Hi all , new here pretty much and I need and new PC . All I will use it for is internet browseing , some burning and mild gameing if i get back into that . I have a decent budget also . I have been looking a falcon norwests stuff , is it worth it ? I really have no desire to do any modding or anything .I am confident I could build one if someone listed good parts for me . It doesnt need to be uber cool lastest whizz bang , Reliability is what I want . TIA -The Extractor
Hi L40. Could you give us a budget you want to stick to, that way its easier to get the best parts for the money.
Falcon makes some nice systems, but if you're willing to spend some time, you can assemble one...assuming you can read and follow directions and use a screwdriver. You don't have to spend $3000 to get a nice rig, and from the sound of it, it shouldn't be terribly difficult to build a solid rig for under $1000 that will do what you want. But...yeah, a budget would be helpful as well as what games you're playing. Are you going to want to play shooters like F.E.A.R. and Quake 4 or just some ones that are a few years old, like Unreal or Descent 3?
Ok , I am shooting for $1200 or lower but I may go up to $1500 US dollars .Half life 2 and splinter cell type games .
Okay, then the following will do just fine: Motherboard: Asus A8N-E $109.00 CPU: Athlon 64 3200+ $164.00 RAM: Corsair XMS 1GB (2x512MB) $108.00 Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce 6800GS $189.00 Hard Drive: Samsung 250GB 7200RPM $96.99 Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-110DBK $40.99 Power Supply: Enermax EG565P-VE $88.50 Case: CoolerMaster Centurion RC-532 $75.00 Total: $872.47 + Shipping (and sales tax for CA and NJ residents) You could also jump up to a 3500+ from the 3200+ and that'd add around $70 to the current total (before shipping and applicable taxes) Even adding in the OS, Monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers (and maybe a soundcard if you're a real audiophile), I would think you'd still be able to not run over $1200, assuming you're going with a CRT monitor over an LCD one.
Thanks Big B .I guess I wasnt as clear as needed . I already have everything But a decent tower . Where and how much can I get the OS ? Which one does everyone recomend overall ?I would also need a new case also <EDIT I am non post reading retard.>. I am an auidophile somewhat . What is reccomended for a sound card ?
Assuming you're using Windows XP, the Home Edition starts off around $100, and depending on if it's the full or upgrade, you're looking at $150 or so for the Professional Edition. On the low-end, the Chaintech AV-10 has gotten a lot of raves from audiogeeks, and it can be had for under $30 online. For the high-end stuff, Creative's X-Fi lineup runs from around $100 to $200, depending on the model. M-Audio (formerly midiland) also produces some pretty good cards, but most of their cards seem directed at audioproduction rather than straight listening. Prices start around $80-100 for their low-end, non-pro cards and go up from there.
I made a couple changes . case Lian Li PC-61 USB Black Computer Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811112025 sound card Creative 70SB035000017 Sound Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16829102187 OS Microsoft Windows XP Professional X64 Edition 1 package - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16837102034 Processor AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103514 Is all this stuff compatible ? Is there a reason you rec the samsung HD ? I really appreciate all this help .
Actually, unless you must have it or actually are using 64-bit programming, don't get Windows XP64. Driver development is still in the works, and most games (except for FarCry and a few others) aren't made or have a patch to take advantage of the 64-bit platform. You DO NOT need a 64-bit OS to run an Athlon64 since it's fully 32-bit compatible as well. I'd recommend going with XP Pro instead of the 64-bit one. Samsung is a great company with cheaper hard drives. For the money, they're probably the best bet, although Western Digital and Seagate are also excellent. More space for the same money. While the sound card does come with a great package, if all you want is the card, then this is the same thing. On the flip-side the package is a pretty good deal with the bundled games since most cost at least $20 each alone. Your pick. The 3500+ will work fine, but you might want this one instead. It uses a newer core with a smaller manufacturing process, which leads to less heat and power consumption along with any improvements AMD has made. It's also $4 cheaper. The case won't be a problem.
I dont know if I need such a large HD . I now have a 40 GB and I havent filled it up . .. Will the larger one perform better ? I also want to upgrade my cd/dvd drive to one that had better reviews .this It is only $20 more . But is the Pioneer better in your opinion ? Thank you guys/gals -A
The Samsung is a 7200RPM drive, but I don't know what speed your's is currently. If you don't want something that large, you can find a 7200RPM 80GB between $50-60. I wouldn't recommend going any lower, because you get down to $45 40GB drives, and quite honestly, it's rather silly to not get the 80GB drive given your budget. A 7200RPM drive is currently the fastest ATA spindle speed of common desktop drives (there is the 10,000RPM Western Digital Raptor SATA drives, but these have been targeted at server-class systems, not desktops and are a bit more expensive than desktop drives). Also, as technology improves, the hard drive disk densities have increased, so a 7200RPM drive from 5 years ago is not necessarily comparable to a 7200RPM drive, even with a comparable amount of storage space. Plextor is considered to be basically the best, but Pioneer is also excellent. I happen to use a Pioneer DVD burner myself and like it. I have nothing against Plextor, but I haven't gotten one because the much higher prices of them in the past (we're talking closer to $100 vs $60 for pretty much any other brand). Is Plextor a bad company? No, but they offer a premium design over many other companies (they use metal gears instead of plastic), and therefore, they cost more to make, so Plextor has to ask a higher price to stay in business.
Now I just have to decide whether I want to build it and be my own tech support or not ..... Slighty OT , what is the "best" brand of cd-r-dvd-rw type media and where do I get it ?
Tayo Yuden (or something like it, check CD Freaks's forum for more info on what's good) is supposedly the best, but you'll probably have an easier time finding Verbatim CD-R's. I also use TDK DVD-R's and haven't had problems with them. I've had a lot of problems with Memorex CD-R's in the past few years, so I'd probably avoid them (well, I'd avoid anything from Memorex period)
could I get another reccomendation on the vid card ? they dont seem to have any reviews on that one ....What specs should I look for ? I have commited to do this build ...
Depending on your price range, a GeForce 6600GT runs around $120, give or take. Go up a little and you start having access to the Radeon X800GTO cards which can be had for around $150. For video cards, the key is pixel pipelines. The more the GPU has, the better. It's like more lanes in a highway. Highway A has 8 lanes running at 80mph, while Highway B has 12 lanes running at 55mph. Highway A's maximum transfer rate is 640, while Highway B does 660, despite running traffic 25MPH slower. Up the speed limit and the gap changes. In otherwords, don't go by speed alone. For the graphics memory, 128-bit memory bus width is what you want minimum, but with the X800's getting ahold of a 256-bit bus is pretty easy to get ahold of. The wider the bus, the more data can go through. Again, clockspeed isn't everything. Granted, you don't want something that just putts along, but don't base things on the clock speed alone. Do a little math, and you'll figure out what you want.
