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Building a gaming computer
Been away from gaming for a year now, but with darkfall coming soon I'd like to play that but I'm in need of a new gaming computer. I'm leaning towards building my own computer but I realy don't know much about the hardware. You have CPU, Processor, Motherboard, RAM, Hard drives, power supplies, cases, cooling, and video cards - it all starts to get confusing lol >.<
I've looked at video cards and will probably go with a $55 Nvidia 9400GT 512mb PCI. But apart from that video card I realy don't know how I should mixing and matching parts soooo.....
Anyone out there want to share there make up (and total spent) or maybe give me some tips on certain parts I could find on ebay or store. Thanks a ton in advance ^^
Merry Christmas!
Comments
Ah, one other thing I forgot. With building your own computer I'm gonna assume you need your own operating system. I think windows vista is what I was going to go with, but that's going to depend on its price buying it seperately lol >.<
Whats the budget you are working with? I already think you're making a mistake with that video card, I would call it a bare minimum for running games. I don't know how demanding Darkfall will be but most newer games won't be playable at more than low to medium settings with that one. Video is the last thing to skimp on for a gaming rig, a 9600GT is a more price-effective card.
Waiting for:
-Games-
-Re-Launch of Hellgate:London US/EU Servers
-Diablo 3
-A PvE centric MMORPG with-
-Fast paced twitch-action combat that requires hand-eye coordination, where you can manually aim your attacks instead of having to acquire/lock target(s) first.
-FPS-style WASD and mouse control that determine your overall success when attacking or defending.
Well atm I'm not able to just buy everything I need but I was looking more toward (I know this may be bad for a gaming comp. but I want to get some sort of gaming computer) $500-600, maybe $700.
On ebay I seen this comp. wonder if it's a good one to go with:
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ Socket AM2
CPU Fan: AMD Original AM2 CPU Fan
Motherboard: ECS nVidia GeForce 7050M-M Motherboard
Memory: 4GB DDR II 800 Memory 240 Pin (Kingston) ?
Hard Drive: Western Digital 160GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA II
Optical Drive: LG 22X DVD RW + Dual Layer
Video: nVidia GeForce 9600GT 512MB DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI HDTV
Audio: Realtek ALC662 6-channel HD Audio
Network Card: Onboard 10/100 Network Card
Ports: 6 USB 2.0 Ports, 1 Parallel, 1 1394a
Case: 1285 Deluxe Black Tower Case
Power Supply: 600 Watt Heavy Duty Power Supply
I already have mouse/keyboard/speakers/monitor and even a sound card. Also have 2 512 DDR cards but dunno if thats fine for todays gaming.
Get a better video card if you are going to be gaming, you can find some good deals at newegg for around the 100 dollar range. It will be money well spent. You could always cut your ram back to 2 gigs for now to save a little coin. Then add more later. If you are going to use vista there are alot of tweaking tips out to make it run alot smoother. There is only one game that I would use 85% of 2 gigs of ram and that was gothic 3. Good luck In your build.
for $600-$700 you can do pretty good (minus the OS)
personally, I use tigerdirect.com, mainly because they're close to where I live and I get my orders over night for standard shipping rates. There are times I see things at a better price on New Egg, but I think overall the 2 are fairly comparable.
I'm happy with AMD, I think for the price you can't go wrong, and the couple extra little perks you get with Intel aren't worth the money. I've got 2 AMD gaming setups and I'm happy with both... One built on an Asus M2N-SLI and the other on an MSI K9N2 Diamond motherboard. You can look at MB/CPU combo packages, sometimes you can find something that fits your needs already matched up. I would look at the Athlon X2 processors. They're a dual core with good speed at an affordable price. Just about every motherboard has integrated sound and LAN these days. 2 thigns that will save you some money.
Video card goes a long way. This is one area you don't want to chince on. You don't have to break the bank, but you'll probably want to get into the $100-$150 range for something modest. This is what makes or breaks any gaming rig.
As for the RAM, I agree with mundus, 2GB will be sufficient, but I was pricing it for my sister this morning and 2GB cost the same as 4GB - for the same brand. Don't go with the bargain bin RAM, but don't spend too much here either. Personally, I've had good performance and no problems with OCZ RAM. Here I'd say you're lookin at about $40. RAM always has rebate offers... I'm saying $40 before rebates.
