I'm thinking of building a new computer. Any suggestions?

Smaller? If you're looking for something cheaper, that's wishful thinking, my good man.

But if when you say smaller you mean the computer, I know of one that's small enough to pass off as a text book. The price? Too damn expensive for me.

I don't know the price or anything, but I hear Alienware computers are really good for gaming.


If you want a Notebook,
http://www.alienware.com/products/notebook-computers.aspx

If you want a Desktop,
http://www.alienware.com/products/desktop-computers.aspx

SSNTails said:

Corsair for RAM.

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I wouldn't necessarily say that the brand is the ultimate determining factor in which RAM you get.

For a new high-performance system I'd suggest speedy, low-latency RAM. Go for DDR2 or DDR3, and as for CAS latency, the best I've seen is around 2-3-2-5 (lower numbers are faster). RAM speed and latency can make a very profound difference on performance, so don't just go purchasing the cheapest RAM you can find. Don't get stuck with 5-5-5-18 memory. That would be a terrible bottleneck.

Also, don't underestimate how much RAM you'll need. A very basic computing environment today will need at the very least 1GB to function sufficiently, and 2GB or more for gaming or productivity (requirements might be higher depending on which games or programs you want to run).

As a reminder, also be sure that the motherboard you get matches in spec with all the other hardware you're purchasing. If you want a certain processor, it must match with the socket your motherboard has. Different motherboards also have different specs for supported RAM type, video cards (bus type), etc. Find a good motherboard (again, you can't go wrong with ASUS), then look for the other components.

Jellybones69 said:

I don't know the price or anything, but I hear Alienware computers are really good for gaming.

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You'll pay less if you build the system yourself.

Angelus_the_echidna said:

Smaller? If you're looking for something cheaper, that's wishful thinking, my good man.

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He's referring to hard drive space. I'd personally go with 250GB-500GB, depending on your needs. If you wish to install a lot at once, get a larger internal drive. If you just want to archive lots of data, consider an external drive to go along with the internal drive instead.

Okay. 500gb sounds great. I might go with that.

What should the clock speed of the processor I get be? What model, for that matter?

FoxBlitzz said:

He's referring to hard drive space. I'd personally go with 250GB-500GB, depending on your needs. If you wish to install a lot at once, get a larger internal drive. If you just want to archive lots of data, consider an external drive to go along with the internal drive instead.

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Heh, my mistake...

Try a clock speed of about 2.6ghz, dual core. (Which was my previous, Orange Box killing processor's speed). AMD Athlon 64 5200+ X2. <3

Also, the price I listed was in US dollars. The price is about $680 AUD.

From what I hear, your best bet for RAM is GeIL, 2GB of DDR2, look around.

Remember that Mhz means little across vendors. A 2ghz AMD processor might be about the same speed as a 3ghz Intel. So if you decide to get Intel instead, you might want to go a little above 2.6ghz, because otherwise you get slower performance. I don't know how well the newest models perform since I've been kinda out of the loop as I've been sticking to my 2005 hardware - but I do know that the stuff I use works pretty well for what I do.

Looking back at the memory situation, it doesn't seem that 2-3-2-5 timings exist for DDR2 RAM (at least, not according to Newegg). Silly me, I've been going by my knowledge of DDR PC3200. Say, is there some sort of benchmark that compares low-latency DDR with DDR2?

AMD recently released an Athlon X2 that is actually a dual-core Phenom:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103300

And yeah, FoxBlitzz is right - go for low RAM timings.

Okay, so from what we've learned from this thread, what would be a good setup for me?

Athlon X2 (Dual Core)
8 or 9 series GeForce
2gb of RAM at least
250gb HDD (SATA II)

Work around it.

How much do you think that'd set me back? Also, I'd rather a 500gb hard drive.

This is my PC:

AMD Athlon X2 5200+ 2.6GHz 65W
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe
2x Albatron NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT 256MB
2GB DDR2-800
DVD-RAM writer
DVD-RW DL writer
40GB Samsung HD040GJ SATA150
40GB Seagate SATA150
Creative SoundBlaster Live! 5.1
GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS 802.11g Wireless Card

All on a 510W power supply, probably not using much of it at all, running Fedora 10 with no problems at all, running SRB2 at high resolution, it's handled everything I've thrown at it so far. If I ever get around to buying stuff like The Orange Box, I'm sure my system won't let me down with all the settings turned up. Maybe you should be looking at a system with a similar configuration?

A SoundBlaster Live? Isn't that kinda old now? I'd go for something newer just for the sake of manufacturer support.

I'd just use the integrated sound. I don't need more than 2 speakers and a subwoofer.

I just have two speakers and a subwoofer, but the thing about having a dedicated soundcard is that you get better recording support, and you get faster audio effects, plus in general you have higher quality audio with less buffer time. Some people might think, "Oh, I don't need a dedicated soundcard," but having one will definitely allow you to do more with audio, even with just a 2.1 speaker setup.

i think u should add cool add ons and make it only for gaming

I think you should try using proper spelling and grammar.

Just a friendly suggestion, y'know.

thedudewemet said:

i think u should add cool add ons and make it only for gaming

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You mean upgrades? That's the whole point of this topic, fool. And if you mean "just" gaming (Ala video game consoles), I laugh in your face.