My Laptop is 3 years old and sucks

[Aerox]

So I was running on an XPSM170, which has been nice for the last 3 years, but is starting to suck.  Pretty much every TF2 update kills my FPS more and more, and tonight I was running around 20 on Well (CTF) with all my settings at the lowest and it was pretty much unplayable.  It only has a 7800GTX, and temperatures hit 70C when I'm playing TF2.  FPS is fine when I'm inside (60-120), but drops like a rock pretty much whenever I go outside, unless it's on a small map like Mach4, or specific stock maps (like dustbowl).

I'm willing to spend $1000-$1500 on a new desktop ($2000 is my absolute upper limit, but I'm hoping that I can get a kickass machine for less than that.  Maybe not though).  I'm looking for something that I won't have to upgrade for a while, and when I do it will be simple.  I'm hoping for this to run all the new games that will be coming out (Fallout 3, Legendary, Left 4 Dead etc.) at pretty high settings.

I know NOTHING about putting together computers.  And I literally mean nothing.  I've always done prebought before, and if a whole bunch of parts were just shipped to my house with no instructions I would probably break them all as I tried to put it together.  I don't know what tools are required, what goes where, or what to do with any of my shit.  I need to be told what to buy, how to put all that shit together, and pretty much every tool/accessory I need to do it. 

Help.

Additional questions/notes: 
I have a 4 year old Windows XP Dell install CD.  Should I use that, or should I just upgrade to Vista?
Also I need a nice monitor.
I have 2 GB of RAM in my laptop that I can pull out and use (2 1GB sticks).  I don't know what kind it is.
Heating is also somewhat of a concern.  My room gets very hot very easily (probably because of all the electronics I have in here), and the computer will likely be going in a little cabinet/cupboard built into my desk).  The cooler it runs the better, although obviously if cooling shit is really expensive then I will just deal with it.

[Surf314]

Just remember black to black, or has that changed.  Shit I hope that hasn't changed.  Also there are some good builds in the build-a-rig thread but I think you can afford something a bit beefier.

Edit: with monitor and Vista ??? you should probably snag ducks latest ~$650 build and add a slick monitor and Vista if you want it.  Personally I'd skip it for windows 7.

[Aerox]

Just remember black to black, or has that changed.

I have no idea what that means.

[Surf314]

[quote author=Surf314 link=topic=1402.msg38340#msg38340 date=1221272712]
Just remember black to black, or has that changed.

I have no idea what that means.
[/quote]

Oh when I was like 14 or 15 I worked at a computer repair store, mostly building computers.  The owner would always tell me all you need to know is black to black, everything else goes the only place it fits.  What it was is the power supply has (had?) two connectors and you had to put them in with the black wires next to each other or you'd fry the motherboard.

[Versus]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6824236028

$200 after a $20 rebate for a good 22" monitor.

[Ceceil Felias]

[quote author=Aerox link=topic=1402.msg38341#msg38341 date=1221272811]
[quote author=Surf314 link=topic=1402.msg38340#msg38340 date=1221272712]
Just remember black to black, or has that changed.

I have no idea what that means.
[/quote]

Oh when I was like 14 or 15 I worked at a computer repair store, mostly building computers.  The owner would always tell me all you need to know is black to black, everything else goes the only place it fits.  What it was is the power supply has (had?) two connectors and you had to put them in with the black wires next to each other or you'd fry the motherboard.
[/quote]
Those are the old PC-AT days. We haven't had the dual 6-pin black-to-black power connectors for over a decade now. It's been 20 (and recently 24)-pin foolproof ATX power connectors since then, and software control over the computer's power state as a result.

[HeK]

I'm willing to spend $1000-$1500 on a new desktop ($2000 is my absolute upper limit, but I'm hoping that I can get a kickass machine for less than that.  Maybe not though). 

I have a 4 year old Windows XP Dell install CD.  Should I use that, or should I just upgrade to Vista?

