TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

hey im building a new comp for gaming. the only game i play right now is COD2. im on a budget like i said. as of now i have NO PARTS NO NOTHING

heres what ive found online so far that i PLAN to buy
amd 3500 venice ($201) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...C-pr1c3grabb3r
asus a8n-sli premium ($163) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131540
antec true power 550w ($51.92) http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...=0&dcaid=15890
advance modules 1gb ram stick OEM (62) http://www.linemicro.com/product.php?id=13274
POSSIBLY evga 6800 (219.. 189 after rebate) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130231

so can u guys tell me how this looks so far. what im missing. whats good bad or over priced. and especialy about the ram and the video card. thanks

You could save over 50 bucks on your mobo by getting this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131530

It has the nforce4 ultra chipset which is a great one. The difference between the one you are looking at and this one is that it isn't SLI. There are some other differences but not really worth the money for the average user IMHO.

I personally have the SLI version, as I want the option of adding an extra card in the future, but thought I'd offer this as soemthing to think about, as you are on a budget. You could then get some higher quality ram with the extra 50 bucks.

By the way, I notice that the specs for the ram you are looking at says:
Advanced Modules Chip
High Density (Compatible with Via and Sis Chipsets Only)

I don't know exactly that that means (someone will be able to answer this) but your chipset is nforce4.

Actually, if you decide you DO want SLI as a future option, this board would also save you some money:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131524

yes i do want to have 2 pci-e x16 slots so i can upgrade to x2 7800's one day. also one thing i wanted to do was upgrade to a x2 or fx thats why i chose the sli-premium cause it can use either of those but the the sli one u gave me can only us 64 and fx.

so my question is which processor is best for gaming a x2 or a fx?
and anything im missing like a case and any other kind of cooling

Well, from all the reviews and benchmarks I have read, the fx processors are winning the race right now for gaming, but this is expected to change once game programmers start making use of dual core CPUs. As to WHEN this will happen....

You're at almost $700, and still haven't picked up a case, hard disk(s), optical drive, monitor, keyboard/mouse, or speakers. Exactly what kind of budget were you expecting to maintain?

originally this was suppose to be an upgrade for everything but a modem, harddrive, and case. but then i figures i wanted unlimited acess and then started thinkin about sli and preparing for upgrades(mobo vid card) now rather than later. hopefully i will get a job at walgreens the end of this month. if i do i will probably be able to up my budget if i can get above 500 from newegg.com alon so i can get 6months financing. also if i get that job i will be buying a 7800 gt.

so a really important question i got for u guys is. What is the most important parts to have in a comp to max out ur games?

ps. if u think about it it would be cheaper in the long run to get a better vid card now than later.

Setting yourself up for debt when you have no income is a really bad idea. If you're looking to upgrade now, why don't you just give us a detailed list of your current PC and your current available PC upgrade funds. There may be a solution that will work for you know that won't be repo'd in 6 months.

i dont really wanna upgrade cause my mom uses this one comp for a tlong time thats y i want a new one. and plus this comp here only has a good modem ant thtas preety much it. and a case with a sign that says "FAN" on it. so i really need everything NEW

yea so any help would be appreciated. 2 things that r a must to have would be a mother board that supports SLI (for futur upgrade) and a nvidia 7800 gt.
everything else would just have to improve my gaming especially anything to deal with graphics. thanks. and o yea this is my first actual computer besides the peice of junk i have now.

I think that the three most important things for gaming are CPU, graphics card and ram, but you don't want to skimp out on the power supply, but you look safe with your antec.

If you have a little extra money you might want a good sound card too I just bought a sound blaster augidy 2 zs

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102178

but the sale ends soon

I have a great customized system for gaming that I'm planning on buying. It's around $1400-$1500. If you want the specs say so.

lol no. i cant really afford a 1500 dollar comp. if i had 1500 i think id buy a HDTV.

look its chef

Ok, so your budget is sub $1500?

While C_Conqueror is right on when it comes down to FPS, your single most expsensive component will be a gaming monitor. There's really no point in building a machine that can display 100 FPS at 1600 x 1200 if your monitor is a 15" 30ms screen.

In anycase, its your money, so its your call.
I'd recommend the $165 DFI Lanparty SLI over the ASUS board, because its noted to be faster in terms of gaming performance and the Kajaran(sp?) audio is superior to the point of making a Sound card unnecessary for all but audio enthusiasts. Another $15 adds RAID functionality, but its unlikely you'll use it on a budget machine.

Then throw in the best AMD chip you can afford (venice or san diego core recommended).

You'll want at least a gig of RAM. Check out this special at Newegg

You should also try to score a WD Raptor Hard Drive as they're also the best SATA drive currently out for gaming.

hey PanicX I have a question of my own for you what makes those hard drives so good I see them for around $150 but I don't know why since they are only 74 gb. I am sure that there is something I am missing.

Just curious

By the way, since you are looking at setting up an SLI system there is some new news for you. Asus has come out with a new generation SLI board.

Up until now all the SLI boards use the PCI-e slots at only x8 when in SLI mode.

The new Asus board opens things up so both slots are running at x16. Some other new improvements as well. Looking like a nice board. Then again, it BETTER be a nice board with a price tag of $250 bones.

Link to the board is here: http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l...44&modelmenu=1

It is the fastest ATA drive on the market. 10,000-RPM spindle speed and five-year warranty. Still, they are EXPENSIVE on a GB/dollar basis, but that's the price of having the best.

The new caviar drives have more storage space, but are at 7,200 RPM.

Being that they spin at 10,000 rpm rather than 7200 rpm, they've got excellent seek times and some of the highest transfer and burst rates available in SATA. While they're somewhat limited on capacity they're the best performing drives available that aren't SCSI

So being 10,000 rpm does that mean that they are just able to install programs faster or does it help your performance when playing games. As you can my hard drive is kinda small and I have been looking for another one probly won't get one until after christmas though.

It's all in the seek times my friend. Observe:

This is the 10,000rpm WD:
Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
Average Latency: 2.99ms
Average Seek Time: 4.5ms
Cache: 8MB

This is a 160gb 7,200rpm WD:
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 300MB/s Hard Drive - OEM
Average Latency: 4.2ms
Average Seek Time: 8.9ms
Cache: 8MB

As you can see, the lower the ms, the faster it is. The 10,000 is almost considered TWICE as fast, by those numbers. This means when data is requested, or written, it does it much faster, and can get on to the next task.

Man I wish I had one of them!