What would you build PC Wise?

MrNightly

Ok:

It's been about 3+ years, and my computer is completely obsolete. I've gotten by with just upgrading memory and graphics cards for the longest time, but having just a 3.2gig P4 with 1.5Gig of memory isn't cutting it anymore for serious gaming. i can't even run Crysis except on low settings and everything is slow.

I will buy the pieces one at a time as cash comes in, but what would you recommend for the system if it was to be an upgradeable computer for several years? Are there ground breaking technologies ahead that I may not know about? Or is this a good time to do it? Can I buy used from places to save money (Not always gonna be top of the line I understand, but still way better and obviously upgradeable as well)

Motherboard
Graphics Card
Memory
Sound Card (Might hook it up to the HT Denon so that might not matter as much)
DVD/CD player (I can probably steal the one from my computer as i don't think techology has chagned that much in 3 years on these has it?)

Anything else I'm missing.

Fill me in.

Thanks

Shizelbs

The current Intel C2D CPUs are very overclockable, so you can save some money there. Buy low, overclock on air to get more expensive-ish results.

djlogix

What're you planning on using the rig for ? Then I can throw you some recommendations.

MrNightly

djlogix wrote: »

What're you planning on using the rig for ? Then I can throw you some recommendations.

It will be a gaming rig. I want to gear up for FarCry2 and the next generation games that are coming out.

Obviously internet and minor business things, but most of it will be geared toward Games.

Thanks and look forward to what you recommend.

MrNightly

Shizelbs wrote: »

The current Intel C2D CPUs are very overclockable, so you can save some money there. Buy low, overclock on air to get more expensive-ish results.

Ya, you lost me at C2D

All about overclocking (if it isn't too hard for a rookie to handle) but what brands/makes/models/etc are recommended to build around?

Obviously, I'm not up to speed on the latest technology.

Shizelbs

What monitor (resolution) do you plan on using?

Shizelbs

MrNightly wrote: »

Ya, you lost me at C2D

All about overclocking (if it isn't too hard for a rookie to handle) but what brands/makes/models/etc are recommended to build around?

Obviously, I'm not up to speed on the latest technology.

C2D = Core 2 Duo

BaggedLancer

I'm all for a dual LGA-771 board with two Intel QX9775(quad core)

Couple that with the new Asus server board that supports 16 sticks of memory and you have yourself quite the system.

I could easily see it lasting several years.

MrNightly

Shizelbs wrote: »

What monitor (resolution) do you plan on using?

I'm currently using a 19" widescreen set at 1440 x 900

audiobliss

C2D is Intel's Core 2 Duo. Awesome CPU (oh, and that's Central Processing Unit ). Great performance and, as mentioned earlier, very overclockable.

They have the dual cores, and then quad cores, which are essentially two dual core processors on one chip. I'm running a quad core in my computer I built right around Christmas.

I heard they were coming out with the smaller die sizes for the quad cores which would boost overclocking capabilities and help with cooling, but I'm not sure what the timeline or costs on those looks like.

Even if you get a run of the mill, not super nice dual core Core 2 Duo, it'll treat you very well.

As far as motherboards, everybody's got an opinion on who to go with and who has junk. But Asus, Gigabyte, and DFI all make good ones. And there are more, but my mind just totally went blank.

As for a PSU (oh, and that's Power Supply Unit ), I would look at getting at least 600W. The more the merrier!

RAM - get at least 2GB. Again, the more the merrier, but of course you very quickly run into issues with the OS (Oh, that one's Operating System ) not addressing/recognizing all of it. But you could still slap 8GB in there and have bragging rights!



See? I CAN make a good, informative, helpful post! Even if I do rag on ya a little for not being up with the current techno jargon.

MrNightly

BaggedLancer wrote: »

I'm all for a dual LGA-771 board with two Intel QX9775(quad core)

Couple that with the new Asus server board that supports 16 sticks of memory and you have yourself quite the system.

I could easily see it lasting several years.

16 slots? Wowsers. That would be impressive. So the LGA-771 is the motherboard? And what does the Asus server board do? I'm used to them being one and the same.

Is this LGA-771 upgradeable speed/power wise in the future or are most of them just a one time buy like i've always done and after 2 years buy another?

audiobliss

Just one time buy, and it is a server motherboard. A MOBO designed for use in servers. Hence the two sockets to run two physical quad core CPU's and the HUGE amount of memory.

