Need help building a new computer.

[2222love3333]

I haven't had 8800GT yet. I don't know if it's a good one or have enough complaints (like you said), but I think Radeon 3870 is a nice one. you can look up
http://www.dealstudio.com/searchdeals.php?deal_id=71334
I recommend it to anyone that need a video card.

 

[illram]

I would only chime in with the following personal observations about power supplies and cases (often overlooked):

Dont skimp on your PSU and your case. Your case you can skimp more on because it's not going to kill your system (unless it causes you to screw things up during construction) but you're going to be staring at this thing forever and if you get a good one you can re-use it over and over again. Also, putting it together can either be fun or it can be miserable and your case has a lot to do with it. (Also make sure you get a big enough case for the 8800's.)

-Thermaltake are great Powersupplies. DON'T skimp on your power supply!

-Lian-Li's make great, sweet looking cases that are awesome to work with. There are good ones in the $80-120 range. BUT replace the fans! They are loud.

-You don't need Quad-core and that's not "budget."

-If you're not into overclocking and really messing with your system very often you don't need a high end motherboard or high end RAM. GSkill RAM is cheap (last time I checked) and I've been using it for a year now w/out a hitch. Save money here. A 775 mobo by a good manufacturer is going to last you a while, and as others have mentioned SLI or Crossfire isn't really necessary (and doesn't appear to be in your budget).

-HDD are cheap, getting a new doesn't cost much and they do affect performance. You also may have issues putting your old HDD onto a new motherboard, IIRC XP won't run. (Am I wrong on this one? Doesn't it think its being installed on a new PC with a new mobo?) If anything port your DVD burner over rather than your HDD.

-Often, paying top dollar for the newest GFX card is a waste of money. Read the reviews and get the next best, lower tier card. (Odds are it was almost as expensive 7-8 months ago.) Then you're actually getting a good performance per dollar ratio IMHO. Tom's Hardware is a great place to check these reviews out. (For reference, on my C2D 6600 w/ a 7600GT ($80 1 year ago) I'm still running CoD4 at 1024x768, albeit with most of the eye candy turned off. It still looks AWESOME however, and the 7600GT is obsolete these days. So, don't be too concerned with the best thing around. If you want to save money that may not be possible.

Have fun! I did the same thing a year ago and it was a blast and I learned alot.

 

[kuukkeli]

Dont skimp on your PSU and your case.

True, but at times it seems that people try to avoid skimping by recommending PSUs nominally providing twice the power required instead of buying a PSU of quality brand. At least Corsair, Seasonic, Fortron, BeQuiet and Nexus have been doing pretty good PSUs. With cases I've been an Antec fan for years now (I'm sure Lian-Li makes good cases too but the last time I checked they costed a lot here in Finland)

Often, paying top dollar for the newest GFX card is a waste of money.

Maybe often but not at this time. The new cards from Nvidia and Radeon are (if not cheap budget cards then at least) very affordable mid-price cards with the performance almost rivalling the top models costing two to three times more.

P.S. It even looks that 8800GT may get my recommendation back after changing the cooling fan. Unless you're going to change 3rd party cooler be sure to get a card with the new fan. Now raising the RPM shouldn't make your ears bleed

 

[Zelig]

-Thermaltake are great Powersupplies. DON'T skimp on your power supply!

-You don't need Quad-core and that's not "budget."

-If you're not into overclocking and really messing with your system very often you don't need a high end motherboard or high end RAM. GSkill RAM is cheap (last time I checked) and I've been using it for a year now w/out a hitch. Save money here. A 775 mobo by a good manufacturer is going to last you a while, and as others have mentioned SLI or Crossfire isn't really necessary (and doesn't appear to be in your budget).

-HDD are cheap, getting a new doesn't cost much and they do affect performance. You also may have issues putting your old HDD onto a new motherboard, IIRC XP won't run. (Am I wrong on this one? Doesn't it think its being installed on a new PC with a new mobo?) If anything port your DVD burner over rather than your HDD.

-Often, paying top dollar for the newest GFX card is a waste of money. Read the reviews and get the next best, lower tier card. (Odds are it was almost as expensive 7-8 months ago.) Then you're actually getting a good performance per dollar ratio IMHO. Tom's Hardware is a great place to check these reviews out. (For reference, on my C2D 6600 w/ a 7600GT ($80 1 year ago) I'm still running CoD4 at 1024x768, albeit with most of the eye candy turned off. It still looks AWESOME however, and the 7600GT is obsolete these days. So, don't be too concerned with the best thing around. If you want to save money that may not be possible.

Have fun! I did the same thing a year ago and it was a blast and I learned alot.

SOME Thermaltake power supplies are good. Others have been complete crap. They don't build them themselves, you have to look at the specific models, you can't just rely on a brand being good.

Quad-cores are around $270, that's not budget, but neither is it prohibitively expensive. Nobody needs them, but they're significantly better than dual cores.

No reason to get XP on a new computer, however if XP was left on a drive and transfered to a different computer, it usually does work. It's recommended to do a fresh install of whatever OS you're using though, which can be on any hard drive, new or old. (Though obviously newer drives are faster, in general)

Like you said, going with slower cards saves money; you get what you pay for. Most gamers don't want to get a new video card that struggles to play new games with reduced settings at low resolutions.

 

[illram]

@OP

Check this forum, tons of info and always a lot of people seeking similar advice. There is a specific forum on Homebuilt PCs. Generally good advice is given here and every day there is a new poster asking for advice on components within X budget and so on, you probably don't even need to post, just browse.

Also look at the reviews on NewEgg for each product you buy, the more reviews the better as you can get a better idea of the product by reading more of them. Sometimes there are good combo deals as well.

