Hi there discharges. I think I say hello to you for the first time.
So you want to buy a computer about $1500? OK I'll give you my opinion and some advices, becouse you "hit" same price range as me...
===== PROCESSOR=====First of all we have to decide what processor we are going to use. From that depends motherboard type and CPU slot. So Intel or AMD? I would choose AMD if talking about computer for gaming. Why? Becouse AMD is faster (in most cases - I'm not going to do detailed analysis) and cheaper. I'm not against Intel, actually I have never had another processor but Celeron...
So we choose AMD. Now what processor? What speed? The answer we will get right away after we choose the amount of money for that CPU. Let's say 250-300$. I would choose some CPU from Winchester family, becouse Venice and San Diego are still quite expensive, and I'm not even talking about doubled Toledo and Manchester processors... (If you don't know what I'm talking about,
click here to see AMD processors chart).
So my sugestion is 2.2GHz Athlon 64 3500+ with 512KB cache, 90nm and price from
$266.
=====MOTHERBOARD=====Now after choosing CPU we need to choose the motherboard. The main thing I would care about is fast and full of functions chipset and newest technologies support. So double PCI-Express with SLI support gets in our sight. Lets list here some motherboards for the Athlon 64 from the best brands:
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe from
$160DFI LANParty NF4 SLI-DR from
$172Epox EP-9NPA+ SLI from
$147Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI from
$150I would choose Asus or DFI. The other two are good too. DFI: it's best for gaming, but it looks to good to put in a simple and cheap case (which will cost of course). And it's the most expensive. but $12 isn't much when buying a new computer.
=====RAM=====I suggest two 512MB 400MHz DDRs for dual data processing. I would choose Corsair, but there are more good brands of RAM, like Viking, Mushkin, Kingston and others...
Here is my pick:
Corsair TWINX10243200XL 1GB PC3200 DDR Memory from
$175With EXTREMELY low latency! 2-2-2-5
=====VIDEO CARD=====A quick answer for this issue: nForce 4 chipset in our motherboard means that we have to choose nVidia. And with SLI support, of course... Gaming performande depends on GPU the most. RAM and CPU go to the second place. So for gaming PC the most important is to have the newest card available. The newest today is 7800GTX. It's really expensive but I think she is worth the price.
I found for of them in
newegg. The price is from
$599. After some time if performance will get not acceptable for gaming in high graphics, there is an option to connect another 7800GTX via SLI.
=====HARD DRIVE=====I would suggest Serial ATA. Forget IDE. It's old. Capacity depends only from your needs. But I think that 200GB should be enought.
Check it out
=1:394/popup3[]=5:144/sortby=priceA/popup1[]=45:393/popup5[]=3:380]here for some HDDs. The brand is not such important (WD, Seagate, Maxtor - all of them are good).
The price from
$94=====SOUND=====Sound card for gaming is not that important as good video card. Motherboads with integrated 7.1 audio provides quite high quality sounds. I suggest first try out the integrated sound, and then, if you don't like it, buy a Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 or even Audigy 4.
=====Mouse=====Yes! the mouse is very important too! I would choose Logitech best gaming mouse up to date:
Logitech® MX™518 Gaming-Grade™ Optical Mouse from
$37=====OTHER COMPONENTS=====[b]
All the parts I have suggested are worth [b]<$1350. The case is not important at all. It is only the matter of beauty: nice case cost more, but doesn't deliver more performance. Same with other parts, not affecting performance: monitor, DVD drive, keyboard...
If you think that the price is to big, then choose older video card (but better with SLI) and slower (and cheapier) RAM.
For cooling will be enought stock coolers I think, becouse we're building cheap and fast PC.
Good luck buying your new PC. I hope my advices will be usefull.
Sadas
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