[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
You better increase your strength in each lift by at least 20 pounds each session or I’m gonna fly over and kick your ass for wasting your time playing computer games.
That being said, I need to get myself a new rig, too. Seeing as how I don’t really need that much extra size on me and all, I got the time now, ya know 
Good luck with your new pc.[/quote]
Haha, Lifting will always be on top of my food chain brother, computer is somewhere in the middle.
[quote]buffalokilla wrote:
General comments:
-Not sure why you’ve limited your processors to one choice at $270 and one at $140. For gaming, I’d get an 8xxx series processor, a Thermalright 120 class heatsink, and overclock the shit out of it. Quad doesn’t help much currently, a very fast dual will perform better. [/quote]
First of all thanks for the advice. Second, could you give me a link to one of these pricessors, I had a hard time finding one doing a quick google. ALso the motherboard, since I purchased it and it’s being shipped in the mail already, only accepts up to 1066MHZ FSB, LGA 775 socket, and Quad-core / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium.
[quote]-Power supply is overkill. A good 750Watt will more than do you fine.
[/quote]
I was thinking in the terms of upgrading in the future, if I had a good motherboard and a strong power supply, future upgrades may be less expensive, just a thaught.
I work at best buy so I’ll definately be able to pick up a good mouse and keyboard with employees discount as well as a monitor and speakers.
Also I can’t figure out what kind of soundcard my motherboard supports. Shit lol.
I built my computer almost two years ago:
Intel E6600 Core2Duo 2.4 Ghz
Thermaltake 750 Watt PS
1x2 GB Corsair Dominator @ 1066 FSB
EVGA NF68 Motherboard
EVGA GeForce 8800GTS
Western Digital 500 GB Harddrive
Creative Soundcard (forgot which one. It was more towards the low to mid end but had 7.1 channel capability)
And some other crap.
If you want a real nice gaming PC, you can always just get two hard drives. One at 10,000 RPM (like 40 GB) like a WD Raptor and another at 7200 RPM (any size). You can install your OS and your games onto the 10,000 RPM one and your music, pictures, and other bulk files into the 7,200. This would allow for faster performance when it comes to your gaming although probably nothing extremely noticable.
Also, I’d recommend getting an aluminum case. Aluminum actually is better at keeping your system cool than steel. Plus, it’s a lot lighter. I got an all black aluminum Lian-Li case. I like Lian-Li a lot because it’s plain but high quality. I’m not really into those fancy cases with the tons of lights.
Ditch the fan that comes with the processor too. It’s crappy, especially if you’r going to use demanding programs (eg. games). I bought a heatsink & fan combo that replaced the cheap plastic one you get with the processor. Keeps my processor about 10-15 C cooler than normal.
[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
Also I can’t figure out what kind of soundcard my motherboard supports. Shit lol.[/quote]
Just spitballing here:
It’ll support any soundcard. Just get the soundblaster x-fi gamer card. If you don’t have a decent headset, try the Audio-Technica A700 or A900.
The only good mouse for gamers is the mx518 (the old version that maxes @ 1600dpi). That’s in the bible somewhere, I think.
Oh, and get a smaller psu and a different brand of ram. I’ve had to RMA ballistix on more than one occasion. No faith in crucial.
And bump the video card up if you can afford it. I’d personally get the nvidia 260 or 280, but I’ve also had bad experiences with ati cards in the past.
[quote]Travacolypse wrote:
austin_bicep wrote:
Also I can’t figure out what kind of soundcard my motherboard supports. Shit lol.
Just spitballing here:
It’ll support any soundcard. Just get the soundblaster x-fi gamer card. If you don’t have a decent headset, try the Audio-Technica A700 or A900.
The only good mouse for gamers is the mx518 (the old version that maxes @ 1600dpi). That’s in the bible somewhere, I think.
Oh, and get a smaller psu and a different brand of ram. I’ve had to RMA ballistix on more than one occasion. No faith in crucial.
And bump the video card up if you can afford it. I’d personally get the nvidia 260 or 280, but I’ve also had bad experiences with ati cards in the past.[/quote]
Second Nvidia > Ati anyday.
I personally think quad core over dual core, because a LOT more games are being created that allow you to efficiently use a quad core (If you’ve heard of Supreme Commander, in that game the difference is insane between dual and quad)
[quote]Travacolypse wrote:
austin_bicep wrote:
Also I can’t figure out what kind of soundcard my motherboard supports. Shit lol.
Just spitballing here:
It’ll support any soundcard. Just get the soundblaster x-fi gamer card. If you don’t have a decent headset, try the Audio-Technica A700 or A900.
The only good mouse for gamers is the mx518 (the old version that maxes @ 1600dpi). That’s in the bible somewhere, I think.
Oh, and get a smaller psu and a different brand of ram. I’ve had to RMA ballistix on more than one occasion. No faith in crucial.
And bump the video card up if you can afford it. I’d personally get the nvidia 260 or 280, but I’ve also had bad experiences with ati cards in the past.[/quote]
Have to disagree with you on the mouse. I’ve got a G5 and I think it’s pretty good. You can easily change DPI (max 2000, although no game really requires that high of a DPI). Plus, it comes with cool weights to adjust the weight of the mouse to your liking.
Oh, and Corsair RAM FTW (sorry, geekspeak).
[quote]pzehtoeur wrote:
Have to disagree with you on the mouse. I’ve got a G5 and I think it’s pretty good. You can easily change DPI (max 2000, although no game really requires that high of a DPI). Plus, it comes with cool weights to adjust the weight of the mouse to your liking.
