Help Building New PC

[DthB4Dishonor]

Hey guys,

I'm getting back into the TotalWar series after a few years. I've been working and going to school so I pretty much had to go with a laptop but now I'm finishing school in about a month or so and need some help building a new PC.

First off I have built pc's before but not in a few years so I'm unfamiliar with some things that have become mainstream i.e. Liquid cooling.

Budget: $2000.00 but willing to go to $25000 if needed and if it makes a noticiable difference.

Usage: Gaming 95% and multimedia I have a laptop that I do my work on.

What site has the best prices for the components, newegg?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, also with this budget I would like to be able to run M2TW at full or close to full setting on singleplayer.

Thanks,
RTKPaul

[Xiahou]

I'm in a similar boat- building a new PC, (which I haven't done in awhile either) I'm trying to keep my budget much lower... around $800.

Here's what I've come up with- I offer it as help to anyone who's similarly shopping and to put it out there for comment/advice.

Case: Antec SonataII w/ 450W PSU
Mobo: ASUS M2N-E
CPU: AMD64 x2 4400+ EE (Brisbane)
GPU: eVGA 7950GT KO Superclocked 512MB eVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
HD: WD 250GB 16MB, 7200RPM SATA
RAM: 2x1GB

That, plus a few cooling fans and shipping costs comes in almost exactly on my budget. From what I can tell, it should be able to run just about any current game with most or all options turned on and should leave some wiggle room for future upgrades if I want. I do most of my shopping on Mwave.com. Their prices are usually very competitive and I think their website is much easier to navigate than newegg- but maybe that's just my personal preference. I've done business with them many times over the years and never had any issues with returns or purchases. YMMV.

Edit: I'm hoping to swap out the 7950 for a 8800. I see that they now have the 8800's with 320MB instead of the 640MB version for about $90 less. Add to that, a $20 rebate and the 8800 will only cost about $5 more than the 7950... Seems like a no-brainer to me.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

OMG its Paul. Never thought Id see you again. I think your goin a bit overboard M8 2500 should way more than do it. I can play at highest settings in mp and only spent 1500 including a 22 inch hd monitor.

Strength and Honor my old friend.

Jesus X you put half your money in your graphics card :)

Your getting an 8800 for around 325 dollars?

[Ja'chyra]

I'm in the same boat, but when I done my shopping around for components I found it was cheaper to buy a system, in fact I just ordered it from Novatech (Thanks Froggie for the recommendation) and it will be here next Saturday.

[Judge]

after reading some of the posts on here, i too am waiting to upgrade to play mtw2, so on suggestions of some of you , i checked out Novatech site and found some good pc builds in there at reasonable prices, so i shall be ordering from them

core 2 duo E6400
geforce7600GT
250 gig h/d
2 gig ram
and a motherboard

or there abouts, {after i scam my home insurance company}

[Gawain of Orkeny]

core 2 duo E6400
geforce7600GT
250 gig h/d
2 gig ram
and a motherboard

So your shooting for under $1000 then? Id go with a better vid card. A regular 7900 at least. You can get one over clocked for around 150 bucks I think.

[Judge]

to put all this into my old pc i was quoted £600 sterling, and that was with
2 x geforce 7600gt,s

but i think i will just buy a new one and yes for less that £1000 Gawain, we not all live ina life of luxury like yourself mate

so u suggest geforce 7950GT ????

[Ja'chyra]

I ordered 2 cmomputers from Novatech on Friday of last week, a laptop for the Mrs and the 6600 version of this.

The laptop arrived at 0800 the next morning and is working fine and the PC is in production and should be here soon.

[Xiahou]

Your getting an 8800 for around 325 dollars?

The one I got is about $279 after rebate.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

but i think i will just buy a new one and yes for less that £1000 Gawain,

Ermmm , thats dollars not pounds m8

o put all this into my old pc i was quoted £600 sterling, and that was with
2 x geforce 7600gt,s

Again go with the 7950gt or 8800 if you can find a deal like Xiahou. My pc cost me 1100 dollars . All brand new and custom built. I spent over a month checking out what was best for the money.

[alman7272]

I'm in a similar boat- building a new PC, (which I haven't done in awhile either) I'm trying to keep my budget much lower... around $800.

Here's what I've come up with- I offer it as help to anyone who's similarly shopping and to put it out there for comment/advice.

Case: Antec SonataII w/ 450W PSU
Mobo: ASUS M2N-E
CPU: AMD64 x2 4400+ EE (Brisbane)
GPU: eVGA 7950GT KO Superclocked 512MB eVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
HD: WD 250GB 16MB, 7200RPM SATA
RAM: 2x1GB

Well, I don't know what that PSU 12v output is, but I would suggest getting a PSU that could put out a good 30A for an 8800.

