Building a New Rig

[dantewilliams]

Hey guys im going to buy a new computer, but id like some help on what to buy. I would like to stick to Nvidia Graphics Cards and AMD Processors. my budget is roughly $1600 US DOLLARS. please post on your recomendations.

 

[Alig]

What are you keeping? I've recently upgraded and my Pc is hella quick, i can run FEAR (probably the most demanding game out) at 1280x1024 at highest settings with 2aa/4af and this is what i bought

Goods Shipped:
£149.95 x 1 - AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-145-AM)
£69.95 x 1 - DFI LanParty UT NF3 Ultra (Socket 939) Motherboard (MB-016-DF)
£144.95 x 1 - Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS)
£29.95 x 1 - ThermalRight XP-90C (Socket 754/939/478) Heatsink (HS-022-TR)
£5.25 x 3 - Akasa Rounded Ultra ATA133/100/66 IDE UV DAY-GLO Cable (0.45m) -
Green (CB-057-GE)
£5.50 x 1 - Zalman ZMF2 92mm Silent Case fan - 3 pin (FG-001-ZA)
£5.50 x 1 - Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) (AC-000-AC)
£4.95 x 1 - Vantec Cable Sleeving Kit - Blue (CA-002-VA)
£6.95 x 1 - Akasa Dual UV Cold Cathodes 1 Inverter (CA-008-AK)

I already have a Benq 8ms 17" monitor (£210 about a year ago), X800pro (probably about £150 now) and a Audigy2 (do they even make the standard one anymore) and my PC feels better than any game out by a long shot. All in all, if you're keeping your monitor and soundcard etc etc you'd be looking at about £850 ($1'500). That is including an SLI board and a PCI GFX card. I personally wouldn't get the best GFX card but rather get one now thats cheaper and save for another to put in SLI, 2 top-line GFX cards would be overkill.

 

[Qonfused]

My rig costed exactly $1600 (monior, system) but a lot of stuff that I bought, Newegg doesn't have anymore.

 

[Freemanator89]

My rig costed exactly $1600 (monior, system) but a lot of stuff that I bought, Newegg doesn't have anymore.

What the hell is a monior?

Anyway I'd get a 4000+AMD64, a nice 19" screen if possible, 2Gb RAM, and a 7800GT, as well as a 500W psu and a nice 180 or maybe 160 Gig Harddrive.

 

[Qonfused]

Monior, +t. It's really not that hard to figure out a typo.

 

[3ssence]

Monior, +t. It's really not that hard to figure out a typo.

but then he wouldn't have been able to PWNT you with such a witty remark /sarcasm

Mobo - A decent socket 939 motherboard, say asus A8N-Sli (originality ftw !), or abit, epox, dfi, all good brands.

CPU - A mid - high range AMD64, say 3500+ - 3800+, 4000+ is not worth the performance increase over the 3800+ at all, a lot of money for nigh on zero increase.

PSU - A decent 500W upwards - FSP, seasonic, tagan, and others.

Ram - 2Gb of ram is becoming quite handy nowadays.

Case - entirely down to your own personal tastes, but i would reccomend a case with 2 x 120mm fans for decent cooling.

Graphics card - 7800GT offers the best bang for buck out there right now, although if you want to go up a step then get a X1800XT, faster than a 7800GTX 256Mb, but the same price (if not cheaper in some places).

Soundcard - not a neccesity, but imo a separate souncard is worth the purchase. If you don't want to spend too much money on a soundcard then a creative soundblaster audigy 2 or 4 is a good buy. If you have a little more money then go for a creative x-fi xtreme music.

Anyways, happy searching, and keep the people of hl2.net informed of your progress.

:thumbs:

 

[Alig]

What the hell is a monior?

Anyway I'd get a 4000+AMD64, a nice 19" screen if possible, 2Gb RAM, and a 7800GT, as well as a 500W psu and a nice 180 or maybe 160 Gig Harddrive.

