My friend wants me to build him a new computer that will run Everquest smoothly with maximum settings (but not high resolution, around 1024*768 to 1280*1024)on his computer(and *maybe* EQ2) for around $500-$600 dollars. He needs a motherboard, cpu, ram, a hard drive,a video card, a sound card, a dvd rom drive, floppy drive, and case with power supply. He already has a monitor(although old), keyboard and mouse. I've built 3 computers before, but I am not sure what will do him best in his price range. Also, he doesn't believe that he needs a new monitor, but I believe that he should get one.
Which side should I go AMD or Intel? What clock speed is sufficient? I am really unsure of which one is better in terms of quality vs. price.
Which motherboard should I get for him? I know that Asus, MSI, and Gigabytes are good motherboard manufacturers, but I am unsure which makes better budget boards for the best price.
What amount and speed of ram should i get? I was thinking of 184 pin 512 MBs DDR400 from either Kingston, Mushkin, or Corsair. But again price is an issue.
Which videocard should he get? Nvidia or ATI? Which has better overall performance in games and also keeps the gpu cooler and video memory from overheating better? I've read that ATI has better drivers than Nvidia, but which would be a smarter choice?
What kind of sound card should he buy?. I don't know much about sound cards.
What companies make good dvd/cd rom drives? Also, which companies make the best hard drives?
Finally, which case company should I go with that keeps all his components relatively cool, and includes a power supply?
I am sorry about this long post. I want to expand my computer hardware knowledge to build better computers in the future. Also, I love this web site, its very informative. Any tips or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Which side should I go AMD or Intel? What clock speed is sufficient? I am really unsure of which one is better in terms of quality vs. price.
Which motherboard should I get for him? I know that Asus, MSI, and Gigabytes are good motherboard manufacturers, but I am unsure which makes better budget boards for the best price.
What amount and speed of ram should i get? I was thinking of 184 pin 512 MBs DDR400 from either Kingston, Mushkin, or Corsair. But again price is an issue.
Which videocard should he get? Nvidia or ATI? Which has better overall performance in games and also keeps the gpu cooler and video memory from overheating better? I've read that ATI has better drivers than Nvidia, but which would be a smarter choice?
What kind of sound card should he buy?. I don't know much about sound cards.
What companies make good dvd/cd rom drives? Also, which companies make the best hard drives?
Finally, which case company should I go with that keeps all his components relatively cool, and includes a power supply?
I am sorry about this long post. I want to expand my computer hardware knowledge to build better computers in the future. Also, I love this web site, its very informative. Any tips or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.