personal gaming systems..

[SixUnder]

iv posted this on a few sites since most people know me alot of places...
wanting to upgrade my gaming pc, figured this is good as place as any to ask what peeps think is the best..

so far this is what im thinking of getting.. well its where i am starting out..

900-GE2 Intel Gaming Computer - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 4GB DDR2-667, 500GB SATA II, NVIDIA 610i Chipset Mobo, DVDRW , 420W, Vista Home Premium (64-bit)
again this is just roundabouts..

if someone was gonna build one right now, what would ya have in it top to bottom?

i dont wanna spend over a grand but iono could spend more..what does everyone recommend? is there a elite but lower priced 1 GB video card out there? quad or dual core? hows vista never had it? any ideas would be appreciated.

thanks
sixer

oh ya these cases are pretty kool too.. im speaking of putting it in one of these cases unless i find something better..

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

I run:
Quad Core 3.0 Ghz Intel
8 GB DDR3 RAM
4 250 GB SATA HDs (RAID 0 and RAID 1)
1 GB Diamond Radeon 4870
Windows Vista 64 Bit Ultimate

and it KICKS A$$!

Vista 64 bit is great, as long as you don't want to use old hardware. I highly recommend the 4870 (ATI) over the comparable NVIDIA board. You will read and hear differing opinions on that...I think it is a brand preference thing. The system you are looking at is not bad...just don't pay too much for it.

As for the motherboard, if you can stand the cost, the Intel X48 chipset is awesome! It's Crossfire/SLI compatible, and the ASUS board I used even has a mini browser that loads in the bios in case your system goes down and you need to get online to grab a driver or something even when you cannot boot into Windows (neat!)

I also highly recommend RAIDing 2 smaller drives instead of one large one. Striped RAID is faster than a standard drive, and the lower seek times on the smaller drives make it even faster. As I said above, I use 2 250GB striped as a single 500GB, then a second array of 2 250 GB drives mirrored for secure storage.

Eventually I will replace those with 2 x 1 TBs.

The main thing is get what is cost effective for you, and for god sakes, don't waste your money on "Extreme" processors.

 

[Nexus]

CPU Intel i7 Extreme Quad Core 3.2ghz
MoBo Intel BOXKX5650
HDD1 OCZ Apex Series OCZSSD2-1APX60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II Internal Solid state disk (SSD) For OS Install and Recovery Partition
HDD2 Western Digital WD20EADS 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive in Raid 5
HDD3 Western Digital WD20EADS 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive in Raid 5
RAM 6GB DDR3 1333 Mhz
Graphics Card 2x ASUS EAH4870X2/HTDI/2G/A Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
OS Vista 64 Ultimate

Low boot times, Killer Storage that mother board won't support SLI but it does support Crossfire in ATI cards. That's the fastest processor on the market Period. Toss in a Top End Liquid cooling system and you've got a wicked PC.

 

[Nok]

Hi SixUnder,

One word... Newegg.

 

[The Craftsman]

I run:
Quad Core 3.0 Ghz Intel
8 GB DDR3 RAM
4 250 GB SATA HDs (RAID 0 and RAID 1)
1 GB Diamond Radeon 4870
Windows Vista 64 Bit Ultimate

and it KICKS A$$!

Vista 64 bit is great, as long as you don't want to use old hardware. I highly recommend the 4870 (ATI) over the comparable NVIDIA board. You will read and hear differing opinions on that...I think it is a brand preference thing. The system you are looking at is not bad...just don't pay too much for it.

As for the motherboard, if you can stand the cost, the Intel X48 chipset is awesome! It's Crossfire/SLI compatible, and the ASUS board I used even has a mini browser that loads in the bios in case your system goes down and you need to get online to grab a driver or something even when you cannot boot into Windows (neat!)

I also highly recommend RAIDing 2 smaller drives instead of one large one. Striped RAID is faster than a standard drive, and the lower seek times on the smaller drives make it even faster. As I said above, I use 2 250GB striped as a single 500GB, then a second array of 2 250 GB drives mirrored for secure storage.

Eventually I will replace those with 2 x 1 TBs.

The main thing is get what is cost effective for you, and for god sakes, don't waste your money on "Extreme" processors.

Wow! A girl who knows techy stuff. I'm impressed. Or did you just read it somewhere?

 

[Old Man of UO]

Hi SixUnder,

One word... Newegg.

