PC Hardware Buyers Guide.

[Incinerate_IV]

Choosing hardware for a new PC could be pretty confusing, hopefully this guide will make everything easier. Since this is a gaming forum, I'll make this guide more oriented toward gamers. The choice of sound cards/CD drives/Hard drives are up to you, that’s a matter of personal preference.

I also highly recommend you read This (click!) guide too, it covers some more things about installing the parts and stuff you should watch out for.

Lets get started shall we?

Table of Contents:

1. Things to Know
2. CPU
3. Motherboard
4. RAM
5. Video Card
6. PowerSupply

Things to Know:

Ultra low end = For the gamers that are just plain cheap. Able to play most games at 1024x786 or 1280x1024 at med-high settings.
Low end = Able to play almost all the games at 1280x1024 resolution with the settings maxed out, with a few exceptions here and there where you have to turn things down a bit.
Mid range = Able to play all the games out now at 1280x1024 resolution with everything maxed out.
High end = Able to play all the games out now at 1280x1024 and beyond with everything maxed and still have room to spare for next year.
Ultra high end = For the divine people who posses the power to see the difference between 60 FPS and 120 FPS. And for the people who has a huge wallet!

Online Stores – All the prices listed in this guide is from online retailers (Newegg), if you want to buy those stuff in a store, its going to be 2 – 3 times more expensive. My advice, buy it online.

Good online stores include:
ZipZoomFly and Newegg for the United States
Novatech and Scan for UK,
NCIX for Canada.
try to look for the parts in all the stores, sometimes you might find a very good deal.

Another advantage of online stores is the customer reviews. Always, always, read customer reviews to see what you are expecting. If everyone is complaining about the product failing after a few weeks, then you should stay away from it.

Bottlenecking - If you are going to choose components, I suggest make sure to choose all the components from the same segment. You can deviate a little but not too much. For example, if you choose a low end CPU with a high end video card, the video card is not going to perform to its maximum ability since its waiting on the CPU for information. In this case the CPU is your weakest link and games only perform as good as the worst component of your system.

One last thing, remember to Be Flexible! Don't adhere to a certain budget, sometimes for $10 or $20 more you might be able to upgrade to a product that's twice as good!

CPU:

The brains of your system, a good CPU is vital for good overall system performance, and smooth frame rates in games. Strategy games like Rome Total War is especially CPU dependent.

Overclocking: Meaning running your components beyond the speed they were designed to run, it’s a little risky as you have to watch your temperature and do a lot of stress testing, but in the end you can get a lot of performance for a little price. Usually I don’t suggest overclocking on a stock heatsink with out at least buying some Artic Silver 5 thermal paste, any serious overclocker should get a good aftermarket heatsink too.

Ultra low end:
-AMD: Athlon 64 X2 3600+: $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103046
-AMD: Athlon 64 X2 4200+: $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103741

Low end:
-Intel: Core 2 Duo E4300: $116
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115013
-AMD: Athlon 64 X2 4800+: $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103778

Mid range:
-AMD: Athlon 64 X2 5200+: $170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103759
-AMD: Athlon 64 X2 5600+: $185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103771
-Intel: Core 2 Duo E6420: $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115016

High end:
-AMD: Athlon 64 X2 6000+: $233
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103773
-Intel: Core 2 Duo E6600: $230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003

Ultra high end:
-Intel: Core 2 Extreme QX6700: $970
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115011

Motherboard:

The thing that connect all your other things together. Having a more expensive motherboard means more features like SLI and Crossfire, more SATA connectors for hard drive, and of course better overclocking capability. That’s pretty much the only difference between the motherboards. If you just want to basics and don't plan on overclocking of doing some dual graphics, then there is no point wasting your money on a more expensive motherboard.

Some good brands are Gigabyte, Abit, Asus, DFI, and eVGA,

Note – The Extreme overclocking segment are for the people that want the best of the best and those that want to push their hardware to the limit, you can overclock your CPU with anyone of these motherboards, but the one in the Extreme overclocking has more advanced features for people who know what they are doing.

SLI /Crossfire – Combining 2 graphics cards to render the same frame for almost double the performance.

Basic:
-AMD: Any nForce 550 or Geforce 6100 motherboard: $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128034
-Intel: Supports Crossfire: ASRock ConRoeXFire: $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157096

Advanced:
-AMD: Supports SLI: Any nForce 590 or 570 SLI motherboard: $110 - $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188016
-Intel: Supports SLI: Any nForce 650i SLI board: $115
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135047

Extreme overclocking:
-AMD: Max FSB: 400+: DFI Infinity: $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813136015
-Intel: Max FSB: ~500: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3: $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128042
-Intel: Max FSB: ~520: Asus P5B-E: $147
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131070
-Intel: Supports SLI: Max FSB: ~500: Any nForce 680i LT board: $175
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188015

RAM:

Also known as Random Access Memory, a good amount of RAM is critical for gaming and muti-tasking. Right now 1 GB of ram is the minimum, but if you want to be future proof you should get 2 GB since some of the new games, and the new Windows Vista, need 2 GB of ram to run nice and smooth.

