# Building high end gaming computer, help!



## jonmaxwell (Aug 10, 2004)

i want to build a computer i can brag about to buddies, and play high end games too! I also want it to be VERY fast and upgradable!

I do need help though, im starting with the CPU for my new system. Im putting it into the U2-UFO Case (looks awsome, plus lots of room), but what CPU. I have heard AMD is the best for gaming, true? ANd i dont know much about the 64 bit processors... is that the way to go?

Please, help. Any recomendations will be apreciated.

I wanna start building/buying parts in the next 2 weeks, and be done in about one-two months MAX ( i have a computer now, DELL. but i wanna go high end now).


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## nomav6 (Aug 10, 2004)

Im an AMD guy, but there are some here that are Intel guys, so I would suggest doing some searches on google before making up your mind.

other tips for building this beast would be to get a really good PSU if your case doesn't already have one, get atleast a 52x cdrom, and spend a lot on cooling, since your going to be using it mostly for gaming I would focus on the speed of the HDD more then the size as long as you dont get one that is really small  and one of the biggest things to worry about is ofcourse the graphics card(I would also research this by doing a search on google)
I hope this helps


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## jonmaxwell (Aug 10, 2004)

that does help some. I know i wanna use water cooling, i might not be overclocking my system (i dont know yet) but i think water cooling is ultimate for braggin rights, but my case (ufo case) has 11 fan slots, so i guess i'd have both... *Is that dumb? 

Also for the Power Supply, what whould i go with ? I wanna have alot of lights and 2 harddrives, and i dont wanna end up not having enough power...


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## nomav6 (Aug 10, 2004)

this site should be helpful 
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/


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## jonmaxwell (Aug 11, 2004)

Another question too, is dual processors something i should seriously consider????


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## Timbo (Aug 11, 2004)

In short.. No.
In long.. Only if you have a shitload of extra money to play with would it be worth it.


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## Grimulus (Aug 11, 2004)

Killer gaming machine listed in 10 steps. 

1.  Graphics Card-The 6800GT or Ultra is apparently the way to go right now.

2. Motherboard- Make sure to get a good motherboard that has the things you may think you will need like gigabit lan and usb ports,firewire or whatever.  the 6 channel or more audio generally sounds pretty good.  Um...don't get a crap board either.  You'll get what you pay for.  get an ASUS or Soyo or something like that.

3.  Processor-I think AMDs do much better than intels.  I've heard mixed things about 64bit gaming.  I've heard it's a marketing gimmick and i've heard it helps.  Mostly from what I can tell though 64's just hold a lot more ram and aren't really faster.  I hope someone can clear that up.

4. RAM- It's good to get good quality RAM.  I would get corsair xms or kingston hyper-x.  There is another brand made specifically for AMDs that I just can't think of at the moemnt that is suppose to be good, but yeah I would go with AT LEAST a Gig of Ram made for gaming like Kingston Hyper-x or Corsair's XMS.  I can tell a small difference in "gaming" ram and the other but it's a nice difference to me.

5.  HDD-a Serial ATA drive is probably optimal at 10,000rpm.  Of course these are quite expensive.  7200rpm SATA drives are much less expensive and the margin of performance loss is minimal.

6. Killer Cooling-The icing on the cake of a killer gaming system is watercooling.  Seriously OCing!!  If you don't do that make sure you get good fans.

7.CD Drives-Probably want to get a DVD(rw if you want) drive for quick installation of the latest games that take up a lot of real estate on the HDD like UT2004.  Also a lot of demos for games are coming out on DVD and it's nice to be able to try them out.  I would probably go ahead and get a cd-rw drive for quick disc copying.

8. Case-Get an awesome looking case with a clear side case to see all your cool parts. Make sure it has a good size power supply(at least 400w).

9. Sound Cards-While Mobo integrated audio doesn't sound bad, a good sound card will really make gaming awesome.Audigy 2 Platinum or something is awesome.  You can get just a good quality card for cheaper though IMO.

