Building a gaming machine

feldy

Hi all.

A friend of mine suggested I post this topic in the hopes that someone may be able to help me......

I am looking at building a games machine and was looking for suggestions on the best way to go. So far, I have been advised to go for the following:
Processor: P4 2Ghz ish, Board: ASUS, (which one? - I know nothing about boards), Graphics: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, Ram: 1GB (should i go DDR/DDR2/Rambus?), Sound: Audigy EX (THX), Speakers: Logitech THX, Hard Disk: 2 X 80GB HDD, DVD, CDRW

Can someone help me out on this? Want to build something tasty and I want it to last!
Also, I have heard a lot of talk about clocking - how is this done, and is it reccomended?

Thanks

DeVore

If money is no constraint (as it seems it isnt by that monster you are describing...) then I wouldnt overclock anything.

I cant see anything wrong with that machine. If its a gaming machine you will probably want to bring it to lans so think about its portability.

You can never have too much RAM.

Get an MS Intellimouse, a top one. They rock ... <-- personal opinion.



DeV.

Altheus

well I'd probably say go for an XP2500+ ahead of a P4 once you've got a decent cooling system, it's more cost efficent and get a NForce2 based board, I'd reccomend the NFS2 v1.5

steve-hosting36

Intel P4 Power Workstation CoolerMaster ATC-201 Midi Tower
CoolerMaster 420W Silent PSU
CoolerMaster Silent CPU FAN
Intel P4 D850EMR2L with Audio and LAN
Pentium 4 3.06GHz 512k , 533 MHz FSB
2 x 512Mb RD800 RAM
2 x Western Digital 250GB 7200 UATA100
Adaptec ATA RAID Card 1200A
On Board 10/100
DVD ROM 16 Speed LG
3.5" 1.44Mb Standard Floppy Drive
ATI 32Mb Xpert 2000 PRO PCTV
2 x Iiyama PLE430S 17" TFT OSD XGA
Logitech Cordless Desktop Optical
320 Watt PMPO Stereo Speakers

3681 yoyo

koneko

If you have a good, tidy case, with nice airflow (mmm good fans) then I don't see any reason not to overclock. It means you can get an average CPU (not the top end super-expensive P4 for instance) and get it running even better. Maybe not pushing it to the max, but especially with the P4s you can get really good speeds of them even on aircooling.

Overclocking doesn't always mean your system will be a toaster

If building a Barton based system, wait for the Kt400a boards if you can. Or if you're building the system now, the NFS board is a good un alright.

feldy

Thanks for the replies so far guys. appreciated. the silent machine option sounds good!
As for clocking, i wouldnt have the first clue how to do this and reckon I could blow out the power relays in Dublin if I was to fiddle with it.
Is there someone out there who can offer thier services? Probably safer for the greater good!

Lucutus

I don't know if he still does it, but gerry (mod of the tech board), used to build custom PC's.

Private Message (pm) him from your User CP (top right), and ask if he still does it.

GL

Luc

steve-hosting36

Should have added, the spec I posted was from www.encom.ie

They built my box and its nice

feldy

Originally posted by steve-hosting36
Should have added, the spec I posted was from www.encom.ie

Encom are a good lot - we deal with them a bit in the biz world with www.pushingtin.ie - they may be an option for me except i was hoping to use my advantage of being able to buy from the guys that encom and the other resellers buy from to save some cash......

phaxx

Moved to tech, not really suitable for hw tweaking. Read the charter please!

Ryo Hazuki

I would say get a good socket A mobo with support for the Barton Processor and a 2200+ throughbred A , nothing more expensive.

Dont bother going for a monsterous processor that you dont need yet, the ease of upgrading a socket A will allow you to get more powerful processor when you need it, and at a cheaper price.


512 DDR 2700 Ram will do you Perfectly Well

An Ati 9500/Pro or GF4 ti4200 128mb will get you some sweet frame rates.

Or you could go for a demon of a card like the 9800

Bosco

Don't burn money on the top notch video and sound cards. You'd probably need madly expensive speakers and a good ear to notice the differences between an Audigy card and the onboard sound on a good NForce2 based mainboard.

I aggree with Ryo Hazuki's video card recomendations. With the money saved you could upgrade your video card or processor in 18 months time when the current top-end stuff is a third the price.

Woden

i'm not sure if i agree with waiting for a socket A board based on the kt400A chipset, i saw, dare i say it, benchmarks from a reference board supplied by VIA which while showed an increase in performance from the kt400 it was only just as good as the nforce2, perhaps the individual manufactuers boards will be better?

As far as a socket A motherboard goes i recommend the ASUS A7N8X however i'm not sure if it will run a barton processor, if it doesn't the Abit board will also be better. Also with the nforce2 chipset it is better to run two identical sticks of ram then one single stick e.g. 2 x 256 sticks instead of 1 x 512 stick, IIRC this is something to do with the chipset.

Not sure how much this is up on your list of importance, but i recommend a lite-on cd burner coupled with toshiba's dvd drive (i have the SD-M1612 model) its a great combination and will burn just about anything.

feldy

thanks again guys for the ideas so far. my god there is an auful lot of options to swallow.
keep em comin please:D

daveg

Originally posted by Altheus
well I'd probably say go for an XP2500+ ahead of a P4 once you've got a decent cooling system, it's more cost efficent and get a NForce2 based board, I'd reccomend the NFS2 v1.5

You didn't say that when you sold me your P4 2.5 chip
BTW all is fine with my rig now. Turned out to be a faulty MSI burner :rolleyes:

Altheus

Well you got a real bargain on it anyhoo! Glad to hear it's all working out for you. btw, the XP2500+ Barton wasnt out at that stage either....

Matt Simis

Originally posted by Ryo Hazuki
I would say get a good socket A mobo with support for the Barton Processor and a 2200+ throughbred A , nothing more expensive.

Dont bother going for a monsterous processor that you dont need yet, the ease of upgrading a socket A will allow you to get more powerful processor when you need it, and at a cheaper price.

512 DDR 2700 Ram will do you Perfectly Well
An Ati 9500/Pro or GF4 ti4200 128mb will get you some sweet frame rates.

Right, thats a decent spec, but for a new computer (and not an upgrade) he prolly wants a *good* spec.

Go for a either AMD:
Barton 2500 and Abit NF7-s 2.0 (nForce2)
or
Intel:
P4 2.53 and Abit BH7 (845PE)

Taking into account the cost of the mobos, they are similarly priced.

If games come into the equation at all, then make getting a good GFX card a priority. I would recommend a minimum of a ATI Radeon 9700 (standard version is good and cheaper than Pro). In regards to ram, get a 512MB stick of Twinmos CAS2 PC2700 as a minimum. I would have suggested the PC3200 Twinmos if you were overclocking, but your not so..

Alternatively, since Intel (and AMD in a way) are introducing new platforms at the moment, a clever person would buy a very cheap CPU and buy one of the newer, expensive 800MHz FSB motherboards with a view to a CPU upgrade near year end.

Talking about the "ease of upgrading CPUs", it would be worth mentioning that Intel CPUs are far easier to physically upgrade than AMD.



Matt

feldy

would i be better off waiting till the end of the year? seems there will be a lot of changes this year to boards and ram......

Matt Simis

You might be better waiting a couple of weeks and then buying whats available, but near the end of the year there will be equally good looking stuff "just about" to be released.

So, Id say wait a 2-3 weeks for prices to stabilize and then buy.



Matt