[Xiahou]

IIRC, it has a 15A and a 17A. I don't know the formula for finding the true rating based on that- but I'm guessing it would be a little under 30A... maybe mid-twenties. I think that'll probably get it by, but I'll probably keep an eye out for a good PSU to replace the stock one that came with the case sometime in the near future.

Edit: Anyone have an opinion on this? Should have ample power.

[Rilder]

Hey, mind if I hijack this thread a bit, Hoping to build a new computer when my b-day rolls around on April 20th, heres some rules first of all:
$700-$800
No Mouse, Keyboard, or monitor needed, nor speakers (have a headset)
No Intel
No G-force.
Vista Not required, XP will be fine for a year or so giving me a chance to collect more money to upgrade.

Alright, now this is what my last run through of Newegg bought me to:
Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+(65W) Windsor 2.0GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - Retail
Mobo:
GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3 Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Video Card:
SAPPHIRE 100165L Radeon X1650PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Case:
ATRIX CSCI-C8040-C43 Black/Silver SECC steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 480W Power Supply - Retail
RAM:
pqi TURBO 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
CD drive:(note if needed I can salvage one off this computer but this computers going to my father when I upgrade, and his is going to my bro )
LG Black 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-ROM E-IDE/ATAPI DVD-ROM Drive Model GDR-8164BK - OEM
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2b 1pk w/Upgrade Coupon for Vista

Think thats it, tell me what yall think.

Oh i missed a hardrive in there but oh well

[sapi]

I hate to say it, but limiting yourself to only amd components (ie barring intel and nvidia) is pretty darn stupid considering that they produce much better products at this point in time

[Talbot]

I hate to say it, but limiting yourself to only amd components (ie barring intel and nvidia) is pretty darn stupid considering that they produce much better products at this point in time

Very true. I'm a big AMD fan (my last few CPUs have been AMDs) but my next machine will be an Intel. Their Core 2 Duo products seem to be bloody good according to the reviews I'm reading.

[sapi]

Yep - and amd/ati is simply outclassed in the graphics card department atm as well

[Husar]

I agree with sapi.
I spent around 900€(one could say dollars) last year and got a much better computer than you listed and it contains an Intel CPU which will leave that 3800+ waaay behind in any benchmark or game.

[Rilder]

Fine then suggest a Mobo+Gfx card+ Processor thats cheaper and better then I listed,

And I don't know euros tbh, but 900€ seems a bit more then $800. (yep 900 euro equals about 1,100 USD which is way overshotting my budget)

I just like AMD+ATI better then n'vidia and intel, Ive always been told that AMD is better for gaming and I always used ATI so I trust them, plus the fact that Nvidia whores its name onto every freaking game cinematic these days just to get business annoys me..

Besides I'm stubborn, but go ahead If you can make a Mobo-proc-Gfx combo thats cheaper and better I'l try it.

Edit: I should really make note that my family is very pro AMD processors, and anti Intel... the processor has to be AMD period... got it, I can get by with a Nvidia gfx card but I'd have to go through a bit of embarrasment when I tell my father that I'm getting one after all those ATI versus Nvidia skirmishes....

[Spino]

I'm in a similar boat- building a new PC, (which I haven't done in awhile either) I'm trying to keep my budget much lower... around $800.

Here's what I've come up with- I offer it as help to anyone who's similarly shopping and to put it out there for comment/advice.

Case: Antec SonataII w/ 450W PSU
Mobo: ASUS M2N-E
CPU: AMD64 x2 4400+ EE (Brisbane)
GPU: eVGA 7950GT KO Superclocked 512MB eVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
HD: WD 250GB 16MB, 7200RPM SATA
RAM: 2x1GB

That, plus a few cooling fans and shipping costs comes in almost exactly on my budget. From what I can tell, it should be able to run just about any current game with most or all options turned on and should leave some wiggle room for future upgrades if I want. I do most of my shopping on Mwave.com. Their prices are usually very competitive and I think their website is much easier to navigate than newegg- but maybe that's just my personal preference. I've done business with them many times over the years and never had any issues with returns or purchases. YMMV.

Edit: I'm hoping to swap out the 7950 for a 8800. I see that they now have the 8800's with 320MB instead of the 640MB version for about $90 less. Add to that, a $20 rebate and the 8800 will only cost about $5 more than the 7950... Seems like a no-brainer to me.