10. Accessories-Get some cool looking stuff like Round IDE cables for when you have your clear side on your case.  I think they really set a machine's inside looks off.  Get some fan covers that you dig.  There is a lot of things to make your comp look cool asthetically and yeah if nothing else it gets attention for how friggin' cool it looks.  Don't show it to girls though because sometimes it um...makes them thing you are a nerd...i know mine does.


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## Grimulus (Aug 11, 2004)

I forgot to mention PCI-E.  it's the newest thing out or whatever. you'll have to run a pentium chip to get that but yeah, have fun affording it but i imagine it will pay off.


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## Praetor (Aug 11, 2004)

> i want to build a computer I can brag about to buddies, and play high end games too! I also want it to be VERY fast and upgradable!


There's a problem already.
- You gotta be richer than god.
- You're building a computer so you can brag?



> I have heard AMD is the best for gaming, true? ANd I dont know much about the 64 bit processors... is that the way to go?


Odds are you wont be using the 64bit functionality but in either case you're lookin at the FX53 or the P4EE. Now id you wanted to make a game server you're prolly best off with a Dual Opteron setup (simply because there isnt much of a benifit of switching to 4 procs).



> I wanna start building/buying parts in the next 2 weeks, and be done in about one-two months MAX


Whoa. I'm not telling you how to think or live or whatnot but unless you're richer than god that's definitely not the (financially) wise way of doing things.



> I've heard mixed things about 64bit gaming


To my knowledge there arent any 64bit games yet 



> Killer gaming machine listed in 10 steps.


Killer yes. bragging no. Try this setup for size:

- AthlonFX53-2.4Ghz
- ASUS KT800 Pro
- 2 x Corsair TwinX Platinum 2GB Kit
- Prometeia Vapor Cooler Mach II Vapor cooler
- ASUS V9999 and OC the piss out of that
- Plextor PX-712A
- Multiple 15K SCSI-320 drives running RAID3 with 128MB cache (all in HDD racks)
- SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS Plat Pro
- A shitload of Vantec Tornados and a Ventec Nexus
- Matrix Orbital (those thingys are kewl!) 


Of course you could wait a bit and get SLI


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## Grimulus (Aug 11, 2004)

Farcry apparently has a mode or it might even just work with 64 that is suppose to show off what it can do.  I think more games that come out will have this type of thing in them.  who knows though...i'm happy with 32bit. 

what do you do for a living man? do you own google or something? wanna build me an praetor a comp too?


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## 4W4K3 (Aug 11, 2004)

lol i sure hope you buy all of this yourself and know how to install/build it as well. i can see a store employee trying to get you to buy all this junk u dont need. my guess is you have at least $3-4K+ to spend if you want this machine to be top of the line. you failed to mention the #1 thing you need with a computer. a computer is useless without a monitor. and noo $4K computer is going to look any better on a cheap $100 monitor. i hope you got an extra $500+ or so to afford a nice screen to play all your high-end games. also a good mouse and keyboard. a trackball mouse and $5 keyboard arent going to be much help impressing your friend. u need a sensitive/sharp looking optical mosue that will move with every nerve tiwtch, and a keyboard that will give you lots of functionality and wont cramp your wrist. wireless seem to have alot of "lag/drag" for extreme gamers but most users wont complain about it. i prefer corded for the best sensitivity. just my 2 cents


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## Praetor (Aug 11, 2004)

> my guess is you have at least $3-4K+ to spend if you want this machine to be top of the line. you failed to mention the #1 thing you need with a computer. a computer is useless without a monitor. and noo $4K computer is going to look any better on a cheap $100 monitor


3-4K is a very generous budget and secondly, isnt it "convention" never to spec the monitor until the box is done?


