Warhammer Online Gaming Rig,

[colmo]

Lets hope so as it would kill me to find my friends Alienware was better,

/Rookie

Apart from the super-budget spec I posted, every spec suggested here will comprehensively beat your mate's Alienware

One thing I like to caution against is over-spend - better to hold back a bit of cash for an upgrade in 6 months than blowing your wad now, as long as the spec is good enough for your purposes. Computer components conform to the law of diminishing returns - there is a 'sweet-spot' of price/performance, above which you spend a lot to get not much more (or unrequired) performance, and below which, you're hurting performance to trim a few pennies. Most of the specs posted here are around about that sweet-spot.

Few of the specs mention a monitor - it's a good idea to have one picked out, as it's native resolution determines the best-looking game resolution, and hence the horsepower you require. These days, a 22" is standard, which usually come in at 1680x1050 or 1920x1080 (=1080p).

[Shooty*]

*stifles urge to say something about 12 sided dice and using same to decide on components*

Putting a PC together is great. You're going to have a blast.

[shaithis]

Putting a PC together is great. You're going to have a blast.

Shortly after the spark and the fizzle

[colmo]

Shortly after the spark and the fizzle

There's nothing that gets the heart pumping like an exploding PSU - I love the smell of ozone in the morning (the explanation was always the same - it was DOA )

With these ATX power couplings and no 240~120V switches anymore, you can't even do that...

One think I don't miss is those nasty cases which slice open your fingers - nowadays, they're beautifully machined.

[geek]Warhammer uses D6s, not D12s, and WHFR uses D100s (or 2x D10s) iirc...[/geek]

[Sacred]

[geek]Warhammer uses D6s, not D12s, and WHFR uses D100s (or 2x D10s) iirc...[/geek]

Yuppers two D6 is all you would need to play the whole game (AFAIK) although would get a little boring when having full regiments attacking.

Not that the online game will be anything like this at all, it just can't be. But still the massive RvR battles look amazing! Can't wait to get my student loan and actually be able to give it a try!

[Sacred]

Just wanted to post a direct price comparison for you showing the Alienware Area-51 system:

[1] Area-51®

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz 6MB Cache 1333MHz FSB
Alienware P2 Chassis : Alienware® P2 Chassis - Saucer Silver
System Lighting: Alienware® Standard System Lighting - Astral Blue
Processor Cooling : Alienware® Standard System Cooling
Acoustic Dampening: None
Power Supply: 750 Watt Alienware® Approved Multi-GPU Power Supply
Graphics Processor : Single Graphics Card - 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800 GX2
Memory: 2GB Patriot EP+ Low Latency Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 2 x 1024MB
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI
Includes PCI-Express 2.0, DDR3 Memory, and Support for Intel 1600 FSB
Operating System: Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium - English
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM : 20X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Writer
Enthusiast Essentials: Dual High Performance Gigabit Ethernet Ports
Physics Processor : None
Sound Hardware: Integrated 7.1 High-Definition Audio
Monitor: 22" Dell UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
Keyboard: Logitech® G15 Gaming Keyboard - UK
Mouse: Logitech® G9 Laser Gaming Mouse
Warranty: AlienCare 1-Year Free Phone 24/7 and Collect & Return

£2151.68



SCAN:

Intel PWLA 8391GT Pro/1000GT Desktop Gbit (Copper) Network Card
Gigabyte 3D Aurora GZ-FSCA1-AT Black Aluminum Tower Case - Hi End w/o PSU
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1* 64Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD)
Logitech G9 Laser Mouse, 3200dpi, USB 1.1/2.0, 2 Buttons, Black, Retail
750W TX Corsair PSU, single 12V rail, energy efficient, quiet & cool, fully compatible,5 yr warranty
Logitech G15 New Rev.2 Gaming Keyboard, USB, Wired, Silver/Black, GamePanel LCD, Illuminated
Intel Core 2 Duo, E8500, Wolfdale Core, S775, 3.16 GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB Cache, Retail
2GB (2x1GB) SuperTalent DDR3 PC3-10600 (1333MHz), 240 Pin, Non-ECC, Unbuffered, CAS 8-8-8-18
1GB EVGA 9800 GX2, PCI-E 2.0, Mem 2000MHz, GDDR3, GPU 600MHz, 256 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I/HDMI
250 GB Western Digital WD2502ABYS RE3, SATA 300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms
22" LG W2252TQ, Black Widescreen, LCD Monitor, 1680x1050, 10000:1 DCR, 300cd/m², 2 ms MSI P7N2 DIAMOND,
NF790i Ultra 3Way SLI, S775, PCIEx16, DDR3 1333/1600/2000, SATA II, SATA RAID,
ATXSamsung TS-H653B/DEBH 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, x12 DVD-RAM SATA Black OEM

£1334.30


Thats a saving of over £800 just by building it yourself instead of letting Alienware do it....

[Shooty*]

[geek]Warhammer uses D6s, not D12s, and WHFR uses D100s (or 2x D10s) iirc...[/geek]

Love the [geek] bit. V good. Will have to adopt that.

I was more of a 40k guy. But, TBH, I just enjoyed painting them and arranging them in dioramas. Dawn of War satisfies my warhammer requirements quite nicely, not having to wait turns.


