ive got a question why does everyone suggest nvidia whats wrong with ati i know ati hasnt released a card yet to compete with nvidias top card but if you are all going to suggest he waits why dont you allso suggest he waits to see if ati can come up with a better card for cheaper and second this is kinda off topic but what is the best RAID setup that should be used
Nvidia is probaly being suggested more atm because they have a larger variety of dx10 cards as of now, ati is realeasing there wave of dx10 cards soon but untill then nvidia is really your only affordabe choice.
ive got a question why does everyone suggest nvidia whats wrong with ati i know ati hasnt released a card yet to compete with nvidias top card but if you are all going to suggest he waits why dont you allso suggest he waits to see if ati can come up with a better card for cheaper and second this is kinda off topic but what is the best RAID setup that should be used
Look two posts above yours.
RAID is not good for desktop and gaming use. Just get a single hard drive. If you have a ton of money, seperate OS drive and storage drive can be considered. But, that is becoming pointless as storage drives equal the performance of raptors now with the 1tb drives.
As for ATI, the reason people are reccomending Nvidia is because ATI is having trouble making thier hardware work as designed. I am sure the next generation of cards will have a better showing from ATI.
But, the rumors and previews of nvidia's next gen high end card that comes out this fall are pretty damn impressive. ATI better get their stuff together.
Some of the posts are good, but there isn't much indepth looks into how to save yourself a lot of money aside from: BUILD YOUR OWN COMPUTERZ0R ZOMGAH!
As was stated in a much earlier post, you can purchase anything you need from Newegg for instance and save yourself a bundle of money. How hard is it to hook up a computer? Not hard at all. Truthfully, when I help people build computers I just tell them - Plug it in where it fits. I've never had anybody screw anything up yet, so that's my advice for the most part.
Processor: Core 2 Duo (C2D) for your life. AMD is good if you're buying a lower end model, but then again, you can still pay the same prices and outperform the AMD processors with C2D's. Oh no, I must be lying! Actually, I'm not - http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/06/18/amd_smart_strike/page11.html . This shows that you need to be buying C2Ds all day long. It doesn't show gaming benchmarks sadly, but they're generally not much different than synthetic benches shown in that review. That's just for the low end and not overclocked. When it comes to overclocking, which is nearly as simple as pushing the up arrow on your FSB option, Intel runs AMD over with a bulldozer. For overall benchmarking, check this chart out: http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html . Stock shows that either way you'll get good performance, but Intel will still net you the best performance at this time.
Intel E6750 or E6850 after the July 22nd price cuts/introduction of these processors to the mainstream. They are just insane when it comes to stock performance as well as overclock performance.
If you're building your own computer you probably will be going with SATA hard drives, so go for the P5N-E. The DS3 is probably the 2nd best if not the most common overclocking board purchased by enthusiasts.
Video Card: If you want DX10, go 8800 right now. ATI just released better drivers for their 2900XT, however it still has problems from what I understand with all special things turned up such as Anti-Aliasing (AA), Anisotrophic Filtering (AF), High Dynamic Range (HDR), and tone mapping (basically an HDR effect). The 320MB card is the best bang for the buck purchase for DX9 games right now. However, since you're looking for the future and DX10 cards, I can only recommend the 640MB GTS which can easily be overclocked to slightly under the GTX's stock speeds for $150 less. DO NOT GET THE 8800GTX ULTRA!!! It's 150 extra dollars for an overclock. There are no features on this card that make it better than a stock GTX aside from an overclock.
Oh yeah, don't do SLI unless you're seriously gaming at 3000x2200 resolution. A single GTX can handle nearly anything up to 2500xWhatever, as can a 640MB GTS. SLI=problems that you will face while trying to run it on games that don't support it and doubles your chances for errors theoretically. You truthfully never need SLI especially in a new build. Purchasing two lower end cards is more expensive than a better performing single card in almost EVERY. SINGLE. SITUATION.
RAM: First off, you don't need 1066MHz RAM and you don't need 1333MHz DDR3036178782347billion. DDR-800 is the way to go for now.
