PC Gamer Building Guide (MUST READ)

hool10

hool10

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Ok so I got off from work today and decided to ditch the "I-thought-it-was-good-while-others-say-it-was-horrible" reviews online. So I went to Barnes & Noble (bookstore) and looked at their magazine rack for some hardware review magazines. I saw that PC Gamer put out their "bible" to building great new pc's for Summer 2007. http://www.amazon.com/PC-Building-B...636055?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183073440&sr=1-19
Yes it's expensive for a magazine ($10), but it's really a book. They walk you through all the tech jargon and walk you through building a computer step-by-step with pictures. They also show the best components and I have to agree with them. For a $1,400 computer they suggested the:
  • BFG GeForce 8800 GTS $349. Video card
  • EVGA nForce 680i SLI $250. Motherboard
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 $167. CPU
  • 1GB Corsair TwinX DDR2/800 $150. RAM
  • Antec Nine Hundred $140. Case
  • Antec TruePower Trio 650W $125. Power supply
  • Windows XP Professional $99. Operating system
  • 250GB Maxtor DiamondMax 9 $70. Hard drive
  • Lite-On It Super AllWrite SHM-165H6S $35. Optical drive
Grand Total: $1,385
Even better for you folks out there, and me, is that you won't need some of these items. The optical drive, operating system and hard drive most people will keep (except I'm going Vista). They suggested buying an extra GB of RAM and a quad core. There is much more to the book including Vista tips. All prices are current and don't take in July 22nd prices. I eagerly suggest this to anybody on this forum that was like me wondering about what to buy or how to build a computer. :thumbs:
 
nforce board? 1gb ram? Maxtor? Those are the most glaring issues I can see.
 
Yea for $1400 you should easily afford 2gb of ram. Personally I wouldn't spend more on a board than the cpu, at least not that much more.
 
In Aus currency.

Gigabyte-965P-DS3 (rev. 3.3)- $145 - Very good 1333MHz FSB board, why spend extra money on a SLI or Crossfire board? Although fair enough I actually have a DS3P I just never fixed my sig.
E6600 - $300
640MB 8800GTS Asus - $600
2G Kit-667(2x1G) Corsair - $95 (value ram baby, this is for those who don't have a clue. Said people do NOT need 800mhz ram as they won't be overclocking).
W.D.SATA 320G - $100
Antec Nine-Hundred - $180
Antec T.P.3 Trio 650watt $180
*OEM Microsoft 32bit Win XP Home / XP Pro 115/185
*OEM MS 32 bit Vista Home Basic / Home Premium 118/149
Pioneer IDE 18x 112D Beige/Black $40

Without operating system cost comes to.

1,630.00 AUD - close enough, rounded the above prices somewhat anyway.

=

1,382.29 USD
 
1gb of memory isn't enough anymore.

Also I see no problem with an nforce board, many of them are quite tweakable and lovely.
 
If someone built that PC for me I'd be happy. Although I wouldn't save any important stuff on there or I'd be praying the hard drive wouldn't fail. hehe
If I was going to build a system based off that guide or that list, I'd make a number of substitutes. Probably for most of the items actually. Partly personal preference.

I think the title is misleading because people probably expect to be able to read a guide by entering this thread (MUST READ). Instead, you are recommending a magazine to buy because of it's content.
 
Eh, your guide is all we need Asus

/brownose

But seriously, misleading titles for the loss :(
 
Yes I know. PC Gamer should give out free guides on the internet because after all, they are a game magazine not looking for profit. :rolleyes: Also if you read my original post they said they would add 1GB more if they had more money. The motherboard you recommended the reviews are saying the bios is shit and some things are placed terribly like the Northbridge. Value RAM=LOL
 
[RAGE]

hool10 said:
Yes I know. PC Gamer should give out free guides on the internet because after all, they are a game magazine not looking for profit. :rolleyes: Also if you read my original post they said they would add 1GB more if they had more money. The motherboard you recommended the reviews are saying the bios is shit and some things are placed terribly like the Northbridge. Value RAM=LOL
Click to expand...

1. You can update the bios - Those reviews are from release probably on revision F4, funny how F10? is out now. Not to mention probably on older boards ie rev 1.0/2.0 when 3.3 is the current model. Don't like it? Get an Asus P5BE and shut it.

Here have a look at the Asus board http://iow.free.fr/netvista/3.jpg nigh the same really but suit yourself the DS3 must be a terrible board that so many people like myself love.

2. Placement is fine stop listening to kids cry. Really now? The NB is below the CPU socket and theres plenty of room for an after market coolers on both the CPU and NB how is that bad placement? You tell me because the board is bloody fine and people shouldn't waste money on overpriced crap they don't need.

3. It's corsair value ram which is FINE. Anyone that needs to read a thread or magazine article on how to build a computer will not notice the difference nor will 800mhz ram actually be running at 800mhz for obvious reasons.

In short please know what your are talking about. Reviewers biases towards more costly equipment? NO WAI!!!! Besides Gigabyte make a solid board, none of this crapping out after a year of use like the generics, I'm looking at you MSI.

hool10 said:
Yes I know. PC Gamer should give out free guides on the internet
Click to expand...


Or god forbid use google and find many a guide on the subject that goes in more detail and will even help troubleshoot for when things go bad. Alternatively you could let someone else build your rig like a good little boy/girl and go buy a dell.

