Gamer pc challenge

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by nugget, Jul 16, 2009.

  1. nugget
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    nugget Junior toady

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    übergeek!!:twisted:
     
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  2. onoski

    onoski Terabyte Poster

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    I use to be an ATI hardcore fan back then some nine years ago till I got converted to Nviada and can say big difference.

    Gigabyte and some other major motherboard manufacturers all have their boards Nviada ready in terms of drivers and compatibility.

    I have just recently upgraded my computer after purchasing a Nviada Geforce BFG 9600 graphic card 386MB overclocked edition.

    The motherboard being Gigabyte M61PME-S2, AM2 + with processor AMD athlon 64 x2 processor 5400 @ 2.80Ghz not overclocked. Slapped Ebuyer value RAM 4GB DDR2 @ 800+ mhz running OS Vista Ultimate 32 bit and yeah let the games begin:).

    The cooling is arctic cooling freezer xtreme and this really is a huge fan and funny enough does not make any loud noise even on full load. Well maybe all that might change when I run G.T.R 2 and pro evolution soccer 2009 on the PC:), fingers crossed.

    So far so good has been running without a glitch and didn't break the bank either all cost under £160:)

    All in all can't afford to spend and justify two much £££ on a PC just for occasional gaming and obviously studying.

    The other day at work was given a HP DC7800 with Intel dual core processors running at 1.79Ghz and 3GB RAM DDR2 so would be migrating my test system onto this running windows server 2003 enterprise and VMWare server for hands on lab practice. Enough said, cheerio:)
     
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  3. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Eh? The post wasn't directed towards you... it was directed towards GBL, and I've been gaming since he's been in diapers (and about as long as you've been in grade school).

    However, if you insist on inserting yourself in the reply I'm having with GBL, I'll go a round with you.

    I've got my Amiga 500 with Fatter Angus about 7 steps away from me. And before that, I had a Commodore 128. And before that, I had a Commodore 64. And before that, I had a Vic-20. And before that, I had a Timex-Sinclair 1000.

    So... no Super Nintendo for me. However, you were probably learning how to play Chutes and Ladders when I started with computers.

    Next time, take a look at who I'm responding to before you start flexing your e-willy. I wasn't even speaking to you, mate.
     
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  4. greenbrucelee
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    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    BM your only 7 years older than me and I have been messing with computers since 4 years old.

    These are the ones I owned.

    Dragon 32k, ZX81, BBC Micro, Spectrum48k, Atari ST, Amiga 500, Atari STE, 386sx, 486DX-2

    Granted I don't know as much as you but I do know whats good and whats crap when it comes to hardware always have done. I have had some unlucky breaks so I gave up on owning PCs from 99 until I joined this forum but that's not to say I didn't keep up with how things were going.
     
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  5. nugget
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    Okay guys, this thread seems to be going in a direction other than I intended from the original question.

    I would be grateful if we could maybe steer it back on topic about posting suggestions for a gaming machine that costs less than an alienware pc.
     
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  6. dmarsh
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    Yes I owned other comps too Commodore 64 etc, point I was making was I upgraded to a fatter angus and my ROM, I was pulling computers apart, installing chips, cutting wires, soldering, and putting them back together again.

    I made this point as a direct response to your insinuation that myself or others on the forum had no technical expertise in our youth.

    Fair point, I thought you were talking to me, seems like you've been waving your willy this whole thread, but maybe thats just me.

    Back to Nugget, I'd go with the sorts of specs of machines from Overclockers and Scan in the UK, although scans prices aren't so good they known how to spec a PC.

    Look at sites like AnandTech, TomsHardware, CustomPC etc. Look at hobbyist build and overclockers sites, see what they are currently excited about.

    Compare buy vs build prices, see if its worth it in terms of price and flexibility.

    Also maybe look at the places that sell super gaming PC's for specs and see if you can build the same spec cheaper than their silly prices.

    Afterall theres little point building it yourself unless you enjoy doing the research and the build anyway.

    Best of Luck ! :D
     
  7. greenbrucelee
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    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    Fair enough, the one I posted is cheaper than an alienware.

