gaming and general use computer ... ?

[boxrick]

I worked all my summer hols trying to earn enough money for a computer , my current laptop is 2 years old , the screen is dodgy , and i cant play online/offline games anymore due to an 8 MB graphics card which struggles with quake 3 , also if i do to much at once it goes mad ( due to windows xp ) , so i NEED a new computer it isnt a case of sticking with this junk anymore.

Anyway i was going to get the money , then a friend of my dads was gonna go through building a computer with me , make sure if i got something wrong he would sort it , i could probably quite confidently put one together but i dont wanna risk all my money and there are various things im not sure about , he was also going to get the parts for me for relatively cheap , cheaper than on the internet..

a few weeks ago he got a brain abssess and went into hospital and it burst now hes critically ill , so thats aweful news in itself and for me also :/

Basically im in the position where i have a moniter , graphics card , keyboard and a copy of windows XP which prob aint the most legitimate version because its been used once , but i can always delete it from my laptop i suppose.
i have around $1600 to spend on a computer

I dont want to buy a pre made computer because they use shabby hardware , come in stupid rip off software bundles and arnt high enough spec , and also alot more costly for what they are

The computer i was going to build before was a

P4 3.0 ghz bus 800 FSB
XMS 3200 ddr ( 400 mhz? or 333 mhz cant remember) corsair RAM 2x 512 mb chips
Asus deluxe springdale motherboard.
2x 40 GB hard drives raided together with raid 0 ( i have no clue how to do this )
Good case with fans and cooling
52 speed cd reader
some creative cheap sound card
floppy drive
+ my gfx card , mouse and moniter

i still want the same spec computer but i dont want ANY software at all ontop of the charge i dont wanna pay loads of money for rip off xp when i could spend that on a better moniter for example.

i am not sure what to do , should i go to a computer guy like a small shop and ask them to build this for me. ( how much would they charge etc for this )

Should i wait 4/5 months for him to pull through and he may not yet even recover it may be a fatal injury from this absess.

Should i get some pre made junk from one of these big computer companies?


also does raiding hard drives help much on the raid 0 configuration?

[Budfred]

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

If you have done some work with computers before, you can probably build your own with some help from here and various guides that you can find all over the web. Since you want to build a high end system, you may want to see if you can find some computers that you can tinker with that are not as expensive to replace, just to get some more experience.

Keep in mind that you will need a bunch of other stuff like a case, power supply, cables and so on. If you can tell us what country/area you are in, someone can give you ideas about where to find good cheap parts...

Keep in mind that AMD chips would likely cost less and perform as well...

As for RAID0, you might want to do a search for the last week with that as a term, there have been 2 or 3 discussions about RAID this week. In using a RAID0 array, apparently you get a boost in speed, but your data is at much greater risk because if one drive crashes, you lose it all. Also, one of the regulars pointed out that the main advantage is that programs load faster, but they generally won't play any faster/better....

[boxrick]

i am currently living in the uk , would it be worth waiting for the new prescot chip's to come out and buy one of those ? also is it worth waiting for the radeon 9900 to come out or shall i just buy a radeon 5900 ultra now?

[Budfred]

It will be a while until the Prescott comes out and then it will be even longer before the software catches up. Games will probably be one of the first things to catch up, but you may want to wait a while let the bugs get worked out anyway. I am waiting the AMD 64bit chip, but I won't be in a hurry to get it when it is available....

You will have to wait for some of the video/gamer types to show up to tell you about the video card, I don't know much about them at all.

Quite a few of the regulars are from the UK, so they can probably give you a good idea of prices and places to shop...

[nimnorf2]

Hey Boxrick,
I've used this forum to build three different systems in the past couple of years. I haven't been able to "stump" the experts here yet. Building your own is a great learning experience and you'll find that you don't have to spend a bunch of time begging for technical support from some name brand yahoos who often just say, "put it in a box and send it to us and we'll keep it for a month and then replace everything and blah, blah, blah.

With $1600 you ought to be able to build a pretty decent machine.

Waiting for the latest chip set and its accompanying motherboards or the latest CPU means that you'll be paying the premium price too. If you're like me and care more about value, then last years best stuff is less expensive and usually has the bugs worked out, the BIOS updated and reviews galore, so you really know what your getting.

My humble opinion.
peace,

[iisbob]

Is there a particular reason you want a Pentium? If not let me suggest the following, { it's pretty much what i built a couple of months ago};

AMD 2500+ Barton w/Glacialtech IGLOO 2510 PRO
Abit NF7-S
WD 36.7 GB 10k SATA Raptor
2x512 Buffalo DDR400 PC3200
ATI 9800 Pro
TDK In-DVD +/- R,RW ( also does CDR/RW )
480w Truepower
Raidmax Model 268WUP(blue)
new logitech m770 cordless mouse/my old logitech cordless keyboard ( still wroks just great, no need to upgrade it :) )
and of course i've got XP pro on it ( my other PC's run Suse/2k server & Unix respectively )

Forget about the RAID setup; i see so many gamers who believe they are geting some sort of benefit from it, but what they don't realize is that RAID 0 is for mostly writing, not really reading ( and reading is where you want the speed )-and RAID 1 is great for backup-but it slows you down even more. Now i run a RAID 5 SCSI U160 setup on my home server, but for IDE-and currently SATA only stryping/mirroring are available-and unless you do a lot of video/multimedia/network server hosting-then RAID isn't really going to benefit you in day to day use, you're better off spending that money on a fast new SATA drive, or a large newer ATA133 drive.

