Help me buy a new PC

[Priby]

Heyho fellow gamers. Ive been thinking about getting a new PC for some time now.

I already have demanding games like Arma 2 and GTAIV and I finally wanted to play them in all their beauty.
And off course I want to play newer games as well.
But I never came around building a new system. Mostly because I’m not very familiar with hardware and stuff.
So I hoped you could help me out.

Rules of the game:
-Graphic card should support DirectX11 and if possible, be the best on the market
-HDD isn’t really needed as I already have 1,3TB in my current rig. But could be suggested.
-Spending limit is 1800€ (~2500$)

So basically what I need is:
-CPU
-Motherboard
-Graphic card
-Power supply
-RAM
-5.1 soundcard
-DVD-burner
-Case + fans

Or should i perhaps wait for newer parts to come out or even buy a already built system?

Any help is appreciated

Thread moved to appropriate forum section

-Bob

[boilerrat]

Don't buy an already built system

If you must, buy all the parts and pay someone to put it together... shouldn't take more than an hour.

I can offer you support if you add me on steam.

steam = fatguyzeno

Scratch that, im setting up a build for you right now... but you can still add me.


Also, this is in the wrong section.

EDIT: Still working on it

[JohnnyTheIED]

I built my first computer back in 2003,

Just to give you an idea, I paid about 900-1000$ in parts (everything included exept lcd screen).

And I still use this same computer to play PR today. (given I must set 50% view scale on fallujah) normal maps are fine. I did add 2 gigs of ram after a few years.

Back then I remember the "clone" value in stores of something similar yet with a joke video and sound card was around 4000$.

Thats why I'm interested in this thread as I'm gonna have to rebuild another comp soon and lost track of whats the best in each category.

My best tip: Research. It took me 1/50th of the time to actualy put the pieces together than it took me to research each part to make sure I was buying the best. The advantage? I had a BEAST of a computer for a couple years and my nephews will most probably still be playing with this one after I make the over-due switch.

Another good tip: Find a huge computer store that also sells online (alberta has no taxes btw if you're in n.america) with a good support forum/comment section. You will find ALOT of experts who's job or hobby is to keep a track on the best new products. Back in 2003 I chatted countless hours with those peeps, they helped me on every question I had, stupid simple or complex. Was even given a download to implement the then super-new SATA drivers.. lol

I ended up having a computer experts told me was Insane. Then when I told em how much I paid, their jaws dropped. lol

-----------------------------------

EDIT: sorry for the jacking... When I smoke my joint at night I never stop speaking.. lol

To help you more on your quest:

Think of the computer has a body. Whats the most important. Brain, Heart, Bones and Muscles.

Brain = RAM/HD
Heart = CPU
Bones=MoBo (motherboard)
Muscle= Video & sound cards.

Invest most of the money into this! Not into pimped out Boxes or any little useless gadgets. Go with the established or truly revolutionary innovations that all experts agree on. (remember those who dumped all for HDdvd? or those who jumped on Vista, win98 first edition? lol)

Now all you need is a housing Box, choose the ugliest biggest and cheapest one from the best company and the best power supply. You want ROOM and POWER, not style.

Briefly: Strong Quality main components, Especially Mother Board and CPU. Do put the extra bucks there to get something special. Same for video card and quantity of RAM. This will assure you a gaming bomb.

With 1800 Euros here in Canada I could build you something the DEV's would beg for and then send you back the remaining 300 euros and a thank you note for the 32" lcd tv i also bough. (edit: after a lil check on prices and the inflation.. ok maybe I forget the lcd tv.. lol)

[boilerrat]

This is the build I came up with



Here is my friend's, he is really into hardware.....like really

[Priby]

Thx for the help guys.

Those SSDs that youve posted, are they essential? Or are they just optional, better HDDs?

[boilerrat]

SSD's are flash memory. They have fast read / write times. They also use less power and are more reliable then normal platter based hard drives.

