Need to build a new computer? Gamers here??? help!!!!

[SpiralArchitect]

Hey guys

my computer just up and died and I don't know if I want to try and ressurect it this time, as I was in the process of trying to build a new rig.

anyhow, I will mostly be gaming and internetting, so I need somethin with sizzle

anyone here in the know on the current good stuff?


thanks!

C

[Newc]

Same boat here. There's a thread about that: http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85561

[LouSiffer]

As I offered to Newc, let me know how much you are able to spend. -Lou

[thebigz]

Make sure that you go through live.com/cashback if you buy parts through newegg or tiger direct. It'll only be 3-5% or so, but it was about 30-40 bucks off the stuff I just bought.

[SpiralArchitect]

Newc

I'm such a wanker! I read that thread a bit before my comp died and had a feeling there was one already, sorry for the double thread

Lou, I'm willing to spend about 1500-2600.
I do prefer to put the system together myself, as I've done that for the last 4 or 5 computers, I've just been a little outside of the pc circle for a bit and am not sure what the current hot stuff is.

I'm probably lookin for either an asus p5e3 deluxe x48 motherboard, an intel qx9650, 4 gigs of ram, a couple of the new velociraptor 300 gig hd and either a single gtx 280 or a couple of 4870 x2's, but I'm still a little confused as to weather the nvidia boards are a better way to go......aaaaaaahhhg

C

[Carbuff]

Oh, I see this will be a budget build.

[thebigz]

nvidia boards have been having tons of issues and it looks like they're dropping out of the race. I'm no expert, but I just built one about a month ago, so I was reading up quite a bit and pretty much everyone sent me to the intel boards.

Also, if you check out benchmarks, the 4870 is pretty close to the 280, so 2 of them would be the winner I'd say.

[zeegler]

I just put a Geforce 8500GT in mine (yeah I know I'm cheap) and it's working flawlessly. I get extremely good FPS rates in-game so I'm happy.

[CharvelRocker]

If you don't mind me hijacking, I have a 2004 eMAchines, and have considering either replacing some parts on it or building a new pc. The graphics card is tired, and it doesn't have enough ram, but it has a 1.9 gHz AMD Athelon XP processor that is pretty fast, a nice sound card, a large HD, and is otherwise running well. Would it be worth it to stick a new vid card in and new RAM to try and make it more gaming oriented? Most of my issues seem video and RAM, not processing related in this machine, which is why I think I could upgrade rather than build from the ground up.

[SpiralArchitect]

Carvelrocker, if it's an eMachine, I don't think you can upgrade it??? does it have any expansion slots on the motherboard, I thought all those things had built in everything???

I could be wrong though

C

[SpiralArchitect]

Oh, I see this will be a budget build.

Hahahaha, yeah no kidding, I don't seem to have a "budget" for anything I do hahaha

C

[CharvelRocker]

Carvelrocker, if it's an eMachine, I don't think you can upgrade it??? does it have any expansion slots on the motherboard, I thought all those things had built in everything???

I could be wrong though

C

I believe it has expansions slot, because I've seen after market sites that have listings for plenty of parts for it. I do know the vid card is built into the mobo though as a cost cutting measure (personally, I think the heat off the mother board for 4 years is why it's been acting sporactic lately). Maybe there newer/older ones are different. I know this was their "top of the line" at the time though.

Also, I noticed the CPU is actually 2.16 according to PC Mag. Cool beans.

[Inazone]

If you don't mind me hijacking, I have a 2004 eMAchines, and have considering either replacing some parts on it or building a new pc. The graphics card is tired, and it doesn't have enough ram, but it has a 1.9 gHz AMD Athelon XP processor that is pretty fast, a nice sound card, a large HD, and is otherwise running well. Would it be worth it to stick a new vid card in and new RAM to try and make it more gaming oriented? Most of my issues seem video and RAM, not processing related in this machine, which is why I think I could upgrade rather than build from the ground up.

I don't think it'd be worth the money to upgrade to upgrade a 1.9 GHz single-core processor. At the beginning of the year, I upgraded a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 to the 3.0 GHz version, doubled the RAM (to 2GB) and put in the best nVidia AGP card I could get for cheap - something in the GeForce 7000 series - with good results. I have been able to run some of the moderately spec'd games like Lord of the Rings Online, Elder Scrolls Oblivion, The Witcher and Two Worlds with good results at "medium" settings, but most hardcore gamers would laugh at this setup.

For twice what it cost me to upgrade that PC, I was able to get a brand new Pentium Dual-Core E2200 (2.2 GHz per core) with 2GB DDR2 RAM and a decent ATI PCI Express video card. That included Windows Vista Home Basic too, and I have less than $400 into it. Didn't have to build it either. Not that I regret upgrading the older PC, but upgrading only makes sense if your existing PC's motherboard can handle components that will satisfy your requirements for a couple more years.

[CharvelRocker]

I don't think it'd be worth the money to upgrade to upgrade a 1.9 GHz single-core processor. At the beginning of the year, I upgraded a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 to the 3.0 GHz version, doubled the RAM (to 2GB) and put in the best nVidia AGP card I could get for cheap - something in the GeForce 7000 series - with good results. I have been able to run some of the moderately spec'd games like Lord of the Rings Online, Elder Scrolls Oblivion, The Witcher and Two Worlds with good results at "medium" settings, but most hardcore gamers would laugh at this setup.

For twice what it cost me to upgrade that PC, I was able to get a brand new Pentium Dual-Core E2200 (2.2 GHz per core) with 2GB DDR2 RAM and a decent ATI PCI Express video card. That included Windows Vista Home Basic too, and I have less than $400 into it. Didn't have to build it either. Not that I regret upgrading the older PC, but upgrading only makes sense if your existing PC's motherboard can handle components that will satisfy your requirements for a couple more years.

So I take it the actual rating go 2.16 I found wouldn't make that much of a swing? I am also hesitant to go to a new PC because of Vista, and the fact it seems like soon (Next year was it?) there will be another new windows. Though I guess I could order a "blank" and just use my XP discs to put XP on it, Vista would allow me to run newer stuff, and RAM and what not would not be an issue on a newer PC. Probably should also see what my brother says, who is a computer geek.

[zeegler]

My current PC is an Emachine. The board is just like any other with lots of room for expansion. Mine has 5 PCI slots, and 1 PCI-E slot. Plus, it has 6 USB sockets. Mine's a 3.33 ghz with 1.5 gig of ram, and 650 gigs of harddrive, so it's not super outdated, just a little bit. Like I said, I threw a Geforce 8500 GT in it, and it's great, at least for WOW, which is pretty much the only gaming I do.

These things do have onboard sound and video, but they are easy to disable if you decide to upgrade to a proper video or sound card.

I'll probably do my own build again for my next system. I haven't done it in a while. My last 2 systems have been Emachines, because they were so ridiculously cheap.