My Recommendations: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565 Just purchase two of these if you want 4 gigs of RAM, which will turn out to be 3-3.5GB due to 32-bit system limitations. Truthfully you really only need 2GB, the future doesn't look that bad considering even the top games today and all demos really only take up around 800mb of RAM generally. Don't forget those Mail-In Rebates (MIR)!!! These RAM sticks are guaranteed super overclockers because they have the Micron9 memory chips which means they are high quality -
Power Supply: It doesn't matter if your power supply is 8000 watts, if the 12v amperage is 20 amps, your system is screwed from the get go. Any power supplies from PC Power, Corsair's upper end models, Silverstone, and Hiper are decent. Modular is not entirely good for you, but Hiper has a nice 60 dollar model that is modular (you can connect cords to your power supply if you need them or disconnect them if you aren't using them) and provides good 12v amperage. Another thing to make sure you pay attention to is whether or not there are 1, 2, or 3 12v rails. 1 12v is the best you can get, as 2 or 3 12v rails are limited by some restriction that I think is 240w or something... I can't remember at this time, however, an example would be - 12v rail #1=24a and 12v rail #2=24a does not mean you have a total of 48a, it means that you have more like 35a due to the limitation described above. Because of this, I recommend these two power supplies:
Hard Drives: Raptors? Hahaha... Please... Like that's going to help your gaming performance or anything in general. Check this out - http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/03/12/cheap_raid_ravages_wd_raptor/ and http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/04/17/hitachi_7k1000_terabyte_hard_drive/ . Game set and match. Don't buy Raptors, they're pointless and will not get you anything near noticeable performance increases compared to today's competition. The Raptors are like the Motorolla Razr of hard drives today. All you need is 7200RPM and you will be able to record anything on your computer at 30-60fps and load up your games very fast too. And guess what? If you play FPSs, loading into the game sooner means *gasp* you get to wait for the people with slower computers before your round starts. How fun!
The difference in performance is minimal, but Seagate has its Perpendicular Recording Technology which is supposed to speed up the drive access and transfer rates or something. Who knows, I don't.
Case: Just buy this one. It's dope, large enough for the parts listed above, and comes with a 120mm and 80mm fan which is decent for airflow. You can get either the windowed one to show off to all of your friends... Or girls, but what the heck are those anyways? They cut into your gaming time (just kidding, if you put games>girls then I am sad for you with a huge sad sad face)
I didn't list an aftermarket cooler because I don't know if there will be any overclocking or not.
That's a basic run through of a decent computer setup. You can build a computer that will play next generation games for under 1k, and they'll run the games really well I'm sure considering the recommended specs for upcoming games are not even as high as what is currently available. By the way, I'm sure you know some friends who can build computers somewhere in your life, so if you truthfully need help, ask them, or check out this website - http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1444 . Good luck.
What i dont understand is why people are telling him to get 2 8800 GTXs... You only need 1, and by hte time you need 2, it will be like 250 or something.. dont waste your money.. its not like you will notice a difference by having 2.
I'm sure you didn't read my huge post, but I pointed out that SLI is completely pointless unless you're gaming on IMAX screens which would require 2 GTX's fully overclocked and that wouldn't even work.
Thanks gpett, I like your posts too because they're so spot on. You hit the nVidia vs ATI, RAID and Raptor vs other HDDs in today's day and age, and SLI points directly on the head with a jackhammer. Hopefully the poster will read my post though, as that's who my post was for.
EDIT
Great to hear that you read it! Like I said, perhaps you could find someone who knows how to build computers to help you plug things in.
If you do happen to build the computer, a few things I must emphasize are:
When putting your RAM into your motherboard, make sure to line of the grooves of the RAM to the motherboard so that you don't put them in backwards, which would result in most likely breaking the RAM if you press too hard. You can apply pressure when plugging things in but not enough to break someone's skull, so don't think that by accidentally breathing on something you will make your computer explode. For instance, I had an old motherboard that I was trying to put RAM into but the slot itself was very tight, so I had to push preeeetty hard on the RAM for it to go in. Generally RAM will slide into the slots very easily, but this one I actually pushed to the point that I thought I was going to snap the thing in half (Which is horrible, you shouldn't be putting this much pressure on anything, but it was a backup computer that I didn't care about), but the stick survived and went into the slot. So all in all, don't think that you'll break anything you touch
AND
When plugging power into your SATA hard drive, you can plug in the little L looking plug for power instead of the 3.3v Molex connector. I'm pretty sure it's the L shaped connector, it comes from your power supply of course About 3/4 of an inch long with a small 1cm thing sticking out, making it an L shape.