As for the case, I've spent hours looking at all the different cases out there. imo, the Cooler Master Mid-T is the best bang for the buck. I liked the first one I ordered so much, that I've ordered it to build 4 comps now. Great ventilation and comes with 2 fans. They case is a tool-less design, so you just slide a locking lever to hold your drives and cards in... this works great for the drives, but I still recommend screwing your cards in. You're lookin at $60 for this case.
Hard drives... you can get 500GB 7200RPM SATA Western Digital or Seagate for about $65.
As for the power supply, there are power consumption guides out there if you google them. They'll tell you approximately how many watts each component in your system will draw. 600W should do a single video card setup fine. I always over spec them to be on the safe side, but I'd say you're looking at $100 for a good power supply. Another item you don't want to go with a cheap-o on. All power supplies are not created equal. Poor quality PSU's can cause PC killing nightmares.
Don't forget a DVD drive... factor in $30 here...
This is still just a rough estimate, but you're looking at $400-$450 for everything I listed here except the motherboard and CPU. I've gotten good mb/cpu combos for gaming around $200. maybe a little more. but that still brings you in just under $700. and, like I said, the video card will make or break your system.
Shop around, but do your best to avoid the "fly by night" online retailers. New Egg and Tiger are reputable... I use Amazon sometimes for things like hard drives and DVD drives, even a video card once when they have the better price.
I hope this helps, I've been in the same situation as you trying to build a cost effective gaming rig. I've done 3 in the last year using pretty much what I listed here. I'll keep my eye on this thread in case you have any other questions.
The eBay system looks like a decent buy if it fits your budget. It's very difficult for me to recommend a custom build on that budget. I checked Newegg and was surprised how reasonable computer parts were, but I still wouldn't feel comfortable recommending a system that is much cheaper than this. This doesn't even include Windows, the most expensive part, which will run about $150 for an OEM copy and probably around $250 for retail. You might be better off with the eBay system, a Dell or other pre-built system. Other people might have different recommendations on more budget oriented parts but I try to stick with brands I'm familiar with so I don't run into stability problems.
The nice thing about building your own system is that once you have a case, power supply, hard drives, and optical drive that will last for a while, you only need to upgrade the Mobo, CPU, RAM, and Video card to upgrade. In that case you don't have to buy an entire system when you upgrade and you get more use out of your parts, leading to savings in the long term.
Buying a pre-built system usually means you'll get more performance for your money at first, but its hard to tell how upgradable it will be. Anyway, here's what I'm able to recommend from Newegg. When its all said and done this is a bit outside your budget, but I feel as sure as I can be that you will get great performance for that price and a very stable system. Spending much less I can't say the same. You'll still have to find a copy of Windows to use to keep it near your budget. You could also save about $100 from this if you could use your old hard drive and CD/DVD drive, if they are good enough you know for sure they are compatible. I know all these parts are very good for their price. If you want to cut corners(like getting the 9400 instead of the 9600)i'll leave that up to you, just realize you will not be getting the best part for your money and you will gimp the performance of the entire system by doing so. Hope this helps.
Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price
1
ASUS P5Q SE PLUS ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #:N82E16813131347
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
$15.00 Mail-in Rebate
$96.99
1
Western Digital Caviar SE 500GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
Item #:N82E16822136178
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
$59.99
1
Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model DVR-2910
Item #:N82E16827129026
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
$44.99
1
PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS500 500W Power Supply
Item #:N82E16817703015
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$20.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$89.99
$69.99
1
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
Item #:N82E16820145214
Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy
-$5.00 Instant
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$74.00
$69.00
1
Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 2.66GHz LGA 775 Dual-Core Processor
Item #:N82E16819115132
Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy
$119.99
1
EVGA GeForce 9600 GT 512-P3-N863-TR Video Card
Item #:N82E16814130424
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$104.99
1
COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP Black Computer Case
Item #:N82E16811119106
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$5.00 Instant
$54.99
$49.99
Grand Total: $615.93
EDIT: Just a quick note, I threw this together pretty quickly paging through newegg, picking out parts I knew were good quality and price. These are not the best parts you could buy to get a stable system with a good price/performance ratio, think of it as a "rough draft" of what might be best for you. The other posters have given great information and I agree with pretty much all of it, so take all of it into account when making your final decision. Good luck.
Waiting for:
-Games-
-Re-Launch of Hellgate:London US/EU Servers
-Diablo 3
-A PvE centric MMORPG with-
-Fast paced twitch-action combat that requires hand-eye coordination, where you can manually aim your attacks instead of having to acquire/lock target(s) first.
