New computer

[Evelond Formos]

Alright, so I'm getting pretty sick of being restricted to AGP in the way of video cards. I'm looking into pricing up a new machine. I've got $600, and if I am persistent I can earn maybe $200 in a relatively short period of time.

The only problem is that I'm completely new to the world of computer hardware. Does anyone have advice?

[Mad Dog Reno]

Alright, so I'm getting pretty sick of being restricted to AGP in the way of video cards....

Heh ... well can understand it. AGP died in here all ready some years ago!

[Mythrandor]

The February 2010 MaximumPC mag has a front page article about "How to Build a Crazy-Fast $647 PC" it looks pretty good. If you cant find the details online I will post the components when I get back in the house.

[Rob]

The February 2010 MaximumPC mag has a front page article about "How to Build a Crazy-Fast $647 PC" it looks pretty good. If you cant find the details online I will post the components when I get back in the house.

Cool article Mythrandor http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/how_build_awesome_pc_647.

If you need to pickup any software, like a new OS, see if you can get a student discount. My niece just got Windows 7 for $35 through her school.

[Peregrinus]

Since you're in the USA, Lond, if you're willing to learn a bit about building them, I suggest buying the various pieces of the computer and building it yourself as you can build a better machine for $800 than you can buy. The website Newegg is where I generally buy parts from. Here's some of the considerations to take into account:

• Do you need a new monitor? Monitors are major expenses on computers, if you current monitor is currently sufficient, there's no need to upgrade.
• Operating System. If you're outright getting rid of your old system, you can reuse your OS install, this can save a surprising amount of money.
• Other peripheries. This is keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc. Again, if you don't need to upgrade these don't.
• Harddrive. Do you need more harddrive space? Could you tolerate having to put up with your old

So when building a computer, and I mean the computer itself, you likely need the following:

• Case. Believe it or not getting a quality case is important. Cheap cases can make assembly and maintenance a pain. A good case will be designed with airflow in mind and so help keep components cool.
• Power supply. Often overlooked, if you get a power supply that is rated to low for what you're putting in a case, your computer won't run. Make sure you're getting what you need and maybe a little bit more.
• Motherboard. The skeleton of the computer, this is what allows future upgrading and keeps everything hooked together.
• CPU. The heart of the computer, this is the first place you can look at skimping a bit for savings and then later looking to upgrade. Don't go too cheap, and you probably would want to go namebrand.
• RAM. Just get 4 Gigs of decent quality RAM. This is more than XP can address, and if you need more than that using Vista or 7, you can upgrade later.
• Video Card. This is an area you'll have to play by ear. NVidia is currently top in that department and I've not have many problems using a 9800 GT.

If this seem intimidating, there are a few places you can do to get a reasonably good prebuilts. Newegg sells some and any of the namebrand PC company websites can work as well.

[Evelond Formos]

I've already got a 1680x1050 monitor, so that's alright, and I'm satisfied with my keyboard and mouse. I am fairly certain those do not need to be upgraded. I also see no reason to switch away from XP at this point in time - might as well use what works. Speakers are not a problem, either.

I can tolerate my current 150 gigs of disk space, but I'm not very knowledgeable in the area of computer hardware compatibility, so I am not sure if getting a new mobo would force me to also get a new HD.

I have 3 gigs of RAM, that should be sufficient for most things I want to do. However, I am not sure what compatibility is like for this, either.

For the record, my current video card is an ATI Radeon 9800 PRO, a card from 2003.

So it seems like I will definitely have to get a new mobo, power supply, case, processor, and video card, and it's possible that I'll have to get a new HD, and new RAM sticks.

Thank you for the links and advice... My ears are still open but this should definitely help.

[Wired]

http://arstechnica.com/hardware/guides/ ... dition.ars

[Mythrandor]

Rob... thanks for posting that link!

[Mensha Khaine]

I'm not a fan of buying super cheap boxes as you tend to get what you pay for. Save up for an i7 or i5 if you can't wait, especially if you want to play newer games. Video cards is a hard slog at the moment and a number of reviewers like to OC them, so its a false benchmark a GT250 is about the right price point though.

[Grob Ebuc]

Hello,

This seems as good a place as any to introduce myself. I'm brand new to NWN2 multiplayer, and was attracted to the PW Dasaria because it seems active and well developed. I build and repair computers for my office, but I am taking the day off due to a stomach bug. I have some free time and want to offer to help you put together a parts list on newegg.

It would be helpful to know what parts you already have. The free program CPU-Z will tell you model numbers for everything major in your computer, and you can get it here:

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

I'm curious about the make and model of your RAM, hard drive, and processor.

What else will you be using the computer for other than NWN2?


With a budget close to $800, I would want to build an i5. For a total cost closer to $600, the AMD Phenom II X2 is the better option to build around.

Here is one proposal for an i5 build:

Hard Drive: $55; Samsung Spinpoint F3 is one of the fastest hard drives available, yet is still inexpensive

Power Supply: $100; Corsair 650w. If your power supply dies, it can destroy everything in your case. Corsair makes reliable power supplies, and HardwareSecrets keeps a list of other reliable units.

Case: $50; Antec 300

Graphics Card: $160; Radeon HD 5770. For gaming, the graphics card is your most important component. The GTS250 is essentially an overclocked 8800 GTS, which was a great card 3 years ago, and you can still find them used for ~$50.

MotherBoard: $120; LGA 1156 w/ USB 3.0 made by GIGABYTE. Look for a motherboard that uses entirely solid state, polymer capacitors. These caps do not have 'X' or 'K' shaped creases on top, are not sleeved, and half of the top is painted to indicate polarity. The premature failure rate of these boards is significantly lower than ones using traditional wet electrolytic capacitors. Also, cooling is a good thing to look for. Newegg offers the same motherboard for $20 less than the one I've linked to, but this one has extra heatsinks over the hottest components (=less likely to fail).

CPU: $200; i5 750. I use an i5 750 myself and could not be happier with it. It can host two virtual machines running productivity software w/ active remote desktop connections while playing NWN2 at close to max settings and running Folding@Home (a medical research app)- all flawlessly.

RAM: $120; 4GB (2x2) G-Skill low-voltage, low-latency DDR3 1600