| New gaming rig | |
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Kenyon - Lord of the Dance  |
Hey everyone!
I'm putting together a new gaming rig. I know there are some people in the Academy who are PC gaming enthusiasts. I'd love for you to share your experiences and suggestions with me to improve my current set-up. My budget is about 1800 euros (2440 dollars), just remember the monitor has to be included in that. My current plan: Antec Sonata II (ATX) case. Nice air flow, good design, a fan favorite. Asus P5W DH Deluxe S775 or possibly a P5B Deluxe. Asus is reliable and I'm looking for a good and stable motherboard with features all gamers like. Overclocking is not a requirement but still nice. I believe both these have easy firmware flash accessability in the BIOS menu itself. Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHZ: Just thought I'd make myself a bit future-proof by going for a Core2Duo system, and the 2.4 is a pretty nice speed for it, I think. Crucial 2GB DDR2 667Mhz, or perhaps 4GB. Anyone have any experience with this much RAM? Seagate 500GB 7200 Sata2 16MB - Seagate's reliable, 500 gigs is a lot of space and the 16MB cache should be quite good. Asus VGA 8800GTS 320Mb PCIE. A high-end DirectX10 card. I didn't want to go for the 640MB version because reviews show the framerates aren't all that different for most games and it's considerably more expensive. The 8800GTX seemed like overkill because I don't game in extreme high resolution. Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer: I work with audio applications and also prefer great sound for my games. I'm not sure if the Fatal1ty edition had any extra advantadge. Just a standard Samsung LightScribe DVD rewriter. Samsung SM 206BW monitor. Widescreen, 20", 2ms response time, great contrast ratio and a nice native resolution. Logitech Deluxe keyboard and the LX3 optical mouse. I dislike wireless solutions and don't really need them anyway. Logitech Z-4E 2.1 speakers: as I said, I like good sound and these high-end Logitech speakers seem to match the card. Any suggestions for change, or additions? Or great alternatives? Thanks in advance! This post was edited by Kenyon on May 16 2007 09:33pm. |
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Kenyon - Lord of the Dance 
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First of all, thanks guys!
Quote: The system seems ok, I would go with a primary HD, but thats just me and my paranoia of drive corruption. If you do a lot of application work, then 4gb of RAM is what you probably want.
I do online backups. I think I'll settle for a 1x2gb chip at an 800mhz speed, so I can easily update it later on. Quote: You will need some upgrades when you draw closer to 2008 if your going to play really high end games like....err...Bioshock?
Cool, but such as? The 8800GTS outperforms a 7950GX2 and is currently the fastest card on the market after the 8800GTX (and the Ultra version, which is just a glorified overlock). Are you referring to the processor, perhaps? Quote: As long as you get a nice PSU (600-650W), everything will come together and make a decent computer.
Good call! As for the Darthmaul: thanks for those invaluable comments. Quote: I have the 7900GS, and I'm VERY pleased with it. I don't know if you went for the 8800 for a special reason, or just because you want to be set for the future, but I'd go with an 7900. It's a lot cheaper, and can handle anything on the market.
Well, the 8800 doesn't just support DirectX10. It's also a *lot* faster than the 7900 series, so that's why I was thinking of it. Quote: Own preferences as well, I use a 5.1 system cause I like good sound when I watch movies or play games, but the one you selected will do the job just fine as well.
I have a home cinema set for playing my movies on, so because I don't want to put *10* speakers in my living room...  |
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Augusta_Mintaka - Student 
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The system seems ok, I would go with a primary HD, but thats just me and my paranoia of drive corruption. If you do a lot of application work, then 4gb of RAM is what you probably want. You will need some upgrades when you draw closer to 2008 if your going to play really high end games like....err...Bioshock? I'm not up to date on games, so I'm oblivious on titles. As long as you get a nice PSU (600-650W), everything will come together and make a decent computer.