ABSOLUTELY! I've built 3 systems from New Egg, buying all the individual parts. Sign up for the mailing list to get special deals and discounts, and buy combos for extra savings (e.g. motherboard and cpu combo, case and power supply combo). Read the recommendations first for some great advice, but remember there are a few trolls even there.

 

[Snakeman]

2nd Word http://www.tigerdirect.com
I have made up 3 dual core systems from scratch in the last 6 mos & bought 2 of the case, MoBo & Dual core CPU specials & built from there for my Svc. Very reasonable on prices & on product replacement if something arrives damaged. (had a keyboard with missing keys & 1 missing speaker, emailed my problem & within 1 hr received confirmation a new set of speakers & keyboard was on the way)

 

[Setnaffa]

Unfortunately "the Best" and $1,000 are a little contradictory. Sorry.

The Best system As I See it right now:
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage II Extreme X58
CPU: Intel i7 Extreme Edition 965 Nehalem 3.2GHz
Memory: Reaper HPC 4GB (2x2) DDR3 1800 (PC3 14,400) (QTY 3. Total Memory 12 GB)
HeatSink: ThermalRight True Black 120
Case: Thermaltake Kandalf VD4000BWS Black
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower W0156RU 1200W ATX12V
Hard Drives: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10K RPM (QTY 4. Total of 900GB in RAID 5)
Media Burner: LG Black Super Multi Blu-ray Disc Burner
Media Player: LG Black Blu-Ray/HD DVD-ROM 16X
Video Cards: MSI N295GTX-M2D1792 GeForce GTX 295 1792MB (Qty 2)
Monitors: LG W2452T-TF Black 24" 2ms (QTY 2)
Keyboard: Logitech G15 USB Gaming Keyboard
Mouse: Razer Lachesis Banshee Black/Blue 9-Button Gaming Mouse
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

That's going to run you around $6,300 including tax or shipping (probably not both)

For $1,000, I'd go to Dell.com and go with something like this:
The nice thing about this system is it comes with support from Dell (warranty onsite-hardware replacement) which you really can't beat (maybe match), especially with a hand-built system.

 

[WarUltima]

Gaming or UOing? To run UO at optimized speed all of the systems mentioned above are completely overkill.

For UO and especially if you PvP you should be focusing on stuff that increases your loading speed and reducing your latency.

As mentioned above raid 0 helps UO greatly in term of loading pixels. One thing I would add/change tho instead pick up those drive with fancy numbers all over them that only spins at 7200rpm, do yourself a favor and spend a few extra dollars and go for at least 2 Raptors on raid 0 array. Raptors spins at 10000rpm with faster response time seeking time and is basically faster than any SATA drives you can find. Unless you have the money to pick up some SSDs then nothing beats raptors.

Another thing is called "gaming router". Normally they cost a fortune ($100+) and you probably cant tell the difference of it from a normal consumer router. I dont want to go too deep but a gaming router helps you the most (uo-wise) when you are PvPing extensively on WIRELESS network.

That's all I have to say.

 

[Harlequin]

I run:
Quad Core 3.0 Ghz Intel
8 GB DDR3 RAM
4 250 GB SATA HDs (RAID 0 and RAID 1)
1 GB Diamond Radeon 4870
Windows Vista 64 Bit Ultimate

and it KICKS A$$!

Vista 64 bit is great, as long as you don't want to use old hardware. I highly recommend the 4870 (ATI) over the comparable NVIDIA board. You will read and hear differing opinions on that...I think it is a brand preference thing. The system you are looking at is not bad...just don't pay too much for it.

As for the motherboard, if you can stand the cost, the Intel X48 chipset is awesome! It's Crossfire/SLI compatible, and the ASUS board I used even has a mini browser that loads in the bios in case your system goes down and you need to get online to grab a driver or something even when you cannot boot into Windows (neat!)

I also highly recommend RAIDing 2 smaller drives instead of one large one. Striped RAID is faster than a standard drive, and the lower seek times on the smaller drives make it even faster. As I said above, I use 2 250GB striped as a single 500GB, then a second array of 2 250 GB drives mirrored for secure storage.

Eventually I will replace those with 2 x 1 TBs.

The main thing is get what is cost effective for you, and for god sakes, don't waste your money on "Extreme" processors.

Impressive

For better bang for your buck, I'd advise that you get a core 2 duo e8500 rather than the core 2 quad 6600. Price is almost the same, but most applications are not coded to use all 4 processors. Overall, it's better to get 2faster processors, than 4 slower processors that most applications don't know how to utilize optimally.

