Custom computer, advice needed

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Ok, I've recently saved up some money and I'm using it to build a computer. First, some budget info / requirements:

budjet: $1600 (give or take, need essentials first)
requirements: Gaming (Intense gaming), 3d animation / game design / development (dual core is a must)

-I will be getting whole sale prices
-I am NOT including these in the budget (keyboard, mouse, speakers)

here's a base example of what i had in mind:
CPU : AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Socket AM2 : $250
Motherboard: Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless, soc AM2 : $270
Ram : 2048MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz : $264
Case : Xion II Black ATX Mid-Tower Case : $70 (google it)
Power : 500 Watt Ultra X-Connect : $76
CD / Burner : 2 drives, 1 read, 1 write : $65
HardDrive : 80 Gig : $70
Video card : BFG GeForce 7900 GT / 256MB GDDR3 : $370
=====================================: $1435

i will be paying a bit less than the prices listed (from tigerdirect).
i am also considering getting a 17-19 inch flat panel monitor.

the ram and video: i am considering faster ram and better video
Sacrifice: i'm willing to sacrifice the cd burner to save costs. or maybe get a combo drive, but not likely. i'm also not sure about the power supply, the one area i'm weak in on computers, will it be enough or is it too much?

i'm new to this forum but i have 6 years experience working with computers. i'm going into a career as a programmer after college, and although my spelling is terrible, i'm top of most of my classes. i would appreciate any and all constructive critisism. thank-you.

ps...if anyone knows an equivalent video card that offers regular old monitor hook ups, please let me know, i may not be getting a monitor and that video card listed uses DVI, something i don't have.

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I'd say you could drop the CD burner, if you don't intend to use it often. I'd definitely go for a much bigger on-board memory on that video card, if you really do intend to do "intense gaming"--256MB will just get you by with present generation gaming, and you could have problems in a year or two. The rest looks OK, but i think 80 Gigs for your hard drive won't hold a lot of games and data. My computer from five years ago had 40 gigs, and just with RPGs, i filled the hard drive to the point that windows said it could not defrag it.

So, bacsically, if you can get it for not to much more money, go for more gigs on the hard drive, and more on-board RAM on your video card. The rest looks OK.

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ok, i believe i can afford to jack that up to 512mb for the videocard. thanks for your reply...i don't normally use much hard disk space. i have an 80 gig right now in this comp...i end up uninstalling most games after i beat them...just my online games take up room, but still, thanks

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No prob.--my disk space ran out, both because i rarely uninstall games, and because, for RPGs, i tend to go out and get a lot of data-rich extras--images, maps, game mods--a lot of the question of disk space depends on the type of game and whether you go online for add-ons and mods. You'll know best about that. I definitely do advise as much Video card RAM as you can afford.

Good luck, and come back to tell us how it works out.

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how does this look?

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1960935&Tab=2&NoMapp=0

DiabloTek GeForce 6800 GS / 512MB GDDR3 / AGP 8x / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card

that would work out great, it comes with regular old monitor hook up.

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From what I've read of it on the ubergeek boards and groups, that's a helluva video card for its price point. The gamecrazies in particular love it, and the video editing freaks are no less enthusiastic ... looks to me to qualify as a "best buy".

One thing I'd go with if high-intensity gaming was the machine's primary function - a pair of 70-80Gig 10,000RPM drives in RAID 0 for Operating system, programs, and game play, and a 250Gig or larger 7200RPM drive for storage. With your game running on a 10,000RPM RAID 0 array, you can be in and out of a scene before others even know you've been there ... very, very little chance of getting blindsided while you're loading in.

My preferrence would be to go with 2 mid-upper-end optical drives; one a multi-format, dual-layer DVD/CD burner, the other a highspeed DVD ROM drive ... but its your money I'm spending here Laughing

Personally, I'd go with at least an upper-midrange audio solution, too, something with DD/DTS 7.1 support.

When it comes to power supplies, well, there is no substitute for watts you ain't got. The heatpipe solution of that Asus board is great, IMO - but you still should think about moving lots & lotsa air through that case, and that means fans. 500W should be enough - for now ... but later .... ?

And finally to memory - IMO, the best bang-for-the-buck out there at the moment is Kingston's HyperX PC2-7200 DDR2-900 - not quite as mind boggling as Corsair's or OCZ's 1Ghz+ stuff, but nowhere near as pricey; a matched 2Gig kit oughta run right around US$300 -325

Boy, I sure enjoy spending other folks' money Laughing

Oh, and flat panels are nice, and getting nicer and cheaper all the time, but for all-around performance, IMO a precision CRT still is the way to go.

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What the hell are you guys doing that takes that sort of compute power? I mean the first totally believable military flight sims I ever saw back in 85 or thereabouts were using a motorola 68030 processor and the thing was so real that when the airplane crashed into a mountain the person flying the thing almost had a heart attack. That machine was a total joke compared to computers sold within the last four or five years.

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Gunga, if it don't make a game look like a Hi Def movie (with full surround sound), it just ain't worth playing on Mr. Green

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timberlandko wrote:

Gunga, if it don't make a game look like a Hi Def movie (with full surround sound), it just ain't worth playing on

What would be an example of a "high def movie with full surround sound".

I mean, I might really be losing touch here. Hollywood has gone so brain-dead in the last decade that I've pretty much stopped patronizing them.

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To put it simply, gunga, the object is to render video that looks as though you're observing real life in real time through a very clean, flat window, and to render audio with range, balance, and fidelity that produces a soundstage indistinguishable from live - full aural spatial awareness with no "consciousness of speakers".

Now admittedly, it ain't there yet, but its already damned good and getting better, by leaps and bounds, every year. What was megabuck bleeding-edge high performance, ubergeek-only gear a couple years ago is pretty much equaled by the upper middle range of today's general consumer market stuff - which is a fraction of the cost of its 2-or-3-year-old direct progenitors.

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An addendum: my latest desktop has a video card more powerful than a top-end (around $3K or so, without monitor or peripherals) desktop I built in late '98 (which still does its job, btw)

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Custom computer, advice needed

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