I don't want to spend more than $700. Assume I already have a monitor and speakers, so forget those.

C'mon PC gamers, what should I get, how should I customize. I know jackshit about just everything hardware these days, so pretend I'm a little kid who just learned how to speak for the first time.

Where do I start...? My 2002 Dell P4 is just too outdated for me. 2009 is right around the corner...I need me an update.

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Case + Power Supply: http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/A...st=Combo.131973

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115037

Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814150316

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813128358

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820231122

Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16822136218

DVD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16827106057

1-2 extra case fans (the case comes with one, but it's always good to have more. You should at least have an intake and an exhaust.: http://store.yahoo.com/yhst-6555626...yalod1cafa.html

Total comes to around $640 after 2 small rebates. Use code 20ANTEC during checkout to save an extra $11.00

Everything...I mean EVERYTHING listed here is top quality...no junk. I did lots of research and built a gaming machine with these exact parts and it is amazing. It will max out pretty much everything you throw at it. The motherboard is terrific and should give you an EASY overclock to 3.6ghz using the stock Intel cooler. If you want to push the chip to 3.9ghz or beyond, I suggest buying an aftermarket fan to keep the chip cool. You could overclock the video card an extra 10% too, but honestly man...the jump from your current rig is so tremendous that I think you will be happy with everything here at stock speeds. Dead Space, Team Fortress 2, Bioshock etc will look far better on here than they do on the PS3 or 360.

P.S. The video card includes Call of Duty 4

Last edited by Capitalizt on Oct-30-2008 at 00:51

Does the price you are willing to pay include the a monitor? What resolution are you looking at running your games at?

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Kill the women. Eat the children.
It's just one of those days where you want to bend over everyone you know and kiss their ass goodbye with a big sideways boot.

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He said he already had the other stuff...so I assumed he just needed a new gaming tower.

Everything I listed should be perfect for several years of gaming. It seemed the sweet spot as far as price/performance goes. When the rig I posted can't play modern games smoothly (I'd guess around 2012), you'll be able to pick up one of those high end GTX280 cards on ebay for around $80 (they cost $500-600+ now), pop it in, and you'll be set for several more years.

quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt He said he already had the other stuff...so I assumed he just needed a new gaming tower. Everything I listed should be perfect for several years of gaming. It seemed the sweet spot as far as price/performance goes.

Yea, change the Core 2 Duo to a Core 2 Quad.
Video card you have there is a piece of garbage if you want to run any of the newest games full blown settings your looking at dropping some bombs for GTX 280/8800s or gtfo. Serously. Try playing Crysis or Farcry 2 with that card max settings and watch it explode.

im too out of date to help much, but im in tentative agreeance with r5a that the 9800 vid cards arent the way to go. at least im unaware that anything but the GX2 rivals the topline 8800s.

glad to see you joining us once again connerman!!

quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt Case + Power Supply: http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/A...st=Combo.131973 Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115037 Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814150316 Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813128358 Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820231122 Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16822136218 DVD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16827106057 1-2 extra case fans (the case comes with one, but it's always good to have more. You should at least have an intake and an exhaust.: http://store.yahoo.com/yhst-6555626...yalod1cafa.html Total comes to around $640 after 2 small rebates. Use code 20ANTEC during checkout to save an extra $11.00 Everything...I mean EVERYTHING listed here is top quality...no junk. I did lots of research and built a gaming machine with these exact parts and it is amazing. It will max out pretty much everything you throw at it. The motherboard is terrific and should give you an EASY overclock to 3.6ghz using the stock Intel cooler. If you want to push the chip to 3.9ghz or beyond, I suggest buying an aftermarket fan to keep the chip cool. You could overclock the video card an extra 10% too, but honestly man...the jump from your current rig is so tremendous that I think you will be happy with everything here at stock speeds. Dead Space, Team Fortress 2, Bioshock etc will look far better on here than they do on the PS3 or 360. P.S. The video card includes Call of Duty 4

Cap, you are the fucking shit dude. You went balls to the wall here, and I'm absolutely loving it. I'd say by around Thanksgiving I'll have the funds accumulated necessary to make these purchases. I'll trust your instinct. Thanks again buddy!

quote:

Originally posted by Zild Does the price you are willing to pay include the a monitor? What resolution are you looking at running your games at?

