Need URGENT help building a perfect computing machine!

[NurseRN]

To all techies out there, the NURSE's building a computer! Last one I built was back in 2000 when I switched to a "laptop only" mode and got away from desktops and all.

I'm back after getting stuck with a $2000 Acer laptop bouight a little over a year ago(my second Acer laptop to go this way) which is out of warranty. I object on principle to shell out $350 and fix it. So, after fixing it myself and not having a computer for a whole week which drove me progressively mad, I realized that a desktop is urgent and irreplaceable.

I need a little help with picking the right stuff for my new computer. I'm open to an AMD or a Intel platform. I want a good video card under 2000 bucks. I want compatibility so that's where your inputs will come handy.

I thank you all in advance!

 

[ribbon13]

What sort of software do you run on it? Depending on that you might be able to get by far cheaper. Or do you just want the most performance that fills the $2k budget? Does this price include everything? Box + Keyboard/Mouse + Speakers + Display?

 

[NurseRN]

WinXp Prof as OS and just about everything a coputer nerd runs on it these daysl a little bit of everything... I need evrything but a keyboard and a mouse.

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: NurseRN
WinXp Prof as OS and just about everything a coputer nerd runs on it these daysl a little bit of everything... I need evrything but a keyboard and a mouse.

What applications/use? (video editing, games, heavy multitasking, database, photo editing, etc...)
How much HDD space?
Do you need fast I/O (i.e. Raid, SCSI, etc...)?
How important is your data? (do you need redundancy in your Raid)

 

[imported_Tick]

Do you care about noise?
Case size?
Overclocking?
AMD/Intel, Nvidia/ATI?
SLI?
Crossfire?
LCD or CRT?
Do you need speaker to?

 

[ribbon13]

$51 - Antec SLK3000B
$116 - Seasonic S12-500
This will ensure your computer is quiet, and powerful enough to handle upgrades.

$400 - AMD Opteron 170
This will give oodles of mutlitasking power, and be perfectly sufficient for gaming.
$103 - Epox EP-9NPA+ULTRA
Best value for performance motherboard.
$127 - G.skill F1-4000USU1-1GBHZ
If you want 2GB of ram later, its relative simple to just another stick, and you can safely ignore anyone telling you that having dual-channel now is better than easy 2GB uprade.

$210 - Western Digital WD4000YR
This is the perfect drive, 400GB is more than you need, and this drive is very fast, so much so as to try to save money by just getting a 300GB drive would be inadvisable.
$50 - BenQ DW1640B Retail
Best all around burner, and the retail kit comes with needed software.

$505 - Dell 2001FP
Great panel from what I've heard.
$220 - XFX 6800 GS
Great midrange card

$1792 so far

Speakers? 2.1? 5.1?

Already got Windows XP Pro?

 

[NurseRN]

All these -- video editing, games, heavy multitasking,photo editing. etc
300gb should do it; I have another 300 as a backup external drive.
SATA drives should do it
I back up my data to an external drive
LCD is a must

What are these:
SLI?
Crossfire?

I need speakers but that's something I don't think will be an issue of compatibility.

 

[imported_Tick]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
Any gaming? Watching DVDs? LCD or CRT?

$51 - Antec SLK3000B
$116 - Seasonic S12-500

$400 - AMD Opteron 170
$103 - Epox EP-9NPA+ULTRA

$210 - Western Digital WD4000YR
$50 - BenQ DW1640B Retail

I dare say, nice choices there ol' chap.

 

[imported_Tick]

Let's see, if we take what ribbon13 has, we have... $1070 left. So I'd say get your favorite flavor of 7800 gtx, BFG seems to be a favorite, leaving $570, then get some o' these 'ere speakers, then a X-fi sound card, and then a nice LCD, with the remaining $410, unless I left out something...

 

[ribbon13]

SLI is the idea of making two video-cards work as one for running video games. For the most part its a waste of money. Crossfire is ATi's poor attempting at mimmicking SLI.

 

[imported_Tick]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
SLI is the idea of making two video-cards work as one for running video games. For the most part its a waste of money. Crossfire is ATi's poor attempting at mimmicking SLI.

QFT.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Originally posted by: Tick
Let's see, if we take what ribbon13 has, we have... $1070 left. So I'd say get your favorite flavor of 7800 gtx, BFG seems to be a favorite, leaving $570, then get some o' these 'ere speakers, then a X-fi sound card, and then a nice LCD, with the remaining $410, unless I left out something...

Don't forget OS and cooling stuff. You might want a new kb and mouse too.

