I'm building a gaming box and need advice.

D

davisphive

Geek Trainee
Ok I have located all or most of the parts I need to make this a reality.

The games I am interested in are Half-Life2 CounterStrike and Battlefield2
and probably the BF2 Special Forces expansion when it comes out. Maybe Doom eventually. Now I don't need to play all these games at their highest quality, just nice and pretty with no lag, as opposed to jaw droppingly beautiful.

Here is the part break down minus the case, monitor and keyboard.

Also my budget is between $800.00 and $1,000.00 (including shipping for the parts)
1.5 GB of DDR PC3200 RAM
MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4-4X ATX AMD Motherboard
Model #: K8N Neo4-F

ATI 100-435513 Radeon X800XL 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3000BPBOX

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST3120026A 120GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive

NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - OEM

I don't really know much about this sort of thing...a friend suggested I get a Nvidia GT6800 but the core clock is lower than the Radeon while the memory clock is a little higher. What is the big difference?
Also does it matter which company I buy the video card from?

Help a newbie out please :D
 
It looks pretty good to me, except for a couple of things. First of all, I dont know if you've chosen a brand of RAM. If you're looking for some high performance stuff, I would suggest something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145522 or if you want Ram that's cheap, but will last you a long time, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141437
Secondly, I would suggest that you go with a serial ATA harddrive. You chose a good brand, but look for a serial ATA version. It should only be a couple bucks more.
Also, when considering a Chassis, make sure that there's going to be good airflow. That doesn't mean there is a bunch of fans, but at least good flow in the front and back.
 
Yeah that's some good RAM also think about a decent PSU, there are a couple of threads on here which will help you chose one, there's this one and this one
Look for something with 450W power that is efficient and can put out it's rated wattage at higher temps etc...
 
Thanks for the help all :D

Well here is my case (Chassis means case...right? ) if you know anything about that, I thought that it was a trivial component. I always thought more fans = better air flow :x: doh!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144076

Personally I think it was LEDs that attracted me to this one :P...and the price it also comes with a power supply of its own but I believe it is 420W
What about the card...ATI X800XL or Nvidia 6800GT is smart shader all that and a box of potatoe chips?
 
davisphive said:
What about the card...ATI X800XL or Nvidia 6800GT is smart shader all that and a box of potatoe chips?
Click to expand...
I don't know what you mean by that but the X800XL looks good.
Also don't use the PSU from that case, get yourself another one as generic case PSU's are dreadful...
 
Matt555 said:
I don't know what you mean by that but the X800XL looks good.
Also don't use the PSU from that case, get yourself another one as generic case PSU's are dreadful...
Click to expand...

Opps I mistyped. I meant that the 6800GT has something called Shader Model 3.0

Radeon one has SMARTSHADER HD and VIDEOSHADER HD, I'm just copying this stuff from the site. Here are the linkies.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102543

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814170089

Also...silly question. Is there such a thing as TOO powerful a power supply? Do I have to make sure that my parts can handle all the power?:ohah:
 
I don't think there is such a thing as Too Powerful a PSU, having all those AMPS doesn't mean they are constantly being passed through the components, it means if you've got a 20A rated rail and you have 2 conponents using 2A and 4A then you will have 14A left to use with other things if they need it (please someone correct me if I'm wrong...This is just what I believe to happen)
 
i have the x800 XL, and on BF2 with all settings max (1024-786, cant find 180-1024))i get anywhere from 50-100 FPS(BF2 has FPS limiter at 100), but my CPU is 400MHz faster, so i dont know how much of a difference that would make. You also might want to check out the x800 GTO2, you can mod it to a x850 if you wish. Here are two links.
HIS XL (it has factory OverClock) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161143

GTO2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102596
the OEM is only $200. (oem meaning non retail version, no retail box.)


Also some more ram choice-these have almost the same CAS as the XMS but far cheaper, Crucial Ballistix
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146546 this times 3 for the 1.5GBs you want and it costs about the same as 1GB of the XMS (XMS 2-2-2-5, Crucial 2-2-2-6, these are the difference between the two memorys, the XMS has slightly faster timings.)
 
davisphive said:
Thanks for the help all :D

Well here is my case (Chassis means case...right? ) if you know anything about that, I thought that it was a trivial component. I always thought more fans = better air flow :x: doh!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144076

Personally I think it was LEDs that attracted me to this one :P...and the price it also comes with a power supply of its own but I believe it is 420W
What about the card...ATI X800XL or Nvidia 6800GT is smart shader all that and a box of potatoe chips?
Click to expand...
That chassis (yes, case) looks alright to me. Not the greatest, but not too bad for the money. If you dont need something that looks "pretty" then let me know and I'll refer you to a couple of plain chassis that are a bit less expensive and have excellent airflow. As far as the 6800 vs x800 goes, out of the two, I've only used the 6800gt. I've never had any problems with it and thus far haven't really been challenged by any games (that is, I've played all of my games on the highest and still perfectly playable). On the other hand, I've heard a lot of happy X800 customers. Whichever you choose, I think you will be very satisfied.
*edit* By the way, as far as the PSU goes, I strongly suggest that you dont go with the one that comes with the chassis. I'd buy a psu from a trusted company (thermaltake, Enermax, etc) and when buying, remember, overkill is better than not having enough. Best of luck!
 
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