Some suggestions will be helpful Thread

Hello all, I've decided to just buy a new comp but, after searching the internet, I have found that just building your own computer from the ground up is significantly cheaper than configuring one from Dell, Alienware, Gateway, etc. etc. There are some pretty good deals on newegg for just a bare-bones PC that would be great to customise for around $170. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to put into this baby should I decide to buy it?

Please note: My buget is around $1,000-1,500 USD.

Thank you, and have a nice day.

Well, I hope that my english won't fail me here, so sorry to all in advance. The first of all, a friendly advice - it is better to say for what would you like to use your PC (game, internet surfing, 3d modeling etc) and not to tell how much money you have. Your (or anyone else's) money should not be shown in public (except if you are a corrupted politician or a criminal ).

If you would like to buy a PC that will be used for gameing, and if you don't want to worry about upgrading any component for the next 3 years (well, except for a graphic card, maybe), then you could be patient untill the end of the year, when the Windows Vista will be released, therefore causing the creation of Windows Vista hardware [especially the graphic cards, they should then fully support the upcoming Shader Model (SM) 4.0 and the DirectX 10 (now known as the WGF 2.0 - Windows Graphic Foundation). If you are in a hurry, wait just a bit more, like untill the end of the april, because it is expected in that period the AMD should start to sell it's processors for M2 socket (I think it is similar to the present socekt 940) and M2 socket AMD processors should support DDRII or even DDRIII RAM modules, because current AMD processors supports only DDRI modules (I can only suggest you AMD, Intel is a bit confusing for me and not so good for gameing). If you are in a real hurry, then a good enough configuration should be:
AMD Athlon64 3200+ Venice core s9393 socket = about 200$
1Gb of RAM = about 150$ (or for Battlefield II you should have 2Gb of ram = about 300$
ASUS, GIGABYTE, or MSI motherboard is good [but it MUST have nForce 4 chipset (ultra, 4x, i don't know which one is better) PCI-E 16x slot for your PCI EXPRESS graphic card, SATA2 for your new Serial ATA2 hard disk (80Gb is enough = ABOUT 80$) and dual channel memory (if you put in both of them same amount of RAM memory of the same type, it should boost performance a bit)] so the motherboard should cost more than = 150$
Hard disk SATA2 (look above); try to buy one with more than 7200 rotations per minute (RPM) and more than 8Mb of cache (models with 16Mb), but if you can't find some, a SATA2 with 7200RPM and 8Mb of cache is more than enough = 80$
Sound card Creative Soundblaster live 24!bit = 30$, or you can buy a better one for 50$ [sound card is better than the on motherboard integrated sound controler that draws proccesor (CPU) power]
Graphic card (GPU) - I strongly recommend you not to spend on the graphic card more than 250$, because of the later upgrading to the GPU that will support DirectX 10 (WGF 2.0) and shader model 4.0; anyway, a LEADTEK PCI-E nVidia 6800GS would suffice (Shader model 3.0 and DirectX 9.0c), or swap it for a nVidia 7600GT that should be the same price and should appear by the end of the april this year (better GPU, but still Shader model 3.0 and DirectX 9.0c). Nevertheless, even Shader model 3.0 is to much, since no modern game still doesn't fully use it. Also, make sure that the graphic card has on itself at least 256Mb of GDDRIII (graphic RAM). Also, make sure that it is 256bit (128 bit is fine, but the more the merry).
Floppy drive + mouse + keyboard + 56k internet modem = around 20$
Desktop stereo speakers = around 50$
DVD RW = around 50$
Computer case with PSU (Power Supply Unit) = about 50$
Monitor (don't buy yet LCD TFT, they video response time is still slower than on the old CRT monitors) = around 150$

I think I haven't left out anything important so the summ of all this sholud be = around 1350$
I hope this will help you and/or someone else that is going to buy a new PC.

Really good luck in everything really good you do.

Edited by (in order): CrazyGoat, CrazyGoat, CrazyGoat

Hmmm, I use an LCD monitor with an 8ms response time, and it seems to handle gaming fine for me. I guess that's a matter of opinion.

CRT's are a lot cheaper though.

Also needing 2gb for Battlefield 2 sounds overkill. I run it fine with 1gb.

