zing - new pc help (1 Viewer)

[Purp|e]

hmm so yeah, i gave up on laptops cause i wont be able to do everything i want on them and i dont REALLY need mobility.

ok, so what i need it for is
- general nerd stuff ie. intarweb, music etc
- some music recording (so maybe sound card? i havnt looked into it enough since i wanted a mac for this part. not really important, just a time waster - but analog 'audio-in' would be good)
- archicad & photoshop type stuff for uni
- games

im not leet hax0r, but so far ive come up with a few idea's, but very unsure in other parts as to what would be overkill vs. what i actually need (keeping in mind budget maxes out at ~2k and im hoping it will go me for a good 3-4yrs)

amd 64 x2 3800 - ~$450 was cheapest i could find
200 gb seagate hdd - $149
motherboard - no idea whatsoever
pioneer dvd-rw - $69
1 gb corsair - $140
video card - x800 pro? x850? 6800 gt?
19" lcd thing - whats good?

case - hopefully something silver/black and mega sexy

anyway, what do you reckon is the go here?

ta <3

 

[Purp|e]

bump .... heeeelllllllpppppppppppp

 

[Collin]

Hey Purple, I expect teh butt secks after this..

If you want better than onboard sound, try the Creative Audigy X-Fi series of sound cards.

As for the video card, I don't recommend the X800PRO, regardless of how much money you have. If you wanted something of that calibre, definitely go for the 6800GT. But in general, if you want a low-mid range card, try the 6600GT. If you want something higher up, try a 7800GT. For something more mid-range, the X850XT-PE goes good too. If you're just planning to play Lemmings or Doom II, then integrated graphics is even fine. However if you go 7800GT, make sure to get a PCI-x16 motherboard.

As for LCDs, if you're planning on playing graphically intensive games on a high-res LCD, I'd definitely recommend a better video card. As you may or may not know, LCD screens tend to look shit when they run away from their native resolution. So say you want to play F.E.A.R (power-eating title) with decent quality, but get a crap video card yet a large 19" LCD (native res tends to be SXGA; 1280 x 1024 @ ~75Hz), you'll be forced to play at that high resolution (unless you want it to look all pixellated and overall shit).. and it will run bad because of your video card. If I got a 19" LCD, I'd know to make sure to get a 7800GT (or better) for the games I tend to play.

Now bend over Purple

 

[Purp|e]

Hey Purple, I expect teh butt secks after this..

If you want better than onboard sound, try the Creative Audigy X-Fi series of sound cards.

As for the video card, I don't recommend the X800PRO, regardless of how much money you have. If you wanted something of that calibre, definitely go for the 6800GT. But in general, if you want a low-mid range card, try the 6600GT. If you want something higher up, try a 7800GT. For something more mid-range, the X850XT-PE goes good too. If you're just planning to play Lemmings or Doom II, then integrated graphics is even fine. However if you go 7800GT, make sure to get a PCI-x16 motherboard.

As for LCDs, if you're planning on playing graphically intensive games on a high-res LCD, I'd definitely recommend a better video card. As you may or may not know, LCD screens tend to look shit when they run away from their native resolution. So say you want to play F.E.A.R (power-eating title) with decent quality, but get a crap video card yet a large 19" LCD (native res tends to be SXGA; 1280 x 1024 @ ~75Hz), you'll be forced to play at that high resolution (unless you want it to look all pixellated and overall shit).. and it will run bad because of your video card. If I got a 19" LCD, I'd know to make sure to get a 7800GT (or better) for the games I tend to play.

Now bend over Purple

you know you dont have to give me advice to get butt secks, but thankyou it was rather informative.

hmm, i think ill look into a 7800gt then - although my budget might asplode, i think it'll be worth it

 

[bscienceboi]

HE wants a mid-high end card cause of Autocad/Photoshop.

19' LCD can be purchased fairly cheaply $400 or less given the package.

Motherboard ASUS/GIgabyte are good. DFi for overclockking.

Make sure you get a SATAII Harddrive, for faster transfer rates. At least SATAI

 

[Wild Dan Hibiki]

www.staticice.com.au is your friend

 

[soul_guardian]

check out msy (www.msy.com.au) and fluidtek (www.fluidtek.com.au) for better prices.

