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Building a Gaming Computer

Started by slowmike Sep 3, 2007 at 3:06 PM 30 replies 6.3k views

Original Post

Sep 3, 2007 at 3:06 PM

**Building my own gaming computer for the very first time** GOAL: I want to build a good gaming computer from the case up. It must be able to run the newest graphic-intensive games with little to no problems. For example, in Battlefield 2142, I want to be able to turn all the video and sound settings to at least medium. High would be nice, but as long as nothing’s on low I’ll be happy. I’d like my computer to be SLI ready even though I may not take advantage of the dual video cards right away. Not sure. SHOPPING LIST: Highly ventilated full-tower case Power supply (600+ watts) Motherboard Processor Hard drive Floppy/CD/DVD drives Memory modules Sound Card Video Card Keyboard/Mouse/Monitor MY THOUGHTS WITH LIMITED KNOWLEDGE: I think I should go with a full-tower case for adequate room for ventilation and expansion. I think some of those cases with the see-thru side panels are pretty neat. That must help you keep an eye on the fans and dust build-up. Also, the ones with ventilated sides seem like a good choice. I guess my power supply will depend on the requirements of my processor and video card. I can’t definitely decide on how many watts I’ll need until I know what other hardware I’ll be getting. I’m guessing it’ll be between 600 and 700 watts (?). Plus, I’ll have to make sure it has all the appropriate connections. From my motherboard, I want 4 slots for ram with a maximum capacity of 8 Gigs (for future readiness). It should support SLI and PCI-E. If it had whatever extra slot necessary for a physics card, that’d be nice. I’m not sure if the mobo/processor needs to specifically support one of those, or if I simply need an extra PCI-E slot. For the processor, I was thinking Core 2 Duo. Not much thought behind that, but it’s what I’m using now. I’m going to start off with 4 Gigs of ram. I’m kind of clueless when it comes to the video card. I think it should have 512MB (flexible) on-board and support for SLI. I was looking at the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS and 7950 GT cards, as well as the ATI Radeon X1950 PRO. I’m obviously going to have to do a lot more research before choosing a card. I’m pretty much good to go with the rest of the things on my list. It’s the ones mentioned above that I’m going to need help with. Now of course I’m not planning to go out and just start buying stuff tomorrow. I just want to start looking into this now, so in a couple of months I can get building. FEEDBACK: Please only reply with at least somewhat helpful insight. I’m looking for the following types of feedback: 1. Suggested products with a reason why you think they’d suit my needs 2. Reasons why my needs/wants might conflict with one another and possible solutions 3. Your own lessons learned from building your own computers (help me from learning everything the hard way) 4. Any questions about what I want that I didn’t specify in this post

LockePick

Sep 3, 2007 at 3:27 PM

We've got a hardware forum for this sort of thing now, but a mod will move it there for you I'm sure.

The 8800GTS is an excellent card if you can splurge on it. I was looking at a 7900GS recently for a cheap lower end deal but they ran out of stock so I went with a very low-end 320MB EVGA 8800GTS instead ($300CDN). I can run Oblivion on full detail now (and that is still, AFAIK, the hardest game to run out there due to its terrible optimization). Bioshock on full detail without slowdown is nice too. If you get an EVGA or XFX you can overclock it without voiding the warranty and they do overclock well.

The 7950GT is way overpriced now as it won't outperform the 8800GTS which may even be cheaper in some cases. You also won't get DX10 support (not that it matters much with 10.1 on the way).

The fast Core 2 Duo's have dropped in price a ton, and they perform amazingly well. No question you should get one. The only other real option is to pay more and get a quad core, if you feel that's actually necessary (probably isn't).

superpig

Sep 3, 2007 at 3:43 PM

Quote:
Original post by LockePick
We've got a hardware forum for this sort of thing now, but a mod will move it there for you I'm sure.

I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about...

slowmike

Sep 3, 2007 at 4:21 PM

Quote:
Original post by superpig
Quote:
Original post by LockePick
We've got a hardware forum for this sort of thing now, but a mod will move it there for you I'm sure.
I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about...

Doh!