Overall, good luck! It's pretty fun to build a computer for the first time. I helped my little bro do his by basically saying - Plug it in if it fits - and he's been playing the same computer since then with no hardware malfunctions.
I know people might want to hurt me for saying this, but if you really are nervous about building it yourself you can get a descent system from HP for ~$700. They also sell HPs anywhere, like at Circuit City and Fry's. But you will most likely have to buy a new video card, Power Supply, Monitor, a little more ram, and Windows Vista Ultimate which can run around ~$500+ more; but you won't have to purchase them until its a better time to, like in the fall. If you do go this route, make sure you get a 20+4 connector on your powersupply, and not get a power supply over 700 watts as it would most likely be too long for the case. HP Core2Duo ~$600 AMD System ~$400 HP Core2Duo ~$800 ABS Core2Duo ~$850
Do not buy a premade system, full stop. Basically everything Tekkaman said is entirely correct.
IF you don't want to build your own computer, my suggestion would be to buy all the parts from Newegg, take them to your local PC shop, and pay them $100 to build it for you. You are going to save a SHITLOAD of money compared to buying from Alienware. One thing though is that you should be 100% sure your local shop doesn't nick something from you.
I know people might want to hurt me for saying this, but if you really are nervous about building it yourself you can get a descent system from HP for ~$700. They also sell HPs anywhere, like at Circuit City and Fry's. But you will most likely have to buy a new video card, Power Supply, Monitor, a little more ram, and Windows Vista Ultimate which can run around ~$500+ more; but you won't have to purchase them until its a better time to, like in the fall. If you do go this route, make sure you get a 20+4 connector on your powersupply, and not get a power supply over 700 watts as it would most likely be too long for the case.
If you do not want to read the whole thing, I'll summarize: Cheapo systems from mass distrubutors like dell, hp, and gateway often use funky shapped parts. Most likely you will not get an ATX form factor case in a cheapo system. If you do not have a standard case, many upgrade parts simply will not fit. 2900s and 8800s are big cards... so don't expect to slap one into a cheapo $500 system from dell, gateway, or HP.
Comments
Nvidia is probaly being suggested more atm because they have a larger variety of dx10 cards as of now, ati is realeasing there wave of dx10 cards soon but untill then nvidia is really your only affordabe choice.
RAID is not good for desktop and gaming use. Just get a single hard drive. If you have a ton of money, seperate OS drive and storage drive can be considered. But, that is becoming pointless as storage drives equal the performance of raptors now with the 1tb drives.
As for ATI, the reason people are reccomending Nvidia is because ATI is having trouble making thier hardware work as designed. I am sure the next generation of cards will have a better showing from ATI.
But, the rumors and previews of nvidia's next gen high end card that comes out this fall are pretty damn impressive. ATI better get their stuff together.
Some of the posts are good, but there isn't much indepth looks into how to save yourself a lot of money aside from: BUILD YOUR OWN COMPUTERZ0R ZOMGAH!
As was stated in a much earlier post, you can purchase anything you need from Newegg for instance and save yourself a bundle of money. How hard is it to hook up a computer? Not hard at all. Truthfully, when I help people build computers I just tell them - Plug it in where it fits. I've never had anybody screw anything up yet, so that's my advice for the most part.
Processor: Core 2 Duo (C2D) for your life. AMD is good if you're buying a lower end model, but then again, you can still pay the same prices and outperform the AMD processors with C2D's. Oh no, I must be lying! Actually, I'm not - http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/06/18/amd_smart_strike/page11.html . This shows that you need to be buying C2Ds all day long. It doesn't show gaming benchmarks sadly, but they're generally not much different than synthetic benches shown in that review. That's just for the low end and not overclocked. When it comes to overclocking, which is nearly as simple as pushing the up arrow on your FSB option, Intel runs AMD over with a bulldozer. For overall benchmarking, check this chart out: http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html . Stock shows that either way you'll get good performance, but Intel will still net you the best performance at this time.
My recommendation(s): Intel Q6600 after July 22nd's price cuts if you will use the computer for anything else in the future - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017
Intel E2460 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116036 Reviews: http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=653&p=5 They recommend the 4k series over this, but it shows how strong this processor is.
Intel E6750 or E6850 after the July 22nd price cuts/introduction of these processors to the mainstream. They are just insane when it comes to stock performance as well as overclock performance.