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## 4W4K3 (Aug 11, 2004)

Praetor said:
			
		

> 3-4K is a very generous budget and secondly, isnt it "convention" never to spec the monitor until the box is done?



i dunno about "convention" but i would indeed be mad if i spent all my money on the box and then had to use a big ugly CRT HP 15" monitor. thats just me though...some people are happy enough with a lower end screen. with all that hardware he listed + watercooling + all the software hes gotta buy i would think it would be that much...maybe i overpriced though.


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## Grimulus (Aug 11, 2004)

I'll have to agree that there is nothing like having a tower with a good video card and not being able to see the true potential of it.  I has to use an old viewsonic opteron(or whatever the name is) 15" before i  picked up my samsung.  My mother wanted to use my trinitron until she got her viewsonic LCD(jesus it's sweet,sucks for gaming tho).  That thing is horrendus compared to my monitor now. I would suggest if you don't have a good monitor at least get yourself a nice crt. You will notice an amazing difference if you are using an old monitor.  Contrary to popular beleif, CRTs are still being engineered for better color and an overall better monitor.


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## Praetor (Aug 11, 2004)

> I has to use an old viewsonic opteron


Optiquest.


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## Grimulus (Aug 11, 2004)

yeah..thanks.   I just couldn't think of it. I'm thinking processors i guess.


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## jonmaxwell (Aug 11, 2004)

i was thinking of 2-3K, plus monitor. 

Is that a realistic price to plan on?

>>> Why is building within the next 2-3 weeks a bad idea financially?

*if im not overclocking, is watercooling something i should do? 

And No, im not building this computer just for bragging, i also want to be able to play high end games without lag and to be able to run future programs without much trouble. I have a Dell now, cost me about $1300 (no monitor or keyboard, ext). Its nice, and i run FarCry on it, but not in its high res. mode. 

I just wanna have a kick a$$ computer.


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## 4W4K3 (Aug 11, 2004)

jonmaxwell said:
			
		

> i was thinking of 2-3K, plus monitor.
> 
> Is that a realistic price to plan on?
> 
> ...



you wont need a 64bit CPU to run the games out now. a mobile AMD chip will run them all just fine if you overclock it a tad. but if you dont overclock then you are forced to spend more. you can play all the games out now with a $1K box im sure...possibly less if you find good deals. i would sell that dell you got lol...that'll give you some extra $$$$ for the new system. an nvidia 5900XT or radeon 9800PRO will run doom 3 hl2 medium settings maybe more. and those are pretty cheap cards. you dont ghave to get a $600gpu unless you just have the extra $$$$. theres no real point to get watercoling if you dont overclock..you'll jsut have really low temps. but who cares about yuor temps if you arent overclocked at all lol. air cooling is plenty, especially if you get a really nice cooler.


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## Praetor (Aug 11, 2004)

> i was thinking of 2-3K, plus monitor.


It's a far cry from a "bragging" tower but certainly enough to get a damn nice setup (i assume the price includes the monitor)



> Why is building within the next 2-3 weeks a bad idea financially?


Because, unless (a) you're loaded then it wont matter or (b) you know exactly what you want and what kinda prices to expect then you run the potential of either (a) getting outright ripped off or (b) not getting you're money's worth



> if im not overclocking, is watercooling something I should do?


Get it if you want to but it's not horribly neccesary (even if you OC)



> And No, im not building this computer just for bragging, I also want to be able to play high end games without lag and to be able to run future programs without much trouble. I have a Dell now, cost me about $1300 (no monitor or keyboard, ext). Its nice, and I run FarCry on it, but not in its high res. mode


Ok kewl, just dont get it in your head that this new computer of yours will last a year and you'll be fine! 



> you wont need a 64bit CPU to run the games out now. a mobile AMD chip will run them all just fine if you overclock it a tad.


As much as I love AMD, their AthlonXP line is peetering out and for 2-3K you can certainly do much better than to stick with them.



