Building a New Computer

**AntiochusIII** · 04-12-2006, 06:51

...and I quite ashamedly am admitting that I've been out of the world of hardware for far too long. Therefore I'm coming for some help.

The Goal:
-A machine that can play Oblivion smoothly, quite beautifully, as best as I can get on a limited budget. If Oblivion can run, everything else I've wanted to do should be fine.
-A stable machine. I'm willing to reduce performance a teeny little bit if it would save me from, or at least reduce the instances of, the headaches I'm having with every computer of mine since antiquity.

The Limitations:
-A desktop, not of any brands. They suck.
-A budget of around 1000$USD. Yes, it is low and hard to work with, that's why I'm coming for help. I might be able to stretch over a bit but then I'll have to pay for Windows XP, too, and somebody to build the computer for me.

The Points:
-I want an AMD. It's a rule when it comes to gaming.
-I want an Nvidia for various reasons, personal, prejudice, and otherwise. The best I could fine as long as it is proportionately balanced (so to speak) with the rest of my computer.
-I'll need a DVD-drive, at least. Perhaps CD-writer too. If somehow I can also write DVD, it'll be nice, but that's the least of priorities.
-The monitor doesn't have to be perfect. It can even be the big, fat, old-fashioned style. I don't care. It just have to be at least 17' and stable/nice.
-About 1-2GB Ram, depending on what I can spare. It should be balanced, of course, with the rest. But the minimum I'm looking for is 1GB, whatever form or shape.
-A good mainboard. This is the least extent of my knowledge: the sockets confuse the hell out of me.
-A soundcard that more knowledgable orgahs say are good for gaming, but I personally don't really see much difference. So it's behind in priorities. Oh, and a decent speaker, I suppose. I'm looking into Creative Labs ones.
-A good HD of about 160 or 200GB. Not necessarily the biggest or fastest, I want the most stable; my current one's a mess.
-Lotsa quiet fans, I suppose. To make it stable.
-A good case.
-And all the rest that doesn't really matter like a floppy disk, etc. Which doesn't count.

Advices, please, and they will be most appreciated by this humble ignoramus.

**Beirut** · 04-12-2006, 12:34

I'm on the watch for Orangat - he's got a PCI-E cannon and he's on a tear.

Given the budget, you might have to make a few sacrifices.

A socket 939 MB (the connecting pin count) for the AMD 64 CPU would be a good start. It will allow you a relatively inexpensive AMD64 CPU to start with and can be upgraded with a new much more powerful AMD64 CPU later on without changing the MB.

Next would be the most powerful AMD64 CPU you can afford.

The video card is the most difficult choice. I read that a good Oblivion card starts at the ATI X800XT level. For Nvidia I wouldn't consider anything less than a 6600.

One thought is to simply use the MB on-board sound card (if it has one) and some headphones and use whatever cash you save towards the videocard. IMHO it would be money well saved and well spent. Throw in a good sound card later. It's the CPU and the video card that make a hot rig, not the sound card. Use the money there.

Go with 1 GB RAM for now. It's enough.

Forget the DVD burner, but do get a DVD drive.

You need a floppy. They're almost free and they are useful.

Get a smaller but still good quality HD. Do you really need 200GB?

**Oaty** · 04-12-2006, 22:51

Heres what I did I took an old computer stripped out the hard drive, cd drive and floppy drive. Even if those parts came from compaq, dell, gateway etc they should still be compatable with a self built pc. Theres a route you can go, I'm still running a 4 speed CD and now that most games only do a 1 time CD check each time you play so the speed is irrelevant. The only time the CD speed will bite you in the butt is when you install a game from CD wich can take up to 15 mins.

Just about every month where I live (Virginia Beach/Norfolk) theres a computer show every month, so if you live near or dont mind traveling to a big city you can go shopping and find wich vendor will offer you the best deal for what you want. And with so many vendors you can haggle a bit. I reccomend using a credit card though as that's the least painful way to deal with them if something goes wrong. You might want to pay just a tad more if a vendor's store location is within a reasonable distance from you. As some vendors will go to the show all the way from across the state.

