hey im building a new pc...whats the best stuff to get--(for everything)? I will be gaming on it, and I figure if it can handle games, it can handle anything else. Mainly video cards...is ATI or nvidia better? Ive heard most games are mad compatible with nvidia and ati has issues. THis also has to be cheap, the whole thing has to be under a thousand and i have to get a flatscreen. Thanks guys!
Athlon CPUs are considered better for gaming. get a gig of ram too, that will help. ATi gfx is prob the best and if u want cheap (ish) but really good maybe look for a Radeon 9800 pro, very decent card, can prob get one for about £130 now too
For ram, Geil, Mushkin are cheap and good. Great prices too http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-219&depa=0 Pick up two of those and you'll be set! Good luck with your pc!
By flat screen do you mean an LCD or can a flat CRT monitor work too. LCD's are lighter, but good ones tend to run quite a bit. CRT's are heavier, but you can get at solid 17" flat one for around $150 or less. Well, some of the best stuff includes a GeForce 6800 Ultra, but that card alone runs $500 or so. So stuff like that, I won't recommend, but gimme a little bit and lemme throw together a few things.
Allright, here's the whole package, and all prices are from Newegg. Now, I assume you want to stick with Windows and will need the OS too, so that's included. If it's not, then we can go back and tweak around with it. Motherboard: Asus A7N8X-E Dlx --- $84.00 CPU: Athlon XP 2600+ OEM (CPU only) --- $85.00 RAM: Geil Ultra Value series 512MB (2x256) --- $98.00 CPU Heatsink : Thermaltake Volcano 12 Extreme --- $32.99 Video card: Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB --- $197.00 Hard Drive: Western Digital 80GB, 8MB cache --- $63.50 Optical Drive: Samsung 52x CD-RW/16x DVD-ROM --- $45.25 Keyboard/Mouse: Microsoft black keyboard/optical mouse --- $29.00 Monitor: KDS XF-7I XtremeFlat 17" flat CRT monitor --- $119.00 Case: Chenming CMUI-601AEB-W black case Power Supply: Antec True 430 power supply --- $69.99 OS: Windows XP Home SP1a --- $90.00 Total: $969.23 This doesn't include shipping, which I know the case and monitor have the biggest fees on them.
If you want the best, it's gonna' cost you, but here's what it might look like: (prices from newegg unless specified) Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum $145 CPU: Athlon64 3500+ $425 RAM: OCZ 2x512mb PC3200EB $272 (ncix.com) Video: EVGA 6800GT $400 HDD: 2xRaptor 74gb $155 x 2 Optical Drive: Samsung 52x CD-RW/16x DVD-ROM --- $45.25 Keyboard/mouse: Logitech cordless mx duo $69 Monitor: Mitsubishi DP930SB-Black 19'' $299 Mitsubishi DP2070SB-Black 22'' $669 Case: Antec PlusView 1000AMG $66.50 Power Supply: Antec TrueContol 550W $103.50 OS: Windows XP Home SP1a --- $90.00 Total w/ 22'' monitor $2600 Plus tax and shipping That's not the best, but it's pretty damn close to it. Maybe swap the 3500+ for the FX-53 and add $500-$600 to the price. And Swap the 6800GT for the Ultra for $200 more (if you can find one)
I mean LCD as in flat panel, not the CRT monitors..the reason I have to have one is because I have no room for anything else...otherwise I would get like a 19 inch or something. I have looked at some new egg stuff, though not recently-I guess I better check them out. Has anyone here ordered anything from cyberpowerinc.com ? They look like they have some good deals, and since I have absolutely nothing to start with, its been recommended that I do a package deal, (and everything on this site is customizable.) Thanks for the combo ideas...I will check those out.
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller6897.html I dunno. They've got a rather low score with Reseller Ratings, and I honestly wouldn't buy anything from a company with anything lower than an 8/10. While the combos do look good, they use rather crappy video cards as the base, but otherwise they look alright. I haven't bought from them, but I've heard outstanding things about Monarch Computers. They can do custom systems for you, and have over a 9.5/10 with Reseller Ratings. I've been pleased with Newegg, so I usually buy there, but I'd look at Monarch if I were looking for a prebuilt system simply based on their ratings. Even if you do get a prebuilt rig, you're looking at around $350 for a 17" LCD, and those are on the low-end. $1,000 for a gaming rig with an LCD included is going to be pretty tough to do. If you're going to go that route, don't get anything less than 512MB of DDR. Don't skimp on the power supply either. Get either Antec or Sparkle/Fortron and at the very least have a 350W. Look in to getting a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive. Unless you absolutely have to burn DVD's, this will do all you should need. Samsung is inexpensive, but of high quality. Stay away from ultra cheap stuff like Optorite drives.
Get yourself a eMachine. If you don't already know what is good, then you are either a n00b or have not been in the hardware scene a while. You can get a AMDXP 3000+, 160GB Hardrive, 512MB ram, DVD burner, and an integrated Geforce 4 MX. Here With the Geforce 4 MX you should be able to play games right out of box. Unlike build your own which will give you some trouble I garantee it, you need to be well adverse in PC troubleshooting to solve issues (big or small) that come about. With e-machines just plug it in and your done. Note: LCD are not cheap, they run 250 to over 400 depending on size and quality. A high end videocard will run 300 to 500 dollars alone. The rest is up to you. With videocards the price usualy reflects performance. The emacine however uses a micro ATX nforce2 based motherboard which are still very good to this day.