The 4000+ isn't worth the massive ammount of extra money. Here is a chart of CPU's (http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/11/21/the_mother_of_all_cpu_charts_2005/page24.htmlupto date) and the 3800+ is barely noticibly worse than the 4000+ yet costs alot more.

 

[CptStern]

get this, it's almost your entire budget but you'd definately be unique

 

[dantewilliams]

get this, it's almost your entire budget but you'd definately be unique

amazing

im also wonder whats a good gaming monitor for lcd?

 

[CptStern]

get this one

 

[Freemanator89]

The 4000+ isn't worth the massive ammount of extra money. Here is a chart of CPU's (http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/11/21/the_mother_of_all_cpu_charts_2005/page24.htmlupto date) and the 3800+ is barely noticibly worse than the 4000+ yet costs alot more.

Eh? I remember looking at cpu's a while ago, the 4000+ is only about 100 or so bucks more expensive, less if I remember.

 

[dantewilliams]

Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

Im not sure what mother board to get, but im willing to pay 100 - 200 on a good mother board.

Video Card:
eVGA Geforce 7800GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130256

^ beastly graphics card i need

Whats a good power supply im thinking about sticking a 500 watt one in my computer

 

[CptStern]

enermax 565P 535 watts, sli ready (certified by nvidia) and x2 ready

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103512

match the 7800gt with an ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe

mobo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131568

although you can get it much cheaper than that somewhere else

or even the a8n-sli deluxe which is cheaper

that's what I have and the evga 7800gt

 

[3ssence]

Eh? I remember looking at cpu's a while ago, the 4000+ is only about 100 or so bucks more expensive, less if I remember.

That's still a lot of money for virtually no benefit whatsoever.....

 

[dantewilliams]

I was goign to get this monitor!

does this look good?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001185

 

[CptStern]

this is supposed to be the best moonitor going in it's price range (from reviews I've read)


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116355


but samsung is a great quality name brand

 

[3ssence]

I agree with stern, from everything i have read that monitor (viewsonic) is the best in the price range. But again, samsung are a quality brand and you could do much worse.

 

[dantewilliams]

OK so heres what ive decided on so far, and i was wondering will the 40x cd reading on the dvd drive effect my game play?

New Computer

CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 1GHz FSB 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor – Retail – 322$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

Mother Board:
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail– 167$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540

Video Card:
eVGA 256-P2-N516 Geforce 7800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card – Retail – 300$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130256

Ram:
GeIL Value 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory – Retail – 81$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144310

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar SE 80GB 7200 RPM 8 MB Cache Serial ATA 150 Hard Drive – OEM – 55$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106

Optical Drive:
ASUS Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-R 32X CD-RW 40X CD-ROM 2X DVD-RAM Read 2M Cache IDE DVD Burner – Retail – 50$ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827135043

Power Supply:
ENERMAX Whisper II EG565P-VE FMA(24P) ATX12V 535W Power Supply 90V~135V or 90V~265V UL, cUL, TUV, CB – Retail – 89$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103512

Keyboard:
ViewSonic ViewMate KU-206 2-Tone 104 Normal Keys 9 Internet function keys + 6 multimedia control keys Function Keys USB Wired Standard Keyboard – Retail – 15$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823150005

Mouse:
Logitech G5 Laser 931376-0403 2-Tone 6 Buttons 1x Wheel USB Laser Mouse – Retail – 49$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16826104191

Speakers:
ALTEC LANSING VS4221 35 Watts 2.1 Speaker – Retail – 86$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16836113168

Case:
Thermaltake SOPRANO VB1000BWS Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window – Retail – 80$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133145

Total:
1293$ then give or take the monitor add about 300 - 400 so its more like 1593 to 1693, not bad id say!

 

[dantewilliams]

is this mobo any good, i dont plan on run SLI i just want a good mother board.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131530

 

[Shakermaker]

is this mobo any good, i dont plan on run SLI i just want a good mother board.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131530

I have one. Generally a good board with very good on-board sound. On the downside: there are problems with the mobo-fan. Asus gets u a new one immediately when it fails, but you have to replace it yourself and that's a bitch.