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Rank: Polio Power!
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So I've been shopping around for a new comp that would take less than $1k, but still be able to play my beloved games, hopefully better than the one I currently own which is hard to imagine how a new machine, even cheap, couldn't given I'm riding a 128mb ATI Radeon 9800 and 1 gig of RAM. So really, I'll be upgrading no matter what, but I want the best upgrade at that price. But anyway, what I hope to be able to do is be able to play such up and coming games as Diablo III, Starcraft 2, and Wrath of the Lich King as well as have a better performance with TF2, HL2, and so forth. (currently, some big mass battles on TF2 lock up my machine long enough to render me useless until the combat is largely over and i lay dead). I'm also not terribly proficient with building a computer. I can put in cards and such alright, but from box up, I wouldn't know where to begin. Any recommendations?
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Rank: Admiral OCD
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Pick a video card first as that is going to be a big chunk of the rig. Then a processor and mobo that will support both it and your vid card. The speed of the vid card will set the tone for the rest of your purchase. Add memory to complement. A trillion GB HD isn't that useful unless you're going to store a bunch of crap on it, so you can get a way with one for like $50-$70. You don't even need a CD or DVD drive if you can pull one from your existing rig just to load the software, then pull it out. CD drives are not really necessary. So: Vid Card Processor - with thermal paste Fan for processor Mobo Memory to match mobo and processor speed Power Supply with right connector to power it all - 700W? HD Case - one you can work with easily CD/DVD drive you can use temporarily to load software. Operating system. Shit, Windows XP if you can find a builder's copy for like $100 or less. I don't trust Vista. A Philips screwdriver. Depending on what you want to do with it (game?) I say anywhere from $500 to $800 should do you well, assuming you already have a monitor for it and will use your old keyboard and mouse. Pick a vid card and we'll jump in after that with recommendations. www.Newegg.comYou should be more like Cantrip.  Twitchy: "I pulled a Cantrip . . ." GivePeaceAChance: "If the Tempest had nipples, I'd pinch that shit." Xylicon: "I'm about to deliver my [Richard] in your face for posting that stupid shit. " WDF?: "He keeps reaming me... night after night... I'm rather sore." GivePeaceAChance: "OMG MY NIPS ARE HARD" llenta: "cantrip, you fail!!!" Filliam H. Muffman: "i'm on top of dick"
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Rank: Polio Power!
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Cantrip wrote:Pick a video card first as that is going to be a big chunk of the rig. Then a processor and mobo that will support both it and your vid card. The speed of the vid card will set the tone for the rest of your purchase. Add memory to complement. A trillion GB HD isn't that useful unless you're going to store a bunch of crap on it, so you can get a way with one for like $50-$70. You don't even need a CD or DVD drive if you can pull one from your existing rig just to load the software, then pull it out. CD drives are not really necessary. So: Vid Card Processor - with thermal paste Fan for processor Mobo Memory to match mobo and processor speed Power Supply with right connector to power it all - 700W? HD Case - one you can work with easily CD/DVD drive you can use temporarily to load software. Operating system. Shit, Windows XP if you can find a builder's copy for like $100 or less. I don't trust Vista. A Philips screwdriver. Depending on what you want to do with it (game?) I say anywhere from $500 to $800 should do you well, assuming you already have a monitor for it and will use your old keyboard and mouse. Pick a vid card and we'll jump in after that with recommendations. www.Newegg.com I think you've already lost me. lol
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Rank: Fecal Impaction For the Win!
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I'd buy a stock machine w/ expandibility. This is is buying a motherboard, processor, and maybe some RAM all in one step, in a guaranteed-to-work package. From there, I'd add in reasonably priced parts. Don't go for the top-of-the-line because frankly, hardware has vastly outpaced software. Don't even think the word Crysis, because that's an intensely isolated case. I'll provide my own machine as an example.
The stock machine shouldn't run you more than 500 dollars. Just pick all the bare minimums except for the processor. That's the best deal you can get on a processor, is with stock machines. From there, customize with parts that you buy ( not from the same company as your machine ). Safety + Peace
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Rank: Polio Power!
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TripleBam wrote:I'd buy a stock machine w/ expandibility. This is is buying a motherboard, processor, and maybe some RAM all in one step, in a guaranteed-to-work package. From there, I'd add in reasonably priced parts. Don't go for the top-of-the-line because frankly, hardware has vastly outpaced software. Don't even think the word Crysis, because that's an intensely isolated case. I'll provide my own machine as an example. The stock machine shouldn't run you more than 500 dollars. Just pick all the bare minimums except for the processor. That's the best deal you can get on a processor, is with stock machines. From there, customize with parts that you buy ( not from the same company as your machine ). I'm not terribly interested in playing Crysis anyway...or AoC for that matter. So after the package, fill it out with video card, sound card, HD, DVD drive, OS?
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Rank: Polio Power!
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I think I found a comp that I was thinking about grabbing on NewEgg. It's a prebuilt HP that seems to have some decent gear for 899-950, which is close enough to what I'm looking for. Don't have the link off hand. I'll post it when I get home. :)
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Rank: Fecal Impaction For the Win!
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RichardAwesome wrote:TripleBam wrote:I'd buy a stock machine w/ expandibility. This is is buying a motherboard, processor, and maybe some RAM all in one step, in a guaranteed-to-work package. From there, I'd add in reasonably priced parts. Don't go for the top-of-the-line because frankly, hardware has vastly outpaced software. Don't even think the word Crysis, because that's an intensely isolated case. I'll provide my own machine as an example. The stock machine shouldn't run you more than 500 dollars. Just pick all the bare minimums except for the processor. That's the best deal you can get on a processor, is with stock machines. From there, customize with parts that you buy ( not from the same company as your machine ). I'm not terribly interested in playing Crysis anyway...or AoC for that matter. So after the package, fill it out with video card, sound card, HD, DVD drive, OS?