I've actually got a good hookup with a friend who has an extra monitor. I have no idea what the hell type it is, but he said it'll do the job just as long as I equip myself with a good enough gaming tower to go along with it.

That being said, do you have any idea what kind of monitor I should be looking for if I wanted to blow my eyes out of their sockets? (this question goes out to everybody if you can answer it) My monitor still has the word 'Trinitron' in the upper left...didn't that label fade out like 5 years ago, lol?

quote:

Originally posted by r5a Yea, change the Core 2 Duo to a Core 2 Quad. Video card you have there is a piece of garbage if you want to run any of the newest games full blown settings your looking at dropping some bombs for GTX 280/8800s or gtfo. Serously. Try playing Crysis or Farcry 2 with that card max settings and watch it explode.

I will heed your advice. Obviously I'm not building this rig tomorrow, so I've got some time to sort out what I want vs. what I don't. I appreciate the input though, I know so little about this kind of thing that any help is great.

quote:

Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN im too out of date to help much, but im in tentative agreeance with r5a that the 9800 vid cards arent the way to go. at least im unaware that anything but the GX2 rivals the topline 8800s. glad to see you joining us once again connerman!!

Hell yeah! Thanks for the input mate, I can't help myself with this shit at all; you PC experts are all I got. Once this rig is in my possession, I'll FINALLY give SA a shot. I've never even seen the game in action (in REAL life, I've seen plenty of youtube vids courtesy of you hahaha). Probably gonna pick up Fallout 3 and Red Alert 3 as well (I'm a sucker, all the Red Alert games hook me even if they are just more EA bullshit).



Thanks again ALL OF YOU! Please, if things change or something new gets released that is affordable and you think would be better outfitted for me, please post!

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hehe, awesome! as always, hit me up for advice re forged alliance if you need!

quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt Case + Power Supply: http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/A...st=Combo.131973 Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115037 Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814150316 Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813128358 Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820231122 Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16822136218 DVD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16827106057 1-2 extra case fans (the case comes with one, but it's always good to have more. You should at least have an intake and an exhaust.: http://store.yahoo.com/yhst-6555626...yalod1cafa.html

Can't disagree with that.

Quad core is pretty useless. There are barely any games out there (or coming out in the near future) that make much use of it - except maybe crysis, but that can run smooth on the specs posted above so it's a waste.

I would've recommended a 8800GT for the GPU, but if you were planning to play Cod4 anyways, it's a good bundle.

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quote:

Originally posted by Project-K Can't disagree with that. Quad core is pretty useless. There are barely any games out there (or coming out in the near future) that make much use of it - except maybe crysis, but that can run smooth on the specs posted above so it's a waste. I would've recommended a 8800GT for the GPU, but if you were planning to play Cod4 anyways, it's a good bundle.

yeah, thats what i reckon.

I don't know what yall are talking about saying an E8400 @3.6ghz + a 9800GT isn't high end. With that rig, I play Crysis on high (not "ultra") and get a rock solid 40-45FPS. It looks beautiful to me. And every other game I've tried is a silky 60FPS maxed out. No need to go crazy on the vid card when they drop in price so fast. A 3ghz Core 2 + 9800GT will be fine for gaming over the next few years.

Conner, if you want to splurge and go slightly over your $700 budget, I recommend one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814150314

It's a bit more future proof than the basic 9800 because it's factory overclocked and has more shaders and other fancy things enabled. It will probably give you a 20% boost in FPS for most games. The card als includes Far Cry 2

Last edited by Capitalizt on Oct-30-2008 at 06:56

Having a look at that site I saw this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115041

12mb cache? I didn't know they did 12mb cache! Holy shit, I'm gonna buy one of these for my production rig in the future.

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quote:

Originally posted by sixofour.604 I'm one of the few people here who isn't a total fucking idiot.