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Hey guys, I've decided that I want to build a completely new computer from scratch. I have the other stuff such as a monitor, mouse, speakers, and keyboard - now all I'm looking for is the actual computer (tower, hard drive, CD drive, graphics card, processing chip, RAM cards, motherboard, etc).
I have $1200 to spend.
Any advice on what companies I should look at and what companies to stay away from.
Give me some suggestions. Any help would be awesome.
Todd is usually good as such stuff, I am sure he will drop by, but first of all what do you intend to use the computer for?
I take it gaming is your goal, since you've asked in the Gaming forum. What I think you should shoot for might match these specs:
Athlon 64, venice or san diego core
Nforce4 motherboard
ATI X800 or NV 6800 or better graphics card (PCI express)
1GB (2 x 512mb) of low-latency, dual-channel certified RAM
a quality power supply of at least 350W
Buy from newegg.com to get the most for your dollar.
Storage and optical drives are a matter of personal preference, IMO, so I don't speak for those.
Obviously, my suggestions above are fairly general, but I recommend getting a nice graphics card, since this will have the biggest impact on gaming performance. As for motherboard brand, search for reviews on the products you are considering. Some other forums out there have threads 10 pages long dedicated to individual motherboard models. It's hard to just go by a manufacturer's name anymore, as all companies seem quite capable of launching a lemon. Antec is a good example. They've had a good reputation for quality for some time, but lately they've had some issues with their power supplies.
for $1200 you can buy a very high-end system. ive been pricing them lately, and i awalys come up with $1200 so you should be good. also, you already have keyboard and speakers and all that good stuff, so you may even be able to sqeeze a x2 a64 in that budget.
better yet, get 2gigs of ram. neverenoughram;)
Alright, this is what I've come down to:
Motherboard: SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4
Hard Drive: 80GB 7200 RPM ATA 150 (Western Digital)
Graphics Card: XFX GeForce 6800GT PCI Express
Processor: Athlon 64 3200+ Venice
RAM: 1GB (2 x 512mb)
Power Supply: 420 W
How is that all sounding to you?
Motherboard--What brand are you looking at? SLI is a point of arguement, as many (myself included) don't see the real value in it for the amount of complication that it might add. Typically a newer, single card solution will be faster than 2 older cards (which must be identical, mind you) in SLI. Just food for thought.
Otherwise, I like what you have so far. The 6800GT is a solid card, and I think it will make your games shine. The 3200+ venice is a good choice too.
The motherboard is an MSI K8N Neo4/SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA. The link to it is here
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16813130492
Another question: Should I get Windows XP Home or XP Pro? I do want gaming, but I also need Word, Excell, and Powerpoint on my system.
I would suggest a larger hardrive. I dont know how but I am using 88 gigs and going up, get at least a 160 gig, I would go for a 200 gig or 250 gig, so you dont have to go upgrading the hardrive soon. Watch www.tigerdirect.com they usually have good deals on hardrives.
just my two pence worth, but if you're going to be playing Battlefield 2 then I would definitely get at least 1.5gb of RAM. My total memory usage with BF2 running is 1.3gb (when all the eye candy is turned on). With only 1gb installed, it would stutter constantly as the disk was paging.
