First build, question 2

[alcmaeon]

All right folks

As I said in my other post, I am making my first computer. It will be a gaming rig. My budget is somewhat negotiable. I'd like to focus on performance. I don't need the newest, fastest, biggest because I hate paying for something and than seeing the price slashed weeks or months later when the next newest, biggest pops on the market. I think I want to go with Intel and not AMD.

However I'd like a rig that I can turn the video/3d/ bling and eye candy effects on Direct X 9 all the way up, Eventually I will upgrade to Direct X10 levels but right now I will be happy to aim at Direct x9. I am playing DDO online and want it turned up specifically.

Is the power supply in the computer something one upgrades much or do you buy it and forget it?

I'm not sure what else I need to tell you, but hopefully you can point me in a good direction.

Thanks Again

Rich

[Katreat]

Really need a budget but here is a setup that will cost you $1000-1200.

CPU - C2D E8400
MB - ASUS P5K
PSU - 550 watt Corsair
RAM - Corsair 2GB Kit DDR2 800MHz
Video Card – GeForce 8800 GT
HD - Seagate 7200.10 or 7200.11 SATA II (Size is your choice)
Optical Drive - Lite-On DVD Burner SATA Retail (free software with retail)
Sound Card - Try the on-board sound first.
OS – Vista 32 Home Premium or XP
Case - Your choice. Try to get one without a power supply.

Alternatives to reduce price

CPU – E6550 or E6750 Both very nice mid-high level CPUs
PSU – 500+ watt units from Antec, Corsair, Fortron Source, OCZ, PC Power & Cooling, and Seasonic. Just check to see what is on sell or has rebates.

Video Card – A lot of choices here to cut costs, but performance will suffer.

For casual gaming you can go with an 8600 GT or 2600 XT. These cards can be found for around $100 and will play older games fine and most newer games on low settings but your frame rates will be nothing to brag about.

answers to questions:

If you get a quality PSU it should last you a long time. The 550 watt unit I posted would have plenty of head room for a future upgrade to video card. The video card really controls how much power you need. You could probably run a system on 450 w but then you would be looking for a new PSU everytime you changed something.

Most video cards I would recomend for a new system are 10x compatable, getting hard to find older 9x cards. If you dont care to have 10x now then you can stick with XP for the OS. It is very stable and you are probably use to it. But if you want to enjoy 10x you will have to go with Vista, I would recomend Vista 32 home premium. I am using vista now and it has been pretty stable so no real complaints.

Kat

[alcmaeon]

My budget is 4k or less but I don't need to spend that much. My focus is on wanting to turn up Directx9 all the way, I do understand about Direct x10 being out now and I would not mind having that ability to do play Direct x10, though my performance level there does not yet have to be turned all the way up like i want Direct X9 to be. Does that make sense?? Honestly I am a tech noob, I don't know what level of processor/memory/video card I need to do this. I do plan to go VISTA 32 bit, home premium.

[Katreat]

Is 4K just for the computer?

Even with that high of a budget, I would not change much. If you really want to crank everything up to max you might want to move up to the 8800 GTX (G92) 512 video card. It costs a bit more but does have a performance edge. I personally would not recommend going for a GTX, just too much money for too little gain, but it is also a wee bit faster. I think the 9XXX series is just being released also but have not read any reviews yet so not sure how they compair.

What size monitor are you planning on using?

Kat

[alcmaeon]

How much does the monitor affect my choices? Right now I have a 19 but I am thinking about going up to a 24" LCD.

[Dave21]

A 24" lcd cost like 600 + right now. If in any case, go with samsung, they are the best in the lcd market right now.

[Katreat]

First an edit since I did not catch it in the 24 hours allowed to edit posts.

The video card I meant to recommend in the post above was the 8800 GTS (G92) 512. I said GTX then when right on to explain why you should not go GTX, very confusing, sorry about that.

How much does the monitor affect my choices? Right now I have a 19 but I am thinking about going up to a 24" LCD.

You can build a very good gaming computer for under $1500 so when you posted you had a 4K budget I just wanted to get a feel for what else you might be buying. There are quite a few options to make a computer even faster but the cost of performance essculates rapidly going from very good to great.

If you where thinking about a HUGE monitor, something in the 28” to 30” range, you might consider SLI. In general I feel SLI is a waste of money. Your video cost is more than twice the price of a single card system and your performance gain can be as low as 30%. It just does not pencil out. However, there are a few cases where SLI can show significant performance increases and one of those is on very large monitors where a single card will struggle with the high resolutions.

For a 24” monitor you will be fine as long as you stick with a card with over 512 mb of on-board memory. So nothing to worry about.

Kat

[alcmaeon]

Thanks for your input Katreat!

I may have a budget of 4k but I don't have to spend it. Lol, so many other toys out there...

I have learned that I need to do a lot more reading on components. Its all Greek to me at the moment.