Search the archive:
 YaBB - Yet another Bulletin Board
 
   
 
  Simviation Forum › Computer Hardware & Software Forum › Hardware › From the Ground Up
(Moderators: Mitch., Fly2e, ozzy72, beaky, Clipper, JBaymore, Bob70, BigTruck)
‹ Previous Topic | Next Topic ›
Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print
From the Ground Up (Read 981 times)
Sep 8th, 2003 at 12:23am

Scorpiоn   Offline
Colonel
Take it easy!
The Alamo

Gender: male
 Posts: 4496
 *****
 
I'm planning on perhaps building a system from scratch, but I'm not sure where to start.  What are the major things I'll need to play music and run intense 3D games (CFS3)?  So far I've thought of:
  • Processor
  • Video card
  • RAM
  • Hard drive
  • Audio card
  • Power supply
  • CD/Zip Drives and the like
  • And of course, the shiny case Grin
  • Mouse, keyboard, moniter, speakers


Certain questions, are there any incompatibilities I should look out for (XP - processor)?  Can a laptop with the same specs as a PC be just as powerful?
 
The Devil's Advocate.&&...
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #1 - Sep 8th, 2003 at 12:24am

Scorpiоn   Offline
Colonel
Take it easy!
The Alamo

Gender: male
 Posts: 4496
 *****
 
Oh, yeah, I forgot. Roll Eyes

I won't be able to reply until the weekend, unless my mom feels like being nice.  Stupid school... Tongue Lips Sealed
 
The Devil's Advocate.&&...
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #2 - Sep 8th, 2003 at 9:12am

KnightStryker   Offline
Colonel
What do you mean you can't
hear the voices???
Muskegon, Michigan

Gender: male
 Posts: 432
 *****
 
You left out two very important things.
1. Motherboard
2. Joystick or Yoke (afterall its the single most important part of the computer when your flyin, right Grin).
 
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #3 - Sep 8th, 2003 at 4:42pm

Iroquois   Offline
Colonel
Happy Halloween
Ontario Canada

Gender: male
 Posts: 3244
 *****
 
Based on what I've heard,

Motherboard
High Quality: I've heard Nvidia nForce boards are the best for AMD and gaming
Value:ECS K7S5A standard or pro, holds a max AMD Althlon XP 2000.

Processor:
AMD is best for gaming. For the best gaming, try anything between an Athlon XP2000 - 3200.

Ram: At least 512MB SD or DDR ram. Rambus is very over rated.

Hard Drive: Size doesn't matter, they're all pretty cheap now. Get a 7200RPM or better.

Video Card: For the best quality, cant beat an Nvidia Geforce FX5900 256mb. It will work best with that nForce board. For value, the FX5200 or FX5600 are good too.

Audio Card: Soundblaster Live! 5.1 or Audigy cards are best and compatible for most games. New EAX HD provides surround sound on all Soundblaster 5.1 cards.

Power Supply & Case: You should have at least 300W power or greater these days. Liquid cooled cases provide the best cooling but are more expensive and require more maintenence. Get a case with as many fans as possible if air cooling is your choice. Liquid cooling is safer if your going to overclock.

Drives: DVD for watching movies. CDRW or DVD-RW for high capacity removable media. Floppy is still a must for your school use. 

And the Rest: Any monitor will do but LCD saves desk space. Any mouse will do, optical is better. Keyboards are all the same. As for speakers, I use Creative Inspire 5.1 speakers. Thoes Harman Kardon ones look great but are way too expensive.

Joystick: The stick I use cannot simply be bought. It came with an RC airplane sim. It suites me but I've heard good things about the Saitek X-45 Hotas.
 
I only pretend to know what I'm talking about. Heck, that's what lawyers, car mechanics, and IT professionals do everyday. Wink&&The Rig: &&AMD Athlon XP2000+ Palomino, ECS K7S5A 3.1, 1GB PC2700 DDR, Geforce FX5200 128mb, SB Live Platinum, 16xDVD, 16x10x40x CDRW, 40/60gb 7200rpm HDD, 325w Power, Windows XP Home SP1, Directx 9.0c with 66.81 Beta gfx drivers
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #4 - Sep 8th, 2003 at 5:08pm

Scorpiоn   Offline
Colonel
Take it easy!
The Alamo

Gender: male
 Posts: 4496
 *****
 
Aren't the motherboard and processor the same thing?  My dad says you can't upgrade your processor without changing the motherboard.  Thank you for the info, by the way.
 
