StarGateWars Forums

So i used to be into my pc's big time, but im not so much anymore, back in my day, 128 Megabytes of ram (includeing a 64 Meg graphics card) was good enough to run every top of the line game very well, 256 was brilliants, 512 was obscene and even PC gameing magazines where telling you , "dont do that, its ridiculas!".

Anyway, Im now in the market for a new PC, as the title suggests, (well this one is 9 odd years old...) anyway, Whats a good spec? Im looking to reignite my interest in FPS's once my family crisis is over (mostly due to the upcomeing "Aliens : Colonial Marines" Game, which is going to be awesome...) Anyway, I know PC language, ive just been away for toooo long, Spec me up guys and gals!

hi buck.

first off, Processor.
I personally reccommend getting AT LEAST dual core. definitely not single core. in my case i have a Pentium D 950 which clocks at 3400mhz. The Pentium D's also are 64 bit processors that can also run in a 32 bit mode. so at least with that you have an option. however these processors are a little old, i dont think you could find them brand new. or at least if you can, it will be a little difficult. best bet for this is to shop online if you can. most current AMD processors like the X2 should be okay too.

2nd, Motherboard.
personally i stick with intel processors, its all i know, and so i stick with the familiar. try to aim for a motherboard with PCI express 16x. AGP is aging phenomenally. not worth it. anyway, ATI graphics cards are good, i have a HD2600PRO sonic 256mb, comparable to an NVidia 8x00 type card. HOWEVER. if you wish to run 2 video cards in an SLI type configuration, aim for an NVidia card. ATI's Crossfire tech is similar but it runs one card at the full 16x and the other at a lower bus speed. NVidia tho run both cards at the full speed.

Please keep in mind that AMD bought ATI and Intel bought NVidia. so if you want SLI, get a board with an intel processor. if you want Crossfire, get a board with an AMD processor.

3rd, Video card.
as discussed above, i run an ATI HD2600PRO sonic. i reccommend this card, its relatively low cost, and gives good balanced performance. however if you dont want this card, at least aim for something with 256mb video memory. then theres the issue with Crossfire or SLI as also discussed above. thus i will not repeat myself here

4th, RAM.
DDR3 has only just been released, thus its really expensive. so, go for a high speed DDR2 type ram. MAKE SURE YOU CONSIDER THIS ON YOUR MOTHERBOARD. i run 1 gig of DDR2 at 800mhz, and even so, 1 gig is a little... small... aim for roughly 2 gig. if your motherboard has 2 RAM slots only, but two 1 gig sticks. if four, buy four 512mb sticks. it performs a lot better when its seperated out in this manner.

5th, Power supply. i suggest looking somewhere for something capable of roughly 500W or above. i use a 400W power supply, i have never had a problem, but my hardware isnt all that intensive on power use.

6th, Hard drives.
as youd already know, Windows Operating Systems boot and perform a lot better off a small capacity drive. also considering that SATAII is much faster than IDE, the smallest SATAII drive i can buy brand new is 160gb. so buy a small SATAII hdd to boot from, for storage, get another internal SATAII drive. i use a 160gb for OS's (i dualboot) and my 500gb for storage.

other than those, most motherboards should be fine. Onboard audio is quite good today. i have a board with Realtek High Definition Audio which with a small add on, i can output 7.1 surround in full High Def. DVD drives are quite cheap now i beleive, i bought mine for 50 dollars (Australian) and it got me 18x which other than standard dual layer reading and writing gives me the option of DVD RAM.

i hope this helps. if theres anything else you want to know, feel free to ask, i tend to be the tech go to guy amongst my friends

.:SOULLESS:.

Add me to msn, we have much tech to disscuss...

Also, That is MOST helpful...

1 problem i have though, Is the NVidia sound card i have keeps dieing on me (fortunatly NVidia keep all there drivers downloadle on website) Was this a comman bug that you know of/if so, is there a fix, I know how NVidia works and understand it, So i would like to stick with it but god knows it gets annoying downloading the drivers twice a week...Then again, It was probally just my motherboard...That was faulty as hell after "freezeing" it... (dont ask...)

Oh, and this should make you laugh...This si the state of my hardrive...

"Runtime, C++ Error has occured..."

That error doesnt show when installing microsoft hardware or anything like that, It just pops up every 40-45 minutes...I believe it is a Visual error, Unforunatly, this baby is going out fast! (Should really have taken care of her..)

Personally I recommend not using Intel parts!! They are more expensive and if you are after a PC for gaming AMD is a better design.

Personally would have one built with a 64bit AMD processor and certainly would spend the extra cash to make sure its a dual core. Also be sure to buy a heatsink that is made from copper.

A few of the good companies for motherboards are. ASUS, ABIT, MSI, and Gigabyte, personally I wouldnt buy any other brand. Most motherboards have on-board sound, this is a componet not to worry about.

