building a PC

Status
Not open for further replies.

werdna35

In Runtime
Messages
133
OK, so here is the deal. I am kind of tired of my laptop. It isn't what I want anymore. I don't ever take it off my desk at school so I feel like it's a waste, thus I am going to sell it and build a desktop because a desktop is more ffective sitting in one place than a laptop is. Last Summer, I think I could have built a computer myself however having come back to these forums after not reading them for almost the entire school year, I feel outdated and like I am missing some things. So some suggestions would be wonderful. It is primarily going to be for multitasking purposes (writing papers while doing a lot of web browsing, AIM, limewire/bittorrent, iTunes all open at once with not a whole lot of lag). I have also been getting more into games and my laptop severely limits what I can do with it. I would love to be able to run like medieval total war 2 and all those on high graphics without much of a problem. Ideally, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to be able to play oblivion with relatively decent settings because i loved the third elder scrolls. With selling my laptop and using money i make over the summer, I am maxing my budget at 1300 USD minus the monitor, mouse and keyboard. Is it even possible to get all of that in one computer at that budget? I don't know whether to go with Intel or AMD either. Any help is muchly appreciated!!
 
Oh, also, some other things. I will not be overclocking at all. As for a case, I can do that. I don't want to get anything really flashy or covered in LED's. I think I might go with one of the plain Lian-li's on newegg.
 
CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2
Mobo ASUS A8N32 SLI Deluxe
GFX card ATI Radeon X1900
RAM G. Skill, OCZ, Geil. Those brands all supply good RAM.
HDD Seagate Barracuda 320
PSU Coolmax 550W
umm, as to speakers, os, and optical drive, they r all pretty generic. I think you cn get all that for under $1300 US
 
change psu to fsp, hiper, seasonic, etc (i own a coolmax and it scares me) vgu to x1950pro, get 2 gigs of ram
 
Ideal build for you:

mobo: Asus p5n-e
cpu: e6600 (or e6420)
Ram: 2x1gb g-skill 6400 hz's (the black ones)
hdd: 250gb seagate barracuda
hsf: zalman 9700 or scythe ninja
case: antec 900
psu: 550w antec true power trio
gfx: 8800gts
monitor: hanns-g

(sorry not sure about American prices but this should be around your budget)
 
Wow, thank you for all of these suggestions. I am going to keep doing a little research of my own and try to catch up with the times, so to speak, but I will definitely keep these ideas in mind while browsing. Also, what is this about AMD updating their processors some time this year? Whats the deal with that and do you think it will bring the price of the core 2 duos down more?
 
OK, I've been looking up a bunch of stuff and now I have some questions. In WD HDD's, whats the difference between caviar and barracuda?

For video cards, whats the difference in brands and if I go with the 8800gts, which one would be most effective for me? Do I need such a powerful card to play Oblivion decently? Will it interfere with say like multitasking stuff?
 
The Difference b/w Caviar and Barracuda is the Company that makes them. Western Digital makes Caviar, Seagate makes Barracuda. Both Excellent brands.

For video cards, I would stick with XFX, eVGA, BFG and maybe PNY. The recommended specs for Oblivion are here: IGN: Oblivion Specs Revealed

Yes, the 8800 will work wonders for Oblivion.

I don't know what you mean by it interfering with multi-tasking though.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom