Curse

Malice Black · Jun 28, 2006, 01:54 AM // 01:54

hey,

yea having a new computer built for me but im not a tech freak need ideas on what i should buy

looking at 3k tops for budget

needs to be good for games but good for work aswell (work from home, use comp alot)

19" LCD (i'll use this since its ok)
64bit dual core
pci-e
2gb ram
200gb hard drive

as for the rest im kinda stuck..

current systems owned Alienware area51/dell XPS (yea so alienware isnt all that great)

Tachyon · Jun 28, 2006, 03:04 AM // 03:04

3K upper limit, well that's simple!

- AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core FX62 (Socket AM2) CPU
- Zalman CNPS9500-AM2 Aero-Flower (or similar)
- Asus M2N32-SLi Deluxe Wireless Dual X16 Lane (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
- Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-8500 TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit
- 2 x 150GB Western Digital Raptor 16MB Cache SATA Hard Drive (RAID 0 Configured)
- NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 1024MB GDDR3 Graphics Card
- Ageia PhysX Accelerator card future proofing this system for PhysX enabled games!!!!
- Plextor PX-716AL 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter
- Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality Gamer Sound Card
- Tagan SLi Approved 900W ATX2.0 PSU

All in, it comes to just shy of 2.5K. Hell, if you want to blow the last 500, then just drop another of the same graphics cards in there and SLi them. That'd give you 4 GPU's and 2GB VRAM to play around with! Or spend it on a decent 19" LCD monitor, Hyundai or Samsung, both are pretty decent when it comes to price versus performance.

That should play any game you throw at it, including future releases that require a dedicated PhysX card.

HigherIntelligence · Jun 28, 2006, 03:55 AM // 03:55

Aza:

Can you please quote your source where you got that pc build? I'm in the market looking around too, and never heard of physx card.

~HI

Malice:

I posted a system in this forum titled 'Price Check PC pls'. The sticker on it in the store was $1799.00. I also saw one on ebay that seems to blow it away for $1950 shipped:

AMD ATHLON X2 DUAL CORE 64BIT 4200+ 2000FSB NEW SOCKET AM2
GIGABYTE GA-M55SLI MAINBOARD 2000MHz FSB SUPPORT
2GB DDR2-533 DUAL CHANNEL (PC4200) Memory
DUAL 256 MB nVIDIA Ge-Force 7600GT DVI/TV-OUT HDTV PCI EXPRESS VIDEO CARD
74GB 10000RPM RAPTOR + 250GB 7200RPM UDMA-300 SATA II Hard Drive
16X DUAL LAYER DVD-RW DRIVE / ADD A 1.44MB FLOPPY DRIVE FOR $11
10/100 Fast Ethernet Network Controller
CMI 9739A 6 CHANNEL CODEC
ATX ASUS VENTO Case
Six USB 2.0 ports,1 serial, 1 parallel, 1 microphone jack
COOLMAX CXI-600B 600WATT SLI

Here's some more to bench off of. $3k is enough for a pretty potent dual processor/dual vid card system.

I can warn you too that when you buy a good pc, be prepared to return it if guild wars should crash. Keep that in mind if you mail order. I just returned one to the store for a full refund because it wouldn't play guild wars without crashing every 15 min. They made me keep the windows xp home at for -120$. Read the return policy real close.

Absolute best bet is to find someone that can do a price match to one of the ebay systems. Stuff on store shelves is old and overpriced.

~HI

Like this one includes a 24" Dell monitor for $2500+Free Ship

Malice Black · Jun 28, 2006, 11:02 PM // 23:02

PhysX..heard and read nothing but bad things about these cards

whats so wrong with them ?

viper008 · Jun 28, 2006, 11:38 PM // 23:38

PhysX cards being bad hmm, Well I have one and its great with the few games that you can use it with atm. The only bad thing is their isn't very many games that use the PhysX tech but many games will be soon.

Tarzan The Chetta · Jul 04, 2006, 11:37 AM // 11:37

Heres a nice processor for ya...Im an amd man but will be switching to this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116001
Just read some reviews on there or hit Tomshardware....

sleepy samurai · Jul 04, 2006, 01:21 PM // 13:21

Ok, you are not a geek so I would assume that you will not be building a computer yourself. You would have to play for the system to be build and that maybe hard to find a place that will do it. ARe you located in US, Canada, Europe?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azagoth

- AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core FX62 (Socket AM2) CPU
- Zalman CNPS9500-AM2 Aero-Flower (or similar)
- Asus M2N32-SLi Deluxe Wireless Dual X16 Lane (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
- Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-8500 TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit
- 2 x 150GB Western Digital Raptor 16MB Cache SATA Hard Drive (RAID 0 Configured)
- NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 1024MB GDDR3 Graphics Card
- Ageia PhysX Accelerator card future proofing this system for PhysX enabled games!!!!
- Plextor PX-716AL 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter
- Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality Gamer Sound Card
- Tagan SLi Approved 900W ATX2.0 PSU

This is a very aggressive system and kind of over kill for guildwars. Depending on where you are this would blow past 3k budget. I would go for something more conservative.

And you forgot a monitor. I use an Veiwsonic VP930B and it does the job well but others will say that no LCD can compete with a CRT in first person shooters and fast action games.

Sub-out AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core FX62 for an X2 dual core model. If you need FX performance then you could always over clock your CPU.

The Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-8500 TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit, Does DDR2 CAS2 exist? You could easily go for less powerful ram but keep with the 2GB capacity.

Two 150GB Western Digital Raptors, you could opt for two drive with 16mb cache, NCQ, and 7200rmp in RAID0. Lets say two Seagate 7200.9 320 GB 7200RPM 16 MB cache. You will get less performance but better price to performance ratio.

NVIDIA GeForce 7950, get one or two if you want to SLI 7900 GT's. One is more then enough.

Ageia PhysX Accelerator card is not a safe investment. Tom's hardware will tell you that. There is only one or two games that support it right now and Nvidia is coming out with their own solution. SLI will top this any day.

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality, good card I have one

SLi Approved 900W ATX2.0 PSU, 900w is good for this system but if you decide to go with less then buy less of a power supply. Buy a good power supply but 900w is over kill. 400-500w should do.

Sorry Azagoth but I had to pick on some one. Hope this is of some help. Just think the quoted specs will go over 3k and way too much for this game.

You can get a good deal on dells if you wait and watch the site. Alienware is dell now (bought out) but they have a very good rep. Prices are high but again very good rep.

sleepy samurai · Jul 04, 2006, 01:46 PM // 13:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by HigherIntelligence

Aza:

Can you please quote your source where you got that pc build? I'm in the market looking around too, and never heard of physx card.

~HI

Tom's says it all,
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/06/19/can_ageia/

Quote:

Originally Posted by HigherIntelligence

AMD ATHLON X2 DUAL CORE 64BIT 4200+ 2000FSB NEW SOCKET AM2
GIGABYTE GA-M55SLI MAINBOARD 2000MHz FSB SUPPORT
2GB DDR2-533 DUAL CHANNEL (PC4200) Memory
DUAL 256 MB nVIDIA Ge-Force 7600GT DVI/TV-OUT HDTV PCI EXPRESS VIDEO CARD
74GB 10000RPM RAPTOR + 250GB 7200RPM UDMA-300 SATA II Hard Drive
16X DUAL LAYER DVD-RW DRIVE / ADD A 1.44MB FLOPPY DRIVE FOR $11
10/100 Fast Ethernet Network Controller
CMI 9739A 6 CHANNEL CODEC
ATX ASUS VENTO Case
Six USB 2.0 ports,1 serial, 1 parallel, 1 microphone jack
COOLMAX CXI-600B 600WATT SLI

this one includes a 24" Dell monitor for $2500+Free Ship

Does it have an PCI soundcard?
DUAL 256 MB nVIDIA Ge-Force 7600GT, it would be better to go a 7900 GT for less and buy a second one if you like later.

$2500 with a 24" dell seems good. Note that a 24" monitor is not really gaming material. To slow on the refresh.

All of these questions would be better represented on tom's hardware forums. I do not want to plug them but the people on the forums will give you all the info you need and more.

Tachyon · Jul 04, 2006, 02:11 PM // 14:11

No problem, that's what public forums are for. Someone post's something and then someone else posts in an attempt to better it.

Incidentaly, that system I posted comes to £2,599! After VAT it's £3053, but if you're going to splash out 3 grand on a PC then I reckon you can pony up the extra £53.

sleepy samurai · Jul 04, 2006, 09:59 PM // 21:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azagoth

No problem, that's what public forums are for. Someone post's something and then someone else posts in an attempt to better it.

Incidentaly, that system I posted comes to £2,599! After VAT it's £3053, but if you're going to splash out 3 grand on a PC then I reckon you can pony up the extra £53.

Or 4 793.85 USD
Or 5 338.91 CAD
When I say the post my reaction was no way. Thats over 5k

kvndoom · Jul 05, 2006, 04:10 AM // 04:10

PhysX cards are a waste right now. They cost too much and do too little. In 6-12 months they either won't be around anymore or will be a LOT cheaper (probably half the price they are now) and will have more game support. It's too early to consider that "future-proofing" when the card itself doesn't have a guaranteed future.

abacusnx · Jul 05, 2006, 04:48 AM // 04:48

Yeah Ageia PhysX cards are not worth it at the moment due to lack of games and companies such as ATI and Nvidia will most likely incorporate similar features into their own line of video cards.

Wow 3k budget!

Seef II · Jul 05, 2006, 08:13 AM // 08:13

Why not wait for Conroe? It'll let your graphics card(s) stretch their legs if you really do decide to go overkill.

C2D X6800 > FX-62, you need only wait a few weeks more.
If you really need a new system now, though, you can try grabbing a 1 MB Athlon X2 before they are totally gone, or just opt for the 5000+ which clocks at a respectable 2.6 GHz.

Malice Black · Jul 05, 2006, 03:19 PM // 15:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepy samurai

Ok, you are not a geek so I would assume that you will not be building a computer yourself. You would have to play for the system to be build and that maybe hard to find a place that will do it. ARe you located in US, Canada, Europe?

This is a very aggressive system and kind of over kill for guildwars. Depending on where you are this would blow past 3k budget. I would go for something more conservative.

And you forgot a monitor. I use an Veiwsonic VP930B and it does the job well but others will say that no LCD can compete with a CRT in first person shooters and fast action games.

Sub-out AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core FX62 for an X2 dual core model. If you need FX performance then you could always over clock your CPU.

The Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-8500 TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit, Does DDR2 CAS2 exist? You could easily go for less powerful ram but keep with the 2GB capacity.

Two 150GB Western Digital Raptors, you could opt for two drive with 16mb cache, NCQ, and 7200rmp in RAID0. Lets say two Seagate 7200.9 320 GB 7200RPM 16 MB cache. You will get less performance but better price to performance ratio.

NVIDIA GeForce 7950, get one or two if you want to SLI 7900 GT's. One is more then enough.

Ageia PhysX Accelerator card is not a safe investment. Tom's hardware will tell you that. There is only one or two games that support it right now and Nvidia is coming out with their own solution. SLI will top this any day.

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality, good card I have one

SLi Approved 900W ATX2.0 PSU, 900w is good for this system but if you decide to go with less then buy less of a power supply. Buy a good power supply but 900w is over kill. 400-500w should do.

Sorry Azagoth but I had to pick on some one. Hope this is of some help. Just think the quoted specs will go over 3k and way too much for this game.

You can get a good deal on dells if you wait and watch the site. Alienware is dell now (bought out) but they have a very good rep. Prices are high but again very good rep.

interesting from what i understood of it lol

ive been broswing some sites lately checking on a few things

i thought 3k would be plenty but money is no real object...can stick it on my company budget then claim back the VAT, it pays to be your own boss

i want highhhh spec..over kill is no issue

bpphantom · Jul 05, 2006, 05:53 PM // 17:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepy samurai

Or 4 793.85 USD
Or 5 338.91 CAD
When I say the post my reaction was no way. Thats over 5k

Yeah, I read those spec's and that price a few times. Glad to see I'm not the only one that thought that

sleepy samurai · Jul 06, 2006, 02:54 AM // 02:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malice Black

i want highhhh spec..over kill is no issue

Then the specs Azagoth posted are a good bet. Remove the PhysX card (unless you want one just ot show it off) and get a well ventilated case.

I personally think over kill is.. well over kill. Swat a fly with a base ball bat. Shoot a square with a elephant gun...

Buying 2 x 150GB Western Digital Raptor 16MB Cache SATA Hard Drive (RAID 0 Configured) is well allot of money for a small gain. Buying one raptor and one SATA drive would be a smart thing or buying two SATA drives and RAID0 them (they are as fast as one raptor). Two partors vs. one is a single digit increase in load times.

If you really want to trick it out try Gigabyte I-RAM DDR PCI Virtual RAM Disk SATA W/ Backup Battery. This allows installing ram as a hard drive. Buy 2 or 4GB cheap ram and use the full 150MBs of the SATA channel.

I have not heard of Tagan power supplies. Just make sure you get a good power supply with 500watt+ Same goes for the case. Skimping on these can lead to problems later on.

If you do not want to build one, look for Dells XPS or alienware or .. look at toms hardware they have all the major players there when it comes to high end gaming machines in north america.

If you are new to computers and just want it to work, I suggest buying a ready made one that has support. You could end up investing lots of time into configuring a custom system.

Tachyon · Jul 06, 2006, 02:57 AM // 02:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepy samurai

Or 4 793.85 USD
Or 5 338.91 CAD
When I say the post my reaction was no way. Thats over 5k

Ah, but the OP might be over here in Blighty and that's why the PC is priced up in Pounds Sterling! So, both US and Canadian Dollars might not come into it!

Gorebrex · Jul 06, 2006, 04:16 AM // 04:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepy samurai

...Ageia PhysX Accelerator card is not a safe investment. Tom's hardware will tell you that. There is only one or two games that support it right now and Nvidia is coming out with their own solution. SLI will top this any day....

Agreed, Id always wait till something had been out awhile, to flushout bugs and such.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepy samurai

You can get a good deal on dells if you wait and watch the site. Alienware is dell now (bought out) but they have a very good rep. Prices are high but again very good rep.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO