@Sammorris Do you realize you decribed to him the computer I'm getting, with the exeption of 1G more ram (kingston too) and I'm getting an X2 3800+, And I changed from the Seagate Barracuda back to the WD Caviar SE16 at the last minute, because of NCQ I was going with Seagate, but WD had said that NCQ on these new SE16 drives actually slowed performance, so they took it off. I didn't believe it at first, but after looking a numerous different reviews/seek times, I finally came back to the WD side. Oh yeah, I ordered the X850XT of newegg, and I ordered everything else off zipzoomfly. Newegg couldn't beat their prices, some things maybe by a buck or 2, but zipzoomfly has free shipping!
Oh and BigDK, I wasn't trying to sound "jealous" at all, it's just there seems to be alot of teenage computer wizes like Sammoris here in the PC forums(no offense sammorris, you've been one of the most knowledgeable people in this forum. I've learned alot from reading your posts helping others and myself), and you have a $300 sound card! $350 speaker system for your computer? It just sounded a little fishy that's all. The whole system added up to around 5,000 USD or like 4200 euro, which is where that PSU is made so I assume you're in the UK. I'm a 22 year old single dad, and the $900 is alot. It just seemed like you had the "best" of everything out there, even "unneccesary" stuff and I could see a kid doing that. But I wasn't trying to be rude about it, I was just making the statement, wow you must be rich. And the Apple thing was just a joke.
Okay no problem! and yes I,m in the UK. I'm 38 and pretty much at the top level of what I do, so I do have a high proportion of expendable income (luckily). Yes I do tend to go for what I consider the best, but a lot of what I have has been moved from one machine to another over time like the cooler, and all the older gear gets sold on to pay towards it. I was planning on getting new AM2 system when its out in June, but I'll not bother posting it if I do. I don't try and boast or brag, it's not worth it, but I believe that my Sig at least shows that I know where I'm coming from on any advise I give. There isn't much kit that I haven't had in some system at some point, and I know it's probably some sort of compulsive disorder making me keep buying kit, but I just enjoy building PC's, I've got 3 more systems running at home as well, 2 for the kids and 1 I tinker with for overclocking and downloading.
AM2 eh? That'll be an FX-62 then lol Despite one having been killed, I do support Western Digital since I'm using three of their caviars. The NCQ interface to my knowledge actually does reduced performance with a 16MB cache as there's enough room to store advanced commands anyway. kkillah, I did say that the main reason why I can't run FEAR is that I don't have enough RAM. This is why I advise 2GB. One just doesn't cut it any more. I did have 1536MB of RAM but in the incident that saw the untimely end of one of my disk drives (Caviar 200 IDE) and the end of one other partition but not the drive, I also lost a stick of RAM. People, NEVER buy cheap power supplies!
@sammorris so do you think the list that i listed earlier is enough though? i mean i am still gonna upgrade it in the future but for now i just something to play the latest games cuz i will be leaving in 4 months and plus i am only 18 so i don't really have a lot of $. and also do i have to buy an operating system?
With the exception of your RAM, and maybe your video card, the list you listed earlier would suit you to play a variety of newer games. Sammorris is saying that his $3500 system would play fear if he bought some more RAM. I'm only getting 1G for my system, but the MOBO I'm getting has 4 slots, so if I want more later, I can go up to 3G. F.E.A.R. and budget computer don't really go hand in hand, but what is "budget" to one person may be pennies to another. My $900 system was about $300 over budget, but I wanted it to last for a bit, and bo able to play games at good resolutions with good fps. Simply put. If you wanna play F.E.A.R., your comp is going to cost you alot more. And Doom 3 takes to nVidia architechure better than ATI. If you'll be playing doom alot, then I'd go nVidia. Otherwise, I tend to lean towards ATI.
i see.... so i think i'll just wait then. it's not that i don't wanna spend a lot of money on the computer it's just that i am gonna be gone a lot and i don't think it's worth to spend like $2000 on a computer if you are not gonna use it as much. but thanks a lot for your suggestions guys.