If you don't want the hassle you can also go directly to a computer shop and if you buy a whole new PC off of them windows xp is usually free or greatly discounted. Although you lose your bargaining value because there isno competition.

**Geezer57** · 04-13-2006, 02:12

Firingsquad.com has a somewhat dated $1000 system guide here: http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/bu...get_gaming_pc/

TechReport.com has a slightly newer one for various system levels here: http://techreport.com/etc/2005q4/sys...e/index.x?pg=1

Arstechnica.com has a good one dated January here: http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/...ide-200601.ars

And SharkyExtreme.com has a new one (March) here: http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/...le.php/3590876

By the time you get through all of those, you should have lots of good ideas to play with!

**AntiochusIII** · 04-13-2006, 02:46

Thanks, guys. I'll look if there're computer fares (or anything of sorts) around here in Vegas, and try to take up as much idea as possible.

*mumbles about the ram and their weird numbers...*

Edit: What's the difference between AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz HT Socket 939 E3 Processor Model ADA3500BPBOX - Retail and a CGBOX one? They price the same and look all the same to me?

More question: What's a Northbridge (for motherboard) and what's the significance?

**orangat** · 04-13-2006, 04:15

Originally Posted by Beirut

I'm on the watch for Orangat - he's got a PCI-E cannon and he's on a tear.

..............

lol I was just stating a simple obvious fact which is a trite subject for me and for anyone who is the least bit up to date on tech matters. If I wasn't around, gentlemen like JAG and Xiahou would be recommending 9250 as 'good' cards or paying $265 for the x1600pro.

Originally Posted by AntiochusIII

Thanks, guys. I'll look if there're computer fares (or anything of sorts) around here in Vegas, and try to take up as much idea as possible.
*mumbles about the ram and their weird numbers...*
Edit: What's the difference between AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz HT Socket 939 E3 Processor Model ADA3500BPBOX - Retail and a CGBOX one? They price the same and look all the same to me?
More question: What's a Northbridge (for motherboard) and what's the significance?

Both are just as good but get cgbox if its in stock since its a more recent stepping. Northbridge refers to the chipset.
This Asrock mb seems popular for something good, cheap and nasty.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157081

Just use onboard sound for now. $1000 incl a 17" monitor is a tight budget.

(Personal comment removed - Beirut)

**AntiochusIII** · 04-13-2006, 05:52

Thanks very much for all your help, all of which helps tremendously in helping me.

Anyway, this is the first draft I've got, price based on newegg is about 980$, not counting Windows XP:

-Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz HT Socket 939 E3 Processor Model ADA3500CGBOX - Retail
-Motherboard: ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 ULi M1695 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
-Video Card: GIGABYTE GA-NX6800G256DB-ED Geforce 6800GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
-Case: AIDMAX Horizon 287WBP Black SGCC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 380watts PS2 Prescott & SATA Ready Power Supply - Retail
-Ram: CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
-Monitor: NU QL-711V 2-Tone 17" 8ms LCD Monitor - Retail
-HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATA NCQ 3Gb/s ST3160812AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
-Floppy: Whatever, the price is about 10$
-Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech Internet Pro Desktop 967457-0403 Black PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard Mouse Included - OEM
-Speaker: Logitech X-530 70 Watts 5.1 Speaker - Retail

The questions are, are there any stupid mistakes on my part here? And, should I reduce the CPU a little bit to put the money into a decent soundcard?

Thank you again.

**Beirut** · 04-13-2006, 12:00

Originally Posted by orangat

If I wasn't around, dingleberries like JAG and Xiahou would be recommending 9250 as 'good' cards or paying $265 for the x1600pro.

Dingleberries?

Let us keep our nerdly discources civilized and leave the name calling... elsewhere.

**Beirut** · 04-13-2006, 12:25

Originally Posted by AntiochusIII

And, should I reduce the CPU a little bit to put the money into a decent soundcard?

Thank you again.

Depends on your priorities. But that lovely AMD 3500 CPU you mentioned is going to work far more wonders on your games than a good sound card will.

IMHO, I'd use an El Cheapo sound card for now, keep the cash for the CPU or video card, and upgrade your sound card later.