With fluidtek, dont bother using the menu on the left cos they never update it, just look at the specials on the main page and www.fluidtek.com.au/webcontent46.htm

[I prefer fluidtek]

 

[Purp|e]

*bump*

thanks for those links static ice = win

soo, after looking into stuff... i cant afford that processor, and i've had a few other thoughts on the video card.

so here's kinda what im looking at for the moment...

amd 64 3700+ - $325
1gig ddr corsair - $135
seagate sataII 200gig - $$$cant remember (im gunna get an external later aswell to keep all shitty stuff stored on)
pioneer dvdrw - $60

now, as for the motherbaord ... i need an amd 939 pin with pci-e and preferably decent onboard sound, cause a sound card is another thing ill get later when i need it. any suggestions ... i was looking at an asus A8N-E nf4 or asus A8N-sli ?

and the video card ... well, im not sure if i *really* need to spend ~$530 on a 7800gt (i think its @ msy - a gigabyte one)... for what i need, would something like a 6800gs do the job? or anything else basically a step down from a 7800gt you can suggest ... (but > 6600 gt). another question with this ... does it matter what brand ... like cause some are alot cheaper than asus/gigabyte like umm 'forsa' lol... or leadtek?

haha umm next on the agenda, i got a quote from a computer guy i used to go to ... and was way expensive. whats the best thing to do? like go to somewhere like msy and ask them to put it together ? im too noob.

anyway, thanks for ur help <3

 

[absolution*]

If youre down with audio recording i recommend downloading Cubase Sx from a torrent. Its damned good recording software.

 

[absolution*]

haha umm next on the agenda, i got a quote from a computer guy i used to go to ... and was way expensive. whats the best thing to do? like go to somewhere like msy and ask them to put it together ? im too noob.

I got beecom in merrylands to put together mine. Prices and range seemed reasonable.

http://beecom.com.au/home.php

 

[Templar]

Most onboard sound are of similar quality, since you don't have a brand preferance, aren't looking for exceptional overclocking performance, you might as well stick to whichever one is economical and has all the features you need now or maybe later.

The 6800GS is slightly above the 6800GT. It is a nice GPU, but I'm not sure what happens if you factor price into it.

Not sure about how much SATA II HDD cost, but indications are there isn't a high performance increase over SATA, so if it cost significantly more it's better to stay with SATA.

 

[Purp|e]

huzzah, cool .... yeah im gunna get cubase and play around with it, as well as reason 3.0 for some crazy noise making i love free stuff on interwebs

yeah, i think sata II is a bit more expensive ... hmm, and i can get a gigabyte 6800gs from msy for $295 ... that vs $530 7800 gt? is it really worth spending that much more? haha i need moneys to buy all this drawing equipment and i want an ipod so any money saved = win

 

[darksbane]

I have the Asus A8N-E in this comp, its an awesome board, highly recommended, we sold one to a friend of mine as well and he's loving it as well. Just remember, though you can run it off a 20pin psu its best to use a 24pin psu since thats what it was designed for

 

[Templar]

If you aren't a serious gamer 6800GS should suffice, and you might be able to spend the difference on something more worthwhile. My 6800GT can handle whatever I've thrown at it (Doom 3, HL2, FEAR pending) at 1280*1024 with low AA and AS.

Although the 7800GT is slightly more future proof, and is a really great card for its money.

 

[Purp|e]

zing. ok i've pretty much made up my mind about everything finally fuck msy has the best prices ever! wtf... i hope they're decent with warranty and what-not...

anyway, here are the final specs (well almost final )

-AMD Athlon 64 3700+ (san diego core) 939pin [$325]
-Gigabyte K8N-SLI [$133]
-256MB Gigabyte Nvidia Geforce 6800GS [$295]
-1GB corsair ddr400 [$135]
-Seagate SATA 200GB hdd [$134]
-ASUS dual layer dvd-rw [$60]
-Black 1.44m floppy drive [$15]
-Coolermaster centurion rc-541 [$87]
-19" benQ FP91G+ LCD 8ms [$419]
-Logitech x230 2.1 Speakers [$65]

thanks for your help <3

 

[Purp|e]

You need the 24 pin connectors to run PCI-Ex16 cards adequately. Without it, its unsafe.

lol, i have no idea what that means ... something to do with what someone previously said about the psu?