Topic: OK You Computers <gaming> Gurus..

[Hexx]

I think it's time I built a new system (parts of this one are many years old- and Doom3 is coming out...)

Anyways I know I've dazzled most of you with my intricate understandings in how computers work over the years but now I'm stumped..

Chipset-  I'm thinking an Athlon 64 something something.. an ideas on what processor I should grab? I've always had an AMD chip and never had any problems with it. I'm assuming AMD still offers comparable performance to the intel at a cheaper price- let me know if I'm wrong


Graphics Card - Here's the big one, 6800 Ultra or X800XT thingy? From the stuff I've read Im leaning towards the X800XT - the problem is I really didn't understand anything that I read. Basically I *think* the  6800 needs alot more power to do roughly the same thing and I'll have to spend more to put a better power source in.
-Other thing is- I'm in Canada, o the East Coast, haven't seen to many (well any actually) of either of these listed. I'm assuming it's going to cost ALOT of money to upgrade to one.  If I go with one of the "older" 9800XT or 9600XT (or whatver the numbers are for the latset ones before the X800XT came out) will it still be OK for a bit?
I'm running a Geoforce 3 Ti 200 with 128 megs of ram atm -am I going to notice tht big a difference?

And finally -what's up with "liquid cooling" _ Do I need this? are fans not good enough anymore?

The rest of the system I think I can handle (not replacing the monitor yet -it's about 7 or 8 years old but still seems to work OK) and the rest of the system will be built around the CPU and the Graphics card.

-And don't worry about finding prices for me (I know some of you do it) there's not a chance I cxan put this together myself so I'll be buying it a t whatver local shop I can find in Halifax that seems to be decent.

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

[benbean]

I'm looking at doing the same thing Hexx.

So far I have decided on a AMD 3200+ XP CPU (£130 GBP)

K7N2 Delta-ILSR motherboard. http://www.msicomputer.co.uk/products.aspx?product_id=703422 (£65 GBP)

Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB DDR AGP +DVI +TV Out Retail. http://www.sapphiretech.com/vga/9800proatl.asp (£140 GBP)

Add 1GB performance DDR 400 RAM approx £150 - £200

Thats the next machine I intend to build. This should do me for the next couple of years, by then the 64bit CPU's, new motherboards for PCI Express and the new PCI Express graphics cards should be more affordable.

[Bonk]

I reccommend you have a chat (or two ) with the people here:
http://www.k-pcltee.com/   (quality and knowledge)
or
http://www.cellarcomputers.com/ (selection)
Before you go to the futureshop or something.

I've been building cheapy frankenstein servers lately so I'm not up on the latest gaming PC's but if I were to build one for myself I'd go with:
Asus P4 Mainboard
Intel P4 2.8 GHz /800
512-1024MB RAM
Matrox Parhelia
200 GB WD HDD
A quality power supply and case, an extra chassis fan... the rest can be disposable components, but that'd be what I want..

There are plenty of cheapy, premounted AMD processors on a generic mainboard that will probably smoke your current system for cheap...

The latest games will always require a 6-700 dollar video card to get all the features and you'll be lucky if there's no issues. Myself, I like to stay a year or two behind and never pay more than 250 for video.

Liquid cooling: if you want the gee-whiz effect yeah, get some neon to go with it... I can see its use in audio applications where the reduced noise level is required but I can't see using it just so you can overclock a cheap processor and burn it out faster... extra chassis fans are good for me - noisy but cheap.

[FVA_C_ Blade_ XC]

I would go with a PCI Express board and a AMD64fx chip.

[KBF-Nail]

Check this place out Hexx   www.outpost.com


But yes I have never had any problems with Athalons either. Works great.

[Capt_Bearslayer_XC]

Another place to find great prices is price watch

I got some excellent deals on this site.