For a couple of years I used a very cheap sound card and ran it through an old $20 Marantz amp I got at a garage sale and pumped it through a pair of cheap old stereo speakers. Super cheap system, super loud and pretty good sound.

**orangat** · 04-13-2006, 13:27

Originally Posted by Beirut

Dingleberries?

Let us keep our nerdly discources civilized and leave the name calling... elsewhere.

Well if they obfuscate the matter by using strawman arguments (esp JAG) and issue full page rants without a single warning or intervention by any mod, they got off light.

**orangat** · 04-13-2006, 13:55

Originally Posted by AntiochusIII

...........
-Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz HT Socket 939 E3 Processor Model ADA3500CGBOX - Retail
-Motherboard: ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 ULi M1695 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
-Video Card: GIGABYTE GA-NX6800G256DB-ED Geforce 6800GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
-Case: AIDMAX Horizon 287WBP Black SGCC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 380watts PS2 Prescott & SATA Ready Power Supply - Retail
-Ram: CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
-Monitor: NU QL-711V 2-Tone 17" 8ms LCD Monitor - Retail
-HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATA NCQ 3Gb/s ST3160812AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
-Floppy: Whatever, the price is about 10$
-Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech Internet Pro Desktop 967457-0403 Black PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard Mouse Included - OEM
-Speaker: Logitech X-530 70 Watts 5.1 Speaker - Retail
..........

The obvious problem is tha you haven't purchased a proper psu and are relying on a bundled psu which is never smart even for a budget box.
Get this Fortron for $58 shipped. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104954
A cheap decent case would be the Antec slk3000/b if you have enough funds left.

Get a 2.1/2.0 pair of speakers instead like a cheap creative intrigue. 5+ speaker configs at your price range is not worth it. And my preference is Samsung/Hitachi/WD drives over Seagate.

Its not worth using an add on soundcard. I doubt there is any difference in fidelity at your price range. Save it for the psu.

**Beirut** · 04-13-2006, 14:47

Originally Posted by orangat

Well if they obfuscate the matter by using strawman arguments (esp JAG) and issue full page rants without a single warning or intervention by any mod, they got off light.

Regardless, no personal comments like that, please.

If you have criticisms of mod actions or inactions, please PM the mod or feel free to discuss it in the Watchtower.

Case closed.

Back to the computer talk.

tap-tap-tap-tappity-tap...

**Papewaio** · 04-20-2006, 04:22

Originally Posted by orangat

Get a 2.1/2.0 pair of speakers instead like a cheap creative intrigue. 5+ speaker configs at your price range is not worth it. And my preference is Samsung/Hitachi/WD drives over Seagate.

Wouldn't headphones be cheaper then a pair of speakers for a better sound? Also means you can block out external noise and not interfer with others sound sphere.

**SomeNick** · 04-20-2006, 05:50

Yeah true Papewaio. My first computer I built myself from pictures of magazines I found at op shops. Soon realised speakers weren't really necessary, when I discovered what the ports on a motherboard were. Haven't bought a soundcard to this day and probably never will. Good motherboard = good hub for machine & onboard sound, with good headphones.

Also about that hdd, I'd go for a few smaller drives. Then you have back ups in place and if you go for seagate hdd's get lots of fans ! I personally will never buy seagate again. Sucks when a large drive fails utterly, and your data isn't properly backed up elsewhere ( Hey , I was starting out!).
Plus it's more versatile.

I built a high end system at the time for 1500$ Ausd. But it involved a lot of ringing around for the best prices for components and research at the time. Well worth it though.

Also, I'd check out other popular game forums too in their technical/ support sections and search for info on new components. That's the first step I'd do before buying anything if building another pc.

Edit: Just read the post about the ram. I'd go for Kingston myself. Saw an excellent article about ram in a forum quite some time ago and if I can dig the link up I'll post it here. I have no problems with Kingston 512mb pc3200 DDR ram. Getting another one to go to 1 gb soon for RTW mainly :S and some other progs.

That article has lots of info on RAM sticks, it's a very overlooked aspect to pc performance and it's not just about the mb it's to do with manufacturing codes on them and stuff too. If I find that article I'll post the link.