Building a new PC

So it's been probably about 6 or 7 years since I've built a pc and I'm not up on the latest info. Basically I'm looking to build a system that I can play games on but try to keep it in the $1000 range if that's still possible these days.

I'm most interested on what the latest is with motherboard/processor combos (there are at least 7 different socket types now?) and to a lesser extent video cards. I don't want to go top of the line because that's where you really pay through the nose, but I want the most bang for my buck, so to speak.

Any recommendations?

If it is for gaming, you might want to check out Nvidia's 680i or 680a chipsets. Really great CPU -> GPU data rates.

I have an eVGA 680i chipset motherboard. I got it for under 200. I would suggest going that route.

Spend a few extra bucks and go with an Q6600 processor. Go with the quadcore, when you upgrade to Vista later, you'll be thanking me.

2GB of RAM at least to start.

SATA hard drives and DVD drives

For a video card, I am running a GeForce 8600 GT. It was around $160 for the card. With a 680i motherboard, you can run SLI, so you can also add another video card as games get better in the future, or go with 2 from the get go.

Lastly, go with a good quality power supply.

Good luck and post what you finally decide on.

Dude!! Make one like this!!

http://www.bambi.net/computer_museum/pdp1_crt_front.jpg

I'd personally recommend putting in one or two extra fans as well to cool that bad boy down. There are some powerful machines nowadays.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KBM

Dude!! Make one like this!!

http://www.bambi.net/computer_museum/pdp1_crt_front.jpg

---

Will NHL '08 run on that?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bandit

So it's been probably about 6 or 7 years since I've built a pc and I'm not up on the latest info. Basically I'm looking to build a system that I can play games on but try to keep it in the $1000 range if that's still possible these days.

I'm most interested on what the latest is with motherboard/processor combos (there are at least 7 different socket types now?) and to a lesser extent video cards. I don't want to go top of the line because that's where you really pay through the nose, but I want the most bang for my buck, so to speak.

Any recommendations?

---

If you are going budget on the computer just buy one off of the shelf for that under $1,000. Building one for under $1,000 is not going to be that much different. On top of that with a pre-built machine you can get all of the manufacturer warranties.

Dont buy compaq..

I personally like AMD chips they are cheaper and of good quality. A must now days get a dual core or just wait for the quads.

I prefer Gigabyte motherboards. There customer support is outstanding if any problems arrise.

My machine:

Motherboard: gigabyte GA-M5SLI-S5
Processor: AMD dual core 5200
RAM: 2 GB DDR2 800
1 SLI 7800 nvidia
550 watt power supply
Vista Ultimate (Ultimate is the most stable of the vistas)
HD: Western Digital Raptor 10K sata
basic dvd, cd drives

Its not the fastest but it does what I need and allows me to have fun.

check out this website...

http://www.tomshardware.com

Lots of great information. They did some build-offs recently that will really help you out in selecting parts in terms of price vs. performance.

www.dell.com , they have professionals who do this for you.
www.delloutlet.com if you want to be a little cheaper.

btw I'm running:
2.8 GHZ Core2Duo
4GB Ram
8800GTS 640mb

it runs vista pretty well, and dude, it's a dell.

-_Sf