Would like some help building a good gaming PC

[hawkeye91]

Hello all --

I'm new to this forum and new to the world of PC building so as you can imagine, I'm a bit overwhelmed but excited as well. I've read a lot of the posts regarding gaming PCs and have put together some ideas but I'd greatly appreciate your expertise with a few questions...

1. Is this all really worth it? Ok, I can see without a doubt that you get far more computer for your $$ in addition to greater flexibility and upgradeability down the road by building your own. In fact, that's what has me so excited about this prospect. BUT...can a novice really make all of this come together into a system that will work and be highly reliable long-term? I see a lot of posts here about things that don't work, systems that crash all the time, etc. The last thing I want is to invest thousands of $$ only to get stuck with a pile of scrap metal that I am not knowledgeable enough to fix. I've had 3 Dells over the years and I've been very happy with everyone of them. But I know I can get so much more for my money if I go this route...provided it all works and it's stable and reliable. Otherwise, I might as well stick with Dell. I've replaced various video cards, hard drives, RAM, etc so I'm not really intimidated about the physical process of building a computer. With a good guide (like the tutorials here), I think I can pull that off ok. I just want to be confident that there's a good chance it will be as good (or better) than a pre-built system.

2. I've borrowed the following parts list from another post to avoid confusion. The thread was "My dream pc!! HELP!!! written by specialxp...http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=167890 and the parts list was provided by JER888.

Motherboard: ASUS CROSSHAIR Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard= $240.00

Processer: AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 Windsor 2.8GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor= $811.00

Memory: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory= $353.00

Video Cards: eVGA 01G-P2-N592-AX Geforce 7950GX2 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Dual GPU Video Card(x2) = $1,000

Power Supply: Thermaltake toughpower W0117RU ATX12V/ EPS12V 750W Power Supply 100 - 240 V CE, CB, TUV, FCC, UL, CUL, and BSMI certified= $190.00

Sound Card : Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum 70SB035000003 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card = $86.00 (after Rebate)

Hard Drives : Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive (x2) = $460.00

DVD/CD Reading Drive: LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM ATAPI/E-IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model SHD-16P1S = $19.00

DVD/CD Writing Drive: LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE 16X DVD Burner = $32.00

Moniter: Dell 30" UltraSharp Wide Screen Moniter =About $1550 with cable

Total Without Case = $4741.00


I really liked that thread and the discussions, but my goals are slightly different:

a) I want a big-time game machine that will stay relatively current for a few years. So I'm willing to go 4-5000 bucks if I'll get that in the end.

b) I don't need nearly the storage capacity that specialxk requires.

c) I'm Intel all the way -- Core 2 extreme X6800 2.93 GHz -- the whole nine yards (well, for now...I don't have a bottomless cash pit! )

d) I like the Silverstone case JER888 mentioned in one of his posts
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811163067

e) I will need to access my home network. Pardon the stupidity, but are network cards handled on motherboards now or will that be separate?

f) I'd like to add a TV tuner. I found the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 (1045) TV Tuner. in another thread that looks good and got approval from other posters. Any further thoughts?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...o.x=16&Go.y=32


Given that Specialxk's system above is AMD-based, how would you modify the parts list to meet my goals and ensure that everything is compatible and will work well together?

3. If you haven't already answered this above, I'm curious about Crossfire. I've had ATI cards before and been very happy with them and other posts suggest that that's what I'll be going with for an Intel system. Great! But there seems to be a bit of difference of opinion as to whether Crossfire will be needed, helpful, etc. Thoughts on this?

4. Hard drive RAID. Again...different opinions out there on this. Not sure I'll really need it. Thoughts?

Thanks for your help. I've been very impressed with the posts I've read thus far and I'm looking forward to hearing any suggestions you guys have.

Have a great night!

[TimPoet]

How come I can't see a post here for this thread?

[thefultonhow]

You can now! It was inadvertently flagged as spam by some server-side software we have in order to make the mods' jobs easier. Sorry!

[hawkeye91]

Oh Jeez I'm off to a great start. I'm talking about building a computer and so far all I've mangaged to make is spam!! LOL Thanks for the help!

[whubbard]

Ok...so you want intel...sweet (i have the x6800 and it rocks)
Here are some changes you should make to that build to make it compatible:
MB: Asus P5W DH Duluxe
Video Card: ATI 1950 (If you want nVIDIA, say so and I can fix the build right up)

For the hard drive just get one raptor instead of two, and maybe just pick up a 7200.10 Seagate 320Gb for $90, for all the storage you will ever need.

Also, If you have too much money you can get one 1950, and one 1950 Crossfire Edition, and WHOA you will have one damn sweet gaming machine.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by hawkeye91 1. Is this all really worth it?