Motherboard: I can really only recommend two boards which are the DS3 by Gigabyte - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128012
Asus P5N-E SLI - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131142
If you're building your own computer you probably will be going with SATA hard drives, so go for the P5N-E. The DS3 is probably the 2nd best if not the most common overclocking board purchased by enthusiasts.
Video Card: If you want DX10, go 8800 right now. ATI just released better drivers for their 2900XT, however it still has problems from what I understand with all special things turned up such as Anti-Aliasing (AA), Anisotrophic Filtering (AF), High Dynamic Range (HDR), and tone mapping (basically an HDR effect). The 320MB card is the best bang for the buck purchase for DX9 games right now. However, since you're looking for the future and DX10 cards, I can only recommend the 640MB GTS which can easily be overclocked to slightly under the GTX's stock speeds for $150 less. DO NOT GET THE 8800GTX ULTRA!!! It's 150 extra dollars for an overclock. There are no features on this card that make it better than a stock GTX aside from an overclock.
Oh yeah, don't do SLI unless you're seriously gaming at 3000x2200 resolution. A single GTX can handle nearly anything up to 2500xWhatever, as can a 640MB GTS. SLI=problems that you will face while trying to run it on games that don't support it and doubles your chances for errors theoretically. You truthfully never need SLI especially in a new build. Purchasing two lower end cards is more expensive than a better performing single card in almost EVERY. SINGLE. SITUATION.
My Recommendation(s): 8800GTS 640MB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130071
Since I don't know what resolution you game at, I'm going to go for the GTX here - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130072
RAM: First off, you don't need 1066MHz RAM and you don't need 1333MHz DDR3036178782347billion. DDR-800 is the way to go for now.
My Recommendations: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565 Just purchase two of these if you want 4 gigs of RAM, which will turn out to be 3-3.5GB due to 32-bit system limitations. Truthfully you really only need 2GB, the future doesn't look that bad considering even the top games today and all demos really only take up around 800mb of RAM generally. Don't forget those Mail-In Rebates (MIR)!!! These RAM sticks are guaranteed super overclockers because they have the Micron9 memory chips which means they are high quality -
Power Supply: It doesn't matter if your power supply is 8000 watts, if the 12v amperage is 20 amps, your system is screwed from the get go. Any power supplies from PC Power, Corsair's upper end models, Silverstone, and Hiper are decent. Modular is not entirely good for you, but Hiper has a nice 60 dollar model that is modular (you can connect cords to your power supply if you need them or disconnect them if you aren't using them) and provides good 12v amperage. Another thing to make sure you pay attention to is whether or not there are 1, 2, or 3 12v rails. 1 12v is the best you can get, as 2 or 3 12v rails are limited by some restriction that I think is 240w or something... I can't remember at this time, however, an example would be - 12v rail #1=24a and 12v rail #2=24a does not mean you have a total of 48a, it means that you have more like 35a due to the limitation described above. Because of this, I recommend these two power supplies:
My Recommendations: PC Power & Cooling - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703005
Hiper - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817128006
Hard Drives: Raptors? Hahaha... Please... Like that's going to help your gaming performance or anything in general. Check this out - http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/03/12/cheap_raid_ravages_wd_raptor/ and http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/04/17/hitachi_7k1000_terabyte_hard_drive/ . Game set and match. Don't buy Raptors, they're pointless and will not get you anything near noticeable performance increases compared to today's competition. The Raptors are like the Motorolla Razr of hard drives today. All you need is 7200RPM and you will be able to record anything on your computer at 30-60fps and load up your games very fast too. And guess what? If you play FPSs, loading into the game sooner means *gasp* you get to wait for the people with slower computers before your round starts. How fun!
My Recommendations: Seagate Barracuda 320GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148140
I prefer Western Digital, so here is a WD drive, 320GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136053
The difference in performance is minimal, but Seagate has its Perpendicular Recording Technology which is supposed to speed up the drive access and transfer rates or something. Who knows, I don't.
Case: Just buy this one. It's dope, large enough for the parts listed above, and comes with a 120mm and 80mm fan which is decent for airflow. You can get either the windowed one to show off to all of your friends... Or girls, but what the heck are those anyways? They cut into your gaming time (just kidding, if you put games>girls then I am sad for you with a huge sad sad face)
My Recommendations: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119077
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068
I didn't list an aftermarket cooler because I don't know if there will be any overclocking or not.
