Building gaming com $1100 budget for now, suggestions?

[Raymondo]

I've already tryed that and the lowest I can get is 4.20gig but it still runs like shit.

[swordinstone]

I've already tryed that and the lowest I can get is 4.20gig but it still runs like shit.

If its really bad, your best bet is to just format your drive and start over. If it still runs like crap, you may need to upgrade something. It sucks, but that is generally the answer.

[Spazmo]

Morrowind is smooth as butter on my 900 T-Bird w/ 256 SDRAM and a Radeon 8500 128MB. A defective Radeon 8500 at that.

Too bad the game sucks, though.

[BlackDog]

I'd say go for the Asus A7N8X Deluxe mobo, 1 GB PC3200 RAM, Athlon XP 3000+ Barton and a Geforce FX 5900 128 MB from Gainward. Maybe a small, 20-30 GB HDD for your root drive and a 100 GB drive for your games and files. With the mobo I suggested, you could have up to a total of 4 HDD's, 5 if you use only 1 CD-ROM. As for cases, thats up to you on what you like to look at. Make sure though you get at least a 400 watt or higher Power Supply.

Other than that, the rest is your choice. But what I've suggested is the best bang for your buck. Especially since you are only looking to spend $1400.

But if you do go for an intel board, stay away from ones that utilize RAMBUS (RDRAM). It is more expensive than DDR and performs slightly under it. Which is why Intel has given up support of it and has designed more of their newer CPU's to work better with DDR.

[swordinstone]

I just priced out the same system (with a diff vid card, cos they dont list the one I had, so I picked one that was very close in price). The total came out to $1,751.

I'm not bashing alienware, they have the coolest looking machines out there. But this just goes to show you how much you save building your own machine (about $1,000 in this case).

[Spazmo]

Actually, RDRAM is much better than SDRAM. All the major companies have dropped support for it because the people who make it are total corporate bastards.

[Hammer]

Building your own machine you're getting it cheaper because you're not paying for the tech support, warrantee, and professional installation and over clocking like you do with Alienware.

[Spazmo]

Yep. And even though being able to build your own machine usually means you have the expertise to fix any problems that may arise, it very rarely means you can get free replacements of defective parts within the warranty. If I ever get fuck-you money, I'm gonna buy me an Alienware and a three-year warranty, at the end of which I'd get another warranty on a new machine (remember, it's fuck-you money).

[Killa-Killa]

Actually, RDRAM is much better than SDRAM. All the major companies have dropped support for it because the people who make it are total corporate bastards.

Either way, RDRAM is WAY too expensive, seeing as its only 1/100000th better than DC- DDR and its twice as expensive.

Building your own machine you're getting it cheaper because you're not paying for the tech support, warrantee, and professional installation and over clocking like you do with Alienware.

Amen to that! Heres a trick I've found to work: find a decent Alienware/Falcon comp, Find out the exact specs (down to the exact models) and buy the exact same thing off pricewatch/TigerDirect/some cheap parts website. All but the case is the exact same as an alienware on my PC and it works great!

[Strap]

sorry if this isn't following the flow of this discussion, but is the gforce 4 the newest gforce graphics card? if so i will buy it, my computer is at least 4 years over-due for a tune up.

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Killa-Killa they customize it and overclock it, they make it flow like diaherra.

I'm defiantly getting an alienware for my next comp, if there still the best when that happens.

[Killa-Killa]

Killa-Killa they customize it and overclock it, they make it flow like diaherra.

DCDDR isn't overclocked. It uses the "CPU-multiplier" technique to have 2 streams of data going through one channel. The FSB technically could be considered "overclocked" by 2x, however then you could say that all mobos are, because the socket 478 is OCed. Atleast that's my take on it, however I don't trust Asus's marketing to give me the strait truth. I would take RD over DCDDR, If I had Fuck-You money. I';d also take a Falcon box, with replaced case. If I had Fuck-You money. which I don't.
Oh, and strapon, Geforce FX 5900 is the latest-and-greatest Nvidia card.

[iohkus]

only people who buy brand name PCs are those who can't build their own and will ultimately get fucked like a german sheppard on a french poodle.



btw, this does not apply to people with "fuck-you" money

if i had fuck-you money i'd pay people to feed me.

[hieyeck]

-P4 2.0 gHz
-Sapphire ATI Radeon 9200 128MB DDR
-Asus P4S533-X SIS DDR 533FSB w/Sound,Lan & USB2.0
-LG 16x DVD-ROM
-Maxtor 120G 7200rpms
-Azen 512MB DDR-333
-Aeroflow heatsink (if you dont know the name, just know its BIG)
-Generic floppy (who needs this anymore?)
-Nice shiny ice blue shiny case (really shiny )
-Microsoft keyboard and optical mouse

$900 CDN. yup this system is in SHITTY CANADIAN DOLLAS!!!! that's about.... 650-700 US$? did i mention it's tax incl.? only drawback, no assembly, but get a good friend or have them do it for an extra $50

Upgrades:
ATI Radeon 9700 ~ $75
P4 2.4 ~$25
even shinier case ~ $10-$30
MORE RAM ~<$50
DVD +/- RW $275

and this is still in CDN dollas so you could get the system with all the upgrades and it would still be under 1100 US$ more shinys in you pocket

if you want service, you can hire someone to fix it for $30 an hour, and they should take $30. the service that the brand name companies isn't worth shit unless you're a business partner.

[Killa-Killa]

Upgrades:
ATI Radeon 9700 ~ $75
P4 2.4 ~$25
MORE RAM ~<$50

Bull. Unless by upgrades you mean from the origonal, not "Buying the computer, then 2 years later getting this".

if you want service, you can hire someone to fix it for $30 an hour, and they should take $30. the service that the brand name companies isn't worth shit unless you're a business partner.[/quote)
Fix what? I say, If something's broken, take your valuables, put 'em on a DVD, roformat, and Boom, It's fixed and you have a fresh OS so it'll run faster and you have all your space free, so you can choose exactly what to install, so you dont have Deus Ex sitting around. Goddamn crappy game uninstalls, why can't they be like FO and delete reg entries and crap like that? If it's a hardware problem, go up to the company you baught it from and cram it up their ass (Don't forget to say "pleasure doin business with you, kind sir!"). The pleasure is well worth the $20 part.

[iohkus]

with any new system you should get atleast 1 GB stick of ram, if you want to do any serious gaming

and if you're going to spend more than 200 on a video card u might as well go with a 9800...

um case = aesthetics, as long as it has drive bays and places to stick fans in you're fine. but if you're over flowing at the ass with gold coins than might as well get a black antec with like glow in the dark rims and exhaus and like lower it and stuff and get like a uber gold plated spoiler!!111

[Ruben Rooben Reuben]

I have no idea what you people are talking about.

That makes my pants a little bigger than before.

[Killa-Killa]

f00l! he said $1,100 for a Gaming machine. Notice the italics? That means that Mac doesn't fulfill his needs. Try getting a machine that A. does decent gaming and B. does it for around 1,100. Fat chance

[Jimmyjay86]

Does anyone have a link to a site that explains how to spec out a power supply? I haven't been able to find a good guide. I'm figuring maybe 2 cds, one hd, 1 floppy, multimedia drive, 3d video card, sound card, modem, and maybe a network card.

[Kashluk]

Just get as big as possible and you should be fine. 400 W should be enough, no?