if i'm trying to buy something powerful enough to play source and enough to play doom3, quake2/3/4, and maybe even some battlefield. let's go with amd as the processor. what do you guys think is a good setup? i'm trying to build something good cause i'm tired of playing on piece of shit rigs, so i'm willing to dish out some money. but i also don't want to blow my money on stuff i don't really need. i know the newest toys are always the most appealing, but what will actually give me the most bang for my buck? thanks guys, i'd appreciate any input you guys may have on motherboard, type of ram, power supply, hard drives, any specific companies that you buy that are less expensive but still good performers. any tricks of the trade you may know about building a computer. i have built one before with a friend, but i did more of a supervising kinda thing :p really, any help is good, i just something to kinda kick start me in the right direction... i really don't feel like spending a lot of money and ending up with a piece of shit, lol. later guys.

It really depends on what kind of $ you're looking to spend. What kind of $ are you willing to lay out for your gaming machine?

let's go with a grand...

how about $1500-$1700? You can make a pretty decent computer for a grand, but an amazing on for 500 more.

The video card can be $400 - $500 by itself if you're going with a top of the line setup. You can get by with a lesser card that still does the job. The Radeon 9800 Pro 128 is about $225 and seems to work pretty well.

I'm a fan of the AMD 64 3400+...it's what I just bought.

1500-1700 still works for me. i wouldn't mind a 9800 tho. save me 200 bux. the new amd 64 fx-53 is EXPENSIVE!!! which by the way, brings me to this question... does more sockets = better processor? the new ones all say 939 but an amd 64 3400+ has like 725 or something like that. any really big difference from the 725 one and the 939 one?

by really big, i mean... will it really affect my gameplay to the point where i can really tell a BIGGGG difference... or is it the difference between like... completely fluid gameplay or a skip here and there every 30 minutes or so... cause something small like that... i have no problem dealing with. and basically i just wanna get something together so i can get out there and start shooting you bastards to pieces. lol

Here is an idea...
1. Processor AMD-64 3400 retail w/heatsink and fan $219.00
2. Gigabyte GA-K8NS onboard 8ch audio, lan. $63.00
3. 1 GB DDR 400 Gell Dual channel kit $179.00
4. SATA HD Seagate 120GB 7200RPM $76.00
5. Ati Radeon 9800pro 256MB $203.00 or Nvidia 6800ultra 256MB $398.00
6. Generic Floppy drive around $15.00
7. Generic CD-Rom around $30.00
8. U still need a case, one with atlease 420W power supply. There are so many that I don't know what u r looking for. Do u have a monitor, mouse, keyboard, all that shit? Just to get u started.
U are at $1080 with the 6800 video card, which is the only card that currently supports the new DirectX 9.0c. It is very comparable to a X800Pro which is like $150 more.
Good luck

That's real close to the setup I just put together, only I went with a nicer motherboard & bought another Radeon 9800 pro 128. Not quite ready to shell out the $ for a nicer video card yet…want to wait until after the holidays and se if the prices drops.

I did get a new 19" monitor and case too. I think the monitor was around $200 and the case was about $85 (w/a 420 watt power supply)

Yes I went with the bare minimum for a mobo, looking like 150 or so for quality, besides, I tend to only use Abit, just waiting for the NF-8.

I just needed to upgrade to something with 8X agp so I can see the full benefits of my video card. That, plus the motherboard I got supports up to 4GB of memory. It's got a couple other cool features too…hopefully my damn cpu fan arrives today so I can fire that biaatch up tonight and play source the way it was meant to be played…on our new server too:D

I am looking into getting PCI-X slots, if only Abit made a motherboard with them!

retardsandwich actually got the Radeon 9800 Pro 256. I'm going to drop it my setup one night and see if it makes any difference in terms of fps (when compared to my 128 Radeon).

The 8xAgp will help when you upgrade to that too.

Oh yea. My new rig is complete…just needs a cpu fan that I just found out is waiting at my house. I'll be doing all the installs (XP, CS, etc) tonight.

The computer I'm using now is my "old" counter-strike machine…it's fast but no fast enough. It didn't take much to run cs 1.6 anyway…

I expect that with my new computer I should get 100+ fps. I basically have the same setup as Jimmy (different video card though) and I saw him mention he's getting 100 - 120 fps. Anything is better than the 15 - 40 fps I get now.

thank you guys... all the info is a big help. i'm still researching up on everything and getting myself edumacated :D this can be an ongoing thread tho, any help you guys can give on how to install differnt stuff and maybe problems you ran into when you installed that you can help me prevent. i like the setup you gave me tho gnomey, thanx a lot :) alright guys... you guys peace out... i'm gettin drunk tonight :)

I got a p4p800 deluxe mobo with 2Gb of DDR400 ram. Intel 3.2 Ghz cpu. Gigabit network card (like it matters). Radeon x800 xt 256mb platinum video card.

I wiill tear your heart out and eat your children, praise be to allah