Gaming Questions

[MISTechE]

Hello All. This is my first time posting on this site, so i'll just get on with it. I want to build the ultimate gaming computer. i already have all the externals ie. monitor, speakers, ect... all i need to do is build the tower. I need some suggestions on mother boards, chips ect.. in other words including all hardware what do i need to order to build a supreme computer tower?

you can either post or e mail me at TMogren@bcrslaw.com

Thank You.
Travis Mogren

 

[Itsme]

Well...it really depends on how much you want to spend. There are quite a few things that you need inside:
PSU (Power Supply Unit)
Motherboard
Processor (w/ fan and heat sync)
RAM
CD/RW/DVD/RW Drive(s) (Pick which you want)
Floppy Drive
Hard Drive(s)
Graphics Card
Sound Card
Networking Card
Extra cooling (fans etc.)

I could go on and on, but those are the main things that you would need. You should go to somewhere online (newegg, pricewatch, etc.) to look at each of these things to find what you want. Once you find what you want, the assembly isn't extremely hard . If you want helop with actual brands etc, you have to concentrate on each of these things at a time, and then ask. Good Luck.

Itsme

 

[Barrett]

You said the ULTIMATE gaming computer so I'm going to list the top of the line products for each component!

Video Card: New nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra, Ati X800 Pro, or Ati X800 XT PE (Platinum Edition). Different models can be bought from different companys. Some come overclocked, etc... If you want top of the line go with the 6800 "ultra" or the X800 XT PE!

Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2ZS, if you want you can go with the 2ZS Platinum, but IMO it's overkill!

Proccessor: You can go with AMD or Intel. For AMD the top of the line proccessor is the FX-53. For Intle it is the Pentium 4 EE (Extreme Edition) in either a 3.2 or 3.4 ghz edition. IMO the P4 isn't worht the extra money, you won't see a noticible improvemnt in gaming performance. If you want to step it down a notch you could go with the AMD 3400 which is IMO the next best proccessor for gaming.
One quick little fact the AMD 3400 beats the P4 EE 3.4 in 2 different graphics benchmarks. TAKE THAT INTEL!

Motherboard: Don't know much about this!

Hard Drive: Top of the line would be 2 Western Digital 74gb Raptor's in a raid formation. You could go with 2 36gb Raptors if you don't want the extra space. IMO if you want top performance you must use RAID and go with 10,000 speed drives.

CD-RW, DVD-RW: Don't know much about this. I know Plextor is the best brand and go with a speedy drive if your inot burning CD's and DVD's.

Memory: Go with 1 gig of memory. Corsair is the best i think. I don't know a lot about this so go with what is expensive.

Case: I reccomend a high end case with lots of cooling options. I would suggest either the Antec PlusView 1000 AMG or the Coolermaster Wavemaster case.

Extra Crap: I would also figure in the costs of IDE cables, lighting for a your case (if you want), a power supply(at least 480 wts),cooling fans 3 or more IMO, and a decent CPU cooler.

If you have any more questions or concerns, let me know!

 

[Lord Kalthorn]

Oh no! 2 different Benchmarks! What a wallop that must be to Intel?! (just had to get that bit in)

But basically, everything other than the above advise I would agree with Barrett on; also saves me typing it all out. For Graphics I would recommend the 6800 Ultra over the X800.

Tell us what you go for.

 

[MISTechE]

ok one more question. what kind of mother board do i need to get. this is the only problem i have. i have soo much input on ram, video cards, sound cards ect.. but nobody has told me what kind of mother board i need. and ofcourse thats about the only thing i'm totally clueless too.. so go figure.. =)
thanks for all the input

 

[Lord Kalthorn]

Erm... Generally you get the board based on your Processor choice - which, at least for me, is why I didn't include a recommendation for such. But if you want one; I would recommend a MSI Motherboard (what I use; highly recommended by myself): one which supports AGP8x (for the Card) and whatever Processor you intend to get after all.

A site which has many motherboards is Overclockers UK. Another idea, although they don't sell them they give you the numbers to search for: Motherboard for AMD64 Processors or Motherboard for Intel P4 HT EE (supports DDR2 400/533 also). I don't know the price of these; as it doesn't say on the page.

Good luck with it; it would be nice to know what you chose.

 

[Barrett]

I don't know much about motherboards, like I said, but I do read Maximum PC. A great magazine I might add. In their may issue they did a motherboard shootout between two AMD FX-53 Mobo's and two Intel P4 EE Mobo's. All four of these are very good Mobo's in my opinion and offer a wide array of features. For AMD they reviewed the ASUS SK8N and the SK8V. The SK8N recieved an 8 out of 10 and the SK8V recieved a 9. For gaming with the AMD proccessor I would go with the SK8V. Not only is it better looking cosmetics wise, but it scores better fps in gaming vs. the SK8N and has more features such as the ability to run DUAL RAID and a Wi-Fi connector. Not sure what a Wi-Fi connector is, lol, but it muct be good. You really can't go wrong with either board, IMO, they are both great values.

I'm much more informative about AMD rather than Intel, but I will just use qoutes form the magazine. The two Intel mobo's that were compared were the MSI 875P Neo vs. the PT880 Neo. The magazine rates the 875P a "9" and the PT880 an "8." As far as presentation goes the 875P Neo takes the cake. It is a beautiful board, and the heatsink fan lights up in blue and red! The 875P also wins against the PT880 in features. It has 8 high speed USB 2.0 ports, and quad SATA RAID. It also features four light up LED's inicating what goes right-or wrong- when booting up your PC. The PT880 comes close but can't quite beat the 875P when it comes to features. I won't even bother going trought gaming performace with these boards. All I will say is that the 875P Neo destroys the PT880 in almost every gaming, cpu, and memory benchmark. If it sounds like I am biased twoards the 875P, it's because I am. IMO it is a much better board than the PT880 and it only costs 80$!, half the price of the PT880. If your using an intel proccessor, go with the 875P Neo, hands down.

I hope this was of some help. Let me know if you have any more questions.