First timer

[dohicky]

Okay, I'm planning on building my own gaming rig, but I'm a novice as far as computer hardware is concerned. I recently became interested in getting into PC gaming, but much to my dismay, I found out that my PC (a dell dimension 2400) wouldn't be close enough for most games even after I installed the upgrades.

I was reading an article on this site (http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/10/14/the_/), and the article suggests that it's possible to put together your own gaming machine for little over $500. Now, I noticed the article didn't include everything such as the case, monitor, etc., so it would cost slightly more than that. But still, I figure this would be a decent investment considering the price of next generation consoles. Anyway, I was planning on just using the article as a guide, but I was wondering if there was anything you'd change. Maybe there's a part I can get for less, or a slightly more expensive part I should get, and skimp somewhere else. As I said, I'm a beginner, so I'd appreciate some help.

Also, I noticed in the article it said that this was something to "build up from", so it wouldn't be able to play everything. What I was wondering is, what exactly would it be able to play, though?

 

[deusex]

neo-games at 1024X768...

 

[notquitehere188]

it is surprising what cheap systems are capable of. You may have to lower the graphics settings from max to get decent framerates, but it does not affect the gameplay. I have a friend with integrated graphics, and despite all the negative "press" they get, he plays current games at 30 fps and up at approximatley medium settings

in reference to that guide, it seemed good, but you should probably look for a LGA755 mobo, since p4's are so cheap now and it will allow you to upgrade to a Core 2 should you decide to.

you should definatley get at least 1GB of ram if you want a solid system, perhaps up to 1.5Gb

in the interest of upgradeability, you could probably get away with integrated graphics for a while as you save up for a good graphics card.

I reccomend getting UT2004 Editors choice edition, its a 2 year old game so your new pc will play it quite nicley, and the game is, if i may say so, scrumtrilescent

 

[dohicky]

neo-games at 1024X768...

I'm sorry, "neo-games"? I'm not sure what that means.

I get the impression that's not good, though.

it is surprising what cheap systems are capable of. You may have to lower the graphics settings from max to get decent framerates, but it does not affect the gameplay. I have a friend with integrated graphics, and despite all the negative "press" they get, he plays current games at 30 fps and up at approximatley medium settings

in reference to that guide, it seemed good, but you should probably look for a LGA755 mobo, since p4's are so cheap now and it will allow you to upgrade to a Core 2 should you decide to.

you should definatley get at least 1GB of ram if you want a solid system, perhaps up to 1.5Gb

in the interest of upgradeability, you could probably get away with integrated graphics for a while as you save up for a good graphics card.

I reccomend getting UT2004 Editors choice edition, its a 2 year old game so your new pc will play it quite nicley, and the game is, if i may say so, scrumtrilescent

That's good to know since I really don't have a lot to spend. I'd say $600 would be the most I'd be able to spend, maybe $700.

The 1GB of RAM sounds like a good idea, but I was thinking one of the areas I shouldn't try to skimp is on the graphics card. And I'll look into the LGA755 motherboard.

Thanks for the recommendation, but I'm not really into FPSes.

 

[The_Prophecy]

CPU: AMD Athlon X2 3800+

Mobo: Asus A8N5X

RAM: OCZ EL 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR400

Case: Antec Sonata II

 

[NeonDeon]

I have a friend with integrated graphics, and despite all the negative "press" they get, he plays current games at 30 fps and up at approximatley medium settings

DON"T GO THERE! Your friend anit playing Fear or Oblivion! And if he gets it to load, it's at 640x480. In which casr it dose effect game play because that suxs!!

Spend about $150 on a graphics card that will work in SLI or Crossfire mode. Then when you need to upgrade you just pop in another graphics cards of the same kind into your system. You have just added another few years to your system. I would buy an AMD system, Low end 939 pin cpu (AMD Athlon 64 3500) at 2.2Ghz you will be playing games for a few years without much problems, and it's only $90 bucks.

keep your mouse, keyboard, monitor, sound card?, Nic. Get a large case!!! Air flow is important! You will be sorry latter if you don't.

 

[deusex]

neo = recent

 

[The_Prophecy]

I revise my earlier suggestion with:

Antec P180

Antec Truepower 550W

 

[dohicky]

neo = recent

Oh, okay. Sorry, I wasn't familiar with the term.

So, I'll be able to play most new games at 1024X768?

Well to keep cost down try to use some of what you already have. Pull the optical drives out of the dell and use the monitor, keyboard and mouse from your Dell.

Well, I was planning on giving my current PC to my little brother, so I'd have to get a new monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.

How much should I spend on a monitor? And is there any particular model you'd recommend? I know I can get a keyboard and mouse for very little money, and I don't see any reason why I shouldn't just get the cheapest keyboard and mouse I can find, as I wouldn't think that would make a whole lot of a difference.

And another thing, I'll have to buy a new version windows, because I've been told my current version is OEM, and won't work with a different type of motherboard.

