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((HELP)) Need help building a new computer rig!
EightBall8
Member Posts: 22
Hi! Let me first start off and tell you - I am a total computer noob... I used to be some-what useful but I have not a single clue about todays market - and I am interested in buying a decent gaming rig that wont cost me 1000$+ Ive been told by friends that because of the feud of Intel, AMD, Nvidia - and so fourth that this is the time to buy as you can score some great gear at a great price. I could be misinformed but do not wish to miss the chance!
I know I could most likely google 'cheap gaming rigs' and find numerous 'we will put it together for you!' but they also add 200$+ or more on their 'service' but I feel that I would be able to put together a PC from the bare bones getting the parts from newegg.
Now straight to my problem! I currently own an out dated PC the specifications are below
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2048MB RAM
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6200
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6200
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Monitor: SyncMaster 930B(Analog)
Monitor Max Res: 1280,1024
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you can already tell this is a VERY VERY outdated machine!
Ive recently found an MMORPG that I want to play it's called Fallen Earth the system specs are below
Recommended Hardware Requirements
* CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.40 GHz or equivalent
* RAM: 3 GB for XP, 4 GB for Vista
* Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800GTS/ ATI Radeon 3870
* RAM (dedicated): 512 MB
Now my question is to everyone here on this wonderful forum - can a few techs put together some rigs through Newegg or what have you - that could run this game on MED to HIGH settings. I know you should never buy a computer for just ONE game - I don't plan to I want a machine I can upgrade over time but for now will play the latest games. As I am interested in playing SWTOR when it comes out. Ive been told you can put together a PC that will play Crysis on good settings for 600$... Dunno how accurate that is... but if it is true - I would love for some techs to lay out some system specs... have a discussion about it whats good whats bad.... and perhaps help myself but others who are dealing with the same issue!
Just in-case my babble confused some of you... here is my direct question...
Question: Can you put together a cost effective machine that will run Fallen Earth (MMORPG) on HIGHEST or MED settings and that will cost less then 800$ USD
Thank you to everyone in advance - EightBall8
Comments
For $800 CDN (Canadian funds), I was able to scrap up half a game PC and that's not including monitor, keyboard and mouse (assuming you are going to just plug in your old one).
Besides from that your largest investment will be in your graphics card, memory and hard drive space.
If you get it at a part retailer (a la, a computer chop shop store), you can easily get the following in cheap (estimated in CDN and from my local stores):
-9800 GeForce: $150-250 (Varying model)
-P5N Motherboard: $100-125
-4 GB memory: $100-200 (quality/manufacturer, name brands are usually more higher end)
-Hard Drive: $60-300 (Depending on hard drive space)
-AMD/Intel processing unit: ~$130 and less (I knew a couple places that are trying to beat their local competitors. If you have the time and the patience and if you can do it, negotiate a price)
Using Crysis as a benchmark somewhat flaws the qualitative results if we're talking about price for a PC consider how the engine optimizes performance for itself. For Fallen Earth, you shouldn't expect it will be exactly the same as Crysis. it is more wise that if you consider any bench test that it uses a universal and verifiable evidence (just a small rant) to have a standard game and then benchmarking the FPS rate (Frames Per Second).
Gamer to gamer, I want to say don't talk sh*t about your computer. Though it is a low end gaming/entertainment unit, the 6200 can still last. All you have to do is upgrade or start utilizing that SLi technology. As for memory, a small 1GB/2GB update can be somewhat cheaper then going all out. If you built the PC you are using and it is about 2-3 years old, you probably went with the P5N motherboard by ASUS. Currently, there isn't much of an out for the gamer. It's go big or go home, and big isn't cheap. You would easily will have to burn through $1000 because of the high demand of graphics for some games.
For now if you want a PC for $800, I would recommend a high end netbook. But I think you can definitely attempt to upgrade the PC you currently have and it should take about $400-600.
Hope this helps.
