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[Nemo]

Sorry for asking but did someone on GAF try to build a 100-200 bucks PC yet? I'm trying to build a real simple cheap one that should do the trick, it's possible right?

 

[Firestorm]

Sorry for asking but did someone on GAF try to build a 100-200 bucks PC yet? I'm trying to build a real simple cheap one that should do the trick, it's possible right?

If you look on Craigslist and don't plan on doing anything aside from e-mail and word documents maybe.

 

[letsbereasonable]

Sorry for asking but did someone on GAF try to build a 100-200 bucks PC yet? I'm trying to build a real simple cheap one that should do the trick, it's possible right?

It could probably done if you were super patient to find good specials, used a lot of rebates and didn't mind using integrated graphics. What you can get now in the $300-$350 range is good enough to make it not worth skimping.

 

[Nemo]

If you look on Craigslist and don't plan on doing anything aside from e-mail and word documents maybe.

It could probably done if you were super patient to find good specials, used a lot of rebates and didn't mind using integrated graphics. What you can get now in the $300-$350 range is good enough to make it not worth skimping.

Yeah but it's exactly that, since I already have 2 PCs that can handle whatever I want I just need one for the internet, and maybe CS 1.6. What kinda mobo chipset and processor would we be talking about here? Dual core? AMD?

I won't use any rebates and prices are in euro. I think it's possible but need some guidelines. Cheapest intel processor I could find was an E1500 but for a few bucks more I might as well go with the E5200. I think I can fit a nice motherboard with integrated graphics for about 50 euros. And buy a HDD, memory and PSU with the other 100 euros.

 

[Rimshot]

What sound cards are the dogs bollocks now days?

 

[DihcarEM]

Budget?

No real budget, just looking at which price-range i am to be able to play the games i listed on highest settings.

Look one post above me. (You'll want something like a 260M for graphics)

There's is also a 1368x768 screen model for around $1.1k, but I wouldn't take it.

I can't find any other difference besides the processor either here...

The best gaming laptop i was able to find was the link beneath. Is it good enough to play Street fighter4/Res 5/DMC4 on max settings? Assassins's creed2 and Force Unleashed for the pc are my most important upcoming pc games i wanna play max settings.

http://computershopper.com/laptops/reviews/alienware-m17x

 

[ttplayer]

How good do you think my PC has to be to play Starcraft 2 on average setting when it comes out? Would a PC that could handle Warcraft 3 be good enough or does it have to be much better? What about a PC that was purchased two years ago?

 

[pjberri]

What do you guys recommend for fast 3.5" HDDs?

 

[MWS Natural]

Ugh....I had to reset my bios a few weeks ago after having some trouble with some drivers. I didn't write down what my overclocking setting where now I can't get back to 3.4ghz stable, been at it for a few hours and gave up. I'm honestly ready to just scrap the chip and buy a Phenom II 945 since they are so cheap now. I don't think the 955's will work with my Biostar 790gx.

What do you guys recommend for fast 3.5" HDDs?

Fast? If speed is your concerned you should go for an SSD, especially with the new price drops.

 

[Smokey]

Yeah I read up a lot about do-it-yourself and the right types of cooling, thermal paste, how to use the BIOS to overclock (memory timings, FSB speeds etc) but was too scared also to try it with expensive components (I wanted a i7 920). I also had bad experiences in the past with friends building custom PC's for me in terms of system crashes (eg freeze every 5 or 6 hours or so) but that was probably just bad luck. I never felt I had an option to buy a retail gaming computer before, I didnt even think of looking for one in stores (in the past they always had weak GPU's and poor PSU to power an upgrade). I happened to look around after seeing if there was a nice laptop for my wife in best buy.

Keep in mind that there is less expansion capability than a do it yourself - I dont think there is room inside for SLI in there. Also, it would need a PSU upgrade for a x2 card or other super hungry card like the GTX 295.


