Building from scratch, no clue what to do.

[OctoberWater]

Ok I looked in the first page of this section, and didn't see anything (quite) like this. I am in the Closed Beta, and my computer can't handle the big Keep sieges. Now I don't exactly have a surplus of money (being that I am 16, and my parents don't exactly like me gaming so they wont help pay). So I have heard that building a comp is cheaper than buying already made, so all I want is for someone to lay out a list of things I need to buy. I don't have an exact budget atm, so don't really worry about price.

There is a post kind of like this, it is 'budget desktop' but that is a list of what he already chose, and asking for input.

I am still deciding on desktop/laptop.

Also any guides on how to build one would be great.

I know I have an article in PC Gamer Magazine, not sure what the article is called.

[Pwnzilla]

Ran this up for someone else earlier this week. It is a budget box that should be able to handle WAR without significant lag. Prices were current as of a few days ago. Components are for ~$500 budget and $600 budget builds.

PSU
Antec earthwatts EA430 430W ATX12V v2.0 Power Supply
$59.99 - $30 rebate = $29.99

Case
Antec Three Hundred Black ATX Mid Tower
$59.95

Mobo
GIGABYTE GA-M57SLI-S4 AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
$84.99

HDD
HITACHI Deskstar P7K500 HDP725032GLA360 (0A35411) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
$49.99

OS
Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Basic
$89.99

Optical Drive
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA
$25.99

RAM
OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
$45.99 - $20 rebate = $25.99

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core
$66.00

GPU
EVGA 512-P3-N862-AR GeForce 9600GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
$119.99 - $20 rebate = $99.99

Total $602.88 - $70 rebates = $532.88 + shipping (which should be less than $20)

For $600 budget make the following changes

RAM
OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
$81.99 - $30 rebate = $51.99

GPU
EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
$155.99 - $20 rebate = $135.99

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Brisbane 2.8GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core
$87.00

HDD
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
$79.99

Total $689.88 - $70 rebates = $619.88 + shipping

[HeLLMuTT]

Hmm I could get that for my sister. She wants to play WAR from Ireland.

Pretty neat.

[Novix]

Pwnzilla has an excellent start for you, but it all depends on how much money you are willing to put down for it. Once you know a figure then you can start looking for specific parts/deals and what not.

[OctoberWater]

Thanks Pwnzilla for that.

How much cheaper is building then buying already made? Because I want to save money, but I also don't trust myself with making a PC. I just want to chose the lesser of two evils.

[Gulquarn]

It's much, much cheaper and generally better components. As for not trusting yourself just do some research. You have to learn sometime.

[Pwnzilla]

The biggest problem with buying a pre-built (HP/Dell/etc…) budget box ($500 range) from a local retailer is with the graphics performance. Most of them will utilize either integrated graphics or a very weak dedicated graphics card. For example here is a unit sold by WalMart.com:

iBuypower Gamer 501-WN Desktop PC

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Processor Type: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ / 2.6 GHz
RAM Installed Size: 2Gb DDR2 SDRAM
Hard Drive: 320 Gb - standard - Serial ATA-300
Graphics Type: Integrated ATI Radeon X1250
Optical Storage: DVD±RW
Mouse

Price $548 + $ .97 shipping + tax

Components list looks very similar to what I posted eh? But notice the graphics……integrated graphics = teh suck for gaming. It does not state that it has an open PCI-E X16 slot that would enable you to add a dedicated card, but what if it did? The price as configured is higher than the BYO system, there is no indication of the wattage/amperage of the PSU, and opening the case to install the card will generally void the warranty.

As most of these pre-built budget boxes use a PSU only just sufficient for the unit as built, it is doubtful that it will have the power to drive any decent mid-range GPU. So, you would have to upgrade the PSU in addition to the GPU.

For a budget gaming box you are generally better off BYO. There are several links/sources posted here in the tech forum that lead to DIY sites. You will just have to troll/search to find them as I am feeling to lazy to do it myself and re-paste/link them again at this time.

[OctoberWater]

Originally Posted by Gulquarn

It's much, much cheaper and generally better components. As for not trusting yourself just do some research. You have to learn sometime.

Ok, so if it is much, much cheaper, then I have to ask about the PC Gamer Magazine Article, "Build the Perfect Gaming PC!". What it does, is it tries to hit the sweet spot between getting the best components, but not spending top dollar. BTW they call this PC "Duckworth". SO I am going to list their parts they suggest to buy, and then list the total:

Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz, 4 cores, 1066MHz)
Geforce 8800GT
Cosmos 1000 (Case)
NeoPower 650W (Power Supply)
122-CK-NF67-TI (Mobo)
Raptor X Hard Drive (150GB, 10,000 RPM)
Dominator (Memory, 2GB, DDR2 1142)

And it says this will cost around 1,600

And as for fps scores on highest settings (or close to):
Half-Life 2: Episode One - 127
Company of Heroes: Opposing Forces - 59
World In Conflict - 40
Crysis - 26
3DMark06 - 11973

So I am, as you know, have no knowledge with Computer Hardware. But just by the price difference, I am guessing this is better then Pwnzilla's set up (or Pwnzilla has some crazy connections), but how much better? This is probably too much, but JW.

AS for learning somewhere, there may be truth in that... and the article has a walk through on building, and benchmarking, but it still seems like the articles is written by a pro, to other pros, not nubs like me.

[OctoberWater]

I just ran 3DMark06 to see how I compared to Duckworth...

3015

Then they showed the highest score they recieved... 32719!!! That computer is literally over 10X better than mine!

[narud]

Originally Posted by OctoberWater

Ok, so if it is much, much cheaper, then I have to ask about the PC Gamer Magazine Article, "Build the Perfect Gaming PC!". What it does, is it tries to hit the sweet spot between getting the best components, but not spending top dollar. BTW they call this PC "Duckworth". SO I am going to list their parts they suggest to buy, and then list the total:

Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz, 4 cores, 1066MHz)
Geforce 8800GT
Cosmos 1000 (Case) - check case price compare to antec 900
NeoPower 650W (Power Supply)
122-CK-NF67-TI (Mobo)
Raptor X Hard Drive (150GB, 10,000 RPM) - nice but still to expensive
Dominator (Memory, 2GB, DDR2 1142) -compir to 4gb sticks about on market

And it says this will cost around 1,600

And as for fps scores on highest settings (or close to):
Half-Life 2: Episode One - 127
Company of Heroes: Opposing Forces - 59
World In Conflict - 40
Crysis - 26
3DMark06 - 11973

So I am, as you know, have no knowledge with Computer Hardware. But just by the price difference, I am guessing this is better then Pwnzilla's set up (or Pwnzilla has some crazy connections), but how much better? This is probably too much, but JW.

AS for learning somewhere, there may be truth in that... and the article has a walk through on building, and benchmarking, but it still seems like the articles is written by a pro, to other pros, not nubs like me.

u cold use the antec 900 case if its cheaper that system will fit well also u can use cheaper ram than dominator also losing the raptor hardrive for sata 250 or 500 should save a few bucks without effecting performance

also cheap if u can get a system simular with a barebones set up which should include case mb cpu fans ram then all u need to add and fit are the dvd rewriter graph card and hd which is fairly simple

as for confidencein building it its alot easier than i thought it would be and theres enough people on these forums that could talk you through problems on the phone ts or vent

hope this helps a little

Edit also if u can give a rough estimate of ur budget peeps should be able to link a set up in your budget
narud