    If you want tha system cheaper then replace the BLU-RAY dvd rewriter with a normal dvd rewriter and replace the mobo with the Gigabyte one you already mentioned or for asus p6-T and you'll save £300
     
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  8. nugget
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    Thanks guys, much appreciated.
     
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  9. nugget
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    nugget Junior toady

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    I do but it's also interesting for me to see other people's suggestions and the reasoning behind it. Everyone puts a different weighting on different aspects of the hardware. It's just interesting to see why and maybe I can also learn something new in the process.
     
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  10. greenbrucelee
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    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    The rig in my sig cost £1400 when I built it. That was over a year ago so I bet the prices of those components will have dropped alot now so you could build the same system and overclock like mine for a few hundred quid cheaper.
     
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  11. dmarsh
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    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    Totally, agree, should be a good thread, shame thread got out of hand, apologies on my part. :oops:

    Well I think you need to balance both performance and cost. Of course as mentioned the cost aspect can be rather subjective depending on buyers budget and currency.

    I think your specs are ok, I made my initial comments about better PSU, Case and get an SSD.

    You have to make the major component choices first, intel vs amd, nvidia vs ati, quad core vs dual core, etc.

    How many slots do you want on your mobo ? Will you ever want SLI ? How many expansion cards will you buy ? Are you happy with on board sound and networking ? Do you need RAID ? If so what type of RAID ? Do you want to overclock ? Do you prefer air or water cooling etc ?

    These choices will affect the system along with your budget. The end spec or design is dependant on the competing forces, same with all design, its a compromise between competing forces.

    You could probably build something like this spec and throw in an SSD for less than their price :-
    http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=993

    Personally I don't game my preferences are :-

    1. Quad core, better for general use and going forward as apps become more parallel.

    2. Intel vs AMD, I think Intel currently have the edge, of course you do pay for it, if you are on a budget look at AMD.

    3. NVidia vs ATI, see above. I choose NVidia.

    4. Air cooling vs Water cooling, air cooling is simpler and cheaper, plus i'm not into overclocking. No point saving on components only to spend it on expensive cooling. I choose air.

    5. Standard disk, RAID, SSD
    I think the SSD's are now starting to look good, I'd get a small Samsung SDD as a boot drive/paging drive, and something like a WD green 1-2TB as main drive.

    I'm happy with onboard sound and networking.

    Then there is a choice between standard Quad core vs I7. A cheap i7 system will hopefully allow a lot of upgrade head room as long as the mobo isn't rubbish. You can just drop in a new processor in 1-2 years time. I go low end i7 chip, half decent mobo.

    i7 motherboard prices are rather high but are comming down, gigabyte seems to offer good general value. It depends on exactly what you want, many cards have hardly any PCIe x16 slots, so decide what you want from a mobo and have a look around.

    After you've chosen the above memory seems fairly standard, its all DDR3 for i7, just a case of price/brand and how much you want. There seems some voltage issues if you want to overclock, I don't.

    Get a PSU with 750+W then its gonna last a while, make sure its highly efficient then you won't destroy the planet or have large bills.

    If you go for air cooling, try to get fans that are high quality silent, low RPM high cooling etc. Nobody wants to sit next to a noisy PC.

    Peripherals are easy to change so I don't worry about them so much. You really want to get your case, mobo and processor right as you don't wanna have to upgrade them straight away !

    Personally I like all metal alluminum cases, but maybe thats just me.

    zebulebu has a good point in that you can build cheap clusters from commodity PC's, places like google have been doing this for years.
    The trouble is you can't generally use the cluster to play games on any better than a single PC, also clusters take up more space, and cheap clusters waste more energy too.

    Think thats about it. Tell me if I missed anything ! :D
     
  12. BosonMichael
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    No, I was speaking to GBL, whom I quoted, and who hasn't been into IT as long as I have. And it was a joke... note the smileys and the "heehee". Maybe I needed three of them? :rolleyes:
     
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  13. Qs

    Qs Semi-Honorary Member Gold Member

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    We've discussed this previously.

    The correct smilie terminology for jest is three tounge smilies E.G. :p:p:p's.

    Qs
     
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  14. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    That's exactly why I mentioned three of them! :biggrin:biggrin:biggrin Hah!
     
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