Looking to the summer to build a new computer

**Crazed Rabbit** · 03-15-2008, 22:47

Due to some fortuitous happenings, I will be building and acquiring my first new computer in several years this summer.

So I was wondering what's coming up, gaming hardware wise, in the next several months and maybe a general summary of the current state of gaming hardware (I'm not up to date at all). What's a current nice rig look like?

Any help is appreciated.

CR

**Lemur** · 03-17-2008, 04:54

You don't ask small questions, do you, Rabbit? I know Ars Technica does a semi-regular build guide, with a God Box, a Medium Box and a Budget Box. Unfortunately, my Google-fu is weak tonight, and I can't find it. If you're willing to shell out a couple of bucks, Maximum PC does a build guide in every issue, and they keep it pretty up-to-date. I don't know what the mag costs these days, but subscriptions are dirt cheap. (Yes, it's on Lemur's bathroom reading list, along with The Economist. You need good literature on the can.)

What's coming up? Lessee, there's probably going to be a new connector between your screen and your vid card, but nobody's sure which one it will be. No point in waiting for that, since adapters will be cheap and plentiful. Intel's got a new dual-CPU thing called Skulltrail, but that's not really meant for gamers. More for your local 3D artist or molecular biologist. With quad-core on-die CPUs flooding the market, there's no reason a gamer would need a dual-cpu boxen (in effect, an eight-CPU rig).

SATA 2 will become more common, but that's neither here nor there, since current drives aren't even close to saturating the SATA pipe. Flash drives are going to be a big deal for notebooks, but it's gonna remain costly for a while, say a year or two.

AMD/ATI are still underdogs, especially with the introduction of Intel's new 45nm chips. On the videocard front it's a little more competitive, with the Nvidia holding the price/performance crown across the board, but not by the same margin as in the CPU race.

Oh, I found the Ars System Guide while I was Googling and Wiking for this note. Here it is.

There, that will give you the beginnings of something to chew on.

**Vladimir** · 03-17-2008, 18:20

Remember that quad-cores are best kept cool with vegetable oil.

**Lemur** · 03-31-2008, 02:39

Ars just published their new system guide, a great snapshot of what hardware goes with what budget. Enjoy.

**Lemur** · 05-28-2008, 15:09

Here's the May system guide, in case you're still planning to build. What's the story with that, anyway, CR? Are you bringing a sweet little hotrod into the world?

**Csargo** · 05-30-2008, 01:21

I will hopefully be getting a new computer this summer so this will be helpful.

**Crazed Rabbit** · 06-01-2008, 22:30

Originally Posted by Lemur

Here's the May system guide, in case you're still planning to build. What's the story with that, anyway, CR? Are you bringing a sweet little hotrod into the world?

Yup, real soon too. Thanks for the link to the Ars Tech stuff, it's really helpful. I was wondering when the new guide would come out.

And then I can play M&B again! Huzzah! And...other new games...which is a concept I haven't thought about for a while.

CR