D
Dave
On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:35:00 -0700 (PDT)
A gaming PC is a computer built around a video card, or around video cards. You choose video first, then build the rest of the system around that. But for your budget, you should be looking at an nvidia 8800 GTS, or TWO of them. Then you will want an Intel processor, something like an E8500. You will be building dual or quad core, but for gaming you need high clock speed. That's why I suggested the E8500, as that is the highest clock speed I could find in a quick search that is still reasonably priced, considering your budget. Other than that? Get a couple cheap 7200RPM drives to run in RAID, and another huge hard drive to use for backups. Start with exactly 2GB of the fastest RAM your mainboard will support. And don't spend less than about $150 on your power supply. The following will work well for SLI, and be a bit of overkill for one video card (but nothing wrong with that):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256033
You will also need a good Creative brand PCI format sound card. PCI Express format sound cards are out, but if I was building a gaming system, I'd stick with PCI format for now.
OK there are a few parts I missed, but hard to mess up on those. For example, you will want a DVD burner, but just about anything will do for that. Same with case. Personal preference. Just don't pick something small, as you will want plenty of room for airflow to keep things cool.
Oh, and if you are looking for most "bang for your buck", you should be looking for ALL of the features I listed above in a pre-built system. Good luck on that. Pay close attention to POWER SUPPLY of prebuilt systems, in particular. You will probably want to replace the power supply immediately if you go that route. (it will be crap) -Dave
A gaming PC is a computer built around a video card, or around video cards. You choose video first, then build the rest of the system around that. But for your budget, you should be looking at an nvidia 8800 GTS, or TWO of them. Then you will want an Intel processor, something like an E8500. You will be building dual or quad core, but for gaming you need high clock speed. That's why I suggested the E8500, as that is the highest clock speed I could find in a quick search that is still reasonably priced, considering your budget. Other than that? Get a couple cheap 7200RPM drives to run in RAID, and another huge hard drive to use for backups. Start with exactly 2GB of the fastest RAM your mainboard will support. And don't spend less than about $150 on your power supply. The following will work well for SLI, and be a bit of overkill for one video card (but nothing wrong with that):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256033
You will also need a good Creative brand PCI format sound card. PCI Express format sound cards are out, but if I was building a gaming system, I'd stick with PCI format for now.
OK there are a few parts I missed, but hard to mess up on those. For example, you will want a DVD burner, but just about anything will do for that. Same with case. Personal preference. Just don't pick something small, as you will want plenty of room for airflow to keep things cool.
Oh, and if you are looking for most "bang for your buck", you should be looking for ALL of the features I listed above in a pre-built system. Good luck on that. Pay close attention to POWER SUPPLY of prebuilt systems, in particular. You will probably want to replace the power supply immediately if you go that route. (it will be crap) -Dave