Plus intel's implementation is a bit sloppy for the quad, they basically cobbled two core 2 duo together with a less than optimized cache sharing.

ATI has always been known for cards that are value for money. Though I have switched to Nvidia in recent years coz certain games release patches without considering ATI users (namely diablo 2's first patch). Then again, I'd also been caught by Nvidia's bad implementation of their 5500 series . Shoddy shader2 implementation made oblivion almost impossible to play. But the 9800 series is working great so far. As miss Lefay says, down to pretty much brand preference. Running Crossfire/SLI configurations I find not really worth it. Extra heat, extra power requirement/consumption etc. Well, unless you are a competition FPS gamer...

For mobos, I swear by ASUS boards. Check out their P5Q series. No need to get overboard, just find the variant that is most appealing to you. Also, instead of striping between just 2 disks, consider getting 3 for a hardware implemented RAID 5. Good compromise between performance boost, maximum usage and reliability.

The 10k rpm SATAs are still too expensive and unstable for me personally, heard quite a bit of horror stories on the raptors. So I still stick to the 7200 rpm ones.

High end high performance machine without breaking the bank.

The funny thing is, gaming machines are normally more high end than the systems you use for work heh.

 

[Harlequin]

Oh yeah, logitech g15 kb and razor mouse ftw

edit: And feel free splurge on faster RAM. Compared to the rest of your system, they are cheap and give the best bang for your buck.

edit 2: If your room/decor allows, avoid using wireless networks. Direct cable is more reliable, secure and faster (less overheads from the wifi errors/resends).

 

[Smokin]

iv posted this on a few sites since most people know me alot of places...
wanting to upgrade my gaming pc, figured this is good as place as any to ask what peeps think is the best..

so far this is what im thinking of getting.. well its where i am starting out..

900-GE2 Intel Gaming Computer - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 4GB DDR2-667, 500GB SATA II, NVIDIA 610i Chipset Mobo, DVDRW , 420W, Vista Home Premium (64-bit)
again this is just roundabouts..

if someone was gonna build one right now, what would ya have in it top to bottom?

i dont wanna spend over a grand but iono could spend more..what does everyone recommend? is there a elite but lower priced 1 GB video card out there? quad or dual core? hows vista never had it? any ideas would be appreciated.

thanks
sixer

oh ya these cases are pretty kool too.. im speaking of putting it in one of these cases unless i find something better..

If you want to go under 1000 look into AMD processors, and the 420 ps will not be good for a gaming computer its got to be way higher. The ram you looking at is slower then normal now try to get atleast 800mhz.

As for video cards, well alot of people like Radeon ATI cards personally I prefer Nvidia the driver support is usually better.

The number one thing to remember when building any system is, can you upgrade it later, its hard thing to do when you go cheaper but if you look harder and look more into the stuff you will figure it out.

Sure it won't be able to be upgraded to the latest stuff but you want to make sure in a year or so that you can still get parts that will work. Others may laugh at that because you can always find stuff but you dont want to be paying a fortune for out dated stuff.

Looking at the mobo you stated its pretty old already, not garbage just you can find stuff thats better.

 

[Demonous]

jeez some of u have sickkkkkk comps....... wow.....

i just got mine around christmas time

quad core 2.6 ghz amd
4 gb ddr2 ram
500 gb harddrive
nvidia geforce 9800 gtx+ 512mb
windows vista home premium 64 bit

i really hope u guys morgana and nexus play other games besides UO lol because u dont need much to play uo

 

[Demonous]

your comp is similar to mine sixunder, i got an 800 watt power supply though, ordered from ibuypower.com

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Wow! A girl who knows techy stuff. I'm impressed. Or did you just read it somewhere?

I don't know if I should be flattered or insulted.

I am a network admin IRL...so yeah, I know what I am talking about. I guess I did "read it somewhere" when I was studying for my MCSE exams

But no, I built my machine myself.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Impressive

For better bang for your buck, I'd advise that you get a core 2 duo e8500 rather than the core 2 quad 6600. .

The E8500 is the "sweet spot" right now. I would have done that except that the TigerDirect near my house had a sale on the Quad.

My complaint with the new i7s is simply the cost. For what you get, it just isn't cost effective...and by the time you'll see any real difference in the way your games play on that vs. the core duos and core quads, they will have dropped to 1/2 the current price.