Quote:
The 8800GTS is an excellent card if you can splurge on it. I was looking at a 7900GS recently for a cheap lower end deal but they ran out of stock so I went with a very low-end 320MB EVGA 8800GTS instead ($300CDN). I can run Oblivion on full detail now (and that is still, AFAIK, the hardest game to run out there due to its terrible optimization). Bioshock on full detail without slowdown is nice too. If you get an EVGA or XFX you can overclock it without voiding the warranty and they do overclock well.

Cool. Good to know. I've never even tried OCing before, but good to know.

Quote:
The fast Core 2 Duo's have dropped in price a ton, and they perform amazingly well. No question you should get one. The only other real option is to pay more and get a quad core, if you feel that's actually necessary (probably isn't).

Yeah, I probably don't need the quad core at this time.
Thank you for your response.

Has anyone tried an NVIDIA mobo? Sure looks nice. If so, have you had any difficulties with them?

swiftcoder

Sep 3, 2007 at 4:31 PM

A few thoughts, from experience... I take it cost isn't a huge issue, from the specs you suggested?

Hard Drives
For the latest games, I would recommend a *very* fast hard drive for your primary, probably a fairly low-capacity 10,000+ RPM. Then you can put a huge but slower drive in for storage concerns (probably only a 7200 RPM, in the half terabyte range).

Display
Everyone has their own favourite screens, but unless you are going to splurge on one of Apple's beautiful HD Cinema displays, I would very highly recommend Samsung's 22" widescreen LCD (model # 226CW). It has a 2ms response, 3000:1 contrast, and is generally a wonderful monitor. The display is very crisp, and colour definition is very good.

Mouse
Again, for the latest games, I cannot stress this enough: get a Laser mouse. After using an optical mouse for years, the difference is incredible - the movement is enough smoother and more precise that it noticeably improves any FPS or similar that requires precision aiming.

slowmike

Sep 3, 2007 at 4:37 PM

Quote:
Original post by swiftcoder
Hard Drives
For the latest games, I would recommend a *very* fast hard drive for your primary, probably a fairly low-capacity 10,000+ RPM. Then you can put a huge but slower drive in for storage concerns (probably only a 7200 RPM, in the half terabyte range).

Is this primarily for improving loading times? Thanks for your reply.

MARS_999

Sep 3, 2007 at 4:55 PM

Here is what I have, and LOVE it

Intel C2D e6600
Intel MB Bad Axe 2 975x chipset
Mushkin 6GB DDR2 800 1.8v <-important
2x Raptor 10k 16mb HDs
Xfi Gamer extreme
SATA DVD drive
Coolermaster 830 case Black best case I have ever owned bar none
BFG 8800GTS 640mb OC edition
Vista 64 ultimate
Antec 650watt PS

Smooth as butter, fast and quiet!!!

I would get either the quad core 2.4ghz model, and stay away from ddr3 unless you have the money to burn.

As of now the new cpus are only at best 5% faster than the 1066fsb chips. Is the price difference worth it? Only you can answer that. And I have NO issues with Vista like some people say....

edit oops I juse seen you want SLI

well MB wise Asus or MSI are great MBs. I would get a PC Power and cooling PS at least 750-850watts if you are running SLI to get rid of system instability.

acidwillburnyou

Sep 3, 2007 at 5:00 PM

Quote:
Original post by slowmike
Has anyone tried an NVIDIA mobo? Sure looks nice. If so, have you had any difficulties with them?

I just bought this mobo 2 weeks ago and i have no probs whatsoever.

brandonman

Sep 3, 2007 at 6:51 PM

Quote:
Original post by MARS_999
Here is what I have, and LOVE it

Intel C2D e6600
Intel MB Bad Axe 2 975x chipset
Mushkin 6GB DDR2 800 1.8v <-important
2x Raptor 10k 16mb HDs
Xfi Gamer extreme
SATA DVD drive
Coolermaster 830 case Black best case I have ever owned bar none
BFG 8800GTS 640mb OC edition
Vista 64 ultimate
Antec 650watt PS

Smooth as butter, fast and quiet!!!