That's a basic run through of a decent computer setup. You can build a computer that will play next generation games for under 1k, and they'll run the games really well I'm sure considering the recommended specs for upcoming games are not even as high as what is currently available. By the way, I'm sure you know some friends who can build computers somewhere in your life, so if you truthfully need help, ask them, or check out this website - http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1444 . Good luck.
What i dont understand is why people are telling him to get 2 8800 GTXs... You only need 1, and by hte time you need 2, it will be like 250 or something.. dont waste your money.. its not like you will notice a difference by having 2.
I'm sure you didn't read my huge post, but I pointed out that SLI is completely pointless unless you're gaming on IMAX screens which would require 2 GTX's fully overclocked and that wouldn't even work.
It was a good post, but it was too long... most people will not read all that Tekk. haha
actually tekk i did read your huge post and i have all the newegg links your brought up,
just deciding if i really want to make my own computer or not...
Makes me kidna scared cuz if i mess up i have no computer and alot less money lol
Currently Playing: GW
Waiting For: Fury, AoC, GW:EN
Thanks gpett, I like your posts too because they're so spot on. You hit the nVidia vs ATI, RAID and Raptor vs other HDDs in today's day and age, and SLI points directly on the head with a jackhammer. Hopefully the poster will read my post though, as that's who my post was for.
EDIT
Great to hear that you read it! Like I said, perhaps you could find someone who knows how to build computers to help you plug things in.
If you do happen to build the computer, a few things I must emphasize are:
When putting your RAM into your motherboard, make sure to line of the grooves of the RAM to the motherboard so that you don't put them in backwards, which would result in most likely breaking the RAM if you press too hard. You can apply pressure when plugging things in but not enough to break someone's skull, so don't think that by accidentally breathing on something you will make your computer explode. For instance, I had an old motherboard that I was trying to put RAM into but the slot itself was very tight, so I had to push preeeetty hard on the RAM for it to go in. Generally RAM will slide into the slots very easily, but this one I actually pushed to the point that I thought I was going to snap the thing in half (Which is horrible, you shouldn't be putting this much pressure on anything, but it was a backup computer that I didn't care about), but the stick survived and went into the slot. So all in all, don't think that you'll break anything you touch
AND
When plugging power into your SATA hard drive, you can plug in the little L looking plug for power instead of the 3.3v Molex connector. I'm pretty sure it's the L shaped connector, it comes from your power supply of course
About 3/4 of an inch long with a small 1cm thing sticking out, making it an L shape.
Overall, good luck! It's pretty fun to build a computer for the first time. I helped my little bro do his by basically saying - Plug it in if it fits - and he's been playing the same computer since then with no hardware malfunctions.
I know people might want to hurt me for saying this, but if you really are nervous about building it yourself you can get a descent system from HP for ~$700. They also sell HPs anywhere, like at Circuit City and Fry's. But you will most likely have to buy a new video card, Power Supply, Monitor, a little more ram, and Windows Vista Ultimate which can run around ~$500+ more; but you won't have to purchase them until its a better time to, like in the fall. If you do go this route, make sure you get a 20+4 connector on your powersupply, and not get a power supply over 700 watts as it would most likely be too long for the case.
HP Core2Duo ~$600
AMD System ~$400
HP Core2Duo ~$800
ABS Core2Duo ~$850
Do not buy a premade system, full stop. Basically everything Tekkaman said is entirely correct.
IF you don't want to build your own computer, my suggestion would be to buy all the parts from Newegg, take them to your local PC shop, and pay them $100 to build it for you. You are going to save a SHITLOAD of money compared to buying from Alienware. One thing though is that you should be 100% sure your local shop doesn't nick something from you.
Over at [H]ardocp they decided to try to buy a budget system and see if it could be upgraded into a gaming rig. Here is a long article outlining thier review of dell and a cheapo AMD system.
If you do not want to read the whole thing, I'll summarize: Cheapo systems from mass distrubutors like dell, hp, and gateway often use funky shapped parts. Most likely you will not get an ATX form factor case in a cheapo system. If you do not have a standard case, many upgrade parts simply will not fit. 2900s and 8800s are big cards... so don't expect to slap one into a cheapo $500 system from dell, gateway, or HP.