I recommend spending extra cash on your hard drive, you want some that can hold what you do and something that has the best access time you can equip your pc with and that your cash can buy.

RAM is always a good thing to have. The more you can afford the better. Make sure the RAM you purchase is compatiable with your motherboard. If you are looking for recommended amount I would go with at leat 1GB.

As far as graphic cards go, I would look around and be very picky. Personally I am a Nivida person but have owned ATI cards before. I know a few people who say make sure to get SLI and 2 cards. SLI is cool to have, but personally I have not seen a single game with recommended stats above 256mb. So DONT on first purchase spend the money on two cards. My reasoning being new cards are frequently introduced and you can always buy later.

FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST!!!! do not purchase Vista, this OS is buggy, has nothing noticably different between it and XP, cost at least $100 more, and is rather annoying to work with. I would purchase a 64bit verison on XP.

I see you mentioned FPS's. I would look at Huxley its a new game that was supposed to be released this month. For any MMO fans this game is the first MMO of its design, being that it is a MMOFPS. Likely this game will certainly hit it big and take off quickly. Also it is for PC and Xbox 360.

Huxley Release Dates
PC - Current release date is set for Q4 of 2008

Xbox 360 - The Xbox 360 version of Huxley is currently set to follow approximately 6 months after the PC version launch


Finaly I give to you the resource I have used in the last 5 years for building PCs. http://www.newegg.com enjoy and good luck. If you wish to talk more please add me to MSN (beldenpaul@hotmail.com)

i agree personally on the note about not buying 2 cards for SLI... my HD2600PRO is a fantastic mid range card, yet i can run crysis at a respectable framerate at 1024x768.

your note on your distaste for intel processors or your preference for AMD cores, i only use intel products because its all ive used, and ive never had a problem. thus my recommendation. but as per my note on SLI vs Crossfire, with ATI being bought by AMD, this only supports my preference for Intel, yes even tho i bought an ATI (amd owned) card. it was the cheaper of the two brands with the specs i wanted.

lol anyways...

my motherboard reccommendation, brand wise, go with Gigabyte or Asus. i have an old Pentium II server board around here that asus made, and despite the fact that its around 8-9 years old, it only recently just started showing issues. so 8-9 years without a hitch... as for gigabyte, im using one now, which i bought late 06. it has never been a problem, always reliable.

as far as the Vista Vs. XP debate, i suggest getting both. I dualboot both and i have never had a problem with vista, mind you im running the 32 bit version. as per the 32 bit mode in my pentium D. i did try 64 bit but the driver security in 64 is much tighter, thus unusable. another reason why i reccommended a Pentium D, it can do Both 32 bit and 64 bit processing. other than the driver in x64 issue, there has been nothing to speak of in bad light of vista. i use it mainly for web browsing etc, and my XP for gaming.

lol i must be the one in a million who actually likes using vista

no offense meant mate I only was suggesting what I myself prefer.

Personally I would say buy a ABIT motherboard, there is a reason they are #1 in the market. But I have worked with the others I mentioned and have not seen much problems with them.

I have a few reasons I recommend AMD over Intel processors. AMD is typically cheaper, typically has a higher clock value then what it listed (IE a AMD x2 5000+ is acually a dual 2.6 GHZ core clock, where as a INTEL duo 5.0 GHZ is a 5.0 GHZ core clock), and AMD has always performed better then Intel when using games. In the days of single core, Intel processors clocked at what they truly clock at. AMD rated thier clocks at comparrisson to Intel but where acually better (IE - Intel 3.0 GHZ is a 3 .0G HZ processor. A AMD 3000+ is equal to a 3.0 GHZ processor but clocks at a 2.6 GHZ). Beside all of the above AMD has had 64 bit architicure around for at least the last 10 years, INTEL has just begun using it within the last few years. And my final recommendation when purchasing a processor is make sure you buy a "Retail Box" processor and not "OEM" reason being all "Retail Box" processors come with a 3 year warranty.

As for when purchasing OS's if you have the money to afford buying both XP and vista, by all means by XP 64 bit and purchase 2 SLI ready graphic cards, or something more nessary like more RAM for example. Its all based on how much money you have to afford this project.

ATI is typically the cheaper of the two top competing graphic cards. And many of them are as good as their compeditor. However there is a reason Nivida is the most prefered graphics cards available

Cheers,
General Orion

haha no offence taken mate. and same from here, if anything i posted in any way seemed aggressive, i apologise. it was not my intention. ^_^

Motherboards, yes i have heard good things about abit, but i personally have had no experience with them.

processors, i appreciate AMDs, in fact for my next PC im tossing up between experimenting (because ive never owned an AMD system) with amd or sticking with intel. i recommend the Pentium D primarily because of its high clock, the option of both 32 bit and 64 bit, and because its an older processor now, Pentium D's would be coming down in price. ^_^ im just making suggestions is all lol

