So I'm thinking of building a new tower

Yea, so this is what im thinking of doing. I'll have a monitor/keyboard/speakers so here's the lowdown.

 

I'll have a budget of somewhere between 700-1000 bucks. I know several people who can build them, and i have basic knowledge of how to piece them together, but never have done it. Anything you guys would consider a must have? I'm looking for a 256 vid card, but im not so sure where to go processor wise. Intel has been my baby forever, but im open to new things. Ok, ending this, any thoughts/comments about what/where to buy would be appreciated.

http://www.newegg.com/

 

Pretty much everyone I know is running an Athlon 64 processor on a DFI motherboard. Don't know the particulars because I'm too broke to buy them for myself right now :-\

I am not entirely sure on these things but I did build mine when I got it. I have an intel processor because they are top notch for multi tasking. AMD is better for gaming if thats all you plan to do on the machine. Celeron (sp) I believe is more of a word processing processor. They can be used for gaming but there are better. As far as vid cards go though I'm not sure if your going to be able to find a 256 card for less than 450. That said I am from Canada so that is a canadian price.

 

Other than that its like lego. You can only put a piece in one place.

I'd go for the AMD 64bit CPU's. Thats going to be the future of computing, better to get in now then buy something thats already phazing out.

 

Heres why a 64bit coputer is vastly superior to the 32bit one that you are running:

 

"The 64-bit CPUs can handle more memory and larger files. "The advantage of 64 bits is it gives you a larger address space, which means it lets you address more memory," Krewell says. Today's 32-bit Intel and AMD chips can address up to 4GB of memory (an Apple G4 unit can address 2GB). In Windows-based machines, that 4GB is split between the operating system and the applications. That means the most memory any given application can access is 2GB."

 

"A 64-bit processor, on the other hand, can address up to 16 exabytes of memory (that's over 16 billion gigabytes)."

 

In short, the limit on the 64bit CPU's virtual memory is about 1 terabyte. If that means nothing to you, it's about 50% more the all the printed information in the library of congress. (the above was quoted from PC world.)

That all being said, you've got to have an OS that can handel that newfound power or you'r running the CPU at 1/2 it's potentail. Enter Windows XP 64, or anything written in linux. MAC OS X ftw. God I love that thing.

moving along.

 

RAM is critical, I can't say that enough. When you drop some coin, drop it huge on RAM. I recent'y did a $500 overhaul of my system, $300 of that was on RAM alone. Incase you were wondering this is my RAM. Little bastards dropped the price, #$@!.

 

I'm current'y running an older design Socket A (AMD) processor, but thats for monatery reasons, I'll be upgrading this Christmas. AMD has been my personal favorite for years, I've just been much more pleased with my AMD computers then my intel models, I can't really quantify it, I just like them better.

 

Make sure that your case has a power supply that is adaquite for your needs, i.e. if your going to be running a massively powerful Vid card, 350w is the minimum. I personaly like to up that, but thats just me.

 

Boards from ASUS, Abit, Gigabyte, and Biostar (there cheap and mostly realiable) are good buys, the first 3 more then the last. I equate biostar to a Kia. Sometimes there amazing, other times there noting but junk, I've experienced both.

 

Vid cards are also massively important. For the $$ I think that this is a good buy. Decent power for the coin. Just someting to consider. One final thought, keep a close eye on not only the VidRAM size, but also the speed, a faster frequency RAM module will be able to process the data faster and not need to store it. Once again, memory is a key component, I can't stress that enough.

 

Hope that this was of some help, you probably knew most of this anyway.

Your just that leetcake

pricewatch.com is a great site to find your parts at the lowest possible price.

 

Try to go with an Asus motherboard and Western Digital hard drive because they have a 3 year warranty.

 

BFG for video and Kingston for memory because they have a life time warranty.

 

If you don't want to go through the hassle of building your own rig, Dell does make a great computer these days and even I have been tempted to just get one of thier's so I don't have to worry about when I bought which part and all the parts are put together for you

 

Intel or AMD, your choice. I've been using Intel for the last year and have been really happy with it, about 10% less CPU utilization playing WoW on my 3ghz Intel compared to Luc's 3400 AMD. I don't know how that would change though compared to a 64 bit AMD.

