Advice for a gaming comp

[Vijay]

Advice for a gaming comp

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First I live in India and prices here are HORRENDOUS.

My daughter is coming from the state and I wish to import a CPU,MOBO and RAM.

Do I go for Intell or AMD-then which mobo do I choose?

I would like the Mobo to be forward compatible with the new Quad core/8 core or whatever.

The mobo should be able to use DDR as well as DDR 2 for the time being.

Suggestion for a Video card are also welcome.

No budget limit as of now!!

Thanks,

Vijay

[Syd]

All depends on what you want to do with the machine really, and what display you have/plan to have?

[sutton]

if you have no budget I will spec something that is very good but also sensible and futrure proof

Q6600 or an E6600

for RAM I would go for Corsair XMS2 PC6400

there is a lot of motherboards that will take DDR and DDR2 RAM, im not sure why you would want this considering you can get 2GB of DDR2 RAM for so cheap right now (especially in the states), if its a necessity I owuld go for the Asrock 4coredualVSTA http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157107, however this will limit you to DDR2 PC5300 which is still ok aslong as you dont want to overclock.


I would very much suggest that you get a "proper" motherbaord that only supports DDR2.

anyway hope that helps!

[Thorsson]

As already said, it very much depends on what you want to do with the machine and also what OS you plan to run on it. And what existing hardware you want to use with it.

If you want the fast and can use multiple cores then the Q6600 will be very good value shortly as Intel is due to reduce the price substantially on July 22. Of course there are faster chips, but the cost is much higher for a small gain.

[Vijay]

Q6600 or an E6600

for RAM I would go for Corsair XMS2 PC6400

You have convinced me DDR2 Mobo ?

[prits_88]

yes ddr2 ram is the way to go.

ddr is so slow now, and would be useless if u had a nice processer and a nice mobo.

[Thorsson]

Mobo very much depends what you're going to do and your legacy hardware.

HDDS: SATA or IDE or both? SLI, Crossfire or neither? RAID? Networking? What about the HSF? OC or not? What's the case/PSU?

[Mad-Max]

If your going DDR2 then may I say get a Asus P5K deluxe motherboard with corsair 8500 dominator or OCZ 8500 memory and a Q6600.

[xAmritx]

k

Cpu:E6600
GFX:8800GTX
Memory:Crucial Ballistix pc6400 or corsair pc6400
Mobo:Asus P5K Deluxe
PSU:520w or 620W corsair PSU
HDD:Sata HDD 320gig+ (recommend segate 7900.10 sata drve but depends HOW much is going to be sued for gaming and how much of other stuff..as if your say an architect and use alot of iming software where the files are huge you gna need a bigger HDD)
Mouse:G5
Keyboard:G15 or seitek eclipse 2

[Vijay]

k

Cpu:E6600
GFX:8800GTX
Memory:Crucial Ballistix pc6400 or corsair pc6400
Mobo:Asus P5K Deluxe
PSU:520w or 620W corsair PSU
HDD:Sata HDD 320gig+ (recommend segate 7900.10 sata drve but depends HOW much is going to be sued for gaming and how much of other stuff..as if your say an architect and use alot of iming software where the files are huge you gna need a bigger HDD)
Mouse:G5
Keyboard:G15 or seitek eclipse 2

Thanx

[xAmritx]

NP, but look around more. When shopping for parts you wanna know why your getting what so dont just go with the stuff I posted

[Vijay]

NP, but look around more. When shopping for parts you wanna know why your getting what so dont just go with the stuff I posted

Links please and tku.

[acrobat]

Intel is the way to go, no matter what. So you can forget about AMD really.

2 gig is a minimum for gaming now really. You can get away with 1 gig, but it can cause issues, so 2 gig is hassle free. RAM is quite cheap now too so... 2 gig for sure.

Disk space will depend on what you want to store. As a gamer, I have about 10 games installed on my 320 gig disk, and windows XP, and a bunch of applications too.... and yet I still have plenty of space free. But I have a second disk which has my MP3 collection on which is huge. So if you have a big MP3 collection too, you will want somewhere to store that.

I would probably just suggest something like what "xAmritx" suggested above.

If you can afford it, I would go with the Intel Q6600 chip. That is a quad core, its pretty fast, and that should last you a long time. You can save money by getting the Intel E6600 which is cheaper, and yet its the same speed, but its dual core instead. Whether it will pay off to have quad core compared to dual core.... is anybodys guess. ATLEAST duel core is essential nowdays (for a gamer), but whether quad cores will become essential any time soon is anyones guess.

Also, if you are really into gaming, then the Geforce 8800GTX is the way to go. Its just so fast. You can play (almost) any game with that, at full quality with everything set to full. If its too expensive, then you can get much cheaper cards which are still fast, but the 8800GTX should be what you aim for anyway. As a gamer, that should be one of the highest priorities.

As for RAM, I would just get two gig of Corsair XMS2 PC6400.

As for keyboard and mouse, some people are picky, but I have a cheap microsoft keyboard which cost about £5 and I like it. Its plasticy, but it doesn't matter to me. It looks nice, and it works fine, and its also spill proof, so I would never spend any more on a keyboard, unless I needed a fancy wireless keyboard. The same goes for a mouse really. There is a standard optical microsoft mouse which is perfect for gaming. I can't remember how much it is, but its probably about £10 or so. That works perfectly for me too, and I am quite a demanding gamer.

For a power supply, the corsair HX series is the way to go. Whether you need the 620W or the 520W depends on what components you end up with.

And then the motherboard, I'll let someone else suggest. It would be worth knowing if you ever plan to overclock. If you don't, then you can get away with a fairly cheap motherboard. If you do, then it might push the price up a bit.

Then you need to decide on a case. Do you want a stylish nice looking case? Or a cheap case? Great airflow? Etc.

Also need to decide on fans or water cooling, and whether you want a soundBlaster card or use on-board sound on the motherboard. On-board sound is fine for most people, but if you are a bit picky about sound quality, then SoundBlaster is the way to go.

[Vijay]

I have decided to go for the Q6600 Cpu.At least 2 gb ram if not more probably pc 6400,8800 GTX video card/s and the Asus p5k deluxe mobo.Of course I will wait till after the 22nd to order the stuff - hoping prices of the mobo etc fall in line with Intells'.

Thanks.

[Blitzen]

If your going DDR2 then may I say get a Asus P5K deluxe motherboard with corsair 8500 dominator or OCZ 8500 memory and a Q6600.

Complete overkill seeing as how it isnt mentioned what the PC is for.
Telling someone to spend FAR more than required for good gaming is bad advice.

8500 memory......unless going for big overclocks is a serious waste of cash.

[zephod]

If you want to build a core2duo system (or quad...) then prices are dropping massively (apparently) on the 22nd July, though I can see from the above waiting might not be an option...Price of the Q6600 apparently going to be about $280 in the states (OMG!). If there are no budget limits you may as well go for the p35 chipset and quad-core as your system will be more future-proof.

One consideration is that more than 2gb of ram is probably a waste of money as XP cant use it. Ofc Vista loves a bit of extra ram but then are you going to be running Vista ?