My nephew needs advice on new comp build!

B

ByteGuy

Hi again guys!!!
My nephew wants me to build him a gaming computer. I thought you guys
could get us going in the right direction. I'm out of touch with the
latest and greatest items so I need help. I know you guys will come up
with better items with lower prices, especially since I don't think a
Dual Core comp is neccesary for a good gaming comp.

He is considering the following items:
PC Case :http://www.xpcgear.com/ttsharkbk.html $149.99 or
http://www.xpcgear.com/lianlipc6070b.html $159.99

Hard Drive :Seagate NL35 ST3250823NS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Serial
ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM : $114.99

CD-ROM/DVD Drive :

PROCESSOR :

PROCESSOR COOLING FAN :

MOTHERBOARD: AMD Athlon 64 FX60 Toledo 2000MHz HT 2 x 1MB L2 Cache
Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail $1011.00

MEMORY MODULES :

POWER SUPPLY : http://www.xpcgear.com/ocz45012u.html $79.99

VIDEO CARD :ATI 100-435801 Radeon X1900XT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI
Express x16 Video Card - Retail $503.00

KEYBOARD/MOUSE : http://www.xpcgear.com/logimx3000.html $59.99

OPERATING SYSTEM: Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
$109.99

MONITOR: SHARP LC20D30U Matte Black 20" 16:9 HD LCD TV - Retail
:$659.99
 
J

John Doe

My nephew wants me to build him a gaming computer...
VIDEO CARD :ATI 100-435801 Radeon X1900XT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO
PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail $503.00
Click to expand...

A less expensive, 256 MB video card is the most you need for gaming.
 
M

Mike T.

ByteGuy said:
Hi again guys!!!
My nephew wants me to build him a gaming computer. I thought you guys
could get us going in the right direction. I'm out of touch with the
latest and greatest items so I need help. I know you guys will come up
with better items with lower prices, especially since I don't think a
Dual Core comp is neccesary for a good gaming comp.

He is considering the following items:
PC Case :http://www.xpcgear.com/ttsharkbk.html $149.99 or
http://www.xpcgear.com/lianlipc6070b.html $159.99

Hard Drive :Seagate NL35 ST3250823NS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Serial
ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM : $114.99

CD-ROM/DVD Drive :

PROCESSOR :

PROCESSOR COOLING FAN :

MOTHERBOARD: AMD Athlon 64 FX60 Toledo 2000MHz HT 2 x 1MB L2 Cache
Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail $1011.00

MEMORY MODULES :

POWER SUPPLY : http://www.xpcgear.com/ocz45012u.html $79.99

VIDEO CARD :ATI 100-435801 Radeon X1900XT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI
Express x16 Video Card - Retail $503.00

KEYBOARD/MOUSE : http://www.xpcgear.com/logimx3000.html $59.99

OPERATING SYSTEM: Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
$109.99

MONITOR: SHARP LC20D30U Matte Black 20" 16:9 HD LCD TV - Retail
:$659.99
Click to expand...


I'd say he needs advice. First, a dual core computer is not required for
gaming, BUT it is recommended by Microsoft, for Vista. So don't discourage
him from going dual core. It is fricking ridiculous to spend as much on a
processor as many people spend on a whole system though. Assuming you want
a ridiculously over-powered system for gaming use, try a

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo (2.2GHz) for less than half the price. Even
that might be overkill for processing power, but it's more reasonable than a
processor that costs over a thousand bucks! The main bottleneck in a gaming
system always comes down to the video card. Any good, upper mid-range
processor should be able to keep up with even a high-end video card. That's
why I'm saying that even if you spend HALF as much money on a processor, it
still might be overkill, as you don't need a (extremely) high-end processor
for gaming.

By all means, go for the lian li case. But you need to re-think the power
supply. If you must stick with the modstream, upgrade to the 520W version
for another ~20 bucks. Even the 520 might be just adequate. A seasonic
s12-~600 would be more appropriate, but wouldn't look as cool.

You didn't mention a mainboard, but consider the EPOX EP-9NPA+ SLI nVIDIA
nFORCE4 SLI CHIPSET

For a gaming video card, the BFG Tech BFGR78256GTOC Geforce 7800GT 256MB
256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card is a VIVO card that will kick
the X1900XT's ASS, and costs a couple hundred dollars less.

For RAM, try OCZ 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200). You
will want TWO of them, but hold off on buying the other stick until after
Vista is released (so you can get the OEM discount, along with the purchase
of another Gig of RAM).

For a DVD drive, I'd suggest the latest NEC brand burner to match your case,
in a retail package version.

That should do it. -Dave
 
J

John Weiss

ByteGuy said:
My nephew wants me to build him a gaming computer. I thought you guys
could get us going in the right direction. I'm out of touch with the
latest and greatest items so I need help. I know you guys will come up
with better items with lower prices, especially since I don't think a
Dual Core comp is neccesary for a good gaming comp.
Click to expand...

Dual core may not be "necessary," but the "latest & greatest" includes dual-core
CPUs. If price overrides "latest & greatest," you can go for an FX-57 instead
of the FX-60. Since the FX-62 was just announced, prices should be slipping
soon for the earlier models.

Hard Drive :Seagate NL35 ST3250823NS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Serial
ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM : $114.99
Click to expand...

The WD Raptor is a significantly faster drive with its 10K RPM spindle speed, so
if the Raptor 150 is big enough, you may want to get that instead.
MOTHERBOARD: AMD Athlon 64 FX60 Toledo 2000MHz HT 2 x 1MB L2 Cache
Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail $1011.00
Click to expand...

That's actually the CPU spec, not the motherboard. You can save significant $$
($200 or more) with the FX-57, and upgrade later to an FX-60 when the price goes
down and everyone is selling their FX-60 to replace them with FX-62s (or
64s...). Just make sure the MoBo is capable of taking the FX-60 later.
MEMORY MODULES :
Click to expand...

