(05-13-2008, 04:49 PM)copulatingduck link Wrote: [table][tr][td]The motherboard:[/td][td]GIGABYTE GA-MA69VM-S2 Micro ATX Motherboard[/td][td]$65[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]The Processor:[/td][td]AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Brisbane 2.3GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor[/td][td]$59[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]The Ram:[/td][td]OCZ Reaper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)[/td][td]$95 ($60 w/ rebate)[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]The Power Supply:[/td][td]Thermaltake 500W ATX[/td][td]$60 (40 w/ rebate)[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]edit: THE DVD DRIVE![/td][td]I'm a generic OEM DVD Burner (SATA, IDE cables are a bitch)[/td][td]$32[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]The Vidya Card (Pick 1 of the 3)[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]1[/td][td]Sapphire Radeon X1950XTX 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express x16[/td][td]$120[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]2[/td][td]EVGA GeForce 8600GTS 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16[/td][td]$150 ($120 w/ rebates)[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]3 (great, but sold out)[/td][td]EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16[/td][td]$150 ($120 w/ rebates)[/td][/tr]
[/table]

There, a $431 (w/ rebates $376) rig (minus the HDD and case) in 15 minutes, and I guarantee you it'll run your games pretty nicely. The first thing I would suggest splurging on if you want to bump it up a notch is obviously the video card. For most games, this will be your bottleneck.

You would still need to supply a HDD and a case, but those are completely up to you (probably an additional $120~$150). And for prices, if you really want, you could do better buying parts over a few weeks as Newegg tends to have GREAT DEALS on parts, just not all at once. For newbie builds, I always suggest buying retail processors, it comes with the heatsink and fan and some paste, should be good enough for your concerns. As for the video cards, those prices aren't the greatest I've seen. It's possible to get much better deals, but like I said, you just have to wait for them. Lastly, make sure your case is the proper size  ;P

Any questions, errors, etc, just leave a comment.

edit: For more help with Video cards, Tomshardware has awesome reviews and comparisons of dozens and dozens of video cards, both with 3DMark test results and RL game performance measured in FPS.

(05-13-2008, 05:11 PM)Geoff link Wrote: [quote author=copulatingduck link=topic=277.msg6635#msg6635 date=1210715359]
There, a $431 (w/ rebates $376) rig (minus the HDD and case) in 15 minutes, and I guarantee you it'll run your games pretty nicely. The first thing I would suggest splurging on if you want to bump it up a notch is obviously the video card. For most games, this will be your bottleneck.

You would still need to supply a HDD and a case, but those are completely up to you (probably an additional $120~$150). And for prices, if you really want, you could do better buying parts over a few weeks as Newegg tends to have GREAT DEALS on parts, just not all at once. For newbie builds, I always suggest buying retail processors, it comes with the heatsink and fan and some paste, should be good enough for your concerns. As for the video cards, those prices aren't the greatest I've seen. It's possible to get much better deals, but like I said, you just have to wait for them. Lastly, make sure your case is the proper size  ;P

Any questions, errors, etc, just leave a comment.

edit: For more help with Video cards, Tomshardware has awesome reviews and comparisons of dozens and dozens of video cards, both with 3DMark test results and RL game performance measured in FPS.

(05-13-2008, 04:49 PM)copulatingduck link Wrote: [table][tr][td]The Vidya Card (Pick 1 of the 3)[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]1[/td][td]Sapphire Radeon X1950XTX 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express x16[/td][td]$120[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]2[/td][td]EVGA GeForce 8600GTS 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16[/td][td]$150 ($120 w/ rebates)[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]3 (great, but sold out)[/td][td]EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16[/td][td]$150 ($120 w/ rebates)[/td][/tr]
[/table]

Quote:PCI Express 2.0 Support
Designed to run perfectly with the new PCI Express 2.0 bus architecture, offering a future-proofing bridge to tomorrow’s most bandwidth-hungry games and 3D applications by maximizing the 5 GT/s PCI Express 2.0 bandwidth (twice that of first generation PCI Express). PCI Express 2.0 products are fully backwards compatible with existing PCI Express motherboards for the broadest support.

(05-13-2008, 06:29 PM)IdiotWithGuns link Wrote: Humm hard drives?

i use raptors 74 gigs in raid 0 or 1+0 for os.  Cant beat that.  They running at 10k rpm

(05-13-2008, 06:32 PM)copulatingduck link Wrote: [quote author=IdiotWithGuns link=topic=277.msg6662#msg6662 date=1210721367]
Humm hard drives?

i use raptors 74 gigs in raid 0 or 1+0 for os.  Cant beat that.  They running at 10k rpm

(05-13-2008, 07:01 PM)Geoff link Wrote: Sweet.  Me and Spore were talking about how it would be awesometacular if you got a sweet rig together, then modded a lunchbox into a case.  Portable TF2.

(05-13-2008, 11:24 PM)ScottyGrayskull link Wrote: Here's one for you guys:

I want to upgrade, and I'm kind of on the brink of it being more worth it to just get a new system. I want a new CPU, motherboard, power supply, and RAM. Chances are with that I'll need a new case, so that as well (although I'll gladly keep my current case if the new stuff fits). Everything else I'm quite happy with.

Thing is that my video card is AGP (ATI X1650 512 MB I believe). So I need a motherboard that can take AGP, but has plenty of room for future upgrades (so PCI-E amongst other things). I'd probably be looking at just below mid range for most of the stuff, but I'm willing to pay more for the motherboard if I think I'll be able to keep it for an upgrade or two.

(05-14-2008, 10:27 PM)copulatingduck link Wrote: For people wanting new Video Cards, Tom's Hardware does an awesome post every month talking about the best cards for your money.

Tom's Picks for the Month of April

At the end of his post, he also ranks EVERY VIDEO CARD SERIES EVER in terms of relative power.

(05-13-2008, 06:46 PM)CaffeinePowered link Wrote: SSDs, Fuck yea

I really want to buy one just for my OS so shit loads uber fast