Anyone know anything about building gaming computers???

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hmm, really? While consoles can be nice, they are rather one-purpose. I'd rather make a nice high-end computer that can play games as well as surf the web, edit movies, and other activities, than get a console and make a low-end computer that can only surf the web well. I've always liked using a computer for gaming. A lot of the good popular games on consoles come out for computers as well anyway, and usually end up looking better due to better hardware available on computers(generally, yes I know that the cell processor is better than current CPU's). And I do like the mouse much better than a joystick. When I played red-faction on the PS2, I enjoyed the game, but was always frustrated by using the joystick for aming up shots. I remember thinking "If I had a mouse, I could pick off that mini robot flying through the air above my head" in the beginning of the game. Then later on, sniper shots were more difficult. I guess you could get used to it, but I think that a good mouse is really more precise and suited to that kind of thing.

I do however, want to get a Wii. I like the idea of being immersed into a game, and the controller on that is a step in the right direction. It's really the only current new system that brings something new to the table that really isn't generally available for the PC. Also, it costs a lot less than the alternatives. However, being the big cheapskate that I am, I think that I'll wait until they drop the price down to under $200 before going for it. It's bound to happen soon, as they're already making a profit on every console. Plus, by then, there will probably be more good games out for it anyway. I can't wait to try out a star wars game (involving lightsaber combat) with that controller.






Unkown: Like I've said above, just give me a price range that you're looking at, and I'll get all the specs and websites and price lists you'll need for your computer.

I have an iMac, and I'm cool with the games on my Gamecube and the FPSing my iMac (Core 2 Duo with ATI 128MB) can do.

many people have HL2 working on vista the fix is here
and i don't know about the original version but i heard that barbarian invasion works great on vista and vista is even mentioned in the system requirements for Alexander therefore meaning there is an upcoming patch to fix it.
i have duel-booted pc's myself for backwards compatibility i have a PC with 98/2000 and this one has 98/XP and i have never needed to use 98 on either of them to even run 15 year old games so i don't think that you will have much trouble running 5 year old games on vista.

No they really are making graphics cards. See here

Also, you forgot to mention functionality and the fact that it is more secure. But, if you're looking for an OS that is free and better than Windows, you can check out Linux stuff. Though, neither of these OSs are good for gaming. *SIGH*

yes, ok, they have some sort of display card, or really more of a "Media Expansion Cards". From what it states they seem to be more like additional input/output boards that run with the onboard stuff, not as a separate graphics card. But, read what that page is about, stated right at the top of it:



...without the need for a seperate graphics card. When was the last time you saw an Intel graphics card being advertized? There isn't even one Intel graphics card listed on newegg.com. And I really doubt that anyone buying components for a gaming computer is going to end up getting any type of intel card that's related to graphics.



Yes, this is a gaming computer. He specified that from the beginning, and, as you state here, neither macOS or linux is a gaming OS. And, mac's are more expensive for the same specs, so if he had a budget of x dollars, he'd get a worse computer if he went for a mac. Not to mention it's much harder(if not impossible) to buy the parts separately and make your own mac, so cost would also be higher for a mac system because of that. Buying your own parts saves you money.

I'm still gonna dual-boot because i ain't gonna take a huge risk if i don't have to.

ok, I looked around for some components for you for your computer. One thing to note: Intel is planning a price cut on their Core2Duo CPU's in about a month or so, so don't buy your CPU until that happens.

I found two very nice motherboards, both very overclocking-friendly on newegg. Here they are:

ABIT AW9D LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-TR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

As for sound, the ABIT motherboard has ABIT AudioMAX HD 7.1 CH / Dolby Master Studio Certificated onboard sound, with a card that has the inputs/outputs on it. The EVGA one has Azalia High definition 8ch audio.

If you want a real sound card, the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 70SB073A00000 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card is on sale right now on newegg.com for $59.99 + shipping. That sale ends on february 28th, so if you want this card, be sure to snap one up before the sale ends.