The Devil's Advocate.&&...
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #5 - Sep 8th, 2003 at 5:17pm

Iroquois   Offline
Colonel
Happy Halloween
Ontario Canada

Gender: male
 Posts: 3244
 *****
 
Quote:
Aren't the motherboard and processor the same thing?  My dad says you can't upgrade your processor without changing the motherboard.


That used to be true but not anymore. Different boards can accept different processors. My K7S5A is currently running a Duron 950mhz but it can accept any K7 level processor up to an Athlon XP2000. The only computer today in which you cannot upgrade the processor is the Macintosh. You can however get special processor boost cards for them.
 
I only pretend to know what I'm talking about. Heck, that's what lawyers, car mechanics, and IT professionals do everyday. Wink&&The Rig: &&AMD Athlon XP2000+ Palomino, ECS K7S5A 3.1, 1GB PC2700 DDR, Geforce FX5200 128mb, SB Live Platinum, 16xDVD, 16x10x40x CDRW, 40/60gb 7200rpm HDD, 325w Power, Windows XP Home SP1, Directx 9.0c with 66.81 Beta gfx drivers
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #6 - Sep 8th, 2003 at 10:33pm

Daz   Offline
Colonel
in the morning im making
WAFFLES!
Leeds, UK

Gender: male
 Posts: 1171
 *****
 
yeah motherboards with nforce 2 chipsets are said to be good......put that together with an amd 2800 and your rockin! my motherboard is sweet and decently priced

EPOX EP-8RDA3G (SKT A) 6 Chn Audio / DDR400 / USB 2.0 / 8X AGP / LAN / 400 FSB

i got mine for £76.06 which is about $110...

thats the one i suggest although there are others out there cheaper

 
AMD athlon XP2800+ @2.34ghz&&Epox 8RDA3G 400 fsb, 8x AGP&&1024MB DDR400 PC3200&&XFX 256MB FX5950 Ultra (oc 525/1.04)&&40 gig maxtor 7200rpm&&80 gig seagate baracuda 7200rpm&&
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #7 - Sep 9th, 2003 at 9:12am
Silent Exploder   Ex Member

 
-motherboard: a board with a Nforce2-chipset.

-processor: AMD Athlon 2700+ (~130 US $) or higher..

-video card: ATI 9500pro/9700pro/9800pro or nVidia 5800ultra/5900ultra. (depends on your money. Wink)

- RAM: at least 512mb PC 2700 ram.

- hard drive: as orenda already said, a drive with at least 7200rpm.

- audio card: Soundblaster Audigy 2.

- power supply: at least 350 watts.

and for the rest:  orenda already said everything.
 
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #8 - Sep 11th, 2003 at 4:17am

Daz   Offline
Colonel
in the morning im making
WAFFLES!
Leeds, UK

Gender: male
 Posts: 1171
 *****
 
if you have the money and follow these hints you will have youself a screaming hot comp Cheesy
 
AMD athlon XP2800+ @2.34ghz&&Epox 8RDA3G 400 fsb, 8x AGP&&1024MB DDR400 PC3200&&XFX 256MB FX5950 Ultra (oc 525/1.04)&&40 gig maxtor 7200rpm&&80 gig seagate baracuda 7200rpm&&
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #9 - Sep 11th, 2003 at 1:54pm

Ivan   Offline
Colonel
No, I'm NOT Russian, I
only like Russian aircraft
The netherlands

Gender: male
 Posts: 6058
 *****
 
ASUS A7V333 rev 1.02 Sad (can't take 400MHz FSB Athlons)
onboard RAID controller (harddisks)
16x DVD-ROM
ZIP 250
TEAC Floppy drive (5 years old or so)
512MB DDR2100, planning to make that 1024MB as soon as possible

