Complete new system

[ToiletDuck]

Ok guys how's it going? I'm new to this forum. I was at overclockers.com however after 4yrs some admit put the screws to me because we argued over a topic. Anywho I've been real busy with work ect and moving to a new city and place and have not been paying attention to the computer industry. I'm hoping to tell you guys what I want and someone just flat lay it out.

So here it goes:
I want a machine for the sole purpose of playing games. No editing, music, video ect. I have my laptop that I love for that. I'm a pilot and I want to practice shooting approaches ect with my soon to be new computer. HD space isn't an issue so long as it can hold the OS and a few games. Think the best flight simulator 2004/2006(when it comes out) rig you can.

Fast HD, Fast memory, Fast CPU. I'll get the power supply and monitor. I've already got the one in mind. Also GPU. I don't know anything about video cards anymore. I've always had good luck with AMD cpus and ATI vid cards so if possible i'd like to stay that route. Just make me a list of top notch stuff (For what I need) and I'll be making the order next week. Thanks for any help.
Duck

 

[bront]

One of the Raptor HDs, either 72 or 144 GBs should do you fine. If you want to setup a Raid 0, you can, but the Raptors are pretty fast in and of themselves.

CPU? A midrange Athlon should do you good. I'd advise you to go X2 (3800 or 4400 are good), but that's up to you. The opterons are nice if you want to OC, but if not, they're not worth the extra money.

Video card? Best high end bang for your buck is the NVIDIA 7900 GT, which tops Everything except the ATI 1900 XTX and Nvidia 7900 GTX, but at a HUGE price difference (Cards OCed stock at 50/180 (500/1500) run around $310, while the others run around $500)

You want 2 GB of Ram if you can. I'm sure the flight sims will use that easily.

There are plenty of NForce 4 motherboards out there. You may not need SLI, but many of the nicer boards have it anyway.

Did you have a budget in mind?

 

[Jak_Sparra]

Can I use this thread aswell...

I'm about to sell my old rig as its not really upgradeable (its a 3200barton, 1gig mem, geforce 5900ultra and crappy hard drives etc)...

I want a top gameing rig.. (but not SLI cos of extra cost)
I've priced and am eager to go and buy (hopefully next week) the following:- Athlon 64 4400+ (dual core), 2 gig of ram, an Nforce 4 MoBo, 7900GT, and a fast hard drive.

Now, I'm the same as the fella who started the thread (Toiletduck), as i will be mostly useing it for games that need a lot of power ie. BF2, F.E.A.R, and Oblivion etc.. but also use paintshop pro alot.

1) PLEASE HELP though, i see there are diffrent speed hard drives, i dont want a RAID, just one fast drive, i think they go upto 10,000RPM?

2) and what kind of memory is the best? i think the numbers at the end of the name of memory mean what chip they are for or something. ie.. 3200 is for athlons? do i need DDR2? is 3200 DDR2?

3) also will a 500w psu be enough.

(i'll be putting my old 24bit soundblaster live! in aswell)

4) Inculding a case and stuff, i get a price of about 930 pounds (from the UK). is that about right? (not too bother about this part of my question being answered)

 

[Covered_in_bees]

Can I use this thread aswell...

Of course

I'm about to sell my old rig as its not really upgradeable (its a 3200barton, 1gig mem, geforce 5900ultra and crappy hard drives etc)...

You may be able to use some parts of that rig, but ok, lets continue...

I want a top gameing rig.. (but not SLI cos of extra cost)
I've priced and am eager to go and buy (hopefully next week) the following:- Athlon 64 4400+ (dual core), 2 gig of ram, an Nforce 4 MoBo, 7900GT, and a fast hard drive.

Sounds good so far...

Now, I'm the same as the fella who started the thread (Toiletduck), as i will be mostly useing it for games that need a lot of power ie. BF2, F.E.A.R, and Oblivion etc.. but also use paintshop pro alot.

The components you chose above should do the job nicely.

1) PLEASE HELP though, i see there are diffrent speed hard drives, i dont want a RAID, just one fast drive, i think they go upto 10,000RPM?

The fastest SATA drives around are Western Digital 'Raptor' drives (these are the 10k ones you refer to). They come in 36GB, 74GB and 150GB flavours. The 150GB is the fastest, then 74GB (not much difference in speed), and lastly 36GB. They are very nice drives (I currently use 4), but they are more expensive because of that.

2) and what kind of memory is the best? i think the numbers at the end of the name of memory mean what chip they are for or something. ie.. 3200 is for athlons? do i need DDR2? is 3200 DDR2?

For AMD, you can only use DDR at this time. The new AM2 platform for AMD will support DDR2, but this is not currently available.
PC3200 refers to the speed of the memory (basically the same as DDR400). If you are not planning to overclock, then PC3200 (DDR400) is what you should look for. There is no need to get really expensive memory. but I would definitely recommend 2x1GB modules rather than 4x512MB. You should also see if the memory is capable of running at 1T timing, as there is a performance benefit to this. Other than that, just look to get memory with decent timings (2.5-3-3-8 or better if it's within your budget). The better the timings, the better the performance. Although saying that, the price tends to increase also. Good brands to look at are Corsair, OCZ, etc. (I'll let others add their preferences here)

3) also will a 500w psu be enough.