Not to mention the fact that when I built my machine, they were not even out yet.

But they are great processors.

 

[Nok]

One word... Newegg.

ABSOLUTELY! [Edit...] Read the recommendations first for some great advice, but remember there are a few trolls even there.

Agreed. Most of the buyer reviews at Newegg are spot on, but read all the reviews for the best sense of what you're considering.

2nd Word http://www.tigerdirect.com

TigerDirect is great, especially their specials.

Third word... Buy.com (okay, not really one word). There is a reason Newegg, TigerDirect, and Buy.com have always been in UOT... they all have great selections and awesome prices.

Quick rundown. Newegg has the best regular day to day prices and best selection for DIY'ers bar none, with their specials being unbelieveable, and fast shipping. TigerDirect has a great selection especially on brand name products, good prices day to day, typical but good shipping, and frequently beat Newegg on specials (not always though, you have to check). Buy.com is mostly brand name with good prices, prices from multiple sources & vendors, mindblowing prices on recertified gear, shipping from Buy.com directly is very fast but 3rd parties tend to be typical, but can surprise the other two with great specials that are even less money.

I have accounts at all three and buy from all three regularly. Browse all three, and you will find great deals. If you're an eBay'er, never hurts to check there too... especially for hard to find components.

Harlequin mentioned the G15 keyboard, nice... but if you have more to spend, check out the new G19 keyboard. Logitech Raises The Game

 

[Endrik]

Wow, no wonder there are people who can actually play KR. Your systems are sweet. I cant wait to be done with college and get a real job.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Harlequin mentioned the G15 keyboard, nice... but if you have more to spend, check out the new G19 keyboard. Logitech Raises The Game

I looked at the G15, but I went with this:

The Microsoft Reclusa

Its quiet...it has two jog dials, and 10 programmable keys, and a 2 port USB hub...but the coolest part...

The Ice Blue LED backlighting.

If you are a nocturne, like yours truly, it really adds something. You can not only see to type in total darkness...but adds this really futuristic glow. I have the Saitek X52 on the desktop currently, and the Nostrom n52te...so the whole black with blue led theme is running wild!!

MS Reclusa

n52te

X52

In the darkness...it is wicked!




Oh yeah...forgot the case...

 

[Heartseeker]

Morgana, you are a girl right?

Sure sound like a guy.

Never met a woman into that much tech.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Morgana, you are a girl right?

Sure sound like a guy.

Never met a woman into that much tech.

Wow...I sound like a guy?

Girls can be geek too!

(and yes, I am a girl)

 

[Smokin]

Of course shes a girl, if those pictures are from her system then there is no doubt about it, look how organized and clean everything is.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Of course shes a girl, if those pictures are from her system then there is no doubt about it, look how organized and clean everything is.

That pic is not my system, but one like it.

As if I would have exposed wires showing...please!

 

[Nok]

Harlequin mentioned the G15 keyboard, nice... but if you have more to spend, check out the new G19 keyboard. Logitech Raises The Game

The Microsoft Reclusa

Ya the Reclusa is very nice too, I like the print on the key and the blue glow is sweet.

My GF needed a new keyboard a while back and I got her the Saitek Black Eclipse...

She pounds her keyboards, and this one can take it. I use a OEM (for eMachine) KB-0108, just a stock keyboard. But the 3 silver keys on the far left are Cut/Copy/Paste...

I want to build a gaming rig with the full compliment of G Series devices...

By the way Morgana... nice rig you have.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

OMG...That's HAWT!

 

[Heartseeker]

Wow...I sound like a guy?

Girls can be geek too!

(and yes, I am a girl)

Good to here.


Was just surprised by your enthusiasm for geeky stuff.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Was just surprised by your enthusiasm for geeky stuff.

You know we are on a UO message board, right ??

 

[King Frankie]

Antec Twelve Hundred

Chieftec Super Series PSU 1000W Moduler
9x SATA, 2x8/2x6 pin PCIe, 80 Plus

Asus P6T Deluxe, X58, Socket-1366

Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz 6GB CL9

Intel Core™ i7 920 Quad Processor

XFX GeForce GTX 260 896MB PhysX CUDA

(Operating system only) Kingston SSDNow E Series 2,5" 32GB
SATA2, (Intel X25-E SATA Solid-State Drive), 250/170MB read and write speed

(games) WD VelociRaptor® 300GB SATA
10000RPM, 16MB, 300 GB/s

(files) Western Digitial Caviar® 2TB SATA2
7200RPM, 32MB, 300 GB/s

G15 (only for the plugins with teamspeak and ventrilo) althou i love the macro features.

this may surprise you but as mouse i have MS 3.0 i always found it best for big hands as i have hands like toiletseats ... OCZ have a good range of cheap SSD drives and i must say the SSD drive makes the computing 50% faster.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

I didn't mention the 'mouse' I use...