Very dooable. I built Luin's PC for $1300 after shipping and taxes. $1300 Canadian. Including 22" Samsung LCD, G11 keyboard, G5 mouse, Antec case and PSU. All name brand bits.

You are still better off using XP. You may not be able to reuse that XP disc, as it's tailored for Dells.

[copulatingduck]

The latest build in the build-a-rig thread is a good starting point. If you want to spend more, or have a preference of ATi|Nvidia, Intel|AMD, etc etc, let me know and I can work out something. Also, if you want suggestions for monitors, mice, keyboards and what have you, be sure to list those as well or I'll just put together parts for a computer.

edit: Have you tried running in Directx8 for your XPS? That sometimes boosts FPS by a lot if you aren't already. To force TF2 in Directx8 (if you aren't already), right click TF2 in your steam games list >> Properties >> set launch options >> and enter "-dxlevel 81" without the quotes. Because an 7800GTX should still be doing pretty well for you. I get 40ish in outside environments on my XPSm1210 and that has a 7400M. What's the processor and ram like? You could try defragging your game files, or just defragging your system, that surprising made a big difference for me a few weeks ago. But yea, I feel you on TF2's performance tanking. :-[

[ToiletDuck]

I have 2 GB of RAM in my laptop that I can pull out and use (2 1GB sticks).  I don't know what kind it is.

no can do, unless that's a weird laptop that uses actual desktop DDR ram (not SODIMM)

[Aerox]

edit: Have you tried running in Directx8 for your XPS? That sometimes boosts FPS by a lot if you aren't already. To force TF2 in Directx8 (if you aren't already), right click TF2 in your steam games list >> Properties >> set launch options >> and enter "-dxlevel 81" without the quotes. Because an 7800GTX should still be doing pretty well for you. I get 40ish in outside environments on my XPSm1210 and that has a 7400M. What's the processor and ram like? You could try defragging your game files, or just defragging your system, that surprising made a big difference for me a few weeks ago. But yea, I feel you on TF2's performance tanking. :-[

I tried running in Directx8 a while back, and it fucked up all my character models without making any kind noticable FPS difference.  I defragged TF2 recently, but maybe I'll try again.

[Aerox]

The latest build in the build-a-rig thread is a good starting point.

Well, I was planning on spending at least a minimum of $1000 and possibly more, so what would you recommend upgrading from that build?

[Wedge]

[quote author=CopulatingFuuuuuck link=topic=1402.msg38418#msg38418 date=1221306391]
The latest build in the build-a-rig thread is a good starting point.

Well, I was planning on spending at least a minimum of $1000 and possibly more, so what would you recommend upgrading from that build?
[/quote]

A monitor, if you don't have one.  Honestly it's very hard to spend $1000 building a high end gaming PC now unless you're getting into ridiculous luxury items like ultra high end processors or video cards that have very marginal cost/performance ratios.

[Versus]

A monitor, if you don't have one.  Honestly it's very hard to spend anywhere near a $1000 building a high end gaming PC now unless you're getting into ridiculous luxury items.

loooooolwut. Maybe if you omitted the "high end" part of "high end gaming PC".

[Wedge]

[quote author=Wedge link=topic=1402.msg38501#msg38501 date=1221340037]
A monitor, if you don't have one.  Honestly it's very hard to spend anywhere near a $1000 building a high end gaming PC now unless you're getting into ridiculous luxury items.

loooooolwut. Maybe if you omitted the "high end" part of "high end gaming PC".
[/quote]

No, you're talking about ultra-high end rich boy.  The benefit you would get from doubling the price of a $700 setup is not anywhere near double the performance.