That whole setup above ran me roughly $1200 US, and it'll be just fine for the next year or so until PCI express & the AMD64 make their " affordable" debut.

I believe that Saphilline prefers Intel so i'll let him outline a P4 system for you if you still want to go Pentium.

I would also suggest you take this oppertunity to build the system yourself, if you can follow basic instructions-you'll have no major problems.

[saphalline]

*gasp* iisbob! How could you call me Intel-only? :eek: Hehe, just kidding. I'm just happy my name was mentioned! :D :p

I don't prefer either one, I just go with what's best, but my current P4 CPU was practically given to me so that's what I'm using right now. I'm with Budfred on waiting for the AMD 64-bit chips so it's P4 until then!

Ok, boxrick, when you say you have $1600 to spend, is that in USD? I ask because you live in the UK. Also, you're asking questions about graphics cards but you say you already have one? :confused:

Anyway, assuming you must buy everything from scratch, this is what I came up with in the US...

P4C 2.4GHz
2 x 512MB DDR400 RAM (1GB total)
Abit IS7 mobo (or any mobo based on the i865PE chipset, I just happen to have this one and I think it's awesome!)
120GB SATA hard drive
LiteOn 52x32x52 CD-RW drive
Logitech Z-340 speakers
Chieftec full tower ATX case w/window & side fan spot
4 x 80mm case fans
name-brand 400-450W power supply
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB

Before we go any further, I just wanted to make some comments. So far, this comes to just under $1200 in the US, but I know the UK is more expensive. I chose a slower P4 because moving from a 2.4GHz to a 3GHz is twice as expensive ($200 more) and it's better to spend more on the graphics card than the CPU for a gaming system (to a point). You'll also notice I didn't include a sound card. The latest onboard sound is almost as good as an Audigy these days (6.1 surround sound!) and there's a lot of gamers now that use their onboard sound. I chose an inexpensive CD-RW drive, but there are many optical drive choices available so just ask. The speakers are a cheap 2.1 system that costs an average of $45 here in the US, but that doesn't stop them from being high quality. Those little suckers rock! For $250 more, you can get the near-godly Z-680's, which will uproot your neighborhood with their bass power alone! There's also some choices in between. ;) I also chose the far cheaper Radeon 9800 Pro instead of the NVidia GeForceFX 5900/Ultra because the cost difference is $100 :eek: but the performance is near identical (at least for now). Last but not least, AMD is an option, too. :D :p

I left some room to grow with the $1200 price tag, so if you want any upgrades or extras, you can get them. I'm thinking mainly of a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and maybe a copy of WinXP Pro. I realize you already have a copy, but since it's in use, why not keep that option open.

As for a monitor, that opens up a huge can of worms. There are so many to choose from. Do you want a standard CRT or a new LCD? CRT's are cheaper, which is the main issue, but also larger & heavier & more power hungry (as in electricity).

My advice on waiting is don't do it. PC technology right now is as stable as it gets, so now is as good or a better time to buy as any.

[boxrick]

some nice advice :)

i just managed to do a proper conversion my total funds are now £1400 uk pounds or

$2380 dollars from the current currency rating :)

so is it worth going for the 3 ghz , now that i got this extra money or going for the gfx card?

also what do you reckon to me importing parts etc from the US in bulk from a cheaper american shop ?
problem is i get your tax , and from july 1 'st this year i get my own tax ontop of it ! ffs what a rip off :/ i hate living in the uk :mad:
anyway it still may be a little cheaper ... unless i find a way around it by sending cash of course >.<

[Budfred]

Given shipping and all the other costs, I am guessing it would be cheaper to find out some good deals from some of our UK regulars. Talking about how much you hate living in the UK may not further that cause however...:) :p

[saphalline]

Nice to know that your budget has increased, but UK prices for computer parts are also higher, so don't start upgrading yet! Still, if you had to upgrade something, I'd say go for more CPU power. Perhaps a P4 at 2.6GHz or 2.8GHz is within your monetary limit.

Either that or do something about the missing DVD drive! :eek: That one is easy, tho, they run for a cheap $40-50 in the US (tho Budfred will tell you they run for far less with his "sales & rebates" mentality :p).

And how about your monitor? Do you already have one? 17" CRT would be minimum but I must warn you that 19" is reeeeeally nice and I can't go back now! ;)

[Budfred]

saphalline,

I actually bought my last DVD drive at Newegg... a Liteon fro less that $40 if I remember.... It is true that you can find them cheaper on sale, but they are rarely offered. The latest cool sale alternative is DVD +/- RW drives... I plan to go pick one up at Circuit City this week for $150 after rebates... (I/O Magic, not a top notch company, but they probably didn't actually build it anyway)....

[BigBlue66]

Hey Budfred, couple of weeks ago I picked up a 52x24x52 CDRW for $9.99 after rebate at Best Buy! And it works! Very well, I might add. Never heard of the brand before, (MediaStor) but what the hey? Who cares?

You must be rubbing off on me. :D

[Budfred]

I have been wondering about MediaStor because they also have a DVD +/- RW on sale for $150 after rebates this week...:) I'm glad to hear I am having some impact... I may not be the most advanced computer geek around here, but I am good at finding the sales....:D :D

[pave_spectre]

I always thought that finding the sales was a vital part of being a computer geek. How else can you be sure that you have obtained the most unusual least heard of piece of hardware around.:D