Yep super simple option, I couldnt believe how obvious and easy it was. There is an Asus 'Helper' app that runs automatically when u start vista. I clicked it and noticed a 'CPU upgrade' like button, you can click to set to 2.93 GHz. And thats it! So easy.

I also checked the BIOS and noticed all the entries required for an i7 overclock are in there, similar to Asus top end motherboards. As I understand it, although a custom cooler is always preferable, the stock i7 cooler is pretty decent compared with cheaper CPU's. So I may try an overclock to 3.2-3.5 at some later point once the next gen graphics cards come around. As of now, I find everything I like to actually play (GTA IV, Sacred 2, Dead Space, Sins/Galciv, Titan Quest, FC2, Fallout 3, Oblivion, Mass Effect, Witcher, Drakensang) runs super smooth at just the stock 2.66 GHz.



I think its this one http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9229685&type=product&id=1218063394621

Its a 23 inch Samsung 1920 x 1080 with 2 ms response time (in practice no visible ghosting but I dont know if thats visibly different from the slower response models). You can probably buy a monitor much more cheaply online, but buying from a physical store was really important to me, I am paranoid of bad pixels since such horrible times with bad-pixeled PSPs :lol The buy from a store and return-if-bad-pixels policy worked well for me a prior time I bought a laptop with bad pixels (twice no less), so I definitely wanted to do so again.

I went for samsung as a prior samsung model I bought was bad-pixel-free and I was super happy to find this 23 inch I bought also had not a single bad pixel (checking blank screens in black, white, red, green, blue). I was soooo happy. Also completely stupid but I love the touchmaster control - there are no buttons it feels your touch on the monitor casing itself to turn on/off or change settings.

I think that's the same monitor I was looking at in best buy earlier today. It was between that and the Dell 24'' monitor that they had. They're around the same price too.

I messed around with the mouse earlier too and yeah it's pretty damn cheap. That would need to be replaced. I also figured that if I got a more powerful graphics card that I would need a new PSU, but sounds like the 260 gets the job done at 1080p from what you say.

Again, thanks for all of your information.

 

[pjberri]

Fast? If speed is your concerned you should go for an SSD, especially with the new price drops.

Yeah, I've been looking at those. Would definitely like to go that direction, but I'm replacing an iMac drive, so I'm just looking for a single 3.5" - probably around 500GB or so.

 

[Ryoma-Echizen]

Sorry for asking but did someone on GAF try to build a 100-200 bucks PC yet? I'm trying to build a real simple cheap one that should do the trick, it's possible right?

Athlon II 240 2.8Ghz 52€~ (faster then E5300, equals E5400)
Gigabyte MA78GM-US2H 70€~ (Intel IGP's don't do any basic gaming)
Kingston HyperX DDR2 800 2GB 25€~
Seagate 7200.12 35€~
Case with 350-450w PSU 30€~

More than enough, you could also search for the new Sempron 140 2.7Ghz 45w (single core), should be around 30-35€

 

[Adent]

Sorry for asking but did someone on GAF try to build a 100-200 bucks PC yet? I'm trying to build a real simple cheap one that should do the trick, it's possible right?

I picked out the parts for one that's under 300. Check it out.


http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=10635365

 

[jett]

Got a new Full HD monitor. Sweet jebus I can't believe my Ati 4670 is running current games well at 1080p. It sometimes feels like I'm playing some of these games for the first time...

 

[brain_stew]

Hey bs, I can't properly customize my Saturn pad on SFIV. Sure I'm missing something obvious but stuck here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=16820528&postcount=37761

Any suggestions?

I haven't actually used it with SFIV myself (too broke to buy it atm!) but those names are pretty irrelevant really, they're just corresponding to the 360 pad. The buttons on the Saturn pad will be seen as "button 1" "button 2" by your PC not, x,y,z. So set c and z to whatever is usually hard punch and hard kick in the 360 version (probably the shoulder buttons).