Totally out of place for your gaming computer build.

MrNightly

audiobliss wrote: »

Just one time buy, and it is a server motherboard. A MOBO designed for use in servers. Hence the two sockets to run two physical quad core CPU's and the HUGE amount of memory.

Totally out of place for your gaming computer build.

Oh really? That is good info. I think. So I most likely would just need a C2D MOBO right? I am guessing that the MOBO is the starting point of the entire build process...

audiobliss

MrNightly wrote: »

Oh really? That is good info. I think. So I most likely would just need a C2D MOBO right? I am guessing that the MOBO is the starting point of the entire build process...

Indeed, quite so. You going to reuse your current case? Anything else from that system besides the CD drive reusable?

MrNightly

audiobliss wrote: »

Indeed, quite so. You going to reuse your current case? Anything else from that system besides the CD drive reusable?

Ya I only have a Dell case. I doubt that everything will fit into there. Most good cases are a one time purchase I understand.

I would probably continue using my NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT, maybe SLI with another faster one or something. Besides that, I can't think there'd be anything else I'd want to save. The HD is fairly small 40gig and a slower 7600rpm. Nothing grand at all. Just done it's job over the past few years. Oh and the monitor is a quality piece, so that will stay as well.

This is good... keep 'em coming guys.

MrNightly

Lasareath wrote: »

I've bought 27 machines from this guy in the past 4 years:

http://cgi.ebay.com/INTEL-QUAD-QX9770-790i-9800GX2-1GB-Dual-Chip-Video_W0QQitemZ300211588665QQihZ020QQcategoryZ179QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Very Cool Guy, Excellent customer Support, Quick Shipping, Flexible payment options and he honors the manufacturer’s original warranties.

Call Michael toll-free today to configure you a system: 1-866-987-3175

27?! Nice.

I am not quite ready to drop the coin on an entire system at once, so I will probably take it one piece at a time and learn how to actually build my own. I've always used Dell's built from their site. Time to broaden my horizons a bit I think

audiobliss

MrNightly wrote: »

Ya I only have a Dell case. I doubt that everything will fit into there. Most good cases are a one time purchase I understand.

I would probably continue using my NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT, maybe SLI with another faster one or something. Besides that, I can't think there'd be anything else I'd want to save. The HD is fairly small 40gig and a slower 7600rpm. Nothing grand at all. Just done it's job over the past few years. Oh and the monitor is a quality piece, so that will stay as well.

This is good... keep 'em coming guys.

That's a good graphics card. I'm running a 7600GT, too. Still very capable, even though it's definitely not at the top.

7600RPM is the standard speed for HD's. A lot of notebook HD's will be 5400RPM, which is slow, but 7600RPM is good. Only the expensive(r) Raptor HD's are faster at 10,000RPM. Might be worth the purchase for you. Maybe get a smaller Raptor for your OS and programs and then a less expensive, larger size 7600RPM HD for storage.

Right now all my HD's are 7600RPM.

ben62670

I have the Q6600 quad core processor. Stock it runs 2.4ghz per core. Fell free to bump it to 3ghz stock voltage on air. Solid, and stable. I am not into overclocking much, but this chip just asks for. Oh yeah they are cheap.

Shizelbs

How noticeable was the performance gains on that OC Ben?

ben62670

For gaming, and DVD ripping it was noticeable. I played through Crysis cranked up with no issues. A lot of the Dual cores can run just as fast with most programs, but more software is going to be optimized for Quads, and dual Quads.
Here is a good link to give an understanding of what they can do now, and how to overclock them.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/08/dual_vs_quad/
Even at 2.4 they rip through anything. With 4 cores the processes can be allocated to any of the cores. I like to think of it as a 4 lane highway compared to a 2. Multi tasking is phenomenal.

mmadden28

Well, hmm-this will be a long one, but I hope to help fish out a lot of what took a long time for me to figure out. I have to get up early so I'll try to keep it short.

