[Falcker]

Hi Im looking for some advise as to what will get me the best bang for my buck, as stated i'm building a tower with a budget of about 1600-1700$. I'm not incredibly knowledgeable about computers but i do have a general understanding and have made my own before.

I'm a hardcore gamer and thats what i wanna keep in mind when building this machine, current games that i am playing include WoW, TF2, UT3 and would like to finish crysis without having my computer break its back as well.

So if your wanna help build my dream machine give me your suggestions, any advice will be great but if a general description can be given with the reason why the piece of equipment is the right choice i'd love you for it!

-Cheers and thanks in advance

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Welcome to GeeksToGo,

Gaming computers are fun to build and are powerful. I have a couple of questions for you before I can give you some suggestions:

1. Would you like to go with an Intel or AMD processor? If you're not sure, do some simple research for what you're going to be doing with your computer. Intel's are more expensive and more popular, AMD's are cheaper and still very good.

2. Are you looking to get a monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc?

[Richiiee]

Welcome to GeeksToGo,

Gaming computers are fun to build and are powerful. I have a couple of questions for you before I can give you some suggestions:

1. Would you like to go with an Intel or AMD processor? If you're not sure, do some simple research for what you're going to be doing with your computer. Intel's are more expensive and more popular, AMD's are cheaper and still very good.

2. Are you looking to get a monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc?

[Falcker]

Welcome to GeeksToGo,

Gaming computers are fun to build and are powerful. I have a couple of questions for you before I can give you some suggestions:

1. Would you like to go with an Intel or AMD processor? If you're not sure, do some simple research for what you're going to be doing with your computer. Intel's are more expensive and more popular, AMD's are cheaper and still very good.

2. Are you looking to get a monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc?

Hi Richiiee

I would like to go with intel, and i'm all set on monitor keyboard and mouse thx.

[Richiiee]

Okay, so price doesn't seem to be a factor in this then, because $1700 is plenty. You probably won't end up spending much more than $1000 for a top-notch gaming computer. My recommendations:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850
Motherboard: DFI LP LT P35 T2R
Hard Drive: 500GB Seagate Barracuda
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
PSU: APEVIA ATX-AS520W-BK ATX 520W Power Supply

I'll do a bit of thinking and recommend the best possible card I can in a couple hours.

[james_8970]

If you are a novice user I highly recommend you sway away from any DFI boards. If you don't plan on overclocking there is no point on purchasing a DFI board altogether as you are paying for features that you'll never use.
APEVIA is not a very good PSU manufacturer, especially not for a $1600 build.

Falcker, do you even plan on overclocking?


Case - 85$
OS - 100$
Burner - 31$
Memory - 76$ (before rebate)
Hard drive - 130$
Video card - 250$ (before rebate)
PSU - 120$ (this is an amazing price right now!)
The motherboard and CPU will vary depending on what you want to do, if you have no intentions on overclocking I recommend the following.
Motherboard - 90$
CPU - 270$

What resolution does you monitor run at? If it's higher it would be beneficial to get some better hardware. If you really wanted to spend more money you could purchase a 9800GTX instead of the 8800GTS. Aside from that I don't see there being a need to change much unless you plan on overclocking (I'd suggest a quad core CPU and a different motherboard).
James

Edited by james_8970, 12 April 2008 - 12:43 PM.

[Falcker]

My monitor runs at 1620x1080, I have no plans on overclocking though i was thinking about running SLI with the video cards so a compatible motherboard would be nice.

[james_8970]

If you have intentions of running SLI, I highly suggest the board below.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813188026

You may want to look into the 9800GTX then. Your budget would give you lots of room for a 9800GX2 if you like, but the gains are minimal on a lower resolution monitors such as the one you game one.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130339

In all honesty, SLI is not worth it at the resolution that you game at. The gains are quite minimal, though that's you're call to make.
James

Edited by james_8970, 12 April 2008 - 11:52 PM.

[Falcker]

about what resolution would it need to be running at to make it worth it? and with a 9800GTX and your setup what kind of framerates would i be looking at (settings included) if you dont mind telling me that is.

[james_8970]

about what resolution would it need to be running at to make it worth it?

24" monitor is where the extra power will really come into play, e.g. resolutions of 1920x1200 and greater.

and with a 9800GTX and your setup what kind of framerates would i be looking at (settings included) if you dont mind telling me that is.

I can only give an extremely rough estimate, what game are you talking about.
James

[Falcker]

Well the game i currently play alot is WoW, Im concerned with how it will run with fraps going with about 10 players on screen doing various actions. But if its easier for you to bench with another game i play generally every FPS so just toss out a name and the rough estimate of the framerate and i should get the gist of it.

[james_8970]

You'd get an average of 24FPS on high in Crysis.
WOW is not a demanding game and I would not worry about any slow downs in that game, it's the others I'd worry about.
James

[Falcker]

Well im getting about 30 on medium with my current rig which is a p4 2.8ghz with a 8600gts (on crysis that is) though it does dip quite often, 2gs of ram and im not really sure about the rest of the specs. Is there any adjustments you can make to your build to improve this? as i notice you havent spent all my money yet

Edited by Falcker, 13 April 2008 - 12:24 AM.

[james_8970]

Then get two 9800GTX, I just didn't suggest it as it's a waste of money IMO.
The PSU I suggested will be more then enough to power two of those cards.
James

[Falcker]

Ill try one card and if im not feeling like its up to snuff ill try another, is there anything else you can suggest? So far the advise has been great!

[james_8970]

You might want to consider a larger case if you are going to consider SLI. If you have a high end speaker system you might want an audio card.
If you want some options for either of these, just let me know. You may want to invest into a speaker system as well.
Aside from what I've mentioned above, I see no reason to really spend any more money.
James

Edited by james_8970, 13 April 2008 - 12:51 AM.