If you can't work it out that way, just set it ingame to use the keyboard, then use something like joy2key or Pinnacle game profiler to map your Saturn buttons to the relevant default keyboard keys:

http://www.pinnaclegameprofiler.com/

So my parts arrived today. It is so difficult to not go home early so I can build my new rig. I just have them sitting out on my desk right now torturing me with their presence.

Will copying the steam apps folder work with an OS change. I am going from XP to Win 7?

Yes, absolutely. Just Installl Steam, copy the Steamapps folder over then run for the first time and it'll do its magic.

Got a new Full HD monitor. Sweet jebus I can't believe my Ati 4670 is running current games well at 1080p. It sometimes feels like I'm playing some of these games for the first time...

I've always been a fan of the 4670, packs an awful lot of punch for its small price/power/size bracket, didn't think it'd hold up well at 1080p though!! :lol

Even if games start to struggle you can always just drop down to 720p, most 1080p monitors will scale 720p pretty damn well or you can possibly use ATI's GPU scaling instead which should look really nice.

 

[DihcarEM]

I found an even better laptop then the one i was eying before the Alienware’s M17x, it seems to have a lot of bad feedback from the consumers.

The one i'm looking at now is the Sager's NP9280 and coming out soon is the NP9850.
Both seem to be a much better deal then the alienware, i also checked out some youtube video's of a guy playing it on this same laptop. Crysis,Fallout3,FarCry2 all on highest settings, very impressive. So i'm guessing that if it can play those games on max then it should have no problem with console games like Batman,Street fighter4,DMC4,ect.

http://www.sagernotebook.com/category_browse.php?cid=&price_s=1999

 

[Sipowicz]

if i can get a hold of a cheap ppc that is a dual core with 2 gb of ram will it run games properly?

how much will it cost to get a half decent graphics card in uk money?

 

[rohlfinator]

Yeah, I've been looking at those. Would definitely like to go that direction, but I'm replacing an iMac drive, so I'm just looking for a single 3.5" - probably around 500GB or so.

The 640GB Western Digital Caviar Black is one of the best performing 3.5" drives. That's probably your best bet if you don't want to go with a 10,000 RPM drive.

if i can get a hold of a cheap ppc that is a dual core with 2 gb of ram will it run games properly?

how much will it cost to get a half decent graphics card in uk money?

Depends on the exact specs and the graphics card you get, but I'd guess that should be fine on a lot of games. Some of the most demanding games might give you trouble, though.

I don't know much about UK pricing -- I'd suggest looking up the prices of the Radeon 4850 and 4870 or the GeForce 250 and 260. Those should give you a decent reference point.

 

[MisterAnderson]

Thinking about possibly swapping out my 4890 in favor of an Nvidia equivalent (would that be the gtx 260?) so that I can opt for PhysX in games.

Although this might be one of those short-lived impulse buys that will fade away if I don't make it happen soon, since it's admittedly pretty ridiculous of me to go out of my way for such a marginally used feature in-games. I guess the Arkham Asylum demo has me excited.

Anyway, would anyone be interested in buying my XFX 4890 for like $150? I've only had it for maybe a month and a half, I have the box and documentation in great shape and could pack it up as good as knew. Keep in mind I might totally change my mind if I wake up and decide I don't feel like going through the annoyance of it all.

Also feel free to tell me how stupid I am for even considering going through all this trouble just for having PhysX in Arkham Asylum.

 

[dionysus]

The 275 is the equivalent to the 4890 I believe.

 

[dionysus]

So hardware installation of my new PC went pretty smoothly other than putting my RAM in slots 2, 4, and 6 instead of 1, 3, and 5.

Now I am getting a problem I think related to fact that I am using a wireless keyboard. During the boot phase I can get into the bios and whatnot, I did this to change the boot drive order so as to install Win 7 RC. However, when it comes time to "Hit any key to boot from CD-ROM..." it is not registering any key hits. Will this be fixed by plugging in a usb keyboard?

 

[gregor7777]

Anyone have this board?