> an nvidia 5900XT or radeon 9800PRO will run doom 3 hl2 medium settings maybe more


They should handle high detail for Doom3 and ultra-high-insanely-good-quality-because-new-HL-engine-blows on HL2 

*Jonmaxwell*
Have a lookie at this:
- P4C-2.8
- ASUS P4C800
- GeForce 6800GT
- 2GB Corsair TwinX
- 1xWD Raptor74
- 2x<whatever> 200GB PATA
- ASUS/Litey 523252
- Pioneer 107
- SBAudigy2 ZS
- Whatever monitor.
You should be able to get the in under 3G


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## Grimulus (Aug 11, 2004)

Praetor said:
			
		

> - 2x<whatever> 200GB PATA


PATA? I'm unfamilar.


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## Yeti (Aug 11, 2004)

PATA would be parallel ATA (the older IDE format as opposed to serial ATA) although you don't see it written like that too often


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## Grimulus (Aug 11, 2004)

ahh i see.

well i haven't heard it called that before.  kew.


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## jonmaxwell (Aug 11, 2004)

well i do know i wanna go high end on the GPU, im not sure if i wanna go $600, but it depends on what kind of preformance i would be getting. 

I dont wanna sell my Dell, cause my girlfriend and i use it at home for all sorts of stuff...


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## Praetor (Aug 12, 2004)

> well I do know I wanna go high end on the GPU, im not sure if I wanna go $600, but it depends on what kind of preformance I would be getting.


Get a GeForce6800GT ... certainly less than $600 (hell even the 6800Ultra is less than $600)... an awesome balance of power and performance


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## 4W4K3 (Aug 12, 2004)

Praetor said:
			
		

> As much as I love AMD, their AthlonXP line is peetering out and for 2-3K you can certainly do much better than to stick with them.



NOO!!! i jsut cant grasp it :cries in corner: lol. you are right...i dont know why i keep holding on to my precious rig. its days are almost up...




			
				Praetor said:
			
		

> They should handle high detail for Doom3 and ultra-high-insanely-good-quality-because-new-HL-engine-blows on HL2



hehe...i cant wait till they start comparing retail boxes and HL2 is owned. ive never even played doom3 and i've played every single hl game and i know its gonna lose


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## Praetor (Aug 12, 2004)

> NOO!!! I jsut cant grasp it :cries in corner: lol. you are right...i dont know why I keep holding on to my precious rig. its days are almost up...


What can i say... i'm fair I give credit where it's due


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## kof2000 (Aug 21, 2004)

Praetor said:
			
		

> There's a problem already.
> - You gotta be richer than god.
> - You're building a computer so you can brag?
> 
> ...



HOW MUCH will this setup cost LOL just wondering, probably close to a supercomputer lol.


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## FiberOptics (Aug 21, 2004)

jonmaxwell said:
			
		

> i want to build a computer i can brag about to buddies, and play high end games too! I also want it to be VERY fast and upgradable!
> 
> I do need help though, im starting with the CPU for my new system. Im putting it into the U2-UFO Case (looks awsome, plus lots of room), but what CPU. I have heard AMD is the best for gaming, true? ANd i dont know much about the 64 bit processors... is that the way to go?
> 
> ...



Sry if someone already replied with this same answer.. ( i didnt feel like reading all 3 pages ). 64 bit processors are what are gonna be more used for future applications and stuff. So if you wanna get ahead of everything, 64 bit is good; although it costs more.


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## Praetor (Aug 21, 2004)

> HOW MUCH will this setup cost LOL just wondering, probably close to a supercomputer lol.


A couple weeks back I built a system like that for someone (with a 6800GT and a different burner) but it ran on the order of $5500 for the tower. Of course the SCSI drives added a lot to the cost that normal power users probly wouldnt encounter.



> 64 bit processors are what are gonna be more used for future applications and stuff. So if you wanna get ahead of everything, 64 bit is good; although it costs more


.
By the time 64bit hits mainstream im pretty sure the 64bit chips nowadays will be somewhat obsolete


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