How is this for a gaming rig and be honest

Lee H

Hi

The faster the better yeah i know that one, but limited money means careful selection



Processor has 2MB L2 cache am sure this is sweet

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2GHz (Retail 775)



4Gig of OCZ for £50 will go down a treat

OCZ 4GB PC2-6400 Vista Performance Gold (2x2GB)




Would any mobo deliver a HD picture through DVI - HDMI, say a 2.5Gig HD avi??

Asrock ConRoe1333-DVI/H Socket 775 Motherboard

* LGA 775 for Intel® Dual Core Core™ 2 Extreme / Core™ 2 Duo / Pentium® D / Pentium® 4 / Celeron® D processors
* Intel® 945G Chipset
* Compatible with all FSB1333/1066/800/533MHz CPUs except Quad Core
* Supports Dual Channel DDRII667/533 x 4 DIMM slots with max. capacity up to 4GB
* Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950, DirectX 9.0 and Max. shared memory 224MB
* 1 x PCI Express x16 slot
* Hybrid Booster - Safe Overclocking Technology
* Untied Overclocking : During overclocking, FSB enjoys better margin due to fixed PCIE/ PCI Buses
* Dual VGA Output: support D-Sub and DVI-D ports with DVI Graphics-HDCP card by independent display controllers
* Supports HDCP function with DVI Graphics-HDCP card, to enjoy better quality with High Definition HDCP Encryption contents
* Supports PCIE Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
* 4 x Serial ATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors
* 7.1 CH Windows® Vista™ Premium Level HD Audio (ALC888 Audio Codec)
* Windows® Vista™ Premium 2007 Logo Ready
* Free Bundle: 1 x DVI Graphics-HDCP card
* HD 8CH I/O: 4 ready-to-use USB ports, HD 7.1 channel audio jacks


This is were i cannot spend £200 on a fat card, will this plus all above play the latest games with ease ??

nVidia GeForce 8600GT 512MB DDR2 PCI-E

# GeForce 8600 GT core running at 540MHz
# 512MB GDDR2 Memory running at 1400MHz
# 128-Bit Memory interface
# Shader Model 4.0
# Memory Bandwidth: 22.4GB/s
# Designed For Extreme HD Gaming
# Nvidia Pure Video Technology
# Dedicated Video processors free the GPU Shaders to run 3D applications
# HDCP Enabled!!
# True High Dynamic Range Rendering Support – Based on Open EXR technology
# World's first unified architecture supporting Microsoft® DirectX® 10
# Built for Microsoft® Windows® Vista™


Any help guys would be great, i am willing to spend a tiny bit extra on any of these items if it will make a big difference in performance


Thanks in advance

Lee H

dynamik

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115003
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115031

I'd go for the 6600 over the 4500. You get twice as much L2 cache, a significantly faster FSB, and a slight increase in mhz. It really seems to be the sweet spot where performance for cost is maximized.

Are you going to be doing overclocking? You got 800mhz ram for a 667mhz mobo. Keep in mind that if you get a 32-bit OS, you're only going to be able to access around 3.25gb of ram.

Also, consider getting a mobo that supports SLI. SLI has come a long way and you can get quite a bit of performance out of a second card. If you have that option available, you can add a second card cheaply when the prices drop in a year or two.

Slowhand

Looks pretty good, but I'd go with dynamik's suggestion. Still, I'd say it's a pretty sweet gaming rig

ilcram19-2

dude thats nothing check this combo out

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3714946&Sku=MBM-780I-Q6700

JDMurray

This article is a bit old (2006), but only the CPU, memory, PSU, and video card need a bit of modernizing. I really like water-cooling the CPU and OCing the video card for a gaming rig.

Your DIY 4 GHz Dual Core Gaming Rig For $720

phantasm

Looks good. Again, another vote for dynamiks response. My gaming rig is this:

Intel E6600 2GB G.Skill DDR2-800 (micron chips) eVGA 8800GTX Asus Commando SOund Blaster X-Fi Fatality Silverstone Zeus 750w PSU (estasis built)

It's a bit pricey, well it was when I built it. But it runs fast as anything.

Mishra

I'm going for the e3110. Not too many people know about it but it is as great as the e8400 which is great.