Yep - 500W should be fine for that setup

i'll be putting my old 24bit soundblaster live! in aswell)

Ok

4) Inculding a case and stuff, i get a price of about 930 pounds (from the UK). is that about right? (not too bother about this part of my question being answered)

I will need to check this.

 

[ToiletDuck]

I don't have a set budget no. I mean I don't need the most top of the line I guess since it's just going to be for gaming. I don't know if I'll do 2gb or 4gb for memory. But thanks for the info on the HD's. I'm giong with the raptors. No raid. I'd like the desktop to take up a little less footprint. I'll also take you up on that CPU. Now I just need to find the case and the board.

Like I said I'm n hell bent on a budget. Except I'm not going to pay three types the price for 5% improvement. However I'd rather pay a little more now and get something much better.

 

[ToiletDuck]

Could you toss a good motherboard at me? i'm looking at the pile of them and having been gone for so long I just don't want to make the wrong choice. If there is a board that will fit in a small case that would be great.

I'm thinking about going with the Athlon 4000. After reviewing the charts it seems to be the better one for games. This is just a thought though. Still looking at the X2's it's just that multi-cores had only been beneficial on applications I won't use. Not games. I'm going with the raptors.

So what motherboard?

 

[Jak_Sparra]

Thankyou for all the info Covered_in_bees !!!

you have totally cleared up my hard drive confusion..

I will now definatly be getting the 4400+ dual chip, 74gig raptor hard drive, geforce 7900gt

Motherboard wise i was looking at some other forums and saw the Asus A8N premium or delux if i can get it cheap enough. everyone seems to rate it highly!

the main thing still confusing me is the memory...

i've seen these speeds mentioned:-

2-3-2-6
2.5-3-3-8
3-4-48

i have no idea which of the above would be the faster?!? or what other speeds are avalable??

i've heard that you can get memory with the chips on one side and others with chips on both sides. Apparently the ones with both sides are faster (is that DDR memory?)

and in a couple of forums they said that 4x512 is gonna be faster then 2 1gig moduals?!?!

if i'm getting this rig and not gonna be upgradeing for atleast a year, how am i gonna get the best out of the memory.. just buy whatevers expensive?
If you can tell me what to ask when i goto the computer store that would be cool, i dont wanna sound like a n00b and get burned.
so if i go in and say 'hey shop dude, i need 2 1gig ram moduals of 2.5-3-3-8 and shit, go fetch from out the back bitch' will he know what i mean?

 

[Covered_in_bees]

Ok, from your list:

2-3-2-6 - Fastest
2.5-3-3-8
3-4-4-8 - Slowest

However, don't get too hung up on those.

Most important is that 2x1GB will be better than 4x512. The reason for this is that 2x1GB can generally run at 1T memory timing (also known as command rate), which is better for performance (even if the other timings are a bit slower). This is the most important when asking.

When choosing between different makes of 2x1GB, then you can look at the timings to decide the best. Really, the only important number of those 4 is the 1st one (which is CAS# Latency, or CL). 2 is better than 2.5, which is better than 3. The other numbers have a lesser influence on performance. Don't pay a lot extra for better timings though - the performance gain is not that significant.

You also want to look to buy 'paired' modules (2 modules in 1 pack). This means that they have been tested together and are compatible at the recommended timings in dual channel mode.

Check the following 2 products out at Overclockers UK as examples:

Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX
Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200PT TwinX

And the Value Select also at the same place:

Corsair 2GB DDR Value Select PC3200

Unfortunately, it doesn't say whether they are capable of 1T timings (will see if I can find out on the Corsair site), but any of the above will be fine.

 

[ToiletDuck]

Anyone feel like tossing me a good motherboard? I asked first!!!

 

[Covered_in_bees]

Anyone feel like tossing me a good motherboard? I asked first!!!

lol :lol:

Well, I'm no expert on motherboards, although I have tried a few. Problem is that I tend to go for the expensive ones.

As your thinking of going with the socket 939 Athlon64 4000+, the Asus A8N-E mentioned above looks decent. I'm not sure what graphics setup your looking for though. Assuming PCI-e of course.

For SLi, I can recommend the Asus A8N32-SLi - good BIOS for overclocking too (bit pricey though). DFI are good boards for overclocking also, although they tend to require a higher technical knowledge (and maybe some patience) to set up.

For Crossfire, the Asus A8R-MVP has a very good reputation.

Maybe someone else would like to chip in with their thoughts

Edit - from another thread, wusy suggested the following:
EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra
Abit KN8 Ultra
DFI nForce4 Ultra Infinity

All are nForce4 with 1 PCI-e slot I believe

The other thread

 

[GherkinPekul]

for crossfire, I'm buying the A8R32-MVP, it's new and shinier than the A8R-MVP

 

[ToiletDuck]

Thank you very much. It's PCI express no SLI. I don't see that to be worth the money at all right now.