Computer Building.... I need ur help

Ok, now this might seem VERY vague to you.....but i am gonna start building a computer in the near future and i would like to hear you guy's oppinions as to what setup is best!

EDIT: i will be using it for gaming but not overly extensive gaming....
I need a monitor and system and speakers (everything really)
I am building it from scratch so if you have any recommendations for me as to what you think i should put in my rig then please tell me!!!

I wanna hear you views and all of them will be greatly appreciated!!! Either suggest a single peice of hardware that you think would be good for me or tell me an entire setup!

"Rules": Money no object (i will save up for as long as it takes ) | All components that can be overclocked WILL BE so any recommendations with good OCing potential will be greatly apprecialted | I am gonna WaterCool my rig so suggestions on what would be best there would be nice


Thank you Soooooooooo much to anyone who can help me with this!!! I REALLY appreciate it!

Cheers

welcome to the forums, enjoy your stay!

first things first, the search button is your friend! this sort of "i need a new system, etc etc" question gets asked ALOT around here, which isnt nessicarily bad, but theres a ton of great info in older threads, so do a search and start reading!

second, i noticed that you said you would have to save to get this, if you're talking over a period of months ALOT can change in the hardware end of things... new products, cheaper prices, etc etc etc... so thats something to keep in mind.

also some type of budget is a must really, and we would need to know what you need, monitor + system + speakers, or just system... also what you intended to use the system for (other than overclocking of course) - is a big help for us.

some of the places that you would want to check out would be:

www.anandtech.com
www.overclockercafe.com
www.overclockers.com
www.anandtech.com
www.hardocp.com (still some decent info there)

thats all the ones off the top of my head really, they review hardware, and should give you some nice reading. the sites you'd want to purchase all these nice parts when finally get your money would be:

www.newegg.com
www.googlegear.com
www.mwave.com
www.directron.com
www.nutrend.com

also, www.pricewatch.com and www.pricegrabber.com are indispensible resources, they help you find lowest prices, but beware of some vendors. to check on a vendors credibility, use www.resellerratings.com to check em out!

hope that gives you a start, let us know if you need anymore help.

John

what are you building the rig for? gaming etc?

if you are a intel person i say wait for a lil while to see the new p4 3.0+ ghz to appear and than go for a p4 2.53 as their prices will drop

with amd xp2800+ comes out and another price drop for xp2600+

depends what your using it for.

but amd is graet and cheap

Yeah i use it for gaming and just general use really. I play a lotta Day of Defeat though
But other than that nothing out of the ordinary like video editing.

I have always been an AMD person but now i see that intel has the PIV Northwood 2.4B 478 pin this looks like a good option that is fairly cheap and an AMD that runs at 2.4Ghz costs loads! So i was considering that. A bit torn between the two now!

I am just wondering if that particular intel was any good cuz i have heard some bad things about it.... Does it have good OCing potential or would i be better with an AMD?

Thanks guys

Ok, sorry Mr.Chanmers I wont ask again......

Its just that i am new to the forums (but i take pride in my single star) so i havent really had the time to look around as much as i would like to!
Thanks for the sites though i will go check em out. But as for the buying sites, i live in England and most of the American sites that i have seen dont deliver to Europe and its prob cheaper to buy from an English online store.

I edited my first post to hopefully clarify it a bit. Thx for that

Mr. Chambers said:

second, i noticed that you said you would have to save to get this, if you're talking over a period of months ALOT can change in the hardware end of things... new products, cheaper prices, etc etc etc... so thats something to keep in mind.

Click to expand...

Very true on how prices change. Mind boggling sometimes especially when you pay $100 for something and the week after it's $59.99. Happened to me more times than I care to share.

You have to keep checking those sites often, then after you feel you did enough research, set a price in your mind that you can live with and when you see what you want, go for it!

You WILL find cheaper prices than those sites Mr Chambers listed. But if you read on the boards, you'll see that some of sites that list incredible prices are not very trustworthy companies. So I stick to the companies that I know I can trust like newegg, svc and mwave to name a few.