That 450W PSU doesn't make me feel very confident with a 7950GT or 8800GTS in the system. You should consider a PSU that is rated at 550-600W or higher and make absolutely sure it has a healthy amount of amperage on the 12V rails (combined the 12V rails shoud add up to 30-40A or better). Also try to get a PSU with a high efficiency rating (80%+) and Active PFC to minimize the damage to your electric bills. Seasonic makes extremely efficient PSUs as does Corsair (rebadged Seasonics rigged for quieter operation).

Yep - and amd/ati is simply outclassed in the graphics card department atm as well

Now that's just not true. AMD/ATI has excellent offerings for the budget to mid ranged segment. The X1950 Pro is hand's down the best card you can buy in the $150-200 range and the X1950XT (256meg version) is the best card in the $200-250 range. However the high end and 'enthusiast' segments are dominated by Nvidia, nothing in AMD/ATI's arsenal comes close to the 8800 series.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Originally Posted by sapi
Yep - and amd/ati is simply outclassed in the graphics card department atm as well

Now that's just not true. AMD/ATI has excellent offerings for the budget to mid ranged segment. The X1950 Pro is hand's down the best card you can buy in the $150-200 range and the X1950XT (256meg version) is the best card in the $200-250 range. However the high end and 'enthusiast' segments are dominated by Nvidia, nothing in AMD/ATI's arsenal comes close to the 8800 series.

Its true if your going for their best. The Core 2 Duo beats anything AMD makes and the same can be said for the 8800 as it compares to ATI.

Im now getting an E6600 with a P5WDH DELUXE/WIFI motherboard ,an 8800gts320 vid card , windows xp pro ,250g hard drive, 2k ram ,tower of my choice with 600w psu and dvd burner with lightscribe for 1285 dollars.

Anyone know of a better deal for that price?

If you have around a thousand dollars to spend I dont see how anyone can go with AMD or ATI.


If you have less then the field is more even or even tilted in AMDs and ATIs favor.

[Husar]

Fine then suggest a Mobo+Gfx card+ Processor thats cheaper and better then I listed,

And I don't know euros tbh, but 900€ seems a bit more then $800. (yep 900 euro equals about 1,100 USD which is way overshotting my budget)

Well, when I looked around newegg I noticed that their dollar prices are about the same as our euro prices, that's why I said what I said, we just seem to pay more here. Just go and check what WinDVD 8 costs in euros and dollars, the only thing that changes is the sign behind the number.
Let me see what I can do.
C2D E6300 183$
Asus P5N-E SLI 130$
2GB Corsair DDR2 667 150$
EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 280$
randomly selected Enermax PSU with 500W 90$
A cheap case that looks decent but not fancy 50$
Well, that is 883$ so far.
We could easily cut back on the graphics and still get a better card than you put in, we are missing a HDD, DVD drive and Windows. But I would like to know whether you do not have a Windows already?
So, you cannot get it cheaper(I actually overlooked that you wanted almost all parts new, I personally just upgraded and kept the case, PSU, HDD etc.) but for a bit more money you should be able to get a PC that will easily stomp the one you selected. The X2 3800+ is one I was looking forward to one and a half years ago, I wouldn't consider it anymore for a new gaming PC. You may end up spending 800$ and wanting to upgrade again soon. I'd rather spend 100 or 200$ more and get a somewhat futureproof system.

[Rilder]

Well, when I looked around newegg I noticed that their dollar prices are about the same as our euro prices, that's why I said what I said, we just seem to pay more here. Just go and check what WinDVD 8 costs in euros and dollars, the only thing that changes is the sign behind the number.
Let me see what I can do.
C2D E6300 183$
Asus P5N-E SLI 130$
2GB Corsair DDR2 667 150$
EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 280$
randomly selected Enermax PSU with 500W 90$
A cheap case that looks decent but not fancy 50$
Well, that is 883$ so far.
We could easily cut back on the graphics and still get a better card than you put in, we are missing a HDD, DVD drive and Windows. But I would like to know whether you do not have a Windows already?
So, you cannot get it cheaper(I actually overlooked that you wanted almost all parts new, I personally just upgraded and kept the case, PSU, HDD etc.) but for a bit more money you should be able to get a PC that will easily stomp the one you selected. The X2 3800+ is one I was looking forward to one and a half years ago, I wouldn't consider it anymore for a new gaming PC. You may end up spending 800$ and wanting to upgrade again soon. I'd rather spend 100 or 200$ more and get a somewhat futureproof system.

Yes I kinda can't upgrade this one as its getting handed down.

