PC Hardware Buyers Guide.

[Incinerate_IV]

Hmmm well this thread is in need of a major update now that Conroe is out and AMD's prices have droped a LOT. I'll rewrite this guide when I get back from vacation (hence my recent inactivity) in about a month.

@Ahiga, an ATI graphics card will run fine on a nVIDIA motherboard, but if you want to go Crossfire you will have to get a Crossfire compatible motherboard.

[Reidy]

Would I be correct in thinking that my Geforce FX 5200 is letting my system down when it comes to gaming? I have a 2.6 GHz Pentium 4 processor and 1 Gb of RAM.

I'm no expert, but it would seem to several stages lower than the "ultra low end" option suggested.

[Shaun]

Erm, actually your whole system is crap, no offence, I would suggest buying a new system if you want to play newer games. BUt generally speaking, if you were to buy a brand new GeForce 7900GTX, your slow processor would hold it back, a lot.

[Reidy]

Well I knew that. I was just wondering if the video card was the worst bit. I should hopefully get a new computer when Med 2 comes out.

[Vanquisher]

Well, get this, me being an ultra-cheap kinda person have made a 3100+ sempron 764 or whatever skt on a k800 board with 1gb of mem and a ati radeon 9250 256mb gamebuster edition card (yeh, i know what your thinking, but i am upgrading tommorow).

All in all, apart from recent probs with the card, ie. on oblivion Its all been fine to my liking, I only like to upgrade if somethink becomes un usable, ie the card. For example, I get over 40fps on call of duty2 with 1280/1024 full graphics etc and I have got over 80 with HL2! - which is meant to play well on ATI but i didn't know this well !!

All in all, I beleive in the upgrading only when needed thing, which tends to work out best, till stuff like PCI-E come out and make you buy a whole new PC to upgrade!?!? well u know what i mean... Plus one thing i do h8 most is the fact that my card plays HL2 with ease, yet struggles on Nvidia based games like King Kong especially, but nothing you can do about that unless you have deep pockets, "sigh".

BTW, my CPU's clocked from 1.8gs to 2.44 with hardly a change in temp, is a really good board 4 that.

[Spartan]

For video cards, I would list the Quadro FX4500X2 as the Ultra High end.

Currently I have a Quadra FX 3500 as my video card and it kicks some major ass. It is likely for my next rig I will get the FX4500X2.

BTW" For processors how come Xenos' are not listed? I have duel 3.2Ghz and frankly they rock.

[Lee1026]

Well, the quadro series are not as good in gaming compared to the geforces, if I remember correctly.
Also, a dual 3.2 prescott would suck compared to a A64 X2 or a CD2

[Spartan]

@Lee1024 - Hmmm... Well I'm no hardware expert however I try to buy the best on market when I get something. So what system do you recommend if money was not an issue?

(Why do I think Lee is Crandar....)

[Lee1026]

CPU: The fastest CD2, of course, the X6800, at 1149.00
MOBO: Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi-AP at 217 dollars
RAM: DDR2 1000 ram, 1GB per stick, get 4 sticks. (900 dollars)
Video-The Geforce 7950GX2, of course, it only cost 500 dollars.

[Spartan]

CPU: The fastest CD2, of course, the X6800, at 1149.00
MOBO: Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi-AP at 217 dollars
RAM: DDR2 1000 ram, 1GB per stick, get 4 sticks. (900 dollars)
Video-The Geforce 7950GX2, of course, it only cost 500 dollars.

Those specks seems below my current "old-timer". It specks are:

CPU: Duel Xeon 3.2GHz
Mon: Duel 21" FPD 2001
Mem: 4GBs DDR ECC RAMM
HDD: 5TBs (Mixed) SCSI RAID0 array 15k - 7200RPM
Sound: Audigy 2 Sound Card 7.1SS
Video: Quadro FX3500

[Lee1026]

Well, the 3.2GHZ will get blown out of the water by the X6800, as one of them used the prescott core and the othher used the conroe core.
I did not say a word about the moniter, or the sound because a lot of user perference goes into it. As for harddrives, it is literally a never ending road.
The ram is a fair amount slower then the ram that I pointed out.
The video does not come close to the geforce in gaming.

[Arakorn]

Lee, you forgot about quad-SLI, you need two Geforce 7950GX2's

[Lee1026]

The drivers are not ready to roll for that yet.

[Shaun]

Those specks seems below my current "old-timer". It specks are:

CPU: Duel Xeon 3.2GHz
Mon: Duel 21" FPD 2001
Mem: 4GBs DDR ECC RAMM
HDD: 5TBs (Mixed) SCSI RAID0 array 15k - 7200RPM
Sound: Audigy 2 Sound Card 7.1SS
Video: Quadro FX3500

What the hell kind of computer did you have?

[Spartan]

@Lee1026 - I have had some time to look into the new CPU and I concur they would smoke my Xeons. The same applies to the geforce SLI over my Quadro.

@Shaun - It is a fairly monstrous little beastie that cost more then some people make in a year; that appears to be obsolete now. Methinks it's time to consider a replacement.

[imb39]

@Shaun - It is a fairly monstrous little beastie that cost more then some people make in a year; that appears to be obsolete now. Methinks it's time to consider a replacement.

Off topic, but what do you do? I presume this is part of your job.

[Pnutmaster]

Off topic, but what do you do? I presume this is part of your job.

Spartan, i'm assuming you are a high end gamer? Modesty aside, how much did that rig cost you? I'm still huffing and puffing on a four year old computer that was mediocre by 2002 standards. Give me 1000 dollars and I could receive a massive upgrade or buy a new computer entirely.

[Lee1026]

Due to new hardware, I suggest the following changes to the ultra low-end, low end, and mid-end computers:


CPU
Ultra Low End: Sempron 2800+, AM2, 50 dollars. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819104301
Low End: Athlon X2 3800+, AM2, 150 dollars. (Newegg is down at the moment)
Midrange: E6300, Conroe, 200 dollars (Newegg is down)
High-end: E6600, Conroe, I forgot the price (See above)

Mobo:
AMD:
Basic: The cheapest at the moment. Any would do.
Overclockers: The DFI infinity, 100 dollars.

Intel: Ask someone who knows.

[Lee1026]

Spartan, i'm assuming you are a high end gamer? Modesty aside, how much did that rig cost you? I'm still huffing and puffing on a four year old computer that was mediocre by 2002 standards. Give me 1000 dollars and I could receive a massive upgrade or buy a new computer entirely.

Most of us can.

[Spartan]

I am a business and personal consultant and educator. Regarding my rig I use it for work from time to time, but truth be told I really don’t need it (the same goes for my OC3 line). I used to do a lot of multimedia work but for the past year or so I have not actively pursued contracts mainly due to loss of interest and health issues. Regarding the cost when all was said and done it cost about $17k.