Edited by (in order): RatoN, RatoN, RatoN, RatoN, RatoN

I envy you, because I heared that even LCD monitors with 4ms response time sometime cause "ghost" effects and simiilar. BTW, what are the settings ingame? All High or all high except shadows, dynamic lightening and so on, at which screen resolution you are playing, etc... 2Gb could be sort of a precaution in case that some upcoming game wuold need that much RAM, since i read somewhere that because of the texture resolution, if there is insufficient RAM, game would lag while the textures are loaded into a hard disk. Since the RAM is faster than hard disk, 2Gb would be nice, but as you said, 1Gb should be enough for anything.

I am not sure if this will help or not, but I often see very very good deals for Dell, and other computer suppliers on these two sites. Hehe sometime you can even find stuff for free here. Passwird.com and Gotapex.com Got Apex has the better tech deals, while Passwird has more general deals.

-Scott

CrazyGoat wrote: I envy you, because I heared that even LCD monitors with 4ms response time sometime cause "ghost" effects and simiilar.

Well, it's not perfect. I probably have lower standards since I've delt with crappy computers for a long time, but I use a ViewSonic VA902b 19'' LCD. I don't know much about other LCD's to compare since this is the only one I've actually owned. To me, it works great. Don't notice any bad ghosting, if at all (Once again, didn't compare). If you really wanted to look into it, what I did was get it at a place with a 30 day return policy so I could see if I was happy with it.

CrazyGoat wrote: BTW, what are the settings ingame? All High or all high except shadows, dynamic lightening and so on, at which screen resolution you are playing, etc... 2Gb could be sort of a precaution in case that some upcoming game wuold need that much RAM, since i read somewhere that because of the texture resolution, if there is insufficient RAM, game would lag while the textures are loaded into a hard disk. Since the RAM is faster than hard disk, 2Gb would be nice, but as you said, 1Gb should be enough for anything.

Mostly high. I don't get a perfect frame rate but I just blamed it on my graphics card. Didn't think I would need 2gb of RAM.

Yeah, i have to agree with Crazygoat on this one. Im limited to about $1000 though.... unlucky for me...

Well, here where I reside it is much cheaper to make your own PC configuration than buying a preassembled one.

@Raton: I wouldn't blame the X700 Pro you have(read it in your profile. It does have only a Shader Model 2.0 support, infact on ATI X series before the X1k series is the Shader model 2.0b, but as far as i'm informed, Battlefield II doesn't use Shader model 3.0 that ATI x1k supports). As far as I know (I am mostly informed about the nVidia graphic cards) that card is good enough for Battlefield II if you don't push the screen resolution above 1024x768. It should handle all deatails on high (except maybe for the shadows, they kill the frame rate in any game and without anisotropic filtering and antialiasing). Yes, you don't need some big framerate, but i have also read somewhere that 60 FPS (not first person shooters - Frames Per Second=minimum is 24 as far as I know) is highly recommended. It could be the insufficient RAM.

@Spartan-048: If you buy only 1Gb of RAM and you use your old monitor, keyboard, spakers and stuff like that, you could save approximatelly around 400$ so it would need you only 900$.

And for crying at loud, don't publish the money you have!

Really good luck in everything really good you do.

Edited by (in order): CrazyGoat, CrazyGoat

My beer money bank account, according to my last statement has a closing balance of £408.75.

Geez, you really are paranoid beyond compare.

@ambershee: Not paranoid, just overcaution (I hope this is the correct word). One of my life principle is not to challenge life where is not necessarily. If we read about e-thefts, frauds, and other asocial and antisocial ongoings all around the world (therefore and on the internet/world wide web too), it is quite reasonable to try to protect yourself and your loved ones. On one of the other forums (not moddb's), a guy using some program(s) (i don't know which one) located the place where the other forum member lived (I think using his IP). He was mad at that other member because he just stated an opinion. What happened after that I don't know but the threat on that forum was something like: I'll send to your house some of my friends to take a "good" care of you. Was that just an intimidation, or he really organized a "death squad" to take care of that other forum member I can't say. I don't even know is it possible to locate someone's address over the internet (maybe that was an intimidation too) and therefore cause problems to someone (I know someone can send me a virus, take over control my computer using IP, but to really locate me...?). It would be nice if someone can give a good reply to these questions (off toppic, I know, but the Hastings isn't reading this anyway I think).
Please, you must forgive me for my "paranoid" personality, but I live in a part of the world where hiding some facts about yourself can save your life (and those facts are not ilegal and no, I am not a homosexual if someone just thought that, although they are hunted around here like if they some criminals, even though the laws protect their rights).

