Help me with spec please

TKK

I've been coaxed into putting together a spec (and possibly building the machine) for a gaming pc for a mate. The man likes his games so the machine will have to be able to handle anything that's out at the moment and anything of significance that's on the way. The budget is pretty flexible but not without limits -> I've to spec out a decent machine and price it and final decisions will be taken then.

I built my own machine about a year and a half ago and since then I've not really kept up to date on the hardware side of things. I know that, in particular, the graphics card side of things has completely changed since then.

I'm thinking of an AMD based system as Intel haven't really come out with anything new afaik and I have an Athlon 64 3200 myself which I'm very happy with.

Case: Not a clue. I'm using a Sonata but I don't think he's all that concerned with good looks. Any recommendations for one which is easy to use (particularly would think of going for one with a removable motherboard plate) and fairly good ventilation?
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 - which one?
Motherboard: Depends on the processor. Socket 939? Any particular standouts?
RAM: I'm thinking 1GB for now. What pc rating should I be looking at?
HDD: 250GB SATA
Graphics: I'm thinking of one of the PCI-E 256MB cards but which one?
Sound: I'm thinking of just going with onboard for now. Otherwise would the Audigy 2 ZS be sufficient?
Speakers: I don't have a clue. I had a basic surround system when I built my own pc and just connected the spdif out to them. He will need speakers and I'm thinking he will want surround.
DVD writer: NEC
DVD ROM: Necessary?
Wireless NIC
Wireless keyboard and mouse: which of the Logitechs is good for gaming?
Monitor: I've got the BenQ 937s+ and I'm thinking of going for the same for him as I find it quite good.


How much power would this type of rig need?

hairball

I'm actually putting one togehter at the mo' for gaming /graphics work....quite high specced...you'll find details in my sig.
I've been recommended mushkin redline for a 1 gig ram solution..but I've decided to go for it with this machine and have ordered 2 gig of enhanced bandwidth OCZ platinum PC4000 (so far the highest recommended of the 2x1 gig sets I've seen)
Motherboards a socket 939 dfi lanparty and most likely I'll be sticking an x2 4400 or 4800 in that.
Grafix card, well I'm hanging on to see what the release of the nvidia 7800 gxt 512meg card brings with it ( both in performance and its effect on the prices of the 256 meg model, pricewise), but i'll definitely be going with nvidia.

AnCapaillMor

Kompletts got a decent deal going with a 3500 amd upgrade. Proc, board and 1g ram for 400 yoyo's. My previous system was a 3500 and i had no problems with it, and i've pretty much played everything on it.

Memory, AMD does'nt support above 3200 yet.

GFX check out their warehouse section some good stuff there.

sound dunno, i'd get any sort of card, i had on board sound on 2 previous and had trouble with game locking up on a sound, i put in a card and had no more troubles.

Hd, try get a sata2, just got one myself and have only just tested it, but i'm pressed how good\fast it is as the boot drive.

hairball

oh..and if you're going with a wireless keyboard and mouse the logitech g7 kick arse apparently (but for a price), cant remember what their gaming keyboard is called but you'll find it on their site

TKK

AnCapaillMor wrote:

Memory, AMD does'nt support above 3200 yet.

Really? I didn't know that at all.

hairball

well dunno bout the memory issue cos I'm sticking pc4000 in mine

HomunQlus

If you wanna have a good one, then here's my suggestion:

Intel Pentium 4, 3.2 GHz Dual Core and Hyperthreading
1 GB DDR2 RAM
250 GB S/ATA
any 256 MB graphic card, PCI Express
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2
16x DVD/RW with Dual Layer
Creative Audigy Soundcard with a Creative 7.1 speaker system
19" Flatpanel Screen

I think that would really do it

64-bit processors are of no use in the moment, as there are nearly no games out that fully support 64-bit.

commited

AMD are miles ahead of intel at the moment for each price bracket and overall performance, so they arent worth touching imho.

If you're building a high end machine, either go for one of the new opteron 144/146 if you want to get the best bang for your buck and you overclock - these go up to FX-57+ speeds. Otherwise, the X2 4400+ is an excellent choice.

As for Ram - go for 2GB. The new DFI crossfire board supports DDR500. Get the ram with the best timings you can afford.

Motherboard wise - DFI make the best. THere are two platforms to choose from - crossfire (2 ati cards)& SLI(2 nVidia cards). The new ATI X1800XT is out in 3weeks, which would be a good choice if you want ultimate performance. The nVidia 7800GTX is also an excellent choice. You can always go for one or two depending on your budget.
The amount memory of the graphics card isnt nearly as important as the speed of the GPU & the memory. So dont just pick "any 256mb graphics card"

Hard drives: Always go for raid, if you have a big budget, get 2 raptors & 2 bigger drives for storage.

Go for a decent 19" monitor with a maximum of 16ms response time and minimum of 700:1 contrast ratio.

TKK

There isn't a whole lot of requirement for storage so raptors or even raid would be overkill in my opinion and add costs that aren't necessary to the project.

TKK

The fact that there's new gfx cards out in the next couple of weeks is good news. Those considered good atm should realistically drop in price when the newer ones become available.

hairball

thats what I'm hoping for anyways

TKK

Anyone else have any opinions. I'm hoping to put together a draft spec on Monday. All input gratefully received.

dent

Processor : AMD 4000 2.4 Ghz (Think this might be the clawhammer core ) or dual core AMD 4600 2.4Gz

Graphics card : 7800GTX or if he is willing to wait x1800xt although when you can actually get your hands on one only time will tell.

