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Anyone know a good site for hardware reviews? Looking to spend around 1k. (only includes parts inside the case)

tom's hardware is usually good

anandtech is another

AVSforums has some useful info too, but more on the HTPC side of things

http://www.hardocp.com

-Arlos

When composing a new build, I usually start here:

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/index.php

They do 3 different budget levels, $1000 Value Gamer, $2500 High End, and $4000 Extreme. They have it set up to buy everything you need, including OS, monitor, mouse, etc. They do one Intel, and one AMD build for each guide, talk some about specific hardware, and then offer a few alternatives. Mostly it makes sure I don't forget something important, like the dang OS.

Then once I have a working outline, I go visit the other sites already mentioned for hardware reviews and cost comparisons. Fun!

I just finished ordering up all the parts for my new pc. It will be nice to have a gaming rig that isn't 5 years out of date.

ASUS P5N-D 750I SLI LGA775 ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI 1394A GBLAN Motherboard
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 640GB 3.5IN SATA2 7200RPM 32MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive
Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower ATX Gaming Case & Antec Truepower Trio 650W Power Supply Bundle
1 x Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio
1 x Antec Truepower Trio 650W Power Supply ATX12V V2.0 Active PFC SLI Certified 120MM Fan
OCZ Reaper Hpc Edition PC2-9200 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-1150 CL5-5-5-18 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit
LG GH22NS30 Black DVD+RW 22X8X16 DVD-RW 22X6X16 DL 16X/12X 2MB SATA
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB

plus BFG 8800GT that I snagged for $100

All together less than $800. I would have spent more but I had a $2300 repair bill on my car over the summer.

you forgot to get an x-fi and phys-X card for extra frames

tho the x-fi sound card is honestly just worth every penny. the difference in quality because the crystallizer and having a 64-bit chip on the sound card so your cpu doesn't have to process it is great. and they're pretty cheap unless they inflated since i bought mine

but otherwise that is a sexy computer and i want it

I used to not care about sound cards until I popped one into mine. I am now 100% sold from this day forth.

The power is a significant difference to me.

I've never invested in a sound card so its not a big deal to me. Of course, I can always go out and get one for like $50. I was more concerned about getting the best bang for the buck, which is why I didn't get a new monitor or anything like that.

Tikker wrote:tom's hardware is usually good

anandtech is another

AVSforums has some useful info too, but more on the HTPC side of things

anand writes a column for one of our magazines each month :D

Durothil Skyreaver wrote:I've never invested in a sound card so its not a big deal to me. Of course, I can always go out and get one for like $50. I was more concerned about getting the best bang for the buck, which is why I didn't get a new monitor or anything like that.

that's the point of getting an x-fi soundcard. it ups the quality and give you more frames in your games because your processor isn't dealing with the sound

i can't recommend it enough. super cheap and completely worth it

I remember when I got my soundblaster live! card for my machine

with 5.1 sound it was awesome, it made gaming a whole other experience

I'm also probably one of the few with a big U shaped desk that actually let me position speakers in the proper spots

it actually even made a difference for EQ

eq has sound?

I have saved like $4000 over the last 6+ years by not building PC's for gaming. HUGE waste of money. I just fired up EQ2 the other day and waited HOURS for it to patch. WTF? By the time it was done I didn't even want to play anymore. Fuck gaming on computers.

Dunno, I think computers just do it better.

Tossica wrote:I have saved like $4000 over the last 6+ years by not building PC's for gaming. HUGE waste of money. I just fired up EQ2 the other day and waited HOURS for it to patch. WTF? By the time it was done I didn't even want to play anymore. Fuck gaming on computers.

dude you just play the wrong games. go buy day of defeat source or hellgate london. i can't stop playing either and you can't get those anywhere but PC afaik

The bullshit that goes along with gaming on a PC far outweighs the few great games I might miss out on. I don't have that much time to dedicate to gaming and I sure as fuck don't want to spend the precious time I DO have installing, patching, downloading beta drivers, tweaking, dealing with DRM, upgrading every year, sitting at a cramped desk tied to a keyboard and mouse. I sit in front of a computer all day long at work, fuck gaming on one when I get home.

Fuck gaming on consoles. Those goddamn controllers are really holdovers from the Spanish Inquisition, designed for maximum pain generation in the human hand, while at the same time giving you a complete lack of fine control over WTF you're supposed to be doing.

-Arlos

Could've posted the exact same thing about you whining about computers.

Console gamepads result in massive pain within 20-30 minutes of trying to play. On top of that, trying to get anything like fine control with those stupid analog thumbsticks, or the digital pads is an exercise in utter futility.

Hell, my brother makes console games, but I'll never play the games he works on unless they're ported to PC. Period.

-Arlos

Console games are for noob gamers. (edit: Console games now, they used to be fucking godly before computer gaming caught up in popularity)

Except platform games, and a few others better suited to a gamepad. But you can use a gamepad on the PC too, so they fail there as well.

You are all wrong and I am right.

yes, and HD DVD will win the format war

there's pro's and con's to both

some styles belong on console, some on PC

anyone playing a FPS on a console is a retard

I just can't imagine playing WoW on a console. There are far to many buttons. I have just about my entire keyboard mapped out with 6 action bars!