[drb]

Hoi Hexx,

 I have to agree with Bonk; k-pc ltee. is the place to go for service. I bought a nice system there before moving up to Toronto. Prior to buying an entire $3,500 system at his shop I always called his shop for advice in many matters for years as I tried to keep my "futureshop blue light special of the week" up to date through endless upgrades and tweeks. Their service and product knowledge is second to none, even if you do not buy anything at K-P's, calling the store would be well worth it, again, great staff.
 As you are in Halifax head on down to Blowers Street PaperChase for a Iqbal's samosa, don't forget the chutney! Next, go to the LC, a case of Clancy's, Moose Red, and a quart of rye.  Get Bonk to make ready with a canoe, paddle to McNab's Island in a gale, get wwrreaked on the beach and eat samosas and blueberries for days.
  I better stop before I  hop on a plane.

Enjoy Halifax Hexx, you lucky bast****

drb

[Lepton]

I have to agree with the PCI express recommendation.   There is no sense in buyinq non-PCI express motherboard unless you like throwing money away.  If you haven't got the money to drop on a PCI express-based system, then I'd just wait until you can.

[kbf-jd]

I have to agree with the PCI express recommendation.   There is no sense in buyinq non-PCI express motherboard unless you like throwing money away.  If you haven't got the money to drop on a PCI express-based system, then I'd just wait until you can.

Well that depends.  I do like the IDEA of getting PCI Express, that would make it a VERY Expensive system.

I don't have money to throw away, so I usually build a system that has 90% of the power of the bleading edge system, but is 50% or less of the price. 

If money is not option, go for it.  I'm just cheap..

jd

[Hexx]

Of course *I* know what you're talking about, but maybe one of you can explain what "PCI Express" is for lackwits like that Green fellow...

[Elvis]

Sweet spots, hmmmm.

I don' think there are any PCI express boards out for the AMD processors. If your going to wait for PCI express for the AMD 64s, you might as well wait for btx boards, to make your system further future proof.

The 754 processors right now are cheaper than the 939 processors. I would probably go with an A64 3200 or 3400 and an nForce 250 chipset.

As far as the video card the 6800GT is getting a lot of good press. As far as power is concened the GT will run with a 350 watt power supply.  I believe they toned down the power requiement after the 450 watt + became public with the initial reviews. I have not see any 6800 Ultra's yet, so I can't verify whether they lowered the power req. on that also. My last card was a 9600Pro and recently upgraded to the 6800 Ultra, Nvidia has a good product out there. But if your a fan of ATI I'm sure the X800s are awesome.
  

[Strat]

PCI is a new Bus technology.  Must faster, especially for video. I think it is also the technology that allows the uses a system of 2 video cards to give you the final image. (A lot details to look up on that LOOK HERE)  Increases FPS by 100%.  However, I could be a little off on that.  I stoped keeping up with that stuff when I Decided I'd have to make 3x more money than I do now to afford it all.

My simple input is that you stray Aways from and chipsets like VIA, SIS, and toward the nVidia chipsets.  They repeated (at least the places I looks) to give better performance.  Also from a technelogical standpoint - as well as experience, SIS is Cheap, and VIA, well VIA has showen itself to be full of problems, little problems that show themselves at the worst times.  I've been working on computers for a few years now, and I find VIA to bew workable, but not realiable.

Therefore I say try nVidia.  I have just buoght my first mainboard with a nVidia chipset, so I have yet to have firsthand experience with the stuff, however, my research in forums seems to show that many people complain of problems MUCH LESS often with the nVidia chipset boards then people have complained of problems with the VIA chipsets.

-Strat

[Strafer]

Of course *I* know what you're talking about, but maybe one of you can explain what "PCI Express" is for lackwits like that Green fellow...

In marketting terms? "The Latest & Greatest"

[FPF-DieHard]

I don't have money to throw away, so I usually build a system that has 90% of the power of the bleading edge system, but is 50% or less of the price. 

What the Klink said.

