Building a good gaming rig

[Hammyton]

Basically I have been a dirt poor college student for a while and just graduated with a full time job... so basically living single I have more money than I know what to do with and would really like to get a decent computer for once

I am really out of the hardware loop, however. How much should I expect to spend to build a brand new gaming rig that can run games like Crysis (not necessarily on the highest details).

Any input is much appreciated,
THanks

 

[disports]

For one, read the sticky at the top of the General Hardware forum. It also depends on if you're reusing old parts.

An example, based on newegg prices, would be:

E8400 + Asus P5Q Pro ($274.68 combo)
WD 640 GB ($74.99)
Sapphire HD 4850 ($139.99 after mail in rebate)
G.Skill DDR2-800 ($59.99)
Any DVD Burner = $25-$30
PSU: Corsair 550VX ($77.99 after mail in rebate)
Stock HSF unless you're overclocking heavily
Whatever case you like
OS
Probably like $700-$1000

 

[sonnygdude]

Aw c'mon, he's got cash now, let him stretch his legs a little. "Money's like manure - it's no good unless you spread it around"

For $1500-$1700 there are some nice steps up. Think about Vista x64 and 8GB of RAM to feed Vista's superfetch (definitely a luxury though, not a necessity, but with 4GB at about $60 you might as well get the extra!).

The WD 640 GB is a great drive, maybe add a smaller fast HDD as an OS drive?

And the HD4870 1GB would be a nice card to have if you wanted to run 1920x1200 on a 24" monitor - a lot of reviews suggest the HD4850 and even the 4870 512 might peter out at that res (see Apoppin's posts). If you want to go crazy maybe a 4870x2 is an option. That would probably require a bump to a 650-700W PSU though.

 

[disports]

I know, I'm just saying. He did say "decent computer," whatever that means. By all means, I'm all for getting the best computer you can buy, but there's no need spend recklessly if you can find good deals!

 

[DSF]

You really need to decide how much you're willing to spend. We could throw out all kinds of parts, but there's no sense in us doing that until we have a better idea of what you're looking for.

As someone said, answer the questions in the stickied thread.

 

[Roguestar]

Step 1) Decide on spending $1000.
Step 2) Bounce some ideas from the sticky off posters in this thread.
Step 3) Purchase, build and enjoy a great computer.

If you can decide what kind of money you're willing to spend you'll get some more solid recommendations, but suffice to say if you pick $1000 as a budget, you'll get a great PC.

 

[SolMiester]

Wahey, how about a nice SAS Raid controller with RAID 10 4 x 300, SAS 2&1/2" drives....hmmmmm

 

[Hammyton]

Thanks for your input guys, but is it really a good idea to be running Vista? From my experience it's just a lot slower but then again I've never used it on a really fast computer before

 

[sonnygdude]

Dude, if you're going to build a new computer why would you build one that isn't fast enough to run Vista? My rig can get me from power on to playing games in 70 seconds, that includes the antivirus software going through all its startup histrionics.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: Hammyton
Thanks for your input guys, but is it really a good idea to be running Vista? From my experience it's just a lot slower but then again I've never used it on a really fast computer before

Therein lies the catch. Vista isn't the kind of thing you should run on and old PC. If you throw more resources at it, it'll do more with them than XP. Vista is the way to go for a higher-end PC.

 

[BenSkywalker]

A) Fire out a price range

or

B) Tell us what kind of performance you are looking for

People here can work with one or the other, right now the possibilities are just too large based on your limited criteria given. The above outlined spec is a nice low end gaming rig to play around with, certainly run most games out fairly decently. From there you can go up to phase change tri sli 2800gtx setups running 3-4K not including monitor- that would be much, much faster(and ill advised IMO ). If you have cash to burn, and it was me, I'd be looking at building a rig around a 30" display with something along the lines of a 4870x2 or 260-216s in SLI driving it, quite a bit more coin then the system outlined above, but oh so nice

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Hammyton
how much should i expect to spend?

I am really out of the hardware loop, however. How much should I expect to spend to build a brand new gaming rig that can run games like Crysis (not necessarily on the highest details).

$1,372.83

 

[disports]

lol that's awfully specific blain!

 

[Murloc]

what is your monitor resolution?

if you play @ 1280x1024 there's no point to spend very much.