Buck, as far as ram is concerned, i recommend DDR2 800 Mhz, primarily because i use it too, higher clock speeds will be more expensive and DDR3 has only just been released, thus extremely expensive. DDR2 ram is getting quite cheap at the moment. im thinking of buying more ram for my system, at the moment im running 1 gig (2x 512 mb sticks in dual channel). i still have 2 more slots available and if i buy 2 more 512's that will fill me up and set my system further closer to where i want it

a general note while i remember on motherboards, try to anticipate what youll want in your machine in 12 months time. ie if you want to modify your specs in any way, you can do so and not have to completely strip your case down and replace the motherboard... especially if its just for an extra gig of ram i didnt do this because i was mainly concentrating on my starting specs which was silly... however fortunately the machine i have has reasonable capabilities and resources. if i didnt have the 2 other ram slots i'd be pretty annoyed by now it would mean me having to either replace the motherboard... (expensive way to do it) or to take both my 512's and replace with 2x 1 gigs. not nice... but you get my point.

lol i just had an idea... ill keep it to myself for now, might tell ya later

I heard that AMD are steamlined more towards graphics than the Pentium, just to re-interate. So you'll probably want a AMD proc.

buck wrote:Add me to msn, we have much tech to disscuss...

Also, That is MOST helpful...

1 problem i have though, Is the NVidia sound card i have keeps dieing on me (fortunatly NVidia keep all there drivers downloadle on website) Was this a comman bug that you know of/if so, is there a fix, I know how NVidia works and understand it, So i would like to stick with it but god knows it gets annoying downloading the drivers twice a week...Then again, It was probally just my motherboard...That was faulty as hell after "freezeing" it... (dont ask...)

Oh, and this should make you laugh...This si the state of my hardrive...

"Runtime, C++ Error has occured..."

That error doesnt show when installing microsoft hardware or anything like that, It just pops up every 40-45 minutes...I believe it is a Visual error, Unforunatly, this baby is going out fast! (Should really have taken care of her..)

just a thought you may want to know, theres a slight problem with both NVidia and ATI drivers, not too much of a problem tho. might have a little to do with this problem of yours buck.

upon uninstall of the driver from your system, the uninstaller leaves out some files like *.dll files (dynamic library link) and some others. these are usually scattered around the C: disk somewhere. how to fix: you need a program, I cant remember the name, but you'd uninstall the driver, restart the compy in safe mode, use the program to find and delete said driver files etc, (i use 2 programs that if one misses it the other wont.) then you'd restart compy normal mode and install the fresh drivers.

once i find your MSN or you find mine, (whatever happens first) we can discuss in more detail.

I'm planning on building a boomin system soon too.

I'm going to edit video and short films so I'll probably need to push memory and hard drive to the xtreme and rock a mic like a vandal. Thats a given.

This is probably controversial advice for you Buck:

Find the latest, state of the art game out there right now. The one that is most taxing on a system (your current system will probably not even run it). Read the "maximum" system requirements, whatever they are called. The requirements for optimum performance, not the recommend system requirements.

If you build a system similar to those requirements, you should be up to date for at least a year. It should be a good five before your system can't even run new games at all.

Saturnine wrote:Find the latest, state of the art game out there right now. The one that is most taxing on a system (your current system will probably not even run it). Read the "maximum" system requirements, whatever they are called. The requirements for optimum performance, not the recommend system requirements.

If you build a system similar to those requirements, you should be up to date for at least a year. It should be a good five before your system can't even run new games at all.

Far as I know this game is Huxley

haha i bought my system a year and a half ago, nowhere near top of the range and i can run crysis

The Huxley was a bit of a joke, just trying to get people interested...
Crysis doesnt seem like a bad game, requirements are simular, processor requirements are indeed very high, Ive only seen one game require more then that, Although the game didnt recommend as much RAM. Its no FPS but certainly seems like a cool game. check it out....

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Intel Pentium 4 2 Ghz/AMD XP 2200+
512 MB RAM
10 GB available hard drive space
128 MB DirectX 9c compatible card/nVIDIA GeForce 5700/ATI Radeon 9600
DirectX 9 compatible sound card

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400/AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
1 GB RAM or better
256 MB DirectX 9c compatible card/ nVIDIA GeForce 7900/ ATI Radeon X1850.
10 GB available hard drive space
DirectX 9 compatible sound card

And from what I have read some recommend 4600+ or higher for little to no graphical problems.

Another neat game I would check out, that has no requirements posted as of yet is, "2 Days to Vegas"

*puts arm round Buck*

Buck Buck...

*points at laptop he bought yesterday.*

250GB mem. 2.1GHz, 256mb dedicated graphics mem, 2GB RAM. Built in web cam and mic. Finger print scanner, card reader, wireless, new light burn thingy for DVD's. £650. (inc VAT)

Only downside is Windows Vista.

HP, only way to go.

(I dont know about you, but that will do me for 3-4 years at least...)

My hard drive is churning and grinding because im on MSN as well as haveing opera running...

Woe betide me...