As for RAM, newegg has the OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1100 (PC2 8800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory on sale for $194.99. This sale also ends tomorrow, so get it right away if you want it.

if you want some cheaper RAM, the OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-15 Dual Channel Kit Retail is on sale for $154.98 at clubit.com. once again, this sale ends on the 28th, so don't miss it if you're interested.

What do you want as far as hard drives? I'd reccomend getting 3 250GB SATA drives for around $60 each, and putting them into a RAID 5 array. That way, you'd have increased performance, 500GB of storage space, and if one fails, you won't lose any data. Or, you could get a Raptor 150GB 10,000 RPM SATA hard drive if you really want speed, or even get 2 and put them in a RAID array for greater performance. The raptors will cost more though, around $170 each.

As far as graphics, you can get a EVGA 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3 64 GB/Sec 1700MHz Superclocked Video Card w/ Dark Messiah Might & Magic PC Game for $299.99 at buy.com.

For the optical drive, at newegg.com right now you can get the SAMSUNG Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache E-IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner for $29.99 w/free shipping.

Or if you prefer SATA, get the SAMSUNG Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner With LightScribe Technology for $41.99.

For a power supply, I'd reccomend getting the Ultra X-Finity 500watt. It's SLI certified, it has more than enough power for your system even if you decide to go SLI with the 8800's, and it goes on sale for as little as $7(watch for a sale). Or, for something a bit more high end, I've seen the Ultra X2 connect go on sale for $39.99. It's modular, has UV reactive cables, and has a side-window on it with interior lighting. Don't get any power supply made by PowMax or Apevia, avoid any ThermalTake other than their Toughpower line, and stay away from no-name brands, or value power supplies(other than the Ultra XVS series modular power supplies with higher wattages. Those are good, as long as you don't plan to run SLI). If you have any questions about a particular power supply you're considering, ask about it. There are a lot of power supplies that can and will destroy your computer. And don't decide solely on newegg.com customer reviews. The average person doesn't check to see if their PSU is outputting messy power. Then, when one of their components fails, they don't even think to blame the Power supply. JonnyGuru.com is a good place for power supply reviews.

To get Windows for a great price, look for it on pricegrabber.com. Go to: software, operating system, then select Windows(family), then click on microsoft as the manufacturer on the left side. At this point type in either XP or Vista in the search box at the top, and click: "sort by price". Then just click on the one you're looking for. If the lowest price is from one of the pricegrabber storefronts, dont' worry. They're great places to get windows from. They're generally cheaper, and I've never had a problem with them. For example, you can get Windows XP PRO X64 there for $59.15 + shipping. Or, get Windows Vista Home Premium for $69.95 + shipping.

One thing to note about Windows Vista: If it's cheaper, always get the Upgrade version of vista, even if you don't have windows XP installed on your computer(or are using a blank hard drive). It is fairly easy and quick to get the upgrade version to install on a blank hard drive. The Inquirer recently did an article on exactly how you can do this, and it does not require any other programs, just the Vista upgrade disk. There is no lost functionality, and the upgrade versions usually cost considerably less. So, do not buy the full version, upgrade version is fine. Also, according to microsoft, there are no plans currently to patch this work-around.

I don't really want something THAT expensive,hows this instead?

Core 2 Duo (E4300 or E6420,more than likely E4300 Allendale)
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3.
A 8600GT or better.
Corsair or OCZ 2GB DDR2 800 RAM.
I don't need a lot of storge space,probably two 160 gig hard drives (for dual-boot XP and vista) or a 320 gig hard drive if i can partition it.
I already have XP home when my mom upgraded a old compaq with windows shitty-8,but it cost $200 so it might work.
A Tuniq Tower 120 for OCing.
I won't go SLI,but i'll get a corsair 520 watt PSU off ZZF.
I probably won't be able to afford a sound card right away,but the xtremegamer is the first card on my mind.
And if possible a decent 17" or 19" 1280x1024 LCD.

