Time for a new rig

[SmooveB]

I'm building a new computer after almost 5 years and I want your esteemed opinions on which brands/products are the best bang for the buck nowadays. Also where should I buy from.

I'm getting a new case and everything, so don't hold back. Plan to use it for gaming and would like to spend under $1500.

 

[jfall]

The best bang for the buck these days seems to be either a P4 2.4c-2.6c system, or a Barton 2500+ with an Nforce2 mobo, 512-1gig of at pc3200 or greater ram, Radeon 9500pro or greater.

 

[Ionizer86]

Hard drives with 7200RPM and 8MB cache at 50c a gig or so from local stores would make for good storage.
For example, Cusa had a 120GB Maxtor for $60 last week.

Optical drives: maybe look in the hot deals on how to get a clearance DVD burner for under $100. The HP DVD Writer 300i at $99 at Office Depot comes to mind. Other forums like phatwallet will give you some coupons to bring the price down even more.

Pricewatch is a good place to look at prices of products. Usually, Newegg has very good prices, and it's a really nice store to order stuff from. Of course, local stores like OfficeMax and Compusa can sell items at excellent prices too.

 

[SmooveB]

"2.4c-2.6c"... what does that mean? Ghz? And what is Barton 2500+? Why's it called that and what's special about it? And pc3200? Is that DDR or SD or just that - pc3200?

Thanks, by the way.

 

[jfall]

Yes, 2.4 and 2.6 are GHZ.. the C (with 800mhz FSB and hyperthreading) range from 2.4 to 3.2ghz however the 2.4c's and the 2.6c's are the best bang for the buck, they easily overclock past 3ghz and are much cheaper then the 3.0 and 3.2ghz chips. These are intel processors.

A Barton is an AMD processor, 2500+ it is considered one of the best bang for the buck processors as well, it can be overclocked to 3200+ speeds easily as well.

The intels and AMDs are fairly close, most people say that the intel is the best, but it's not by a hugh margin, the intel's will generally run you a bit more money.

Yes, it is DDR, with the above choices you would want at least pc3200, but it ranges to PC4000, it all depends on if you are going to overclock and by how much

Have you looked at Dell computers? that may be your best bet. They usually have very good deals on and they are selling pretty good stuff these days

 

[SmooveB]

I did look at dell a bit... my only misgiving is that you end up relying on someone else for hardware upgrades, warranty, whatever. But, then again it is pretty cheap so... maybe. There's nothing like building your own though eheh. Thanks.

 

[JonnyBalls]

Originally posted by: jfall
Yes, 2.4 and 2.6 are GHZ.. the C (with 800mhz FSB and hyperthreading) range from 2.4 to 3.2ghz however the 2.4c's and the 2.6c's are the best bang for the buck, they easily overclock past 3ghz and are much cheaper then the 3.0 and 3.2ghz chips. These are intel processors.

A Barton is an AMD processor, 2500+ it is considered one of the best bang for the buck processors as well, it can be overclocked to 3200+ speeds easily as well.

The intels and AMDs are fairly close, most people say that the intel is the best, but it's not by a hugh margin, the intel's will generally run you a bit more money.

Yes, it is DDR, with the above choices you would want at least pc3200, but it ranges to PC4000, it all depends on if you are going to overclock and by how much

Have you looked at Dell computers? that may be your best bet. They usually have very good deals on and they are selling pretty good stuff these days

I would have to agree with you... but i think in this case he should go with an athlon XP processor, because i'm assuming he's not going to be overclocking to his (no offense) seemingly lack of knowledge of hardware, so a DELL might be the way to go.

$1500 can get you a pretty sweeet rig, even with a nice monitor.
Maybe read up on some other posts about people building new rigs...

 

[brettjrob]

After doing an upgrade myself last month, I can HIGHLY recommend a P4 2.4C/2.6C-based setup. You just can't get any better bang for the buck right now. My setup is an ABIT IS7-E ($94), P4 2.4C ($170), and 1GB Geil PC3500 ($225). The overclocking potential I've found is astonishing... I started pushing up the FSB from the default (200MHz), and the chip just didn't stop till I hit 280MHz, yielding a clock speed of 3.36GHz! After purchasing a Zalman 7000AlCu HSF for better cooling, I'm cruising along at 3.12GHz, which is 100% Prime95 stable. Throw in the massive memory bandwidth (5700MB/sec in Sandra) and HyperThreading, and for $170, this chip crushes the AMD Barton. Although the 2.4C is about twice the cost of the $85 Barton 2500+, the difference in cost percentage-wise after you've added up all the common components like motherboard, memory, etc. is not very big, but the performance difference is. It's fun to watch the Q3 timedemo fly by in the blink of an eye and see the result of 530fps from a sub-$200 chip .

Graphics: Unfortunately, right now is not the best time to buy a video card because prices have been very slow to drop over the past year or so, meaning you have to pay quite a bit to get a respectable card (unlike a year and a half ago when a $150 Ti4200 could be overclocked to a "top-of-the-line" card). I'd suggest ATI Radeon 9800 non-pro 128MB which will be about $240.

Sound: The onboard sound on most high-quality boards will be sufficient if you don't have great speakers, but if you do, look at SB Audigy 2 (best for gaming) or Turtle Beach Santa Cruz (music).

HDD: If you don't have lots of big files you store on your HDD, a 36GB WD Raptor is probably the fastest drive you can get. If you're looking for something fast but higher capacity, the WD 8MB cache series is probably the way to go.

Case: I like my Antec Sonata... it's about $100 and comes with a high quality 380W Antec TruePower PSU. The Antec SLK3700 also comes with a good PSU but is only $65.

Vendor: Along with most of the users here, I'm a big fan of NewEgg.com. Their prices are great, their shipping is lightning fast, and their customer service is wonderful when you need to RMA. I'd also check out GoogleGear.com because their prices are sometimes even lower, and they are also a reputable site.

Good luck with the new system!