Ben

Ok, I want to "build" or have someone build for me a Gaming Computer up to $1500. i already have a monitor so this will just be the meat of the actual system.

I play CSS, Red Orch etc..

Any Ideas? i am not too tech savvy but I have a friend who is and can do the building for me.

Basically, what would be the best setup for max speed for gaming for up to $1500?

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A battle is dynamic, i.e constantly changing and evolving. Follow the strategy in place but never be afraid to improvise if the situation calls for it.
All I ask for is communication

Trooper

im going to throw this out there...Emachine T6525 with a nvidia 7800 Gt. Upgrade the ram to 2 gig and that computer will do more then you could ever ask for if those are the games you are playing. Ive looked at alot of computer and "pre-built" systems and mateo even has one, great PC for the price.

T6525

Graphic Card

Memory

Thats gonna be my next upgrade this summer, or possibly after some new vista models come out.

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that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

TychoCelchuuu

Dang, the forums just lost my post. Oh well the gist of it was an A8N-SLi Deluxe, 2 7800GTs, An Athlon 64 X2 4800 or maybe lower, 2 gigs of Corsair/whatever RAM, a DVD Writer, a hard drive, and a case with a PSU rated for SLi. And a nice heat sink/fan for your CPU. That should run you about 1000 bucks, leaving you 500 left over to spend on whatever you want.

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|TG-Irr|TychoCelchuuu

Ben

"And a nice heat sink/fan for your CPU"


What is this?

Trooper, will the Emachine have this fan? I dont want anythying overheating on me. I basically need a machine that is user friendly and qwont need constant worry and maintenance.


*Also, this is what I have currently:
HP Pavillion Intel Pent 4 cpu 2.80GHz
2.80 GHz, 1.00GB of Ram
windows xp home edition version 2002 service pack 2

NVIDIA gforce fx 5500

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A battle is dynamic, i.e constantly changing and evolving. Follow the strategy in place but never be afraid to improvise if the situation calls for it.
All I ask for is communication

Trooper

What he is talking about is if you build a computer you need to buy a fan for the CPU, the emachine wil have one already installed and ready to go. The only thing for emachine system you will need to do is install the RAM and GPU. Then delete all the adds and 3rd party crap thats on it. Take you 45 minutes max to have it running like you want. CSS and RO would look amazing and even give you the chance to try out BF2 and a few other games here at TG

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that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

Faultline

Aren't the 7800GT's about $400.00 a pop though?

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Trooper

look at the link in my first post...less then 350

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that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

Ben

Could I just continue using my own system and just add a few things and upgrade the vid card? What can i add to make this a better machine? And, is the cost to upgrade worth it?

HP Pavillion Intel Pent 4 cpu 2.80GHz
2.80 GHz, 1.00GB of Ram
nvidia gforce 5500
windows xp home edition version 2002 service pack 2

__________________




A battle is dynamic, i.e constantly changing and evolving. Follow the strategy in place but never be afraid to improvise if the situation calls for it.
All I ask for is communication

Trooper

You could do that, and would be cheaper. The reason for a new system you get all the new tech like PCIe, unless you have that already just go for more ram and the graphic card

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that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

Mateo

You won't be able to upgrade the CPU, but I would upgrade to a more recent nvidia card, and drop another gig of RAM in there. That should be more than sufficient upgrade.

Ben

ok, cool. thats prob what I will do. i will upgrade to the 6800 (i think) and add a gig of ram.

Is The Nvidia 6800 worth it? is there a better card for the money or any specific 6800 that is faster then another?

Will I need to add any other cooling fans?

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A battle is dynamic, i.e constantly changing and evolving. Follow the strategy in place but never be afraid to improvise if the situation calls for it.
All I ask for is communication

Mateo

I don't know if the 6800 is worth it: I use a 6600, and it smokes the hell out of the 5700le that I was using.

The card should have its own fan, so that would keep the GPU cool, and help with overall airflow. You could look into using a PCI slot as a vent if you are really worried about the system overheating.

I'd also check your power supply, make sure it has the cojones to run the 6800 without overheating, but it should not be a problem.

Faultline

Doh! My bad, didn't check the link. That's a slick price and just 1 of those would be enough for the games he wants to run. 2 of those paired up in SLI mode would STOMP just about any game out there so long as you have decent RAM and a good CPU.

I think I'm gonna break down and get a new system by year's end...

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WhiskeySix

I was in a similar situation... I'd suggest grabbing a new case and new mother-board. You should easily be able to get well over 3GHz w/ that processor. I was in a similar spot: had a Dell Dimension 4600 with a P4 2.8GHz.


I spent $100 for a new case which included a quality 450w PSU. (I chose this case because it cools well, is super quiet, and has an integrated dust filter)

I then spent another $100 on a new ASUS motherboard (so that I could OC the processor).. OC'ing was increadibly easy. Hop in bios, bump up clock rate, reboot, run primes.exe. If it failed, (i.e. a math calculation error, NOT a blue screen of death) just reboot and notch down the clock. Simple! (ASUS boards are nice, because you'll never get "locked out" and have to reset the bios - the board recognizes a "bad OC attempt" and lets you back in to turn things down.


So for $200 I ended up getting 3.3GHz out of my old CPU, a near silent PC, and the capacity to upgrade more in the future (previous 'dell' PSU was only 250w).

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Reflexes are for mistakes only. Reaction implies surprise. Be surprised less.

Mateo

That's what I am worried about with Ben's HP. They usually ship with 250w PSUs, which are crap.