In either case you'd use your old drive as a backup / downloads drive. You'd install windows and games to the SSD's.

In the second case you'd be running RAID 0. Which basically puts half the data on each drive and you read and write on both at the same time, thus doubling the throughput of the drives. The SSD's happen to be SATA III which is 6Gb/s total bandwidth, so when you use RAID 0 it's a total of 12 Gb/s total. SATA II drives (which is most common right now because SATA III is really new) are 3 Gb/s max bandwidth, and when you put these in RAID 0 you get 6Gb/s total. Which is only half of the SATA III drives. Hard drives are the choke point of any modern PC. This reduces that choke and really improves system performance. Basically, this will make programs and games load / open a lot faster.

[boilerrat]

double post

[Priby]

So thats what i would go for at the moment.
It would cost me 1.623,64€ (2.208$).
I didnt include Windows 7 because i might get it from a friend for free (yes, a legal version ).

But i still have a couple of questions:
Are all these parts compatible?
Do i have to get a fan and cooling ribs for the CPU?
Do i have to get a mounting bracket for the SSD?
Or do you have any other suggestions, tips or something i forgot?

[SnipingCoward]

Basically a good built suggestion. Just two things:
1. with a Budget like that I would go for Tripple Channel RAM - that would either mean two 3x1GB Kits (6GB total) or even higher two 3x2GB Kits (12GB total) you would ofcourse have to make sure the mobo supports the certain amount of RAM in tripple channel mode.

2. SSD is not essential and only decreases loading speeds since your ram is very sufficient even with "only" 6GB RAM.
A side note: SSDs have a limited amount of guaranteed read/write cycles. This means it has potentially has a lower livespan than regular HDDs.

edit: got ninja'd

edit2: looks like you are missing a regular hard disk (for normal data)
as for compatibility all i would to is check their manuals and read if the parts comply
also you should consider not getting a P-ATA - its an outdated standard - go for SATA (LG-Burner that is)

[boilerrat]

It all looks fine, make sure you have thermal paste.

A heat-sink comes with all CPUs.

Quite sure SSD's mount next to your hard drive.

Have a professional do this for you, if you are spending this much... have someone who has much experience do it for you.

Good job.

[boilerrat]

Basically a good built suggestion. Just two things:
1. with a Budget like that I would go for Tripple Channel RAM - that would either mean two 3x1GB Kits (6GB total) or even higher two 3x2GB Kits (12GB total) you would ofcourse have to make sure the mobo supports the certain amount of RAM in tripple channel mode.

2. SSD is not essential and only decreases loading speeds since your ram is very sufficient even with "only" 6GB RAM.
A side note: SSDs have a limited amount of guaranteed read/write cycles. This means it has potentially has a lower livespan than regular HDDs.

edit: got ninja'd

edit2: looks like you are missing a regular hard disk (for normal data)
as for compatibility all i would to is check their manuals and read if the parts comply
also you should consider not getting a P-ATA - its an outdated standard - go for SATA (LG-Burner that is)

He already has a 1.3tb HDD from his current rig that he is going to use.... it was mentioned in OP

[theiceman]

http://img52.imageshack.us/i/90650841.png/

good?

[Feriluce]

Imageshack - 90650841.png

good?

Why would you spend 1000$ on a CPU, and then turn around and get budget graphics?

[corp_calqluslethal]

both of these will allow you to play arma 2 on all high with good graphics card. For well under your budget. Hope this helps


TRIPLE CORE ATHLON II 2.9GHz BAREBONE PC 2GB DDR3/500GB - eBay (item 200449420328 end time Apr-11-10 11:12:39 PDT)

ZT SYSTEMS 7302MA-B AMD PHENOM II X4 920 @ 2.8GHZ - eBay (item 370355910703 end time Apr-02-10 10:44:27 PDT)

I recommend this over building your own cpu. You could not build one this good for cheaper.