Need help choosing a new COMPUTER for PC gaming----$$$$

[Yes4Prop215]

you caint go wrong with this set up
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227201
i would avoid vista and get windows 7

i like this one too.

I like the way cyberpower is set up with how you can add or deduct certain things and it shows you all the options.

And i also gotta factor in buying a 20 inch computer moniter, even though i plan on hooking this up to my TV i still want to be able to use regular computer moniter. I was at this dudes house and he had his computer set up where he had both the moniter AND his LCD working. He had his regular windows screen on the computer moniter and warcraft on his TV, and he could drag his mouse back and forth between the screen. How do i get that!!!

 

[etinarcadiaego]

Hey man, www.magicmicro.com, similar to cyber power. Start with an intel "Bare bones" and add the parts I posted in an earlier post if you'd like

 

[Yes4Prop215]

Should i go INTEL or AMD?? im using magic micro bare bones to price out a rig. cant find the ATX case i can easily fit it.

is 500gb enough for my hard drive?

what kind of sound card it comes stock with realtek audio or 40 bucks for the sound blaster.

heres what i built
http://www.magicmicro.com/smoreinfo.asp?iid=1988

 

[DogBoy]

Go Intel if you are Gaming. AMD may be slightly faster in some cases but intel will offer you better reliability and a cooler processor. I've had both in the past and either will 'do' but you should really go for Intel if you want reliability. The E8500 already mentioned has the dual core and is nice and fast. Most games dont properly support Quad core yet so it's not viable yet.

As for the card, the 9800GTX/2 is what i use with a gig of ram and i have yet to see it struggle to play something. Even at 1900 X 1200 it still does well.
That said, anything released later than the infamous 8800 will do just fine. If you go OEM you can often save enough on the retail price to go up a few models too. I always find OEM for graphics works fine.

 

[cyberwax]

I would vote for intel aswell, i7 processors, they handle data more efficiently.

 

[desant]

Cool so dump the 9500 its obsolete?

I dont want to have a card that will be worthless in a year. Should i just get the GTS 250 with 512mb?

The best budget graphics card is

Asus RADEON EAH5750 FORM/2DI/1GD5/A 1GB DDR5 PCI-E DVI-I*2 HDMI IN

http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase22.4&prodID=B259466
£102

It is in the ligue with all the best cards atm...



this is what IM getting soon

a 5870

 

[cyberwax]

graphics card with a hdmi in? for what purpose?

 

[DogBoy]

graphics card with a hdmi in? for what purpose?

$30 extra bucks on the final retail price and the ability to add the HDMI logo thats so treasured now. People still think HDMI means perfect picture and forget it should be about the dpi.

The one good advantage is that LCD tv is far cheaper than a good quality monitor when you get to the big sizes.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

yea definately wanna connect the computer to my LCD so i need something that does that.

alrite so i got hella work to do in the grow room but when im done im thinkin about finally buying thsi rig.

im gonna go with Intel and a GTS 250 with 1gb ram. Il stay dual core so i dont need any fancy quad core or anything like that.

im still confused what to do about the sound card and how much gb of memory do i neeed??

 

[etinarcadiaego]

Hey man. Max out the RAM, on a 32 bit Operating System that's 4GB, the amount of RAM your system can/will recognize and use will depend on the board you use, so get a decent board and you should have 3.5GB usable.

YOu'll be fine with realtek audio for the most part, or you can upgrade to a sound card, or add one later. I use the onboard realtek but I will say that addon cards are nice if you have a decent speaker setup. NOt so useful for cheap ass PC speakers or headphones.

If you configure the computer through EBay (From Magic Micro) you'll be able to link us to configured computer. Here is a start for you: LINK

You'll need to add the Mushkin Blackline RAM I linked you to in an earlier post, and get a corsair PSU that supports that card - something 400+ watts would do. I say go with corsair, something like this: LINK

 

[Yes4Prop215]

fsho thanks etinaracia you been real helpful. its unbelievable how many rams, hard drives, etc are all in the computer. i thought it was just hard drive, graphics card, and your goot go go haha.

 

[etinarcadiaego]

It's cool man, i'm just glad i can help. You have any other ?'s or anything PM me or post here. I check this thread at least once a day

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Cool so dump the 9500 its obsolete?

I dont want to have a card that will be worthless in a year. Should i just get the GTS 250 with 512mb?

Thanks again Arcadia and everyone else, helps ALOT. these things are so confusing, so many different parts, etc.

and i DEF want HDMI output because i have plans to play on my 40inch LCD.

