Building Gaming PC.. Tell me what you think.

[Th3 RiCk]

This is going to support all my gaming needs for the next couple years. I'm open to all suggestions and criticism.

PCU:AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 754 socket($219) Yes I know it's 64bit. 32bit will be obsolete before long. So hell, why not upgrade now.

Mobo:ASUS "K8N" NVIDIA nForce3 Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 754 CPU ($84)

Memory:Crucial 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 8T ($85.25)

Case: A-Top XBlade Black/Silver Ultimate Gaming Machine With 450W PSU & Side window, Model "AT859A-BK" ($69.00)

Video Card: ATI RADEON 9800 PRO Video Card, 256MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP ($290.00) -I may downgrade a bit -

Hard Drive: Seagate 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model ST380013AS-RK ($96.00)

Some cd/dvd burner. Haven't decided yet. ($75)

Screen. Haven't decided yet either. ($200)

Fans. Can't have enough of these. ($30)

Grand total: $1148.25

I really have no intentions of overclocking as of yet, but I'm keeping my options open. There are some other little goodies that aren't listed but this is a start.

[ November 24, 2004, 04:20 AM: Message edited by: Th3 RiCk ]

[Brad G.]

More memory (at least a gig), and dont downgrade the vid card, if you want to run the newer games like half-life 2.

[Nachius]

May also want to look into PCI-Xpress motherboard if you plan on keeping this system a while.

Faster than AGP video.

[1DangerousV6]

Originally posted by Brad G.:
More memory (at least a gig), and dont downgrade the vid card, if you want to run the newer games like half-life 2.

definitely ;)

[Rob@USC]

Originally posted by Nachius:
May also want to look into PCI-Xpress motherboard if you plan on keeping this system a while.

Faster than AGP video.

^^^ What I was thinking. At this time (from what I've read) there isn't a need for the extra bandwidth of PCI-Xpress over AGP (maybe 2 more fps...depending on the program), but in a few months/years that may change.

I currently have a 9800 Pro 128mb (so almost the same, just less ram) and I must say I'm impressed with it. Definately don't downgrade that, but if you have extra money, maybe look into PCI-Xpress. Also, that vid-card puts out a LOT of heat. My first one fried itself within seconds of the fan failing (card was about 10 months old). The second one (RMA return) fried within seconds of booting because the fan/heatsink I put on it apparently didn't make a good connection. Hopefully third one will last.

Edit: The only other things I can think to upgrade is a bigger harddrive (which you can do later if you need or just add another one) or more RAM. It's like my dad says , "you can never have too much of two things, money and RAM" (I think the smallest amount of ram my dad has in any of his computers at work is ~800mb, but he does a lot of digital photo work and works with scans that are 500+ mb each)

[majeskyb]

I'd go with what everyone else has said. More ram, bigger hard drive like this 400GB drive for $340 , and if you are getting a good video card and/or thinking about oc'ing the processor, look into a water cooling system like this one . It received a perfect 10 rating from cluboc, and it's an internal system. You might also want to look into dropping the psu that comes with the case and buying a high quality one from a well known company. You might want to look into a Athlon 64 3400+, Clawhammer core , even though it's running 200MHz slower, it's L2 cache is a full 1MB, which will more than make up for the speed difference. What kind of sound card are you getting? Since it's for gaming, that's almost as important as choosing your video card. Fans- make sure they have ball bearings, not sleeve (wear out faster). One last thing. The mobo you chose is limiting the amount of RAM you can use to 3GB. You probably won't need more, but just keep in mind that 64 bit processors support 8GB of ram. Sorry for picking it apart so much, I just designed the computer I want to build last week, but I'm torn between building it (about $3-4k), or spending that money on my Camaro. If you have any more questions, please ask. I love being able to help people out in the areas that I know best. Sorry it's so long, I'm out [img]graemlins/dj.gif[/img]

[SirShaun]

Definately at least a 1 gig of ram... But hell you can always add Ram in later..Also your gonna need a bigger hard drive if your gonna be installing alot of games.