I just finished building my new PC in January, and even though I eat and breathe computers for a living, I was dealing with corporate purchased systems, not build you're own, and so I was out of the loop for years. I started my research months prior. Just like my reserach on these and other boards for my audio equipment, I spent many a sleepless night reading reviews and searching for the best proces. I got a lot of good info from Tomshardware.com, and many other sites and CPU magazine, etc. You really have to check out all the recviews to see what it is that you want/need and what you want to spend.
I built my system for about $1200, which is equivalent to many $4-5k prebuilt systems available. Of course it took me several months to assemble a complete system because I was adamant about spending as little as possible-98% of the components I bought were on sale or had a hefty rebate (I'm still getting rebate checks-which are by the way EVIL)

Again I'll try to be brief-I'll be happy to elaborate on any of this if you ask. I'll summarize what I bought and why throughout.
Keep in mind, I haven't done much research since jan (been dedicated to this damned audio hobby)-so things most certainly could have changed by now.

What I wanted from a system: I wanted a higher end gaming system that was quiet and didn't break the bank. I didn't expect to use it much for gaming (I use my Xbox360 for that), but I did want to ensure it could play some of the newer good PC games out there. I chose Crysis as my benchmark-if it would play that nice, I would be happy. That game was touted as having such a hunger for computer power that it would still provide enjoyment and even better performance on systems built two years from now. Apparently there are no mainstream systems out there that can fully exploit all the game can offer.

Otherwise I planned to use my computer for ripping CDs, maintaining my MP3 (high bitrate) collection, DVD archives, and managing the bazillions of pictures and videos I have of my kids from the past 5 years. I wanted all of these actions to be fast-I can't stand waiting for my computer-I freakin hate it. I am used to high end Sun systems at the office with 8-32 CPUs, and mega amounts of memory-My piece of crap Pentium 4 at home was just cramping my style. I mean come on-2 minutes to update the mp3 tags on 10 songs in iTunes-it had to go.

Forgive me if I missed any key points-its late and I'm tired. DIY computers can be relatively easy, but its complex becausea lot really depends on what you need-and so there is no clear answer. Kind of like somebody asking about the optimum audio setup-well that would depend on thier use for HT or Music, 2 channel or surround, etc. The considering room acoustics, .... you get the idea.

First choose a CPU:
Two major CPU vendors: Intel and AMD. There are many fans in each camp. I've used both brands over the years, and I don't have any real preference with either. I was back and forth a lot on this choice. I chose Intel since they were in the lead with performance and low power consumption. Low power consumption was a key factor in my descision. I was tired of the noisy computer-I wanted a quiet computer, and lower power requires less fans, thus less noise. I might choose AMD when I build a second system-not sure yet. AMD just came out with their new releases (incl quad core) (Dec/Jan??) and it wasn't well received-it was still under par to Intel but certainly capable depending on what you wanted out of your system.
Within Intel I chose the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600. It was the top end of the quad core camp before the price jumped to the next level, which was just overkill. It was also quite overclockable and a popular choice among others.
There are differences between the dual core and the quad core to take note of; the dual core chips tend to overclock better than the quad cores do. The advantages of having quad cores will really only be apparent in certain applications. Not all applications are designed for multiple cores, not to mention 4 of them. Many of the audio and video encoding apps did however take advantage of the quad cores more, where most games did/do not. Again I was more about the media performance than gaming.
Toms Hardware has a plethora of charts comparing all the different CPU varieties and in various situations.
I believe the Q6600 is availble for $200 now at Microcenter-I paid $280 in Dec.

Once you choose the CPU, you can choose a motherboard (well almost)
Motherboards are mainly built either around the Intel CPU or the AMD CPU.

You also have to choose the chipset the motherboard uses. Each type of motherboard (AMD and Intel) can have the Intel chipset, AMD chipset or the NVidia chipset, etc. Again many fans in each camp, with Intel and NVidia in the lead. Whats the big deal with chipsets? They provide the core functions and features of the motherboard. Such as RAID support (for the Hard drive), onboard video support, SATA, USB, and Firewire support, etc. So you'll need to keep an eye on the chipsets to make sure the one you choose supports a particular feature you want or need.
To make it even more confusing each chipset vendor will have different chipset levels.
I chose to go with the Intel P35 chipset. Its still fairly new-highly tested for overclockability, and popular-supports everything I needed. I was on the fence about going for the next generation X38 chipset to be even more futureproof, but the motherboards were about $100-200 more, and there just wasn't much out there that could take advantage of the extra features. I figured, I could always upgrade the mobo later in the yera when the mobo proces dropped. My current CPU will still work in it.
(hmm this sound a lot like an AVR discussion doesn't it???)

