BF2S Forums New computer time, its after Christmas sales.

Computer_Guy wrote:

CruZ4dR wrote:

wait for nvidias 9800 GX2 = win

Probably gonna start at $600 too.

Thats what I was thinking, IF it is gonna be 600 or below. What would the release date be, approx.

Commie Killer wrote:

SenorToenails wrote:

Funky_Finny wrote:

XP 64 bit can support DX10, but Vista would be better, compatibility wise.

What?  That's not true at all.

What about that is not true? Just wondering.

xp cannot support dx10 at all. dx10 isn't needed even for crysis imo. my buddy plays it on pretty much the exact same system on high and it looks fucking amazing.

For step-up: www.evga.com/stepup

Basically, it allows you to trade in your video card within three months for a better model, only paying the difference between the two cards, and shipping.

HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6822136073 - WD 500gb Caviar - $105

Operating System: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6832116204 - Vista Home Premium 64 Bit OEM - $112

Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6824001089 - Samsung 19" 5ms - $220

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6813128080 - Gigabyte X38 - $200

Sound Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6829102006 - Creative Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeGamer - $80

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6820227270 - OCZ Titanium 4GB - $90 (after rebate)

GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6814130312 - eVGA 8800 GTS 512mb (G92) - $330 (after rebate)

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6811119140 - CoolerMaster Stcker 810 w/ 850w PSU - $290

PSU: See above

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6819115017 - Q6600 - $275

Total is around 1700-1750 dollars.

I realize your budget, but this is an awesome rig that'll last you for many years. Good thing about the video card is that it's eVGA, so you can use their Step-Up plan (you register your product and then if a new, more expensive product comes out within 3 months you can just pay the difference between the two) to go to the 9800 GX2.

For the mobo, it's an X38 so you can always upgrade to a new 45nm CPU when they come out in february/march/whenever.

If you really need to stay at 1500, you can make the X38 a P35 and make the 8800 GTS an 8800 GT. Make sure you stay with eVGA as well so you can step-up as I said.

If you want a CPU to last a while, get the Q6600.  For the GPU, get a G92 8800GTS 512 MB if you can, but if you are running short on funds, cut back to a 8800GT and SLI later.

Commie Killer wrote:

Alright, this is what I got so far from all the posts:


HDD:WD 500gb Caviar

Operating System:Vista Home Premium 64 Bit OEM

Monitor:Samsung 19" 5ms

Motherboard:Gigabyte X38

Sound Card:Creative Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeGamer

RAM:OCZ Titanium 4GB

GPU: EVGA 8800GTS 512MB

Case:CM Stacker 830 case

PSU: SILVERSTONE SST-ST75ZF ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS12V 750W Power Supply

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor


One other thing, I need a keyboard and mouse, laser mouse, nothing fancy, mouse wheel, thats all, maybe another button on side. Theres a lot of choices and I dont have much experience in this as I have had the same mouse and keyboard that came with my computer for the past 5 years.


Im gonna go ahead and add these things to my cart on Newegg. Anything else thats I should do, it will be purchased in approximately 20 hours.

Any budget for the mouse and keyboard?

If so, go with:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6826104178 - MX518
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6823175103 - Saitek Eclipse

80 bucks total

If not, go with:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6823126034 - G15 v2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6826104076 - G5

140 total

Commie Killer wrote:

Ill take the cheap one, Im gonna have in included in the budget unless I wanna go to Office Depot and buy it there with the possiblity of parents paying. It would be cheaper online correct?

Most likely, yeah. From all experiences I've had, newegg is 10x cheaper than in-store places (best buy, circuit city, etc).

Commie Killer wrote:

Poseidon wrote:

Commie Killer wrote:

Ill take the cheap one, Im gonna have in included in the budget unless I wanna go to Office Depot and buy it there with the possiblity of parents paying. It would be cheaper online correct?

Most likely, yeah. From all experiences I've had, newegg is 10x cheaper than in-store places (best buy, circuit city, etc).

Same from what Ive noticed, just wondered if it changed in the past 8 months. Thanks.

No problem. Enjoy your new PC.

Commie Killer wrote:

Poseidon wrote:

Commie Killer wrote:

Same from what Ive noticed, just wondered if it changed in the past 8 months. Thanks.

No problem. Enjoy your new PC.

Just one more thing, you have to excuse me for being paranoid, but is there ANYTHING I may be missing? This computer is starting from the ground up, all it has are the outlets in the wall. Well, and a pair of head phones. But is there anything? Is it all compatible? My mom would have my ass on a platter if I fucked this up.

Well, I'd suggest an aftermarket CPU cooler. NEVER turn your computer on without one on. Get this one. I have it and love it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … amp;Tpk=V1
with some Arctic Silver 5: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6835100007

Very easy to install.

You do have a surge protector, right? One power surge without one and you can kiss 1500 dollars goodbye.