Darthn3ss

I'd go with the E8500 or the Q6600 and a 8800GTS or GTX.

but i'd atleast go with the 8800GTS or better.

royal

I wouldn't go with any 8 series. 9 series is coming out really soon and you can get the 9 series budget card for just about the same price as the current 8 series budget card.

Mishra

You should honestly wait a while after any new product comes out as it usually drops 30% more. If you ran out and bought a Q9450 for 350 dollars then by the time October came around it would already be down to 250 or so and you would be sad.

If you want cutting edge technology then wait for the Q9450, but if you are looking for price/performance then getting the q6600 or e3110. The E8400 has its price gouged due to supply/demand right now and no one knows when it will get out of that state.

The only reason I know all this crap right now is because I've been researching to buy a new computer. Usually I don't keep up with it.

My old computer is funny

AMD Athlon XP 2100
KG7 motherboard (classic!)
1 gig of DDR 2700
Radeon 9600 256mb of ram

The only game it plays on high is like Quake 3 arena... I played the Crysis demo on it though! That was funny too.

Lee H

Hi Guys


I went with all of what i chose but i changed the mobo for a slightly better one with SLI, can hold 8 GIG of RAM, is there any reason why i should get another 4GIG of RAM, should i need it for any games or will the 4 i have be surfice

I am pleased with it, runs very quick, COD 4 on its way


Lee H

dynamik

Did you get a 64-bit OS?

4gb is going to be sufficient for quite awhile; Crysis' recommended spec is only 1.5gb.

Pash

Lee H wrote:

Hi Guys


I went with all of what i chose but i changed the mobo for a slightly better one with SLI, can hold 8 GIG of RAM, is there any reason why i should get another 4GIG of RAM, should i need it for any games or will the 4 i have be surfice

I am pleased with it, runs very quick, COD 4 on its way


Lee H

If your using a 32bit OS only 4gig of registered physical memory is available anyway. 64bit will have 8gig of recognisable physical memory and so on.

In all honesty there is nothing wrong with getting the high end 8000 series cards now. Nvidia are apparently releasing a series of cards every year. They changes so quikly now you could end up waiting all the time. I have a high end 8800 GTX and its a beast of a card, runs everything ive thrown at it flawlessly.

Go with what your budget allows.

Cheers,

JDMurray

Anyone building a gaming machine should have a look at the Valve Hardware Survey. It is a collection of the stats of 143K (and counting) gamers who play through the Steam online gaming portal. This survey gives a good indication of what the low-end, median, and high-end gamers have for hardware, OS, and drivers.

Mishra

I just bought

http://www.buy.com/prod/intel-xeon-dual-core-e3110-3-0ghz-lga775-1333mhz-fsb-6mb-l2-cache/q/loc/101/206778623.html#cRevSec

with 5 dollars off for being a new user

Mishra

I think I have my gaming machine figured out

Proc: I purchased a Xeon e3110 for from buy.com so my processor is covered.
$207 free shipping


MB: I'm not really set on a motherboard yet. I don't want RAID or SLI (even though I wanted SLI at first... I've then decided that paying extra for the better MB, power supply, coolers, case is just not worth the 20-30% jump). I was thinking about this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813127031
($59.99 after $30.00 Mail-In Rebate)


GPU: I've done a bit of research on video cards as this is my toughest choice... But the 8800GS seems to be a great deal. At 110 dollars the reviewers said that it maxes out COD4 which sounds great. If the 8800GT or 8800GTS only gives COD4 a little bump in resolution and maybe a higher AA then I can't justify the 80-100 dollar jump for only this. I can buy the 8800GS then purchased the newer card 1-2 years down the road which will play Crysis great. I assume the GS can play supreme commander well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130332
($109.99 after $30.00 Mail-In Rebate)


RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034
($29.00 after $40.00 Mail-In Rebate)


Power Supply/Case: Looking for a cheap crappy flimsy ugly broken gross case (prefer it to be bigger to hold the equipment easily) with a 500W PS in it
RAIDMAX Smilodon Extreme ATX-612WEBP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811156098
($47.99 after $35.00 Mail-In Rebate)


$588.97 before rebates
- $135 rebates
+ $17.47 Shipping
= $471.44!!