Basically. It'll come with a DVD drive and an OS, but all the real horsepower is your choice.
Safety + Peace
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Rank: Fuckstick
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Best Buy has a deal on some new Quad-Core Acers with Vista, AMD Phenom 9550s, 4 gigs of RAM and all the works for just over $650 CAD. Win Cookies Awarded: 7 (bawwwwww)
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Best thing to do is establish a tentative long-term plan and focus more on the type of parts you get now, rather than they quality/size. 1. Long-term single video card, or eventual SLI/Crossfire? 2. nVidia or ATI graphics card? 3. AMD or Intel processor? 4. What kind of CPU connector, ie. which kind will be around for a while? The answer to those will determine what motherboard you want to go with. That's the basis of the system and the one piece you really want to get right the first time. You can buy everything else cheap right now and upgrade those a piece at a time as money allows. Also, is anything in your existing system salvageable? Usually hard drives and CD/DVD-ROMs can be, even if they aren't capable of the speed the newer motherboards support.
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Rikaelus wrote:Best thing to do is establish a tentative long-term plan and focus more on the type of parts you get now, rather than they quality/size.
1. Long-term single video card, or eventual SLI/Crossfire?
2. nVidia or ATI graphics card?
3. AMD or Intel processor?
4. What kind of CPU connector, ie. which kind will be around for a while?
The answer to those will determine what motherboard you want to go with. That's the basis of the system and the one piece you really want to get right the first time. You can buy everything else cheap right now and upgrade those a piece at a time as money allows.
Also, is anything in your existing system salvageable? Usually hard drives and CD/DVD-ROMs can be, even if they aren't capable of the speed the newer motherboards support. It's got a 60gig HD...lol I'm gonna steal the wireless card, that's for sure. I don't trust myself with building a computer. I was thinking a decent system that comes with everything already. I was looking at this http://www.newegg.com/Pr...m=N82E16883107710. It's cheap and seems to have what I want, but I understand the video card isn't terribly impressive. But what matters is, is it better than my current comp? My current specs are: Pent 4 2.99GHz, 1gig DDRAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9800 PRO, 60gig HD
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I only see a listing there; not specific machines. Really got to be careful with name brand PCs, as they usually have very non-name-brand components within.
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Rank: Polio Power!
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Rikaelus wrote:I only see a listing there; not specific machines.
Really got to be careful with name brand PCs, as they usually have very non-name-brand components within. hmm...I'll try to get a better link. It was a specific machine, lol. So is building a comp not really that complicated and I'm just being an rtard?
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RichardAwesome wrote:Rikaelus wrote:I only see a listing there; not specific machines.
Really got to be careful with name brand PCs, as they usually have very non-name-brand components within. hmm...I'll try to get a better link. It was a specific machine, lol. So is building a comp not really that complicated and I'm just being an rtard? It requires patience, more than anything. There are some parts, like plugging all the case LEDs/buttons into the tiny little connectors on the motherboard. But the manual really tells you where to put what. The other tough part might be putting the CPU, thermal paste, heatsink/fan all on the motherboard. Ultimately I wouldn't say it's "easy" for a first-timer, but long-term it's knowledge worth having and can save you a lot of money moving forward. Plus if you retain a working computer while you do it, the internet is filled with pointers and walk-throughs.
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Rikaelus wrote:RichardAwesome wrote:Rikaelus wrote:I only see a listing there; not specific machines.
Really got to be careful with name brand PCs, as they usually have very non-name-brand components within. hmm...I'll try to get a better link. It was a specific machine, lol. So is building a comp not really that complicated and I'm just being an rtard? It requires patience, more than anything. There are some parts, like plugging all the case LEDs/buttons into the tiny little connectors on the motherboard. But the manual really tells you where to put what. The other tough part might be putting the CPU, thermal paste, heatsink/fan all on the motherboard. Ultimately I wouldn't say it's "easy" for a first-timer, but long-term it's knowledge worth having and can save you a lot of money moving forward. Plus if you retain a working computer while you do it, the internet is filled with pointers and walk-throughs. Ahh, I see. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883107710 I hope that link brings you directly to the comp this time. I think the period at the end threw it off.
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RichardAwesome wrote:Rikaelus wrote:RichardAwesome wrote:Rikaelus wrote:I only see a listing there; not specific machines.
Really got to be careful with name brand PCs, as they usually have very non-name-brand components within. hmm...I'll try to get a better link. It was a specific machine, lol. So is building a comp not really that complicated and I'm just being an rtard? It requires patience, more than anything. There are some parts, like plugging all the case LEDs/buttons into the tiny little connectors on the motherboard. But the manual really tells you where to put what. The other tough part might be putting the CPU, thermal paste, heatsink/fan all on the motherboard. Ultimately I wouldn't say it's "easy" for a first-timer, but long-term it's knowledge worth having and can save you a lot of money moving forward. Plus if you retain a working computer while you do it, the internet is filled with pointers and walk-throughs. Ahh, I see. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883107710 I hope that link brings you directly to the comp this time. I think the period at the end threw it off. Well, not bad spec wise though it's hard to say what the quality of the components are. AM2+ is a decent CPU socket type. No room to further expand the memory but 5GB should suffice for quite some time. It's a lower-end graphics card of the series, but that can be upgraded easily enough. SLI is out as it only has a single video card slot on the motherboard. Pretty good front/rear connections, and card readers are neat to have around. If you need a pretty big boost in all your components, that might be a viable option, then you can upgrade/salvage components from that as you move forward.
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