I just built my first rig over the summer as well. I thought I fucked up so many times. There's a black plastic plating that covers the CPU socket and I didn't take it off, so when I lowered the ZIF it snapped off. I thought I fucked up my CPU and mobo and I couldn't even speak. I went to the manual and saw it's SUPPOSED to be removed. Then, I flipped the PSU on and for some reason it didn't go. Then I realized later...in all my excitement, I didn't click the power button on the case!

Most problems I had were stupid. Couldn't get a video feed - found out the GPU wasn't in fully. CPU was overheating - I left the heatsink off!

The only real problem I had was with the heatsink. I didn't mount it right and ended up getting a new one.

get the asus mobo instead of the gigabyte

Commie Killer wrote:

One other things, whats a heat sink? Do most computers have one, does this one I am buying have one?

A heatsink is usually a piece of metal (now, it's usually copper, although some are aluminum) that is placed directly on the CPU (with some thermal grease in between) to draw the heat away from the CPU.  Some have fans to move the warm/hot air quicker. If you buy a CPU retail, it'll come with one. It serves its purpose, but most people will recommend you get an aftermarket HSF.

Note that I just described CPU heatsinks. There are other "types" of heatsinks - for graphics cards, chipsets (motherboard), RAM, etc. They're all essentially blocks of material that draw heat away from the source to cool it down.

Last edited by Smithereener (2008-01-12 22:55:42)

Poseidon wrote:

Commie Killer wrote:

Yup got a surge protecter. Also what do you mean by dont turn your PSU on without a fan? Dont they have one in it?


PS: I have taken thing computer apart like 50 times, each time, I almost shit myself cause I think I totally fucked it, almost shoved the RAM in backwards over the summer(not much of a loss, they are only 256MB sticks....)

One other things, whats a heat sink? Do most computers have one, does this one I am buying have one?

No, I mean it happened to me. There's a switch on your PSU that allows your computer to be booted up. I only turned the PSU switch and forgot to hit the power button and thought I fried the PC.

A heatsink is what stops the CPU from overheating. CPUs are the main workhorse of the computer so they generate temperatures in excess of 140-150f sometimes. The heatsink draws the heat from the CPU out into pipelines and moves the air out through a fan.

With that CPU, mine is currently at 35 celcius (95 fahrenheit) which is EXCELLENT. It's been down to 29 degrees celcius (84.5 fahrenheit) at times as well.

Watch out for static electricity too. Make sure you're not working on carpet and try to use an anti-static wrist band or anti-static mat. If you can't get one, simply hold a part of the case that's metal while you're working.

My IT teacher told us I think 40 volts of electricity can fry an entire mobo. An average shock from a doorknob or something is almost 40,000 volts. So yeah, watch out.

Yeah I am working on carpet, have been told that few times so Im gonna get a band.

ig wrote:

get the asus mobo instead of the gigabyte

Why? Just wondering.

DrunkFace wrote:

Commie Killer wrote:

Alright, this is what I got so far from all the posts:


HDD: Western Digital Caviar 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Why such a shitty small HDD?
I assume its this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6822136075 for $49.99?

Spend an extra $30-35, and get double the space and 16MB cache, with either.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6822136074 - $79.99 (Western digital)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6822148140 - $84.99 (Seagate - slightly faster)

I was thinking getting a big one, but in truth, I dont need the space, right now, I got a 120GB and Im only using 100.

Smithereener wrote:

Commie Killer wrote:

One other things, whats a heat sink? Do most computers have one, does this one I am buying have one?

A heatsink is usually a piece of metal (now, it's usually copper, although some are aluminum) that is placed directly on the CPU (with some thermal grease in between) to draw the heat away from the CPU.  Some have fans to move the warm/hot air quicker. If you buy a CPU retail, it'll come with one. It serves its purpose, but most people will recommend you get an aftermarket HSF.

Note that I just described CPU heatsinks. There are other "types" of heatsinks - for graphics cards, chipsets (motherboard), RAM, etc. They're all essentially blocks of material that draw heat away from the source to cool it down.

Thanks for clearing that up, I have one, I was pretty sure thats what it was, just wasnt positive. The one on my P4 is Aluminum I think.


Little problem here, we are at 1858, that is more then I can afford. I can maybe fit in 1800, but thats a stretch, prefer to keep it at 1750 max.

Wondering something, there are 3 GPUs on this page, all 8800GTS, all EVGA, each better then the other. I got the most expensive, the one with the core at 670MHz. Now, if it is highly recommended that I keep this one, I will, I can probably squeeze the money out of parents, but if not, Id like to save the money, heres the list:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi … ;name=EVGA

Last edited by Commie Killer (2008-01-12 23:16:52)

Defiance wrote:

CruZ4dR wrote:

wait for nvidias 9800 GX2 = win

Cut the waiting crap, there's no point in it.

If you wait for nex gen cards, you'll get a week of use until all the benchmarks are done and people start saying damn, I should have waited another month for the 10200 GX43.

So on and so forth. Buy the best now, what's out in a month will only be a marginal improvement.

Yeah, along with the upgrade that EVGA is allowing, it seems to make sense to buy this now. I gotta make sure to keep all the paper work for this, not to mention I dont even have a desk to put it on....seems no one in my family has thought of that yet.