Do you think it's still possible to do this for around 600-700 considering I'll have to buy windows, a monitor, a keyboard, and mouse?

Thanks for all the recommendations. I'll be sure to keep them all in mind, and weigh my options.

Oh, and also, provided the case is of a decent size, does it really matter what type I get? I was thinking this would be another one of the areas I'd skimp, because I know there are some you can get for under $100. But if it's important that I get a good quality case, I'll do so.

 

[nikolokolus]

I'd say $600 would be nearly impossible considering you need a monitor and windows too. $700- $750 is probably more reasonable since you are basically starting from scratch.

For someone on a tight budget I'd recommend the following:
Case: Antec NSK 4400 (w/ 380 watt power supply) =$80
Mobo: Asus M2N-E =$90
CPU: AMD athlon 64 3500+ =$90
RAM: 1 GB of Corsair, kingston, or mushkin = $90
Video Card: X800GTO: $90 (you can upgrade later)
DVD-Rom =$20
Floppy = $10
WindowsXP home = $90
Monitor: 17" viewsonic Q7B3 LCD =$150
Keyboard + mouse: Rosewill combo RKM810 = $15

Total:$725 (prices approximate (taken from Newegg before shipping) mileage may vary)

I'm sure you could trim the fat in a couple of places above; you could try to find a used CRT, for example, on Craigslist or ebay for much cheaper, you could go to a thrift store and see if they have any keyboards or mice, you can see if your local computer shops are running any sorts of combo deals on motherboards and processors. But the bottom line is that cutting any more corners is going to have diminishing returns and the above represents about the best bang for the buck at your price point.

 

[notquitehere188]

DON"T GO THERE! Your friend anit playing Fear or Oblivion! And if he gets it to load, it's at 640x480. In which casr it dose effect game play because that suxs!!

my point is that while fear and oblivion are good games, there is no need to play games that have insane graphics when older games are just as fun and tax the system less, and my friend is playing RTSs, seriously AOE2 is just as fun, if not more than aoe3 and i still play it regularly.

the only game i have played which was made more fun by better graphics was plasma pong, and that is an awesome game

 

[burn-e86]

to be honest i think that a 754 is enough for you specially since your on a budget, although since it's being phased out and the price drop back in july, i donno if its still at a viable price.
if you insist on going for 939 then i'd get a 3200 if you can find it, over 3500 i think is kind of a waste, since you dont really need anything over 3500 and you can Overclock a 3200 or 3000
for motherboard the best i know of is AsRock DUAL-SATA2, it has damn good performance and is very affordable.
You will need a minium of 1 Gb of ram, they say you can round oblivion on 512 but from my experence its really choppy and you have to throttle your settings down to get a good framerate.
the great thing about the asrock is that you can use both AGP and PCI-E which are both native support, so you can get a cheaper AGP then Upgrade to PCIe
CPU
AMD athlon64 3200+______________80
Motherboard
Asrock DUAL-SATA2______________65
RAM
corsar value select 2X512Gb_______98
GrFx card
sapphire X800GTO AGP___________130
Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9
ST3160811AS 160Gb_____________59
Case
RAIDMAX Elite ATX-208BP_________35
Monitor
ASUS MM17D____________________160

all of theses are rounded and was a 10 min look on newegg total comes to $627
but obviously play around with the stuff, see if you can cut corners on anymore stuff to add a bit of a budget to others.

 

[megame255]

And another thing, I'll have to buy a new version windows, because I've been told my current version is OEM, and won't work with a different type of motherboard.

You won't have to buy a new copy of windows as long as you have the oem disk, however you will have to reactivate it. Just tell microsoft you made some hardware changes but kept the same system and you should have no problems. That'll save you a few bucks

 

[burn-e86]

OEM means that its sold with no strings attached, you get it and thats that. question though, is this version of OEM installed on any PC?
if so then check the license, some OEMs allow for you to install on 2 PCs or X amount of PCs

 

[dohicky]

I guess I'd be willing to spend $700. But just to clarify, everyone here agrees that provided I use most of the parts recommended in this thread, I'd be able to play most current games, right? And by the way, would that include a game like Oblivion which is supposed to have very high requirements?

You won't have to buy a new copy of windows as long as you have the oem disk, however you will have to reactivate it. Just tell microsoft you made some hardware changes but kept the same system and you should have no problems. That'll save you a few bucks

I have the oem disk, but I thought it would only work on hardware manufactured by dell. On the disk, it says "for distribution only with a new dell computer.