Like you said, going with slower cards saves money; you get what you pay for. Most gamers don't want to get a new video card that struggles to play new games with reduced settings at low resolutions.

True, good thing that's not what I was recommending. Merely pointing out that spending twice as much on hardware doesn't get you twice the performance. Dropping $200 on a card as opposed to $400 isn't going to get you a card that "struggles to play new games with reduced settings at low resolutions."

however if XP was left on a drive and transfered to a different computer, it usually does work.

I don't think it's correct that XP will usually work when porting your old HDD to a new mobo. IIRC if your old drive is from an OEM like Dell, XP thinks a new Mobo is a new PC, and thus will think you are breaking your EULA and it won't function. It depends on your license but I think XP commonly "marries" itself to mobos to monitor EULA compliance, even if you are the OEM under the license (i.e. the home-builder). I don't want the OP to be SOL when he sets up his new rig with an old HDD that doesn't want to boot.

 

[Zelig]

True, good thing that's not what I was recommending. Merely pointing out that spending twice as much on hardware doesn't get you twice the performance. Dropping $200 on a card as opposed to $400 isn't going to get you a card that "struggles to play new games with reduced settings at low resolutions."

I don't think it's correct that XP will usually work when porting your old HDD to a new mobo. IIRC if your old drive is from an OEM like Dell, XP thinks a new Mobo is a new PC, and thus will think you are breaking your EULA and it won't function. It depends on your license but I think XP commonly "marries" itself to mobos to monitor EULA compliance, even if you are the OEM under the license (i.e. the home-builder). I don't want the OP to be SOL when he sets up his new rig with an old HDD that doesn't want to boot.

But dropping $250 on a card will get you double the performance of a $125 card, it just doesn't scale well past that.

I was referring to any copies of XP that aren't specially modified by vendors. Any regular OEM or retail copies will go from computer to computer fine, I've done it loads of times. But like I said, I wouldn't recommend it, and I also wouldn't recommend XP for any new computer in the first place.

 

[Ulyaoth]

I've only had this HDD for a year and a half, it's 7600RPMs I'm sure, do they have bigger 10000RPM ones now? And I was going to reformat when I switch it anyway. And doesn't HDD speed only really affect loading up programs and Windows itself?

And I read something about some Penryn quad cores coming out next month or February, should all the other prices drop when those come out?

On another forum they suggested I just get a plain dual core and overclock it to a better cpu's speed, then get a Penryn a little later when prices drop, but I don't really feel like risking anything with overclocking, and I don't feel like having to just upgrade again in another few months, but I suppose if some prices drop I could just get a better dual core.

 

[Ghost Ranger]

I've only had this HDD for a year and a half, it's 7600RPMs I'm sure, do they have bigger 10000RPM ones now?

The biggest retail is 150GB.

And I was going to reformat when I switch it anyway. And doesn't HDD speed only really affect loading up programs and Windows itself?

Yes, it also increases file copying and how fast windows boots.

And I read something about some Penryn quad cores coming out next month or February, should all the other prices drop when those come out?

On another forum they suggested I just get a plain dual core and overclock it to a better cpu's speed, then get a Penryn a little later when prices drop, but I don't really feel like risking anything with overclocking, and I don't feel like having to just upgrade again in another few months, but I suppose if some prices drop I could just get a better dual core.

Just wait until January 20th, and get a Wolfdale/Penryn, because even if the current generation chip prices go down, it won't be worth it because they will be slower then the Wolfdale/Penryn's.

 

[Zelig]

And I read something about some Penryn quad cores coming out next month or February, should all the other prices drop when those come out?

On another forum they suggested I just get a plain dual core and overclock it to a better cpu's speed, then get a Penryn a little later when prices drop, but I don't really feel like risking anything with overclocking, and I don't feel like having to just upgrade again in another few months, but I suppose if some prices drop I could just get a better dual core.

There will always be something faster coming out in a few months.

Don't bother overclocking if you're not comfortable with it, noticable performance gains aren't huge in any case.

 

[illram]

I've only had this HDD for a year and a half, it's 7600RPMs I'm sure, do they have bigger 10000RPM ones now? And I was going to reformat when I switch it anyway. And doesn't HDD speed only really affect loading up programs and Windows itself?

And I read something about some Penryn quad cores coming out next month or February, should all the other prices drop when those come out?

On another forum they suggested I just get a plain dual core and overclock it to a better cpu's speed, then get a Penryn a little later when prices drop, but I don't really feel like risking anything with overclocking, and I don't feel like having to just upgrade again in another few months, but I suppose if some prices drop I could just get a better dual core.

IMHO if you want a computer now just buy it now. As Zelig said you can potentially wait forever as there is always something better. If you buy a quad core you will be set for a while. If you've got a quad core under the hood (or even a good dual core, like a 6850), just update your video card periodically if having the absolute top notch settings in the latest games is that important to you. A Q6600 should easily last the next 2 years if you keep updating your video card. I'm also not sure which mobos support the Penryn's, I'm guessing that going Penryn might put you over your 1K budget as you'll probably need a newer mobo. Also consider what type of RAM the mobo will have-- if its a newer mobo supporting 45nm chips it might want DDR3, which is more expensive than DDR2 which is currently dirt cheap. There is no need to lock yourself into DDR3 at the moment. All in all I think just going with a solid, affordable LGA 775 mobo and a good dual or quad core chip is the way to go right now if you don't want to spend too much money. You WONT be sorry or need to upgrade in a few months I can assure you of that.

Always having the latest and greatest is difficult and costly in the computer world, and sometimes the latest and greatest isn't worth the extra price over the next best thing. If you're budget is 1K you probably can't afford having all the absolute top notch stuff anyway.