 

[TidusZ]

People refer to the HD 4850 as if it is some mainstream card that's nto going to run today's high end games at 1680x1050 or 1920x1200. My 8800gt runs Crysis more than playable at 1680x1050 and reasonably at 1920x1200. The HD 4850 is going to run everything currently out at 1920x1200 playable or better, and thats a fact. The 4870 is better and will let you turn everything up and get close(r) to 60 fps, but the 4850 isn't some 1280x1024 "I don't know what my cpu is but it says compaq on the box" sort of thing. That said, kid says he's got money so might as well bump it up.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: smithrwon
lol that's awfully specific blain!

Perhaps it highlights how totally unspecific OP's original question was? No details as to which parts are required (monitor?), or whether he's bothered to read the sticky.

At least OP has returned to the thread: yes, you should be building around Vista64, unless you have a specific reason for sticking with another OS (XP32 license, Linux penguin fan, etc).

 

[disports]

I know, I kid.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: Blain
$1,372.83

:laugh:
:beer:

I suppose you have the complete parts list spec'd out there for that cost, too, right?

 

[Hammyton]

LOL after reading everyones replies I realize how inadequate my original post was! Sorry for not giving you guys enough to work with, I had no idea monitor resolution was even that big of a deal because I have only ever run games at 1024x768.

I was planning on sticking with my current 17' CRT that I'm runing at 1152x864 right now; I never really saw a monitor as something I needed to sink extra money into. Based on what you guys are saying the difference between the medium-end and higher-end video cards is just being able to run the same games at really high resolutions, which isn't really something I was considering doing anyways.

As far as price range goes I am willing to spend exactly 1,372.82, or exactly less than what Blain suggested

Thanks for all your input again!

 

[damage424]

With $1,372.82 you can get a pimped out computer WITH a brand new nice lcd that supports a much high res then the one you are gaming on. And check out the last sticky on the top of this board.

 

[Hammyton]

So after doing a little more research (which admittedly I should have done before opening this thread) I made a basic list of parts:

Core 2 Duo E7200
GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Inte
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W
WD Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM 16MB SATA 3.0Gb/s

This came out to about 450 dollars, but doesn't have a Video Card. I decided to keep my current case/DVDdrive/monitor to save some bucks. I'm kind of torn on what kind of Video card to get. I've never spent more than 100 on a video card before but I really want this comp to be able to play some of those games that I haven't thought about touching (due to system reqs) for the past year or two. Would a Radeon HD 4850 be good enough to run most all games at non-super-high resolutions? I saw http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814121253 and was wondering what you guys thought.

 

[disports]

Yes, the 4850 will be just fine being run at your current resolution. You're gonna be like halfway point to that price tag of $1,372.82.

 

[sonnygdude]

Originally posted by: smithrwon
Yes, the 4850 will be just fine being run at your current resolution. You're gonna be like halfway point to that price tag of $1,372.82.

+1

The 4850 should chew up everything you throw at it, and allow you to enable max AA and all the eye candy without a noticeable drop in performance

How old is your DVD drive? The new ones are like $25 and burning on them is oh so nice

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Hammyton
Basically I have been a dirt poor college student for a while and just graduated with a full time job... so basically living single I have more money than I know what to do with and would really like to get a decent computer for once

I am really out of the hardware loop, however. How much should I expect to spend to build a brand new gaming rig that can run games like Crysis (not necessarily on the highest details).

Any input is much appreciated,
THanks

ROFL...

there is such a hugh difference between a 1000 dollar computer and a 3000 dollar computer.

Example:
3500 dollar computer:
http://i125.photobucket.com/al...aigomorla/IMG_0001.jpg

The best way to decide is how much can you truely afford without being in trouble financially. And then just start building.

Also make sure you time all the price drops, and sales. Right now it might be a good idea to wait until thanksgiving with a new gen tech rolling out soon.

 

[sonnygdude]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

ROFL...

there is such a hugh difference between a 1000 dollar computer and a 3000 dollar computer.

Yeah, but just because he's got dough now doesn't mean he should piss it away just to say he did. I think you get a lot more value for money in the $1500 range than in the $3500 range, i.e. you spend less than half and get what, 75-80% of the performance of the high end rig? Maybe more? In his original post he did say "good gaming rig" and "decent computer" not "tremendous, engorged, throbbing e-penis"