Some good memory brand include: Mushkin, Corsair, OCZ, G.Skill, Crucial, Patriot, Kingston, and Geil. If you want to overclock or tweak your system, you should get one of the brand listed above, since those brands usually makes the most tweakable and overclockable memory.

Note - All the memory over DDR2-667 are considered "Overclocking ram". Where you will not be able to take advantage of its speed unless you overclock your CPU. So if you don't plan on overclocking there is no point wasting your money on expensive DDR2-800+ ram.

Mid range:
-Corsair ValueSelect DDR2-667 or Any DDR2-667 2 x 512MB: $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145568

High end:
-Any DDR2-667 2 x 1GB: $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134046

Ultra high end (Vista only!)
-Any DDR2-667 4 x 1GB: 2 x $90 (Buy 2!)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134046

Extreme overclocking:
-Max FSB: ~460Mhz @ 2.1v | ~510Mhz @ 2.3v | ~600Mhz @ 2.45v:
-G.SKILL F2-6400CL4D-2GBHK: $134
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231114

Video Card:

A good video card is essential for gaming. A good video card is what separates a average office PC and a extreme gaming PC.
Bad video card(s) = bad frame rates = bad gaming experience

SLI/Crossfire: SLI is a feature of nVIDIA cards where you are able to combine 2 cards of the same model and get double the rendering performance. All nVIDIA cards listed here EXCEPT the 7300GS and 7300GT are capable of SLI. Crossfire is the ATI version of SLI, to be able to use crossfire you also need 2 cards of the same model. As with SLI you need a crossfire compatible motherboard, and you also need a Crossfire master card of the same graphics card. I’m not going to cover that here, since in my personal opinion those features are just pure overkill.

All the video cards in each segment are arranged from the worst performance to the best performance.

Low end:
-Geforce 7300GT 128MB: $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130026
-Radeon X1650: $73
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102035

Mid range:
-Radeon X1650XT: $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814142090
-Geforce 7600GT: $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130062
-Geforce 7900GS: $154 Buy preoverclocked versions or overclock it your self. If you don't know what this means, buy the X1950Pro.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130056
-Radeon X1950Pro: $155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102061
-Radeon X1950XT: $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102067

High end:
-Geforce 8800GTS 320MB: $270
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133193

Ultra high end:
-Geforce 8800GTX: $560
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130072

Powersupply:

The most overlooked component of a system, a power supply is vital for the stability of your PC. Its a common misconception that the more wattage the better, but what really set a quality powersupply from a normal powersupply is its amps, for example the low end FPS group can out put 16/18 amps on the 12v rail while the mid range one can out put 20/20 amps, even though they got the same wattage. Get the power supply that corresponds to the choice of your other components; if you get all low end components get the low end power supply. If you get half low end half mid range, get a mid range power supply just to be safe.

Note – If you have SLI/Crossfire you MUST have a high end or ultra high end power supply.

Low end:
-FPS Group AX-400PN: $41
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104953

Mid range:
-Enermax Liberty 400W: $78
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817194002

High end:
-OCZ GameXStream 600W: $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341001

Ultra high end:
-Corsair HX620: $170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139002

I’ll try to update this guide as much as I can, thanks for reading!
-Incinerate_IV

By the way, if anyone thinks something that should be on this guide, or something that’s outdated, please let me know! (You can post it here or PM me)

[Lee1026]

Excuse me?
A CPU in the 120 range is LOW END? Then what is a sempron or a celeron?
A gig of ram in the 100 range is LOW END? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820141225 Is more like it. 63.99, now that is low range.
Video Card - A video card sub 100 is considered to be low range. The stuff you list is actually mid low range.

I would suggest adding a budget buyer section before the low end.
CPU - Sempron 64 2800 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819104301 - 68.00
Ram - 2*512 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820141225 63.99
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138029 66.99
Video Card - Geforce 7300GT. Quite acceptable proformance, low price. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130026 79.99
PSU - The thing that came with your case.

This computer would run extremely well. It should be capable of playing most games at medium settings with full resolution, which is more or less all that you will be able to tell.

[Incinerate_IV]

Well this is more gaming oriented, and while I know you can play RTW perfectly fine with your Sempron, your CPU is highly OCed.