P.S. I hold a stun baton pointed to my monitor in case someone tries to steal my identity

Really good luck in everything really good you do.

Edited by (in order): CrazyGoat, CrazyGoat, CrazyGoat, CrazyGoat

CrazyGoat, I appreciate that you describe your opinion on internet safety, but once you really think about, if you mind your own business and participate such as a good citizen - if you will -, then you wouldn't have to worry about such occurances. I'll be the first to admit it - I'm not the most law-abiding person when it comes to internet piracy laws and whatnot, however, I've taken the decision to put my life on the line with my actions, since some pretty heavy outcomes can come out of this practice. But, with the right protection, you shouldn't have to worry about hijacking, e-threats, and whatnot happening.

On to the threatening part with the IP Address - I highly doubt ANYONE on the internet is worth another one's time... Hell, I'd be skeptical about pursuing someone right now simply because of gas prices. Prolly some punk who "thinks" he's found the location of that user's home by the IP Address, because it's not AS simple as they state ( or atleast to my knowledge. I've only found the GENERAL direction of a person's address by the IP Address, but with further investigation I'm sure it'd be simple ).

No "real" reason to be that paranoid/over protective. Unless you're holding governmental case-sensitive information, they're not going to want to take anything from you Hell, I've used every illegal program out there and the only viruses I've gotten are ones I've installed myself ( out of sheir stupidity ). This is only with a router. No firewalls activated what-so-ever.

Good luck building your computer, Hastings. A lot can be bought with that much money, but just make sure your investment will last 2-3 years without being completely useless. My computer is running on its second year and I'm already beginning to notice performance differences with the unveiling of new game engines and technologies.

As for Windows Vista : the "extreme" performance issues were cleared up in one of the last issues of PCWorld ( or I think, I forgot ). As long as you have a video card capable of rendering DirectX 9 suitably, you're fine. It's when game developers start to finally kick DirectX 10 in to mainstream, you should be conserned on the video card choice. Not to fear because this new implementation will take some time to become finalized. Games WILL be rendered in DirectX 10; however, I'll bet money there'll be options to revert the game settings to be rendered in DirectX 9.

As mentioned, good luck.

Thank you Gothax for understanding (unlike others who think that they have a phd in psychiatry so they can declare someone paranoid). Anyway, I thought over this once again, and came to a conclusion that I'm a old-fashion guy that still remembers the childhood when my parents were teaching me "Don't say how much money you or we have, or don't have", "Don't speak with the strangers" (lol, I'm on a forum, talking with strangers and I'm a stranger for them), "When you cross the road, look carefully..." and so on. But then again, I recently heard a news saying that hackers are sending e-mails to bank clients sa(l)ying that the bank server suffered a hacker attack and they want from you to fill the form provided in e-mail for data confirmation and reply. Also I don't know the location of Area 51 (scrath that) and I don't keep any secrets on a computer that has an internet connection. As for the threatening part, and for my other "paranoid" posts, I am asking nicely everyone for some tolerance and understanding since I'm not living in a "normal" country, since the racial, ethnical, sexual, or even political belonging can sometime be fatal. I hope I made myself clear to everyone in the future, since my english isn't maybe good enough for proper communication. Thank you all in advance.

Really good luck in everything really good you do.

Edited by: CrazyGoat

Heh, funnily enough, I do actually study a bit of psychology here and there

My point being though, is moreover on your constant need to try and egg and convince other people not to post certain pointless and unimportant information in forum posts. I really doubt anyone is bothered about the contents of my beer money account, nor would it be worth the effort to do anything about it. I don't mind you taking the stance that you want to be so security conscious, but please, don't try and get anyone else to conform to it

It isn't possible to locate somebody using their IP address. Occassionally, it may be possible to trace their location in a national or regional sense, but that's uncommon. Besides, you can even change your apparent and internal IP at will (although I shan't be discussing how - I happen to like the fact that spamtards can't get around IP banning) to almost anything you so desire.

Lastly, would anyone posting on ModDB have an identity worth stealing?

[ ego ] other than myself of course.. [ / ego ]

Argh, if I wouldn't be just trainee, I would so of just changed your ego posting to

[ego] other than myself and Gothax? of course..[/ego]

Darn the powerful

lol, you've got a short while to go before you can muster such power yet