OT: PC Gaming Hardware Thread

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:41 am

fsquid wrote:How many parts go into a system?

1) Computer Case

2) CPU

3) Motherboard

4) System Memory

5) CD/DVD/RW Drive

6) Hard Drive

7) Power Supply

8 ) Video Card

9) Sound Card *Optional as 95% of all motherboards have built in audio.*

drbaseball · Post by **drbaseball** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:00 am

Rodster wrote:
fsquid wrote:I'm also in the category of thinking I would feck up something by trying to put one together.
I seriously doubt that. Today's PC components are geared for the D.I.Y.'s. There is very little thought required in putting a system together. But if you really feel unnerved by the whole experience then your best bet would be to buy a customized system by Dell.

If drbaseball had gone the Dell route not only would he have saved money but also a lot of aggravation as well.

Aggrevation, yes. Money, I'm not so sure.

I am assuming, of course, that I don't end up with a $1,400 paper weight.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:23 am

drbaseball wrote: Aggrevation, yes. Money, I'm not so sure.

I am assuming, of course, that I don't end up with a $1,400 paper weight.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/ ... WPF4&s=dhs

I just priced a XPS 210 that starts at $999 and includes an Intel C2D E4400 CPU, 250GB drive, 2GB RAM, and a 19"flat panel monitor add a video card and you have a nice system.

*search the net for Dell Coupons and the price drops*

The one benefit to a Dell system is chances are 95%, they install what they say. They don't leave plastic wrappers on the video card or disconnect all of your fans and claim you did it.

drbaseball · Post by **drbaseball** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:32 am

Rodster wrote:
drbaseball wrote: Aggrevation, yes. Money, I'm not so sure.

I am assuming, of course, that I don't end up with a $1,400 paper weight.
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/ ... WPF4&s=dhs

I just priced a XPS 210 that starts at $999 and includes an Intel C2D E4400 CPU, 250GB drive, 2GB RAM, and a 19"flat panel monitor add a video card and you have a nice system. *search the net for Dell Coupons and the price drops*

The one benefit to a Dell system is chances are 95%, they install what they say. They don't leave plastic wrappers on the video card or disconnect all of your fans and claim you did it.

Touche'

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:07 pm

Only nine things go into a CPU? What about testing and all that stuff you hear about. Have they made that easy for a DIY?

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:17 pm

fsquid wrote:Only nine things go into a CPU? What about testing and all that stuff you hear about. Have they made that easy for a DIY?

Really unnecessary really. It's mostly plug and play these days. It's really hard to mess it up if you follow the manual.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:59 pm

Like db said for todays rigs testing is not required, unless you plan to overclock your system. Then you test to see how far you can push your system.

For my last four systems I assembled the system and flipped the switch and I was installing the OS within minutes.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:51 pm

How much do you save % wise by building your own? Is there a guide to what parts to buy that will be compatible with each other?

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:10 pm

fsquid wrote:How much do you save % wise by building your own? Is there a guide to what parts to buy that will be compatible with each other?

The savings is negligible (if you save money at all) if you're talking about a low end system just for email and web browsing. Once you get up into the midrange and high end gaming pc's the cost savings is pretty significant...probably 30% or so.

www.tomshardware.com does guides for all three levels of systems that can help you build a system from scratch.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:25 pm

fsquid wrote:How much do you save % wise by building your own? Is there a guide to what parts to buy that will be compatible with each other?

If you are starting from scratch then you won't save nearly as much if you are upgrading several components. For instance when I first built my rig 4 years ago I had to buy a flat panel monitor case etc.

My recent upgrade only cost me $500 and I got a current Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E6750, 2GB RAM, 400GB SATA3 drive and motherboard. The key is finding a motherboard that will allow for a future upgrade. My motherboard not only accepts the latest Core 2 Duo but also accepts Intel's Quad CPU's.

There isn't a guide you'll need just commonsense. For instance if you want to run a Core 2 Duo CPU you'll need a motherboard that accepts that CPU. Motherboards either run AMD or Intel no exceptions there.

Once you settle on the CPU then you pick the motherboard. Next is the amount of RAM and speed of the RAM. After that you'll need to figure out how much space you'll need for games so you'll pick your hard drive. After that comes your video card. If you plan on running Vista do you want a DX10 card or if your running XP you might want a current DX 9.0c video card.

The last and most important piece of the puzzle is the power supply. Some make the mistake of skimping on the size of the power supply only to later deal with an unstable machine.

Oh yeah you'll need to figure out what case you'll want. That's pretty much a personal choice and sometimes is dictated by money. I personally love the Lian-Li computer cases. I have a al aluminum brush black Lian-Li case that looks similar to a Apple Power Mac case. It's well vented for heat but it will cost around $175 for the case.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:52 pm

Rodster wrote:Oh yeah you'll need to figure out what case you'll want. That's pretty much a personal choice and sometimes is dictated by money. I personally love the Lian-Li computer cases. I have a al aluminum brush black Lian-Li case that looks similar to a Apple Power Mac case. It's well vented for heat but it will cost around $175 for the case.

Just get the PC-61 Lian-Li I've got. Best damn case I've ever purchased. So quiet my dad bought one too. 100 bucks. Lian-Li is definitely the way to go.

And BTW...there are plenty of guides available on the net.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:11 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:
Rodster wrote:Oh yeah you'll need to figure out what case you'll want. That's pretty much a personal choice and sometimes is dictated by money. I personally love the Lian-Li computer cases. I have a al aluminum brush black Lian-Li case that looks similar to a Apple Power Mac case. It's well vented for heat but it will cost around $175 for the case.
Just get the PC-61 Lian-Li I've got. Best damn case I've ever purchased. So quiet my dad bought one too. 100 bucks. Lian-Li is definitely the way to go.

