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Building a computer for gaming/other entertainment.

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The quoted case is a good deal:
Newegg.com - ATRIX CSCI-C8040-C43 Black/Silver SECC steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 480W Power Supply - Computer Cases

The swinging cover looks nice, and keeps some of the sound in. But it's a pain if you're going to be using the optical drives a lot. This is a personal preference thing, but in a dorm setting, I really found it to be in the way. Function > Form on this one.

...

Here's an alternative for the ram, it's $10 more up front, but $20 less after rebate (depends on whether you wish to hassle/wait with those):
OCZ 4gb ram $54 AR@ newegg pc2-6400 dual channel SLI ready Free shipping

...

I like the proc deal, if you go dual-core (which sounds like the popular vote).
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Click on combo deals - view all.

Others, what are your thoughts on these combos?

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scratch this one, 350 watt power supply kills it. Plus that mobo looks a lil sketchy in terms of brand.
HITACHI Deskstar P7K500 HDP725050GLA360 (0A35415) 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
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This bumps the 500 gig HD down to 55 instead of 75.
 
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I'm compiling a pretty good list of stuff here. :tongue2: Just have to narrow it down.

The case isn't a big deal, I don't mind the swinging cover and I won't be living in a small place.

I'm assuming all this stuff will work together? I feel like a complete moron with some of these questions.
 
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Let me take a look at a spec sheet I have at work tomorrow and I'll post it here. I've been building quad-core systems for the office over the past couple of months, and the last one I assembled a week ago came in at around $600 w/ on board video, so you could use the same base platform and toss in the 8600 and be under ~$650, probably still less than $600 after mail-in rebates.

As for HDs, I'd pass on the ones JWins posted earlier, unless you want a nice 750Gb for a second drive. Pay the money and buy a WD Raptor X. IMHO, there is no substitute.

How many drives do you think you're going to be running? Are you fine with a small(ish) ~200Gb internal drive and having an external drive later, or are you looking for 750Gb - 1TB internal right off the bat?
 
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Will a PCI Express 2.0 card work with a motherboard that has PCI Express 16x slots?

Just wondering, really. I think I'm starting to comprehend what I'm reading in these specs.

EDIT: I guess if you guys are recommending the 2.0/16x items together, then they'd probably work. :p

EDIT 2: The friend that I've been talking about recommended a different, more expensive video card. With all the stuff you guys have recommended, and his video card, the total is $507.95 after $55 in rebates.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811209030
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131234
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102761
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227269
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103289
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145215

Damnit, the links aren't titled..

EDIT 3: This might be important.. new total of $533.94.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136147
 
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I went through my build sheet that I've been using for my office over the past several months and wound up reconfiguring just about everything. :tongue2:

The issue I keep running up against is what level of gaming performance you want.

For example, the systems I build for my office are Intel Q6600 Kentsfield QuadCore, 2Gb Corsair DDR2 800 RAM on a Gigabyte mATX board, a 150Gb 10,000 RPM WD Raptor and a Pioneer DVD+/-R w/ LightScribe for less than $600.

The system I'm thinking you want, however, probably isn't going to come in under $700 if you're serious about the gaming performance. What I wound up doing was coming up with the list of parts I'd buy if I were in your shoes. A faster clock Dual Core, more RAM, and an 8600 (it pays to be behind the curve). I have not picked a case for you (that's entirely your preference) though I am 100% loyal to InWin when it comes to system cases.

The internal sys components do come in at ~$700 ($679.94), less after rebates.

$129.99 Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Dynamic Energy Saver Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard - Retail
$169.99 Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
$109.99 Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
$ 59.99 Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-NX86T256H GeForce 8600 GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
$169.99 Newegg.com - Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
$ 39.99 Newegg.com - Pioneer Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-R 32X CD-RW 40X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 20X DVD?R DVD Burner with LightScribe - CD / DVD Burners

EDIT: Changed mobo from ICH10 to ICH9R
 
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The system I'm thinking you want, however, probably isn't going to come in under $700 if you're serious about the gaming performance.
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Hate to disagree.........wait no, I dont, I love to disagree :biggrin:

I am running an AMD X2 6000+, 2 gig of A-data DDr2 800, and an ATI 3650HD. All which you can get for way under $700, and there is not a single game that doesnt run at over 50fps, even Crysis.

