Thread: Computer Hardware Guide

Welcome to my computer hardware guide! I hope this will be a useful thread to help people who are wanting to upgrade their computer but don't know much about computer hardware. Lets Begin. . .



The CPU

If you are buying a new CPU, $100-250 seems to be the ideal range that will last you at least 3-4 years. Targeting the $250+ range will give you bragging rights but you wont see huge increases over your friends. I recommend you focus your money into the GPU. CPUs are no longer a bottleneck for gaming as they were in the past. Games are becoming more multithreaded these days. This means they are being designed to run on dual, quad, and higher core processors.

Winners:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - An ideal dual core for gaming. This is likely the best in terms of price and performance.

Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 - A decent dual core that is a bit lower cost due to having slower FSB speed.

The Future of CPUS:
Intel will be launching their next chipset in late 2008. "Nehalem" will feature a new socket type, labeled LGA1366, replacing the LGA775 design. This will feature DDR3 and new CPUs which will be 6 core. Expect to build a new computer if you are shooting for one of these as old 775 socket motherboards will not work.



The Ram

Two gigs is ideal for gaming these days. You can get by on one gig. However I don't recommend less than 2 gig with a new build.If you need to watch your costs, you'd see a far greater gain by spending the money on graphics, follow by a faster CPU then faster ram speed/timing. Current ram is fairly cheap. I recommend cheaping out on this part if your on a budget. You also want to make sure your motherboard can supply the required voltage for the ram. You may want to do some further research on ram voltages especially if you plan on overclocking your CPU.

Winners:

G.Skill 2 gig kit - a possibly lower cost DDR2-800 2-gig kit. (5-5-5-12 timed)

Corsair XMS2 2 gig kit - a good DDR2-800 2-gig kit. (5-5-5-12 timed)

Future of Ram:
In mid to late 2009 and the DDR3 kits become truly affordable we should see faster speeds available on the market. I would only recommend a DDR3 based build in 2008 if you are rich. Like i said you get more benefits spending the molla on graphics or a faster CPU.



The Motherboard

Not much to be said about this part. Just make sure you get one that fits your needs. I will recommend two.

Winners:

Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L - An Intel P35 northbridge chipset board. This would be good for those on a budget. Note that this board only has a single PCI express x16 slot so running SLI or Crossfire is not possible on this board.

Asus P5N-D - The Nvidia 750i chipset offers dual-SLI support, unlike the higher 780i chipset types which offer tri. This board would be a great choice for most gamers.



The Graphics Card

The most important part of a gaming computer is the graphics card. This is the bulk of the power to drive the graphics engines on any game. A graphics card worth about $200-350 should cover you for high-end settings on new games for 2 years. Cards in the $125-200 range will do just fine medium settings and resolutions for new games or slightly higher for games that don't use the most current graphical effects. When choosing a video card it is important to make sure the amperage and wattage requirements will work with you power supply. This is extremely important with dual video card configurations as well. More on power supplies will be discussed later.

Winners:

8800 GTS (G92), Evga, KO edition 512 meg - A great choice at a good price.

8800 GTS (G92), BFG Tech, Overclocked 512 meg - A great choice at a good price.

ATI HD 4850 512 meg, DX10.1 - A good choice at a good price.



The Power Supply

The first rule to buying a power supply is DONT BUY ONE WITH CHEAP CHINESE PARTS IN THEM. These power supplys are terrible and have a 80% chance of dying or blowing up in your computer. I bought one of these two years ago. The thing died in one year luckily my PC didn't blow up but its not an uncommon thing when you skimp out on a power supply. Always buy from a well known company. Anyways...

There are three things to consider when purchasing a power supply. The wattage, the 12 volt rails /amps per rail, and the efficiency.

Wattage is the overall big number you see listed on the box. Wattage is the horsepower of electrical engineering. You want a 500w or higher with a new system for single graphic card use, and 700 watts or higher for dual graphic card use.

The 12v lines and total amps are in fact just as important as the wattage. These are very important for graphics card power, but also important if you run lots of other hardware such as USB devices and hard drives. The short version is that you want at least 35+ amps on the 12 volt rail these days. If a power supply has two or more 12v lines you can add their amounts together to find the total amp rating of the power supply.

Efficiency is also important. Most power supplies these days will have 80-90% efficiency. If you skimp out on efficiency more power comes out of your wall to achieve the same wattage as a more efficient unit. Also more heat is released out of the power supply causing your house's AC to work harder to pump out the extra hot air. However its not that drastic.

Corsair CMPSU-750TX, 750w - Fan speed control. A good pick for PCs with dual graphic cards

Antec TruePower Trio - My own personal PSU. Cheap power supply, ugly as hell on outside but an engineering masterpiece on the inside. Enough said.

[Current as of 08/05/08:more to be added soon]

Originally Posted by codhummy

How much more expensive is it to buy a comouter casing with a built in power supply rather than one where you have to set it up yourself?

You can find combo deals for good prices locally and online however unless you find the perfect case and psu combo I don't think it would be worth it. If you're in no rush to find parts then I would just keep an eye out, otherwise get the right wattage psu and a case that fits your needs and pay the extra $10+.

It's 4 screws so don't worry about installation!