Thank you very much for your reply - I honestly forget what type of motherboard I have... and your post helps and it doesnt but thank you very much for replying :-)
Bundle: Case, Power Supply, RAM, Motherboard, CPU, HDD - $561.00
Windows 7- $105.00
Graphics card - $100.00
Total: $766.00
That covers the basics. I don't know how well that system would run, but it would be more than enough to run Fallen Earth. And the Bundle is an awesome deal anyway. I would buy that if I had the money to blow.
Do some research on the items I listed before committing. Do not buy without knowing what you're buying..
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Thank you VERY much! I did look up the items - and to my understand everything looks great - but as I am no whiz I shall wait to see what others say.
I can't thank you enough though - for taking time out of your day... You've helped me alot and if anything have given me an idea what to shoot towards! I thank you!
No problem, just try and check local stores before checking online and compare those prices and see if you can get it locally since then you actually return it if anything goes wrong.
Also some games may list the recommended requirements and it would require more than the required hardware. Best idea to to try and do one better overall. For example, I got my PC about 3 years ago when everyone said you needed a 6 Series GeForce. So I bought a 8 Series with a quad core bundle...well, I negotiated for the bundle.
Use some as my suggestions, usually it can turn out good results. Though newegg is great and all, though sometimes it's better to actually know you can get your hardware much faster with a local retailer. That and you can always return if you don't like it. But that's just my opinion.
You forgot to include shipping and maybe express delivery.
Not sure where you live EightBall, but try and calculate the shipping cost before you purchase.
You're welcome!
That rig would probably be more powerful than my gaming rig. I'm still using DDR2 and a Q6600. The only thing I'm not sure about is the video card. But it's eVGA, which is my favorite NVIDIA manufacturer.
Also, the Rosewill power supply. Seems like a good deal, but I'm not sure how good Rosewill is at making electronics. I've purchased a few accessory items from Rosewill (mice, cooling bays, etc) but never purchased any of their computer components. May want to look into that.
And finally, I usually don't buy any motherboards but ASUS. I've seen good things about GIGABYTE, but I've never personally used them. I have a couple friends who use GIGABYTE, but I've been using ASUS for the past 14 years and have always liked the performance.
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Well, lets see what I would put together:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor $190
A fast dual core is cheaper than a quad but will give you better performance than a similar quad when playing.
GIGABYTE GA-G41MT-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $70
A simple motherboard with DDR3 memory slots, Gigabyte delivers good quality for little cash.
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT - Retail $95
1333 FSB DDR3 memory's. 4 GB is more or less a must today.
COOLMAX CUL-750B 750W ATX 12V V2.3 Modular Power Supply - Retail $70
Unfortunately does modern GFX cards demand power, 750W is enough to run both thos card and a future high end. You could save a few buck on getting a slightly lower but then you might have to upgrade it later.
SPARKLE SXS250512D3-NM GeForce GTS 250 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail
$110 An acceptable gfx card for the price. There are some ATI cards that offers good for the same price also but Nvidia is easier for beginners, you need to tweak ATIs drivers to get most of the card.
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $40
A small reliable harddrive for a cheap price. Get a larger later as a media drive...
That is $575. then you get
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM $104 W7 64 bits will give you a boost compared to Vista and XP can't use all the memory.
Maybe a nice 22" screen also if you have enough money for it. Everything here is easy stuff, it will perform rather good even though the GFX card could have been better, but the alternative (BFG Tech BFGEGTX260MC896OCE GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Retail will cost you another 100 bucks, it is a lot better however so it is worth considering.
For a later upgrade can you just change the GFX card to a top notch one, with that should you be able to play for years.
Edit: I forgot LOTRO. LOL. If you use the alternative card will it do LOTRO maxed out, I am not sure about the cheaper version but we are still making under $800 with the more expensive card. If you plane to buy a screen also for the 800 you will have to hope, I say it is 50/50 that the cheap card can handle it. You could also save a few bucks on a 650W PSU but you might regret that later if you buy a high end card.
