The new computer build...

[marshall5]

Ok, so I'm going to start buying parts piece by piece to hopefully build a very powerful desktop setup. I'm aiming for a setup nearly MAXED as far as gaming ability, as well as media ability. Sorry to do this to you guys, but my knowledge of this stuff is very minimal currently, so I'll be asking a bit of questions. Here's the first batch of questions:

Cases, I'd like something compact to save space, who produces various cases I can look at?

Power supply, any recommendations here?

Motherboard/processor, yeah lost here too, guide the way please! (I know nothing about caches)

Graphics card, which is the BEST available (if the "best" has been greatly decided upon)?

Cooling etc, any quiet fan recommendations?

Compatibility issues, any things to watch out for?

Thanks a million guys.

 

[mgoldb2]

Power supply, any recommendations here?

SInce many not a issue I would get something powerful. My choise goes to OCZ PowerStream OCZ600ADJ ATX12V 600W Power Supply.

just a warning this is a $200 powesupply but it I gurentee it will power and keep your parts safe from voltage problems.

Motherboard/processor, yeah lost here too, guide the way please! (I know nothing about caches)

MSI "K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI" NVIDIA nForce4 SLI or a DFI "lanparty" SLI. pretty much if you going max out you want a nforce 4 SLI board. MSI and DFI makes the best nforce 4 SLI boards out there. get the top board that they offer from either company and you be great.

Graphics card, which is the BEST available (if the "best" has been greatly decided upon)?

Right now the geforce 7800 GTX is the best if you wanted to go all out you could get 2 of them and SLI them.

Cooling etc, any quiet fan recommendations?

Get a thermaltake xp90C heatsink it works great. You can buy pretty much any 92mm fan you want to go on top of it. powerful and loud or the quiet route.

One last thing that a lot of people forgot. If you going to put so much money into a computer you should invest a little more money on a UPS. This is more important for people that live in area with lots of power fluctration but I think it something all should have on there $3000 gaming system. UPS=uniterupted power souce. It like a serge protector that acturally will power your system for a good 20min.

When buying a UPS make sure to get one with the AVR feature that will ensure that your PSU you will always get constant stable power.

 

[marshall5]

Wonderful. Thank you! I'll get shopping for those first few items. What about a processor recommendation? When I get more $$$ I'll be figuring out more.

 

[timmer]

ok. well u need to go to newegg.com my personal fav. and look at stuff just browse for now for things like cases and fans and pretty much everything u need to seee whats out there if we just tell u what to get then it ownt be as much of a learning expirience.
but pretty much what ur looking for is 1gb ram (512mbx2) as far as pcu goes just dont get a generic one that comes with the case for a hight to mid range they wont work since ur gonna go hight end gaming ur not gonna wanna go mini atx cause u wont be as ugradable and u will most likely lie to overclock but maybe not so browse throught the mobo's on new and for ur search requirements put 4x ddr 400 ram slots pci-e and whatever socket u are looking at either 939 amd oor 775 for intel. i take it u want this to be a quiet one aee? well dont count on it if u want air cooling water cooling yea itll be quiet but air cooling on high end gaming pc's forget about it. soo here it is ill recomend some parts
Case: any decent mid tower atx that u think is sexy but not extremely cheap
PSU:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817148008
that should do the trick psu wize
MOBO and Chip: im gonna tell ya intel but everyone esle will tell u amd but here it is.
MOBO:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131538
thats sickness with one of these
CPU:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116198
that will be sick to overclock and everything u will need for a while it is a 64bit chip so the games will look reaaall niice
Graphics:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130215
cooling: u pick the case fans ill show u the aftermarket cpu cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118115
thats a powehouse alright u wanted a hight end gaming pc u got it but u can downgrade a lot of this stuff and still have a kick ass machine sounds like ur willing to earn the money and buy nice stuff so go for it

 

[marshall5]

Thanks again. I'm definitely using all of this info. It's going to be much less than I originally expected.

 

[timmer]

u going intel or amd??

 

[marshall5]

Good question. I've been debating this after reading some other threads. I'm still a little confused as to what the actual noticeable differences are which I would experience. I'll probably just go Intel. What about having multiple processors? Would this prove a worthy benefit for the price? For instance Xbox 3, having three 3.2g processors. That's an awful lot of processor.

 

[j4ckaL]

AMD is better for gaming.

no games really harness the power of dual core CPUs at this point so I don't see a point in spending the extra money.

 

[marshall5]

I guess I've got nothing to lose, mine as well try the AMD. I'd like to try the liquid cooling setup as well. So there is really no smaller cube style case that would offer multiple drive bays, and work with a larger setup including the liquid cooling? I just have a small desk area, but if it comes down to it a bigger case will work.

 

[timmer]

yea man intel rulez. well i guess microsoft figured out how to utilize the 3 cores i dont beleive it has 3 diff. processors correct me if im wron ill look it up later i have xbox mag but now if u have 2 cpu's u can only multitask but no benefits gaming wize u could burn a dvd and play agme at the same time but for the average user its nearly useless if u get a 3.2 or 3.4 dont even worry about with a little overclocking it will be sick