You don't have to spend 2 grand. I spent $900 (w/o moniter) and my new build will be great for gaming. It's just for $400 or so, you won't be able to play F.E.A.R., now if you play your cards right you can play many many other games, but not fear.
Well you got alot of room to work with then. Here.. check this out. CPU - $212 http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80719-5 MOBO - $81.50 http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=247024 HDD - $92.90 http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101220-12 RAM - $69.99 http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80098-34 CASE - $55.19 http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=168086 GPU - $169.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102688 Comes to $680.58 Now, a couple things. The RAM I selected is Value Select, but it is Corsair, so it's not crappy RAM. It's a 1G stick, but you could always get another stick later and run them dual channel. ZipZoomFly has FREE shipping. Everything but the Video Card came from there. The video card costs... 173.45 with shipping, which brings the total to.. $685... And 15 bucks underbudget! *You did say you had optical drives, moniter and speakers already right?
what do you mean optical drives? these: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=173212 and do i need an operating system like windows xp pro or something like that? and yes i do have a monitor and speakers but not good ones cuz i really don't care about surorund sound and that crap lol. is this all i need for playing games like fear? i mean i will upgrade it once i get back but for now this is what i need.... so probably my bro could use it while i'm gone.
Yeah optical drives, dvd drives/burners.... And yeah, with that system you can play (I hate to say every) every game on the market with the exception of F.E.A.R., and while you probably can play fear, you would want to have (like sammorris said) 2G's of RAM. Well the RAM I chose for you is 69.99, so you are looking at somewhere around 130-140 for 2 Gigs. Here. http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80098-86 135.80 Now that does put you a little over budget, but you would for sure be able to play F.E.A.R., relatively smooth.
nice. yeah man i don't care if i go a $750 that's like my max but if it plays fear then im in!!! also i have one cd burner and one dvd burner do you think i could just use those as optical drives or do i need to buy the one that i posted earlier... and also do i need to buy a separate operating system like windows xp pro?
Well that all depends on what you already have. If you already OWN windows XP, you can legally put it on a different computer and re-activate it. now if it's a "brand specific" copy like that came with your HP... If it says HP on your Windows XP disc, then you might be screwed. On my new build, I'm going to install windows xp home (I have the cd) and BUY windows xp pro upgrade... Because I want pro and I'm not going to spend 139(OEM)-200 bucks on it. There's always loopholes... Technically you could clone the HD you have now into the new WD and you might have to reactivate windows, but it's okay as long as you still have your reg keys. Oh and those CD/DVD drives will work. If you wanted to copy all the information stored on a DVD to another, then you'd have to copy it to your HD first, but it'd work all the same.
how do you do that? cuz i have xp home do i have to do the intelimover thing cuz i deleted that program unfortunately..... i dunno where to find the keys and everything either. and also after i copy them, i will sell this pc to a friend of mine... also i don't know if i still have the disc i'll have to go look for it.
if you clone the HD, you won't need the disc, but may need the registration key, but if you find the dics you'll be happier because you won't be moving all the "junk" that's on your computer now to the new one. Otherwise, yeah. You'll need an OS. You can always cut back in a few departments to save some money for an OS, like you could get a lesser video card, and you could bump back down to 1G or RAM, but F.E.A.R. will not be on your list of games.
where can i get the registration key? can i get it off of my computer now? and how do you clone the hd? sorry if i ask too many questions man but you're the only one that seems to know em all lol
nice i found my key using the program that i downloaded online. it's called keyfinder. but i dunno how to clone hd man. do you have any input on this?
Most everything I'm telling you I learned from these forums. I was a newbie not that long ago, I stumbled across afterdawn trying to find info on dvd dual layer burners, and I just kinda stuck around. Cloning the HD is done with a program, here's a link to a message where they were talking about it... http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/325617 These programs cost money, but take a look at the PM I sent you, you could always take that route with the cloning software as well.
I just found everything you could ever need to know about HDD cloning. http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=418&page=1 HDCLONE used with partition magic seems like a good free combo. I'd give it a shot. Expecially now that you have the reg key. 2cd EDIT: I gotta hit the sack man. Sorry, it's just late, and my son wakes up early. I'll check back in tomorrow for sure though see how your doing.
