Would anyone mind building me a computer?

[elison]

Alright, here's the thing. I'm not computer smart at all. All I know how to do is install shit, play games and fap.

All that aside, after seeing the Diablo 3 news, I decided it's time to upgrade my piece of shit. So that being said, I need some help in building a computer. Again, keep in mind I probably won't be of any help besides giving you my budget.

Currently, I'm putting my budget at anywhere from $750-$1200. If I could get a good computer that could run FFXI/WoW/Bioshock on pretty good settings I'd be content. I could use Newegg or Fry's, whichever. Although I see a lot of people use Newegg for their computer needs.

Any help is appreciated, and if specific questions need to be answered feel free to fire away.

[Ezrael]

First thing first... Everyone will have their opinions of this is better than this, etc etc...

I'm not to biased when it comes to PC components. I'm also not a "fan boy" either. I look at reviews and figure what is the best bang for the buck or what is el numero uno for the applications that I am running. I've looked into what you are looking for at Newegg.com and I tried to keep it conservative except where I believe that certain things need to be.

Let's begin:

GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
(I chose this motherboard because 1. Its cheap, 2. Its stable, 3. Since you don't overclock there is no need for high end.)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
(one hell of a processor... You can go cheaper like w/ the E7200)
Corsair HX520 Modular Power Supply
(This is nice because you only have to hook up what cables you will actually need. No extra cables laying around)
G. Skill PC5300 DDR2667Mhz RAM
(I don't think you will be overclocking so this will match your processor just fine. No need to spend more for higher speed you won't use.)
Western Digital 500GB Hard Drive
(A nice, quiet, and cheap Hard Drive w/ a lot of space on it.)
Sapphire Radeon HD4750 Video Card
(These just came out are pretty much the best bang for your buck. If you are running Vista then ATI may be better for you.)
Samsung DVD Burner
(New DVD burner that burns at 22x speed. Fairly cheap too.)

I left out a case, keyboard, and mouse from this setup. The reason being is each person has their own tastes in what they want so I'll let you decide on that. This setup cost around $741 USD but can be made cheaper w/ a few swapping of parts. I hope this helps.

(Disclaimer: These are just suggestions and not what I say you should buy. Other people have other opinions.)

Edit: I noticed that some of these things do not come w/ the cables required to hook them up. (Hard drive, DVD drive, etc..) Those can be found at a local PC store at a reasonably inexpensive price.

[Shuemue]

I can't really argue with any of those parts. I might personally go with an nvidia card, I've had annoying driver issues with ati in the past, but for every story like mine, you'll find the reverse, so go with whichever manufacturer you prefer. It's quite possible that these new ati cards are better than the one I had issues with, I'm sure the furfag will be in here shortly suggesting them.

[Ezrael]

If not the ATI... The Nvidia 8800 GT 512MB is a damn good choice for Price vs Power.

At $170 USD its a nice card and will definitely play everything out right now.

[Shuemue]

Yeah, the 8800GT was the card I had in mind, although I'd seriously consider the ATI if benchmarks are favourable, particularly for an FFXI player.

[Avanarius]

the benchmarks are very favorable....it beats the gtx260 (gtx260 > 9800gtx+) in almost everything save high stuff with AA due to only have 512mb mem

[Shuemue]

Then $175 after rebate is a very attractive price.

[Avanarius]

sorry I'm correcting myself to not obscure information

the 4850 comes VERY close to the gtx260 but doesn't beat it
the 4870 on the other hand beats it in almost everything
and the gtx280 beats everything but costs a fuck ton

4850 = $200
4870 = $299
gtx260 = $399

[Reality]

also keep in mind, a lot of companies that sell bare-bone PC kits will send the parts unassembled, even though you're buying them together

tiger direct does this

[elison]

First thing first... Everyone will have their opinions of this is better than this, etc etc...

I'm not to biased when it comes to PC components. I'm also not a "fan boy" either. I look at reviews and figure what is the best bang for the buck or what is el numero uno for the applications that I am running. I've looked into what you are looking for at Newegg.com and I tried to keep it conservative except where I believe that certain things need to be.