Yes, it's worth it.

Originally Posted by hawkeye91 Ok, I can see without a doubt that you get far more computer for your $$ in addition to greater flexibility and upgradeability down the road by building your own. In fact, that's what has me so excited about this prospect. BUT...can a novice really make all of this come together into a system that will work and be highly reliable long-term?

Sure...all of us were novices once and we just gained more knowledge and experience over time. I put together my first build back in 1997 without the benefit of a place like PC Mech (built it almost without any help at all) but it POSTed first try and ran for almost 4 years before I replaced it with a faster system.

Originally Posted by hawkeye91 I see a lot of posts here about things that don't work, systems that crash all the time, etc. The last thing I want is to invest thousands of $$ only to get stuck with a pile of scrap metal that I am not knowledgeable enough to fix. I've had 3 Dells over the years and I've been very happy with everyone of them. But I know I can get so much more for my money if I go this route...provided it all works and it's stable and reliable. Otherwise, I might as well stick with Dell. I've replaced various video cards, hard drives, RAM, etc so I'm not really intimidated about the physical process of building a computer. With a good guide (like the tutorials here), I think I can pull that off ok. I just want to be confident that there's a good chance it will be as good (or better) than a pre-built system.

The hard part isn't putting the system together...the hard part is selecting the right parts that will work together well. And lot of people have problems if they:

1. Go cheap.

2. Don't know how to select the parts correctly.

3. Rush too much.

4. Assume they know something when they really don't and don't read the instructions carefully.

Originally Posted by hawkeye91 e) I will need to access my home network. Pardon the stupidity, but are network cards handled on motherboards now or will that be separate?

All current motherboards have on-board LAN (NIC/ethernet) so you don't need a separate card.

Originally Posted by hawkeye91 f) I'd like to add a TV tuner. I found the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 (1045) TV Tuner. in another thread that looks good and got approval from other posters. Any further thoughts?

Hauppauge TV tuners are fine.

Originally Posted by hawkeye91 Given that Specialxk's system above is AMD-based, how would you modify the parts list to meet my goals and ensure that everything is compatible and will work well together?

All you would have to do change the CPU, motherboard and RAM...everything else is compatible. I'd get a Fortron Source power supply instead of a Thermaltake...better quality.

Originally Posted by hawkeye91 3. If you haven't already answered this above, I'm curious about Crossfire. I've had ATI cards before and been very happy with them and other posts suggest that that's what I'll be going with for an Intel system. Great! But there seems to be a bit of difference of opinion as to whether Crossfire will be needed, helpful, etc. Thoughts on this?!

CrossFire or SLi really isn't necessary and I feel it's more of a marketing gimick to get people to spend more money buying two video cards. Besides, if you're building a gaming rig you really should be looking at NVidia based video cards.

Originally Posted by hawkeye91 4. Hard drive RAID. Again...different opinions out there on this. Not sure I'll really need it. Thoughts?

RAID 0? Personally I think don't think it's worth the trouble. Performance gain over a fast single HDD system is minimal and the risk of losing data is too high for my tastes.

Cricket

[hawkeye91]

Hi guys --

Thanks for the responses!

W -

I notice you have an ATI card in your rig but you made a reference to nVidia as well. Do you agree with Cricket about going with nVidia?

As far as the mobo goes, there seem to be a lot of good reviews on the Asus but there were quite a few problems as well and the overwhelming consensus is that their customer/technical support just plain stinks. I will assume since you recommended this board that you've had no probs with yours? Would you stick with Asus for an nVidia system or go with something else?

Cricket -

Thanks for the great info. Roger on the Fortron PSU -- I'll take a look. Is there one in particular that you'd recommend?

Can you tell me more about the nVidia cards and what you recommend specifically? I've read only good things about ATI and my personal experience has been all ATI so I don't know as much about nVidia. In fact I was under the impression that the ATI cards were better for gaming so I'm wondering if I have bad info or what may have formed your opinion. I did notice that the evga cards seem to get good user reviews both here and at newegg.

Now that I think about it, I thought I read in another post that you cannot use SLI (should I choose to go there) with Intel chipsets and you can't use Crossfire with AMD. Did I misread that? Maybe I'm losing my mind.

Thanks guys!

hawkeye

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by hawkeye91 Thanks for the great info. Roger on the Fortron PSU -- I'll take a look. Is there one in particular that you'd recommend?

For a gaming rig like yours? This one or this Sparkle Power.

Originally Posted by hawkeye91 Can you tell me more about the nVidia cards and what you recommend specifically? In fact I was under the impression that the ATI cards were better for gaming so I'm wondering if I have bad info or what may have formed your opinion.

