Build Advice

[Omerta]

wait what?

 

[silent-circuit]

No, not really. You're looking at a GTX 280 or 4870X2. Minimum. $350-450 for the GPU alone. Ideally, GTX 280 SLI, which would be $700 for GPUs, plus a big bad PSU around $100, and a $200ish motherboard, and that's assuming you're going C2D / C2Q and not Core i7. An X58 board would be considerably more and introduce higher cost DDR3 RAM.

What's your budget over all? "First PC ever" I assume you need a mouse and keyboard as well? Will you be using the TV's speakers, or do you need some speakers too? Do you want wireless or wired keyboard and mouse?

About how long would you like this machine to last? A year, two? It doesn't sound like you'll do a lot of heavy multitasking so a dual core may be better than a quad, for gaming performance, but if you want to keep it a while the quad may last longer.

 

[Omerta]

I'm BUILDING my first PC ever. I already have a G15 and g9 for keyboard and mouse. I have logitech z4s for speakers. I am looking to spend 1,500 after tax and shipping. I'd like to last around 2-3 years.

 

[HardwareGuru]

You can look at these setups. But, if you say max setting in Crysis at over 30fps it will be hard at 1920 x 1080 and Very High Settings with AA enabled. You most likely will not get 30fps with all of these settings turned up. You can try this though, all settings on high and 2X AA enabled. Or, all settings on very high with no AA. I would be happy with just all settings on high at 1920 x 1080. and no AA enabled. Enabling AA really does hinder performance in games.

CPU/Mobo – Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 + Asus P5Q Pro mobo combo deal for $255($15 MIR on mobo)
RAM – 4gig G. Skills DDR800 for $50 w/free shipping
Video – Visiontek Radeon HD 4870X2 for $530 w/free shipping or BFG Geforce GTX 280 1gig for $410($50 MIR)
HDD – WD 6400AAKS 640gig for $75 w/free shipping
Optical Drive – Samsung 22X SH-S223F for $25 w/free shipping
Case/PSU – Antec 300 case + Antec Neopower 650 for $115 (Neopower 650 certified for 4870X2 video card)
Heatsink – Xigmatec HDT-S1283 120mm rifle for $32 + retention bracket $7
O/S - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for $100

Total: $1,189.00 w/Radeon HD4870X2 graphics (before shipping & MIR)
$1,079.00 w/Geforce GTX280 graphics (before shipping & MIR)

 

[InnocentNoobie]

I'm BUILDING my first PC ever. I already have a G15 and g9 for keyboard and mouse. I have logitech z4s for speakers. I am looking to spend 1,500 after tax and shipping. I'd like to last around 2-3 years.

Sounds like you should just do yourself a favor and just not build one, ever

 

[tiraides]

Sounds like you should just do yourself a favor and just not build one, ever

Don't discourage him....

 

[silent-circuit]

Sounds like you should just do yourself a favor and just not build one, ever

Really, where'd this come from? Get out of Gen[H]ard if you're going to bring that kind of attitude. I agree the guy was pretty snappy, but I don't need people rushing to my aid -- I've been here long enough and know enough people value my opinion that I don't really worry about it.

 

[Omerta]

Innocentnoobie, I kinda know what I'm doing even though I've never built one. I've upgraded ram, cpus, psus, and hard drives in all my prebuilt systems before. It's not a big deal. I just never felt like building one.

 

[Alai]

I am looking to spend 1,500 after tax and shipping. I'd like to last around 2-3 years.

First off I will be gaming on 37" 1080p Samsung. What I mainly will be doing on this PC is play games like GOW (gears of war), COD4, source games, TF2, and Crysis.

I'd like to have something that can run Crysis at max settings at a 1080p resolution with frame rates above 30fps.

Move along, Jack. Maybe check out the magical beanstalk and you might find a golden-egg-laying goose and a magical harp.

 

[Omerta]

Move along, Jack. Maybe check out the magical beanstalk and you might find a golden-egg-laying goose and a magical harp.

LOL, I know it is not going to play new games at their highest settings even 1 year down the line, but I don't really care. I don't see a point in continually upgrading just to max out games. I just want a PC that currently max out the toughest games without a problem (crysis) at a high resolution.

Based on what hardwareguru (and thanks) told me, it's still very tough to max out crysis at a high resolution with current GPUs, so I'm thinking of waiting for the next offerings from nvidia/ati and I want to see how they do.

 

[Markyip1]

What's with all the hostility in this thread? Really...

Omerta,

HardwareGuru's configuration is an excellent starting point, but if you're really after max settings in Crysis with a 1920x1080 resolution, you may need to go the SLI route with two GTX 280s and an nForce motherboard. A single GTX 280 or 4870 X2 will do very well with Crysis on high, but may struggle on Ultra.

IMHO, Crysis with max settings is a silly requirement to base a new build by, as Crysis is a) not that great of a game and b) a real outlier in how it eats up hardware -- i.e. I think there are games that are just as graphically impressive (although maybe not from a pure brute-force technical sense) that do more with far lower hardware requirements.

At the very least, given how the industry is moving, I wouldn't gauge Crysis as a benchmark for what sort of hardware future games will require to look their best. Call of Duty 4 and Farcry 2 may be much better exapmles.

 

[Alai]

My joke was due to the OP wanting a Crysis maximizing system on a 37" (yes, count them... 37... almost as long as my penis) with a $1500 budget.

 

[engiNURD]

I agree with SC, HG, and Mark.

 

[HardwareGuru]

I agree with this. I wouldn't spend money or more money just to play this 1 game. I played Crysis and Crysis Warhead. Once I ended both games I pretty much don't play it again or even bothered to play online with this game. COD4 is worth playing more than once in campaign mode and online.

IMHO, Crysis with max settings is a silly requirement to base a new build by, as Crysis is a) not that great of a game and b) a real outlier in how it eats up hardware -- i.e. I think there are games that are just as graphically impressive (although maybe not from a pure brute-force technical sense) that do more with far lower hardware requirements.

At the very least, given how the industry is moving, I wouldn't gauge Crysis as a benchmark for what sort of hardware future games will require to look their best. Call of Duty 4 and Farcry 2 may be much better exapmles.