Building Gaming Computer

[DyNaStY336]

Ok i have no experience what-so-ever building pc's but this summer i want to try to build one for gaming. i was never interested in gaming on a pc until a few weeks ago when i bought UT2004 and i cant stop playing it, now i want far-cry, doom 3, half life 2, splinter cell PT, and theif Shadows but the problem with my HP a240n is I cannot play many of those games. Now my questions are would it be better (or even possible) to get the nvidia 6800 ultra, and SK8N MOBO, and an amd fx-53 processor and put those into my current computer and upgrade to 1-2 GB of ram, or to build a new system starting out with the few things i just named. If building a new system would be less of a hassle and a better idea then please point me in the right direction as to if any of the components i mentioned above are bad ideas. If they are ok then what other things do I need to get to complete the system, suggestions on brand and model would be great. I have a general idea of what you need to complete a system but im sure im probably forgeting something. my budget will probably be around the 2,500 range. thanks for anyone's help who replies to this post. I tryed posting in the pc gaming section but not to many replies.

 

[mrzeeedler]

Building a new computer would set you off way better. What your going to want to do with 2500 yes a new computer would be much better. This way you could have 2 computers also. Buy the parts from www.newegg.com. You are going to need to choose a case, make sure you get powersupply if the one your getting does not have one. You will need to choose a harddrive. The fastest drive is run in scsi and 15k rpm. Seagate cheetah comes in 18gb, 36gb, and something else that i dont remember. You will need to get a motherboard that supports that scsi and if you are llooking at amd athlon fx-53. U will need about a 500 watt powersupply also to run that new 6800 nvidia. i reccomend runnning a dvd rom and dvd rw drive because they are pretty cheap but i reccomend a good plextor. you might look into to getting the round ide cables to enhance air flow creating better cooling and better looks. THey run about 8 bucks a piece.I do reccomend finding a board that it compatible with the like 500mhz dual channel memory. The only other thing you might need is a floppy drive. The last thing is mouse, keyboard and monitor. I like the logitech mx500 mouse and a regular keyboard is nice too. A crt or flat panel will work because a crt has better graphics then a flat panel. Or if you want to run a dvi monitor that will be dramaticaly better. A soundcard i would run the soundblaster audigy something any of them will do and a good set of speakers.

 

[crspii]

2500 bux can do A LOT, but i'd agree with everything mr zeeeeeedler said. nice name btw lol.
amd64-fx + nvidia 6800 + 500mhz dc ram = total chaos/ownage
(hold out for the ati radeon x800 xt i think though :\ )

 

[willsko87]

If you start building a new computer then you wont have any problems with hardware compadibility

 

[ThirtySixBelow]

Yeah, hold off for the ATI, and if you can really wait and have the money to spend, pci express is comming out sometime this year. Not sure how long you want to wait for it, not that it really matters since an AMD FX-53 with 2 gigs of ram and a X800XT is going to roxor your boxors anyway

 

[tylertherobot]

DEFINITELY GET A GOOD VIDEO CARD! That can't be stressed enough if you wanna play Splinter Cell - My old Radeon 9600 would get like...30 fps at the lowest setting- it's a very graphic intensive game. Splurge on a good video card and Ram, Processor doesn't matter much as long as it's like...Athlon XP 2800 or above. I personally don't seethe point of an AMD-64 - but others do.

 

[crspii]

amd 64 = uber proccessor-RAM data tranfsering optimization on account of hypertransporting.

but yeah on all else i agree, lots of FAST ram, ATi x800 of some sort, and that amd64-fx53.

i envy your budget.

 

[crspii]

btw remember u can always ADD ram, so just make sure u get speed so u can have that high speed when u upgrade later. get dual channeling on ur mobo and ram btw. and uh... basically just make sure ur mobo is compatible with all that awesome stuff u want like the 15k rpm hdd's. a mobo like that will probably run higher.

i recommend a CRT monitor of large size because tahts cool. i like crts because they are brighter and have higher refresh rates. i might be wrong, a lot of people like LCDs better.

 

[DyNaStY336]

I already have the monitor worked out. i have a rinky dink little 15" CRT but when gaming i use my Infocus X1 Projector, so my screen is seven feet wide . i just want to go the upgrade route since it will cost less, i think i will go with the 3400+ processor and whatever the best board will be for that at the time i buy (suggestions are welcome) somewhere around 3 gigs of ram and 2 raptor 74 gig hard drives, also i was wondering (dont kill me for asking) what does raid mean and do? and also how do i set my hard drives up to run in raid?

 

[ThirtySixBelow]

http://www.techist.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15392&highlight=Raid