Then of course you need to choose a brand. This is a hard part-at least it was for me.
I narrowed my choices down to to of the biggest players, Asus and Gigabyte. Why-they are the most popular and again each camp has its diehard fans-I simply chose which had the features I wanted. I am not an overclocking pro-actually I would consider myself a novice-So I wanted a board that would allow me to overclock relatively easily. It also had to support onboard RAID. I wanted to have multiple hard drived striped for better performance-esp for the video editing/image rendering work I expected to be doing.
I was also concerned about power consumption. I was looking for something that had some good power management features-something that would cut the CPU power when idel, etc.
Well once you narrow all that down, you may have to decide on a video card before you can actually choose a particular model of motherboard.
I narrowed down my needs to a few boards, then to just two. I bought both brands-I wanted to ensure I had something to install over the New years Holiday-I found the model Asus I had was lacking a particular feature I needed-So I installed the Gigabyte.

Some motherboards have on board video, but their not usually very powerful, and you usually need a separate video card for gaming. Think if this like an AVR, it has an amp built in and is capable-but if you want/need really good sound/power/headroom you need a separate amp. You're building a gaming rig-definitely you'll need a separate video card.

There are two major players in the video card chipset market-Nvidia and AMD(ATI). There are many more video card manufacturers, but they all build on one of the two chipsets designs. NVidia markets SLI, which essentially means that you can run two (or three or is it four now??) of the same video card in a system to give you an increase in overall video performance (not double, etc.). AMD markets Crossfire, i belive thats up to two right now-could be three). Of course the video card chipset makers and the motherboard makers, can't come to an agreement as far as SLI or Crossfire support (hmm sounds like BR vs HD). So its one or the other. And there are no hybrid mobos out there, so you'll have to choose a video card chipset before you choose a motherboard if you ever plan to run multiple video cards. IMHO, You would only need to do that if you planned on being a hardcore gamer. I personally decided I wasn't going restrict myself -If I really needed it I would upgrade the mobo later or perhaps the video card. Again gaming was on my list but not at the top. Of course Video card performance is really determined by what resolution you'll be running at and how large your monitor is, whether you have more than one monitor. Of course there are many other features you can enable in a game that will require more and more power, but in my case, my single 19" would allow me to play at a reasonably high resolution with good performance-so a single card was all I would need. Oh yeah and the more cards you get the more heat you have to get rid of, and thus more noide and power consumption. Again, if you don't plan on running multiple video cards, don't concern yourself too much with SLI or Crossfire support.
NVidia is in the lead with popularity vs. AMD (poor AMD keeps coming in second).


**************Continued in the next post-it was too long :eek:

mmadden28

mmadden28 wrote: »

**************Continued in the next post-it was too long :eek:

....I chose the GeForce 8800GT, which at the time was the latest release from NVidia and secured rave reviews exceeding performances of other higher end and much more expensive video cards models in the same line-up while something like half the cost. And since the video card can make or break a system when it comes to gaming peformance, and can also be one of the most expensive components in a gaming rig-this was the way to go. Not to low, and not overkill-The reviews on how it handled Crysis were good-so no brainer for me.
I chose a popular video card manufacturer eVGA. One of the main reasons is that they offer a 90 day trade-up program. I won't go into it here, just know it exists. Oh and it came with the Crysis game free. . I think I paid close to $300 for it (when I was finally able to get one). I am sure its available for less now-perhaps $200?? They have several models of each chipset video card-which is usually related to the factory overclocking of the card-just read up and make your own judgement based on how much you want to spend on that one-just way to subjective.[/COLOR]

Memory
Get a minimum of 2GB (2x1GB sticks). Or get 4GB (4x1GB sticks)-I won't go into the particulars of why 4x1gb is better than 2x2gb, just know you can find that info on Tom's hardware and other sites-its probably a neglible performance factor, but like replacing the jumpers on the bi-wire posts, something you can do for cheap.
DDR2 800 (PC2-6400 oh the many names it has)---is the norm right now. DDR3 is new and still rather expensive-and in many reviews I've read-not really worth the extra dough at this point. Of course you have to choose a mobo that has the support for the menory you choose. Motherboards eiether support DDR2 or DDR3, and a few support both but with some limitations. A Hyrbid mobo that supports both will usually have 6 memory slots. You can use 4 for DDR2 or the other 2 for DDR3, and you can't mix-so its either or. Some people choose the hybrid route to use DDR2 now and upgrade to DDR3 later when its cheaper. I am in the camp that decided to just go DDR2 and odd are that when the proces come down later, so will the cost of an all DDR3 mobo that will have more than 2 slots.
You can find really good deals on DDR2 800 memory (by the way there are faster than 800 MHz DDR2 memory out there, but they are considerably more expensive). I got all 4GB of my memory for a total of about $70.