Sorry, I'm not a gamer and don't know the different NVidia GPUs available. But glc suggests going with NVidia for hardcore gamers...that's good enough for me.

Originally Posted by hawkeye91 Now that I think about it, I thought I read in another post that you cannot use SLI (should I choose to go there) with Intel chipsets and you can't use Crossfire with AMD. Did I misread that? Maybe I'm losing my mind.

Depends on whether the chipsets support SLi or CrossFire. Again, I wouldn't even bother. A lot of gamers here say one fast gaming card is usually better than two mediocre gaming cards in SLi or CrossFire. I guess you could SLi or CrossFire the best SLi or CrossFire cards available but the cost would be pretty high and I imagine the heat they generate inside a computer case would be pretty astronomical.

Cricket

[hawkeye91]

Here's what I've come up with after a couple day's of research and a lot of reading. I've incorporated some of the suggestions here and downgraded the CPU only slightly ($400 savings goes towards other things and I can't believe I'll notice a difference). Also, everything I've read suggests that the ATI video card is the way to go. It beats the all of the nVidias except the $670 card in almost all of the benchmark tests. LOL - no way I'm going up to 670 bucks for a video card.

Any thoughts??


Case Silverstone SST-TJ05B-X ---- Still a little undecided on the case
PSU FSP Group (Fortron Source) FSP600-80GLC ATX12V/ EPS12V 600W Power Supply
Mobo Asus P5W DH Duluxe
CPU Intel Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775
HDD1 Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA1
RAM Corsair XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual
DVD1 LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM ATAPI/E-IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model
SHD-16P1S
DVD2 LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE 16X DVD
Sound Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series
Video ATI X1950XTX
Keybrd Logitech G15 2-Tone 104 Normal Keys USB Wired Standard Keyboard
Mouse Logitech MX610 931350-0403 2-Tone 10 Buttons 1x Wheel USB + PS/2 RF Laser
Monitor Dell 30" UltraSharp Wide Screen Moniter
CPU Cooler Tuniq Tower 120 P4 & K8 CPU Cooler - not sure if I really need this extra cooling?
TV Tuner Hauppauge inTV-PVR-150 (1045) TV Tuner

[blue60007]

Looks pretty healthy...

I'd stick with the stock cooling.

As for gaming nVidia vs. ATi...I don't think there's a huge difference. If you look at the benchmarks, one might be a little faster in this game but the other is little faster in that game.

[andper10]

Looks nice. I have heard that Raptor's are noisy, and I would personally spend my money elsewhere and get a Seagate 7200.10 HD (They come in 250GB - 750GB) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...l&srchInDesc=). But, considering your budget, a Raptor might be the way to go. I haven't used a raptor or Seagate 7200.10 series, so I am just going off what I have heard. If you are going to go with Nvidia, the 7950GX2 is pretty nice, but I think that the X1950XTX's GDDR4 memory makes it the better choice. That monitor is awesome! With your budget, I would go ahead and overkill on the Power Supply so that you will be able to upgrade your Video Card a few more times before you need a new PS. That said, the FSP will work fine, but If you decide to go with crossfire or SLI later on, you might end up having to get a new PSU. The Thermaltake Toughpower 700W is a very nice choice (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153035) Enjoy your build!

[newbuilder14]

I have a 74gb raptor in one the servers I made... they are loud but very fast. As for the case, that one is nice, but look at the Thermaltake Armor series - they are some of my favorites.

[hagatha]

Re-think your case choice.... Take a look at the Thermaltake Armor/Kandalf, its has much better cooling than the Silverstone.... and room for a WC setup when your ready... Are you planning on doing any OC'ing? Those 1950's generate alot of heat!!!

Lee

[blue60007]

If you can find a case that has some type of hard drive dampening mounting (like rubber on the sides) it'll silence the Raptor pretty well. A Raptor mounted directly on steel will be pretty load, but sandwiched between rubber mounting (or something similar) dampens the sound fairly well.

[hawkeye91]

Hi all --

Well I've taken the plunge...placed my order with newegg this afternoon. I'm very happy with my selections and appreciate everyone's input along the way. Unfortunately, I didn't see the last few posts before ordering but I think everything is gonna work out just fine. At this point, I don't plan to do any OC'ing -- don't think I'll need it right away and I don't want to push my luck on my first build (at least not at the beginning). The case has plenty of room, so if I need additional fans or a CPU cooler, there should be ample space for those. Thanks for the heads-up on the Raptor noise...I'll see if I can come up with something that might help pad it a bit.

Thanks again for all the help so far everyone. Now I'll just wait a few days for the parts to get here and then the fun begins! I'll let you know how it goes.

hawkeye