Oh, and Corsair RAM FTW (sorry, geekspeak).[/quote]
Laser tracking skips for super-low sensitivity gamers. Optical is still king. I play CS at 1.0ig sens @ 1600dpi, five on windows slider. I’d make that G5 explode in less than a week.
(not related to gaming but…) I’ve had a helluva time in the past getting decent performance out of ATI drivers under linux in the past, has it gotten any better and how is nvidia’s support?
I’m not sure I’ll bother will dual boot this time around, or if I’ll worry about getting good video but it’s an option I like to have so I can do work related stuff. I need full support of the current OpenGL libraries at a decent framerate, something I couldn’t get out of my radeon9800 pro until I spent a lot of time screwing around with the drivers.
No, according to AnandTech (my fave tech site), the ATI 4870 1 GB is “the card to get.” I’ll take their word for it. Yes, ATI drivers are a lot better these days but I don’t know about Linux support. Personally, while I do care about gaming performance, I am very concerned with video capabilities (DVR, hardware accelerated H.264 encode/decode).
No point in going quad core. Trust me. Up the RAM and make sure to have a nice S-IPS LCD panel. Personally, I would not go higher than one with 1680x1050 resolution because any higher and you risk losing FPS in newer games that push your GPU. If you must, go with 1920x1200 resolution, fine, but no higher. A good LCD panel will make or break your gaming experience if you ask me. Then again, I’m a panel snob.
That’s a key point many people do not consider. Notice I did not give screen sizes but instead resolutions…20" wide screen used to be the standard for 1680x1050 but right now there are larger sizes that use that res, which means the pixels are larger and the image is easier on the eyes.
And I love my Logitech G7. I don’t know what you’re smoking man…this mouse is sick on a Ratpadz mousepad. Mushkin ram still good? G.Skill and Geil I believe are.
Have some cash to burn? Go with SSD disks (at least two) and run them in RAID 0 
(I can hear debra purring!)
[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
First of all thanks for the advice. Second, could you give me a link to one of these pricessors, I had a hard time finding one doing a quick google. ALso the motherboard, since I purchased it and it’s being shipped in the mail already, only accepts up to 1066MHZ FSB, LGA 775 socket, and Quad-core / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium.
[/quote]
Oh, well, there’s your problem then The 8xxx series is 1333Mhz. Stick with the e7300.
Unless you want to do multiple video cards, you won’t need more than 750. That’s probably even a bit overkill for your system. Check this calculator hosted by Corsair to see how much you’ll need. They recommend a little over 500Watts for your current setup.
http://www.corsairmemory.com/psufinder/default.aspx
Have a good one,
Dan
Here’s a gaming PC guide from ArsTechnica
ArsTechnica has a couple of newer buying guides too, I think they have their Budget box/Hot Rod/God box article for September.
ArsTechnica is the other great computing site. I have not checked out their buying guides in a while. Good call.
I built an Athlon 1.2 Ghz machine that STILL runs real peppy. I love it. Have not turned it on since I got my laptop last March, but it was so fast and only has like 768 mb ram and runs XP Pro. God, I abused that shit outta that thing and it treated me well.
I wouldn’t mind building ONE more PC gaming rig, strictly for gaming and dual booting with Linux/Unix…and to do webserver / database stuff. I might just do it but want to keep it super cheap - under $700
Here’s what I finally went with for just under $850:
-BFG GeForce 9800GT OC+ 635MHZ 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out DIRECTX10 Video Card $99
-Gigabyte GA-EP45T-DS3R ATX LGA775 P45 DDR3OC 2PCI-E CrossFireX SATA RAID Sound GLAN 1394 M IR-$26 $145
-Corsair TX650W 650W ATX 12V 52A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan $80
-Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB Hard Drive OEM 3YR MFR Warranty $100
-Corsair XMS3TW3X4G1333C9 4GB DDR3 2X2GB DDR3-1333 CL 9-9-9-24 Dual Channel Memory Kit $234
-Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail $180
I could’ve saved a few dolars if I stayed with DDR2.
SLI cards is pure nonsense as is 300fps.
More then 2 GB is also of no use in most systems, simply because the OP cannot use it.
But since RAM is dirt cheap now, it still might make sense to buy more.
If you know what resolution you’ll play your games, it also helps to find the right card. A small monitor means a small resolution and nobody needs a monster card at 1024x768, for instance.
This thread is really tempting me to completely upgrade my pc… Brings me back to my nerdy high school days.
[quote]Schwarzfahrer wrote:
SLI cards is pure nonsense as is 300fps.
More then 2 GB is also of no use in most systems, simply because the OP cannot use it.
But since RAM is dirt cheap now, it still might make sense to buy more.
If you know what resolution you’ll play your games, it also helps to find the right card. A small monitor means a small resolution and nobody needs a monster card at 1024x768, for instance.
[/quote]
I plan on outputting to my plasma
I played far cry like that and it was pretty awesome.
[quote]debraD wrote:
Schwarzfahrer wrote:
SLI cards is pure nonsense as is 300fps.
More then 2 GB is also of no use in most systems, simply because the OP cannot use it.
But since RAM is dirt cheap now, it still might make sense to buy more.
If you know what resolution you’ll play your games, it also helps to find the right card. A small monitor means a small resolution and nobody needs a monster card at 1024x768, for instance.
I plan on outputting to my plasma
I played far cry like that and it was pretty awesome.
[/quote]
I have a 32 inch Vizio plamsa hooked up to mine
and it works wonderfully