Hard Drive
I was probably over particular here-I read way to deep into the specs for my own good. Just stick with the newer technology SATA2 (aka SATA 300) vs. the older IDE/EIDE/ATAfor the fastest transfer rates available to the consumer market. I particularly like SATA since (assuming your moo supports it), you can connect and external SATA hard drive (eSATA) and have the full native transfer rate as if it were another internal drive. If I remember correctly SATA 2 is like 3Gb/s. Compare that to the paltry 480 Mb/s of a USB 2.0 drive. Uhuh-yeah. I can't stand waiting for data transfers either. All the latest mobos support SATA, but only a few support eSATA-but if that's important to you-don't get too hung up on the lack of it-you can always add a SATA card with eSATA support. Oh and SATA devices (really just hard drives, and optical drives) have a nice thin cable-makes for better cable managment which makes for better airflow, which makes for better cooling , and thus a quieter system.
I chose to go with two of the Western Digital Caviar SATA 400GB and I RAID striped them for performance to one large 800GB (well actually like 720 after its formatted-This is easy to do, assuming you get a mobo with a chipset that supports RAID. I paid about $90 each.

CPU Cooler:
Well I bought with the plan to do some serious (but not borderline) overclocking (trying to keep it cool remember)-and If you plan to do so, you will likely need to add a CPU cooler. I chose the ZEROTherm BTF92-Cost was a factor (this was about $40??), reviews certainly were, but this is one of those choices that depends on a lot of factors including the clearance avaialble in your case, the noise levels you find acceptable, the amount of cooling you need it to do, etc. If I were to suggest another, I would say the Zalman 9700-its gotten good reviews, and is one of the most popular-but its big. If you plan on staying stock or low overclocking, you're probably OK with the stock cooler than comes with the Intel CPU. I haven't gotten to the point of overclocking the system yet, but so far nothing in my system is hot-Everything is cool-and stable--I am still using the stock cooler. I have to take the mobo out to put the new cooler in, and thats just too much work right now.

Optical Drives:
Well lets see I got a decent SATA DVD/RW this and that, that eve toasts your bread for you for $25. Just see whats out there and buy something-can't really go wrong there. Just stick with SATA. Don't pay more than $40 unless its external. You can also use what you have now if you want. Most mobos still provide support for IDE, although some of the newest are eliminating it.

Floppy:
Unless you'll be installing XP or Win2K3, you'll likely not need one. Vista supports the use of USB (and CD?) for this purpose. Don't buy one, unless you really need one. You can always borrow the one from your old system for the OS load.

Case:
Well, the design is certainly one that will suit your tastes, and well as the size. Some have nice features to make installing the components easier. Some will witstand a stampede. Some are designed for easy transport (for the LAN party gamers). Whatever you choose, make sure your mobo will fit, as well as your power supply and CPU fan.
Pay particular attention to any reviews on it as far as cooling capabaility-this is one of the most important parts of a case.
I chose Lian Li V1200B Aluminum case. Now Aluminum cases are not know for being the quietest, but so far its thousands time quieter than my old Dell. I preferred the simple yet refined looks, the internal features, good cooling reviews, it has wheels, and lots of quiet cooling fans. You could get a case with a power supply already in it, but most are sold separately. For a basic case with power supply, the Antec Sonata III is about $99 and comes with a half decent 500 Watt power supply.
Proably thousands to choose from, some of which might cost a thousand.