-FPS-style WASD and mouse control that determine your overall success when attacking or defending.
Thanks a ton for the help, I'll definately keep an eye on posts here. I didn't actually think a 9400 would make a diff from a 9600 or even the newer 9800 graphics card lol. I may just go ahead and take some more time in buying parts, if I do that I can get the 9800 GT so I can have one of the top (atleast for the moment). All I'v used before is the Gforce FX5600, but its like broke (whenever I run anything that has graphics the computer goes to that blue screen telling me something went wrong and makes me shutdown the pc) iv also tried driver updates but i just think its crashed.
I'm going to go through both computers and figure out what is in each (one has a drive that ran dvd and cd roms) and this comp. has 1.5g ram so maybe i can save on using those. I'll see what they are and post maybe they'll work fine.
My only problem now (i think) is that I don't have an operating system >.< my 2nd computer can't even be used because it doesn't have one lol.
Anyways thx everyone.
make sure you get windows 95 and a 56k modem
Well, it aint so hard putting the stuff together, just be careful so you dont get a ESD (Electro static discharge).
First of all, the 9400 card sucks. If you look around you might find a 8800 or something cheap (an 8800 ultra on E-bay or from a friend is not a bad option). Nvidia cards should end with 800 or 900 for a gaming computer. Here is a chart to help you with the selection, the higher value the better card. The GFX card is the most important part of a gaming computer so don't try to save money on it, it is far better to save money on everything else.
Then we have processor. A 3,0 ghz dual core is good enough and cheap, 2,8 in worst case. Just look on the FSB, anything under 1333 is bad, it is the speed that your memorys and processor exchange info in.
Memory: DDR2 are cheap, get 4 gigs or at least minimum 2gig. 2 or 4 equally large not 1.
Motherboard: find a board with the right slot (intel 775 for intel processor) and fast enough FSB. It is a bonus with 4 memory slots and SLI but far from a must. MSI makes good priced ones, Gigabyte also but they costs a little more and uses same components.
Power unit: 550W is min for the latests GFX cards, if you plan to get a GTX 280 later it is a must, otherwise you could go down to 500W but don't go lower.
And for case, just buy something you like the look on, extra fans are a bonus.
For harddrive just get a Seagate, maxtor or western digital, they are all good (but maxtors sounds a little more than the other 2).
Good luck
Well with help from Ambikan I looked at this:
Motherboard: ASUS P5Q SE PLUS ATX Intel Motherboard
*$96.99 (-$15.00 rebate)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 Wolfdale 2.66GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Dual-Core Processor
*$119.99
RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
*$54.99 (-$30.00 rebate)
Video card: EVGA 512-P3-N975-AR GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
*$132.99 (-$15.00 rebate)
DVD/CD-RM: Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model DVR-2910
*$44.99
Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
*$69.99
Power supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS500D 500W Power Supply
*$84.99 (-$25.00 rebate)
Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
*$49.99
-----------------------------------
$654.92 (-$85.00 rebate)
I'll be able to do $400 or so at begining'ish of january but that still leaves another $250 or so and an operating system. I also just seen someone say I'll need atleast a 550W power supply for that Nvdidia 9800 GT? If so that'll push up the cost lol.
Anyone up to fix the power supply, leave the 9800GT, and maybe lower any other specs for price? Just want to say thanks again for the response and hopefully I'm not to irritating asking of this.
Either you buy a really good graph card and keep it for a few years. Or you buy a used one from someone for really cheap and upgrade when you can afford it.
But graph cards and cpus are the two things that if you dont buy a good one, you'll end up nearly needing to replace it in a year or two.
I'm not a no life that sits in front of his computer all day long, I'm an intern that sits in front of his computer all day long.
Looks good to me, even though I would compare the price of the processor with the 3,0, it is a little on the slow end.
You can off course clock it up to 3,0 anyways, it can take that without any extra fan. Saves some extra cash and you might have thought on it already.
I don't think I have ever payed for an Operating System lol.
If I'm building my computer like this does the HDD come with an operating system or do I need to pay out the 100 bucks?
You need to pay out... it'll be more than $100 though. The OS is the most annoying cost of building a computer.
They sell 2 different versions of operating systems, OEM and retail. OEM costs much less, but... I believe it's only licensed to be installed once. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong). If you run into problems (spyware, a virus, etc), or need to change out your C: drive, you won't be able to reinstall your OS. Microsoft won't authorize your activation key a 2nd time. I could be mistaken, but that's how I understood it.