And BTW...there are plenty of guides available on the net.

Nice case db, but I like mine better.

http://www.silverpcs.com/images/pcv1000 ... 236581ab62

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:39 pm

Thats sweet, if you want to spend 175 bucks...I'm just saying all the Lian Li cases are awesome. I get the same functionality of the Lian Li series, without the wheels and holes. LOL...all for 1/2 the price!

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:08 pm

Agreed Lian-Li makes some of the best cases around. My second favorite is Cooler Master. I had NO problems forking over $175 for my case. It's awesome.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:34 pm

Rodster wrote:Agreed Lian-Li makes some of the best cases around. My second favorite is Cooler Master. I had NO problems forking over $175 for my case. It's awesome.

I have always wondered who was crazy enough to drop 2 bills on a case. LOL...now I know.

drbaseball · Post by **drbaseball** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:43 pm

drbaseball wrote:
drbaseball wrote:
drbaseball wrote: Yeah, I'm actually hoping as many parts as possible are fried, thus forcing them to supply new components. I can't believe I spent $1,400 for this kind of aggrevation.
Stoppped by this afternoon thinking they might have things fixed. The latest news is that the data on the hard drive is corrupted due to so many "bad sectors." The owner then asked me how the sectors could be bad when this is a brand new drive? How the heck am I supposed to know?? I then had to go home and retrieve my system disks.

So, on top of everything else, all of my work in Bioshock (75% complete) and Madden 08 (in the AFC Championship game) is hosed. GRRRRRRR!!
Now they are saying the CPU is fried. I guess this is good news as they have ordered a replacement. They claim that everything else is good.

We'll see.

Finally got the machine back yesterday. They ended up replacing the CPU and giving me a new and different motherboard. Their latest claim is that the e6600 chip was having difficulty with the ASUS p5nsli motherboard. I now have an xfx nForce 650i "ultra" motherboard. It does not have sli abilities, but I doubt I would have every used that anyway.

Bottom line is I have a new CPU and a new motherboard. I had to re-install XP, but everything seems to be working great. CPU temp stays in the mid 50s. 3dmark scores are around 8800 and stay there consistently.

Aside from the aggrevation, losing some saved games, and assuming this thing doesn't blow up today or tomorrow, it looks like this might turn out alright. My fingers are crossed.

JB

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:35 am

That's good news, man. Glad things seem to have worked out alright in the end.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 7:42 pm

I just got this new 19" widescreen LCD with a standard resolution of 1440 * 900 and everything was working fine. But now it seems like the monitor is stuck on 1280 * 1024 resolution. That's what appears when I press the display button.

The words on the screen are all blurry....

EDIT: I "solved" the problem by using the D-sub (Analog) cable with a converter instead of the DVI cable. Now the monitor is displaying at its native 1440 * 900 resolution and the text on screen is nice and crisp.

In theory the pure digital signal of the DVI cable should be better, right?

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:34 am

When should someone who uses their rig for gaming update to Vista? I'm assuming that all games going forward will be able to play on it, so is it just a matter of old games that I still play working on Vista?

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:47 pm

I suggest only upgrading to Vista when a PC game is released that you really want but doesn't run on XP.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:28 pm

fsquid wrote:When should someone who uses their rig for gaming update to Vista? I'm assuming that all games going forward will be able to play on it, so is it just a matter of old games that I still play working on Vista?

Squid, my best answer is when your hardware is capable to run it. When I overhauled my system and added 4GB of ram is when I decided to run Vista. I have thre hard drives in my system. Two of them runs Vista and the other runs XP.

I would discourage you into upgrading to Vista because your curious, wait until your hardware is up to speed and the game you really want requires Vista. I must say Vista has grown on me but I had to invest in my hardware again.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:00 pm

thanks guys, looks like my computer died finally, so I'm thinking about ebaying the parts to get whatever money for them and then looking to buy. Seems like everyone out there wants to put Vista in the computer.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:34 am

How about this one?

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.43 GHz Processor
2 GB 800 MHz DDR2 RAM
500 GB Serial ATAII 3GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
#1: 18X DVD+/-RW (+/-R DL) and DVD-ROM drive;
#2:16X DVD-ROM drive
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB Video Card
Media card reader/writer
Built-in GB Ethernet LAN 802.11g wireless network card
Realtek ALC850 7.1 channel surround sound
Motherboard: MSI P965 Neo-F mainboard
500 Watt power supply
Logitech deluxe keyboard
Logitech optical internet mouse
One-year labor and parts limited warranty
Lifetime toll-free technical support

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:41 am

fsquid wrote:How about this one?

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.43 GHz Processor
2 GB 800 MHz DDR2 RAM
500 GB Serial ATAII 3GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
#1: 18X DVD+/-RW (+/-R DL) and DVD-ROM drive;
#2:16X DVD-ROM drive
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB Video Card
Media card reader/writer
Built-in GB Ethernet LAN 802.11g wireless network card
Realtek ALC850 7.1 channel surround sound
Motherboard: MSI P965 Neo-F mainboard
500 Watt power supply
Logitech deluxe keyboard
Logitech optical internet mouse
One-year labor and parts limited warranty
Lifetime toll-free technical support

It all depends. What's the price and where are you getting it from?

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:52 am

$1300