Video:
NVidia GeForce 4 ti4200 with 128MB

HD's
1x70GB Maxtor H6 series (ATA-133)
1x60GB Maxtor H5 series (ATA-100)

Audio
SB Live 1024

PSU:
350W AOpen, came with the case

Case:
AOpen H700A, biggest bigtower you can get here whitout moving into the 19" rackmount stuff

Mouse MS intellimouse explorer rev2
Keyboard: cherry AT/XT switchable one (VERY old, still working)
Monitor: iiyama 19"
Speakers... Kenwood Dolby Prologic amplifier with a full surround setup
 
Russian planes: IL-76 (all standard length ones),  Tu-154 and Il-62, Tu-134 and An-24RV&&&&AI flightplans and repaints can be found here
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #10 - Sep 11th, 2003 at 4:39pm

Scorpiоn   Offline
Colonel
Take it easy!
The Alamo

Gender: male
 Posts: 4496
 *****
 
Well, this was my list:
  • Any of those 3.6 Ghz processors I saw at Fry's
  • At least a GB in RAM
  • Looking to see if NVidia or Radeon is the way to go with video cards
  • Zip drive, CD-RW, DVD Drive
  • 20 Gb hard drive would suit me well.  I've managed with 8, 20 would be a dream!

The rest doesn't really mater.
 
The Devil's Advocate.&&...
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #11 - Sep 11th, 2003 at 10:29pm

swanny338   Offline
Colonel
Switched from PC to Mac
and loving it
Houston, Texas

Gender: male
 Posts: 1140
 *****
 
a case i would recommend... GET A LIAN LI CASE

http://www.xoxide.com/lianli.html
 
Still have a nice PC but I just switched to a hella nice mac
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #12 - Sep 17th, 2003 at 11:47am

congo   Offline
Colonel
Make BIOS your Friend
Australia

Gender: male
 Posts: 3663
 *****
 
Actually, Scorpion,

The rest DOES matter.

You have to get a decent Mainboard or you're screwed from the very start. Then, the CPU , RAM , and Video Card all need to be performance matched to the mainboard.

Get a Decent  Mainboard!

Make sure you get a good MOTHERBOARD........

Get an excellent Mobo.     It Matters.

It doesn't have to be expensive, It's the Chipset that matters in the mainboard. Make the right choice or you simply won't get decent performance.

What you want is the latest, greatest chipset on a motherboard with all the features you require. Pick the one you want and then research it on the net. There is plenty of info out there. If the research shows problems, pick another board.

The motherboard is the heart of the system, a poor uninformed choice will prove to be the system's downfall.

Good Luck
 
...Mainboard: Asus P5K-Premium, CPU=Intel E6850 @ x8x450fsb 3.6ghz, RAM: 4gb PC8500 Team Dark, Video: NV8800GT, HDD: 2x1Tb Samsung F3 RAID-0 + 1Tb F3, PSU: Antec 550 Basiq, OS: Win7x64, Display: 24" WS LCD
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #13 - Sep 17th, 2003 at 5:32pm

Scorpiоn   Offline
Colonel
Take it easy!
The Alamo

Gender: male
 Posts: 4496
 *****
 
What's a mainboard?
 
The Devil's Advocate.&&...
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Reply #14 - Sep 20th, 2003 at 12:40pm

congo   Offline
Colonel
Make BIOS your Friend
Australia

Gender: male
 Posts: 3663
 *****
 
Ummmm,

I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.......  Grin
 
...Mainboard: Asus P5K-Premium, CPU=Intel E6850 @ x8x450fsb 3.6ghz, RAM: 4gb PC8500 Team Dark, Video: NV8800GT, HDD: 2x1Tb Samsung F3 RAID-0 + 1Tb F3, PSU: Antec 550 Basiq, OS: Win7x64, Display: 24" WS LCD
Back to top 
IP Logged
 
Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print
‹ Previous Topic | Next Topic ›
  « Home ‹ Board Top of this page

Simviation Forum » Powered by YaBB 2.5 AE!
YaBB Forum Software © 2000-2010. All Rights Reserved.

Valid RSS Valid XHTML Valid CSS Powered by Perl Source Forge