I would get either the quad core 2.4ghz model, and stay away from ddr3 unless you have the money to burn.

As of now the new cpus are only at best 5% faster than the 1066fsb chips. Is the price difference worth it? Only you can answer that. And I have NO issues with Vista like some people say....

edit oops I juse seen you want SLI

well MB wise Asus or MSI are great MBs. I would get a PC Power and cooling PS at least 750-850watts if you are running SLI to get rid of system instability.

How much did that cost ya not counting vista ultimate? I'm planning to build sometime in a few months. Sounds like a sexy rig, 6 gigs of ram, wow.

Nytegard

Sep 3, 2007 at 7:01 PM

Quote:
Original post by brandonman
Quote:
Original post by MARS_999
Here is what I have, and LOVE it

Intel C2D e6600
Intel MB Bad Axe 2 975x chipset
Mushkin 6GB DDR2 800 1.8v <-important
2x Raptor 10k 16mb HDs
Xfi Gamer extreme
SATA DVD drive
Coolermaster 830 case Black best case I have ever owned bar none
BFG 8800GTS 640mb OC edition
Vista 64 ultimate
Antec 650watt PS

Smooth as butter, fast and quiet!!!

I would get either the quad core 2.4ghz model, and stay away from ddr3 unless you have the money to burn.

As of now the new cpus are only at best 5% faster than the 1066fsb chips. Is the price difference worth it? Only you can answer that. And I have NO issues with Vista like some people say....

edit oops I juse seen you want SLI

well MB wise Asus or MSI are great MBs. I would get a PC Power and cooling PS at least 750-850watts if you are running SLI to get rid of system instability.

How much did that cost ya not counting vista ultimate? I'm planning to build sometime in a few months. Sounds like a sexy rig, 6 gigs of ram, wow.

I have a similar machine with an upgraded power supply and processor, and only 4 GB of RAM, and it came to ~$2400.

One thing to take into consideration. PCI Express 2.0 is coming out in October, and the upcoming NVidia and ATI cards will be taking advantage of it. Unfortunately, the price to pay is that the motherboards will also only run on DDR3 memory, although there will be a few mb's which will run on DDR2.

Jarrod1937

Sep 3, 2007 at 7:28 PM

Quote:
Original post by Nytegard
I have a similar machine with an upgraded power supply and processor, and only 4 GB of RAM, and it came to ~$2400.

what? where do you live?
my pc;
-a core 2 Quad Core Q6600 cpu overclocked from 2.4 ghz to 3.15 ghz.
-2048 mb of ddr2 pc2 800 ram overclocked to 1,000 mhz at 4-4-4-12 timings.
-ga-p35-ds3p gigabyte motherboard.
-8800 gts 320 mb overclocked.
-enermax 500 watt liberty psu.
- striker 5.1 sound card
-2 7200 16 mb cache 150 gig hard drives, maxtor
-existing case
-existing license of win xp

all cameout to around $900, though i did get a few good deals, but even then it wouldn't have added to more than $1,200

and not to be arguementive or derail this thread:
" PCI Express 2.0 is coming out in October, and the upcoming NVidia and ATI cards will be taking advantage of it."
i find this hard to believe, as benchmarks have shown that all the 8800 needs is a single 8x pci express slot, meaning it is not even close to using the bandwidth of a pci-e 16x slot... so i wonder what improvements will occur with pci 2?

slowmike

Sep 3, 2007 at 7:38 PM

I came up with this example config using NVIDIA's compatibility shopping wizard tool (thingy). Though these may not be the exact components that I'll get, I'm curious as to what you think. How high could I get those settings in Battlefield 2142 with this setup? Sorry for using 2142 as an example again, but I think it makes a pretty good measuring tool. Thanks again for all the replies.

