From the Ground Up

[Scorpiоn]

I'm planning on perhaps building a system from scratch, but I'm not sure where to start.  What are the major things I'll need to play music and run intense 3D games (CFS3)?  So far I've thought of:

• Processor
• Video card
• RAM
• Hard drive
• Audio card
• Power supply
• CD/Zip Drives and the like
• And of course, the shiny case
• Mouse, keyboard, moniter, speakers

Certain questions, are there any incompatibilities I should look out for (XP - processor)?  Can a laptop with the same specs as a PC be just as powerful?

[Scorpiоn]

Oh, yeah, I forgot.

I won't be able to reply until the weekend, unless my mom feels like being nice.  Stupid school...

[KnightStryker]

You left out two very important things.
1. Motherboard
2. Joystick or Yoke (afterall its the single most important part of the computer when your flyin, right ).

[Iroquois]

Based on what I've heard,

Motherboard
High Quality: I've heard Nvidia nForce boards are the best for AMD and gaming
Value:ECS K7S5A standard or pro, holds a max AMD Althlon XP 2000.

Processor:
AMD is best for gaming. For the best gaming, try anything between an Athlon XP2000 - 3200.

Ram: At least 512MB SD or DDR ram. Rambus is very over rated.

Hard Drive: Size doesn't matter, they're all pretty cheap now. Get a 7200RPM or better.

Video Card: For the best quality, cant beat an Nvidia Geforce FX5900 256mb. It will work best with that nForce board. For value, the FX5200 or FX5600 are good too.

Audio Card: Soundblaster Live! 5.1 or Audigy cards are best and compatible for most games. New EAX HD provides surround sound on all Soundblaster 5.1 cards.

Power Supply & Case: You should have at least 300W power or greater these days. Liquid cooled cases provide the best cooling but are more expensive and require more maintenence. Get a case with as many fans as possible if air cooling is your choice. Liquid cooling is safer if your going to overclock.

Drives: DVD for watching movies. CDRW or DVD-RW for high capacity removable media. Floppy is still a must for your school use.  

And the Rest: Any monitor will do but LCD saves desk space. Any mouse will do, optical is better. Keyboards are all the same. As for speakers, I use Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Thoes Harman Kardon ones look great but are way too expensive.

Joystick: The stick I use cannot simply be bought. It came with an RC airplane sim. It suites me but I've heard good things about the Saitek X-45 Hotas.

[Scorpiоn]

Aren't the motherboard and processor the same thing?  My dad says you can't upgrade your processor without changing the motherboard.  Thank you for the info, by the way.

[Iroquois]

[quote]Aren't the motherboard and processor the same thing?

[Daz]

yeah motherboards with nforce 2 chipsets are said to be good......put that together with an amd 2800 and your rockin! my motherboard is sweet and decently priced

EPOX EP-8RDA3G (SKT A) 6 Chn Audio / DDR400 / USB 2.0 / 8X AGP / LAN / 400 FSB

i got mine for

[ATI_7500]

-motherboard: a board with a Nforce2-chipset.

-processor: AMD Athlon 2700+ (~130 US $) or higher..

-video card: ATI 9500pro/9700pro/9800pro or nVidia 5800ultra/5900ultra. (depends on your money. )

- RAM: at least 512mb PC 2700 ram.

- hard drive: as orenda already said, a drive with at least 7200rpm.

- audio card: Soundblaster Audigy 2.

- power supply: at least 350 watts.

and for the rest:  orenda already said everything.

[Daz]

if you have the money and follow these hints you will have youself a screaming hot comp

[Ivan]

ASUS A7V333 rev 1.02 (can't take 400MHz FSB Athlons)
onboard RAID controller (harddisks)
16x DVD-ROM
ZIP 250
TEAC Floppy drive (5 years old or so)
512MB DDR2100, planning to make that 1024MB as soon as possible

Video:
NVidia GeForce 4 ti4200 with 128MB

HD's
1x70GB Maxtor H6 series (ATA-133)
1x60GB Maxtor H5 series (ATA-100)

Audio
SB Live 1024

PSU:
350W AOpen, came with the case

Case:
AOpen H700A, biggest bigtower you can get here whitout moving into the 19" rackmount stuff

Mouse MS intellimouse explorer rev2
Keyboard: cherry AT/XT switchable one (VERY old, still working)
Monitor: iiyama 19"
Speakers... Kenwood Dolby Prologic amplifier with a full surround setup

[Scorpiоn]

Well, this was my list:

• Any of those 3.6 Ghz processors I saw at Fry's
• At least a GB in RAM
• Looking to see if NVidia or Radeon is the way to go with video cards
• Zip drive, CD-RW, DVD Drive
• 20 Gb hard drive would suit me well.  I've managed with 8, 20 would be a dream!

The rest doesn't really mater.

[swanny338]

a case i would recommend... GET A LIAN LI CASE

http://www.xoxide.com/lianli.html

[congo]

Actually, Scorpion,

The rest DOES matter.

You have to get a decent Mainboard or you're screwed from the very start. Then, the CPU , RAM , and Video Card all need to be performance matched to the mainboard.

Get a Decent  Mainboard!

Make sure you get a good MOTHERBOARD........

Get an excellent Mobo.     It Matters.

It doesn't have to be expensive, It's the Chipset that matters in the mainboard. Make the right choice or you simply won't get decent performance.

What you want is the latest, greatest chipset on a motherboard with all the features you require. Pick the one you want and then research it on the net. There is plenty of info out there. If the research shows problems, pick another board.

The motherboard is the heart of the system, a poor uninformed choice will prove to be the system's downfall.

Good Luck

[Scorpiоn]

What's a mainboard?

[congo]

Ummmm,

I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.......  ;D