 

Go ahead and treat yourself to 2gb of memory, you will be glad you did

aye, i will probably end up splurging a ton more since my birthday is also right around the corner from xmas. But, another thing id be curious about is nailing down a 60g 10krpm HD to a master/slave setup with the other 2 hd's in Raid 0. [Dont remember how to do this =/ ]. but, the thing that kicks me in the ass is half the time im multitasking, half the time im playing video games, and i like being able to do both. Ive got a XPS gen one sitting at home thats probably just being used as a word processor. but the gen one's are trash now adays. I know my mom is gong to flip shit when she hears about these plans, because she wont get why my laptop cant handle my needs. anyways, thanks for the input, and I might seriously consider the 64 bit. Sunovabitch, im going to have to pay for software at some point. boooo

Are you thinking about hard drives too?

 

Personally, I think if yours work, then stick with them until they don't. The price of HDDs has been dropping so damn fast that it's a waste of money to buy them if you don't absolutely need the space. I run 3 x 160GB Western Digitals (all of which are full too >.

 

Oh yeah, to agree with Ecth, spend some cash on memory if you can. I really regret not doing this with my current system. I just bought a couple sticks of Kingston 512 and am not entirely happy, even though it saved me a few bucks at the time. I really don't know what's good and what isn't, or what all those funny numbers on the box mean, but I do know mine is cheap middle of the road ram. It barely handles something like WoW. I think it had a seizure when I attempted (I emphasize the word "attempt") to run Quake 4.

Here's my 2 cents. IF you want to be really happy for some time plan on spending more then your initial plans. As stated Quality memory is very very important. Buy the best you can afford. Memory is graded by the quality and make sure it is quality. Some mobo's will choke on cheap memory (from experience). I would say 1gb at least for memory. I'd reccomend 2gb as well. If you can afford it get 2 1gb sticks cuz the board you chose will probably support Dual channel which accesses the memory much faster.... well, more at one time. Hard drives I agree if what you have is working for now stick with it. Unless you plan on doing alot of downloading the speed of the drive is not the biggest problem... yet...... I have a friend that is going to 15k scsi drives cuz his internet pipe is faster then his hard drives.

 

Video Card: I use a ATI raedon 6800xt and it is ok. Although I don't have as much luck with the ati as I did nvidia. Rodarn will tell you he gets the VPU crash bug sometimes just like I do. I believe it to be related to my mobo using a nvidia chipset. (read some posts about this buggin it)

 

Processor I'd say do the AMD. You need the capability the AMD has for games, and only want it for multitasking For the $ amd is cheaper and better overall in my opinion. Although intel is better for Biz apps, AMD is definatly better for games, as well as AMD usually have good overclocking abilities.

 

Mobo, look for a board with a zillion BIOS options. By this I mean being able to fine tune you pci, memory etc settings. My mobo although old lets me fine tune every aspect of timing and frequencies for the memory, agp and pci slots .....

 

One last thing. Don't but the newest on the market, nor go for something old. Try to find a happy medium. Time has told that the newest is going to be buggy and you will be constantly upgrading software/firmware. Old will just put you in a position to need to upgrade in the near future.

 

Take your time deciding. When you think you have chosen everything you want, do some reseach on the manufacturer websites to see if anyone has posted problems with compatibility using Xcard with xboard and so forth.

 

Power supply's are usually overlooked when building a system. Here you want a powerfull supply but one of the biggest things to look for is how true the voltage remains. Some power supplies would shock you on how much the voltage may vary. While this doesn't seem like a big deal, electronics are built to run at a certain voltage. When the voltage changes it can put un-needed wear on a component in the computer. And with the high frequencies that computers are using now, that can be a big difference in dependability/longivity. My power supply currently is a 480w True Power Supply. Antec makes there true power supplys have a tolerance of +-3% which is well under the +-5% Intel reccomends.

 

By now you are probably getting a head swell from all the info we have posted. But, one last thing. If you are going to spend the money to make a nice bad ass toy, DO NOT forget to consider getting a UPS to keep it safe. I reccomend getting one strong enough to power your computer modem/routers. Although it's nice to have one strong enough to support your monitor as well, if I remember correctly most power supplies don't reccomend plugging monitors or printers into them.

BFG for video card. That is all I got.

EVGA for video card...

 

Lifetime warranty plus you can upgrade within 90 days if something else comes out.

 

Check out their step up program.

sorry gryph

 

EVGA FTL

 

BFG and MSI FTW

The battle continues! Titans locked in eternal combat!

 

i bought a 3800 dul core kl8n sli board , with a 6200 256 gforce card , i gig of ddr 400, case , three extra fans , heat sink, i already had everythig elkse i got it for 730 bucks i have been happy with it so far

 

 

skee