Motherboard
BFG nForce 680i SLI NVIDIA Socket 775 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / SLI Ready / Dual Gigabit LAN / S/PDIF / USB 2.0 & Firewire / Serial ATA / RAID
Price $199.99

Graphics Cards #1
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC / 640MB GDDR3 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card
Price $389.99

Graphics Cards #2
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC / 640MB GDDR3 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card
Price $389.99

System Memory
OCZ 4GB ( 4 x 1GB ) NVIDIA SLI Ready Edition PC2-8500 1066MHz 240-pin DDR2 Memory
Price $419.98

Power Supplies
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Black) 750W Power Supply
Price $199.99

MARS_999

Sep 3, 2007 at 7:41 PM

Quote:
Original post by brandonman
Quote:
Original post by MARS_999
Here is what I have, and LOVE it

Intel C2D e6600
Intel MB Bad Axe 2 975x chipset
Mushkin 6GB DDR2 800 1.8v <-important
2x Raptor 10k 16mb HDs
Xfi Gamer extreme
SATA DVD drive
Coolermaster 830 case Black best case I have ever owned bar none
BFG 8800GTS 640mb OC edition
Vista 64 ultimate
Antec 650watt PS

Smooth as butter, fast and quiet!!!

I would get either the quad core 2.4ghz model, and stay away from ddr3 unless you have the money to burn.

As of now the new cpus are only at best 5% faster than the 1066fsb chips. Is the price difference worth it? Only you can answer that. And I have NO issues with Vista like some people say....

edit oops I just seen you want SLI

well MB wise Asus or MSI are great MBs. I would get a PC Power and cooling PS at least 750-850watts if you are running SLI to get rid of system instability.

How much did that cost ya not counting vista ultimate? I'm planning to build sometime in a few months. Sounds like a sexy rig, 6 gigs of ram, wow.

IIRC I paid around $1800 for the whole setup, back in Jan. As for the PCIe don't worry about it, PCIe2.0 is backwards compatible with PCIe1.0 so you can buy a new VC later and still use it, like AGP 8x will work in 2x, 4x ect...

And one positive to the PCIe2.0 standard is IIRC it will up the power to the VC through the MB's PCIe slot.

MARS_999

Sep 3, 2007 at 7:45 PM

Quote:
Original post by slowmike
I came up with this example config using NVIDIA's compatibility shopping wizard tool (thingy). Though these may not be the exact components that I'll get, I'm curious as to what you think. How high could I get those settings in Battlefield 2142 with this setup? Sorry for using 2142 as an example again, but I think it makes a pretty good measuring tool. Thanks again for all the replies.

Motherboard
BFG nForce 680i SLI NVIDIA Socket 775 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / SLI Ready / Dual Gigabit LAN / S/PDIF / USB 2.0 & Firewire / Serial ATA / RAID
Price $199.99

Graphics Cards #1
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC / 640MB GDDR3 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card
Price $389.99

Graphics Cards #2
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC / 640MB GDDR3 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card
Price $389.99

System Memory
OCZ 4GB ( 4 x 1GB ) NVIDIA SLI Ready Edition PC2-8500 1066MHz 240-pin DDR2 Memory
Price $419.98

Power Supplies
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Black) 750W Power Supply
Price $199.99

Ps is a great choice. Now the MB I wouldn't get the 680i I would get the 650 chipset instead as long as you get on with SLI.

And unless you are going to Overclock that RAM is worthless, DDR2800 is max for the 1066FSB as it is a waste of money.

Nytegard

Sep 3, 2007 at 9:19 PM

Quote:
Original post by Jarrod1937
Quote:
Original post by Nytegard
I have a similar machine with an upgraded power supply and processor, and only 4 GB of RAM, and it came to ~$2400.

what? where do you live?
my pc;
-a core 2 Quad Core Q6600 cpu overclocked from 2.4 ghz to 3.15 ghz.
-2048 mb of ddr2 pc2 800 ram overclocked to 1,000 mhz at 4-4-4-12 timings.
-ga-p35-ds3p gigabyte motherboard.
-8800 gts 320 mb overclocked.
-enermax 500 watt liberty psu.
- striker 5.1 sound card
-2 7200 16 mb cache 150 gig hard drives, maxtor
-existing case
-existing license of win xp

all cameout to around $900, though i did get a few good deals, but even then it wouldn't have added to more than $1,200

and not to be arguementive or derail this thread:
" PCI Express 2.0 is coming out in October, and the upcoming NVidia and ATI cards will be taking advantage of it."
i find this hard to believe, as benchmarks have shown that all the 8800 needs is a single 8x pci express slot, meaning it is not even close to using the bandwidth of a pci-e 16x slot... so i wonder what improvements will occur with pci 2?