I would like to keep it as cheap as possible without going low-end (single core,1GB RAM,8300GT,etc)

yeah, that looks good. The 8600 hasn't come out yet, but according to articles I've read, it should be fairly cheap, like around $150. That's amazing for a mid-range DX10 graphics card.

the E4300 CPU looks good, according to what I've read, it overclocks to amazing speeds, so go for it. It's like the Pentium D 805 of the conroes.

as for the RAM, be sure to get some that can withstand high speeds, as when you overclock your CPU, your ram has to be able to take the speed also.

As for the hard drives, I hope you plan to back them up. The best way to do this is to get 3 hard drives and put them in RAID 5. If you were using 160GB hard drives, you'd get 320GB of space to use, and your data would be safe if one of your hard drives failed. If you want more usable storage space, you can increase the number of hard drives in the RAID 5 array. basically, you only lose the space of one hard drive to keep the data "backed up", even when you have many hard drives in the array. It does this using parity data. If you don't know what this is, let me know. I can explain it. It's a great and inexpensive way to keep your data safe, and it will increase your computer's performance. If you don't plan to back up your hard drives, you're really asking for trouble.

As for your CPU cooler, consider the Evercool Silver Knight CPU watercooler. It uses liquid cooling as well as standard heat-pipe cooling to keep your cpu temps low. All the liquid stuff is sealed and built into the CPU heatsink unit, so you don't have to worry about running tubes around or pumps or anything. It's on sale right now at nexfan.com for $45.99, which seems to be cheaper than the Tuniq Tower that you mentioned, and it will probably cool your cpu better as well.

For the power supply, that's a lot to spend for only 520watts. I'd say wait a little while and watch for the Ultra X-finity 500watt power supply to go on sale for around $20 or so. It's a good power supply, and has more than enough power for your system. I'm using one of these power supplies right now in my main system, and it runs great. Also, the mirror finish on it looks great.

For the screen, why aren't you considering CRT monitors? You can get a much better CRT screen for a fraction of the price of and LCD screen, with better color, contrast, and resolution. For example, right now on TigerDirect.com, you can get a ThinkVision 21inch CRT monitor for only $69.99 + shipping. I got one of them when they were on sale for $50, but don't wait for that price to come back; it probably won't. The quality of this monitor is amazing. It has DVI and VGA inputs, it can run 1600x1200 @85hz beautifully, and it is an Aperture Grille type monitor: this means that it can run higher resolutions, and it won't get fuzzy around the corners after a few years like cheaper CRT screens will. Also, the image looks much sharper. This is the best image quality I've even seen, and at 21" it is a feast for your eyes. If you have room for it on your desk, don't miss out on this deal. This has much better color than pretty much all cheap LCD screens, and the image quality is supurb.

When selecting a case, be sure to keep air-flow in mind. your case needs to be able to get air to the graphics card, so look for one that has a VGA vent on the side that will let cool air flow in to the grapics card. Then just be sure that you have negative pressure(more air being pulled out by the "out" fans than the "in" fans are pulling in), and you'll be set. Also, cases with a "blowhole" fan mount(on the top of the case) are good, as they allow the case to exhaust rising hot air. A side CPU fan mount isn't really nessesary for you, because with the tower CPU coolers you're looking at, it won't help cool the cpu, and could get in the way of the CPU cooler.

1.The corsair RAM i want is already at 800 speeds,the E4300 multiplier is 9x so 400 x 9 = 3600MHz,which is a 100% OC.

2.The chances of me losing my data are very slim,so i probably won't need RAID 5...

3.I MIGHT consider that cooling,i just asked someone i know online if its good.

4.500 watts for that cheap? i don't trust it.

5.CRT's take up more space,consume more power and are obsolete,and if i was to get 1600x1200,i would need a better grafx card and thus,a more expensive comp.

6.Will a Cooler master centurion 5 be good enough? or a XION Onyx case perhaps?

Bump-a-mia.

1: ok, that's fine then

2: that's what everyone says. Then their hard drive fails or gets corrupted and they lose everything. I'd strongly reccomend that you back up your data somehow. Carbonite.com is another option, but it's not as good as a RAID 1 or 5 backup.