...I got my first trackball when Diablo came out, and I have gotten used to it. I do mice (mouses), but I prefer a trackball.

 

[kelmo]

I don't think I could ever get used to a trackball... *feels old*

 

[Coldren]

n52te

I have the G15, and I think it's pretty sweet.. But that N52te..I have one and, to be perfectly idiotic.. O.. M.. G... I could NEVER play another MMO without a Nostromo..... It's hard to believe what a difference that thing makes.

Incidentally OP, I have the last case you show (Black and blue one).

Good case, but be careful, putting in the PS was a bit of a pain.. Didn't quite line up right.

And Nok?

I want to build a gaming rig with the full compliment of G Series devices...

You are one, evil, evil SOB.. My life is now incomplete.

Where did you find that? And who do I have to kill to get one?

 

[Gheed]

What about DirectX 10? I did some research about a year ago and the technology seemed too new. I wanted a DX10 compatible but only NVIDIA had one. The price was nearly $1000 and the reviews were not so great (I don't like NVIDIA anyway). So I went with a Radeon X1950 Pro.... which was middle of the line then. Anyway I'm looking to upgrade that. Is it time to buy or should I let the technology bake another 6 months?

 

[SixUnder]

well...

thanks for all the input..

i been on new egg and tigerdirect forever now and the only way i been able to customize is to take a system tehy have set and reconfigure it. but that doesnt give me the options i want. needs to be a simpler way to build a system so everything is compatible and will fit in a case.

anyone finding a link to a "system bulder checklist" so to speak? would be so nice to see oh thats wont work together or you need more cooling, etc..

 

[Coldren]

well...

thanks for all the input..

i been on new egg and tigerdirect forever now and the only way i been able to customize is to take a system tehy have set and reconfigure it. but that doesnt give me the options i want. needs to be a simpler way to build a system so everything is compatible and will fit in a case.

anyone finding a link to a "system bulder checklist" so to speak? would be so nice to see oh thats wont work together or you need more cooling, etc..

The closest thing you'll find to that is Cyberpower, Dell, or Alienware. To get EXACTLY what you want, you'll likely need to assemble your own like I and likely most others do. I know I couldn't have afforded the system I have unless I built it myself.

 

[kaio]

So typical, all the trammies got the best hardware wah wah...we need a nerf here DEV's

 

[Setnaffa]

I didn't mention the 'mouse' I use...

...I got my first trackball when Diablo came out, and I have gotten used to it. I do mice (mouses), but I prefer a trackball.

I always played with the Microsoft Tracball Explorer, where the trackball is controlled by the index and ring fingers. The thumb has two buttons and a scroll while the Ring and pinky have their own buttons. That's the best trackball I've ever used, but Microsoft stopped making it.

 

[Setnaffa]

well...

needs to be a simpler way to build a system so everything is compatible and will fit in a case.

Try www.dell.com. Their XPS consumer systems aren't too bad and you'll get your money's worth (plus a full warranty and support) for a grand.

I'm sure HP and Gateway have something like that too, but I've always stuck with Dell for my pre-built systems and I've always been very satisfied.

 

[SixUnder]

built this on cyberpower... its pretty nice.. and price is $974.00

im a try a few others yet though i think... is this compatible? seems to be unless i missed something. i used there "build a system" option....

CASE: ($25 off Mail-in Rebate) New! Apevia X-Jupiter Full Tower Gaming Server w/ Temp Display and Fan Control 420 Watt Power (G Type Blue Color with Side-Window)
Neon Light Upgrade: 12in COLD CATHODE NEON LIGHT (BLUE COLOR)
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default case fans
POWER SUPPLY Upgrade: 800 Watts Power Supplies (CyberPowerPC XF800S Performance ATX 2.0 Power - Quad SLI Ready)
CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8500 CPU @ 3.16GHz 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache 64-bit
COOLING FAN : INTEL LGA775 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5GC Intel 945GC Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard FSB1333 DDR2 6 PCI Slots SATA RAID w/ PCIe GbLAN, USB2.0, IEEE1394, & 5.1Audio
MEMORY: 8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT 1GB 16X PCI Express (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)
VIDEO CARD 2: NONE(might get another card eventually..)
MULTIPLE VIDEO CARD SETTINGS: Xtreme Performance in SLI/CrossFireX Gaming Mode Supports Single Monitor
HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
Optical Drive: (Special Price) LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
SOUND: 3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD
NETWORK: Intel Pro Gigabite 10/100/1000 Network Card
Flash Media Reader/Writer: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
USB PORT: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
FLOPPY: NONE
OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit Edition)
SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

well...

