and your data is still safe. If possible, get the 2nd drive.

Personally I think that case is butt ugly, but lots of gamers like that. Suit yourself. But as a rule, don't trust the included power supply. Check the reviews (etc.) but if in doubt, go with Antec True Power. If you go w/ SLI and dual processors, look for 500W+.

And don't forget the OS. You have to make some choices:
WinXP Home Edition
Least expensive, works fine w/ dual core processors. Doesn't take adavantage of all 64 bits of your 64 bits CPU. Could hold you over until Vista.

WinXP Pro
Has many features most users won't use, but many insist on this full featured version. Doesn't take adavantage of all 64 bits of your 64 bit CPU.

WinXP Pro 64 bit
Allows you to take advantage of the 64 bit CPU and run 64 bit software. Right now almost all games are written for 32 bit processors, but they should run fine under this OS anyway. But double check that each hardware component has a 64 bit driver, or it won't work.