MSI P43 Neo-F

Looking to overclock my E2180. Price is about right, and from what I've been reading, it's a pretty good overclocking board on a budget.

 

[MrPing1000]

I just spent £386 on a monitor.

Feels good Bro.

HP LP2475w to be precise, my 2007wfp is great but my parents monitor decided to die so it gave me an excuse to get a 1080p monster.

Pondered replacing my 4870 512mb but I couldn't justify it right now. I'll get a dx11 card at the end of the year or something.

 

[Ceebs]

So hardware installation of my new PC went pretty smoothly other than putting my RAM in slots 2, 4, and 6 instead of 1, 3, and 5.

Now I am getting a problem I think related to fact that I am using a wireless keyboard. During the boot phase I can get into the bios and whatnot, I did this to change the boot drive order so as to install Win 7 RC. However, when it comes time to "Hit any key to boot from CD-ROM..." it is not registering any key hits. Will this be fixed by plugging in a usb keyboard?

It should. I have had motherboards that would not recognize anything USB until the OS booted.

 

[dionysus]

It should. I have had motherboards that would not recognize anything USB until the OS booted.

I threw away my old wired keyboard just 3 weeks ago. Dumb. Going to have to borrow one from work.

 

[Firestorm]

I had to go into BIOS settings and put USB Keyboard to Enabled with my PS2 keyboard on my EP45-UD3P

 

[jett]

I've always been a fan of the 4670, packs an awful lot of punch for its small price/power/size bracket, didn't think it'd hold up well at 1080p though!! :lol

Even if games start to struggle you can always just drop down to 720p, most 1080p monitors will scale 720p pretty damn well or you can possibly use ATI's GPU scaling instead which should look really nice.

I was really surprised by it too, although you obviously can't have any AA running at that res. GPU scaling doesn't work for me though, when I turn it on it gives me some weird graphic issue, like the screen was divided in several, breaking parallel bars.

 

[Firestorm]

Thinking about possibly swapping out my 4890 in favor of an Nvidia equivalent (would that be the gtx 260?) so that I can opt for PhysX in games.

Although this might be one of those short-lived impulse buys that will fade away if I don't make it happen soon, since it's admittedly pretty ridiculous of me to go out of my way for such a marginally used feature in-games. I guess the Arkham Asylum demo has me excited.

Anyway, would anyone be interested in buying my XFX 4890 for like $150? I've only had it for maybe a month and a half, I have the box and documentation in great shape and could pack it up as good as knew. Keep in mind I might totally change my mind if I wake up and decide I don't feel like going through the annoyance of it all.

Also feel free to tell me how stupid I am for even considering going through all this trouble just for having PhysX in Arkham Asylum.

Unless you absolutely need to have it by launch, I'd just wait and get a GTX 3xx card instead. As for the equivalent of the 4890, it's the GTX 275.

 

[TheFightingFish]

So I've been trying to round up all the research for my new PC build but I had one thing that I couldn't suss out, even after looking at an article or two.

The question is for a planned Phenom II X4 + Radeon 4890 system should I spring for a motherboard that supports DDR3 memory and DDR3 memory? Or just go with one of the DDR2 boards? I read a few tech articles on DDR3, but didn't really get a good idea from them how the change would affect system performance.

From poking around on newegg it seems like the DDR3 jump equals about 50-60 bucks extra with pricier mobos and RAM but I'm not really sure how much current performance or future proofing this would help with. If it matters at all, I'm not much of an overclocker / tweaker so I'm not looking for "overclockability" or anything like that.

edit: Thanks for the answer Firestorm!

 

[Firestorm]

Only get DDR3 if you plan to get an Intel i7-based system. Otherwise, save your cash and get DDR2.

 

[Krakatoa]

So hardware installation of my new PC went pretty smoothly other than putting my RAM in slots 2, 4, and 6 instead of 1, 3, and 5.