thanks for all the input..

i been on new egg and tigerdirect forever now and the only way i been able to customize is to take a system tehy have set and reconfigure it. but that doesnt give me the options i want. needs to be a simpler way to build a system so everything is compatible and will fit in a case.

anyone finding a link to a "system bulder checklist" so to speak? would be so nice to see oh thats wont work together or you need more cooling, etc..

Cases are pretty much standard, and so are motherboards and components...as long as you stay away from major brands (Dell, IBM, Gateway, etc)

Major brand cases and mobos are often proprietary, and are cut to only work with themselves.

One of the best guides for hardware out there is www.tomshardware.com

It will allow you to compare different parts to one another, and so on.

But really, if you want to build a PC, the best advice I can give you if you have never done it before is to research heavily.

It's not hard these days. The hardest and most frustrating part of machine building is often getting those stupid little connectors for the LEDs and buttons on the front of the case to go on to the pins on the motherboard (really sucks if you have nails!) A good pair of needle-nose pliers will help with that.

Beyond that, it's just hooking up the drives and popping in cards...then installing your favorite flavor of OS.

Of course, if you need help...it sounds like there is a pretty solid group of folks here that can offer advice!

Once you build one PC, you will never buy off the rack again. You get exactly what you want, and all the parts are replaceable/upgradeable because they are standardized.

Good luck with it! And don't hesitate to PM me if you have questions.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

What about DirectX 10? I did some research about a year ago and the technology seemed too new. I wanted a DX10 compatible but only NVIDIA had one. The price was nearly $1000 and the reviews were not so great (I don't like NVIDIA anyway). So I went with a Radeon X1950 Pro.... which was middle of the line then. Anyway I'm looking to upgrade that. Is it time to buy or should I let the technology bake another 6 months?

On the ATI side of video cards, the 3870 and the 4870 are your best options.

The 3870 right now is an excellent value, with some cards coming in less than $100! (shop around)

Both are DX10 compatible.

 

[Gheed]

On the ATI side of video cards, the 3870 and the 4870 are your best options.

The 3870 right now is an excellent value, with some cards coming in less than $100! (shop around)

Both are DX10 compatible.

About every 3 or 4 years I upgrade the video card. I'm not too concerned with DX10 compatible as I am DX10 vibrant. The first NVIDIA card to be DX10 compatible didnt really take advantage of the new technology in the software. Of course there really wasn't any other games or the like at the time that used it either. VISTA was new then too. It threw a monkey wrench (about the size of Rhode Island) in hardware manufacture and their appraoch to writing drivers.

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

Since then I given up until the whole mess settled out. Now VISTA may be abandoned entirely for Windows 7. We don't deal with building gaming machines for our clients so I don't keep up on it as much as I should. Right now I use the PC for UO and RTS games and I save the Xbox for my FPS and PvP fix. Maybe I'll wait untill everything is a bit more mainstream. I'm not too concerned with cost but >$500 and I better have a religious experience when I fire it up. Just looking here for some quick answers. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Nok]

Oh jeez I'm tired... but all this talk of hardware has me awake again.

OMG...That's HAWT!

Ain't it?! I break into a sweat just thinking about it.

I don't think I could ever get used to a trackball... *feels old*

Ditto, I'm a mouse guy too. I just can't hang with trackballs and touchpads. Even on a laptop I prefer the old "eraserhead" thumbsticks (like on IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads and certain Dell Latitudes & a few other laptops) over a touchpad.

You are one, evil, evil SOB.. My life is now incomplete.

Muhahahahahaha! *evil laughter as I twist my imaginary Snidely Whiplash handlebar mustache* I try.

Where did you find that? And who do I have to kill to get one?

