14 replies to this topic

[Gargar]

My laptop is getting out dated as far as new games go so I was thinking about building a new computer from scratch. I need advice I guess.

Budget: Cheap($400?)

CPU: Dual Core, Triple Core, or Quad Core? Is going up to a triple or quad core really worth it? What's a good CPU that will give me enough bang for my buck? I like AMD.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103210

Video Card: I like Nvidia. What should I be looking at? 8600 GT? 9500 GT? 9600 GT?
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814133239

Mother Board: Honestly I don't know much about mother boards, I need something that will work with what ever setup I go with.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128342

Memory: 2Gigs, 4Gigs, or more?
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231122

Case, Hard Drive, CD Drive: I plan to go cheap with this.

Screen, Mouse, Keyboard: I have all of this already.

Am I missing anything? The links are what I'm looking at atm.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Kyle]

My laptop is getting out dated as far as new games go so I was thinking about building a new computer from scratch. I need advice I guess.

Budget: Cheap($400?)

CPU: Dual Core, Triple Core, or Quad Core? Is going up to a triple or quad core really worth it? What's a good CPU that will give me enough bang for my buck? I like AMD.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103210

Video Card: I like Nvidia. What should I be looking at? 8600 GT? 9500 GT? 9600 GT?
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814133239

Mother Board: Honestly I don't know much about mother boards, I need something that will work with what ever setup I go with.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128342

Memory: 2Gigs, 4Gigs, or more?
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231122

Case, Hard Drive, CD Drive: I plan to go cheap with this.

Screen, Mouse, Keyboard: I have all of this already.

Am I missing anything? The links are what I'm looking at atm.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

What is your intent? Hardcore gaming? What games specifically?

[rockage]

What OS Are you planning on running ? If your going with vista you'll want to get 4 gigs. If you go with a gnu/linux you'll be saving money and be able to put that towards something else. Dual core should be good btw.

[Mr. Hobo]

Triple core? Does that exist?

[Gargar]

Games: WoW, I wanna pickup Crysis and Left 4 Dead, Fallout 3?. Planning on playing SC 2 and Diablo 3 when they hit. Aswell as what ever else strikes my fancy as games come out.

A wow buddy of mine put together a good setup for me.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814125247
2x http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820104019
http://www.newegg.co...st=Combo.165142

Along with a cheap case and all of that.

Yes Triple cores exist, I thought it was odd also.

Planning on running Vista.

[Cory]

A "triple core" is just an AMD quad core that had a bad core. So if you buy a x3 you're pretty much buying a faulty quad core.


Personally I'd still go with a core 2, unless you want to fork out the cash for a phenom 2. The set up your wow friend mentioned should be adequate for the games you mentioned though.


I'd defiantly go with a 9800 over a 9600 or lower though. All though you should probably spring the extra 20 bucks or so and get a EVGA model.

[The Dirty Filipino]

If you're hellbent on sticking with AMD, stick with a dual core. Tricores aren't supported by any majority of programs out there, so it's much like using an underpowered dual core (though it has three cores working collectively together to be more powerful than two, if a program only supports dual processors, you're only going to be using 2/3 the power).

I'd suggest getting a high end dual core intel or a Q6600 if you want quad core.

I dont like any of the suggestions from your WoW friend, but I don't have the time at the moment to look for myself. Check back for a post tomorrow.

[Kyle]

Either get a nice Intel quad, or overclock a pentium dual core. I had the 1.6 model and ran it at 2.2 with like 1 degree increase. They can take a lot.

[Cory]

Either get a nice Intel quad, or overclock a pentium dual core. I had the 1.6 model and ran it at 2.2 with like 1 degree increase. They can take a lot.

Name ANY thing that he mentioned he'd be doing with it that would require, take advantage of, or even be able to use the quad core set up? There are only a small hand full of programs out there that take advantage of multiple core processors.

[Kyle]

Name ANY thing that he mentioned he'd be doing with it that would require, take advantage of, or even be able to use the quad core set up? There are only a small hand full of programs out there that take advantage of multiple core processors.

A small but growing number. Quad is more "future proof", if such a term exists, than dual core.

[Cory]

No, the correct answer was none.

[The Dirty Filipino]

No, the correct answer was none.

Most quads aren't worth it.

But the Q6600 is cheap and easy to work with. And can be oc'd extremely easy on a stock system.

[Gargar]

Remember my budget is rather low, $400 for every part of the computer.

[Taylors1367]

ughhh, cant help with that man.

[Fatal]

Even if your programs don't support quad-core, there is still increased multitasking ability and smoothness. I own a Quad/Dual and there's a difference.

Intel Q9400 is the smartest decision right now, only a little more than a Q6600 and worth it.

With a low $400 budget though, you'll probably need to get an E8200 instead.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131335

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814140097 ( http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814127420 )

I too like Nvidia and in general most games seem to be better optimized for Nvidia, but the fact is ATI is dominating in bang for the buck performance right now.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820211188

Edited by Fatal, 02 March 2009 - 08:40 PM.