And Loke mentioned a super important point, ESD!! Electrostatic Discharge is the reason I recommend against finding any parts used... You never know if the previous owner took the necessary precautions. ESD damage isn't always immediately identifiable. You could use a card for 6 months without any problems and then one day *poof* your computer doesn't boot anymore. 9 times out of 10 this is why a home build fails. When it stops working, the person blames the manufacturer when it was really a weakened printed circuit board trace caused by ESD... These weakened traces are like time bombs waiting to pop. Eventually they're gonna go bad and possibly cause more severe damage.
An ESD wrist strap will only cost you $3, and will give you peace of mind when you're tinkering around inside your case.
One more note on OS's...
On the off chance that you're a college student, often times you can get a fully functional and licensed copy of Windows for free, or almost-free through your university or tech school. I've gotten 5 cpoies of XP, 2 Vista, and 1 Server 2003 over the years through 2 different colleges for a grand total of about $50. Typically they'll be OEM for educational purposes, but I've gotten retail versions as well. It all depends on your school's agreement with Microsoft.
This may not apply to you, but I thought it would be worth throwing it out there for any students reading this thread who are trying to put together a decent gaming rig on a limited budget. (It's also a handy thing for students using Virtual Machines)
Better to buy this PSU $80.00 after mail-in rabate: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
The key with Nvidia cards is looking at the second number, not the first. Like for instance, an 8800 will outperform a 9400 or even a 9600. The first number is the series, and the second number is really the performance. There will be a big difference between the 9400 and the 9600, just like there will be a big difference between the 9600 and the 9800.
Tried: LotR, CoH, AoC, WAR, Jumpgate Classic
Played: SWG, Guild Wars, WoW
Playing: Eve Online, Counter-strike
Loved: Star Wars Galaxies
Waiting for: Earthrise, Guild Wars 2, anything sandbox.
And for the graph card, the second number, if its 4 or under forget gaming.
And a 6 gt is not really worse than a 8 non gt considering 8 series are more problems prone
I'm not a no life that sits in front of his computer all day long, I'm an intern that sits in front of his computer all day long.
8 series is problem prone? 8800gt is problem prone? 8800gt blows away most cards in the 8 series and is NOT problem prone... 8800gt is way better than an 8600. don't let anyone fool you...
case with 600w PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811162037
cheap mobo that you can't really overclock but who cares right? we're going cheap here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186145
9800gt is pretty much an 8800gt:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130397
this cpu is awesome. trust me:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037
cheapest 4gigs of decent ram at newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148160
decent HD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075
decent DVD burner:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106228
vista 64bit so you can use 4GB ram and also play DX10 games:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488
you're gonna need these cables for the OEM products:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812119024
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270093
All of this is gonna cost about $600. maybe less after rebates. I noticed people talking about static electricity harming your stuff. first thing you need to do is put the PSU in the case, plug the PSU in and don't turn it on. make sure the receptacle is grounded for pete's sake. you can buy a cheap thing from any hardware store that will show you it's grounded. just ask the electrician guy at lowes or home depot or wherever you go. it's a thing you plug in and it has lights and tells you whether or not the receptacle is wired correctly. before you put in anything into the case, touch the PSU and don't move from your spot. you will ground yourself and discharge any static electricity because the outside casing of the PSU is grounded. as long as you dont move across a carpet going to get stuff, you should be ok. I have built many pc's and never had a problem with static electricity and never used a static wrist band. I'm not trying to say not to use one, just saying that it is possible and perfectly safe to build a pc without one if you understand how electricity works. the most important part of a PC is the motherboard. you should try downloading the manual and read it first before ordering. read reviews. etc etc. if i were you, i would get a better motherboard. there are a lot better ones out there like ASUS or EVGA or Gigabyte and others. you pretty much get what you pay for. it's always nice to have a motherboard you can overclock with because that CPU I showed you can be overclocked a good bit. but if you wanna stay cheap, then get the motherboard i showed you. I may have forgotten some things because I threw this build together really quick. good luck and I hope I pointed you in the right direction in making a nice pc for cheap.
I know someone who had a gaming computer. I mean, you could get some input from some hardcore PC gamers at infinityward.com or this guy I know username Dingdong (google it, keyword Scratch).
