[Building a Gaming comp, advice needed!] -
Building a Gaming comp, advice needed!
Discuss Building a Gaming comp, advice needed!
Posted by: GimiMyGF4Ti4600
Okay, I have never built a computer before, but Im not stupid, and I know what componets are compatible with each other.
Motherboard: Shuttle AK37 GTR KT400 [URL]http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,634863,00.asp[/URL]
Preformance test: [URL]http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,634852,00.asp[/URL]
Ram: Undecided, desperate for advice (best preformance for the buck is what i need) Needs to be DDR333 though
Video Card: GeForce 4 Ti 4200 128mb, If prices change well enough by summer, I'll go with either the 4600 or ATI's 9700 pro./just 9700
Preformance test:
[URL]http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,740895,00.asp[/URL]
Sound Card: Who gives a crap :-D
Hard Drive: a basic 20-30 GB 7200 rpm hard Drive, I'll most likely only use my machine for one game at a time anyways :-D Plus, this is a VERY easily upgradeable area.
Proccesor: AMD's Athalon XP 2200+ is the winner for the price for me. Of course ill probally step up to the 2400 or more as prices go down, remember, I'm not building it till summer time.
Test: [URL]http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,478452,00.asp[/URL]
Standard CD-Rom, fast of course.
Case can be decided last.
Anyways any advice would be very nice, changes, etc. Expecially in the RAM and Motherboard area, those are my two most worrysum areas. My total will probally be around 600 dollars when Ram is added into it (im looking for 512 by the way). This fits my budget nicely. Being a 16 year old, that has plenty of reptiles to take care of, and has too busy of a schedule to have a partime job, summer jobs are the only choice for me, and christmas money of course, that normally is saved for my pets though. UT2003 is going to be my first game btw! UT was kick *** and Tactical Ops was more kick ***, they better make some good mods for 2003. Anyways Feedback would be nice. Thanks. Also if you have similar systems, or even less powerful systems, Id like to hear how they preform, fps, etc.
Posted by: koomba
Well as far as the motherboard, i wouldnt suggest any board based on the kt400 chipset. Its not a bad chipset, but The Nforce2 is much much better. Go with an nforce2 based mb, the Asus is a good choice. But there are other nice ones out there too. Memory....id go with the corsair xms series. The pc3200 is a good choice, and if you go with it be sure to get 2x sticks, for a total of 512 or 1024. But with your budget, id go with 2x256, 1024 is probably overkill anyways. And the processor.....spend a few more dollars and get the xp2400, its definately the best bang for your buck. And its a pretty good overclocking too, if youre interested in that. Hope that helps! If you have anymore questions, just reply.
steven
Posted by: koomba
Ohh and with the videocard, you might want to check out the radeon 9500 pro. Its around the same price range as the ti4200 you mentioned, and has about the same performance, if not better. But it also has DX9 support, and it tears the GF4s apart when it comes to FSAA and Anisotopic filtering, which will greatly improve the visual quality of the game, as im sure you know. Just my 2 cents thou.
Posted by: GimiMyGF4Ti4600
Interesting points there. I've heard the future with gaming and the 9500 doesnt look good, I'll probally spend a few extra bucks this summer and go wtih the 9700 though. I'll do some more research on the nforce boards, i sorta read up on it. Yeah I've heard that ram is good too, I should get the standard right, not get ripped off witht he compressed stuff. Im deffinetly going with the 2400, and yes, I will be over clocking it with my pencil :).
Posted by: koomba
YEah, good idea. And definately go with the corsair, generic is not good for overclocking, im sure you know. And youre right, by this summer you could probably get the 9700 for ~250 online, if not cheaper. Especially since the new ati card based on the r350 chip will (hopefully) be out.
Posted by: GimiMyGF4Ti4600
Also I guess I'll go with the asus nForce 2 board, but i heard its not great for overclocking compared to the other nForce's..so?
Posted by: GimiMyGF4Ti4600
Yea, I'm going with a 550 watt power supply and deffinetly a good cooling system for my proccessor, considering i have plans to overclock it. Havent decided on that yet either.
