Suggestions?

[PizzatheHut06]

A lot of your hardware choices depend on how big of a gamer you are. For example, if you play all the time as in 3-4 or maybe even 5 hours a day, you'll probably want an expensive top of the line system. The first rig that I suggested is like that, it would be amazing. However, if you're not that hardcore of a gamer, you'll more than likely want the cheaper system. Trust me, the second one is more than enough to run games. Considering your last system especially, it will blow you away with the graphics. Most people on this forum consider the GeForce 6600GT as the best bang for your buck graphics card out right now. It offers fantastic performance at a great price, and I'm currently thinking of picking one up for myself.

The circuit city salesman is partially correct. AMD processors are not built specifically for gaming, however due to their architecture that is their area of expertise. Generally, Intel CPU's tend to be better in computational areas, such as video editing, whereas AMD processors are better at gaming. If you're building a gaming rig, AMD is the way to go.

Yeah I would definitely check stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City, etc., for hard drive deals. If you keep an eye on the ads you can find hard drives for really cheap, so watch out for those deals. I would definitely wait for one of those deals instead of buying online.

Your old RAM is 333 MHz, which is as fast as the motherboard supports. That will hinder your ability to upgrade because your system will constantly be slowed down by slower RAM. Building a new system with 400 MHz (also known as PC3200) RAM will make your computer considerably faster.

That video card you have is actually quite old and slow. It's fine for older games at low resolutions, but if you want to play the newer games you'll need something more powerful.

I really like that Enermax case too, I think it looks freaking sweet. Go with that!

 

[Ph4nt0m]

Okay, so I've looked over you're rigs and one Elbatron1 suggested under this link..

http://www.techist.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46883&perpage=15&pagenumber=2

And since I already own a mouse,keyboard,moniter,WIN XP etc. that should save me money regardless of which I go with, although I hear some of those newer moniters can also help alot with the gaming experience.

Now, you listed up to 5 hours a day gaming...okay now, some of my days off I like nothing more then to sit down at my comp and play for hours, often upwards to 7,8, or even seldomly 9 hours at a time.So, I would most definately fit into the more hardcore gamer profile, but I cant afford more then $1,500 max and that needs to be for everything..I'm even a little skeptical towards spending up to 1k as this is my first time building a rig and I dont want to f*ck it all up and basically end up flushing 1k down the toilet..hopefully this is as surprisingly simple as everyone keeps telling me.

Anyway, you mention in your posts the eVGA series GeForce VC, and Elbatron1 suggests the nVIDIA..what is the general difference between these two? Elbatron1 also suggests the Athlon 64 2800+ and you suggest the Athlon 64 3000+...not a huge price difference between those so I am wondering about the improved performance, if its quite a bit then I dont mind springing for the more expensive model.

 

[PizzatheHut06]

Yes, I would also say that you definitely fit into the "hardcore gamer" category. Seriously though, don't worry about screwing something up. I'm pretty clumsy and didn't mess anything up, haha.

Regarding the video cards, I listed mine as:

"eVGA GeForce 6600GT"
-eVGA refers to the manufacturer, or brand
-GeForce refers to the product line
-6600GT refers to the specific model
-referring to this card.

Elbatrop1 listed his card as:

"MSI nVIDIA GeForce 6600"
-MSI refers to the manufacturer, or brand
-GeForce refers to the product line
-6600 refers to the specific model
-referring to this card.

The 6600GT is far and away the superior card and would be much more enjoyable for gaming.

Also, I think that the performance difference between the AMD Athlon 64 3000+ and the AMD Athlon 64 2800+ is more than enough to justify the price. The 64 3000+ will perform very well.

If you're not comfortable spending a ton of money, which is understandable, the $776 setup that I suggested will be AWESOME for gaming.

 

[Ph4nt0m]

Okay, so now I've looked over your last post and combined what I liked from your rig with what I liked from what Elbatron1 suggested on the other thread...which would look something like this.

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ ($148)

MOBO: ASUS A8N-E ($139)

RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 184 pin IGB (512 MB x2) DDR PC-3200 ($110)

Video Card: eVGA GeForce 6600GT ($179)

Case & PSU: Enermax BLK ATX mid-tower case ($55) -with- Thermaltake 480watt power supply ($99)

Hard drive: 160 GB (around $100)

Optical drive: Sony DVD/CD-RW Combo ($39)

Total: $869.00

Assuming all that is compatible, it sounds to me like a good mesh of the two suggested rigs still at a compairably cheap price.

 

[r1c3_808]

go to http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/ . you can customize your pc with whatever parts you want and they build it and ship it for u. i ordered my comuter off of there for a little under 1000.

 

[PizzatheHut06]

Ph4nt0m, that rig looks really good. Every part would work, but I'd be a little worried about the motherboard. On newegg, there are no votes and reviews for that model, meaning that very few people have purchased it I think. That kind of worries me. I would highly recommend this motherboard instead. It is actually cheaper and is regarded as one of the top motherboards by many users on this forum.

Everything else on the computer looks great and is compatible. However, be sure to note the socket of the video card. The 6600GT comes in two sockets, AGP and PCI-Express. Your motherboard has no AGP port, so be sure to get the PCI-Express version of the card. Here is a link to that version.

 

[Ph4nt0m]

Thanks r1c3 for the suggestion, but they are still selling a product which they intend to make money on, so I will pay more and get less then if I build this one myself....some sweet looking cases they have for their custom rigs on there though.

Okay then, so just instead of the Asus A8N-E I will order the...

"LANParty UT NF4 Ultra-D" nVIDIA NForce4 Ultra Chipset motherboard for AMD socket 939

And also to be sure to order the eVGA GeForce 6600 GT PCI instead of the AGP.

There is a 15% sale at Office Max tommorow so I'll go see if I can find a HD for cheap, thanks for all the help guys...I'm sure I'll be posting for more of it once I start building this thing.

 

[Ph4nt0m]

One more question, what about a modem,floppy,zip drive, flash media reader/writer,cooling fan ect.?

...I'm not positive but I have an external modem form Qwest that I use for my DSL, so do I need to purchase a modem and all else I listed or not?

 

[senseless]

What is this "modem" you speak of, i only know of broadband

People really use floppy drives?

a "zip" is a file extension

Cameras are all firewall/usb

You want a dsl router/hub. You plug the dsl modem into the router, then it creates a lan behind the modem. Allowing up to 253 computers to be connected to the same internet connection. (You can get more than 253, but i dont think that matters to you.)

 

[Ph4nt0m]

What is this "modem" you speak of, i only know of broadband

People really use floppy drives?

Okay....sarcasm noted but not appreciated.

I just want to make sure I have everything, so I dont get halfway through building this thing and suddenly remember I forgot a vital piece of hardware.

I can honestly say in the last three to four years, I might have used my floppy drive once or at very most twice so I guess that would be a "no" as to if I need to purchase and install one..I have unzipped files before but I wasnt aware that there was actually a "zip drive".The modem I assume is used for dial-up connections, but I've had DSL for over a year now and I dont intend on going back. I'm mainly concerned about the flash media reader/writer as it sounds important, and the cooling fan because I dont want my PC to overheat.