 

[burn-e86]

It says distribution, i dont hear anything about installing

 

[Seifer]

I put my case together for little over 700 bucks...What games do you play? Remember you will still need to buy an O/S (operating System) unless you have a reinstallion disk then you can use that...To be quite honest if you want to go the cheap way get a 939 sockett mobo dual cored...Get a gigabyte, asus, DFI, Epox, or MSI motherboard (make sure it has PCI express and its DDR400 pc3200 also it should have onboard sound)...RAM don't really matter you can get 2 512mb Kingstons (anyram with a lifetime warranty) for about 80$ get a 40gb hardrive...or you can simply take the Hardrive you currently have and use that. Same with the CDrom drive...Your case is very important Airflow is greatly important. I suggest you get this one http://www.xoxide.com/sunbeam-trio-case-silver.html

If you decide to get a different cdrom drive get either BENQ Liteon or NEC...

Now the biggest thing is your video card seeing if you go with the PCI Express you should get a 7600gt. The video card is very important in FPS games...On newer games like quake4 and oblvion you will be able to play at low settings and get good framrates like 45-60 fps. rEMEMBER if you go cheap on your VIDEO card you will regret playing FPS games...

For a power supply don't go cheap it will in the long run mess your cp all up...If your PSU shorts your whole entire cp will fry so go with OCZ or Antec...I got mine for 100$ antec neohe.
Your processor like I said get Dual cored AMD 64 you can get one off www.newegg.com for about 140-170. Overall this all should cost you about 500 bucks

 

[dohicky]

It says distribution, i dont hear anything about installing

If you're not able to install it on another PC, does it typically say so on the disk? If not, is there anyway I can find out for certain whether or not I'll be able to install it on a new pc?

Oh, and I'm mostly interested in playing RPGs and MMORPGs.

 

[robmurphy]

Many OEM distributions will not install on Generic hardware. I've XP home and XP pro from HP, and they only install on HP hardware. I think dell may be the same.

If you have access to generic PC you could try booting of the Dell XP disk. If it refuses then you know it wont boot on your new PC. One other point is that the product code with the OEM disk is tied to that manufacture's XP distribution, so if you try to use your product key with a vanilla XP disk it will not work.

Someone on net, maybe these forums, the detailed a method of taking an image of the current system, and by various means getting it to run on different hardware without needing re-activation. You could investigate that method.

If you decide to go for a new AMD machine use AM2 not socket 939. The prices are much the same for processor and motherboard. AMD will stop selling socket 939 processors by the end of the year, at least according to theses forums.

If you go the Intel route be carefull of your motherboard choice. There are many socket 775 motherboards but only a few are core 2 duo compatable. Some boards that are compatable will only work with the lower end of the core 2 duo range.

To be honest I've bought a few HP machines from their Ebay shop in the UK. The prices I paid would not have paid for the hardware, let alone the OS. For example August last year I bought a machine with 1 Gig memory dual channel memory, 200Gig SATA HD, socket 939 athlon 3200, low end PCIE graphics card. The cost of the machine was about £280 including delivery. I added up the price of the hardware needed to build the system and it was more than buying the ready built machine from HP.

If you are on a tight budget it may be work looking and the HP, Dell, an others clearance. I am sure that I've seen that HP have an Ebay shop in the US though, so maybe it would be worth having a quick look.

Best of Luck

Rob.

 

[burn-e86]

I had a windows XPhome OEM that i bought and used a serial from a compaq laptop that i owned and was gonna be scrapped, it installed fine and th S/N worked fine. though if your gonna use this method you have to make sure that the S/N is from the same version, i.e. you can have a winXP home OEM disk and a S/N of winXP home OEM but not with an S/N of winXP home OEM with SP1 or SP2.

 

[Seifer]

Yeah I had Dimension 2400 as well that my mom bought a while back and the reinstallation disk worked fine...

 

[nikolokolus]

OEM means that its sold with no strings attached, you get it and thats that. question though, is this version of OEM installed on any PC?
if so then check the license, some OEMs allow for you to install on 2 PCs or X amount of PCs

this is 100% misinformation. OEM most certainly means "strings attached" a Dell (for example) branded windows disc looks for a set of microcode embedded on their motherboards, if it doesn't find the code you'll get a message like "for use on a dell branded PC only" and it will not let you proceed any further.

True, you can buy an OEM version of windows and install it, but if you make changes to your computer (like an upgraded video, motherboard, and CPU) and do a clean install of windows, product activation will fail. At this point you'll have to authenticate your copy of windows over the phone and tell them that you made some changes to your system, but that it is still the same system.

Furthermore, windows has always been a "one copy, one computer" kind of OS (at least since win98),

 

[Seifer]

It all depends on your installation mine was glossy and came with my dimension had DEll wrote on the bottem and it worked fine...If yours came out later it will probabbly be red and you can't use that one

 

[dohicky]

It all depends on your installation mine was glossy and came with my dimension had DEll wrote on the bottem and it worked fine...If yours came out later it will probabbly be red and you can't use that one

Well, mine's redish... It's like maroon colored, I guess.

 

[Seifer]

Yeah see you can't use that...Best thing to do is go to a local cp store and buy it...Make sure you don't buy the upgrade. A buddy of mine made that mistake...Or you can get a Illegal Copy somewhere and use your s/n you got now on the dell..