I started on that route by playing Space Hulk as a kid. Anyone else?

[Rookie1986]

Love the [geek] bit. V good. Will have to adopt that.

I was more of a 40k guy. But, TBH, I just enjoyed painting them and arranging them in dioramas. Dawn of War satisfies my warhammer requirements quite nicely, not having to wait turns.


I started on that route by playing Space Hulk as a kid. Anyone else?

Space Hulk was awesome!

Anyway i've looked about and selected some components, i will post it in a new thread as this one is starting to drift off topic and is getting a little post heavy,

/Rookie

[360bhp]

AMD® Athlon™ X2 5200+ 2.7GHz Dual Core 2 x 512KB L2 Cache

Gaming pc? lol could have got a q6600 and easily taken it to 3ghz.

[Sacred]

I started on that route by playing Space Hulk as a kid. Anyone else?

Hell yeah played the table top game years ago and still have the disk to the game for the PC.

[Pob255]

[geek] I started on warhammer 1st ed, when it was 3 thin books black and white covers, inside pages were photo copy quality and was very tolken infulenced and toughness was a letter not a number for some unknown reason, still have it someware

That was the box lid [/geek]

Back to the topic, I guess you're not the bloke called "rookie" I know then.
However I do understand your fear, I helped a friend build his first PC last december and he too had the "I don't want to break it it costs so much" fear

Here's a few tips for a first time build:
- Big case, more room to work makes life eaiser.
- Quality components make life eaiser.
- Take your time, do it step by step, don't be afraid to have to pull it all a part again because youve put thing together in the wrong order (not that there is a right order, but just simple things like, you discover you need to plug a case fan in after you put the graphics card in and now you cannot eaisly get to the fan header (where you plug a fan on to the motherboard) because the graphics card is in the way)
- All plugs go in and come out stright try not to twist them when unplugging (older IDE ribbon cables and Molunx power plugs especially)
- While big cpu coolers are good for better cooling they can sometimes be tricky for a first time user, balance size and fitting type, against cooling
- Intell socket 775 (any core2duo or quadcore will be this type) fitting the cpu is easy but the intell push pins can be tricky for a first time user (common on many coolers as well as the stock cooler that comes with the cpu) if you can get your head around them they are easy and quick but you may prefur that involves mounting brackets and screws down. (This will effect your cooler choise, also the stock cooler that comes with the cpu is good for playing around with and getting used to the push pins)
- Keep all your bits orgainised, you don't want to spend hours looking for that one little jumper or plug you put down a moement a go.

Tools needed
- A cross point screwdriver. get one with a long shaft, not a short ratchet one as sometime reeaching screws can be tricky with a short screwdriver
- Large paper clip, yep this is an amazingly useful tool, strighten it out, bend one end out into a small hook (useful for hooking wires) the other end leave stright (on dvd & cd drives you'll notice a small hole on the front, poke it in there and you manually eject the draw, bend the whole thing around into a U shape and you can use it to jumpstart a Power supply unit without it being connected to anything)
- Long tweesers, usefull for recovering dropped screws.
- A work space, clear a good area, not just for the case but all the boxes and bits, keep pets and children away while building.

[Thorsson]

Good advice. I'd add make sure that you have good light, but have a small torch handy. My order of components is (usually):

1. Drives into case, which probably requires taking off both side panels. Put in cables (draped out of the way) - these can be hard to fit after everything else is in. Big advantage with Modular Power Supply (PSU) as well as the cables can be plugged into the PSU afterwards. Note that sometimes steps 1 & 2 may need to be reversed, if the PSU fits into a cramped chamber like with the P182.

2. Power Supply, and connect drives, but leave other cables free.

3. Motherboard (a removable motherboard tray on the case can be a bonus to first time builders, if so follow step 4 first before putting tray back in case).

4.a If using an aftermarket Heat Sink/Fan (HSF) check whether you need to put a backplate on the motherboard - probably better to get a pushpin type as a first time builder though.

4.b CPU & RAM into motherboard, but not the HSF at this point.

5. Add the HSF making sure that you have a nice smooth path for the power cable to the motherboard CPU fan header. Note that you need to put Arctic Silver or similar between the HSF and the CPU for most aftermarket coolers. Arctic's site has good instructions. This is the most fiddly bit by far. Intel's own HSF is easier to fit but noisier and hotter.

6. Plug case wires into motherboard, starting with the Power, Reset, HDD LED set as these are really fiddly (and why you may need the torch and/or tweezers). The Power (& Reset) have to be the right way round or the PC won't switch on (or hard reboot). Then Audio, USB etc.

7. Plug in drive cables and PSU cables to motherboard. It's worth plugging in the PSU, switching that on and then pushing the case Power On button at this point to see that it powers up. Press power button for 8 secs (I think that's the default) to switch off, and switch off/unplug.

8. Attach case fan cables to motherboard (3 pin) or PSU cables (Molex).

9. Add Graphics and any other add-in cards. With Graphics it may be easier to put in the power lead before inserting into the PCI-E slot. Depends on room in case and length of cables.

10. Add back 'far' side panel. Plug in external cables: power lead, speaker leads, video cable, keyboard & mouse.

11. Switch on, and if everything is running OK add the 'near' side panel.