Also, advice on OS? I was thinking Mandrake, linux. I dont want to ever have to touch Windows. Whats a better preformer when it comes to games?
Posted by: GimiMyGF4Ti4600
eek, good point, totally forgot about that. Hmm, I'll have to find a way to get it for free then, hehe. Why havent you built a new computer? Its better then my current one, but looks like you could use a new system. What are you running game wise right now?
OH by the way, Im using price watch prices, keep that in mind, cause the Athlon 2400 can be bought for like 130-150 as i recall on there, maybe im wrong ill check in a sec.
Posted by: GimiMyGF4Ti4600
Asus nforce 2 motherboard: 73.00
Athlon XP 2400: 139.00
2 sticks of DDR 3200 ram: 108-130, depending if i get the High grade or Atlas stuff.
Radeon 9700 pro: a whopping 268 bucks! why not.
Cooling system: 30.00
550 watt PS: 32.00
30 gig 7200 rpm HD: 61.0
that basicly does it, the rest i can get for free.
Total: 711.00 which i can handle, so now i can go with the 9700 pro :)
Posted by: Ecniv
Go with a MSI nforce 2 board. and I would suggest waiting until the Geforce FX comes out, i bet the MSI geforce FX card will wipe the floor with anything ATI makes, and will have more stable drivers.
Posted by: GimiMyGF4Ti4600
Oh, i know, I'm not ordering anything till summer time, so i have plenty of time to wait.
Posted by: Disciple
I agree with everyone... let's address some things first though...
1) DON'T USE LINUX!!!! If your going to play games, linux will NOT support it.. Linux is only good if u r running a server, but anything else, (Like Games) it sucks! I've tried it before!
2) Do NOT get Shuttle... It sucks so bad! They might as well called it sh**!
3) I don't know on the video cards, it depends on what you play.. If u play counter-strike at all... go for the geforce, because CS won't support OpenGL that geforce has. If u play things like UT2003, and Quake, go for Radeon.. In my eyes, RADEON Rules the land; for now!
4) where the heck r u getting the cooling system and the 550watt PS for only $30 each? Price-Watch? That's a good deal!!
Well, that's all I have to say.. If u disagree with what I have said, plz tell me so I can do my homework and not say the things again and look stupid:)
Posted by: GimiMyGF4Ti4600
Yup, thats the one, (cooling system) I'll look into the power supply deal, really hasnt been an issue to look into till now. Also, Cable or DSL? I currently Have dsl, so i might as well try that for the first month, and if I end up not liking it, as in my ping is higher then 100 mos the time, I'll asume its the DSL's fault considering my PC should not be slowing it down that much with a machine like that. I'll try, what next? The better DSL? or Cable, Cable wouldnt cost anything less or more, but the better DSL would.
Posted by: GimiMyGF4Ti4600
Man, do you know what it feels like not be able to play really any games for a whole year!? I cant even play star craft! or my precious Diablo 2, or UT, and its mod Tactical ops. Its painful my friend, painful. So im reformating our hard drive :)
Posted by: Disciple
here is my experiences... U should go DSL, because it gives u ur own dedicated bandwidth line.. I've never had lag! But with cable, ur bandwidth is spread out amoung many people, so u can have slow days (like friday and saturday), but u can have really fast days... But my opinion is stick with DSL! I've never had problems...
Posted by: Martin
I have cable and it's not much of a problem here, even if most people in the neighborhood are on - with proper traffic routing manuvers, such can be accomplished.
And to really experience DSL at its max., if you're one of those type of people, you would happen to be lucky if you lived near the CO.
1.5Mbit downstream, plus the upload is sometimes worst than cable (some ISP's offer only 64-256Kbps upload) is the highest speed residential DSL you can go with, where as cable has many variants, some even offering up to 10Mbit downstream.
On the plus side though, DSL is generally more physically secure, as it is less susceptible to eavesdropping and misuse.
Posted by: Disciple
i think overall, it just depends on where u live, and what ur preferance is, and what games u play