Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
This forum is in permanent archive mode. Our new active community can be found here.
PC Build- Help?
I'm looking to build a high-end gaming PC. Pretty much, I don't need anything but the desktop itself. I want at least 4GB of memory, a 1TB hard drive, a GeForce 8800 (or higher, if it's practical), and as far as power, processors, cases, and fans, I have really no idea on what I should get. Could I get any help on parts/tips to buy? Is this practical?
So far, I've got this hard drive, this video card, and I need help with everything else.
EDIT: The OS will most likely be Windows Vista.
So far, I've got this hard drive, this video card, and I need help with everything else.
EDIT: The OS will most likely be Windows Vista.
Comments
As for choosing motherboards, it's all about the connectors. How many USB do you need? Do you ever in a million years plan to try SLi, crossfire, or something similar? Are you going to try any RAID? Do you want one or two built-in network cards? How many slots do you need? Do you want firewire? There are lots of things you have to decide for yourself.
What I can tell you is that if I were buying a motherobard today, I would get one of these. The Intel P45 seems to be where it's at. The ASUS P5Q series and the Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS4P are looking pretty good to me. I have a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L right now, and it's great.
In a fake RAID, there are drivers for your OS which do most of the work. If you're running Windows, and you just want a simple RAID, a fake RAID will probably be just fine. You might not get the huge performance boost, but you'll get something. If you actually want something you can depend upon, get a real hardware RAID. Don't be fooled though. A lot of RAID cards out there are still fake RAID. You need to make sure you get a card with real hardware RAID, which can be relatively expensive.
Sorry for the thread-jacking. Maybe we should have a dumb tech questions megathread?
Long story short:
1) Back your shit up across multiple drives (or better yet, multiple computers)
2) RAID is nifty, but pretty pointless. JBOD is fast enough for just about anything you'll ever do to your hard drives.
Cliffs: RAID 5 would be nice, but I can't justify the expense of a new controller and an extra drive.
$10 off Core 2 Duo 8400
$15 off this excellent motherboard
Also, lots of deals on RAM. Good day to buy a PC.
Remember, my computer, which is slower than this one, can run the infamous Crysis demo with every setting maxed out. This is $705 for an amazing gaming machine. The other gaming machines you see, with the SLi and such, are just stupid and excessive wastes of money. This can do it all, so there's no reason to pay for more.
If it's $700 for a great gaming PC, the cost of a normal every-day PC must be insanely low. Well, it is, and it isn't. If I were making a machine for a non-gamer, I would probably get mostly the same stuff. I think the big difference would be that I would only get one hard drive. I wouldn't get the video card, and I would get a motherboard with a built-in video card instead. Also, I might cut back to 2x1GB of RAM instead of 2x2GB. I wouldn't want to cut back anything else because I would want a machine that is going to be top-of-the-line for years to come. If you cut back too much and have to upgrade after 2 years, you really haven't saved any money. Any desktop computer I buy should last five years minimum. So far, they all have.
The economy is bad. People are supposedly cutting back on the holiday spending. I just want to remind people that as a result of that, prices are at an all-time low. If you are looking to buy a PC, now is the time. Just about everything at Newegg has discounts and rebates. The technology is advancing a lot slower than it has in the past. The Intel CPUs and chipsets are some of the most reliable there have ever been. Don't buy a computer if you weren't planning on it, or if you don't need it. But if a desktop has been in the cards, go now.
Oh well, too bad.
Secondly, better cooling? Remember, overclocking is stupid. If you get this case and use the normal heat sink that comes with the CPU, you will have a computer that doesn't overheat, and is stupidly quiet. Why get more unnecessary fans that don't do anything besides use more electricity and make more noise?
The GeForce 9800GT I picked out looks to be exactly the same in size and shape as the 8800GT I have now. Notice how it only takes up one slot, and isn't one of those stupid two-slot monstrosities. It will definitely fit just fine in that case.
The are only six things that you should consider when looking at cases.
1) Price, it's good to save money.
2) Build quality. You don't want some flimsy cheap plastic shit with all sorts of sharp pointy edges.
3) Connectors in the front. Got enough USBs up front?
4) Will everything fit in there? If you're planning to put in a bunch of hard drives, you better have enough places to put all of them.
5) Noise. The three biggest factors for noise in a PC are the PSU, the CPU, and the case. Bigger fans at lower rpm are better. Solid case builds also block a lot of the noise generated by the CPU fan, hard drives, and such.
6) And the most important of all: The only time the case really matters is when you are actually building the PC. So the most important thing is that the case is easy to work with. Is it easy to get the PSU in there? Is it easy to get the motherboard in? Is it easy to mount the drives? Is it easy to keep unnecessary wiring out of the way? Is it easy to open and close the case? Does the case have enough connectors for things like the HDD LEDs and such.
I would add looks to the list, because nobody wants a stupid beige box. However, once you've satisfied 1-6, you don't really have that many choices on looks. Even when you do, the choice is almost always obvious. So many cases these days are just ludicrous riced up LED-ridden monstrosities, that picking a tasteful case leaves you with few choices.
Antec has always made tasteful cases that satisfy all the requirements. Even if you could save a few bucks, it's worth it because the quality of the case makes your PC building experience that much better. If I was going to get a different case besides the Antec Solo, which is the cheapest mid-tower they make, I would go for this one or this one. The first one of those is actually cheaper than it looks because it comes with a high quality PSU.
$25 short strand fiberglass filler
2 cans of Black glossy (or matte) spray paint
Couple of sandpaper sheets or Dremel like tool (if you have one)
one of these (like $5):
and you are set!