Need Help(Some questions and build help), please

K

Kieth8

New Member
First off, can you guys help me out with a gaming computer for around $700(give or take a $100), needs to have monitor with it(doesn't need an amazing monitor, I will upgrade that first). Also, I can't build it. Here are some other things:

  • Processor:I am leaning toward the AMD Phenom triple core, due to its price, newness, performance, and DDR3 memory. I will most likely stick with it, unless there is an super amazing one for the same price or lower.
  • Video card: Need some help here(there are so many!), I want one that will be able to play Age of Empires at very good setting, Spore at very good settings, Left 4 Dead at reasonable to very good settings, Fallout 3 at reasonable(or very good, if possible) settings, and new RTS(real time strategy games) and other new games at reasonable settings. I don't know if this is possible but it is what I'm hoping for. I have no preference on what company.
  • MotherBoard and RAM: I have a couple questions on this, I know that the Phenoms don't get that big of boost from haveing DDR3, but I want a motherboard(is that what MOBO stands for) that supports DDR3, so I am wondering this: do motherboards that support DDR3 also support DDR2 memory? If they do, do both types work as good as they normally work? If there is a motherboard that supports both, I am not against getting DDR2 at first and upgrading to DDR3 when I feel I need it. If motherboards support only one type of memory, then I would like a DDR3 motherboard. I think that 4 GB of RAM would be sufficient.
  • Moniter: No preference, really. I can get a better one when I get more money.
  • Case: Want one that has room for expansion, looks good, cools good, and isn't that expensive.
  • Mouse and Keyboard: No preference.
  • Power Supply: Looking at a 600 watt corsair.
I think thats everything. If you know of a good place to buy from, you can include that, too Thanks for the help.
EDIT: Forgot one of the most important things, the operating system. Ummm...........I leaning toward windows Vista 64 bit, however, my parents are buying this for me(I'm 15), and they have heard bad things about Vista. I don't mind it, like it more than XP. I don't know how to win them over to the Vista side.(this is not the main point of the thread).
 
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Are you looking at a full tower build? They cool better, but tend to cost more money so you will have to decide where you want to go on that. For a mid-tower I would recommend the Antec 900 Two. For a full-tower I would go for the Antec 1200. They're practically identical, look very sleek, and have great cooling.

Are you looking to run crossfire? I would go for either a single 4870 or a 4850 with the intention of running crossfire later. You can always go for an NVidia solution as well, but you wouldn't have the option to SLI later on.

You may want to look at the 750W Corsair, it's always good to have a little headroom and I don't believe it is that much more expensive.
 
Processor:I am leaning toward the AMD Phenom triple core, due to its price, newness, performance, and DDR3 memory. I will most likely stick with it, unless there is an super amazing one for the same price or lower.

AMD Phenom IIx3 720BE is a good choice

Video card: Need some help here(there are so many!), I want one that will be able to play Age of Empires at very good setting, Spore at very good settings, Left 4 Dead at reasonable to very good settings, Fallout 3 at reasonable(or very good, if possible) settings, and new RTS(real time strategy games) and other new games at reasonable settings. I don't know if this is possible but it is what I'm hoping for. I have no preference on what company.

ATI 4870 512MB could probably squeeze in your budget

MotherBoard and RAM: I have a couple questions on this, I know that the Phenoms don't get that big of boost from haveing DDR3, but I want a motherboard(is that what MOBO stands for) that supports DDR3, so I am wondering this: do motherboards that support DDR3 also support DDR2 memory? If they do, do both types work as good as they normally work? If there is a motherboard that supports both, I am not against getting DDR2 at first and upgrading to DDR3 when I feel I need it. If motherboards support only one type of memory, then I would like a DDR3 motherboard. I think that 4 GB of RAM would be sufficient.
In terms of upgrade ability, DDR3 RAM is the way to go. However it is slightly expensive than DDR2 RAM. And you can't use DDR2 in DDR3.

Case: Want one that has room for expansion, looks good, cools good, and isn't that expensive.
You probably don't need a full tower case. And they are expensive anyway.
I suggest you go for Antec Three Hundred. It provide good value and fit your budget.

Power Supply: Corsair 550W PSU is fine
 
daisymtc said:
Processor:I am leaning toward the AMD Phenom triple core, due to its price, newness, performance, and DDR3 memory. I will most likely stick with it, unless there is an super amazing one for the same price or lower.

AMD Phenom IIx3 720BE is a good choice

Video card: Need some help here(there are so many!), I want one that will be able to play Age of Empires at very good setting, Spore at very good settings, Left 4 Dead at reasonable to very good settings, Fallout 3 at reasonable(or very good, if possible) settings, and new RTS(real time strategy games) and other new games at reasonable settings. I don't know if this is possible but it is what I'm hoping for. I have no preference on what company.

ATI 4870 512MB could probably squeeze in your budget

MotherBoard and RAM: I have a couple questions on this, I know that the Phenoms don't get that big of boost from haveing DDR3, but I want a motherboard(is that what MOBO stands for) that supports DDR3, so I am wondering this: do motherboards that support DDR3 also support DDR2 memory? If they do, do both types work as good as they normally work? If there is a motherboard that supports both, I am not against getting DDR2 at first and upgrading to DDR3 when I feel I need it. If motherboards support only one type of memory, then I would like a DDR3 motherboard. I think that 4 GB of RAM would be sufficient.
In terms of upgrade ability, DDR3 RAM is the way to go. However it is slightly expensive than DDR2 RAM. And you can't use DDR2 in DDR3.

