need advice on computer building

as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

I was wondering if anyone had any advice. I have been planning to build a computer. For one I figured it would be cheaper ie; cutting corners and not buying crap I don't need like dell or gateway would include no matter what. And also I figured this was the only way to customize to the exact specifications that I had in mind. I figured out all of the components and prices and it ended up being pretty low. But recently I found a place that would do it for me for much cheaper. Not only cheaper but they'd make a better system for me. They even had the thermaltake case I wanted for cheaper than I've found it anywhere w/ a 450w pow. sup. included. Should I just get it from them? or do you think they are trrying to rip me off somehow? Any and all feedback no matter how degrading would be much appreciated.
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

then name of the site I was talking about is called leadcomp.com. Has anyone heard anything bad about them?
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JayDubya · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 11:40 pm Post subject:

What exactly are you looking to do with this computer?
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

doom3 and hl2 mostly. btw that was a quick reply. thanks for offering your assistance.
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JayDubya · Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 12:08 am Post subject:

For playing games I would recommend an AMD based system. It'll save you alot of money and give you the same performance of an intel counterpart.

I would suggest an NF7 series motherboard ~ $60-90 depending on model
AMD mobile 2500+ ~$90
2*512mb sticks of corsair value ram ~ $150
ATI Radeon 9800pro ~ $200 OR Nvidia 6800GT ~ $400.
The ATI card is the best bang for buck of the older generation cards and should play D3 and HL2 very well.
The Nvidia card is the latest generation graphics card and will play D3 and HL2 amazingly with better image quality. It will also last longer than the 9800 pro as far as good performance in games goes.

I would also throw in a good 7200rpm IDE hdd or a 7200rpm SATA drive. The SATA drive costs about the same as an IDE drive but will give faster load times for windows, games, and many other programs. The downside is that you must have a motherboard that supports it. Normally a hard drive with SATA costs a little more than the base model but it seems to be a fair trade off.

The pricegrabber link at the top of the page will give you the best prices for each piece of hardware. I suggest buying from newegg.com, zipzoomfly.com or tigerdirect.com Great retailers.
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

wow thx alot! I was going to go with a p4 but I may have to rethink that. But do you think that because I somewhat of a computer retard that I should have it built for me or no?
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JayDubya · Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 12:15 am Post subject:

I see building a pc as glorified 'legoes' . Essentially you need to put all the pieces that look alike together. There are many tutorials out there. Google is a great place to find them. You will probably also need a copy of windows if you don't already have one.

2k or XP are going to be your best bet.
Don't forget, we'd be here to help you

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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

why the 2500 and not the 64? and is the nf7 good for ocing?
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JayDubya · Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 12:42 am Post subject:

The 2500m is a great overclocker with the nf7. You could go 64bit if you are willing to spend a little more money but there is only a slight edge right now in games. An overclocked 2500m (coupled with a good aftermarket cpu cooler) would yeild some pretty good performance.

You can check out the MSI K8neo and a few of the 64bit processors but I can't recommend much for them right now.
Can anyone here?
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Sally · UberTweaker Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1158 Location: WA

No doubt about it, JW knows his shiznit. He is leading you down a cost effective path. If you have the dough to put forth for the ATHLON64, keep also in mind you'll need a bit more for the board as well. There are very clear advantages in speed to the 64's, even w/ 32 bit software. Working at a computer retailer, I get the opportunity to play w/ s***. I recommend that all try this simple test to experience first hand the Athlon 64 difference. Go to your nearest Staples/BestBuy/CompUSA/etc and find both an Athlon 64 system and a high end (even media center HP if you like) P4HT. Select ALL of the desktop icon and hit enter. The P4 will spray sparks out the exhaust fans but eventually chug through while the AMD will go "BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM.......BAM" and open all applications.
Another advantage to the 64 is the greater likelyhood of having some PCI Express slots on the board. All of these boards are newer and more prone to such NEW and COOL stuff.

JW did what all of us part time tweakers do; he offered a cost effective solution to immediate gaming issues. The 2500+ is a way better choice based on cost also b/c it is HIGHLY overclockable whereas (to my knowledge) the Athlon 64's aren't....so you only get the speed you pay for. With that, if you have the scratch and the desire for the latest tech to match, then go 64 and don't be an INTEL whore.
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

thermaltake xaser looks great for cooling but then again i dont have one. is that a good case?
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JayDubya · Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 12:53 am Post subject:

There ya go. Sally has a little experience with the 64 bit AMD systems. He has some very noteworthy experience. Thats a very good point to bring up the PCI-Express factor. It will allow for some future expandability as well.

Thermaltake makes some great cases. I know Josh and Zhenya really like their Xaser III's.
I forgot to suggest a psu and case too

The Xaser 3 is kinda pricey but it is a good case. Thermaltake makes decent psu's and a 420watt purepower will do great for just about any setup.
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

you said to go with the nf7. why not the an7? is there an ocing advantage that the other doesn't have?
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JayDubya · Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:07 am Post subject:

I can't remember much about the an7 anymore. I think the only difference is the microguru (uGuru) thing that it has. It offers overclocking from windows which is a bad idea.
The nf7 series is tried and tested to work very well and overclock very well. Extremely stable with moderate to high overclocks in my experience. 2500m's @ 2.5 ghz @1.85v. 225fsb * 11x multi.
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

and it's cheaper. i think i made my choice on that matter. thx alot.
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

the radeon x800 is twice as expensive. is it worth the money?
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

I just saw something very wierd. pcprodirect.com and leadcomp.com offer the same exact things on pretty much the same exact website. that's wierd enough. the pcprodirect pc is like $400 cheaper. i smell a scam.
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JayDubya · Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:20 am Post subject:

When you consider the x800, the x800pro, the x800xt/xtpe (all ATI) and the 6800, 6800GT, and the 6800 Ultra (All Nvidia) I believe that many would agree that the 6800GT gives the biggest bang for the buck.

The regular x800 only has 12 pipelines which effectively cuts down the bandwidth alloted for your card. Same with the 6800. The 6800GT has all 16 pipelines enabled and overclocks very well. It also comes with ddr3. This means you also get higher memory speed and better performance.
I hope this is making alot of sense to you. I would also suggest you try google (your new best friend

) for some benchmarks and reviews of both cards and how they perform in D3 and HL2
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

forget it. i figured it. that pccrap direct wont let me choose a vid card.
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

yeah a friend of mine that i havent spoken to in about 2 yrs just told me yesterday that if i want to build a computer i should use google. its a great tool ive been using it for everything you guys have told me. this friend of mine used to overclock pentium 1s and 2s. he really knows alot.
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Sally · UberTweaker Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1158 Location: WA

...I still do that...
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

i think i might go with the 9800 pro. it's cheaper and you said it will run doom 3 and hl2 really well.
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

if i plan to overclock would a raidmax cobra type case give enough cooling?
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

i meant he used to do that when they were "high tech" is all.
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as4c · TweakNOOB Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 45

im going to sleep. i just wanted to thank you guys for all your help. i found out more on this forum than i have in the past 2 days researching on google. this site should have one of those pay pal donation things. i mean... i wouldnt use it... but that's just because i have no money. thanks again. later.
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