[Th3 RiCk]

I can't even fill up the 40gig HD on my laptop with music and other stuff. 80gb will more than necessary since I only want to play Everquest and a few other games. I'm trying to keep the costs down as much as possible without sacrificing a lot.
As for memory, 512 is plenty for anything at the moment. I'll definately be upgrading in the future. I'll probably add a 512 stick every 4 or 5 months or a 1gb stick every 6 months.

As for the sound card. I'm not much into the whole sound deal. Most mobos today come with built in ones so that should be sufficent. I don't even plan on buying speakers for the computer.

I'm afraid to go all out with the video card. They change so often that it seems like a waste to me. This one will definately work pretty well for at least a year, maybe more.

Keep the suggestions coming. I'm open to all! Keep in mind I'm trying to be as cost efficent as possible without sacrificing a lot.

[L32Projekt]

Do yourself the favor and purchase the OEM version of that hard drive, and save yourself about $27.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...148-019&depa=1

Your Motherboard comes with both the molex to SATA power cable conversion and two SATA data cables, no need to purchase the retail kit. Use the saved cash to upgrade that RAM to 1GB.

Good choice picking Newegg, I got all my new computer components from them, just waiting on the A64 3400+ (Clawhammer core) CPU from my Dad. It's going to be free, so I can't complain.

[GrigoryRasputin]

more ram more HD, like everyone has said.

[Black2000SSvert]

I'd strongly suggest a board that will support both Athalon 64 AND the Athalon FX for future upgradeability, SATA RAID drives, a single 10,000 rpm Raptor SATA drive for now (36 gig for $120, 5 year warranty), add another in striped mode Raid later, more RAM (at minimum 1 gig DDR) and as fast a FSB as you can go. Also NEED to consider the latest video cards if you want to play the latest games, and yes, they DO cost about 500 bucks.

Fact of the matter is if you want to build a gaming machine, there are VERY few areas you can save bucks, as performance is eveything. figure to up your budget to around 2000-2500 if you want something that will not be obsolete by the end of the year.

Oh... and Newegg ROCKS! [img]graemlins/rock.gif[/img]

[Brad G.]

Originally posted by Black 2000 SS 'vert:
Oh... and Newegg ROCKS! [img]graemlins/rock.gif[/img]

[img]graemlins/rock.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/rock.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/rock.gif[/img]

[98_birdman]

yup, get the best you can find no matter the price or it will be outdated within months, computer technology moves too fast for us to keep up with it...which is why its been growing so rapidly in the last few years

[Th3 RiCk]

Yup, paying $600+ for a outrageous high speed intel which will be surpassed by something new 4 or 5 months later seems stupid to me. Most applications don't require the best of the best products anyways. Sure it will be outdated in 1-2 years, but it's not going to be the worst pc on the block. I can always add more memory and overclock the cpu. Video cards will always keep expanding. Finding something that's good for $200 bucks is a lot better than finding something thats great for $600 bucks. Remember, I'm trying to build something that is good but doesn't empty the bank account. It only needs to keep up with games for about 1 1/2 years.

I just can't see why people pay outrageous prices for a product that's a 10/10 when they could have the 9/10 for less than half the cost. Boogles the mind.

[ka50]

My philosophy is this:

Never buy top of the line stuff. Buy stuff that's below the top stuff by few notches. It's usually a lot cheaper and perfomance is sufficient for today and the year ahead.

I bought my 1.3 athlon 2 years ago. It wasn't cutting edge, it was normal. I had it til yesterday, cuz it burned up. I got geforce4 mx440 (****ty card) at that time too. It wasn't cutting edge, but I could play all games comfortably. Then, when americas army started really upgrading, I bought a new card - geforce4 fx5900. I planned to keep the CPU for sometime, but since it's burned up, I got athlon 64 2800+ with newcastle core. Overclocked with geforce (overclocked, too), will put out very nice numbers and last for a couple of years.

Geforce when I got it was 160$
This combo of athlon 64 + MB was about another $180.

So, I have powerfull machine that will last and play all games with ease for 340$.