Case: Want one that has room for expansion, looks good, cools good, and isn't that expensive.
You probably don't need a full tower case. And they are expensive anyway.
I suggest you go for Antec Three Hundred. It provide good value and fit your budget.

Power Supply: Corsair 550W PSU is fine
Click to expand...

I'm ordering from a site(either ibuypower or somewhere else), is this even possible to do for under $800, including OS and moniter. Is everything going to be moving to DDR3? How hard is it to upgrade from DDR2 to DDR3, and how much would it cost(if i bought the computer with DDR2)? How big of difference between them, I know that with the AMD Phenoms, the difference is only like 4% in performance. Is the AMD Phenom 2 Triple core BE(black edition) only for overclocking, because I don't think I will be doing tha?(I have a lot of Questions)
 
Monitor, newegg.com $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009127
It is because those ibuypower/ avadirect seems not provide good value for monitor...

AVAdirect.com
$674
COMPUCASE (HEC), 6C28 Black/Silver Mid-Tower Case, 585W PSU, ATX
MICROSTAR, P43 Neo3-F
INTEL, Core™ 2 Duo E7400 Dual-Core, 2.8GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 Cache
KINGSTON, 4GB (2 x 2GB) HyperX PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz CL5 (5-5-5-15)
SAPPHIRE, Radeon™ HD 4830 575MHz, 512MB GDDR3
SEAGATE, 320GB Barracuda 7200.11, SATA 3 Gb/s NCQ, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache
LITE-ON, iHAS322 Black/White 22x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner w/ Smart Erase, SATA, Retail
MICROSOFT, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition w/ SP1, OEM
WARRANTY, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)
Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)
 
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cyberpowerpc
$697
*BASE_PRICE: [+525]
CAS: ($20 off Mail-in Rebate) Sigma Gaming Windstorm Mid-Tower 420W Case [-16] (Red Color)
CASUPGRADE: NONE
CS_FAN: Default case fans
CPU: AMD Phenom™II X3 720 Black Edition Triple-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology [+84]
CD: (Special Price) LG 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (Black Color)
CD2: NONE
FA_HDD: None
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
FAN: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
FREEBIE_RM: None
FLOPPY: 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE (BLACK COLOR)
FREEBIE_OS: None
HDD: Single Hard Drive (320GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
HDD2: NONE
IEEE_CARD: NONE
KEYBOARD: PS2 MULTIMEDIA INTERNET CONTROL KEYBOARD (BLACK COLOR)
MOUSE: Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse (BLACK COLOR)
MODEM: NONE
MULTIVIEW: Non-SLI/CrossFireX Mode Supports Multiple Monitors
MONITOR: NONE
MONITOR2: NONE
MOTHERBOARD: GigaByte GA-MA74GM-S2 740G Chipset DDR2/800 SATA RAID PCI-Express MBoard w/ATI 2100 Graphic,GbLAN,USB2.0,&7.1Audio
MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 [+104] (64-bit Edition)
PRINTER: None
PRINTER_CABLE: None
POWERSUPPLY: 580 Watts Power Supplies (SLI Ready Power Supply)
RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
SPEAKERS: 600Watts PMPO Subwoofer Stereo Speakers
TEMP: NONE
TVRC: None
USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
USBHD: NONE
VIDEOCAMERA: NONE
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 16X PCI Express (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)
VIDEO2: NONE
VIDEO3: NONE
WNC: NONE
_PRICE: (+697)
_view_: detail
 
Is the AMD Black edition only for overclocking? What I mean is am I going to have to do anything to it, or is it just a fast, special edition of the processor?
 
Kieth8 said:
Is the AMD Black edition only for overclocking? What I mean is am I going to have to do anything to it, or is it just a fast, special edition of the processor?
Click to expand...

Black edition have unlock multiplier which is better overclock than the normal one. If you don't want to overclock, just use it as normal. No difference at all.
 
daisymtc said:
Black edition have unlock multiplier which is better overclock than the normal one. If you don't want to overclock, just use it as normal. No difference at all.
Click to expand...

So normal use for it is still faster than the normal AMD Phenom 2 Triple core.
 
Just wanted to pipe in....my understanding is that you are NOT going to build the system. While there are some built systems that use the Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition, expect the system to cost more as there still has to be a little profit. Now if you were building yourself, you could most likely build a much better system for a lot cheaper. If you look at my signature, I've got just over $500 invested and that is a build from the ground up using the Phenom II X4 920. The Case comes with a 500 watt power supply, but I wanted a name brand one...so really could subtract another $50 and use that towards a video card, if I was a gamer. From the testing, even AMD concedes that DDR3 doesn't do much of anything for perfomance on their systems. So, I really wouldn't get stuck on the need for DDR3 RAM or a board that supports it. There are a couple of MB that do support both type RAM..expensive though. (DDR3 on Intel systems do show a big improvement)
 
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I would build my own, except my parents won't let me. They think that if anything goes wrong on it, no one will help fix it. I tried telling them that each part usually comes with a warranty(or so I've heard), but they won't listen. But I'm not that unhappy about it, because they are buying the computer for me(at least, they are putting $700 towards it):).
 
Kieth8 said:
I would build my own, except my parents won't let me. They think that if anything goes wrong on it, no one will help fix it. I tried telling them that each part usually comes with a warranty(or so I've heard), but they won't listen. But I'm not that unhappy about it, because they are buying the computer for me(at least, they are putting $700 towards it):).
Click to expand...

Refer them to these posts here on computerforum to prove your point:P Because most parts come with at least a 1 year warranty, while some mobos and graphics cards and such have lifetime warranties. Besides, if you would ever need help you have an active userbase called computerforum you could come back to if you needed help:)
 
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