Looking for that "best" deal will almost become like a part time job, but it will all be worth it when your system is finally up and running

R3V3L4710N said:

Ok, sorry Mr.Chanmers I wont ask again......

Its just that i am new to the forums (but i take pride in my single star) so i havent really had the time to look around as much as i would like to!
Thanks for the sites though i will go check em out. But as for the buying sites, i live in England and most of the American sites that i have seen dont deliver to Europe and its prob cheaper to buy from an English online store.

I edited my first post to hopefully clarify it a bit. Thx for that

Click to expand...

dont apologize i wasnt aware you did anything wrong! i was simply pointed out, as many did to ME when i first joined, that the search button is very often overlooked, and SHOULDNT be.. its a very useful tool, heck my post count would be 3000+ right now probably if i didnt use the thing every other time its a great resource, lots of good info in older threads, worth checking out.

theres alof of people on this board from england too, again a search of "england vendors" or something along that lines will turn up a bunch i'm sure. if not, go ahead and bost in "Vendor Discussion" i'm positive someone will post a bunch of stores over there for you.

one last note, if you're building this for DOD, that game will run on just about anything anymore but do your research, and when you finally do get the money, you'll be able to put together a quality system that will last you along time with little upgrading, perhaps the video card after awhile... that seems to be the thing that goes out of date fastest for me lately. good luck on your purchasing.

[edit] as for speakers, i'd invest in a quality pair.. if you've never owned a decent pair before it will just blow you away when paired up with a good sound card (audigy or turtle beach card). best bang for the buck at the moment is the Logitech Z-560's. i own a pair and let me tell you, they freaking rock!

Hehe ok. Thanks. I wasnt even aware that the search bar existed! But ur right...it is the fountain of knowledge. Thanks for pointing me there
I will definately try to find more England vendors cuz the ones site i have now are uh.....crap. No offence to them they r just a lot more expensive than the ones in the US.

As for the vidoe card, i wil be playing loads of games! (UT2003 comin soon) But i play DoD the most. And no shamefully i have never owned decent speakers! My sound card at the moment (integrated into MB) an AC audio '97 supports 5.1 surround but my speakers are a lousy 2-piece set
I was thinking of an Audigy sound card with some Creative 5.1 5300 (or if i had some money to spare the 5700)
I will try and find the Logitech Z-560's on an english vendor and possibly get those however!

Cheers mate for ur help

Thanks a lot Kid Payne (sorry i didnt see ur post )
I am gonna have to find some good trustworthy english vendors in that case.

PS that must suck with the prive drop thing...

Yeah, I didn't pay enough attention myself and didn't read that you're in England

no problem, glad i could help a bit. i'm not positive, but i'm sure that there has to be some stores over there that have a display of the z-560's... go check em out you'll be glad you did. creative makes great stuff too though, so either way you'll be good to go.

as for your vid card, if you have money to burn, the ATI 9700 is the performance winner at the moment, but to be honest, i never spend more than $150 on video cards, they just advance TOO fast... i usually upgrade them once or twice a year, so whats the point?

in all honesty, if you could just use onboard video, (if your mobo will have) or just a cheap vid card to hold you over, NV30 looks to give ATI some really good competition, and competition = MUCH lower prices, on all cards..

right now i'm still using an old ATI 8500le @ normal 8500 speeds. the LE models are basically just slowed down retail 8500 models (the le models have a core speed of 230 or 250mhz, and memory speeds of 250 or 275, and all retail 8500's have a 275/275mhz speeds.)

you can pick up LE's over here in the states for as little as 90shipped.. they are great cards, i score alittle above 9000 3dmarks, which is great for how little my system really cost me!

R3V3L4710N said:

PS that must suck with the prive drop thing...

Click to expand...

Yes it does suck, but most of the times it's a difference of $10 to $20. The thing that kills the most is when you make a purchase knowing full well that you got a fair price for it, and finding another good site with a way cheaper price within 30 minutes of your purchase. Oh yeah it hurts, but I still love it!