Power Supply:
Hmm another area of great debate
Some will lead you to belive you need a 1200 watt power supply. Don't belive the hype. Simply figure out all of the above components you're getting, and either get thier expected draw from the mfgr, or plug them into one of many websites that will do the calulations for you, and you can determine how much power you need.
Unless you're running an SLI 3 card video setup, with big and multiple monitors, 8 hard drives, and overclocking multiple quad core CPUs is highly unlikely you would.
If power efficiency matters to you, stick with a power supply with a high efficiency-anything 80% and higher. Just note that most of the power supply efficiency ratings (not standardized-much like the audio amp output ratings measurement techniques), are on a curcved scale. The scale is determined by the load. This means that , unlike an audio amp, headroom is not always better. Its certainly a must, or you'll experience lockups, etc,etc., but not the best concerning efficiency. Some are most efficient at 50% load, some at 80%. So in the 50% case- an 800 watt PS will be the best for a 400 watt avg system. Then again-it depends on what avg is. Is you computer always off until you need it? Does it idle all day, and only heavy use when you play a game for a few hours? One might consider the 20% idle load the avg. and buy a SP with the highest efficiency at taht mark.
Theer are many many manufactures out there, some of them simply rebranded. Its a confusing market.
Just read the reviews. Antec, PC Power & Cooling, Seasonic, are among the most popular brands.
I probably overkilled on my PS, but what the hey-futureproof. I bought the Gigabyte Odin 800 watt PSU (on sale $180). Now I haven't overclocked yet, but my computer is running about 135 watts as I type, and I have several apps running in the background. I am not sure I have gotten it past 300 watts yet. They also have a 500 watt version which would prbably have been just as good.

Motherboard:
I chose the Gigabyte P35C-DS3R-I went with the P35 chipset. This particular model has a very good overclocking history and figured I could get some good tips from others on overclocking it. It also happened to be one of the hybrid DDR2/DDR3 memory boards-not that I intended to use DDR3, but that it was on sale for less than the non hybrid model. The "R" in the model indicated that it had the RAID support I desired. It also has eSATA support, and plenty of onboard SATA ports for internal drives.
I believe I paid about $135 for it.


I hope that helps. I think BYOPC is akin to separates vs. AVR, except that the BYOPC can end up being much less expensive (price to performance) than buying a boutique or mainstream brand system. You get to choose the quality and peformance of the parts you put into it. You get to omit the garbage you don't need.

There see? I kept it short
Have fun on your reserach and build.

fatchowmein

High end gaming means video card but it all depends on what monitor you're outputting to. A 17" display will not tax your vid card compared to trying to play Crysis on a 22" or 24" widescreen so buy according to your screen size.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/05/the_best_gaming_graphics/


It's a constant race between memory, cpu, and video card in terms of bottlenecks. Good luck and have fun.

MrNightly

mmadden28: Excellent excellent advice. Thank you for taking the time to post all that. It gives me a great starting point. I might PM for additional info, but since I'm not buying today anyways, it is a good research starting point.

Again, thanks for the effort put into that. Very organized and thought out.

I think at this point I'm leaning toward a C2D chip and a MOBO along the lines that were mentioned above. I will probably definitely use my 7600 GT and SLI with another better card, so that will be a feature needed. Also 4-8 slots for memory will be required I think.

Case, eh not so worried about that... as long as its big enough to handle all the options.

**Ok, wife is making me go paint... so I have to cut this short...** She just hit me ouch.

Sami

MrNightly wrote: »

I will probably definitely use my 7600 GT and SLI with another better card, so that will be a feature needed.

I would not recommend that. You're better off getting a better video card now and upgrade the rest later if you're not going to do it all at once.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Link_Interface

"Cards from two separate retail companies will work together in SLI mode, but they must be the same GPU model (e.g. G70, G73, G80, etc). The cards may have different BIOS revisions, different default clock speeds, or even different memory sizes. However, the fastest card – or the card with more memory - will run at the speed of the slower card or disable its additional memory.[16]"

bigaudiofanatic

AMD pross. DUED there cheap and can be overclocked past intel.I swear by them.

mmadden28

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

AMD pross. DUED there cheap and can be overclocked past intel.I swear by them.

And a Hundai can go faster than a Chevy;
How about something a little more specific?

DeusExa

mmadden28 wrote: »

And a Hundai can go faster than a Chevy;
How about something a little more specific?

Great parallelism!

AMD seriously needs something to keep them from dying.

mmadden28

Here's a good start....Follow the post.

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

come on I started this sale for 2000 bucks now it's down to 850 and still no takers.

MrNightly

So anything new I should know about in the world of building your own computers? Going shopping today!!!

BaggedLancer

MrNightly wrote: »

So anything new I should know about in the world of building your own computers? Going shopping today!!!

Be prepared to know that everyone will tell you something different when building your own computer. Read some reviews, go with instinct, and try different parts. If you don't like it, return it and buy something different. There is no right and wrong way to choose parts, it's mostly personal preference.... i.e. Crucial vs. OCZ, Seagate vs. Western Digital, etc.