The 9500 is a turd unless your going to be gaming at 1280z1024 At higher resolutions, it will struggle.

Any video card will be obsolete in a year. There's always something newer and better a couple of months away.

The new 5800 series from ATi/AMD are rocking the higherst frame rates right now. Nvidia will have a new series out in a couple of months, but for the last 12 months or so (since the 4800 series were released, ATi has owned Nvidia.
Let's not start a flame war on ATi vs nVidia.

The E8500 is a solid choice for a gaming CPU. A build based on the Core2Duo processors will be cheaper than the new i7's or i5s since the processors, motherboards and memory based on that socket are cheaper. The Phenom II will also work great for gaming.

For a single card setup, a 500w power supply should be plenty. A minimum or 2 GB RAM is necessary. 4 GB is better, but a 32 bit OS will only see 3.2 GB of this due to OS constraints.

A fast hard drive will improve game performance. The 10,000 rpm drives or SSD will perform the best and cost the most.

Check out some computer websites like anandtech or Toms Hardware for some cheap gaming rig builds. I would say $800 would be a minimum

 

[etinarcadiaego]

The 9500 is a turd unless your going to be gaming at 1280z1024 At higher resolutions, it will struggle.

Any video card will be obsolete in a year. There's always something newer and better a couple of months away.

The new 5800 series from ATi/AMD are rocking the higherst frame rates right now. Nvidia will have a new series out in a couple of months, but for the last 12 months or so (since the 4800 series were released, ATi has owned Nvidia.
Let's not start a flame war on ATi vs nVidia.

The E8500 is a solid choice for a gaming CPU. A build based on the Core2Duo processors will be cheaper than the new i7's or i5s since the processors, motherboards and memory based on that socket are cheaper. The Phenom II will also work great for gaming.

For a single card setup, a 500w power supply should be plenty. A minimum or 2 GB RAM is necessary. 4 GB is better, but a 32 bit OS will only see 3.2 GB of this due to OS constraints.

A fast hard drive will improve game performance. The 10,000 rpm drives or SSD will perform the best and cost the most.

Check out some computer websites like anandtech or Toms Hardware for some cheap gaming rig builds. I would say $800 would be a minimum

Hey man, good post. 32bit OSs can recognize all 4GB, they just can't use it all as some of the address space is going to be addressed for components like the PCI bus, video adaptor, etc, even BIOS gets a cut. The RAM is still there, but the maximum amount of addressable space is only 4GB, so the space set aside for other components is deducted from the 4GB. The "Net" amount depends on your motherboard and generally ranges from 3.5 GB all the way down to 2.5GB. My gigabyte board sees 3.5 . . .

Hope that helped

 

[Bobby Stainless]

I went to a 64bit and there have been some issues with my printer, and various shit. I've got it all worked out now.

Not a hug fan of Windows 7...

I am a huge fan of the 1gig Ive got on my GTX though!

 

[OPT]

To be honest, you can have a pretty good gaming experience with an older computer, as long as you have decent RAM, and a good video card, and enough hard drive space. To get a good gaming experience, you don't necessarly have to have a computer built for gaming ONLY.

Better graphics card you have, the more frames per second (fps) you'll get. With enough RAM, and even a decent processor like a Intel dual core, you'll be plenty fine.

OPT

 

[Yes4Prop215]

ive basically narrowed it down to a intel e8400 with Nvidia 9800, 480 watt power supply, 500gb hard drive, and a couple other things. i dont want to break more than 1000 on the core PC.

i can already see everything adding up though.
850 on the rig itself
50 on cables and other random shit
then $$ for games
plus another 200 on a nice LCD screen possibly, cant have it hooked up to the TV 24/7


i cant wait though, im also dropping 300 on a nice microfiber lazyboy and ikea sidetable from which i will command shit. im gonna buy company of heroes, and maybe world in conflict. i like military RTS games.

but my main goal for this rig is to be able to play starcraft 2 when it eventually comes out. i wish that FPS "fallujah" would come out but i read they canceled it. anyother recs for good FPS or RTS games gimme a holler.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

bump real quick i wanna get a last confirmation before buying this.


will the logisys 480 watt power supply be good enough?

 

[Yes4Prop215]

where did earcardia go?

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

I don't know much about the logisys power supplies. My last build was an Opteron 170 OC'd to 2.8 Ghz on socket 939. The one thing I learned on that build was a cheap power supply will cause more problems than going cheap on RAM, mobo, HDD or other components. A relaible 12v rail on your PSU is critical for solid computing and gaming, especially if you overclock.
480 watts would be plenty for the e8400 and a single 9800.