Well, I know you guys haven't heard this one before...

[KennyD]

Hey everyone,

Well, as I sit here looking at my HP Pavilion a705w..... . It is time to upgrade. Not bad for 50 bucks and lasting 4 years.

I play Counter-Strike religiously. It's my favorite game. Now, with this horrible computer....I have an INTEGRATED video card. So, my FPS are about 20-45....throw a smoke grenade and it's down to like 4. Now, this has ALWAYS bottlenecked my performance, as one can imagine. Choppy frames, computer-freeze ups....this just isn't cutting it anymore.

I am not a die-hard, "need the best or I'm going to shoot myself", gamer. I don't think I'm going to be playing any of the new age games much at all. I'd be happy if I could even run CS:SOURCE.

Now, I am looking to get 100fps on CS....

My budget is anywhere from 700-1000 dollars. This is for the system + OS. I will buy a monitor later. I just want me a decent rig that will last me a few years. I don't really think I will go SLI.....2 8880gt's are a little out of my range. Maybe I would be better with a single video card mobo. I would definately take the 8800gt as my video card choice.

Guys, help me out. I am not a complete computer fool, I've taken them apart in school....but that was years ago. I'm just looking to get a decent, reliable, fast system.

Any help, would be appreciated. No, I don't really think I'm into over-clocking (Never did it), so if that comes into play you know.

Thanks,
Kenny

 

[veg1992]

its not going to last wrong, but you should be able to get 100+ FPS with a 7600gt at 1600x1200

so you really don't need anything too demanding

heres what I recommend (this will probably be outdated soon, by next year at this time... thats the PC world for ya..)

e2180 or e2200 (or step tot he e8400)
Abit Ip35-e
Crucial Ballistix 2gb Kit
8800gt
corsair 450vx
Arctic Freezer pro7
add a HD Size of your needs, Optical Drive, and Case

 

[DawnOfDoom]

in CS theres a 140 or 120 FPS cap limit. lol

and vernong has set you up quite nicely.

 

[KennyD]

Well considering this comp has lasted me 5 years......looking for another 3-5 years out of this computer.

Thanks for the recommendations...

 

[DawnOfDoom]

this should do what you wish out of it any ideas of HDD size?

you should go search around on newegg for some cases you like.

 

[KennyD]

Well, my 30gb hd is only half full lol.

I don't do much on here. Listen to music, play a few games, e-mail, internet....videos, etc..

I suppose a 250gb would be more than enough.

As long as I can rock out in CS:S and reg. CS 1.6.....while jamming to some Slayer, and sending an e-mail.....I am a happy camper.

I don't really care what a case looks like. As long as it is decently designed, and holds my parts... I am sold.

 

[DawnOfDoom]

haha well yes this would be great

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250310AS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

and for case wise i'd go with this.

Newegg.com - SIGMA LUNA WB Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

just a little favorite of mine. BTW great for wiremanagement.

 

[Trotter]

Actually, go with this drive:
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Same company, same capacity, twice the cache. I just got mine the other day... haven't even got it installed yet.

 

[Gustave5436]

Well considering this comp has lasted me 5 years......looking for another 3-5 years out of this computer.

Thanks for the recommendations...

No way to get a computer to last 3-5 years and still be midrange, just go with vernong's setup (with an E8400) and maybe in a couple years you can update the graphics card to play new games (like crysis and such)

 

[KennyD]

Ok here we go....

-IGMA LUNA WB Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - 99.99 $69 after rebate
- Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor -$240.00
-ABIT IP35-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - $90.00
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250310AS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive -$70.00
- Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $65.00 -- $39.99 after rebates
- CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX ATX12V V2.2 450W Power Supply 90 - 264 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - $80.00 $70.00 after rebates
-ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler- $26.99
-EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - $250


-One thing I am undecided on- my optical drive. Is a DVD/R the same as a CD/R writer. My set up now on the HP has two drives. One burns CDs/data, and the other is a dvd-rom drive. Do I get 2 just like the other computer, or just get one multi-task optical drives? We'll say 35 dollars....

-I wouldn't mind adding a sound card, get some stress off the motherboard.

Ok...
With all added, I have around $956. With rebates.....$870. That's not bad guys, it isn't a "TOP OF THE LINE" model, but I think I can enjoy decent gaming out of this. All the suggested parts I checked out on Newegg- good reviews on alot of them. Throw on a copy of XP....I'm a little over a grand. I wonder if I cut some corners....maybe get this baby down to 950 or so?