There's a Seagate 7200.10 SATA 320GB hard drive on sale right now on TigerDirect.com for $64.99(after rebate) + shipping. That's Seagate's newest line, with Native Command Que, perpendicular recording, and a 16mb cache. It comes with the CA 2007 internet security suite(anti-virus, anti-spyware/adware, firewall, anti-spam, etc) 3 user pack. According to reveiws I've read, it's pretty good. This is a good deal, and a good price/gb. ($.23/gig when shipping is included)

3: well, it's a very good cooler, and it costs less than the one that you were considering. It probably cools better.

4: no, actually, do trust it. It's only that cheap after rebates, normally it costs much more. Also, JonnyGuru(THE power supply authority) gave it a good review. Look it up if you want. Plus, I've been using the Ultra 500watt X-Finity power supply for over a year now in my main gaming computer, and it works great. Steady voltages and great stability. Plus, the fan is very quiet. The mirror finish on it looks great, and the flex-force cables look much better than normal colored cables, and they glow in UV light(I picked up a couple of cheap Ultra cold cathode UV tubes a while ago. Total cost for 2: under $3 ). Look up the reviews if you want. The 500watt Ultra X-finity is a good power supply.

You shouldn't think that you have to pay a lot to get good parts. That's the wrong mindset. You should try to find deals where you can get good parts, for much cheaper than they or comparable parts usually cost.

If you want something better, the Ultra X-Pro power supplies are amazingly good, but that's reflected in the cost. (check out the review on JonnyGuru.com).

5: Obsolete? how? and what do you mean you would need a better graphics card? A CRT screen will run at any resolution you want. If you want to run it at 640x480, have fun. However, even integrated graphics can run at 1600x1200, no problem. It's only in games that you'll have to lower it. And that's no problem at all. And sure, CRT screens take up more space and use more power, but how does that make them obsolete? The new graphics cards from ATI and Nvidia take up more space and use more power, but that doesn't make them obsolete, it makes them top-of-the-line. Also, the visual quality of the images on a CRT is better. Better color range, better contrast. Isn't that what's important about a screen?

Now, if you had an LCD, that would be a problem. CRT's can project an image at whatever resolution you want. LCD's, however, can't. They have physical pixels built into the screen, so if you run it at a resolution other than it's native one, it looks bad. So, if you get an LCD, if your graphics card can't handle it's native resolution in games, then you will have to get a better graphics card, or just settle for ugly image quality.

I usually just get the cheapest cases available. (like the black Ultra Wizard case for free after rebates, with free shipping, recently on frys.com) Just as long as it has enough fan mounts(one on the side by the CPU, two 80mm or one 120mm fan mount on the back, some fan mount on the front and a VGA vent, (top blowhole vent is nice, but not really neccessary) it's fine. Just find one that'd not too expensive, looks good to you, and is functional. The ones you mentioned are probably fine. Just curious, how much do those cost?

Yes, I know a little. (looks over at his custom water-cooled, overclocked, gaming beast).

What's your budget? I personally am not going to upgrade until the second gen of DX10 cards come out.

If you are going to be playing Crysis, shadow run, allen wake, etc.

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpos ... ostcount=1

I like your build. You seem to have done your homework, have you built before? Still, I would be hesitant to buy before all the new games come out and get benched on the new cards. For gaming I'd be tempted to splurge on the high-end gfx card, and try to save everywhere else. Buying low-end and OC sounds like a good idea. Unless you are on a <$2k budget, buying a console is not better. I can't wait to see these new games in action on the next-gen gfx cards.

Go for the two hard drives. It will run faster and you can put your page file on a different disk.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/
This is the BEST hardware forum on the net. Just beware, once you get addicted you'll find yourself strapping watercooling cooling rigs or pelts on your chip.

Couldn't resist commenting, now that you've said it again...

RAID 5 is not is the slightest a form of backup. It is a means of data recovery, under quite specific and limited circumstances. It does not protect you against ANY of the more common reasons that people lose data.

The commonest way to lose data is to delete it, yourself.

If you want backup for data - do not even let that data remain in the same building.

