I dont know how to shop 4 a highEnd comp (no forum rules are broken inthis post)

[Doc_Holiday]

If all you are able to educate me on is a website that will help me choose whats best thats still very good help.

(I won't be talking about any specific company or specific person In this post.) Hi guys, I know your not going to be able to say to much because of board rules, and I also realize what I wrote was really long, but I have tried and tried in books and on the Internet and if you would even just skim part of it you will be helping me greatly. :) The thing is the more I read about Computers, the more I get confused. SO PLZ HELP ME OUT in whatever way you cant.

I'm looking for a Gaming PC that is $1,300.00 or lower, if there is a computer worth the price I will be willing to $1,600.00. (By the way Plz excuse
the spelling.)

Thing's that I want or don't:
________________________________________________

1. The computer I am going to buy MUST have a Quad
Core processor (in fact I may be adding liquid coolant just
to make sure it's at a good temp.)

2. I also would like an excellent video card. Video Cards
like most other things on computers don't have only a few
things for you to look on the box to see which ones best.
Some have more memory, some have better explosions, but
if it is an expensive Video Card it is always good.

3. And then there's RAM, There are dozens of types of
RAM out there (heres just a few: SDRAM, DDR,
RDRAM, DDR2, DDR3....) and even those are broken up
into more categories and I've tried and failed to
understand. All I know is some have a higher capacity of
RAM, some are faster at moving it, and some do both.
4. I love Sound Cards! But because I only have ($1,300.00
- $1,600.00) to spend on this computer I am willing to
allow it to not be AS great, until I get the dollar back.
(A very well known Sound Card maker's most expensive
card went for $270.95)

5. I would like a 300Gig Hard Disk. (This isn't quite that
important so I can sacrifice a bit of the memory.)

6. I currently use a Wireless Network at home, and I don't
think I will change it, because it works so much better but
even at my house the Internet is slow as the DMV in
January! So if there is a piece of technology that can
speed up my wireless I'd appreciate it.

6. I always LOVE a computer that is capable of being
heavily upgraded extending their lifetime.
7. I don't want a laptop. The battery technology that we
have right now, is not close to acceptable. Also LCD
screens hurt my eyes.
________________________________________________
Here are the things that I need sorted by their importance:
________________________________________________

1. I simply must have a Quad-Processor, it has to for
my games to be fun.

2. An 'Excellent' Video Card (However multipal Video
Cards are totally useless.)

3. Random Access Memory is next.... but RAM is to
complicated for me to be even able to take a guess at what
I should be buying. (3Gigs would be nice though.)

4. I would also like a 200-300Gig. Hard disk.

4. Sound Cards are my next love about computers
(especially the Ultimate ones :) But these cards can be as
expensive as a high-end Video Card.

5. Upgrade ability is the fifth best part about computers
like that.

6. I would also like to see, the wireless network at my
house get faster because I don't believe it uses a standard
network card, but I am not sure if that one is possible but if
it is I would be happy to know.
________________________________________________

I would like to thank anyone that even read this whole
boring plea of mine. (I doubt there was 4) But if you are able to in any possible way I would appreciate it. (without violating board rules
of course:)

[George Hallam]

right my advise is weight a month or so because Intel is releasing new 45nm CPU's and therefore new MOBO's will be released

1. yep a quad core is always a must in new builds but in a few months we will be able to recommend them, but water cooling it not necessary unless you do serious OC'ing (which is not advised here)

2. video cards well Nvidia has just released the new 8800GT which is half the price of the top card the 8800GTX and only 15% less performance but ATI are releasing there in two weeks so you could do with waiting for them just so we can compare benchmarks etc.
(However multipal Video
Cards are totally useless.)
:eek: who ever told you that should be shot they can up the performance by 50-80% and with the new 8800GT its well worth is due to 2 costing the same as a 8800GTX it will kick its a$$

3. ok at the moment the older/current RAM DDR2 is fine for everyone and is VERY affordable but DDR3 is the future but it costs an arm and a leg and will not really be used to it full potential within the next year or so and only then will it become affordable
-4Gb of RAM is the sweet spot for vista BUT it has to be 64 bit (32 bit only can use 3Gb)
-Corsair, Kingston, crucial, OCZ and Patriot are all good makes and at DDR 2 800Mhz or DDR 2 1066Mhz you cant go wrong try a look at some of these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220227
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227195
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145179

4. not up-to-date with sound cards but i know you cant go wrong with creative X-FI something like this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102005) should be quite nice

5. HDD space is really cheap you can pick up a 320Gb for next to nothing

6. upgradeability is always important in a build thats why im recommending you wait a few months so you can get the new hardware that will be supported for the next 2 years

7. not sure about Wi-Fi to get faster network get a faster router and a good fast card for your PC

that should give you a good read

i would love to recomend products but with whats coming up in the next few months its hard to

and also welcome to http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/5026/pcgubbbea972wy2.png

[saphalline]

1) - Your quad-core CPU requirement is going to take a huge chunk out of your budget, but so be it. Upcoming games will definitely use it so I can't fault you for that. If you want the most efficient quad-core CPU, you'll be wanting Barcelona, AMD's new release later this month. A nice quad-core Phenom will be quite excellent. If you want a good quad-core from Intel, however, you'll have to wait a few more months. Intel's Penryn knocks the socks off their current line-up! And in the case of the affordable Q6600, it gets spanked all night even by Intel's new dual-core! :eek: Definitely wait on that.

2) - GeForce 8800 GT!! Or wait for AMD's new GPU. Either way...

3) - Dual-channel kits of DDR2-800 or DDR2-1066. Anything slower or faster is not worth it. Pick your size. The current favorite is a 2GB kit (2 x 1GB sticks) but you can get 4GB kits, too.

4) - For gaming, you need an X-Fi! If you can fit it into your budget, the X-Fi Xtreme Gamer retail version. Not the Fatal1ty or anything, just the plain sub-$100 Xtreme Gamer. Worth every penny! Consider it icing on the cake, though. You can get by with onboard audio and upgrade to an X-Fi later, like you said.

5) - 400GB SATA 300 hard drives with 16MB caches are less than $100 USD these days. This won't be a problem!

6) - Standard components. That's all you have to worry about. If you can get a boutique vendor to build you a system using standard components, you'll never have to worry about upgradeability.

7) - Seems easy enough - just don't buy a laptop! :p But have you looked at current LCD monitors? Like really looked at them? The good ones with 1440 x 900 resolution and 4ms access times? Take another glance and see if you still have issues.

Wireless isn't a problem. Try to stick to the same manufacturer for all your network hardware, though. Seems to work best that way. And get N stuff! Then run it at G speed. :p

[Budfred]

I am not sure what rules you are worrying about violating... If you are asking for advice comparing computers from 2 companies or something like that, we have no problem with you naming things or whatever... If you want to promote a particular company, then yes, we don't allow that... If you want to get an idea of what isn't allowed, look at the garbage in Bit Bucket...