If I replaced that Video card with a cheaper x1950 would we get much of a performance loss or gain?
JetWay X19PR-ED-512M Radeon X1950PRO 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

This is the cheapest hard drive, 250 gig is all i really need:
HITACHI Deskstar T7K500 HDT725025VLAT80 (0A33408) 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive

The OS, and CD drive could be the one I posted, at another site I can get XP for 40 dollars cheaper but without the upgrade coupon which I don't need...

Could we get by with that case I posted or not, cause it has both Case and PSU and its only 50 dollars...

With that it'd be about the same price as you posted but for everything, if I needed though I could go for the 256 version of the x1950 and fall right into my price range...

[Husar]

The X1950 sounds fine to me but I'm not an ATI/AMD expert.
Just read again how they want to rename the X1300 to X2300 but keep it the same card technically.
I just got a new 250GB drive myself, I think that should be fine.

Concerning case + PSU, I've had several of those cheap built-in PSUs and they all burned sooner or later(not literally, they just ceased to work) and they were usually 250 or 300 Watt only.
I'm now running a Levicom 420Watt PSU for several years and it seems to give enough power for a C2D E6600 and a 7950GT.

edit: I showed you a mainboard with an NVidia chipset, I think a single ATI Card should run fine on it, but if you are going to get an ATI card, maybe getting a board with an Intel chipset would be better? As an NVidiot I seldom think about such possible incompatibilities(should be only support for crossfire, but who knows?), maybe someone else can comment that.

[Rilder]

The X1950 sounds fine to me but I'm not an ATI/AMD expert.
Just read again how they want to rename the X1300 to X2300 but keep it the same card technically.
I just got a new 250GB drive myself, I think that should be fine.

Concerning case + PSU, I've had several of those cheap built-in PSUs and they all burned sooner or later(not literally, they just ceased to work) and they were usually 250 or 300 Watt only.
I'm now running a Levicom 420Watt PSU for several years and it seems to give enough power for a C2D E6600 and a 7950GT.

edit: I showed you a mainboard with an NVidia chipset, I think a single ATI Card should run fine on it, but if you are going to get an ATI card, maybe getting a board with an Intel chipset would be better? As an NVidiot I seldom think about such possible incompatibilities(should be only support for crossfire, but who knows?), maybe someone else can comment that.

I read on another forum that there isn't any real problems or the problems are rare that sticking an ATI on a N'vidia northbridge will cause problems... Plus I have no intrest in crossfire/sli

[doc_bean]

Very true. I'm a big AMD fan (my last few CPUs have been AMDs) but my next machine will be an Intel. Their Core 2 Duo products seem to be bloody good according to the reviews I'm reading.

I'm very happy with mine. We've got a quad core running in the lab which is surprisingly slow though, not sure why, but you may want to stick to dual core for now.

[Xiahou]

Case: Antec SonataII w/ 450W550W PSU
Mobo: ASUS M2N-E
CPU: AMD64 x2 4400+ EE (Brisbane)
GPU: eVGA 7950GT KO Superclocked 512MB eVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
HD: WD 250GB 16MB, 7200RPM SATA
RAM: 2x1GB

So, I got my new rig put together a few days ago and thought I'd share some benchmarks. Here's the 3dMark06 results:

Main Test Results
3DMark Score 1711 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 887 Marks
SM 3.0 Score N/A
CPU Score 815 Marks

Detailed Test Results

Graphics Tests
1 - Return to Proxycon 6.731 FPS
2 - Firefly Forest 8.055 FPS

CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley 0.257 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley 0.414 FPS

HDR Tests
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) 33.382 FPS
2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) 38.134 FPS

Now, for comparison, here are the benchmarks of my previous system:

Main Test Results
3DMark Score 1711 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 887 Marks
SM 3.0 Score N/A
CPU Score 815 Marks

Detailed Test Results

Graphics Tests
1 - Return to Proxycon 6.731 FPS
2 - Firefly Forest 8.055 FPS

CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley 0.257 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley 0.414 FPS

HDR Tests
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) Not Supported
2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) Not Supported

I'm quite pleased with the improvement in both quality and speed. I can run Oblivion with everything maxxed at 1280x1024 and maintain 40+FPS outdoors. That's including graphical mods to enhance weather effects, water, and face textures.

I think my current bottleneck, obviously, is the CPU. I knew it would be, but the cheaper CPU allowed me to make the jump to PCI-e and AM2 while still staying close to my budget. I imagine that as new AM2 processors come out, the current top tier ones will drop significantly in price, leaving me with what should be an easy, inexpensive upgrade in a year or so.