Newegg is the ultimate for building computers and getting good deals. Newegg has no retail stores, it's just a few warehouses with a website, so cost is reduced exponentially. If you want to waste your money, then by all means go to a retail store where the salesman is going to charge you top dollar and make commission off of you
Newegg has a nifty little tool before you check out that calculates shipping for you
RMAs with Newegg are extremely fast and easy, making returns a breeze and giving Newegg the honorable reputation that it has earned.
@ that canadian guy: if you don't know what you're talking about, then don't talk
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I agree, Newegg is good. There are other good companies too but I like Ns page also and since they usually have really low prices is all my links to them.
ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI have the same components, if you want better you have to get A-BITs more expensive cards.
And to be frank are most of the broken motherboards I fixed the last few years ASUS (1 ASROCK and 5 ASUS to be exact) so they are not better. I like MSI myself, they have a nice cooling system on the board.
My advice is to check all those 3 and get the cheapest with the performance you want, that is the reason I reccomended a Gigabyte card.
With ASUS you pay money just for the brand. They are not a bad choice but not what gives you most for the money either.
I use A-BIT, ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI when I build computers, I usually build them for friends.
For me I pay the extra money to get the A-BIT cards but their resent Chinese factory are making low budget card as bad as the rest so be careful if you decide for them, the Taiwanese factory however only uses Japanese components and have one of the best testing procedures in the business. Sadly that is not so great as it sound since 5% of all motherboards have some kind of issue.
Wow! Now that is some rig! I was looking forward to your post - crossing my fingers you would post as I have seen some of your previous on different machines but wanted a more personal post on what I was wanting!
I Agree that going the extra step for that graphics card and power supply would be a worthy investment - though from your opinion would it run the latest games on Med to Max settings? Such as Fallen Earth for Instance or what have you...
I thank you very much Loke666!
I don't believe I need a new screen I have this 19 or 20 inch SyncMaster 930B SAMSUNG - dunno... I think it might still be decent.
And to answer a previous post - I did do the whole 'go through your local retailer' I went to a local computer shop. They are a chain but only have 3 or so shops in my county. ANYWAYS to continue my story - I went through them and that was .. 3-4 years ago. They build custom PC's and I told them I wanted a gaming rig - well knowing nothing about parts when they gave me the sheet the fancy words sounded nice so I said sure charge it... came out to be 1000$. Later looking at what parts were used I saw that there was a 380$+ difference on what it would have cost me just putting it together myself! Buying through newegg or some other site... the bastards took me for a fool as I was... but you know the saying "Fool me once..." so now doing the research wont make the same mistake. No offense but it takes a calm hand and a settled mind to put together a computer... it's not rocket science and if I need help the internet is there for me! So I wont be going through a local retailer... I got butt F*$*@ed big time last time... so let's try something new!
And I thank you to all that reply - I agree that shipping cost could add another 40-60 dollars depending on whats what... I do live in Florida USA - so I can't imagine it being TO expensive... but it's something to know about before hand.
ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI have the same components, if you want better you have to get A-BITs more expensive cards.
And to be frank are most of the broken motherboards I fixed the last few years ASUS (1 ASROCK and 5 ASUS to be exact) so they are not better. I like MSI myself, they have a nice cooling system on the board.
My advice is to check all those 3 and get the cheapest with the performance you want, that is the reason I reccomended a Gigabyte card.
With ASUS you pay money just for the brand. They are not a bad choice but not what gives you most for the money either.
I use A-BIT, ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI when I build computers, I usually build them for friends.
For me I pay the extra money to get the A-BIT cards but their resent Chinese factory are making low budget card as bad as the rest so be careful if you decide for them, the Taiwanese factory however only uses Japanese components and have one of the best testing procedures in the business. Sadly that is not so great as it sound since 5% of all motherboards have some kind of issue.
oh, the old glory of ABIT and the BX chipset... my next board, the ai7 gave me tons of trouble with SATA and crappy NB fans. now I'm a FotM guy. Intel processing seems the only way to go at the moment, and they've locked things down to where your only option is, don't buy cheap.
Loke always has good advice! Loke is the hardware guru, while I'm a software guy by trade (currently focusing on web-to-print technologies for a new contract, hopefully long-term).