Prices from NewEgg of my computer (and unlike you, I didn't reuse anything):

Cooler Master Stacker 830 with 1000W Power supply: $400
Quad 6600: $290
Cooler Master Gemini 2: $40
2 RaptorX 150 GB HD's @10000 RPM: $260 * 2 = $520
Asus Striker Extreme: $300
4 GB Corsair XMS: $290
Arctic Silver 5: $6
Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality Platinum: $175
EVGA 8800 GTS 640 MB: $395
Lite On 20x DVD Burner with Lightscribe: $32
Vista Ultimate DVD: $340
Logitech G5 (with 2 thumb buttons): $60
Microsoft Natural Keyboard (4000 B2M): $50
Logitech Z-5500: $293

That's $2555. I could have probably gone OEM on a few pieces, but I prefer retail. I'm reusing my monitors (LG 246WP 24" Widescreen Primary with Dell 2001FP 20" 4x3 secondary). I prefer the LG over the Dell, but it leaves a lot to be desired on non widescreen scaling.

JohnBolton

Sep 4, 2007 at 1:29 AM

Just a quick note about power supplies: bigger is not always better.

Unless you have multiple video cards, you probably don't need more than a 500W PS. A top-of-the-line overclocked system under full load is only going to draw about 350W.

The reason bigger is not better is that power supplies are inefficient when the load is low. A 1000W PS will generate a lot more heat under a 200W load than a 400W PS.

So, don't waste your money on a 1000W PS unless you are really going to be sucking that much power.

Other things to consider:

Some power supplies are quieter than others.
Detachable cables are very convenient.

slowmike

Sep 4, 2007 at 12:11 PM

Quote:
Original post by JohnBolton
Just a quick note about power supplies: bigger is not always better.

Unless you have multiple video cards, you probably don't need more than a 500W PS. A top-of-the-line overclocked system under full load is only going to draw about 350W.

The reason bigger is not better is that power supplies are inefficient when the load is low. A 1000W PS will generate a lot more heat under a 200W load than a 400W PS.

So, don't waste your money on a 1000W PS unless you are really going to be sucking that much power.

Other things to consider:
Some power supplies are quieter than others.
Detachable cables are very convenient.

Good info. Thank you much.

Nypyren

Sep 4, 2007 at 12:57 PM

For those of you who want to splurge for the dual raptors, take this anecdote into account (from several years ago):

My computer:
AMD 2600+
[SATA 1] WD Caviar 250GB 7200RPM
1.5GB RAM

Friend's Computer:
Intel P4 2.8GHz
[SATA 1] RAID 0 WD Raptor 36GB+36GB 10K RPM
2GB RAM

My computer loads Battlefield 2 maps several seconds FASTER than his. And mine's far cheaper. The moral of this story is that load times may not be dictated directly by your maximum transfer speed or seek speed of your hard drive(s)

slowmike

Sep 4, 2007 at 1:53 PM

Quote:
Original post by Nypyren
For those of you who want to splurge for the dual raptors, take this anecdote into account (from several years ago):

My computer:
AMD 2600+
[SATA 1] WD Caviar 250GB 7200RPM
1.5GB RAM

Friend's Computer:
Intel P4 2.8GHz
[SATA 1] RAID 0 WD Raptor 36GB+36GB 10K RPM
2GB RAM

My computer loads Battlefield 2 maps several seconds FASTER than his. And mine's far cheaper. The moral of this story is that load times may not be dictated directly by your maximum transfer speed or seek speed of your hard drive(s)

Does anyone have any additional comments/info about this, because I was planning on getting 1 or 2 Raptors to hold my games? Is the type of GPU the unknown factor, or does that not matter?

MARS_999

Sep 4, 2007 at 2:03 PM

RAID isn't always faster. IMO get 2 150Gb raptors if you can afford it and don't RAID them.

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