Gaming rig resources

[Grovebaby]

My son and I are preparing to build a new gaming rig. We haven't built one for a couple of years, so were not up on the latest stuff. Are there any good websites or anything to guide us? thanks

 

[DaveSimmons]

AnandTech has systems listed in the general articles section (see tabs above), also check HardOCP.com, TomsHardware.com and ArsTechnica.com for guides to compare notes.

There are also dozens of "building a system / rig" threads here, and most are for gaming.

Right now an intel Core 2 processor and nvidia 8800 GTS or GTX are the parts to buy at the medium-high end. See the Video tab for reviews of the nvidia cards.

 

[Grovebaby]

Any of the guides I've found here are out of date and none are for a game setup. Unless I'm looking in the wrong place.

 

[Oblivion4]

Anandtech and hardOCP are my personal favorites. The trick is to look at the articles that feature one of the top cards and compare them. For gaming, the comparison is done in frames per second (fps) as you may already know. For instance, if youre looking for a top of the line graphics card, there is an article at hardOCP about the 8800 series that also includes the X1950XTX. If you want something more economical, check out one of anandtech's gpu roundups. Also, since the systems they test on are typically based around gaming, if you look at their test setups, you might begin to get an idea of what is typical in a gaming rig with that video card. Then, the system you're thinking about might begin to take form. Hope I was at least a little helpful. Good Luck.

 

[cmdrdredd]

It's basically pretty easy to setup a gaming system. The hard part is deciding how much you want to spend. The more you spend the faster it is, but it will still become obsolete over time.

Basically you can save some cash and go with AMD or spend a little more and get more CPU performance with a Core2.

 

[bob4432]

first you need to define what display you are going to be running and then go from their. also what game or what type of games would also be helpful.