And if Loke says go through Newegg, then that means go through Newegg!! Also, read around on the overclock.net forums and you'll hear nothing but praise for Newegg
Hope your build goes well! And I was just messin' with shooter, giving him a hard time. no hard feelings man
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Newegg has always been the way to go when at all possible. The Egghead days were even good.
I do agree cheap is not best - but from what ive read ... it is possible to get a PC and not spend 3000$USD or even 1000$USD just to play the latest games on high settings
The point of this post - is to.... talk with those who know more - or those who have something productive to add....
I wish to make a really decent PC that will give me a good investment for a few years til it needs an update. I would consider updating my current PC - but as it turns out... without replacing the motherboard it would limit what I could invest and still would be a waste of money.
I thank you again Loke666 - as your current list seems the best. Though I would love to hear of others opinions - and if any have questions dont hesitate to ask here... thank you to everyone who have posted so far.
Typically, the things you don't want to skimp when tight on cash are the motherboard, PSU, and GPU. You can easily upgrade anything else later with minimal risk to your data and physical PC.
When you by a cheap motherboard and install Windows with it, you will likely have problems with it (as cheap hardware tends to cause) - and you will soon want to upgrade when it starts having cold starts, resets randomly, and finally dies like an American automobile on its 5th year. When you upgrade your motherboard, your installation of windows may not recognize your hardware configuration and will operate poorly (if at all), requiring a time-consuming reinstall of everything. Get a motherboard you know will work for a long time: ECS, Gigabyte, MSI, and EVGA have been safe bets for me.
When you buy a cheap power supply (PSU), you run the risk of destroying your hardware during brown-outs or if a freak static bolt enters your system (because you wore thick socks!) Get a power supply with Active PFC to prevent any danger - and to cut down on heat and dust build-up, get modular cabling. Get a Mushkin, OCZ, Zalman, PC Power & Cooling, Silverstone, or Corsair brand.
Also, if you want to ensure a power-safe PC, get a surge protector or UPS.
When you buy a cheap video card (GPU), it may overheat and die when you push it. When that happens, and your 30-day newegg return period has ended, it's a good idea to know that the customer service for your brand will not be utterly useless and make you wait a year or two for a replacement (granted they don't ignore you entirely). Reliable hardware brands with equally helpful and prompt customer service are: BFG, EVGA, XFX, ASUS, PNY, Sapphire, HIS, and MSI (Zotac I heard is pretty decent, but I have no past experience with them).
Everything else is more or less "you get what you pay for."
On the RAM, I would suggest Mushkin. I have yet to receive a DOA or ever have to replace a stick, but they tend to be more expensive than other brands. You could try PNY, G-Skill, or Kingston if they are more suitable to your budget. If you're running a 32-bit operating system, you won't need any more than 3 gigs (because it doesn't support more than that by default). If you're running a 64-bit, feel free to load up on as much RAM as you want (be careful that the new i7 boards run more efficiently in triple-channel than quad).
On the case, I would suggest Antec, Cooler Master, or Lian Li. Every rig I make with those brands stays cool and quiet. I recently purchased a Raidmax case out of curiosity, and while it looks nice, it rattles loudly and barely keeps a satisfactory core temperature at full blast. So don't fall for the allure of "gaming case manufacturers."
On the hard drive, I use Seagate, Fujitsu, and Western Digital interchangeably. I may be incredibly lucky, but I have never had one of any of their hard drives fail on me. Only Maxtor has failed repeatedly, and I believe that company is now dead. Hitachi also has an annoying failure rate... two DOAs and two clunkers after just three months.
On the CPU, since they're made by only two (mentionable) manufacturers, you don't run much risk in just choosing one of a speed that best fits your price range.
Tips for building a first-time budget PC on newegg:
For example, a budget PC build may look like this:
Motherboard / CPU combo (link)
GPU (link)
PSU / Case combo (link) ((the PSU is bare minimum to run everything, as long as you don't do any overclocking, you'll be fine))
RAM (link)
HDD (link)
Media Drive (link)
Operating System (link)
Total cost: $672.00 (+about $30 for shipping, countered by the $48 worth of possible rebates)
Get to it! Make your own and, most importantly, have fun!