8 series is problem prone? 8800gt is problem prone? 8800gt blows away most cards in the 8 series and is NOT problem prone... 8800gt is way better than an 8600. don't let anyone fool you...
case with 600w PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811162037
cheap mobo that you can't really overclock but who cares right? we're going cheap here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186145
9800gt is pretty much an 8800gt:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130397
this cpu is awesome. trust me:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037
cheapest 4gigs of decent ram at newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148160
decent HD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075
decent DVD burner:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106228
vista 64bit so you can use 4GB ram and also play DX10 games:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488
you're gonna need these cables for the OEM products:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812119024
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270093
All of this is gonna cost about $600. maybe less after rebates. I noticed people talking about static electricity harming your stuff. first thing you need to do is put the PSU in the case, plug the PSU in and don't turn it on. make sure the receptacle is grounded for pete's sake. you can buy a cheap thing from any hardware store that will show you it's grounded. just ask the electrician guy at lowes or home depot or wherever you go. it's a thing you plug in and it has lights and tells you whether or not the receptacle is wired correctly. before you put in anything into the case, touch the PSU and don't move from your spot. you will ground yourself and discharge any static electricity because the outside casing of the PSU is grounded. as long as you dont move across a carpet going to get stuff, you should be ok. I have built many pc's and never had a problem with static electricity and never used a static wrist band. I'm not trying to say not to use one, just saying that it is possible and perfectly safe to build a pc without one if you understand how electricity works. the most important part of a PC is the motherboard. you should try downloading the manual and read it first before ordering. read reviews. etc etc. if i were you, i would get a better motherboard. there are a lot better ones out there like ASUS or EVGA or Gigabyte and others. you pretty much get what you pay for. it's always nice to have a motherboard you can overclock with because that CPU I showed you can be overclocked a good bit. but if you wanna stay cheap, then get the motherboard i showed you. I may have forgotten some things because I threw this build together really quick. good luck and I hope I pointed you in the right direction in making a nice pc for cheap.
Plugging in the power supply and touching the case sounds good in theory, but it's bad in practice for protecting against ESD. Current (amperage) flows across differences in potential (voltage). The idea behind the wrist strap is to bring both you and the computer to the same potential. If both you and the computer have the same potential, there is no danger of discharge. With a wrist strap there is no need to plug in your PSU. And it's not a good practice to work inside a computer with the PSU connected to line voltage. If the PSU is poorly manufactured, and/or has a short circuit, and/or has a faulty ground, you could be in for a serious jolt. (Electrocution is a whole different topic)
If you plug in your PSU and discharge yourself by touching the case, as soon as you take your hand off the case there can already be a difference in potential. Just your clothes rubing against eachother can build a charge. For example, if you were wearing a tie and it brushes across the front of your shirt, it can instantly charge you with 2500V-5000V. When you move your arms, your sleeves rub against your body. When you move your legs, your pants legs rub together. If you have long hair... you get the idea. It takes as little as 10V of difference in potential to cause ESD damage.
When you touch a light switch, metal surface, or another person and get a static shock, that is ESD.
When this happens:
If you can feel it, that's at least 1500V
If you can hear it, that's at least 6000V
If you can see it, that's at least 8000V
It is not uncommon for people to carry 60kV of static charge (that's 60,000V).
There are many myths floating around about ESD and how to avoid it, but anything short of a wrist strap is going to leave you susceptible. And a wrist strap is the bare minimum. Electronics manufacturers use several methods of ESD protection simultaneously. These methods include climate control (humidity), anti-static mats on all work surfaces, anti-static floor mats with special shoe straps for the employees, anti-static carts that ensure contact with the anti-static flooring when transporting components, and yes, wrist straps. ESD is taken very seriously in the electronics industry.
10V may or may not blow a silicon device, but it will weaken the metal traces on a circuit board. This type of damage is visible under a microscope. Running millions of cycles per second (MHz) through these weakened traces will eventually burn out the trace.
And yes, in response to the previous post, I do understand how electricity works. I have a degree in Electrical Engineering Technology.
I'v been looking at specs of parts and such and was wondering if a PCI Express 2.0 x16 will fit in a motherboard's PCI Express x16 port? Basically asking because I'm not sure what that 2.0 means on the video card.
Also, I'v been going through newegg and seen the "Bill me later" option as long as paying like $250+. If I use "Bill me later" now I can pay the money back until April 1st without finance charges. Has anyone done this before? Sounds like a good option tbh, just asking for any input on that. Thanks ^^