Another "What should I buy" thread

[cremator]

So I've got over 1,000$ to build a new system. I want the best of the best for gaming. Any platform is fine to be honest. I haven't had time to keep up with the market due to my 7 day work schedule, but if you had the funds, and wanted to build the BEST gaming system, including mobo, proc, ram, videocard, sound, harddrives and drives. I'd like a system that'd stay decent for a few years.

Also, any suggestions on monitors? I'm thinking CRT still since LCDs are pretty expensive for the quality, and size really isn't an option. Something 19 - 21 inches though.

Sory to keep this crappy and fast, but work calls me, thanks in advance.

 

[gwai lo]

well "over 1000" isn't much to work with really...but to start off I'd say go AMD because you're gaming.

That monitor is going to take a huge chunk out of your budget too...so we'll see.

Got an exact number?

 

[dc5]

if you want the BEST, expect to pay at least $2,000 if not more.

 

[gokuhama]

maybe a sound blaster audigy 2 zs platinum
also comes in the pro which has the external io instead of internal (i have this)

might as well get a dvd burner since they have dropped in price greatly
currently the fastest and most popular ones are the pioneer-108 and the nec-3500 which is what i have. i would actually get at least dual-drives. i think a dvd-rom/dvd burner combo is better than the cd burner/dvd burner one because the nec has a fast cd burn speed. (one reason i picked it over the pioneer)

for the processor i think amd is way ahead of intel but i am still partial to intel. i would get either the p4 3.6 with HT or the p4 3.4 Extreme Edition with HT

as for ram, i think the fastest ram right now is PC1066 RDRAM. however this can get VERY expensive so you could also go for DDR2. i would suggest getting no less than 1GB.

for the video card, it really depends on what kind of mobo you get. if you have agp then you probably want the 256MB Radeon 9800 XT. however, PCIe is most likely going to take over the market in a year or two so if you get this then currently one of the best and most expensive cards out right now is the radeon x800 XT. i have also heard good things about the nvidia 6800 GTO.

it's really up to you on the hard drives. i wouldn't get any less than 200gb but i would definitely get SATA. I'm not sure if it really makes a big difference if you get the 10000rpm as opposed to the 7200rpm but i don't think it's worth the money. unless you're going to store movies or other stuff i think 200 should be sufficient.

i'm haven't been looking at mobos as much but personally i would get an asus which suits your needs and has an intel chipset. MSI is also another good brand. and if you're interested in having LAN parties or local network games then i would recommend a gigabit network. most new mobos come with gigabit integrated NIC.
a few examples:
ASUS "P5AD2 Premium" 925X
ASUS "P5GD2 Premium" 915P
MSI "925X NEO PLATINUM 7053-010" 925X

Sorry for the hasty writing, i'm at work too =P
Hope this helps.

 

[Losty]

Ah man ... seriously ... back in the days it was fine to get "top of the line" stuff for you comp ...
cuz it took about 2-3 years to get much better stuff that would be worth upgrading ...
these days ... you can spend up to 3000 for top of the line stuff (without monitor) and in a few months few like you got ripped bad ...

if i were you .... i'd settle for something that is good ... cuz you aren't going to notice that much of a difference ... especially if you haven't ever touched a top of the line system ... you'll never know what you are missing ...

technology is advancing at a super fast pace ...

but your aim for 1000 is pretty good .. not too much not too lil ...

i'm not planning to upgrade within the next year or two so my new system for this year might be a chaintech VNF250 / athlon64 2800+ / raedeon 9800pro / nec3500A / somedvd player
i read a review for the nec3500a .. it seemed pretty good ... some features a lil slower than the pioneer ... only down part is that it has a rip max so you can't rip dvds as fast ... 15hours ... but with a flash you could change it to 6hours ... and it doesn't do dvd ram? dvd video load is a lil slow ... some media is not compatible ..

at a latter time when video cards drop in price i'lll upgrade my 9800 if it's not performing to satisfactory ...
for me it's not a problem i'm still running my geforce gts/pro ... any upgrade would be nice.

and some 2x 512 ddr 3500 memory to maybe oc' if i get the hang of everything....
i got the antec sonata case from fry's ... seems pretty decent .. lil heavy though

good luck with your system ...

Losty

 

[cremator]

Originally posted by: dc5
if you want the BEST, expect to pay at least $2,000 if not more.

I have 1,100$ as of now, I make around 350 - 400$ per week, and usually spend ~ 20$ per week on gas and food, so I'm just trying to get an idea of what the best stuff is really.

 

[Sentinel]

personally i would just buy good stuff now and spend around 1000, rather than blowing a whole crapload on crazy stuff.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: cremator
So I've got over 1,000$ to build a new system. I want the best of the best for gaming. Any platform is fine to be honest. I haven't had time to keep up with the market due to my 7 day work schedule, but if you had the funds, and wanted to build the BEST gaming system, including mobo, proc, ram, videocard, sound, harddrives and drives. I'd like a system that'd stay decent for a few years.

Also, any suggestions on monitors? I'm thinking CRT still since LCDs are pretty expensive for the quality, and size really isn't an option. Something 19 - 21 inches though.

Sory to keep this crappy and fast, but work calls me, thanks in advance.

Go for the CRT, it'll be more "gentle" on your budget.

Next allocate a pile of $ for the vid card. Since this for gaming, the vid card w/b my "best" component.

Spend the rest on cpu/mobo/ram

If you've got a current rig, try to use the drives from it (especially if the HD is 7200rpm).


Fern

 

[Comparisonman]

Originally posted by: Sentinel
personally i would just buy good stuff now and spend around 1000, rather than blowing a whole crapload on crazy stuff.

Sentinel hit it right on the nose. Don't go spending all of your money frivilously when you can get a great gaming system without breaking your wallet.

 

[Ka0t1x]

Originally posted by: Comparisonman

Originally posted by: Sentinel
personally i would just buy good stuff now and spend around 1000, rather than blowing a whole crapload on crazy stuff.

Sentinel hit it right on the nose. Don't go spending all of your money frivilously when you can get a great gaming system without breaking your wallet.

So true.. and Personally, I like getting the Mid-Grade stuff and then OCing to be on "par" with High end stuff.

 

[gibbsman]

I've always been of the opinion to shoot just under the top of the line. Besides it costing less, you will be getting the later revisions of the hardware. You won't have to worry about getting the 1.0 of stuff and then having to live with the bugs that might show up. Let everyone else test it out and then you can get it when it is stable. Besides that it's not worth paying for the top of the line stuff. Just have to find the sweet spot in the price where it is considerably less than top of the line, but above the old technology.

 

[Comparisonman]

Originally posted by: gibbsman
I've always been of the opinion to shoot just under the top of the line. Besides it costing less, you will be getting the later revisions of the hardware. You won't have to worry about getting the 1.0 of stuff and then having to live with the bugs that might show up. Let everyone else test it out and then you can get it when it is stable.

Yet another great reason why to not spend the extra $$$ on the newest and best stuff out there. Let the bugs get worked out with the new hardware and spend your money on some more proven stuff. Let's face it, nobody likes to have a brand new computer that is riddled with bugs.

 

[cremator]

thanks for the ideas and such. I believe i'm going to wait until i get enough cash that buying a 2000$ system wont put a dent in my wallet, maybe then some of the current top of the line stuff will be mid class or much cheaper at least