Now I am getting a problem I think related to fact that I am using a wireless keyboard. During the boot phase I can get into the bios and whatnot, I did this to change the boot drive order so as to install Win 7 RC. However, when it comes time to "Hit any key to boot from CD-ROM..." it is not registering any key hits. Will this be fixed by plugging in a usb keyboard?

Go into your Bios and look for the option of enabling USB Keyboard support. It may be called something else on your MB, So look around for it. I had the same problem on my PC and this fixed it.

 

[Wag]

Also feel free to tell me how stupid I am for even considering going through all this trouble just for having PhysX in Arkham Asylum.

I don't really know if it's worth all the effort...but I already have a GTX 295 on a Q9550 setup, and think I'm going to invest in a secondary card just for PhysX. Maybe a GTS 250 or a 9800GTX+.

 

[pjberri]

The 640GB Western Digital Caviar Black is one of the best performing 3.5" drives. That's probably your best bet if you don't want to go with a 10,000 RPM drive.

Thanks! I've had my eye on those, this confirms it. Going to pick one up in an hour or so.

 

[Hazaro]

I don't really know if it's worth all the effort...but I already have a GTX 295 on a Q9550 setup, and think I'm going to invest in a secondary card just for PhysX. Maybe a GTS 250 or a 9800GTX+.

But a single card can do both, just will take some frames away.

Plus it's only for a few things like perhaps the cape motion or something simple.

Sacred 2 has PhysX because of falling leaves :lol

Thanks! I've had my eye on those, this confirms it. Going to pick one up in an hour or so.

I like the WD640GB too, but if you need more space, it's only $10 or $20 more a 1TB drive which as just as fast or faster.

 

[dionysus]

Go into your Bios and look for the option of enabling USB Keyboard support. It may be called something else on your MB, So look around for it. I had the same problem on my PC and this fixed it.

Yea I discovered this on my own. But thanks to both of you for mentioning it. It fixed the problem. Computer has win 7 installed now and working great. There was a little panicing when it didn't recognize the 4890, but that just turned out to be a critical update for win 7.

 

[lowrider007]

hi just a quick question, will the following work on standard dual x16 pci-e 2.0 motherboard,

1 x GTX260 powering 2 x displays (main GPU)

1 x 9800GT being used as a dedicated PhysX card also power 2 x displays (secondary GPU)

Basically I want to know if I can dedicate the 9800GT to do PhysX and use it to power 2 displays at the same time as I want to keep my 4 way display set-up and have dedicated PhysX.

Thanks.

 

[AgentOtaku]

Hey GAF!

So i'm thinking of doing a modest upgrade to my current comp. Looking to spend $400-500. What do you recommend?

Here's my specs:

Core 2 Duo E6600
8800gt
4gigRam
Vista 32
Sound Blaster Audigy 2

I'm thinking the only thing I should really be upgrading is the Vid card and CPU.

Thanks again!

 

[MWS Natural]

Caught a sweet deal on slickdeals. I have a 25ft gold plated HDMI cables on the way for $10. Going to run it from my PC to my Yamaha AVR so I don't have to move my PC over by the TV to connect it.

 

[Diablohead]

Caught a sweet deal on slickdeals. I have a 25ft gold plated HDMI cables on the way for $10. Going to run it from my PC to my Yamaha AVR so I don't have to move my PC over by the TV to connect it.

25ft for $10, damn that is good.

 

[TheHeretic]

Hey GAF!

So i'm thinking of doing a modest upgrade to my current comp. Looking to spend $400-500. What do you recommend?

Here's my specs:

Core 2 Duo
8800gt
4gigRam
Vista 32
Sound Blaster Audigy 2

I'm thinking the only thing I should really be upgrading is the Vid card and CPU.

Thanks again!

I'd recommend waiting for the next batch of GPU's. Until then overclocking your processor is a good idea, because at stock its slow. I have a similar GPU and it runs everything fine. Unless you are going to a 1080p monitor or something theres no reason to jump in now, towards the end of a cycle.

Also you realise Windows 32 bit can only read 3.25GB's of RAM?

