NEED HELP - Building Gaming Rig

[GamingDaemon]

Hi,

New member here. After building one gaming machine with an Intel Dual Core and some budget components, I have learned some hard lessons. So, I want to cobble together a new gaming rig using some of the parts of the prior one.

I am looking for suggestions for the new rig on the following items:
1) A case under $100 (had used a TT Soprano)
2) A mobo under $100 that has at least 2 Sata II 3GB/s slots and uses 240pin DDR2 667 memory, though I would be willing to spend a little more here.
3) A processor (let me guess...uhhhh...AMD should I consider Intel?)
4) Video card. Should I use the existing Sapphire Radeon X850 XT PCIe (just bought it actually), or switch to a different video card?

One thing that really concerns me is that I want to be able to upgrade this rig over the next two (2) years so that I can still play the next cool PC game. I want this investment to pay off for a while. Is this possible?

One of the things I am concerend about is the new AMD AM2 socket or the new Intel Conroe chip coming down the road. If I don't have these chipsets or sockets, will I be hindering my ability to upgrade in the future? How long will I be able to play the cutting edge games?

TIA...

~Andrew

 

[Bobthelost]

Stop, start again

1) Use, gaming alone?

2) Budget?

3) Parts you're reusing?

There's a few issues with your post that makes me think you're a bit confused. AMD does not use DDR2 RAM yet, so it's not compatible with any of their motherboards. SATA2 ports are of very little use for home users, nice to have but a negligable difference from SATA.

Planning your build around future upgrades is nice, but foolhardy at times. Example: RAM, common sense would say to buy DDR2 RAM so it can be used in a future system, but unless you buy DDR2 800 then when you upgrade next it'll be like carrying over 2700 RAM to a current system, that's not even thinking about faster DDR2 RAM or DDR3.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

Sockets change and older processors can usually not use the newer socket so you may not be able to upgrade the processor if a new socket comes out. DDR2 should be around for at least another year or two (maybe more) and PCI-e will hopefully last a long time.

Most of the time for gaming, a video card upgrade may be all you need.

AM2 will introduce DDR2 to the AMD side of things so if you have DDR2 and you want to use AMD, you need to wait.

 

[GamingDaemon]

BobTheLost,

Confused? I'd say you hit the nail on the head.

Ok, let me explain in more detail. I jsut built this other gaming rig, and it is an intel mobo with DDR2. I have 1GB of memory for it that I just purchased. I also just purchased two 3GB/s Sata2 hard drives of 80GB and 250GB. And a Sapphire Radeon X850 XT. So it sounds like I wasted some $$$. Can I use any of this going forward?

And to answer your first 3 questions:
1) I will be using it for 99.99% gaming alone
2) Yes, I am trying to stay in the low budget arena since I apparently I just blew some $$$ on things I didn't need. I'm looking to recoup my losses with this new rig.
3) I am trying to reuse the DDR2 240pin 667 memory, and the 3GB/s hard drives I mentioned. I might also want to reusethe Sapphire Radeon X850 XT video card, but depending on the processor and mobo, I might need a new video card.

So, what do you think?

-----
So much to learn, so little brain space

 

[Bobthelost]

Yes you can use quite a bit of it going forwards, both the hard drives for a start and probbably the RAM too.

If you're going to reuse the DDR2 RAM you can either wait for AM2 to come out, (or conroe for that matter) or you can go for another intel system. That might be the best option really. If your motherboard supports dual core CPUs (930/940) then you could just upgrade the CPU (intel just slashed the cost of thier dual cores, starting to look competitive with AMD even for gaming) and graphics card (if you want prettyer graphics), stick in another GB of RAM (some games like having over 1GB these days) and have a very nice machine indeed.

Assuming your motherboard supports dual core CPUs:
940 Dual core cpu $258
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116239

1GB DDR2 RAM ~$75 (corsair chosen at random)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145012

7900GT graphics card ~$300 or X1800XT ~$330 or X1900XT ~$400

If you want better performance in games then the odds are that you want a better graphics card, if you've got a PCIe slot then you can use pretty much any one you feel like. After that a faster CPU is good to have, and the extra ram will prevent the swapfile being used in games like BF2 (causing a short slowdown for a second where the game stutters for a very short period).

Priority: 1) Graphics card 2) CPU (maybe, depends on current CPU) 3) RAM (1GB is enough, 2GB is better)

Did that clear up some of the confusion? (Or just make it worse )

 

[GamingDaemon]

Ok, you've helped me, but I'm still not all the way there.

I feel like I want to go the AMD route (feel burned by Intel), so I'd be willing to leave the memory behind (the old Intel rig will become my wife and daughter's machine anyway). So, forgetting about the memory (it was only $75 after all), should I go AMD? And if so, which one? 3800+? Should I go dual core?

If I go AMD, which mobo should I use? Should I get the nVidia northbridge chipset? Should I get a mobo with 2 PCIe slots?

I definitely want to reuse the hard drives, so I will need two Sata2 slots on the mobo.

And then, will I need a new video card?

Thanks!

~Andrew

 

[Bobthelost]

If you're starting from scratch then we'd need the budget you're willing to work in but i can try to answer the questions you raised.

Motherboard depends on what you're doing with it, Most of the best ones are Nforce4, although the ATI options aren't bad either. Don't waste the money on SLI, if you're not buying it from the start it's a poor upgrade path for most, spending $50 more on a feature you'll never use is silly.

SATA2 slots are standard on any current generation motherboard, i wouldn't worry too much.

Dual core is fantastic, sometimes. For gaming it's yet to become useful, it might happen, but i'm betting on it being rather irrelevant, a fast single core CPU is enough for any game. It does make a massive difference in some tasks like media encoding/transcoding, and it measn you can do heavy duty multitasking, but for a low budget PC (under $800 or so) i wouldn't get one, the money is better spent on graphics cards.

So, budget and are you going to overclock?

 

[GamingDaemon]

Well, since I am cobbling together a new system from the parts of the other one, I'm trying to keep the budget around $500 to $600. That's because I don't have to buy hard drives and DVD drives. I would need to buy a case, mobo, CPU, PSU (probably) and a video card (probably).

And yes, I would like to think about overclocking, but it isn't essential. I have never done it before and don't want to ruin anything.

As for the AMD processor, you seem to be swaying me against dual processor. If I go dual proc, whihc one should I buy? If not dual proc, which one should I buy?

Which case should I buy? Lian Li?

How about the motherboard?

TIA!

 

[Bobthelost]

With your budget you can't afford a dual core CPU, the 3800X2 is the cheapest they make, and that'd be around half your budget. Lian li do wonderful cases, but they aren't cheap, look at the antec cases with bundled PSUs, the sonata II is excellent, but it's also over $100 i think.

Motherboard, A8NE perhaps, Asus do nice stable boards, and it's easy enough to overclock them too.

CPU: 3200+ 939 i think, but i'll leave that to someone else

RAM: 1GB PC 3200 value.

Video card: Not sure how much money you have left here. I only know the yank pricing for the high end.

 

[GamingDaemon]

Ok, thank you, Bobthelost. You have been quite helpful.

Anyone else? Is that a good CPU/mobo combination? TIA