Uhm, I did not pay this guy to write that.
But I do have built my share of computers. I am however clueless still on the new ATI series, havn't built anything with one yet and my own 295 GTX should work for another year or at least 6 months so I havn't bother to go through all the documentation yet. I like hardware
And yes OP, $800 is about the amount a computer that delivers what you want should cost.
Here is BTW a full package that fit the bill:
CyberpowerPC Gamer Infinity 6315 Core 2 Duo E8400(3.00GHz) 4GB DDR2 500GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - Retail The only real problem with it is that DDR2 memories are somewhat slower than DDR3 as I recommended before.
General Spec
Brand CyberpowerPC
Model Gamer Infinity 6315
Recommended Usage Gaming
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E8400(3.0GHz)
Processor Main Features 64 bit Dual Core Processor
Cache Per Processor 6MB L2 Cache
Memory 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800
Hard Drive 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 7200RPM
Optical Drive 1 24X DVD±R/±RW Dual Layer Drive
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896MB PCI Express Video Card
Audio Sound card - Integrated
Ethernet 10/100 LAN
Power Supply 700W
Keyboard Xtreme Gear USB keyboard
Mouse Xtreme Gear USB mouse
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Special Features Coolermaster Elite 310 case
Motherboard
Chipset Intel G31
CPU
CPU Type Core 2 Duo
Installed Qty 1
CPU FSB 1333MHz
CPU Speed E8400(3.00GHz)
L2 Cache Per CPU 6MB
CPU Socket Type LGA 775
CPU Main Features 64 bit Dual Core Processor
Graphics
GPU/VPU Type NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
Graphics Interface PCI Express 2.0 x16
Memory
Memory Capacity 4GB DDR2
Memory Speed DDR2 800
Form Factor DIMM 240-pin
Memory Spec 2GB x 2
Memory Slot (Total) 2
Memory Slot (Available) 0
Hard Drive
HDD Capacity 500GB
HDD Interface SATA II
HDD RPM 7200rpm
Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type DVD±RW
Optical Drive Spec 24X DVD±R/±RW Dual Layer Drive
Audio
Audio Chipset Integrated
Communications
LAN Chipset Integrated
LAN Speed 10/100Mbps
PCI Slots (Available/Total) 1 x PCI Express x16
2 x PCI
Mouse
Mouse Type USB Mouse
Keyboard
Keyboard Type USB Keyboard
Manufacturer Warranty
Parts 1 year limited
Labor 1 year limited
It will outshot OPs limit with $15 if you count the freight but it is a good price and will run LOTRO fine at full. Or you can check the earlier rig I recommended.
Ah, well some computer dealers are less honest than others. It is of course always smart to check out what other places take for the parts before buying anything.
But Newegg have both good custom computers and loose parts so you should be fine.
As I said before I am not entirely sure about that 250 GTS card and LOTRO on full, it is a little low on memory and the processor could be faster.. It will run it fine on medium or on a custom setting between med and high but to be sure about it in full I would have to test it myself. The 260 GTX is however a stable card with enough memory and clock speed to deliver good DX10 GFX to LOTRO and AoC for that matter.
Such a fine and layout on the do! and DONT! I thank you very much - some fine information in that and I shall take all in consideration.
Loke666 - are we using LOTRO as a benchmark? That other PC looks great - but the DDR3 is one of the primary reasons I am not using my older rig to upgrade.... I believe I have a gigabyte motherboard and works great have not had an issue.
I don't have an issue with buying pieces of a PC - but I would like to stray from buying the COMPLETE PC! Ive been looking and there are some deals like cases with motherboards and some okay brands - but I know some of you really enjoy building PC's in your mind using Newegg - and that's the help I really need. A good list of parts at below the price - Loke666 the pc before the last seemed really decent - looking towards what I really want! Though I wish to take the time to see if that's the best we can do or if we can find better... please feel free to express your opinions - and I thank you all once more for taking the time out of your day to help me out !