 

[AgentOtaku]

I'd recommend waiting for the next batch of GPU's. Until then overclocking your processor is a good idea, because at stock its slow. I have a similar GPU and it runs everything fine. Unless you are going to a 1080p monitor or something theres no reason to jump in now, towards the end of a cycle.

Also you realise Windows 32 bit can only read 3.25GB's of RAM?

Yeah I know about Vista ...don't wanna get a copy of 64.

Thanks for the advice man! Yeah, I mostly game at a max res of 1280x800. Will be for the long forseeable future.

So you think I should just upgrade my CPU at least? ...are Quadcores even really relevant yet when it comes to utilization in current software?

 

[Technosteve]

i am ordering parts this weekend, i'm building a i7 to replace my current aging p4 on life support pc. I am trying to figure out if i want to go with asus or gigabyte mobo. And i need to find a good case, i have it down to antec p193 or lain li 60plusii w or something gaf recommends.

 

[lowrider007]

i am ordering parts this weekend, i'm building a i7 to replace my current aging p4 on life support pc. I am trying to figure out if i want to go with asus or gigabyte mobo. And i need to find a good case, i have it down to antec p193 or lain li 60plusii w or something gaf recommends.

Well this is just my opinion but from the many PC's I have built I find ASUS motherboards more reliable and better built than Gigabyte boards, as for cases they are very subjective, I personally don't like the P193 as I hate the side panel, I much prefer the P190 as it's a quieter case and looks sleeker.

 

[derder]

I built my HTPC and everything is amazing... BUT, it has choppy playback for blu-rays and 1080p video. When I run PowerDVD, it says my videocard can't support playback and to update drivers. I've upgraded my drivers directly from asus.

From what I read, this mobo could handle it. Maybe my proc can't keep up, but I need to know what I should do to ensure flawless blu-ray playback.

My Mobo Link

My Proc Link

Obviously, upgrading will cause more heat issues, but I don't mind getting the extra oomf from the little bit of gaming I will do.

Now I understand that I won't be able to decode TrueHD with this, but I think I don't want to buy that XONAR card until a slickdeal or alternative.

I was thinking that this would be a good way to stay with low power/heat.

 

[supermackem]

Ok got £1000 for a base unit, should i go all out and replace the below or should i just upgrade it.

Intel core 2 duo e4600 2.4ghz
2 gig ram
9800 gtx+

I will be wanting to play game at 1080, wouldnt mind running newset games as full as possible, so should i rebuild or just replace.

 

[MrPing1000]

Ok got £1000 for a base unit, should i go all out and replace the below or should i just upgrade it.

Intel core 2 duo e4600 2.4ghz
2 gig ram
9800 gtx+

I will be wanting to play game at 1080, wouldnt mind running newset games as full as possible, so should i rebuild or just replace.

I'd stick with what u got for a couple of months then splurge on an i7 system.

 

[supermackem]

I'd stick with what u got for a couple of months then splurge on an i7 system.

Yeah reckon £1000 will do it then come say oct/nov.

 

[Technosteve]

I built my HTPC and everything is amazing... BUT, it has choppy playback for blu-rays and 1080p video. When I run PowerDVD, it says my videocard can't support playback and to update drivers. I've upgraded my drivers directly from asus.
I was thinking that this would be a good way to stay with low power/heat.

Nvidia purevideo maybe that's what you need. Audio i would split it to a receiver.

 

[Technosteve]

Yeah reckon £1000 will do it then come say oct/nov.

why October/November?

 

[Hazaro]

Yeah I know about Vista ...don't wanna get a copy of 64.

Thanks for the advice man! Yeah, I mostly game at a max res of 1280x800. Will be for the long forseeable future.

So you think I should just upgrade my CPU at least? ...are Quadcores even really relevant yet when it comes to utilization in current software?

Upgrade your GPU if you feel it's not good enough, otherwise leave it alone or overclock.

CPU is fine for some time to come if you OC it to a modest 3Ghz