Currency conversions aside it's funny how I built an overall better performing machine than "PC Gamer" Gamer my arse my machine suggestion would flatten theirs.

[/RAGE]

Ugh!
 
hool10 said:
Why? Many people arn't sure how to build comps on here, and many more are not sure what to get.
Click to expand...

when you say 'MUST READ' that tells the people that you have a guide all ready for them. then they come in here and your telling them to buy a book.
 
Guys do know that, we didn't get enough rain this spring and, we actually in drought in east coast, and Lake Tahoe on the west is on fire?
 
Kyo said:
[RAGE]

3. It's corsair value ram which is FINE. Anyone that needs to read a thread or magazine article on how to build a computer will not notice the difference nor will 800mhz ram actually be running at 800mhz for obvious reasons.

[/RAGE]

Ugh!
Click to expand...

I'm currently working on my first pc build, and was wondering what you meant when you said the ram wouldn't run at 800 mhz for obvious reasons. I'm an idiot, so even the obvious isn't obvious to me. What does it take to make it run at 800 mhz?
 
Any DDR memory is rated at twice the speed it actually runs at because it is Double Data Rate memory. It gets confusing when places label the rating with MHz because it is false. DDR400 runs at 200Mhz. DDR2 800 runs at 400MHz. I have noticed some places do advertise it as DDR2 800Mhz which is incorrect. You would think you were getting 1600 rated memory. D:
 
What is it with people bashing others on these forums? People do it here more than on any of the other sites I post at combined.

Cyber Bashing = Immaturity.

As for typing up a "How-To" guide on building a new PC, I submitted an in debth one here back when I first started posting on HalfLife2.net. However, when I went looking for it, it was gone. Sure by now it's a little outdated, but the general info was still relevant. So sorry to those of you here that needed help and then was flamed because you didn't know as much as the next guy when you asked a question.

I am in the middle of typing up a couple reviews for a few new games I got, but i'll take a break from them and retype up a basic How-To guide if anyone would find it helpful.

-MRG
 
Asus said:
Any DDR memory is rated at twice the speed it actually runs at because it is Double Data Rate memory. It gets confusing when places label the rating with MHz because it is false. DDR400 runs at 200Mhz. DDR2 800 runs at 400MHz. I have noticed some places do advertise it as DDR2 800Mhz which is incorrect. You would think you were getting 1600 rated memory. D:
Click to expand...

It's common for me to find machines running the sticks at 667 or some other number around that area rather than 800. For most stock 6600s I usually put the multi down to 8, FSB up to 400 and mem multi to 2x. 3.2ghz and the ram runs in sync at 800mhz, on stock cooling to boot. Tweak voltages for stability and I'm done usually.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory/display/core2duo-memory-guide_8.html#sect0
 
I would really NOT recommend using stock cooling for any CPU overclock over a few hundred Mhz. Nice CPU coolers will only run you $30 - $50. Keeping your CPU cool is key to keeping it alive for a long amount of time on an OC.

I'd highly recommend the Thermalright Ultra-120 (both the normal and "eXtreme" versions), but thats for a serious overlock, like taking a e6600 from 2.4Ghz to 3.4Ghz. The higher you OC your CPU, the closer it will come to synching with your RAM speed, thusly making that DDR800 more worth it.

For solid hardware help, I'd recommend to head over to the HardForums.
 
Kyo said:
God forbid you hit 70 degrees C under full load.
Click to expand...

Yes, god forbid you go 10C over your CPUs thermal spec.
Not smart overclocking. There is no reason to stress your CPU that much when you can just put decent cooling on the thing.
 
Thanks for the heads up. I can build pc's but im not perfect. Id like to have that mag for a back up. Just incase i need to look something up real fast.
 
I was hoping I could buy this pc in august:

Antec Nine Hundred 100,06
Thermaltake Toughpower, 750 Watt, Retail 122,01
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 266,-
Tuniq Tower 120 45,-
Team TXDD2048M1066HC4DC, 2048 MB, DDR2, PC8500, 1066 MHz, 2 x 189,48
Western Digital Caviar RE, 320 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB, SATA II 81,09
GigaByte GA-P35-DS4,Retail 154,56
Sapphire Radeon HD2900XT,GDDR3, PCI Express x16, 512MB 346,88
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit,BOX, Engels 87,04
Total: 1392,66

I already sent Brick a PM, so he can see if I have something really dumb in there before I make a thread. In a month I will make a thread for final inspection by hl2.net. What worries me most is the RAM, should I really get pc8500 cas 4 for 180
When I can get PC6400 cas 4 for 109,-
And the motherboard, DS4 seems really good, but it has bad placement of PCI and I worry the cooling will interfere with the CPU cooler.
 
ASUS P5K DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131182
$224.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6320 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115015
$165

CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-8500C5D - Retail
$40.00 Mail-in Rebate
$193.00

Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500YS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136055
$72.99

ASUS 18X DVD?R DVD Burner with LightScribe and 14X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model DRW-1814BLT - OEM
Item #: N82E16827135145
$32.99

EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814130071
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$389.99

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811129021
$139.99

SILVERSTONE ST85ZF ATX12V / EPS12V 850W SLI Certified Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817256007
$189.99

Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM
Item #: N82E16832116202
$111.99

Subtotal: $1,521.43
 
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