See if you can grab some parts cheap, maybe you can upgrade a tad more. I was able to save money on a CPU when I built this computer, so it went towards a better graphics card (7900gtx instead of ATI 16...something). _______________ "Deos fortioribus adesse." This comment was edited by Augusta_Mintaka on May 17 2007 09:28pm. |
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NotSoLittleCaesar - Student 
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Quote:
Quote:
I can't think of anything that would require 4GB of RAM. 2GB is more than enough to run any game.
not long ago video card was probably the most important part, but now RAM and hard drive are receiving much more stress than before. so id say less than 2GB ram is not recommended. how much more than 2GB you could buy probably depends on how much money you can spare for buying RAM and when are you going to buy a new rig. ofcourse you can buy some more RAM later... so thats not too important isnt it... also i dont recommend investing money in any kind of PC speakers. if you have your old non-pc sound system its much better than ANY pc speakers or pc sound system. well... most of times... just 2 cents. 512 ram FTW! _______________ Quote: I mostly agree oh Lord of the squeezy mop
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SaZ - Student 
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Quote: I can't think of anything that would require 4GB of RAM. 2GB is more than enough to run any game.
not long ago video card was probably the most important part, but now RAM and hard drive are receiving much more stress than before. so id say less than 2GB ram is not recommended. how much more than 2GB you could buy probably depends on how much money you can spare for buying RAM and when are you going to buy a new rig. ofcourse you can buy some more RAM later... so thats not too important isnt it... also i dont recommend investing money in any kind of PC speakers. if you have your old non-pc sound system its much better than ANY pc speakers or pc sound system. well... most of times... just 2 cents. _______________ playing jk3 since 30th of january (2005), member since 1st of february. [Unofficial Master to Vision and Z�diac ] If you can make a fool of yourself infront of 300 people you can do anything - Jaiko D'kana This comment was edited by SaZ on May 17 2007 06:00pm. |
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D@RtHM@UL - Student 
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Don't know too much about hardware, but recently got myself a new computer as well so just stating what I know.
Quote: Antec Sonata II (ATX) case. Nice air flow, good design, a fan favorite. Cases are really based on preference, just make sure you have good cooling and you'll be fine. Asus P5W DH Deluxe S775 or possibly a P5B Deluxe. Asus is reliable and I'm looking for a good and stable motherboard with features all gamers like. Overclocking is not a requirement but still nice. I believe both these have easy firmware flash accessability in the BIOS menu itself. I have the P5B Deluxe and it's awesome. It's cheaper than the P5W and is just as good. Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHZ: Just thought I'd make myself a bit future-proof by going for a Core2Duo system, and the 2.4 is a pretty nice speed for it, I think. Go for it. I have it as well and it's great. Crucial 2GB DDR2 667Mhz, or perhaps 4GB. Anyone have any experience with this much RAM? I can't think of anything that would require 4GB of RAM. 2GB is more than enough to run any game. Only reason I can think of for wanting that much RAM, is if you use professional graphic programs a lot. Not familiar with Crucial, as I stick with Corsair, no can't help you there. Seagate 500GB 7200 Sata2 16MB - Seagate's reliable, 500 gigs is a lot of space and the 16MB cache should be quite good. [b]I have the same, except mine is 320GB. Works like a charm, and Seagate is like you said very reliable. Wouldn't change it. Asus VGA 8800GTS 320Mb PCIE. A high-end DirectX10 card. I didn't want to go for the 640MB version because reviews show the framerates aren't all that different for most games and it's considerably more expensive. The 8800GTX seemed like overkill because I don't game in extreme high resolution. I have the 7900GS, and I'm VERY pleased with it. I don't know if you went for the 8800 for a special reason, or just because you want to be set for the future, but I'd go with an 7900. It's a lot cheaper, and can handle anything on the market. Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer: I work with audio applications and also prefer great sound for my games. I'm not sure if the Fatal1ty edition had any extra advantadge. Don't have a soundcard, movies/games and the audio work I do works perfectly with just the onboard soundcard. Just a standard Samsung LightScribe DVD rewriter. [b]Whatever you want, I have a cheap one as well, no need to put a lot of money into this. Samsung SM 206BW monitor. Widescreen, 20", 2ms response time, great contrast ratio and a nice native resolution. Don't know this monitor, but I know Samsung monitors in general are pretty reliable. 20" widescreen is also very nice to have. Logitech Deluxe keyboard and the LX3 optical mouse. I dislike wireless solutions and don't really need them anyway. Own preferences really, both my mouse and keyboard are wired. I don't care much for these. Logitech Z-4E 2.1 speakers: as I said, I like good sound and these high-end Logitech speakers seem to match the card. Own preferences as well, I use a 5.1 system cause I like good sound when I watch movies or play games, but the one you selected will do the job just fine as well. Any suggestions for change, or additions? Or great alternatives? Thanks in advance! Regarding your case, with this setup, I'd recommend atleast a 600 Watt power supply. On another note, where are you planning to buy your parts? I presume you'll put it together yourself? This comment was edited by D@RtHM@UL on May 17 2007 04:38pm. |
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