$1000 Gaming Computer (Building Virgin)

I am looking to create a purely gaming PC for around $1000, the budget is flexible and can go upwards to $1300 (The cheaper, the better).

My goal is to be able to run Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead at high setting with a resolution of 1680x1050 without a trace of stuttering, if possible.

My knowledge of computer hardware is limited and I found the research overwhelming so I'm looking for some help.



First, I already have Windows XP but have no idea if I should upgrade to Vista or not, I would be willing to extend the budget if it is worthwhile.

Now to the crux of it, any suggestions for PSU, GPU and all that good stuff would be appreciated.

Also, any recommendations for a no frills mouse and keyboard?

If any more information is needed, just let me know.

Thanks.

This seems to be the sweet spot for value

Intel C2D e8400 , e8500
Inel P45 chipset motherboard . Asus , Gigabyte
4 [ 2 x2 ] Gig of 800Mhz RAM
WD 640 gig black HDD [ seagate 7200.11's have too many problems , samsung F1's are good ]

ATI 4870 1 gig gfx card or nVidia gtx 260 216

A good case and power supply . Read reviews . I like antec and sliverstone cases . Corsair and Seasonic psu's 650 watts is plenty .Dont buy cheap on these. They are important .

I would stick with XP for now . Vista is resource hungry and runs slower . There will be some minor detail in games you cant turn on [ Direct X 10 ] but it doesnt make much difference .
XP wont see all 4 gig of RAM but ignore that for the time being and upgrade to the new windows 7 64 bit in a year or so when it is released .

^
Good stuff up there. Though I might swap out that 4870 for a regular 1 Gb edition. And the memory.

Are you a virgin builder or are you barely computer literate? Very different things. It's very likely you will mess something up in the build - I **** up bad on my first build. You should have customer support on quick dial.

I like winXP more then Vista due to resourche requirements for VISTA...

However, that said, Vista has better support and options for Direct X 10 and onwards, which for gaming is a Must. so it is a tricky choise.

Personally, I would stick to the winXP you have because of budget, and upgrade to VISTA only in the comming 12 months, when the Direct X 10 and Vista become more and more required for good Gamining experience.

I only have two major problems with newfs build, one of which he predicted.

The motherboard is not crossfire capable. Seems a shame to provide enough power for a second card, and then not leave the option open. Perhaps he meant to link the UD3P:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128358

As to the 2X1GB Kingston memory, this is just wrong. Kingston is a great company and they make very compatible memory, yes.

-You buy two 1GB sticks now and when you want to upgrade (and you will soon) you will have to populate all 4 slots. This is almost always a challenge on P45 boards. Your other option will be to toss the sticks you bought and replace them with a 2X2 set, however since the switch is coming to DDR3, DDR2 prices may have come up by then.

-Just because your XP 32-bit will only be able to use somewhere between 2.8-3.6GB of your 4GB, is no reason not to have it now.

-There are plenty of 2x2 kits that operate at the JEDEC standard 1.8V and so are very compatible.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231209
This is very nice RAM at a great price.

Just put my order in on my new computer from NewEgg!

I used mostly Newf's build with a crossfire capable motherboard and 2x2 gigs of ram.

This way I have plenty of room for improvement with another graphics card, more RAM and possibly a 64 bit OS.

Thanks everyone for your help, hopefully the actual building process will go smoothly!

I am typing this from my new, home-built computer!

The motherboard I'm using is the one Proximon suggested:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128358

and the RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820134641

In the end it ran me about $900 pre-rebate.

I don't know if there's a universal benchmark but I'm getting a consistent capped 60 FPS in Left 4 Dead on the highest settings. Overall, I'm very happy with how it went and the final product. This is exactly the goal I set out for and it is now accomplished. Thanks everyone for your help!