building my very first PC and need your help!

J

jc6699

Weaksauce
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Mar 14, 2006
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I want to build a PC mostly for gaming and I need to go for a simple easy build since it's my first attempt at building my own pc. No overclocking and no worys about if everything will be compadable. I so far picked up a q9450 and 1 9800gx2 and a coolermaster cosmos s. I need EVERYTHING else :)

Display... maybe 30" dell or gateway?
motherboard... I may go for 2 9800gx2
memory... I saw ocz sli ready ram, do I need special ram for 2 gx2's?
psu...how much power will I need?
hdd... I dont download much as far as music and videos go so I guess I need something fast for games?

not sure if I missed anything else I'll need but again my goal if possible is an easy build. thanks in advance!
 
well, really the minimum you should need PSU wise is a 750W i'd say...

display, definately a dell or maybe even an apple 30"er if you felt like it.

1 9800GX2 should be enough really, but if you feel like you need or might need 2, you will need a motherboard with an nvidia chipset. This means at least a 750i, but maybe a 780i or 790i ULTRA... The 790i ultra is the highest end board at the moment, but it does require DDR3 memory, which can be very expensive...

you don't really need special ram for SLI, but if you felt like it, you could. just remember, that if you do go for 4Gb of ram, you will need a 64 bit OS, to fully utilise the 4GB (or more), but do be carefull, you may have to install the OS with only 1 stick of ram, sometimes they don't like lots of ram.

HDD wise, i suggest the new WD drives if you can get them, 320GB per platter, wheras the older drives had to have 2 platters to get 320GB. These drives are quite quick but otherwise you might consider a 150GB raptor or 4 in a RAID 0 for the OS (more drives = quicker) and a 1tb drive or 2 for backups...
 
Nah, not the Gateway XHD3000. It has input lag. Look into the Dell 3007WFP-HC or the HP LP3065 30". These fare better as far as input lag. The Dell 3007WFP has a lower input lag than the newer 3008WFP model. I would look into the Doublesight 26" LCD also. It's only a 1920 x 1200 res lcd but, it also is very good and has low input lag. 1 x 9800GX2 will easily drive 1920 x 1200 resolution. If you go with 2 x 9800GX2s, you will need to look at a 780i chipset mobo or a 790i chipset. The 780i chipset takes DDR2 wile the higher model 790i only accepts the expenive DDR3 RAM. For a single 9800GX2 card, a Corsair HX620 watt PSU will be sufficient. If you go Quad SLI then a Thermaltake 1KW modular is a good choice. It has both the 6 pin PCI-E and 8 pin PCI-E connectors. As far as the HDD, I would get the WD 640gig SATA 300 drive. You say you don't need as much space but, if you game, you do need space as games take up alot of space.
 
Well...

- What's your budget for the rest of the parts you need?
- Define "everything else": Which parts do you need? Which parts are you reusing from your previous setup?
- Does the monitor have to be included within that budget amount? Shipping?
- Which games are you planning to play?
- What else (besides gaming) are you going to use the computer for?
- How long do you want this build to last?
 
I have a q9450 a coolermaster cosmos case and 1 9800gx2. I need a mobo,ram a good hardrive for my games and power supply, the display will be 30" dell, I want this build to last a year.
 
I read your first post (and your most recent one) clearly, but you ignored my two main questions about the budget. Again, how much is your budget? And does the monitor's cost have to be included within that budget amount?

I could suggest something like...

$165 - MSI P7N SLI Platinum ($20 MIR)
$50 - Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 CPU cooler (free shipping & $10 MIR)
$70 - A-DATA 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 dual channel kit (free shipping)
$30 - Samsung SH-S203B SATA DVD burner (free shipping)
$130 - Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB SATA HDD (free shipping)
$130 - Corsair TX750 750W PSU (free shipping & $10 MIR)
$100 - Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM (free shipping)
=====
$675 - Subtotal (not including monitor, shipping, or rebates)
Click to expand...

... but getting the Dell 30" monitor that HardwareGuru suggested is about $1,200 by itself... and you might only have around, say, $1500 for all of your upgrades. But we don't know, and we need you to help us out in that regard.

But you only want the system to last one year? Why?
 
Yeah, as tiraides mentioned earlier, what is your budget on the rest of the parts you need? Also, is that budget separate from the monitor purchase? What is your budget on a 30" lcd? I as well as other will recommend either a Dell 3007WFP-HC or the HP LP3065 monitors if you're going to do alot of gaming on it. Unfortunately, the new 3008WFP model suffers input lag. Even the new 2408WFP 24" has more lag input than its previous model the Dell 2407WFP. However, the 3008WFP 30" and 2408WFP 24" is ideal for people who are not concerned about fast motion being displayed on the lcd.
 
What's your budget?
What's included in that budget?
Am I being redundant?
 
Yeah, unless you have some grant money from work to spend on this PC/Monitor purchase so.. it does not matter and you will do an upgrade again next year? 1 x 9800GX2 paired with a 26" Doublesight DS-263N LCD monitor is pretty kick ass already. Most people on this forum don't have a setup like this.


tiraides said:
But you only want the system to last one year? Why?
Click to expand...
 
sory guys, ok the monitor is being given to me by a friend who is upgrading so thats covered which leaves me around $1500 to play with
 
OK, which monitor is it? What's its native resolution?

And why do you want this system to last you only a year? Even after Nehalem arrives and becomes mainstream, spending $1500 now (not to mention all that you've already spent) would get you a great performance machine capable of lasting a few (if not several) years.
 
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