Actually only the G13 Advanced Gameboard is available so far (ET's Logitech G13 Adv. Gameboard writeup). The G9x Laser Mouse, G19 Keyboard for Gaming, and G35 Surround Sound Headset were announced only a month ago at CES and haven't shipped yet (they are due in late March I believe). This is the preview I wrote up... Logitech Raises The Game (I'll do a review when I can get my hands on them).

The G9x is an updated, tweaked G9 (New Logitech Mouse w/Macros!). The G9/G9x comes with a removable grip, so it essentially has 2 sizes for different hands. Logitech introduced the ID Grip for G9 Laser Mouse, this is a add-on grip for a 3rd size/feel for the G9's. But what is really cool is you can upload to Logitech your own image (nothing copyrighted though), and they will custom print the image onto the ID Grip. Wham... your own custom designed mouse! Anyone want to guess what I would shamelessly plug on my ID Grip?!

i been on new egg and tigerdirect forever now and the only way i been able to customize is to take a system tehy have set and reconfigure it.

Yup, tweaking a prebuilt. I do this a lot for clients and myself when just a basic but decent PC is needed. Buy a $400 PC with a decent CPU & HD, but minimal everything else. Then spend an additional $200 on a vid & aud cards and more of faster RAM... and for $600 you'll have a PC that will blow the doors off a $1000 PC.

The closest thing you'll find to that is Cyberpower, Dell, or Alienware.

Yup, there are many sites to spec out your own PC. Also check out DigitalStorm.

One of the best guides for hardware out there is www.tomshardware.com

Tom's Hardware is great. Another is ExtremeTech.

On the ATI side of video cards, the 3870 and the 4870 are your best options.

Both excellent choices.

 

[Setnaffa]

One of the best guides for hardware out there is www.tomshardware.com

www.TomsHardware.com is a mainstay, but I prefer www.Hardocp.com and www.Motherboards.org.

Hardocp.com, much like Tom's does alot of Hardware evaluations, but they are more into Game Hardware than Tom's. They talk extensibly on OverClocking. In Fact almost every review includes information on overclocking the product (Motherboard, CPU, memory, Video).

Motherboards.org reviews all major motherboards and video cards, but they also do major articles on the different technologies such as M/B chipsets up to the Intel X58 chipset, AMD and Intel Processors, nVidia's and ATI's current and past graphics chipsets, memory technology, cases, and cooling technology.

Almost forgot...For the best pricing (not specifically buying) go to www.sharkyextreme.com. They have updated pricing guides for cpu's, memory, and hard drives.

Regardless, I almost always recommend www.dell.com to anyone that isn't really versed on Hardware. You'll get a great deal along with 1-3 years of onsite support. And no. I don't work for Dell .

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

I have never gotten too into overclocking. I just can't afford to replace my processor if I fry it, so I just buy the speed I want to run or as close to it is as cost effective.

I have had some success overclocking older systems that I don't care about though, so I am probably being paranoid.

To tell you of my true and hopeless geekdom, aside from the main desktop I posted about here I have:

4 other desktops in the house.

1 = P4 3.16Ghz single core 2 Ghz RAM Radeon 2400 Pro 4 x 160 GB HDs. This is my back up PC/guest PC. Sometimes friends come by and we have mini-Lan parties...so it's always good to have a back up. I assembled this one from the parts of my old machine and a few new ones after I built this latest machine.

2 = P4 2.6 Ghz dual core 2 Ghz RAM Radeon 3650 all-in-wonder 2 x 250GB HDs. This is my media center PC downstairs. It is connected to my 67" Samsung DLP. I use it for streaming video, like HULU and such. It is connected to the THX 7.1 surround system...most of the speakers for which are in-wall. Built that into the house when I had it built. Every room of my house I had built with surround jacks, RJ45 jacks, cable jacks, etc. I wish I had gone fiber, but I had a limited budget for that for sort of thing. (BTW...just replaced my downstairs A/V receiver with Pioneer Elite VSX-03...I HIGHLY recommend it.)

3 = P4 2.4 Ghz single core 2Ghz Rambus RAM Radeon 9800 Pro 2 x 160 GB HD. This is my Magic Jack PC/upstairs media PC. It is connected to a 47" LCD TV, and now my Pioneer VSX-1016 THX 7.1 receiver that I had downstairs. I use it mainly for running Magic Jack and streaming MP3s while I play UO and such.

