New Computer

[*Ravel's Heart]

So...

My computer, may he rest in peace, has expired after a brief illness.

The good news is that I have been budgeting for a new one for a bit, and now I have an excuse to buy. I have a roughly $3000-3500 budget (or approximately 2000 euro).

I am asking for suggestions from my more hardware-savvy ScoD friends.

Suggestions?

--R

[*Pashan01]

*nods, nods and returns in all untechy seriousness*

A pink one

[*Lost and not Found]

Do you want a laptop or a real computer?

[*Product of Void]

Do you want a laptop or a real computer?

hehe so true.

1TB hd
4gb ram
Sli two video cards
I7 cpu
Antec skeleton case
Pioneer Dvdrw
Windows 7

*nod nod*....desktop not craptop....I R hate them. I find it comical how many own a laptop that never leaves a desk, also have a monitor, mouse and Keyboard plugged in. Basically spent a lot more for a feature never used. Could go on but I vote a nice desktop


http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20031010

still looking for the My first computer strip :D

[*Lost and not Found]

Erm, I suppose the better question would be: what do you need it for?
And more importanly, do you know how to connect all the different computer components?

(2208.80€ - 2576.94€)

(It was still true five years ago that if you wanted a good computer, you better build one yourself. However, these days you can just buy the whole packet,)

[*scattered ashes]

i would suggest an AMD processor and a board thats made to support the quad core chipset.

I have an AMD Phenom 2 quad core 965 processor 3.4ghz
it runs beautifully i might consider getting a bigger heatsink/fan for it.

RAM you need no more than 4 gig of ram, and i would seriously suggest windows 7 as an OS its fantastic.

[*Ceremorph]

Run windows 7, and start with 8gb of ram. Toolset crashes are a thing of the past.

[*scattered ashes]

i have the windows 7 64 bit with 8 gig of ram it does seem excessive, as for graphics card i have a gforce xfx 250, its the size of an old video cassette but runs top range games with no problem, so dont go too high top market got for what will work on the inside of your computer with everything else, compatibility.

[*Ceremorph]

Don't go too crazy with the video of NWN2 is primarily what you're going to be playing. A $99.99 nvidia card will easily run this game at its best possible resolution with all the goodies turned on. And the extra RAM is an issue worth considering if you use toolset, because most of its problems originate with the 4gb limit imposed by 32-bit operating systems.

[*Ravel's Heart]

Thanks for the input...

Lost asked:

Do you want a laptop or a real computer?

This will definitely be a new desktop, not a laptop. I will use it primarily for playing games, though I suppose at some port work and lots of pictures and video will make their way onto it.

And:

And more importanly, do you know how to connect all the different computer components?

Maybe.

I have previously replaced a power supply, video card, and RAM. I am currently trying to take the HDD out of my dead PC and pop it into my old PC. I need an IDE to SATA Adapter, though. I am really, really hoping to make this work, as I have 6000 songs and countless pictures on my old HDDs. A lot of it is backed up, but I haven't done it since Christmas, so...

I have never assembled a PC from the ground up. I have never replaced a mother board, and I while I have upgraded operating systems, I have never installed one onto a blank slate. I have a passing familiarity with BIOS.

So...maybe I could build one myself. I have a friend who claims to be expert, but I am probably too impatient to do it.

So, I am thinking something like:

i7-960 processor (I am not sure if it is worth spending the money for the i7-975)
8gb DDR3 RAM at 1066MHz

HDD: I have a 1.5gb external HDD that I will keep most of my video/music/pictures on.
For a primary HDD, is it worth spending the extra money for a 10,000 RPM drive, sacrificing a bit of storage space for performance? Or will it just not make enough difference?

Video Card: This is maybe the most pertinent question. NWN2 ran fine on my ATI Radeon 4770. But, let's face it, I am looking at what I can play in 2011, not 2007. And:

PoV:

Sli two video cards

This is part of the question. Am I better off with a slightly faster single card or SLI two lesser cards? Which will be cooler? Depending on the card, whould I consider liquid cooling? I have never really messed with putting a sink onto a card.

scattered ashes wrote:

as for graphics card i have a gforce xfx 250, its the size of an old video cassette but runs top range games with no problem, so dont go too high top market got for what will work on the inside of your computer with everything else, compatibility.

I actually had that problem with the GeForce 9800. That thing was seriously the size of a shoe box. (Okay, it was a glove box, but still...it was huge!) It just physically would not fit inside. It drove me crazy!

So...any more specific card recommendations, given all of that?