To Dell or not to Dell...

[Gladestrider]

Great forums, first time post here so I apologize if this sort of thing gets asked too often. For the record, I did some searching for similar topics.

I'm currently using a Dell 8200 2.4, 1G, Radeon 9700 Pro, and use it almost exclusively for gaming. I was thinking about upgrading to 2G of RAM and priced a matched pair of samsung PC800 512's at about $460, but realized that my 4 slots are filled with 256's, meaning that 2G would now cost me over $900.... Obviously a foolish investment. So, I looked up the latest Dell system- the XPS Gen 4, and for around $2300 can get a 3.4G 800FSB w/ HT, 2G RAM, and a Radeon X800, XP Pro, and a 17" Flat .

I really don't want to spend over $2K for another Dell. The 8200 is a decent machine but I'm hoping I can build one for less, and end up with a much better gaming machine. I'm fairly competent when it comes to tinkering inside the box, and have fixed nearly all the PCs here at the office at one time or another. I've even built a sort of frankenstein's word processor/web browser out of spare parts laying around. The problem is, I don't have any idea what (specifically)to buy, and what's a good price to pay for said components. If anyone has any tips, suggestions, places to start, etc, I'd be very grateful if you had time to post them. If suggesting specific parts that you would recommend, I'm trying to keep the total cost for the machine itself to around $1500 to $2k tops. Keep in mind I'm not asking to have a computer built for me; I'm just having a hard time getting started. Obviously I need to decide on case, mobo, power, etc first, but it's a daunting task.

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

[Gladestrider]

Upon re-reading my post, I really didnt provide as many specifics as I thought I had. The minimum I'm looking for is a P4 3.0+, at least 1G RAM, preferrably 2G, and 256MB Card (the best one I can possibly afford). There seems to be a dizzying array of mobo's and cases to choose from, which is why I'm having a hard time getting started with this. I'd also like to have the option to overclock, since as I mentioned the machine will be primarily a gaming system.

[trowand]

Dude, when I decided to build my own computer, I read TONS of magazines and visited PC manufacturer's websites to see what parts everyone was using to build thier machines. I checked out Alienware, Falcon Northwest, Voodoo, etc. and kind of copied what they were doing. There's a magazine out called PC Modder that comes out quarterly I think. Each issue is huge and literally has dozens of different PCs built step by step with great instructions. That magazine taught me the most. Almost every PC consists of the same parts, you just need to choose how fast you want your PC to be and how much you want to spend. Building it is easy. Check out New Egg, Zip Zoom Fly, and other PC parts websites and choose what you want.

[Gladestrider]

There's a magazine out called PC Modder that comes out quarterly I think. Each issue is huge and literally has dozens of different PCs built step by step with great instructions.

That's exactly the sort of reference ideas I'm looking for, thanks!

[Cricket]

You can also browse the forums and read all the "Help me with my first build" threads...you might want to pay attention to the Athlon 64 939 threads as the Athlon 64 939 is said to be the processor to go with in a gaming rig.

Cricket

[TheJackal]

2gb of RAM would be great, but I think it might be a bit overkill for a gaming rig. You might want to get 1gb and see how your games run before you invest in more memory.

[Gladestrider]

Searching under "first build" was the key, thanks. Just had to find the right search combo, lol.

I play MMORPGs almost exclusively, mostly Everquest. These games are notiorious for being complete memory whores, and even with 1G I get a significant amount of lag in certian situations. Also, I may be running 2 instances at the same time in the near future ("2-boxing").

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by Gladestrider Upon re-reading my post, I really didnt provide as many specifics as I thought I had. The minimum I'm looking for is a P4 3.0+, at least 1G RAM, preferrably 2G, and 256MB Card (the best one I can possibly afford). There seems to be a dizzying array of mobo's and cases to choose from, which is why I'm having a hard time getting started with this. I'd also like to have the option to overclock, since as I mentioned the machine will be primarily a gaming system.

What are you willing to pay, and what do you want to have included in that price (i.e. monitor, speakers, etc. or just the box)?

[Gladestrider]

I had stated that I cold pay up to $2k but really I'd like to sat in the $1500 range. I don't need anything but the machine itself; no monitor, etc.

Instead of working like I should be doing I;ve been reading for hours (lol) and it sounds like for processors, the AMD Athlon 64 4000+ 2.4GHz "Clawhammer" Processor and the AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz "Winchester" Processor are among the favorites for gaming. Problem is that there's a huge difference in price between the two (about $300 for the 3500 vs $700+ for the 4000).

For motherboards, the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum NForce3 Ultra Motherboard is supposed to be a good one.

[Moose on the Loose]

Hi, and welcome to the forums.

First thing, if you want to buy parts : www.newegg.com is where everybody here will tell you to buy your parts. They have a broad choice, and decent prices.

If you decide to go the AMD route, then I suggest you take a look at the socket 939 AMD64 Processors, 3500+ and up, depending on your budget.

The MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum board is indeed a nice board, and one of the most highly reguarded s939 overclocking boards out there. The bad thing about it is that it does not support PCI-Express. In case you don't know, PCI-E is the follow-up to AGP, and since you're building a new computer, I strongly recommend going with the new technology, otherwise you might have a hard time finding a video card that will fit in your motherboard a year from now.

Now, the PCI-E AMD boards are new technology, and they are pretty wanted as well. Most of the time they are sold out. They come in different flavours. One type offers SLi capabilities, meaning that you have the possibility to link 2 nVidia cards together using the 2 provided PCI-E slots. The problem with these boards is
a) They cost over $200
b) You might not need or want that kind of graphical power. As of now, single card GPU's can handle all new games just fine. I don't think it's within your budget to get 2 GeForce 6800 GT cards, but you might want to get a board that offers this option so that you can add a second card later on, should you feel it is necessary.

The second type, and I haven't seen many of these yet in the USA, but I found one you can backorder here : Asus A8V-E DELUXE Via K8T890 Athlon 64(FX) Skt939 DDR ATX Motherboard (also from a reputable shop) . This costs less, because it doesnt offer the SLi feature. It uses a different chipset as well, but it's also a nice, and stable one. It's either this, or a board with the nForce 4 (Ultra) chipset, which I did not seem to find.

All of these boards are in backorder, because of the big demand for them.

RAM : PC3200 RAM. The lower the numbers on it, the better. 2-2-2-5 is best, 3-3-3-6 is the worst. The first number (CAS latency) is most important. Corsair ValueSelect, with a CAS latency of 2.5 is good, stable stuff. Getting RAM with low timings helps performance, but not by much. It's more wise to invest money in a faster CPU or a better graphics card.

Graphics card: Since you're a gamer, get good stuff. Your budget allows you to go with the x800 XT (Platinum Edition, if you can find it). PCI-E of course. If you don't want to spend that much, the Geforce 6800 GT is your second best bet. I'm not a fan of the Geforce 6800 Ultra because it's priced highly for something that isn't that much better than the GF6800GT. But maybe that's just me.

Case : personal preference. PSU : Get something around the 400 Watts from a reputable brand. Antec, Fortron Source/Sparkle, Enermax, Enlight, Thermaltake, Tagan, and some other brands are a good way to go. There is a power supply reference guide you might want to take a look at.

Hope I didn't forget anything, it's pretty late.

Regards,

Moose