 

[imported_Tick]

Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler

Originally posted by: Tick
Let's see, if we take what ribbon13 has, we have... $1070 left. So I'd say get your favorite flavor of 7800 gtx, BFG seems to be a favorite, leaving $570, then get some o' these 'ere speakers, then a X-fi sound card, and then a nice LCD, with the remaining $410, unless I left out something...

Don't forget OS and cooling stuff. You might want a new kb and mouse too.

Well, case has a standard fan, add another, video card is set, and oppy stock cooling is fine if you plan a reasonable OC. Forgot about OS. Dang it. Use a free distro of linux? Hmm, perhaps downgrade to a GT, or buy a lesser LCD. Said we didn't need to plan for a new KB/mouse.

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
$51 - Antec SLK3000B
$116 - Seasonic S12-500
This will ensure your computer is quiet, and powerful enough to handle upgrades.

$400 - AMD Opteron 170
This will give oodles of mutlitasking power, and be perfectly sufficient for gaming.
$103 - Epox EP-9NPA+ULTRA
Best value for performance motherboard.
$127 - G.skill F1-4000USU1-1GBHZ
If you want 2GB of ram later, its relative simple to just another stick, and you can safely ignore anyone telling you that having dual-channel now is better than easy 2GB uprade.

$210 - Western Digital WD4000YR
This is the perfect drive, 400GB is more than you need, and this drive is very fast, so much so as to try to save money by just getting a 300GB drive would be inadvisable.
$50 - BenQ DW1640B Retail
Best all around burner, and the retail kit comes with needed software.

$505 - Dell 2001FP
Great panel from what I've heard.
$220 - XFX 6800 GS
Great midrange card

$28 - Logitech MX310

$1810 so far

Nice...I would downgrade the monitor a bit, up the Ram (2GB) and video (7800GT), dump the mouse (not needed).
For the monitor, probably a Polyview V293. I'm using one now, next to my graphics monitor...while the Viewsonic VP2130b is a bit better picture, it's also 4 times the price...

 

[fire400]

I don't know what you're trying to run...

But I'd suggest if you just want a working computer you can go:

Sempron
nForce2
Geforce 5200 8x
512mb DDR
15" LCD (dell ultrasharp)
Antec 400w
WinXP Pro

you're set if you just want a working comp like that, otherwise if you are desperately in need, check out my signature for a cool system...

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Originally posted by: fire400
I don't know what you're trying to run...

But I'd suggest if you just want a working computer you can go:

Sempron
nForce2
Geforce 5200 8x
512mb DDR
15" LCD (dell ultrasharp)
Antec 400w
WinXP Pro

you're set if you just want a working comp like that, otherwise if you are desperately in need, check out my signature for a cool system...

Well, I guess you like 'em lean and mean....

 

[ribbon13]

Or slow and obsolete

Come one now, for going el-cheapo, you might as well send him this way

 

[NurseRN]

Guys, leave the jokes behind... I realy need your help here! I need FULL confuguration from top to bottom. I need to see what everyone thinks of a good, fast, computer. I mean it!

So please, stop quoting each other and spill your technical thought at will.

Thank you all!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: NurseRN
Guys, leave the jokes behind... I realy need your help here! I need FULL confuguration from top to bottom. I need to see what everyone thinks of a good, fast, computer. I mean it!

So please, stop quoting each other and spill your technical thought at will.

Thank you all!

If you want more input, look at other threads people have on similar budgets.

I think you have some really good info going.

I wouldn't recommend $50 speakers and an $120 X-Fi (Tick's link is broken).
For a similar total budget you could do a $50-ish soundcard and Logitech z-5300s or something similar which I think would be a better idea.

 

[Diademed]

I assume you want something to play BF2 and FEAR on? Otherwise... if you are going to be hanging out with the StarCraft and UT2k4 crowd, there is no reason to spend more than $750 on a decent computer...It's cool to have a $2k computer, but do you need it? For most of yesterday's games, a $110 9800XT off the For Sale / Trade forums will work for you just as well as a 7800 GT. I mean, BF2 even runs on my 9500pro. Not with eye candy, but 35 fps is definately playable.

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: NurseRN
Guys, leave the jokes behind... I realy need your help here! I need FULL confuguration from top to bottom. I need to see what everyone thinks of a good, fast, computer. I mean it!

So please, stop quoting each other and spill your technical thought at will.

Thank you all!

Are you building it yourself, or do you need it prebuilt?

 

[NurseRN]

I'm doing this myself. So far, I liked and taken all your inputs in. Thanks so much!