My critical files are backed up by two main mechanisms:

1) I put them on my website. My ISP then does a load of extra snazzy stuff with them. Chances are good they won't lose them. This has the extra benefit of making them accessible from elsewhere.

2) I send copies to other people. Friends, relations, colleagues, whatever.

I don't know if I'd recommend an intel processor. AMD ones tend to be cheaper, and more effective. But then, I also haven't been following Hardware recently.

The most important thing is a good video card. You'll probably want a good motherboard too for issues relating to how much data can be zipping around at any time. Fast RAM is also probably something to consider.

A fast Hard drive may be in order too, rather than one with a lot of space. I don't have much trouble with space, and I only have a 40 gig hard drive (serial ATA).


It's a few years old, but the machine I have is still pretty good for games. (Mostly, because it has such a great video card)

You are correct. I should not have said that RAID 5 is a backup. It is not a backup. However, it does protect your data in the event of hard drive failure.

You don't think that that's a common reason that people lose data? I've had two of my hard drives fail, and I lost a lot of data. RAID 5 would have prevented me from losing anything, without having to give up half of my total storage to backup.

I really don't have any problem with deleting files that I need. I'm very careful about what I delete, and if I ever did delete something really important(hasn't happened in a very, very long time), I could run an undelete program, and have a good chance of getting the file back. It's hard drive failure that I'm worried about.



Storing data online is expensive, especially if you're trying to backup all of your data(just try to find a reasonable price on a terabyte of online storage). I'm cheap, so I try to find the cheapest solutions to problems.


what do you mean? You backup your hard drives onto a huge pile of DVD's and then send them off to a bunch of people? That's expensive, and the backup data would be outdated very quickly.


The reason why I promote RAID 5, is because it will protect you from hard drive failures(without taking up half your total storage for a full backup), and it does increase your read/write performance. If you're worried about your house burning down or you think you may accidentally delete a file, Carbonite is another option. It won't speed up your performance, and may even slow it down, but it is encrypted online storage, with "unlimited" online backup(there's kind of a soft limit at 100gb, where they slow your uploading rate down), and they keep deleted files for a while, so if you decide you didn't want to delete them, you can restore them easily.



well, Intel's Core2Duo's are pretty good CPU's. They are still using the obsolete FSB, but they are faster than AMD in a majority of benchmarks(not all, but most of them). AMD does still offer the better value in low to mid range CPU's, and a same-socket upgrade path to true quad core(when it comes out), but Intel has better performance for the price at the high end, and if you're willing to overclock, their lower end CPU's have a good chance of being able to overclock to very high speeds. I'm not going to buy a new CPU until AMD's new line of CPU's come out. Native quad core, and considerably faster than Intel's current CPU's. My AMD 64 X2 4400+ is still working just fine.



yeah, when getting an Intel CPU, you do need to pick out a good motherboard, with a good chipset. Also, Intel cpu's perform better with high mhz ram, latency doesn't matter as much(because the FSB creates a ton of latency, a little more or less from the RAM won't make much difference. Unlike AMD's much faster HyperTransport). Also, If you're planning to get Vista, don't skimp on the amount of RAM. get a minimum of 2GB for a Vista gaming computer.



well actually, hard drives don't transfer all that fast. they can't even take advantage of anything more than an old PATA interface, in most cases. However, SATA hard drives do tend to be slightly faster. But there really is no difference in performance between the SATA150 and SATA300 drives, so don't pay more for a SATA300. If you really want speed, get a Raptor. 10,000RPM makes it the fastest SATA hard drive you can get. It'll cost a lot though(around $170), and it only holds 150GB. All the rest of the latest-generation hard drives perform around the same speed though, whether it holds 250GB or 750GB doesn't make all that much difference in speed. Just watch for a good deal(less than $.25/gig), and jump on it. Also, look for drives that feature perpendicular recording(Seagate 7200.10 drives, among others). They tend to have better performance, and are less likely to suffer from data corruption due to heat. As for the onboard cache, don't worry about it so much. Some benchmarks I looked at recently showed that there is really no performance benefits from 16mb as compared to 8mb cache. Don't pay more for it.