Building A Gaming Rig: Good By Todays Standards?

[OXM_Madman]

Well, my £1000 is only for the PC.

Any other recommendations?

[chrestomanci]

What is Scan, anyway?

Scan are a mail order company that many people here use and recomend. Hexus members can get free shiping on orders over £20, once they have made 25 posts. (I see you have nearly reached that milestone). See here for the full rules, and how to link your hexus account with scan's system.

Scan also have much better costomer service than most, so I suggest you order from them even if it costs a few pounds more than elsewhere.

[OXM_Madman]

Thank you so much for your help, guys.

But, I have just now found a very good PC from PC World, which seems to have some great specs (I may upgrade graphics card in the future)! Is this good?

• Intel Core Duo 2 E6300 Processor (1.86GHz, 1GHz FSB, 2MB Cache)
  Windows XP Media Center Edition Operating System
  1GB DDR RAM
  250GB Hard Drive
  Multi-Format Dual Layer DVD RW Drive
  64MB Graphics Card Memory (Up To 512MB)
  nVidia GeForce 7300SE Graphics Card
  Built-In TV Tuner & Remote
  19" Moniter

It's from Advent.

[Papa Lazarou]

Thank you so much for your help, guys.

But, I have just now found a very good PC from PC World, which seems to have some great specs (I may upgrade graphics card in the future)! Is this good?

• Intel Core Duo 2 E6300 Processor (1.86GHz, 1GHz FSB, 2MB Cache)
  Windows XP Media Center Edition Operating System
  1GB DDR RAM
  250GB Hard Drive
  Multi-Format Dual Layer DVD RW Drive
  64MB Graphics Card Memory (Up To 512MB)
  nVidia GeForce 7300SE Graphics Card
  Built-In TV Tuner & Remote
  19" Moniter

It's from Advent.

To be honest, not as a gaming PC no. The graphics card, as you have pointed out is pretty weak.

I don't think I'd ever buy a pre-built system from PC World if I could help it Maybe a system like this you can configure yourself would be better? Eg http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ConfigureSystem.asp?SystemID=599

[dave87]

Yup, seconded, Those specs wouldn't constitute a gaming machine -

CPU - fine, but needs a good motherboard and some overclocking to make the best of it
OS - XP MCE is fine if you configure it correctly, otherwise its bloated at best.
Memory - 1GB isn't enough for a gaming machine anymore, and its not likely to be the best performing either...
Hard Disk - fine unless you want Raptors..
Graphics- now the way it says 64-512mb Memory, it suggests its either integrated (bad) or an addin card with TurboCache (not as bad, but not good) - go for something like a 7600 - much better card
TV Tuner - again, if you would use it, then include it, otherwise ditch it.
Monitor - What monitor is it? Do you get a choice? the ones bundled with PC World PCs aren't often that brilliant...

Dave

[OXM_Madman]

Damn, you've moved me back to square one. Thanks for the help. >

But at least I have the components for a good PC in my faveroutes.

What if I just buy this PC and upgrade the graphics card?

Also, how do you overclock your P, as I am new to this concept.

[this_is_gav]

OS - XP MCE is fine if you configure it correctly, otherwise its bloated at best.

Nah, MCE only has 2 additional services running over XP Pro, taking up a grand total of 7mb

Memory - 1GB isn't enough for a gaming machine anymore, and its not likely to be the best performing either...

Agreed in general, though it does depend what you're intending to be playing. This is the area to make cut-backs (never thought I'd say that about RAM...) at the moment if you desperately need to save money.

Agreed with the others. That graphics (card or chip) would be shocking, and would totally negate the point of such a good processor (even at stock speed).

Finally - never buy an Advent, especially one with a 1 year warranty. In my experience they're only going to fail, and likely after about 13 months, or 1 month out of warranty (we bought a series of laptops at work just before I joined... oh dear).

[OXM_Madman]

Oh, ok. I will build a custom PC again, and will be using ajburns specs. Again, is this good?

• Alaska Zen System Case
  Asus P5B Deluxe Motherboard
  nVidia GeForce 8800GTS Extreme XXX Graphics Card
  580W HiperPower SLI Power Supply Unit
  2x1GB Corsair TwinX RAM
  Intel Core Duo 2 E6600 Processor
  LiteOn 16x DVD-ROM
  X-Fi Extreme Gamer Sound Card
  160GB Western Digital SATA 8MB 7200RPM Hard Drive

[this_is_gav]

MUCH better. It would eat that Advent for breakfast. And lunch. And then use the leftovers to make sandwiches at tea. For a month.

[chrestomanci]

MUCH better. It would eat that Advent for breakfast. And lunch. And then use the leftovers to make sandwiches at tea. For a month.