4 = Celeron 2.0 Ghz single core 1 GHz RAM Radeon 7800 Pro 1 x 120 GB HD. This PC is hidden in a cabinet in my kitchen, and the keyboard/mouse are in a hidden drawer. There is a fold down 13 inch LCD monitor. I installed this one to look up recipes and such while cooking.

Most of the PCs I have are re-builds of old parts in some form or another.

I also donated 2 old P3 systems to a local charity not too long back.

We won't get into the laptops and smart phones

 

[Setnaffa]

I have had some success overclocking older systems that I don't care about though, so I am probably being paranoid.

Overclocking is no problem as long as you follow someone else's guidelines (rather than experimenting yourself and frying your hardware) and use proper cooling.

 

[Dragkiris]

I have never gotten too into overclocking. I just can't afford to replace my processor if I fry it, so I just buy the speed I want to run or as close to it is as cost effective.

I have had some success overclocking older systems that I don't care about though, so I am probably being paranoid.

To tell you of my true and hopeless geekdom, aside from the main desktop I posted about here I have:

4 other desktops in the house.

1 = P4 3.16Ghz single core 2 Ghz RAM Radeon 2400 Pro 4 x 160 GB HDs. This is my back up PC/guest PC. Sometimes friends come by and we have mini-Lan parties...so it's always good to have a back up. I assembled this one from the parts of my old machine and a few new ones after I built this latest machine.

2 = P4 2.6 Ghz dual core 2 Ghz RAM Radeon 3650 all-in-wonder 2 x 250GB HDs. This is my media center PC downstairs. It is connected to my 67" Samsung DLP. I use it for streaming video, like HULU and such. It is connected to the THX 7.1 surround system...most of the speakers for which are in-wall. Built that into the house when I had it built. Every room of my house I had built with surround jacks, RJ45 jacks, cable jacks, etc. I wish I had gone fiber, but I had a limited budget for that for sort of thing. (BTW...just replaced my downstairs A/V receiver with Pioneer Elite VSX-03...I HIGHLY recommend it.)

3 = P4 2.4 Ghz single core 2Ghz Rambus RAM Radeon 9800 Pro 2 x 160 GB HD. This is my Magic Jack PC/upstairs media PC. It is connected to a 47" LCD TV, and now my Pioneer VSX-1016 THX 7.1 receiver that I had downstairs. I use it mainly for running Magic Jack and streaming MP3s while I play UO and such.

4 = Celeron 2.0 Ghz single core 1 GHz RAM Radeon 7800 Pro 1 x 120 GB HD. This PC is hidden in a cabinet in my kitchen, and the keyboard/mouse are in a hidden drawer. There is a fold down 13 inch LCD monitor. I installed this one to look up recipes and such while cooking.

Most of the PCs I have are re-builds of old parts in some form or another.

I also donated 2 old P3 systems to a local charity not too long back.

We won't get into the laptops and smart phones

Lets get married.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Lets get married.

Didn't you just call me a POS in another thread?????????

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Overclocking is no problem as long as you follow someone else's guidelines (rather than experimenting yourself and frying your hardware) and use proper cooling.

That's the real problem, isn't it? Liquid cooling systems cost almost as much as the difference in price between processors that will run at the desired speed.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Lets get married.

Think you love me now??

Here are some pics of my setup...my downstairs setup (no, not porn!)

well...this one isn't my A/V setup...but it's still cool...

Life is good!

 

[Coldren]

Muhahahahahaha! *evil laughter as I twist my imaginary Snidely Whiplash handlebar mustache* I try.

Actually only the G13 Advanced Gameboard is available so far (ET's Logitech G13 Adv. Gameboard writeup). The G9x Laser Mouse, G19 Keyboard for Gaming, and G35 Surround Sound Headset were announced only a month ago at CES and haven't shipped yet (they are due in late March I believe). This is the preview I wrote up... Logitech Raises The Game (I'll do a review when I can get my hands on them).

The G9x is an updated, tweaked G9 (New Logitech Mouse w/Macros!). The G9/G9x comes with a removable grip, so it essentially has 2 sizes for different hands. Logitech introduced the ID Grip for G9 Laser Mouse, this is a add-on grip for a 3rd size/feel for the G9's. But what is really cool is you can upload to Logitech your own image (nothing copyrighted though), and they will custom print the image onto the ID Grip. Wham... your own custom designed mouse! Anyone want to guess what I would shamelessly plug on my ID Grip?!

Awesome. Thanks for the links, Nok! Time to upgrade my n52te it seems.

I'm off to sell blood.. if they're still buyin'.