Advice on New System. THanks

[DarkArcher]

Build or Buy??

I guess that is my first question. I will be primarily gaming. Currently I have a 3 yr old GW and am considering just building my next machine.

It has been at least 4 years since I built one from the ground up and sadly I have lost touch with the current state of affairs in the PC market.

I want to regain that and I am looking for the best of both worlds. Where can I skimp to save money and where should I blow it out for performance?

I missed out on a couple of monitor deals during December and am keeping my eyes open for a good deal.


Anyone willing to lay out what they would build as a gaming system not the cheapest but not out in the stratosphere somewhere either.

I would definately want to go with AMD and probably a 1800+ but not commited in blood to that.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[NelsonMuntz]

Just some thoughts...
I would say build it yourself if you want to know everything that goes in there and you can get EXACTLY what you want. Buy it if you don't care about that stuff.
Motherboard - check out Anand's recent review of KT266A (and I think one other) chipsets. It is very informative and shows the best of the best in terms of AMD motherboards. He recommends the Abit on top with and Epox second and another one third. Also check out the Soyo Dragon+ IMO. It has ALOT of features at a good price, so s/b a consideration as well.
The 1800+ is a good CPU.
The place you might want to splurge is the video card because if you want something really good, then you might need to pay for it. There is very good performance available however in the $100-$200 range so you don't necessarily have to break the bank there if you don't want.
Unfortunately memory prices are climbing back up and it looks like they might stay up for a while, so there will be some extra cash reqired there. Get some PC2100 DDR stuff at least. If you get a board like the XP333, then maybe consider some PC2700 stuff to overclock with.
Sound cards are available to fit any price range and some motherboards (Soyo Dragon+ for one) are coming with decent onboard sound now, so you might not need anything extra there.
Get a CD-RW if you don't already have one and maybe consider a DVD-ROM if you have any use for it.
That leaves the harddrive, and the market looks good right now in the 40-60 GB size, and every manufacturer has one available at that size, so take your pick.

 

[DarkArcher]

Thanks

Any suggestions on where to buy components these days.

What if a couple of my buddies want to get one also. anywhere that gives volume discounts for quantities of 4 or 5?

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[scoobydooby]

Buy stuff here. I would look at the seagate hard drives as they're the quietest and perform well.
Scoob

 

[NelsonMuntz]

<< Thanks

Any suggestions on where to buy components these days.

What if a couple of my buddies want to get one also. anywhere that gives volume discounts for quantities of 4 or 5?

Thanks for the suggestions. >>


I don't know of any place that gives volume discounts for 4 or 5, but like the other guy said, Newegg.com is a great place to shop. they have a large selection and good prices. I have dealt with them on several occasions without any problems.