The PC (Personal Computer) is a highly configurable and upgradable gaming platform that, among home systems, sports the widest variety of control methods, largest library of games, and cutting edge graphics and sound capabilities.
My and one of my friends are going to build new computers. Ive been out of the loop for 2 years, and now i need to know what i can build for $1500 to $2000.
A good Gigabyte or Asus Motherboard is what I recommend Intel X38 chipset perhaps. E8500 (now that the price has dropped) or Q9450 if you plan to multi-task 4-8GB of RAM (OCZ or Corsair is good) a good PSU (BFG or Corsair no less than 600W) Radeon 4870 or 4870X2 a good and fast hard drive like a Seagate 7200.11 or Samsung F1 at 1GB A good 24" monitor if you are planning on buying a new monitor. I got one a few months ago and I can't believe I put up with 17" for so long.
for 1500-2000 bucks you can pretty much buy some of the top-of-the-line parts..... my suggestion is to go to newegg.com and just look around, look at the reviews for stuff like graphics cards.... you can very easierly get a SLI setup for that much that your willing to spend.... (SLI is 2 graphics cards) or crossfire for ATIs. I'll try break it down for you in sections here for ya :
CPU : at the moment, intel are current leaders of Athlons, but not a whole lot really.... So long as you get a fairly quick Dual Core CPU you will be fine.... Intel's Core 2s are very fast, and not very expensive these days, if you go with intel's Core 2 Quads (4 cpus) then the prices go up a bit, but not many games really support quad cores or are optimized for them, but games released from next year will definately be more quad core friendly. Athlon64 X2s are really best super value, they run VERY well, and are very cheap, i think you can get like a 3.0GHZ dual core athlon for under 200 bucks....
Motherboards : There are a lot of good motherboards out there right now, and it really depends on what you want to do with your machine, for example are you wanting to go with SLI graphics cards? As a lot of motherboards are cheap if your just going to put 1 graphics in your machine..... Good brands that i'd personally choose, would be either Asus / MSI / or Gigabytes. Important to note what their max RAM the boards can take, and what speed is the FSB is.... When your looking at CPUs try to match the FSB with the same as your mobo as you'll bottleneck the CPU speed...
RAM : doesn't really matter on speeds so much as quantity in my opinion.... just get nothing less then 2GB of memory...
Harddrive : are dirt cheap.... just get what you need i suppose.....
Power Supplies : im not an expert on these, but get ones that are SLI-ready really, and depending on your choice of graphics card(s) will determin how much WATT you'll need.... a GOOd 850WATT for most sli setups i guess....
Audio : most onboard audios are good enough these days but any creative ones will be better..... like the audigys!!
PC CASE : well this is just down to personal preference!!! just make sure its got good cooling, and you have some good fans inside
Graphics Cards : i'd prefer nvidia myself so anything like an 8800GTX or a 9800 will definitely be enough power especially if you have either of those cards in SLI mode
i hope this helps... if you want any more help jus PM me or something and i'll fix up a decent one on newegg for ya.....
"A good Gigabyte or Asus Motherboard is what I recommend Intel X38 chipset perhaps. E8500 (now that the price has dropped) or Q9450 if you plan to multi-task 4-8GB of RAM (OCZ or Corsair is good) a good PSU (BFG or Corsair no less than 600W) Radeon 4870 or 4870X2 a good and fast hard drive like a Seagate 7200.11 or Samsung F1 at 1GB A good 24" monitor if you are planning on buying a new monitor. I got one a few months ago and I can't believe I put up with 17" for so long. "
"A good Gigabyte or Asus Motherboard is what I recommend Intel X38 chipset perhaps. E8500 (now that the price has dropped) or Q9450 if you plan to multi-task 4-8GB of RAM (OCZ or Corsair is good) a good PSU (BFG or Corsair no less than 600W) Radeon 4870 or 4870X2 a good and fast hard drive like a Seagate 7200.11 or Samsung F1 at 1GB A good 24" monitor if you are planning on buying a new monitor. I got one a few months ago and I can't believe I put up with 17" for so long. "
Go with this setup as the 4870 is definitely the best card out there IMO and it's better if you wait for the 4870X2
4GB is fine I wouldn't go with 8 as it would be a waste and the 8500 and 9450 are GREAT processors and great overclockers but if you do plan to OC get a good aftermarket cooler
64-bit is fine but expect more success with present and future software rather then past. You might also want to wait for Intel's new microarchitecture, it's been getting rave previews and is seen as a worthy successor to Core 2 Duo.
"basically all you need today is minimum 500GB hard drive (still fairly small), 4GB of ram (minimum), and a monitor over 20''
anything else is preference "
No no no. I'm sorry. 2gb of RAM will still do just fine. Get whatever monitor you so desire....and 500gb of hard drive space? I'd say 250 if you're casual and 500gb if you're hard core.
"basically all you need today is minimum 500GB hard drive (still fairly small), 4GB of ram (minimum), and a monitor over 20''
anything else is preference "
No no no. I'm sorry. 2gb of RAM will still do just fine. Get whatever monitor you so desire....and 500gb of hard drive space? I'd say 250 if you're casual and 500gb if you're hard core. "
if hes willing to spend over 1500 on a new PC hes not gonna want to buy a new one or upgrade it for a while. 4GB will set him up for the future and its not that much more money. i have 2GB right now and i regret i didnt get more when i was building it. now i have to go and get more and add it in instead of having it there when i started
"basically all you need today is minimum 500GB hard drive (still fairly small), 4GB of ram (minimum), and a monitor over 20''
anything else is preference "
No no no. I'm sorry. 2gb of RAM will still do just fine. Get whatever monitor you so desire....and 500gb of hard drive space? I'd say 250 if you're casual and 500gb if you're hard core. "
He has 2000 dollars to spend if he doesnt get 4gbs hes stupid, if he gets Vista then 4gbs is a must for smooth game play. Nobility said:
"64-bit is fine but expect more success with present and future software rather then past. You might also want to wait for Intel's new microarchitecture, it's been getting rave previews and is seen as a worthy successor to Core 2 Duo.
its probably going to be 30% quicker, as weve only seen Intel benchmarks for them which will be inflated. Intel may not even release it this year if AMD doesn't put anything good out, and anyways they will only be releasing the high end CPU's alongside the high end Mobo's.
"basically all you need today is minimum 500GB hard drive (still fairly small), 4GB of ram (minimum), and a monitor over 20''
anything else is preference "
No no no. I'm sorry. 2gb of RAM will still do just fine. Get whatever monitor you so desire....and 500gb of hard drive space? I'd say 250 if you're casual and 500gb if you're hard core. "
if hes willing to spend over 1500 on a new PC hes not gonna want to buy a new one or upgrade it for a while. 4GB will set him up for the future and its not that much more money. i have 2GB right now and i regret i didnt get more when i was building it. now i have to go and get more and add it in instead of having it there when i started "
Why do you regret it? I mean i've had 4,3, and now 2. The other 2 sticks dying....as far as i'm concerned i haven't had any problems with 2 and more with 3 and 4.
I'd wait for the 4870x2. Comes out August 12. I'm counting down the days. :) It's gunna be a SWEET card, I expect heavy domination of Crysis, Rage, and Doom 4. :)
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