Building a Good Gaming System but lost ???

[CafeenMan]

Hello everyone. This is my first post here and I'm hoping to learn more than I need.

I've built four computers and still don't understand basic hardware stuff. I mean it's easy to plug stuff in and have a computer that works, right?

Problem is I keep building computers that I'm not real happy with because I'm doing it on a budget and end up with really good low-end systems that can run any game but at low quality settings and lots of frame skips.

I use one computer for everything but everything besides games runs more than fast enough so that's not even an issue.

I currently have a Gigabyte mobo (K8 Triton GA-K8NS) with an Athlon 64 3400+ processor and 2 GB RAM.

I want a good gaming system and I don't want to skimp.

Here's what I don't know. I don't know what a bus is. I don't know wha the numbers mean. I know what the word "latency" means but I don't really get what it means in regard to computers.

I've been reading as much as I can and the more I read the more I know I don't know what I'm doing.

I plan to spend between $1,500 and $2,000 on this system and it will take me several months to put that away so it's kind of a win-win for me. Stuff available now should be less expensive by the time I'm ready to buy so anything that costs that much now will either be less or I can buy better when the time comes.

What we don't need to worry about in that price is the OS (or any software), the case, the power supply or hard drives.

I need a mobo, processor(s), video cards (dual sli), RAM, probably longer cables for my new case and maybe a cooling system. My new case has 6 built-in fans.

I have no interest in modding or over-clocking. I want to build it, install the OS, boot up and have it work. Simple, right?

If I need faster hard drives I'll buy them later. I currently have 10 hard drives:

500 GB x 2 IDE
500 GB x 2 Sata (don't work in my current system - sort of)
360 GB x 3 IDE
200 GB IDE
160 GB x 2 IDE

I don't plan to use all these drives, btw. I'm also wondering strictly from a speed standpoint if more drives slow the system down. I'm sure they have an effect as the OS has too keep track of them which means RAM, but I assume the drives aren't being accessed by the OS just for giggles. Most of my drives are storing projects and media so they're just storage.

I use an OS drive that also has basic and business apps installed and a second drive for games. Everything else is storage.

I plan to keep using Win XP Pro. I don't want Vista and if Vista is a necessity to build this sytem then I'd rather build a different system than use an OS I don't want.

I plan to RAID at least a pair of the hard drives simply for the speed benefit. I don't know if my fastest drive should be my OS drive or my Software drive.

Just looking over various components this is what I'm thinking the costs are.


Mobo - $250.00 ish
RAM - $300-400 is (2 GB)
Processor(s) - ???
GPU (2) - Hopefully no more than $400 each.

This is the case I just bought. I expect it this week.

Newegg.com - SILVERSTONE TJ07-S Silver 2.0mm Aluminum body ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

While I'm saving cash for the new system I'm moving my old system over to the new case. At some point I'll buy a good SLI-compatible, modular PSU - probably 850 or more watts.

My current system has 6 hard drives installed and on internal optical drive. I did the math the other night and my 400 watt psu should be tanking but it's been that way for a couple years and holding up. Don't know why.

Anyway, I'm asking for several things.

First and foremost, if you want to talk about buses, then please explain what the numbers mean because otherwise I won't get it.

Second, is there any reason why I can't use 32-bit XP Pro with a system like this?

Lastly, specific advice on components. I definitely want nVidia cards as I've never had problems with them but have had some issues with ATI cards. Not a lot but enough to make me leery.

I basically want a smoking fast system so throughput from point A to my display is what it's all about.

I'm not concerned with "future proofing" because there's no such thing. If it kicks ass now then it will for several years.

My current computer can run everything I've put on it but Far Cry, Doom and Crysis make my system cry and I'd have to be a sadist to actually try to play them.

It plays Half-Life 2 at max settings (except anti-aliasing) without a hitch.

Thanks!

- Paul

[CafeenMan]

PS. I don't care about style. By that I mean I want to pay for good, stable, fast components - not neon lights.

[VincentVega]

please examine Tyrant's system. He spent a grand (not including O/S I believe) and the stats are perfect for what you want.

System building is an art that can only be perfected with experience and research and understanding.

Tyrant's New PC

don't mind the fact he's having problems with it right now, that's unrelated to what I'm pointing to

[CafeenMan]

I'm already reading his thread.

[Dukefrukem]

also keep in mind its impossible right now to build a system that will play Crysis at 60fps on very high... its also impossible to build a system that will play Crysis at 60fps on high...

[CafeenMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VincentVega

please examine Tyrant's system. He spent a grand (not including O/S I believe) and the stats are perfect for what you want.

System building is an art that can only be perfected with experience and research and understanding.

OK, I read the thread but it didn't really answer any of my questions.

I can do better than a $1,000 system but I'm not sure what to buy. I've read tons of mobo reviews and even the 5-star boards with 125 reviews will have a couple people saying the board is crap. In one case a guy said he had four of that board and none of them worked. I'm assuming he screwed up the same way all four times and it's not the board but I really don't know.

As you can see, most of my drives are IDE and I'd like to use them but newer mobo's don't have IDE connectors. I can use a card, but how much will that affect system speed? Will it even work on a newer mobo?

It's stuff like that and what all the specs on the mobo mean that I don't know about. I'm reading about this divided by that gives you the final answer but I don't know what that answer means or why they're dividing anything by something else.

I'm reading everything I can all over the net but it's not unconfusing me. So help with that would go a long way.

[Dukefrukem]

Usually the top notch motherboard reviews are for people who spend a lot of time tweaking their bios settings to overlock their system. The reason these boards are so expensive is because they are very stable at these settings. Don't worry about the expensive mobos in your case. I'm guessing you won't be doing much overclocking.

[CafeenMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dukefrukem

also keep in mind its impossible right now to build a system that will play Crysis at 60fps on very high... its also impossible to build a system that will play Crysis at 60fps on high...

I'm using a Raedon X1650 card right now and about the best I can get on anything is 30 FPS. That's ok but new games are in the low 20s.

I want to build a new system and then say, 'Wow! So that's what it's supposed to look like!'

[CafeenMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dukefrukem

Usually the top notch motherboard reviews are for people who spend a lot of time tweaking their bios settings to overlock their system. The reason these boards are so expensive is because they are very stable at these settings. Don't worry about the expensive mobos in your case. I'm guessing you won't be doing much overclocking.

I don't plan to but I'm also the kind of person that a little knowledge is dangerous. When I get a little farther and figure out how to do it I probably will and then break everything and fix it again until I really understand.

I bought my first computer and formatted the hard drive by accident the next day thinking I was formatting a floppy. So I bought a DOS book and within a couple weeks I knew DOS inside out. I didn't know anyone who could help me get my software reinstalled and had to learn the hard way.

[Fish111]

1500-2000 is a shitload for only the cpu/core components.

I wish I had a third of that to mess around with for my new build.

coincidentally Im also attempting to upgrade from an old single core amd system and ddr400, but my video card is decent.