Let's begin:

GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
(I chose this motherboard because 1. Its cheap, 2. Its stable, 3. Since you don't overclock there is no need for high end.)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
(one hell of a processor... You can go cheaper like w/ the E7200)
Corsair HX520 Modular Power Supply
(This is nice because you only have to hook up what cables you will actually need. No extra cables laying around)
G. Skill PC5300 DDR2667Mhz RAM
(I don't think you will be overclocking so this will match your processor just fine. No need to spend more for higher speed you won't use.)
Western Digital 500GB Hard Drive
(A nice, quiet, and cheap Hard Drive w/ a lot of space on it.)
Sapphire Radeon HD4750 Video Card
(These just came out are pretty much the best bang for your buck. If you are running Vista then ATI may be better for you.)
Samsung DVD Burner
(New DVD burner that burns at 22x speed. Fairly cheap too.)

I left out a case, keyboard, and mouse from this setup. The reason being is each person has their own tastes in what they want so I'll let you decide on that. This setup cost around $741 USD but can be made cheaper w/ a few swapping of parts. I hope this helps.

(Disclaimer: These are just suggestions and not what I say you should buy. Other people have other opinions.)

Edit: I noticed that some of these things do not come w/ the cables required to hook them up. (Hard drive, DVD drive, etc..) Those can be found at a local PC store at a reasonably inexpensive price.

Thank you very much for taking the time to put this together for me.

Quick questions, though. What kind of advantages and under what circumstances would "overclocking" be viable? Also, I'd be running XP for sure. Probably Professional, as that's what I run on my current system. Would upgrading to 4gigs ram be worth a shit, or can this rig handle playing Bioshock on medium - medium/high settings?

Sorry for the ignorance, but I seriously have no idea about computers lol.

[Avanarius]

Quick questions, though. What kind of advantages and under what circumstances would "overclocking" be viable? Also, I'd be running XP for sure. Probably Professional, as that's what I run on my current system. Would upgrading to 4gigs ram be worth a shit, or can this rig handle playing Bioshock on medium - medium/high settings?

Sorry for the ignorance, but I seriously have no idea about computers lol.

This computer will easily play on medium and high up to probably 1600 x 1200 and might choke up a bit at 1920x1200 due to video card only having 512mb of memory but I doubt it would

overclocking would be easily viable but you would likely want to get a 3rd party heatsink such as the thermalright ultra 120 or any other equivalent.

Expect 1gb -> 1.5gb usage while playing games such as Bioshock so 4gb is still excessive unless doing other stuff while playing

[Ezrael]

Quick questions, though. What kind of advantages and under what circumstances would "overclocking" be viable? Also, I'd be running XP for sure. Probably Professional, as that's what I run on my current system. Would upgrading to 4gigs ram be worth a shit, or can this rig handle playing Bioshock on medium - medium/high settings?

Sorry for the ignorance, but I seriously have no idea about computers lol.

This computer will easily play on medium and high up to probably 1600 x 1200 and might choke up a bit at 1920x1200 due to video card only having 512mb of memory but I doubt it would

overclocking would be easily viable but you would likely want to get a 3rd party heatsink such as the thermalright ultra 120 or any other equivalent.

Expect 1gb -> 1.5gb usage while playing games such as Bioshock so 4gb is still excessive unless doing other stuff while playing

Just because a card has 512MB doesn't necessarily mean it will "choke" up. The 8800GT 640MB does worse than the 8800GT 512MB.... There is more to it than just the amount of RAM on a Video Card.

I put 2gb of RAM because over 3gb is a waste for XP because it won't recognize it.

To OP: I didn't didn't mention anything about overclocking since you said you said you had no idea about PCs. Overclocking of your processor will help w/ FFXI since FFXI is more processor based than video card.


Edit: With the E8400 you can use the stock heatsink for a mild overclock. If you get into higher overclocking you will need to get an aftermarket one.

Edit 2: I was extremely tired when I made this.... So forgive me.

[elison]

Quick questions, though. What kind of advantages and under what circumstances would "overclocking" be viable? Also, I'd be running XP for sure. Probably Professional, as that's what I run on my current system. Would upgrading to 4gigs ram be worth a shit, or can this rig handle playing Bioshock on medium - medium/high settings?

