Buying Computer Parts (Gaming Comp.)

[krazyjoony]

Help Buying Computer Parts (Gaming Comp.)

Hello, everyone. I need help on buying computer parts, specifically a gaming computer, it doesnt need to be one of those ultamite high performance ones, just a decent gaming computer. Uhh, my budget is around $650-750. I need help on choosing which graphic/video card i need to get, what motherboard i need, a decent hard drive, a good cpu, also, a good amount of ram for gaming, but i don't need a case, a power supply, a mouse/keyboard, and a monitor. Can anyone help me on getting the best, but a decent price for a good gaming computer? Also, i hate to ask for so much but can u use newegg to find these items? Thank you for everyone who helps. I really need your help.

 

[WorldIndustries]

You won't get a gaming computer for 550... You could get a decent computer, but not what people here would consider a gaming computer.

 

[Zilveari]

650-750... if you build it yurself you're looking at last year's gaming on a budget. Im talking clearance case, old gen cpu(pre core2/am2), light psu, early 7series/late 6 series geforce, or Radeons pre-X700.

You can get a decent one that will play all of today's popular games, but some will have bad fps at default settings.

Save up some more money, and wait until the Spring. 7 series geforces will be slowly dropping in price as dx10/vista gain momentum(8 series geforces), PCI-E cards will probably go down a little bit more as PCI-E 2 becomes mainstream.

Then there's the cpu, Core 2 Duo's will be going down very very slowly with the quad, and duo extreme's being put out into the mainstream gamer community.


Right now what you can do is look for GOOD side-parts tht are going on sale/clearance as the companies put out the new models. Like a nice big heavy case with good airflow. A decent PSU, etc. Id say save up about 1000-1500 and pick up your main parts(mobo, cpu, ram, vcard, cooling solution, etc at the same time.

Also, make sure you go in KNOWING what you want. decide now do you want corsair or kingston? ocz or mushkin? 800mhz, or 1000?core 2 duo or Athlon X2? P4 or FX? If you know exactly what you want, with just a little brething room you can look for clearance items, or items that have large 1 week discounts on newegg, buy.com, etc while still keeping your budget intact, and making sure there will be no hardware conflicts.


P.S. Aside from all that ******** up there, save up money and put your new rig together in the spring, or late winter. My current specs are in my sig. I put this all together about 3 weeks ago I think. Got every item when it was on a daily/weekly special. I still don't have a vid card, and I wound up spending 1000-1200.

 

[WorldIndustries]

Don't slack off on the PSU either. A cheapo-brand PSU, even if it's 1000 watts, I don't care, it still has a high expectancy to die and drag some(if not all) of your hardware to the grave with it.

 

[Zilveari]

I always recommend OCZ PSU's. Im obsessed with them. Ive run the gamot with a 520W OCZ, and im currently planning world domination with me 600W piece.

 

[krazyjoony]

Uh, i'm planning on buying an intel pentium 4 prescott 3.2 GHz LGA 775, since that CPU is I think pretty old, will that effect my gaming, since it's old? or will it have about the speed of a regular 3.2 GHz CPU? I found out I can use some more money on my computer, i have about 900 and how much will i need got the total price of a pretty good/decent gaming computer? maybe about 1300? or more? or less? also, i dont want one of those fully equiped gaming computers, just one that will bring me good graphics and will ahve a good fps. The items i'm probably going to get and 'planning' on getting is-

- Sunbeam Transformer IC-TR-BA Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

-ECS NFORCE 570 SLIT-A (V5.1) Socket T (LGA 775) NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

- XFX PVT73GUGD3 GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

-Rosewill RT550-135-SL 550W 135mm Fan SLI Ready - ATX V2.2/EPS12V Power Supply

-Intel Pentium 4 541 Prescott 3.2GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80547PG3200EK

-PNY Optima 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model D21GX53OPT

-Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

that's what i'm thinking on buying. Anyone have any recommendations on what to buy? if something is not right, or if something won't work? plz help, also if anyone knows something better i can get, plz help. Every advice is helpful.

 

[krazyjoony]

Also, do I need a PCI card? What do they do?

 

[edmn61]

First of all, I would advise getting something at least $150 -$200 better.
And, by PCI card, I assume you mean PCI-E x16 graphics card. And though you don't need one, I strongly advise you get it instead of the older AGP. PCI-E is a type of graphics card, and you can get better deals on PCI-E cards than AGP.

 

[bzflag]

Also, do I need a PCI card? What do they do?

The video card you picked out is a PCI-E card, so youre good there.

 

[krazyjoony]

um, ooo, i see wat a pci-e card is. and is there anything that i need to change or is everything looking ok? thnx