Building a computer. (in Off-topic)

ok, I just graduated and i have about $1,200 to spend.

I ordered the case this morning.

What I am looking for is the best bang for my buck. I play a lot of games, and I'm going to school for networking and security.

Any advice would be nice. thanks.

sorry...sweet case man. :)

ArsTechnica Forums - great tech forums, good place to start if you aren't sure what to get yet

AnandTech - very good hardware review site. Once you have an idea what you want, get the nitty gritty technical details here

Newegg - excellent online computer shop. Great service and return policies. *Only ships to the US.

i got the case from newegg =)

also, i should mention i want to get a PCX 600XT 256 MB

Best bang for the buck, eh? Hm.

A little more information might be helpful. Have you built a computer before? Do you have a monitor already? Printer?

As for the innards...find a working motherboard and chip combination and go from there. A midrange socket 478 chip and compatible motherboard will probably run you around 200-350 bucks and should allow for budgetary needs. You can't really afford the best, but you should be able to handle most games out there.

for the $1,200 i just want the computer built. i have spare monitors and printers laying around. just everything that goes in the case.

Mawn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Lukey looks at his Dell Case, then at Chargerz* :'(

Well, then perhaps you can spend a bit more on a CPU, if you already have the peripheral stuff laying around. Just try to strike a good balance.

First thing to do would be to find motherboards that support that Graphics card. Then find the ones out of those with the fastest Bus speed and attach a processor. Unless you are doing web-serving I wouldn't use an Intel, they are too 'well known' and there are faster out there for playing games with. Better off going for some other make, and it'll probably be cheaper.
Then all you have to do is find the HDs and RAM, try and get their bus speeds to match the motherboard's, and try and get a decent amount of RAM (1-2 GB?). A computer will only be as fast as its slowest component. Another idea is to use separate HDs, one for the OS and programs, another for documents/films/music etc.

After all that is sorted out its down to the OS. XP is good but uses a lot of system resources. Make sure you custom install it so you don't get all the Accessablity rubbish you don't need amongst other things. If you know much about computers do what my mate did, put two OSs on the thing (the second being linux). You'll be hard-pushed to find all your fav games that run on linux, because windows is the OS of choice, but linux us less of a burden on the computer and theres plenty of updates/addins for it because it is all freeware.

Oh dear, I was only going to write 2 lines :S
Please feel free to critique this, I might be wrong with some stuff because I haven't properly messed around with my computer for a year (graduation year and all) :P

If you want to create a gaming rig, the most important component iso going to be the graphics card. You just can't skimp on it, so research that a bunch. After that comes the motherboard. Make sure you have lots of room to expand, so check slots for RAM and PCI slots. This is the point to decide between Athlon and Intel. My recommendation is Athlon for the cost. Then get a medium size hard drive and cheaper CPU. Unless you are going to be websurfing while playing games the RAM will be more important to performance, and spend the rest on RAM. Remember RAM is easiest part to upgrade. So don't worry about it too much at the beginning.

A good review site from a gaming perspective is www.firingsquad.com

Recap: Graphics card, motherboard, cpu, harddrive, ram

Socket 754 Athlon64 processor and motherboard. Best bang for your buck and while everything's switching to socket 989, you'll get a better price. I believe you can get a decent processor and motherboard for less than $200 and you'll be running a 64-bit system. I can get my hands on some very cheap components as well as possibly sell you older (as within 3-6 months old) parts at a very discounted rate. Just drop me a CM if you're interested.

go for the Nvidia 6600 (GT) or 6800 video cards, they are sli compatible to go with sli motherboards, and are able to run with two video cards at once. I currently have only one 6600 GT.

When I built my box, I found the SharkyExtreme buying guides very helpful.

The above link will take you to several useful guides written by hard-core gaming geeks:

• Video cards (read the commentary for a discussion of current best "best bang for the buck" cards)
• Best value computer system given $1000
• High-end gaming computer system given $2500
• Extreme gaming system given $4000

Personally I used a combination of their Value and high-end systems when I build my baby. I highly recommend their advice.

I should add that any computer able to play modern FPS games should be more than powerful enough for any other typical usage (writing documents, surfing, network analysis, etc).

If you plan on doing a security or networking class, I also reccommend you pick up an old Pentium or P2 and install Linux or BSD on it. Very useful to have such a box laying around for testing out security measures and doing network tasks. (If you're getting into security, you might want to try OpenBSD. Especially if you learn *why* they've done all the things they have to lock that distro down).

I was looking on newegg.com, and here is what i found.

Mobo

CPU

Video Card

Memory 512 x 4

Seagate HD
or
Maxtor HD

LCD Monitor

DVD+RW
and
DVD-ROM (plan on making these stealth drives =D)

Sound Card

and the all important Floppy

I just e-mailed you a cart that I had saved on newegg - I just built a new gaming rig for a friend.

Also, if you're looking for a very nice monitor at a great price, check out the Hyundai L90D+.

*pukes on the Audigy value* If you're going to play, play big. You can get a much better A2 card off Ebay (granted, it'll be used), but it'll be sweet. I would recommend a Maxtor drive any day over Seagate.

I'd take Seagate or Maxtor over Western Digital =)

*blinks when he realizes Maxtor is a block behind him and Seagate is seven blocks west* I never realized that. I knew they were both here but just now made the connection.

I know this will not be a popular opinion, but...

I have both sold and made computers and I feel that we are past the time when making your own PC from scratch made sense...especially financial sense.

Add up *all* of the components *and* the oft-forgotten OS/software (yes, I am assuming Microsoft) costs. Then compare that with modifying a pre-built box that includes bundled OS/software.

If nothing else ask about getting OEM pricing on OS when you buy the hard drive...at least that's the way it used to work.

But I guess my main point is that I no longer make or sell boxes because the box just doesn't matter much anymore....kinda makes me sad.

That case is nice, but not as good as mine. Mine is the exact same but a nice black/red colour combination instead ;)

personally i like the Silver/Blue better than black/red. i really would've liked a black/yellow =)

5/31/2005 5:36:28 PM

newegg rocks. my order already shipped.