[CaffeinePowered]

[quote author=Versus-pwny- link=topic=1402.msg38502#msg38502 date=1221340234]
[quote author=Wedge link=topic=1402.msg38501#msg38501 date=1221340037]
A monitor, if you don't have one.  Honestly it's very hard to spend anywhere near a $1000 building a high end gaming PC now unless you're getting into ridiculous luxury items.

loooooolwut. Maybe if you omitted the "high end" part of "high end gaming PC".
[/quote]

No, you're talking about ultra-high end rich boy.  The benefit you would get from doubling the price of a $700 setup is not anywhere near double the performance.
[/quote]

lol wut, when you start getting about $2000 that's getting into bleeding edge, $1000 IMHO is very reasonable for a high end build as far as the benefits you are getting. Thats the stage where you can start going things like Raid 5 10000 RPM Raptors, really nice graphics cards and motherboards, and have a soundcard instead of onboard garbage.

[Aerox]

lol wut, when you start getting about $2000 that's getting into bleeding edge, $1000 IMHO is very reasonable for a high end build as far as the benefits you are getting. Thats the stage where you can start going things like Raid 5 10000 RPM Raptors, really nice graphics cards and motherboards, and have a soundcard instead of onboard garbage.

So what do you recommend?

[CaffeinePowered]

[quote author=CaffeinePowered link=topic=1402.msg38526#msg38526 date=1221345719]
lol wut, when you start getting about $2000 that's getting into bleeding edge, $1000 IMHO is very reasonable for a high end build as far as the benefits you are getting. Thats the stage where you can start going things like Raid 5 10000 RPM Raptors, really nice graphics cards and motherboards, and have a soundcard instead of onboard garbage.

So what do you recommend?
[/quote]

Motherboard - $140
Processor - $190
Memory - $95
Video Card - $150 (after rebate)
Sound Card - $140 (PCI-X) or this - $90 (PCI)
PSU - $130
Case - $80
Hard Drive 1 - Windows Main - $40
Hard Drive 2 - 4 (Raid 5 Array) - $195 (65x3)
DVD Burner - $30

Total Price For Case Only - $1280

Machine Specs
3.16 Dual Core Processor
2 gigs DDR2 1200
BFG Geforce 8800 GTS (Factory Overclocked)
High performance 7.1 surround sound card
650w Power Supply
720 gigs of HDD space w/Redundancy (80g windows drive, 640g Raid 5 array)
DVD Burner

Moniter and OS not included, I prefer to buy those at an actual store where I can see a demo unit. Id recommend Vista x64 for your operating system.


I'm also horrible at picking out a case and/or power supply, for a PSU I just tend to do overkill.

[at0m]

+1 to caff, most of his choices look solid. If you don't want as showy a case, go with something from Antec (newegg has a lot of choices). Both Thermaltake & Antec build solid cases, they're usually a little on the heavy side but nice. I've got a Sonata II, but I don't think that would have enough HDD bays for the rig that Caff spec'd out. If you want to pinch a few pennies, you can drop the sound card - Caff swears by them, and they're nice if you're an audiophile, but IMO most onboard chips are pretty good these days.

[Wedge]

If you've got a really nice sound system and need 600 gigs of space for critical data, then yeah that might be worth it, but it's really not necessary for most people.  I think it'd be worth finding out what exactly he needs the computer to do, and try to work the luxury bits towards those ends.  And it couldn't hurt to try and find some deals too, a lot of those parts could be gotten 20-30 cheaper with the same quality.

[CaffeinePowered]

If you've got a really nice sound system and need 600 gigs of space for critical data, then yeah that might be worth it, but it's really not necessary for most people.  I think it'd be worth finding out what exactly he needs the computer to do, and try to work the luxury bits towards those ends.  And it couldn't hurt to try and find some deals too, a lot of those parts could be gotten 20-30 cheaper with the same quality.

He's better off getting it from newegg IMHO, since he lives in Cali, thats where their main distribution center is, so next to no shipping costs, and they will let you RMA almost anything for any reason, even if you break it just say it was DOA and for the most part its no questions asked.

I ordered a processor from another website once, it had a bent pin on arrival and the box was kind of beat up, the RMA guy told me, and I shit you not, to bend the pin back with a screwdriver...yea...good advice, repair the delicate gold connector pin by attempting to bend it back into perfect alignment with a large piece of hard steel.