I have nothing against Intel, but the price difference between those and the AMD's is too high. Also have no problem with Nvidia, however the same issue exists with price difference.
 
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BrutusMaximus;1227251; said:
Yeah hell I have the 6000+ and I cant even begin to push it to its limits, or even half its limits. I can run crysis at full settings with zero slow down, and my vid card isnt even all that high end.
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Anybody can run Cyrsis High settings @ 800x600 :biggrin:


Going the AMD route is rather pointless, I have a 6000 - doesn't impress me compared to their C2D counterparts. Hilarious, just under 2 years ago I wouldnt touch Intel (aside from the Pentium M) with a stick.


If your trying to get a solid machine for under $700, don't put all your $ in just several categories. Example : Dryden's links - for god sake do not drop near $170 on a raptor, its pointless for a machine as such. Don't even think about touching Hitachi (their called the deathstar's for a damn good reason)


But I doubt you'll need ANYTHING over 500GB unless your into some type of CAD work or you just backup tons of movies and mp3's. I'd say try a 250GB from Seagate or Samsung, they have great stuff.


You can't quite justify the purchase of a quad core unless you go the cheapest route ( probably a Q6600) If your going Vista, 4GB is the prefered idea. I like the idea of Wolfdale - I'd run with it.

For the love of god, do not use a PSU that comes with a case - I'm not sure how much more of a broken record I can be here.


@ 307

Don't confuse PCI-E 16x with what your hearing about PCI-E 2.0. The latter being a industrial standard. (internal serial connection, simultaneous, bi-directional data transfer both up and down on 16 lanes)

PCI-E 2.0 is simply the next step forward...

To answer your question; no GPU is currently 2.0 exclusive, so theirfore will work in any PCI-E solution.


Not sure what games your playing, otherwise I'd give you idea's on a decent card. Care to enlighten us on that paticular part?
 
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Umm.. I'll just give you a list of stuff I'm considering/already own and run on on a shitty computer.

Oblivion
CS: Source
World of Warcraft (this I am going to try to stay away from, but peer pressure might be a problem :tongue2:)
Fallout 3
Mass Effect
Call of Duty 4
The Orange Box

I'd like to get more into single-player RPGs, but I'm still researching those and I'm not sure which I'm going to get yet.

Thanks for all the information, everyone. You'll all get rep eventually if you haven't already. :)
 
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Going the AMD route is rather pointless, I have a 6000 - doesn't impress me compared to their C2D counterparts. Hilarious, just under 2 years ago I wouldnt touch Intel (aside from the Pentium M) with a stick.
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Give me an example. What exactly is it that it wont do?

Example : Dryden's links - for god sake do not drop near $170 on a raptor, its pointless for a machine as such. Don't even think about touching Hitachi (their called the deathstar's for a damn good reason
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Agree and agree. The raptor is like a poor man's scsi, which isnt a bad thing, but you absolutely dont need the extra speed for what you're doing.

For the love of god, do not use a PSU that comes with a case - I'm not sure how much more of a broken record I can be here.
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Disagree. Have had no probs with them ever, unless maybe your precious intel stuff fries em? :biggrin:
 
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Not understanding the recommendations against the Raptor. "Pointless for a machine as such?" "A poor mans SCSI?"

Malarkey.

This is precisely the system the Raptor was designed for. The Raptor 1500 compares favorably to the fastest drives for single disk desktop use regardless of spindle speed or interface -- in fact it even blows away some of the top 15K RPM U320s on the market in performance on the desktop.

For raw I/O, the Raptor is a beast. Considering the recommendation is for a desktop that will be used for music recording, movie encoding, Photoshop, etc, in addition to gaming, the Raptor will shave minutes off many of these tasks vs any other hard drive.
 
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