Hexus Gamer's Rig

[MatrixCy]

Gamer's Rig by Hexus gamers



CPU: AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800+, 2.4 GHz by Dangel

CPU COOLING:Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 CPU Cooler by MatrixCy

MOTHERBOARD: DFI Ultra-D by Kempez815


GRAPHICS CARD: XFX 7800GT by Kempez815


MEMORY: Corsair Value Select 2x1GB by Mike W

HARD DISK: 74Gb Western Digital Raptor 10000rpm. by Fatboy

DVD ROM:

AUDIO: SB Audigy ZS OEM by Kempez815


CASE: Gigabyte Aurora by Kempez815

POWER SUPPLY: Hiper 580W Modular by Fatboy

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MOUSE: Logitech MX518 by Kalniel


KEYBOARD: Logitech g15 by hitharder

MONITOR 19": Iiyama VM Pro 454 by Kalniel





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Terminology:
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* Our budget on this one is for the average gamer (700-1200)

General informations: This thread is about building a GAMING RIG for gamers only, so that people will get a good help into what to include in their first pc, to help us see what other people buy and why, and give them the chance to get an opinion from people they can trust as we may never had since magazines, websites, manufacturers may have interests on their sugestions. This post will be edited according to what information i get throughout the whole procedure. If an item is not compatible with the existing ones then we will not include it in but we will mention it. (for that we need a volunteer with Computer engineering knowledge.
Something will be edited in, if something else that was suggested was more convincing and better argumented.

General Guidelines:
a) All suggestions must be backed up with argumentation. inclution of technical issues is more than welcome. All existing (new or old) technologies that will be mentioned and explained will be edited in this post under the category of terminology, and the person that explains it will be mention next to it. eg. The SLI technology by User2005

b) When stating your arguments, please make sure that you will write them in a clear and understandable way (since this attempt is to help people with less knowledge than you) by avoiding terminology and even better, when referring to terminologies and capital letter terms for the first time, to take the time to explain them so that when you or others refer to them to make sure that we all know them.

c) Since all the components are going to be in one thread it is better to be organized and when suggesting a component, make sure you list it's category on your post as a headline, in BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS
eg. MONITOR 19":

d) Remember this when you are writing: You are talking to a person with good communicational skills, aged from 15-30 years old with very limited knowledge on Computer Hardware and you are trying to convince him/her what to include in the Gamer's Rig he/she wants to build.

[MatrixCy]

CPU:
As i was doing my research i came across AMD Athlon 64 FX series which are convincing me that it's the Gamer's choise. A set of features prove it to be apropriate, and AMD has already proved that they are a reliable and well trusted company.

I believe that the technologies that are included in the FX55-FX57 model are all gamers need and therefore when purchasing an AMD athlon we buy it with functions and technologies that we will definetly use.

HyperTransport Technology:HyperTransport technology is designed to increase the communication speed between integrated circuits in computers, servers, embedded systems, and networking and telecommunications equipment up to 48 times faster than some existing technologies.
Also helps reduce the number of buses in a system, which can reduce system bottlenecks and enable today's faster microprocessors to use system memory more efficiently in high-end multiprocessor systems.
Uses low-latency responses and low pin counts
Maintain compatibility with legacy PC buses while being extensible to new SNA (Systems Network Architecture) buses.
Appear transparent to operating systems and offer little impact on peripheral drivers.

The full specification and more information about HyperTransport technology can be found at HyperTransport.org.

I think the price is a little high for the FX57 and the difference in performance between the FX55 isnt that big.

[BUFF]

don't you think that a £550 CPU in a £700-1200 system is a bit unbalanced?
A 4000+ is 1/2 the price & only fractionally slower (plus can be overclocked to the same speed as an FX).

[darrensen]

Id go with a x2 4200.

[dangel]

I'd got with a x2 3800 - same processor really and works fine at a mild 2.4 ghz overclock (and even cheaper still).

[nvening]

did you completely ignor your last thread? What about the ultra pc i have dibs on?

[mike_w]

Considering this a gaming PC, I would have thought an X2 Athlon would be a waste of money considering games utilise only one of the cores.