Sorry for the ignorance, but I seriously have no idea about computers lol.

This computer will easily play on medium and high up to probably 1600 x 1200 and might choke up a bit at 1920x1200 due to video card only having 512mb of memory but I doubt it would

overclocking would be easily viable but you would likely want to get a 3rd party heatsink such as the thermalright ultra 120 or any other equivalent.

Expect 1gb -> 1.5gb usage while playing games such as Bioshock so 4gb is still excessive unless doing other stuff while playing

Just because a card has 512MB doesn't necessarily mean it will "choke" up. The 8800GT 640MB does worse than the 8800GT 512MB.... There is more to it than just the amount of RAM on a Video Card.

I put 2gb of RAM because over 3gb is a waste for XP because it won't recognize it.

To OP: I didn't didn't mention anything about overclocking since you said you said you had no idea about PCs. Overclocking of your processor will help w/ FFXI since FFXI is more processor based than video card.


Edit: With the E8400 you can use the stock heatsink for a mild overclock. If you get into higher overclocking you will need to get an aftermarket one.

Edit 2: I was extremely tired when I made this.... So forgive me.

What benefits does overclocking give me? And XP won't recognize any memory over 2gigs? That's gimp :/.

Thanks for all the info you've provided thus far. Just purchased my tower, and I'm going to be getting the mobo here pretty soon.

Also, what's the point of owning a quad-core processor?

[The Stig]

What benefits does overclocking give me? And XP won't recognize any memory over 2gigs? That's gimp :/.

Thanks for all the info you've provided thus far. Just purchased my tower, and I'm going to be getting the mobo here pretty soon.

Also, what's the point of owning a quad-core processor?

Overclocking is basically "pushing" your processor to go faster, unleashing the floodgates really, as most of them have been sold under "safe" operating speeds, but it's possible to unlock. Benefits? Faster processor. Cons? Potentially more unstable system/requires more cooling (general rule is faster = hotter).

Quad Core... not much point (yet), but you can epeen your numbers on benchmarking around. No applications/games so far (maybe there's a few, but I haven't read) can use all 4 cores, but in the future you may encounter some games which uses all 4 cores. For now, you can assign different work to different cores manually (or let windows decide), it doesn't really matter too much. But you're somewhat future proofing yourself a bit.

[Ezrael]

XP won't recognze anything over 3gb. So if you get 4gb total you will be "losing" 1gb of memory. Quad-Core Processors are good if you do lots of multi-threading applications like video edited/formatting, 3D Modeling, etc... FFXI doesn't utilize multi-threading so its pointless at this point. However, if Diablo 3 uses it then you are good to go. The Dual Core will work as well.

The benefits of overclocking is you PC is faster. Programs work better, you get more frames per second on games, etc... It does have a downside though.... It puts more stress on the components that are overclocked which could lead to premature failure.

Analogy... You have a sportscar. You put go-fast parts on it to make it faster and this puts more stress on the vehicle which could make it break quicker.

[jkim1162]

It is not true when you say XP does not recognize more than 3GB of RAM.

It is the limitation of 32-bit operating system that limits the amount of RAM it can use. Hence why Vista 32-bit also can not use more than ~3GB of RAM.

Windows XP 64-bit, Vista 64-bit, etc. can properly use more than 3GB of RAM, due to it being a 64-bit operating system.

[Ezrael]

Edit: I was making it for the OPs PC since I assumed that they were running XP 32bit and that it would be rather pointless to upgrade past 3gb. I know you are correct in the 64bit OSs but I didn't want to bore the OP with all the technical nonsense.

but thanks for pointing me out as wrong.

[Avanarius]

This computer will easily play on medium and high up to probably 1600 x 1200 and might choke up a bit at 1920x1200 due to video card only having 512mb of memory but I doubt it would

Just because a card has 512MB doesn't necessarily mean it will "choke" up. The 8800GT 640MB does worse than the 8800GT 512MB.... There is more to it than just the amount of RAM on a Video Card.

By choke up, I meant, running out of video memory, which is a very painful thing to watch if it's happened to you. But AS I said, I doubt it would happen at 1920x1200.