A low end computer to me costs about $500-600, and if you include hard drive/CD drives and stuff, its just that.

Ok ok I'll add a ultra low end segment just for you :wink:

[Lee1026]

Well, adding all of your suggestions together get us to 441 dollars. The rest needed for acceptable performance - 40 for DVD burner, 120 for hard drive, and 30 for a case (it needs to be reasonablely sturdy), 30 for shipping, 20 for keyboard + mouse, and we are in the 691 zone, which is a bit high for low end.

Also, I suggest that we say just how much of a difference there is going to be from low end to midclass to high end to inform people just how much performance that they truely need.

[Aristocrat]

Not one of the components in my system is on that list yet by your definitions it fits into the High end. Hurray for me and for my now officially old hardware.
As of now that pretty much covers the gamers range as anything below the low end and you will find the newer games will start to struggle on stock settings. (and by struggle I mean you are having to sacrifice effects, looks, resolution, etc just to play).

[Incinerate_IV]

Well all the components on there is what I think is the best bang for the buck.

[General Sun]

Excellent Guide. Agree with everything except this:

-AMD: Athlon64 X2 4200+: $399
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819103747

4400+ is a better choice, more cache. I heard that there is a world of difference in the cache.

[Incinerate_IV]

Well it costs $140 more for only a 512 kb increase of cache, not that worth it. And the difference isn't that big, I've seen the benchmarks.

[Lee1026]

Well, you will have to be a fool to think that FX - 62 is the best bang for the buck.....

P.S. If you want to go into a lot of money for a bit of boost as a valid reason for not spending the extra money, then you should never buy anything but the buttom of the barrel equipment.

[HMMcKamikaze]

I have a Dell Dimension 3000, and im not sure if i have the certain parts that are universal, does anyone know?

[Incinerate_IV]

Yea I agree the FX series is WAY overpriced. But hey if you got the money...

Well, adding all of your suggestions together get us to 441 dollars. The rest needed for acceptable performance - 40 for DVD burner, 120 for hard drive, and 30 for a case (it needs to be reasonablely sturdy), 30 for shipping, 20 for keyboard + mouse, and we are in the 691 zone, which is a bit high for low end.

I wouldn't pay $120 for a hard drive, I was thinking $60 for a 160GB hard drive, which is more than enough for me, and my DVD burner costs me $35. And most of these stuff you can get for the same price at your local PC store like CompUSA, so get rid of the shipping, and that should be about $600.

[General Sun]

@HMMcKamikaze, you're probably better off in a new thread...

@Incinerate

Well people tell me that the difference between 4200 and 4400 are well worth it. Since there is a huge gap in terms of $$ between the Ultra high and the High, 600 dollars difference! I thought the 4400 would be better suited for the high end. But I guess it's really whatever floats your boat, it's always difficult to decide between the different models of the same family, is this little extra speed worth it, etc.

[Lee1026]

I wouldn't pay $120 for a hard drive, I was thinking $60 for a 160GB hard drive, which is more than enough for me, and my DVD burner costs me $35. And most of these stuff you can get for the same price at your local PC store like CompUSA, so get rid of the shipping, and that should be about $600.

I was basing everything off of Newegg prices, and newegg does charge shipping.......

[Incinerate_IV]

Well you still don't need to spend $120 for the hard drive, A 160gb one is more than enough, which only costs $70+shipping on newegg. As for the keyboard/mouse, I doubt anyone would buy that online.

@General_Sun,

I'm doing Socket AM2, and the pricing for the 4400+ is WAY too high for the performance improvent over the 4200+. If it was socket 939 I would recommend the 4400+ because it cost only $60 more, but for AM2 its double that, and thats just not worth it.

[Lee1026]

Very well, we are still on the 630 range, which still seem a bit high for low end gear.

[Incinerate_IV]

Well would you like me to change the name to something else?

Like "Budget system" or "Medium low end"?

I'm choosing all the components by the description, which is "play almost all the games at 1280x1024 resolution with the settings maxed out, with a few exceptions here and there where you have to turn things down a bit."

[Lee1026]

Well, that depends on which game we are talking about, right?

[Incinerate_IV]

Yep. But I did say ALMOST all the games, which pretty much means any games thats not Oblivion or Call of Duty 2 or F.E.A.R.

[Lee1026]

Then a geforce 7300gt would be able do the trick, right?

[Incinerate_IV]

Well you got a point. I'll add 7300GT to low end and put something else on ultra low end I guess. I can't exactly move the low end components I have now to mid range, since those components will struggle on Oblivion or Call of Duty 2.