Crucial, Corsair, or Kingston
MONITOR: SHARP LC20D30U Matte Black 20" 16:9 HD LCD TV - Retail
:$659.99
Click to expand...

Watch out for the monitor refresh rate specs (16 ms or less). An "LCD TV" may
not be suitable for gaming...
 
C

creAtive oBscura

For a gaming video card, the BFG Tech BFGR78256GTOC Geforce 7800GT 256MB
256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card is a VIVO card that will kick
the X1900XT's ASS, and costs a couple hundred dollars less.
Click to expand...

Are you joking me? a 7800GT is not going to kick a x1900xt's ass, not
even close!! Please talk about something you know about. An X1900XT
is a fine idea, but you are able to find better deals, check out
www.newegg.com for computer hardware deals, you can get them for like
$50 bucks cheaper possibly. Also, instead of an SLI mother board, go
for the ASUS A8N-E mother board, I have built quite a few systems with
these motherboards and have never had a problem with them.
 
M

Mike T.

creAtive oBscura said:
Are you joking me? a 7800GT is not going to kick a x1900xt's ass, not
even close!! Please talk about something you know about.
Click to expand...

I'm not kidding at all. Of course, it depends on what game you are running.
In some games, the X1900XT is faster. In just as many games, the 7800GT is
faster. In most non-game benchmarks, the 7800GT is faster. IMHO, that
means that the 7800GT does indeed kick the X1900XT's ASS.

Nvidia has a technologically better design. Older nvidia cards easily kick
the crap out of newer ATI cards. Note there is nothing wrong with ATI
cards. It is foolish to spend a couple hundred extra bucks on one, just to
get poorer performance in games, if you are building a GAMING system,
though. -Dave
 
J

John Doe

creAtive oBscura said:
Are you joking me? a 7800GT is not going to kick a x1900xt's ass,
not even close!! Please talk about something you know about. An
X1900XT is a fine idea,
Click to expand...

It's a fine idea because the 7800GT does not kick it's ass and it
costs only $300 more?
 
C

creAtive oBscura

The 7800GT isn't even used on the majority of the benchmarks that I
compare with, i.e. people have moved on to either the 7900GT or just
the 7800GTX. Here is one of many benchmarks that compares a 7800GTX
512mb ( in other words, the fastest 7800 made ), 7900GT, 7900GTX,
X1800XT, X1900XTX, X1900XT, and an overclocked X1900XT. You can look
over these and interpret them for yourself. The main point is, a
7800GT is not worth your money if you are going Nvidia or ATi. Here
are the two cards I would recommend, and both are much cheaper than
even a 7800GT, while being much better! Of course it all depends alot
on the games you will be playing.

This 7900GT is the next step up from the 7800GT, and is nearly $50
cheaper. Much better idea to go with this than the 7800GT if you are
going Nvidia.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130015

This X1800XT should fit all of his gaming perfectly.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102698
 
J

John Doe

I'm disappointed with ATI's drivers, which is another consideration.
Maybe a reinstallation of Windows XP will help me. Will see.
 
C

creAtive oBscura

I use an ATi card, and ATi's CATALYST works great for me along with all
of the drivers, I've never had a complaint.
 
J

John Doe

I use an ATi card, and ATi's CATALYST works great for me along
with all of the drivers, I've never had a complaint.
Click to expand...

That blurb is hardly meaningful. If 50% of users have no complaints
and the other 50% have complaints, that's not good.

You also recommend the X1600Pro, probably with no hands-on
experience. I fell for that one. A clean reinstallation of Windows
XP hasn't helped. Apparently the drivers and/or the card have some
problems. For the first time, I have had hard crashing in Windows
XP. I'm disappointed but not surprised that the X1600Pro price has
dropped significantly since I bought it two months ago.

I've been very actively doing Windows since 3.1 (and DOS before
that, and others before that). I've been doing dual monitors since
Windows 95.
 
C

creAtive oBscura

I do indeed have hands on experience, expecially with the X1K series.
I do the majority of work on all of my friends' systems, and I have
just recently installed an X1600XT, which is quite superior to the PRO,
I admit that. I wouldn't happen to know whats wrong with yours that
you have so much trouble with it though, I tend to like using ATI in my
friends' systemst though, and we all do quite a bit of gaming and they
all love their systems and are having no problems with their drivers,
or ATI catalyst/control center. My other friend has an X1600Pro in his
laptop though, and I don't understand how so many companies would choos
the X1600 if they would be having problems with it. His laptop is an
Acer, Apple also uses the X1600 in many of their products.
 
J

John Doe

I do indeed have hands on experience,
Click to expand...

Do you top post intentionally so you can comment out of context?
I wouldn't happen to know whats wrong with yours that
you have so much trouble with it though,
Click to expand...

Maybe you don't use an X1600Pro and dual monitors, though.
I tend to like using ATI in my friends' systemst though,
Click to expand...

Do you really, though?

Whatever.

<Snipped lots of shilling for ATI>
 
C

creAtive oBscura

Well he is most likely not going to use dual monitors, and even if he
is, I doubt he will have the same problems as you, and yes I actually
do use ATi cards in my friends' systems. You just might be a one in a
few hundred or thousand that is having a problem with their ATi card,
so please just can it and quit trying to ruin it for everyone else.
 
J

John Doe

Well he is most likely not going to use dual monitors, and even if
he is, I doubt he will have the same problems as you,
Click to expand...

Do you realize that has no technical meaning?

You have no idea what causes the problems I'm having with dual
monitors and the X1600Pro so there's no way you could have a clue
about whether another system would have the same problems.

You sound like an ATI fan boy.
 

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