[Kroma BaSyl]

I don't have money to throw away, so I usually build a system that has 90% of the power of the bleading edge system, but is 50% or less of the price. 

What the Klink said.

What the Fed said the Klingon said.

I like the 6800 over the ATI if you are going for the bleed edge in VID card though. I just ordered the last of the parts for my new system on Friday. AMD 3200+ XP, 1 GB Corsair 3200 DDR, ASUS AN78X MB, HD 200 GB SerialATA Seagate, etc.

[FPF-DieHard]

I don't have money to throw away, so I usually build a system that has 90% of the power of the bleading edge system, but is 50% or less of the price. 

What the Klink said.

What the Fed said the Klingon said.

I like the 6800 over the ATI if you are going for the bleed edge in VID card though. I just ordered the last of the parts for my new system on Friday. AMD 3200+ XP, 1 GB Corsair 3200 DDR, ASUS AN78X MB, HD 200 GB SerialATA Seagate, etc.

You mean 9800?   I'm wating for thew price to drop after the X800 become more widely available.

[Kroma BaSyl]

I don't have money to throw away, so I usually build a system that has 90% of the power of the bleading edge system, but is 50% or less of the price. 

What the Klink said.

What the Fed said the Klingon said.

I like the 6800 over the ATI if you are going for the bleed edge in VID card though. I just ordered the last of the parts for my new system on Friday. AMD 3200+ XP, 1 GB Corsair 3200 DDR, ASUS AN78X MB, HD 200 GB SerialATA Seagate, etc.

You mean 9800?   I'm wating for thew price to drop after the X800 become more widely available.

No I meant the FX6800 nVidia. Although I am going with a FX5600 and will wait to upgrade to a better VID card next year.

[Gook]

I don't have money to throw away, so I usually build a system that has 90% of the power of the bleading edge system, but is 50% or less of the price. 

What the Klink said.

Bloody Hell!!! DH and I AGREE on something!!!

I've always gone AMD its a lot cheaper, as for graphics boards, Nvidia based ones seem to have less trouble than ATI (IME) when it comes to online gaming, I have 4 PCs in my "den" and the 2 Invidia based cards have not had to DL any fixes whereas the ATI ones have.

[Doppler]

I don't have money to throw away, so I usually build a system that has 90% of the power of the bleading edge system, but is 50% or less of the price. 

What the Klink said.

What the Fed said the Klingon said.

I like the 6800 over the ATI if you are going for the bleed edge in VID card though. I just ordered the last of the parts for my new system on Friday. AMD 3200+ XP, 1 GB Corsair 3200 DDR, ASUS AN78X MB, HD 200 GB SerialATA Seagate, etc.

You mean 9800?   I'm wating for thew price to drop after the X800 become more widely available.

No I meant the FX6800 nVidia. Although I am going with a FX5600 and will wait to upgrade to a better VID card next year.

All Hail the pink tutu ! The maker of magnificent units ! listen and learn the pink tutu makes em rock solid ! ( no I dont mean it that way ya queers !)

[Kroma BaSyl]

I don't have money to throw away, so I usually build a system that has 90% of the power of the bleading edge system, but is 50% or less of the price. 

What the Klink said.

What the Fed said the Klingon said.

I like the 6800 over the ATI if you are going for the bleed edge in VID card though. I just ordered the last of the parts for my new system on Friday. AMD 3200+ XP, 1 GB Corsair 3200 DDR, ASUS AN78X MB, HD 200 GB SerialATA Seagate, etc.

You mean 9800?   I'm wating for thew price to drop after the X800 become more widely available.

No I meant the FX6800 nVidia. Although I am going with a FX5600 and will wait to upgrade to a better VID card next year.

All Hail the pink tutu ! The maker of magnificent units ! listen and learn the pink tutu makes em rock solid ! ( no I dont mean it that way ya queers !)

The cobbler's children are finally getting some footwear. ;-)