[dangel]

Considering this a gaming PC, I would have thought an X2 Athlon would be a waste of money considering games utilise only one of the cores.

...and i would of agreed with you right up till the release of the 3800 X2 which is a darn good whichever way you use it - SSE3 and good overclocking with an extra core thrown in for fun. I'll let you know - mines arriving 2morrow It was basically just a few quid more than the single core equivilent..

[MatrixCy]

don't you think that a £550 CPU in a £700-1200 system is a bit unbalanced?
A 4000+ is 1/2 the price & only fractionally slower (plus can be overclocked to the same speed as an FX).

I ve mentioned that since its a rig for games and games only, and if games will not use the extra core, then we shouldnt waste our money on cores or other technologies that are not useful for us, therefore i will consider your suggestion as a better solution. Also the fact that Fx55 sucks off half of our budget, is another drawback. So for the time, we ll go for the AMD Athlon64 4000+ untill we are proved wrong.

did you completely ignor your last thread? What about the ultra pc i have dibs on?

Definetly not. You can participate with any comment you want to make in this thread and once we are done with this one, (if it is successful) then we can go for the ultra pc. If you already have suggestions or u have it ready in ur mind then feel free to create a new thread with the subject. I d be happy to participate

[dangel]

Well if it comes down to it games don't use 64bits either atm... doesn't mean they won't

[MatrixCy]

we can always edit the Rig when they do. Thats the beautiful part! We dont really have it =)

[Fatboy]

Hard drive - 74Gb Western Digital Raptor 10000rpm.

Quite simply the fastest drive most people can lay their hands on.


Power supply - Hiper 580W Modular.

Again, it does what it says on the tin, you only plug in the bits you need, so cases are a whole lot tidier, plus with 580W on tap, you're not going to need to change it for a while to come.

Say no more.

[MatrixCy]

Thanks fatboy for reading the general guidlines before posting!

Could someone tell us a bit more about Hiper 580 Modular?

Does it work outside the case? Can u connect more than one devices on it?
Does it worth the 60 + VAT?

[mike_w]

For memory, I'm going to recommend some decent value memory. Why, especially in a relatively high end machine such as this? Well, the £50 or however you spend on faster memory means that it has tighter timings e.g. 2.5-3-3-8 on value memory, and 2-2-2-5 on more expensive memory. However, the benefits are relatively small, and I believe that £50 could be better spend on something else e.g. a better graphics card or CPU. As for how much, I think 2GB would be appropiate for a machine that is this expensive.

Final recommendation? Something along the lines of Corsair Value Select 2x1GB.

Also, I've heard some bad things about Hiper - how true they are is another matter, but it's enough for me not to want to risk one. Instead, I would go for a Tagan.

[Fatboy]

Thanks fatboy for reading the general guidlines before posting!

Could someone tell us a bit more about Hiper 580 Modular?

Does it work outside the case? Can u connect more than one devices on it?
Does it worth the 60 + VAT?

The Hiper PSU works in the case!

For a quick round up on connections, you have enough cabling and connections to provide 4 SATA HDD + 8 other component devices, a PCIe, a floppy and P4. The main power for the motherboard is 20/24 pin compatible.

As for the price, is it worth it? In my oppinion yes it is, it looks good, has plenty of grunt, and thanks to tidy cabling should improve case airflow and reduce system temperatures.

That good enough ?

[kempez]

Power Supply: Tagan 580w SLi: I would reccomend the Tagan 580SLi - ready for that SLi if ever you get it and a damn fine price! Great solid PSU and should support some nice overclocking if you get round to some

Audio: SB Audigy ZS OEM: Supports EAX 4 with the new drivers and keeps the frames high with hardware sound. A great card

Memory: GEIL Value Performance 2 x 1gb Kit: Great performing RAM for an amazing price.

Graphics Card: XFX 7800GT: Great card performs excellently, SLi ready and goes like hell!!

Motherboard: DFI Ultra-D: Great overclocking board with tonnes of features and loads of BIOS options. Can be easily hard-modded to SLI with a pencil mod - for a great price

Case: Gigabyte Aurora: Great case from Gigabyte. Loads of room and some really good innovative features. Looks nice too