Hold on.. you may have a perfectly serviceable Socket 775 DDR2 mobo already. Find out your mobo make/model. You can either pop off the case panel and read off the model number on the mainboard or go start->run 'msinfo32' and read off the System make/model.
Also check in your case and read off the model of your PSU and check how many slots you have used for RAM.
I think you more than likely already have a Socket 775 mobo with 1066mhz FSB and 2GB ddr2-667 ram.
If this is true I'd go:
Intel Core2Duo E8400 $168
HIS Radeon 5770 $152 (after coupon code 'VGA181')
2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800 Memory $42
IF your PSU is decent enough you can reuse it, otherwise pick up (from zipzoomfly.com):
OCZ 550W PSU $70 ($45 after $25 Mail in rebate)
or if you REALLY like mail in rebates (I don't..): Enermax 750W PSU $130 (Total overkill but only $50 total after $80 mail in rebate!)
This is all you need. $362 total, shipped, unless you need the PSU too. I chose the Radeon 5770 because I don't see a reason not to get DX11, and at $152 it's a card that is very cost effective. If you want Nvidia, the GTX260 is way overpriced now ($193 shipped cheapest, most are $210). The GTS250 would be fine, but you might want to wait for the Geforce 300 series.
edit: You may want to pick up a larger hard drive too. They are inherently faster than the older 80GB ones you probably have.
Samsung F3 500GB$55 or
Seagate 7200.12 500GB $55
The WD Black is $15 more, not worth it.
@noquarter
I wouldn't suggest an ATI card with a native NVidia "nForce" or integrated "GeForce" board. That only leads to "problems"... very vague problems that in my experience seem to happen intermittently and might be incorrectly attributed to faulty RAM or a shoddy PSU.
Have you ever updated an ATI north bridge under an NVidia GPU, only to discover that your GeForce's cooling fan is no longer operational? Yeah, real weird stuff. I imagine the same could happen with an NVidia bus under an ATI card.
If the OP is willing to risk it, I'm all for your GPU suggestion. It's really a nice card for a nice price.
Let me copy and paste some of my system information perhaps that will help...
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer GBT___
System Model AWRDACPI
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~3081 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~3081 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. F3, 3/31/2006
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:WINDOWS
System Directory C:WINDOWSsystem32
Boot Device DeviceHarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
Time Zone Eastern Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 1.09 GB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 3.85 GB
Page File C:pagefile.sys
Now ive been told by a few sources that going with DDR2 would be a waste of time as games and what not seem to be going towards DDR3 aswell as having windows 7.... I am not looking for a 'quick fix' but more towards the future something to grow on...
I dont totally understand all this - but would doing the upgrade you just said (Great information btw thanks) would that bring me up to level to current games for good settings etc? and still be good for a year or two years.... or what?
I haven't seen him say what mobo he has. The Geforce 6200 is an addin card. I also don't think there's anything specific about competing vendor interoperability that's beyond the general hardware peculiarities that happen anyway. It's a big myth. They design chipsets to work with specs, and have to QA for all hardware not just their own company's hardware in another division. Chipset marketplace is way too broad to design for only your own hardware.
Let's keep on topic - I would hate for this to turn into discussion about conspiracies! I don't really understand what a 'mobo' is - please excuse my stupidity I have good reason... I just dont know
I am sure I could give you the information if I knew what to give you...
Thank you - :-)
The ram you use will depend on the CPU you pick. The right combination limits bottlenecking. Direct X 10.1 is the latest on Vista, and Windows 7 will soon have Direct X 11. Most MMOs coming out are using DX10. Playing the "its not supported" game just gimps yourself since you can even find the arguments that games don't use more than one core blah blah . Don't forget to take into account the resources the software you will be running while gaming takes up. Learn from the morons who bought Vista PCs with only enough requirements to run Vista, and nothing else. MS has fixed that issue with Win7, but you're building your own, so now you have to take those into account also. Good luck.
Mhmmm