It does look like it would cost about double the Pre-Built one from PC world. Has your budget suddenly changed?

[OXM_Madman]

Thanks.

Could anyone recommend a good quality, low-budget moniter for HD video? I am planning on gaming on HD.

And could anyone recommend a good keybord and laser mouse (mouse needs to be connected via USB or wire)?

Edit: If you look at my previosu posts, my budget has always been £1000, I'm just trying to find a cheaper solution.

[OXM_Madman]

Also, two questions:

1) If I get the different components, can I get a professinal (i.e PC World) to build it?
2) Can I also ask the professinal to overclock my PC?

[ajbrun]

I am planning on gaming on HD.

What do you mean by HD? Aren't all monitors 1024x768 and above technically HD?

Edit: If you look at my previosu posts, my budget has always been £1000, I'm just trying to find a cheaper solution.

Don't go to PC world. Ever.

Also, two questions:

1) If I get the different components, can I get a professinal (i.e PC World) to build it?
2) Can I also ask the professinal to overclock my PC?

I thought you wanted to find it cheaper? If a professional puts your PC together that has bits chosen by you, you do know you'll have to pay for it? On the other hand, if you get a PC off the shelf from the likes of PC world, the quality will be dire. Build it yourself!

Also, I very much doubt a professional would overclock it. Even if they would, why would you need to OC that system now?

[torched_geek]

Originally Posted by OXM_Madman View Post
Also, two questions:

1) If I get the different components, can I get a professinal (i.e PC World) to build it?
2) Can I also ask the professinal to overclock my PC?

1.) Don't bother getting a 'professional' to build the computer for you, with the help of others you will be able to build it yourself. Then you will have had a great boost in knowledge and will have something to be very proud about. If you do however REALLY have something against building it yourself, various sites will build a custom list of components into a rig of your choice or you could take it to a local individual run (I doubt a bigger company would do one from scratch, such as PCWorld) and have them build it for you for a fee.
2.) Overclocking isn't worth it at this point if you were to get somebody else to do it for you. Most overclockers (such as myself), do it for the 'thrill' and you would probably not get as high of a stable overclock on somebody elses overclocking skills as a professional would have to be cautious.

Again, if you really don't want to Overclock yourself, you could try and get an individual to do it for you for a fee, But this is even less likely, as it voids warrantys.

However some firms sell pre-overclocked Graphics Cards and such, which have a warranty at their newly found speeds. Manufacturers such as BFG and XFX can do this for you, but I would advise against it, as they are more expensive cards for what you can do yourself for free and get a rush/thrill out of it, when you know you have succeeded.

Edit : And if you can afford it, I would recommend the E6400 over the E6300, as they are MUCH better to overclock from the benchmarks that i've seen.

Also there are plenty of guides all over the internet to show you how to Overclock in the BIOS, it's a fairly simple process. If you don't want to use the BIOS, certain companies bundle Desktop Overclocking Software with the the motherboard, although I would recommend that you ALWAYS use BIOS for Overclocking the Ram, CPU and Mobo.

Edit 2:
HD or 'High Definition' Telivisions won't give you a particularly great experience to game on, as most of them aren't as high pixels per an area as Computer Monitors. Although practically 'ALL' monitors could be counted as High Definition, as long as they are at least 800X600 which on computers is a rubbish set up.

One great experience can be had if you use a dual monitor set up(this however is not compatible with SLi at the moment due to the architecture, allowing both cards to only utilise one monitor, rather then a singular card which can run two. Two Standard 19", can be purchased at the same price as one 22" Widescreen, with two 19" having alot more surface area then the single 22", yet still been suitable to put together, with a stretched image, if they have straight sides, allowing for a unique gaming experience.

[OXM_Madman]

Ok, thank you for the help.

I have found a better Motherboard, but I am not sure if it is compatible or not with everything else. Is it or not?

EVGA nForce 680i Motherboard

[OXM_Madman]

I have finially came across a good system for myself. The problem is: Is it really good?

Motherboard: Asus P5N-E SLI
Processor: Intel Core Duo 2 E6300 (Socket 775)
Processor Extra Fan: Zalman CNPS7000B
Graphics Card: 2x nVidia GeForce 8800GTX (Gainward) (Plan to Use nVidia SLI Technology)
RAM: 2x 1GB Corsair TwinX XMS2 DDR2
Power Supply Unit: 560W Silverstone Zeus
Hard Drive: Samsung SATA 200GB
System Case: Akasa Zen
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional
DVD-ROM: Sony DRU820A
Monitor: 20.1” Dell E207WFP
Mouse: Logitech Click Plus
Keyboard: ZBoard Starter Pack (Can Be Found On www.amazon.co.uk)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (upgrade to Vista in the future)