Motherboard : Abit AN8 SLi Fatal1ty nForce4 SLi (MB-070-AB) although this board is expensive and may not be worth it.

RAM : 1GB Corsair or Geil. Currently own an intel system so I've never overclocked an AMD system so not sure what speed memory you should get. Default 3200 I guess but others might know better.

Power Supply : Antec or Tagan at least 400W. Stay away from cheap brands that state they are 500W. Prime example would be Q-tec

Sound Card: Audigy 2 ZS would do me but they have a brand new range out that might be worth a look.

Thats the guts of quite an expensive system and what I'd be basing mine on if I was upgrading soon. Current system is fine so I'll wait for the new AMD socket m2 to come out before upgrading.

Don't forget about cooling weather is processor or case fans or even watercooling.

masteroftherealm

Dfi LanParty NF4 Ultra-D and Mod it to an SLI for freee or alternativly go for the SLI-DR
Athlon 4000+ or an OpterOWN150.
2Gb Mushkin XP4000 or 1Gb PC5000 if were talking overclocking.
Samsung SATA2 HDD is Owning every other HDD out there.
Id go with a 7800GTX 256mb Cause if the expected price drop.
LianLi Case of your choosing(Has the Mobo tray your looking for)
PCPowerand Cooling 510w PSU(Teh Roxxor)

Phew that took a while to do:v: :v:

But that would be the system Id recomend for a gamer.
'
EDIT: Oh and no offence to above dude but DONT TOUCH Fatality Boards. Absolute rubbish.

commited

TKK wrote:

There isn't a whole lot of requirement for storage so raptors or even raid would be overkill in my opinion and add costs that aren't necessary to the project.

Raptors arent for storage, they're for speed - they're only 37/74gb. Running a drive in Raid is roughly twice as fast as running it as a single drive. If you want a performance rig, the hard drives have a huge effect, so consider at least 2 normal 7200rpm drives in raid or a single raptor (4.5ms read time as opposed to 8.5+ for 7200rpm drives)

Dont take my word for it though - google for reviews - they're very well regarded
If he wants to overclock, get an opteron, a DFI & some very nice OCZ/Geil ultra DDR500

TKK

The man doesn't even have a pc at the moment or the knowledge to spec/build one himself so I doubt overclocking is on the menu. At the moment he does all his gaming in a place in town which is inconvenient and expensive.

TKK

commited wrote:

Raptors arent for storage, they're for speed - they're only 37/74gb. Running a drive in Raid is roughly twice as fast as running it as a single drive. If you want a performance rig, the hard drives have a huge effect, so consider at least 2 normal 7200rpm drives in raid or a single raptor (4.5ms read time as opposed to 8.5+ for 7200rpm drives)

Dont take my word for it though - google for reviews - they're very well regarded
If he wants to overclock, get an opteron, a DFI & some very nice OCZ/Geil ultra DDR500

My comment about the storage was that it was suggested to get some raptors and extra drives.

I know about raid and the raptor advantage in terms of speed but I think it may be a bit advanced for the man yet. I don't think the disk seek time is going to cause much of a problem initially. I'll probably go for a sata2. The raptor/raid options could be saved for an upgrade at a later stage and would also help keep the budget down for the moment.

silverside

Case: Not a clue. I'm using a Sonata but I don't think he's all that concerned with good looks. Any recommendations for one which is easy to use (particularly would think of going for one with a removable motherboard plate) and fairly good ventilation?
* sonata is excellent,quiet, easy to set up. Antec p180 supposedly even better but need to buy PSU. sonata should do fine.

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 - which one? -
* go with socket 939 3400+ should do fine. dunno how much double core costs now but would be nice to have.

Motherboard: Depends on the processor. Socket 939? Any particular standouts? -
*asus is a good name, you want reliability over overclocking as he is not an expert no offence

RAM: I'm thinking 1GB for now. What pc rating should I be looking at?
* look on the crucial website whatver is not too expensive. 1gb will do, 2 would be nice but a bit of a waste. i reckon cas 2.5



HDD: 250GB SATA
* samsung spinpoint

Graphics: I'm thinking of one of the PCI-E 256MB cards but which one? - *7800GTX - whatever brand you can get a good deal on. actually maybe even this is overkill and an x800 / 7800 of some description would do.

Sound: I'm thinking of just going with onboard for now. Otherwise would the Audigy 2 ZS be sufficient?
* yep audigy should be fine for games

Speakers: I don't have a clue. I had a basic surround system when I built my own pc and just connected the spdif out to them. He will need speakers and I'm thinking he will want surround. -
* whole seperate story but creative/logitech/ all good names. surround bit of a hassle to set up. Acoustic energy aego speakers are excellent sound quality
DVD writer: NEC
* why NEC in particular? pioneer are also good . doesnt make much difference anyway long as you get a good brand name, are cheap+easy to replace if they do fail

DVD ROM: Necessary? *no not unless you want to copy sh!tloads of cd's
Wireless NIC

Wireless keyboard and mouse: which of the Logitechs is good for gaming?
* i have the logitech mx518 and logitech intternet kb theyre not cordless but excellent nonetheless.

Monitor: I've got the BenQ 937s+ and I'm thinking of going for the same for him as I find it quite good.
* monitor again personal experience, i have viewsonic vp171s and its excellent. i would go for a 17" 1280, or if i had loads of cash a 20" 1600x1200, or even more a dell 24" widescreen. get something you have seen in operation as some cheap lcds are rubbish.